Skip to main content

Holy Patience

                It’s easier to notice your lack of patience.  It isn’t as obvious for me to notice when my soul is so connected to Christ that it has been transformed to a place of supernatural patience resulting from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  On those rare occasions that I feel that way, I know I am experiencing holy patience.  I wish I could say that I live in a constant state of holy patience.  I’m glad to have the experience of this intimacy with God that brings out something from me that is better than I am.

                It makes me wonder about my lack of holy patience and why it is still apparent in my life even after I know what it is like to experience what God gives me.  I surprise myself by how cranky I can get about a driver who pushes his way in front of me or a long line at the grocery store.  I wonder why I still let myself get to that state when I know how peaceful and wonderful it is to experience the broken realities of this world with the assurance that God is in control and working in a mighty way, especially in strenuous circumstances.

                But when I have an experience of holy patience both inside and out, it stands out to me.  Other people may think that I am more patient than I am.  It is not true.  I am a calm person by nature and don’t regularly demonstrate my frantic state to others.  That doesn’t mean that I am experiencing holy patience, rather it is evidence of my personality type.  The holy patience I am talking about is experienced by all personality types.  It is a supernatural peace, love and trust in God.   It is what God wants to give to every Christian.

                Jesus described how we can function in the constant state of holiness in John 5:4-6:

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

                I don’t consciously lose touch with the reality of remaining in Jesus as a branch remains in a vine.  It is usually a subconscious effort.  It comes naturally for me to remain in the world, worrying about how I’m going to get it all done or what is going to break next.  All along Jesus calls me to remain in Him and bear fruit supernaturally.  This supernatural fruit shows up as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, and more.

                I like to bear God’s fruit of holy patience.  It is good for the soul. 

Copyright © 2013.  Deborah R. Newman www.teatimeforyoursoul.com  All Rights Reserved.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Pilgrimage that Started with Tears

                Who would think I would shed tears deciding to set out on a wonderful journey that I have longed to take for many years?   Before I was ready to fully accept God’s invitation for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I had to journey to a place of agreement between what my soul wanted and what the Lord wanted for me.   For years I have been declining opportunities to travel to Israel—not because I didn’t want to go but because I wanted to go with my husband by my side.   I know that God could have arranged that for me, but instead He asked me to accept that He wanted me to be willing to go and leave everything behind.   When I was asked to make a decision about going on a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, God gave me this verse in answer to my prayer -- Debi, observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are cr...
2 comments
Read more

Why Me?

              When something tragic or unexpected happens, our first question seems to be, Why me?   It’s only human to feel this way and wonder why life has got to be so hard.   God has helped me look at my unwanted circumstances with a different question.   Rather than keep the focus on my pain and ask, Why me?   I focus on Him and wonder, How can You be glorified when everything is going wrong?             Adding one more word to that question makes a huge difference spiritually and opens my soul to find so much more than just my pain.   Another way to look at life’s tragedies is, Why not me ?   Sure, we each have our own amount of personal sorrows. These are the kind of sorrows that have no answers.      We can't explain away death, cancer, rape, bankruptcy and other heartaches.   It is easier to explain...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Purpose of Suffering

    It’s not that I haven’t faced my own degree of personal suffering. It isn’t that I am numb to the vast array of suffering that is taking place all over the world at this very moment in time. It is that I remain confident in the grandeur of God’s goodness even as the reality of the suffering in this world is too much for my heart to bear. I believe that no degree of suffering is ignored by the loving God who created a universe in which suffering was never intended to exist. If I could fully take all the suffering of this world, my heart and soul would never survive. The weight of suffering is too heavy for me. Yet, I know He knows every degree of suffering taking place even in this moment. God alone has the capacity to face the reality of the suffering of His entire creation. Beyond that, I know He is working to end the suffering of this world. So then, you may ask , Why ? My only answer is to tell you to look to God. See His response to suffering. He has tak...
Post a Comment
Read more