PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE~!

1. broken tooth
2. broken phone
3. broken dryer
4. broken insurance coverage
5. broken iPhoto
6. broken truck mirror (almost)
7. broken AT&T
- shipped phone to wrong address
- disconnected after talking with them & waiting for 30 minutes!

It just so happens that during the time that all of these things are braking...I'm doing a bible study from Beth Moore called "Living Beyond Yourself" and this week the topic is Patience. I want to share with you what I learned from her study this week. While the fruit of the spirit "Patience - is responding to people with mercy" I'm learning patience almost at every turn regarding my circumstances. The 1st 2 things on that list happened on Thursday last week and the last 5 happened on Monday this week. A feeling of being overwhelmed swooshed over me this Monday.

Well, I just wanted to share with you what I learned about patience. There are 2 types of patience in the Bible. The first one is hupomone - to persevere, remain under...bearing up under...it refers to that quality of character which does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. James 5:11 uses hupomone "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy" Job had lost his family, livestock, health, and he had negative friends feeding him the lies of the devil and yet he had patience and endured the hardships. Job had hope - a positive outlook toward an expected end. Do I have that type of hope? Job 23:10 says "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Do I believe that good is going to come from the trials that are in my life? Here are some verses to encourage us to "hope" in God and wait "patiently" for Him.

Hebrews 10:35&36 - "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."

Hebrews 12:1&2 - "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

James 1:2-4 - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

2 Timothy 2:10-12 - "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. [It is] a faithful saying: For if we be dead with [him], we shall also live with [him]: If we suffer, we shall also reign with [him]: if we deny [him], he also will deny us:

Without hope, there is no patience; without patience there is no maturity; without maturity there is no reflection; and with out reflection, there is no glory.

Colossians 1:27b - "Christ in you is the hope of glory"

The 2nd word for patience is "Makrothumia" - forbearance....self-restraint before proceeding to action. It is a patience in respect to people, inspired by mercy. This is to be longsuffering. I believe that patience in circumstances is much easier than being patient with people. I often become frustrated when I am trying to do things on my own. This patience must be an overflow of the Holy Spirit...it is Him working through us.

Patience is Void Of Judgment
When I look at the patience that God has for us...I find it amazing that He does put up with us. 2 Peter 3:9 says "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." and 2 Peter 3:15a goes on to say "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation". Romans 2:4 says "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" We are saved because the Lord has chosen in His mercy to have patience with us by delaying judgement on us. He has shown us love and it is because of his goodness that we turn to Him. We love Him because He first loved us. When I think of the patience that He has shown me, how can I not be patient toward others and pray that God will work through me to lead others to Him.

Judgement and Patience do not go together~!
Romans 2:1-5 gives us 6 reasons why we must not judge others.
1. When we judge others, we cause God to be harder on us. (vs 1)
2. We do many of the same things we condemn in others. (vs 1)
3. We do not know the whole truth. (vs 2)
4. We are just human~! (vs3)
5. When we judge others, we are judging God. (vs 4)
6. God's judgment is always righteous. Ours in tainted by the flesh. (vs 5)

Matthew 7:1-5 gives us more reasons not to judge others
1. We will be judged with the same judgment that we are judging others with (vs 1&2)
2. We cannot judge the speck of sawdust in another's eye because of the plank in our own. (vs 3&4)

James 4:11-12
1. There is only one lawgiver and judge (James 4:12
2. Only God has noble purpose in His judgment
We judge to make ourselves fell righteous in comparison. God's judgment is not based on His ego.

John 8:14-18
1. Just like Christ's, our judgment would have to be completely consistent with God's. He must agree with us four our judgment to be valid.
-We judge by human standards (vs 15)

While God is the judge, He has chosen to show patience to each one of us and to delay the proceedings that would have meant our death. If He is patient with us and He has no sin, how patient must we be toward others with whom we share the same sin. Judgment strangles patience and grieves the Holy Spirit.

Patience involves Forgiveness
Matthew 18:15-35 talks about forgiveness and answers the question "how many times should we forgive?". Jesus taught them the answer with a parable about a merciless servant. Patience is the vessel through which God pours out His mercy. Mercy is fueld by forgiveness.

What is Biblical Forgiveness?
The Greek word is "aphiemi" which means "to let go from one's power, possession, to let go free, let escape". In other words...to cut one loose from judgment, bitterness, reaction.

Who & What must we forgive?
Luke 11:4 - "And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one"
Mark 11:25 - "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins"

Why Must we forgive?
1. We must forgive because of the very word forgiveness (apheimi). We are unable to be walking free in the Spirit of God if we are bogged down by the load of unforgiveness.

2.We must forgive because God's Word calls us to forgive.
Luke 6:37, and Matthew 6:14-15 shows us that God links His forgiveness of us to our forgiveness of others. Also, when we condemn others, we are condemning ourselves.

3. We must forgive for our own sakes
Look at Matthew 18:21-35, the first servant was delivered to the tormentors, while the second servant was cast into prison. A truth we can see here is that the one who will not forgive always suffers more than the one that is not forgiven. Unforgiveness tortures the person who harbors it.

4. We must forgive so that we do not provide Satan with the opportunity to take advantage of us.
2 Corinthians 2:10 & 11 - Paul says that he has forgiven whatever need to to be forgiven and whoever needed to be forgiven. He did this to keep Satan from getting the better of them. He says that we all know what goes on in the mind. Things like...anger, bitterness, guilt It is impossible to be filled with the Spirit and filled with unforgivenss. Only Satan wins in the war of unforgiveness.

5. We must forgive because we are not the only ones bound bu the rope of unforgiveness.
Remember what is bound on earth is bound in Heaven. Christ has a purpose in the pain that we suffer or He would never have allowed it~! (Romans 8:28)

6. Unforgiveness grieves the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30-32)

How do we forgive?
Colossians 3:13 tells us the answer "bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you."

How does God forgive us?
Psalms 85:2 says "You have forgiven the guilt of your people-- yes, you have covered all their sins." He has forgiven us 100%~!
IJohn 1:9 -"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Psalms 103:12 - He removes our sins from us as far as the east is from the west
Jeremiah 31:34 -"And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." He remembers our sins no more


I am so thankful for the forgiveness that God has given me, and I pray that He will work in my heart to truly forgive others. Love hardly even knows when it has been wronged. Before doing this study, I didn't realize all the things that go along with patience...mercy, no judgment, and forgiveness. I am not perfect, and I now get to add patience to my list in a new light of areas that I need to work on. I would recommend this Bible Study to everyone...It is going through the Fruits of the Spirit and each week, God is opening my eyes little by little and revealing things to me that I haven't seen before. I am thankful for his Patience with me.