ANB 75, be patient (4-5-06)

Hey everyone, I hope you all are having a blessed week. This week I want to look at a subject
most all of us could use some more revelation on, patience.

The Greek word for patience is "hupomone." Hupomone means steadfastness, constancy, or
endurance. Another definition is a "patient, enduring, sustaining perseverance. Crosswalk.com
(what I use for these) says patience is, "in the NT the characteristic of a man who is not swerved
from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and
sufferings."

Now you may not know this but the word patience really has two different applications in the
Bible. I really don't think they are that different, but we have to come to understand them so we
can correctly operate this principle.

The first kind of patience is the kind most people think of when hearing the word. This is the
patience that doesn't get angry when the line takes too long, that doesn't get mad when church
runs over or the traffic doesn't move quick enough. I think about this patience in terms of my
decision to be content when the things around me aren't moving at the pace I might like them to.

Two famous Biblical passages note this kind of patience. I do believe they speak of the other use
of patience that we will come to later, but I definitely believe this patience comes out in these
verses.

"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering (or patience)." Galatians 5:22.

"Charity (or love) suffereth long, and is kind." 1 Corinthians 13:4.

If you don't read the King James version of the Bible you have probably read those verses as
using the word 'patience' for long suffering. The idea isn't a very pleasant one. This conveys the
notion that you are there suffering and you are to just grin and bear it (we wouldn't want to be
angry and strifeful). So you grin and bear it for a long time and this is love and this is a fruit of
the spirit.

So in this respect, and I do believe, we honor God by keeping our mouths shut and appearing
content to all people even when something is putting pressure on our flesh to get annoyed or get
angry. A person can suffer for a long time and let everyone know about it. There is nothing
Godly about that. It's when a person suffers in silence, as Christ who opened not His mouth as
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, that this person truly emulates Christ and walks as God
would have us walk. It's not our job to get bent out of shape with inconveniences, it's our job to
remain steadfast and endure no matter what persecution arises.

While we're on that note, you should read 2 Corinthians chapters 4 and 11 and see what Paul
refers to as his "light affliction" in 2 Corinthians 4:17. If I get upset and freak out because the
traffic is slow or the line is too long then I have a long way to go before I can enter the service of
Christ. Paul wouldn't even have noticed that as affliction.

The second type of patience I would define as "remaining completely in faith that your faith has
worked properly during the time between your first application of your faith and your seeing the
results of your faith."

Let me try to explain fully. If you don't use your faith you won't receive anything from God, not
one thing (see James 1:5-8). The way a person uses their faith is first of all with their hearts and
mouths. They believe in their heart and confess with their mouths. The mouth is truly faith's
initiator. (See Romans 10:9-10 and Mark 11:22-24).

Now using one's faith comes down to two types of speech, you either ask something of God in
Jesus' Name or you declare something in Jesus' Name. The idea of asking God for
something comes to us throughout John and especially in Mark 11:24. The idea of commanding
or declaring something comes to us from Mark 11:23, Luke 17:6, and Job 22:28. As we see in
the relevant texts, both are operations of faith. Glory to God.

There will always be a time between when you first apply your faith and when you see the
physical manifestation of what you are believing for. Perhaps the time will be very short. I
believe we can lay hands on cripples and see them get up and walk immediately. Not by our
power, but by the power of God. On the other hand, perhaps I am believing that my child will
come to live fully committed to the Lord. (I know my parents prayed this for many years). In
this second example there will likely be some time between my prayers for my child and me
physically seeing my child walking with the Lord.

So what I am about to say is extremely important. Before we discuss patience, we must

understand that faith says, "I have it now." Read again Mark 11:22-24. If you believe that you
receive it, then you shall have it. If you believe that you receive what you have prayed for, the
moment you prayed for it, then eventually you will have it. We're talking about believing God's
Word when it says He will give us anything we ask for in Jesus' Name. We're talking about
believing God's Word that He answers all our prayers. When you pray you are trusting God's
Word and you believe you receive immediately.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

When you are hoping for something (hope in the New Testament Greek means confident
expectation) you don't have the thing in the natural, but by faith you already have it. So you
don't have the thing physically, but you have it by faith. You can't see the thing, but you know
that it's already there because of God's Word which promises the thing.

To take this one important step further, God's Word is the belief that we have. We believe that it
is God's Word that will come to pass. So when I receive my healing or my child's commitment
to God, I'm really receiving the manifestation of God's Word in the flesh. Belief in God's Word
is the faith. So when you are praying in line with a Biblical promise, for example "By His stripes
you were healed (1 Peter 2:24), what you really have is God's Word that is the faith, or the
substance of your faith. So when we say faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen, we could say I don't have the thing itself, but I have a Biblical promise which
is just as good as the thing. Or I don't have the thing yet, but I have the evidence that it is already
here because I have this Biblical promise.

So, as we have noted often before. You take the Word of God, get a promise from it, believe you
receive it now, then stand in faith believing you have already received what the Word promises.
Now is the place for patience.

Between the time that you receive your manifested promise and your original statement of faith
(request or declaration), there will come a time when you are tempted to believe your faith didn't
work. Your pain may hurt worse, your kid may act worse, whatever it may be, temptation will
come. This temptation will probably get worse and worse during this time as well. But this is
the place for patience.

"But that on good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word,
keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." Luke 8:15 (This is talking about people that
produce when they hear the Word of God).

"That you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises." Hebrews 6:12

"For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the
promise." Hebrews 10:36

These three verses show clearly just how important patience is to our faith operation, to our
entire seedtime and harvest operation (Read Mark 4). Praise the Lord. Patience is crucial.

So when you are believing God for something, anything, you must remain steadfast and
immovable. No matter what happens, what anyone says or what you feel like, you must endure
to the end. You must never allow your belief or your faith in God and His promises to falter. It's
when we keep our mouths and hearts in line, remaining fixed on God's Word, that we will
receive every good thing we have asked God for. Praise the Lord.