Patiently endure…

I don’t know about you, but there are times I can get pretty IMpatient. As in, I’m over it before it starts.

But this verse says God blesses those who are patient in the midst of their storms of testing and temptation. UGH!

Okay, so how do we do that?

First, we need to realize that testing and temptation WILL come to us. We also have to realize they are different. Both are difficult, both are aggravating, both can drive us crazy, but the purpose of each is different.

Those tests can prove our faith. The temptations provoke us to turn from our faith.

We must understand
this difference.

Our obvious goal in any period of testing or temptation is to come out on the other side with the fewest scars possible. We want to endure. God wants us to endure patiently.

There’s good news, y’all! You have patience! Yes, you do! If you are a believer in Jesus Christ as Lord, having accepted His death, burial, and resurrection as the sacrifice for your sin, YOU HAVE PATIENCE!

When we open our lives to have Jesus lead, we get to become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. (Don’t ask me how that happens in so many people at the same time, all over the place. It’s a matter of believing what the Book says even when I don’t “get” it.)

The external evidence that the Spirit lives in someone is what we call the fruit of the Spirit and the fourth on the list in Galatians 5:22-23 is…. you’ve got it: patience.

But Faye, I don’t feel patient!

That’s okay! You don’t feel strong when you first start working out, either. But when you keep going, using those muscles, you grow stronger. Same with the fruit of the Spirit.

This patient endurance God blesses is that in which we give up. Seriously!

We can’t endure testing or temptation on our own. Thankfully, He set it up so we don’t have to! We can turn to Him, trusting that His Spirit will guide us along the path of endurance, pouring Himself into us in the measure we need in each moment. We can rely on the patience He says we have despite feeling that we have none.

Let’s give this a try today: Whatever test or temptation comes your way, stop a minute before you react. Quickly ask God what He thinks about it, then listen. Feel the sensation in you rising up that is the Spirit bringing up the fruit He gives. Once that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control are revved up, you can respond.

It is our full dependence
on God that He blesses.

Coffee, Bible, Journal.