Thank you so much for reading my post. I pray that as you grow in your knowledge and relationship with the Lord that you will be blessed during this time which has been set apart to celebrate our Savior’s birth. He came as a man, to be that perfect sacrifice, so that we could be reconciled to God for eternity!

To begin our look at the fourth fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 - Patience - I would like to share a quote by John Calvin, “I have not so great a struggle with my vices, great and numerous as they are, as I have with my impatience. My efforts are not absolutely useless; yet I have never been able to conquer this ferocious wild beast.”

Do you have the same struggle?

Over the years, numerous times during conversations, whenever the subject of “patience” comes up, I have been known to say, “Oh, you don’t want to pray for patience!” This quote by Richard Cecil explains why. “God’s way of answering the Christian’s prayer for more patience, experience, hope, and love often is to put him into the furnace of affliction.”

This story has stuck with me through the years. My condensed version : A woman had a nice garden that was flourishing. The neighbor’s pigs were getting out of their pen and had to be chased out of her garden a number of days in a row. Even after she spoke to the neighbor, nothing changed. She was really getting frustrated about it and prayed, “Lord give me patience!” The next morning she had twice as many pigs in her garden! This humerus story makes a point. Growing more mature in our ability to be patient comes from our choosing, time after time, to respond with the fruit of the Spirit of patience.

Time to get into the Word! James 1:3 and 4 (NKJV), “knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” The testing of our faith results in our having patience. The Greek word for patience used in these verses is hypomone and means: steadfastness, constancy, and endurance. In the New Testament, the person with this patience is one who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings. Then, verse 4 reveals when we exercise this patience, we will be mature (perfect), whole, wanting nothing.

Romans 5:3 (KJV), “And not only so, but we glory (boast or rejoice)) in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh (results in) patience (hypomone).” None of us really like the thought of tests, trials, sufferings, or afflictions. We would like everything to come easily, however, we know that easy is often not the reality we face.

The Greek word translated “patience” in Galatians 5:22, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience…” is “makrothuma, which in this verse, means: patience, forbearance, long-suffering, and slowness in avenging wrongs. (“Vengeance is Mine… says the Lord” - (Romans 12:19). Various Bible versions translate makrothuma as the word, ‘longsuffering.’

In ‘Word Wealth” in the New Spirit Filled Life Bible, we see makrothuma used in Hebrews 6:12 and defined as “long temper”. “The word denotes lenience, forbearance, patient endurance, longsuffering, the ability to endure persecution and ill -treatment.” It also adds that, makrothuma “describes a person who has the power to exercise revenge but instead exercises restraint.”

In the following verses, we see that God is patient with us and expects us to show the same patience to others.

1 Peter 3:20, “those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.” God waited for 120 years for the ark to be completed!

2 Peter 3:9 (ESV), “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Romans 2:4, “Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?”

2 Thessalonians 3:5, “May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.”

Revelation 1:9, “I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God's Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus.”

Ephesians 4:1 and 2, “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.’

We see the outcome of patience in these Biblical accounts, of God’s promised kept, in the lives of God’s men and women:

Abraham waited 25 years for his promised son.

Joseph waited 13 years, through much affliction, for the fulfillment of a dream.

Habbukuk 2:3 (NIV), “For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”

David waited for the kingdom for 15 years.

Simeon waited till he was old for the birth of the Messiah.

Patience is so difficult for a culture and society that expects “instant” everything. Sad to say, most of us are lacking in the use of this fruit of the Spirit. We are quite often totally impatient and hate having to wait for anything. We are impatient while waiting in line at the store, driving in traffic, waiting at the bank, encountering road construction, waiting in the emergency room, waiting for a friend to pick us up at 10:00 and it is 10:05, and the list goes on.

I heard an interviewer questioning graduating college students. He asked what they wanted most after graduation. Nearly all of those interviewed said, “ I want everything and I want it now!”

A wonderfully encouraging verse for us is 2 Corinthians 3:18, “So all of us who have had that veil removed (those who have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord) can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord--who is the Spirit--makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”

Genesis 1:27 reveals that God created man in His own image (a representative figure). Then we read in 2 Peter 1:3 and 4, “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires.

He has promised and indeed, sent to us the Holy Spirit to reside in us. The fruit of the Spirit, God’s nature, grows in us!

God has established a time for everything and we are exhorted often to be patient.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”

Lamentations 3:25,26, “The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. 26 So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD.”

Micah 7:7, ”As for me, I look to the LORD for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me.”

Psalm 27:13 and 14, “Yet I am confident I will see the LORD's goodness while I am here in the land of the living. 14 Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.

1 Peter 5:6, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.”

Psalm 130:5, “I am counting on the LORD; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word.”

Psalm 139:16, “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

A lot of times, because of our impatience, God’s time frame and ours do not match! We must allow His patience to grow in us!

We need His fruit of patience, so that we can live a life that is pleasing to Him.

Unless otherwise noted, scriptures used are taken from the New Living Translation

NKJV New King James Version

KJV King James Version

ESV English Standard Version

NIV New International Version