Patient in Tribulation (#wtsdevo patience)

Romans 12:12 - Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

When I go through a difficult time or situation, usually my impulse reaction is to try to make it stop as soon as possible. I don’t want to be in the trial because it hurts or because it is difficult. We as humans want to avoid pain and suffering at all costs, so much so that entire religions like Buddhism are centered around that idea. So many aspects of our lives have been constructed for the purposes of making things easier and preventing us from experiencing suffering or pain. In my life recently, I have seen my own tendency to try to protect myself from pain and make a struggle end as soon as possible.

Now, I’m not trying to say that avoiding pain and struggle is inherently wrong or sinful. I think there can certainly be aspects of it that are, and I definitely don’t think that we should seek out those things. But here’s the thing about living in our world: we are inevitably going to experience trial, struggle, pain, and suffering at some point in our lives if we are living in the real world. And instead of encouraging us to do what our gut reaction is (to escape), God’s Word exhorts us to a higher standard. He wants to actually use those things in our lives for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28). Instead of escaping, he says that we should rejoice in the hope that we have in Him. We should constantly be in prayer, which will keep us connected to His Spirit and bring us peace. And we should be patient in tribulation. We often don’t have any control over it in the first place, so instead of fighting and trying to escape when we know we can’t do it ourselves, we need to be patient and wait for the storm to pass. Something I have been learning recently is that while in a storm of life, being patient doesn’t have to mean being passive. Instead, I can ask God what He wants to teach me from the situation about life, about His Word, about who He is. I can ask Him to use it to make me more like Him. I can ask Him to show me more of who He is and draw me closer to Himself. I can ask Him to use the trial of my life to help someone else grow nearer to God. Join me in asking God to do that in each of our lives today.  

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Devotional Series: Patience (#wtsdevo patience)

Being Faithful (#wtsdevo patience)

The one cycle or process that has remained consistent throughout the ages is growth. Let me start off by saying that all (and perhaps many) good things come out of being patient. And why patience? Because we have this thing called growth and this process of growth exists within so many things and aspects of our lives that we've come to take it for granted.

The very first thing about us - literally us, comes out of the result of patience. Our birth! The process takes months and once that perfect time has completed, so are we ready to be born. And then again, we don't come out a man or a woman. For that to happen, our own lives need to go through the process of growth. We start off knowing literally nothing and we grow up knowing and doing everything in our own unique ways. If you even take a piece of machinery, you don't have the whole genie effect where you'd have it at the snap of a finger. Initially the pieces of that machine need to designed, tested, assembled, tested again and then its becomes ready to go out into the wild. Growth exists in so many things and what's easy to notice is that this process of growth needs to be complete and needs its own time to ensure that whatever results, become the best it can be.

Our births become premature if we don't go through the entire process of pregnancy, we don't mature if we don't take the time or the effort to grow. A machine would be in-operable or easily broken if not assembled to its fullest. And we too as human beings and Christians would be incomplete and fragile if we don't allow God to work in us through His time and pace.

Within us lies the great expectations and intentions that God has for us and they start off being little seeds. We are then taken through life and in parallel, this journey that God has laid out of us. A journey that works and operates in God's time and in God's plan. When we choose to be patience and take this road, the seeds planted within us grow gradually as we take on this journey. Soon we become people who reflect much of Christ in our own lives and with time, we begin to emulate Him in our ways, actions and our interactions.

Our start may seem really insignificant and unworthy but God calls us to start where we are and to be faithful in patience. When we choose Him, He will make our faith and patience in Him result in fruitfulness.

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Devotional Series: Patience (#wtsdevo patience)

Patience Perfected (#wtsdevo patience)

“But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” -James 1:4

This is one of those verses I've heard a lot over the years but kind of glazed over. I've just more recently found something that I have been missing all this time.

In different versions of the Bible the word "patience" is interchangeable with words like endurance, perseverance and steadfastness. They all have one thing in common. They are unmovable. Unrelenting. Unshaken. They withstand the test of time.

Most of us have a limit when it comes to waiting. We run out of gas before we reach our destination. So, in our impatience we keep it from producing in us what God is after. Our completeness. We can wait until we've either grown too weary or think we can take matters into our own hands. But the moment we do that, we make ourselves God.

Because He is the only sovereign, all-knowing Being. I imagine a line graph that measures the trajectory of my faith from start to finish and the time after. The time after would be if my faith hadn't flatlined and continued until it actually reached its perfect work. I wonder how much longer it would be. I know God would be my all in all. That's the enduring type of patience I long for.

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Devotional Series: Patience (#wtsdevo patience)

Excellent at Waiting (#wtsdevo patience)

“And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.” -Hebrews 6:15

It's an enormous understatement to say that God is patient with me. He is patient with us all. Yet I find myself demanding His punctuality when I have a need or desire. That doesn't seem right.

Especially since the written Word is God inspired and even God quoted in some cases. Every word of His is as sure as sure can be. Every word is a promise. If He said it He will do it... It's just a matter of when.

His when and my when are on entirely separate playing fields. And that’s where the rubber meets the road, right? Because the patience of man can last about as far as we can see. Beyond that it becomes faith and without faith it's impossible to see God (Hebrews 11:6).

Abraham had a steadfast, enduring trust in the sovereign Sustainer. Through every untruthful summer. Through every barren winter. All because he clung tightly to a promise and never loosened his grip.

The Bible is full of them and they apply to any and every situation. Pick a promise and put Him to the test. Wait. With assurance, peace and expectation, wait. God is not sluggish like it may seem (2 Peter 3:9).

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Devotional Series: Patience (#wtsdevo patience)

The Harvest Lesson (#wtsdevo patience)

Sometime back, I happened to watch this documentary where it showed how corporate giants were forcing farmers to grow their crop faster. To help these farmers with this, they provided them with a whole load of chemicals and other types of treatment. The crops grew faster at a rate that out-ran the pace of natural growth and these crops also seemed unusually “prettier” with vivid colours, wholesome surfaces and simply perfect. However with this process looping around in a cycle over the last few years, there came some immensely negative impacts.

Whilst crops grew up faster, farmers, and their families and the people around in the area began to face health related issues. Children were weak, weird diseases started to come out of nowhere and people even began dying. It just got out of control and although we may not realize it, this is happening to some parts of our world even this very moment.

But compare this whole farming scenario to how it was done decades ago and you’ll find healthier people, thriving communities and a positive environment all around. That’s because back then, farmers would allow nature do its thing and therefore crops grew naturally in their perfect timing. These were much healthier and even though it may seem like a small thing, it impacted people  and communities as a whole in a great way.

What I am trying to say is that the people back then were living and experiencing the finest and goodness in its true nature. That’s because goodness and prosperity is a product of patience and to experience that, farmers had to be patient. But at the end of the day, what they receive and experience is the best there is.

As human-beings we are all driven towards success and we want to reach it the soonest possible. However with God, time takes on a whole different course and it is up to us to look up to Him in faith knowing that He surely will provide us with the best there is. And to maintain this faith, we need to have a whole lot of patience in us. Without it, it is clear that life becomes a confusing and tangly mess. Impatience does us no good except have us make terrible decisions and in the end we have to live through those messes that we made for ourselves.

Being Christian, we are left to trust in God and in His Word and know that only through patience, can we nurture the good thing that God has in store for us.

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Devotional Series: Patience (#wtsdevo patience)

Steadfastness (#wtsdevo patience)

James 1:2-4 – Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Recently I’ve been going through a lot of life change. I moved across the country. I started a new job. I started new relationships. Ones that I had before have changed. In many ways, I was ready for this. In a lot of others, I was unprepared. This past season of change has brought difficulties and trials that I had not imagined. There are struggles that I’ve had that I thought I was finished with already. There are new struggles that I didn’t expect to happen and have felt very unprepared for.

I say all this to remind myself and you of this: God wants to use our trials and struggles. James tells us in the above passage to actually consider it JOY when we go through tough things. Why? The testing of your faith produces steadfastness, or endurance. We must persevere when our faith is tested. Friends, my faith has been tested and stretched to the breaking point recently. But this passage tells me that persevering through these trials will allow God to make me “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” This is what I want to be, because this is what God’s Word says. Think of each trial and struggle in your life right now. God wants to use that to make your character more perfect and complete. He wants to grow you. Because of Him we can actually have joy in trials. The ultimate hope and prayer is that at the end of it all, God will have used them for our good and His glory.

Lord, use each trial in our lives today to make us more like you. Help us persevere and be steadfast when our faith is tested. I pray that you would bring all this to its full effect, so that we are perfect and complete in You, and lack in nothing. Amen.

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Devotional Series: Patience (#wtsdevo patience)

Ready for His Promises (#wtsdevo patience)

“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” -  2 Peter 3:9

             When I think of patience, I think of seasons of waiting, seasons spent in anxiety and doubt, wondering when God was going to move. I felt like I’d been in a season of waiting for years now – almost like my whole life had been one long season of waiting – but a few months ago, God spoke something new to me, something I hadn’t been ready to hear until that exact moment.

           This morning, all I want to do is ask you the same thing I feel His Spirit asking me:

           What if what we call seasons of waiting are actually seasons of preparation, where God is simply being kind to and patient with us, preparing us for the good things to come?

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Devotional Series: Patience (#wtsdevo patience)

Lost at Sea (#wtsdevo patience)

The apostle Paul says in Romans 12:12 to “rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer.” While these tasks seem so simple, they can oftentimes be some of the most challenging tasks we ever encounter. Sometimes life can feel like a long sailboat ride. On the windy days you make quick progress through the waters, gliding over the vastness of the depths below. However, on still days, you can do nothing but sit and wait for the wind to return. 

These are called the ups and downs of life. In our highs, we feel as though there is nothing that can stop us and the Lord is shining His light on our lives no matter the circumstances. Our boat is sailing without end and we think it will stay that smooth and simple forever. But then the wind stops, and in turn, so does our boat. We sometimes think that the wind has left us forever, the Lord no longer cares or just isn't around anymore. 

 It’s not only how we deal with these ups and downs, but everything in between as well. It is in this middle ground that we are at our most vulnerable. When we become stagnate and complacent in our faith due to falling into a routine, it leaves a wide open door for Satan to weave his doubt and sinful desires into our lives. This is why we must always be striving to chase after the Lord, in our highs, in our lows, and through any time in between. Because just as it says in 1 John 4:4 “greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world.”

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Devotional Series: Patience (#wtsdevo patience)