Patience

Patience The State of Endurance Under Difficult Circumstances â„–1

Let Me Begin Being patient has never been easy for me. Since I was a little girl, my mother tried to teach me the value of patience, whether it was waiting for her to take me some place, waiting for a particular toy that I liked or waiting sometimes over an hour in the grocery store while she shopped for food. But even to this day, now that I am a 33 year old woman, I still struggle with being patient. Let’s just say it’s not a part of my personality.

And I don’t think I’m alone. №2

Yep, that’s me! At the tender age of 5

Why In Such a Hurry In fact, I know I’m not. The world today, is all about immediate gratification and everyone is in such a hurry.

But the older I get, the more I learn that being patient is essential on your Christian journey to salvation.

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What Is Patience?

It is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances. Even more, it is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering all the while maintaining your faith and obedience in God. â„–4

Wait on the Lord We have to wait on the Lord. And not everything is in our control. Bad things happen that we can’t prevent. We lose something or someone, we cry and our heart aches. We get tired of the sin in this world. We just want the bad days to end and end quickly so that we can have peace of mind and be happy. But through every loss, every tear drop, every heart ache, and every trial, we have to be patient and wait on the will of God, never wavering in our faith, always seeking to obey the Lord with all our heart, mind and strength. №5

Romans 5: 3-5 “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” №6

Trials Give Us Experience What stands out in this scripture is that through our difficulties in life, we learn to be patient in God, and this patience give us life experience, both from a common standpoint and more importantly, spiritually. So when we are faced with another tribulation, we know from our past experience, we will get through it, we will overcome, if we remain patient. Because we know that God is with us and he loves us, as he showed when he died on the cross and continues to show us daily. â„–7

Psalms 27: 13-14 “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”

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Long-Suffering Now this scripture does not specifically state the word patience but you can see that it is still conveying the importance of this virtue through the phrase “Wait on the Lord.”

When talking about patience another important and often interchangeable term in the bible is that of long suffering, that is, to patiently endure trials, offenses or hardships for an extensive period of time. №9

Galatians 5: 22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

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Traits of Christ These fruits of the spirit are simply characteristics the Holy Spirit teaches us to possess each day in order to be more like our Savior, who is indeed long-suffering toward his children. How so? Each of us have sinned but he did not immediately destroy us. No. Instead, he died for our sins, and gave us grace, a period of time to seek forgiveness and obey him. And on this course to salvation, we have made mistakes and have fallen off track. The sins that we commit are offenses unto the Lord, which he endures for a time period, waiting for his children to return to him. So we can see that Christ is patient and long-suffering. Who else in the bible demonstrates the traits of being patient and long-suffering â„– 11

Jacob Was Patient & Long-suffering Let’s look at one of the fathers of Israel, Jacob. After he had received the birthright and firstborn blessing from Esau, he had to escape to the land of Haran for his eldest brother intended to kill him. But before he left, his father Isaac gave him strict instructions to take a wife of the daughters of Laban, who was Rebekah’s brother. So Jacob goes on his journey and finally meets Laban who welcomes him with open arms. № 12

Determining Wages After a month’s time, Laban wanted to determine what Jacob’s wages should be in exchange for his labor.

As you might remember, Laban had two daughters, Leah and Rachel.

With Leah being the oldest and Rachel the youngest. Not only was Rachel the youngest but she was very beautiful and Jacob loved her greatly. № 13

Jacob Is Deceived Jacob said he would work 7 years for Laban in exchange for Rachel’s hand in marriage. Now when 7 years had expired, it was time for Jacob to have Rachel as his wife. But Laban was very greedy and deceitful and instead gave him Leah. It was not until the next morning, after he had consummated his marriage, that Jacob realized he was given Leah instead of Rachel. № 14

Jacob Finally Marries Rachel When Jacob confronted Laban about this, he stated that it was not customary for the youngest daughter to be given in marriage before the eldest. And thus, Jacob worked an additional 7 years to have Rachel’s hand in marriage. So it took a total of 14 years of labor before Jacob could finally marry the woman he loved, which was Rachel. But did you know that Jacob worked an additional 6 years for Laban. № 15

Jacob: Patient & Long-Suffering Jacob was a child of God, therefore, he exhibited qualities of his father, Jesus. With great patience and long-suffering he worked 20 years for Laban, who was both deceitful and greedy. He was tricked into marrying Leah and his wages were changed 10 times! Jacob could have thrown in the towel and decided not to marry Rachel after all. He could have taken vengeance on Laban, such as destroying his father and law’s property, cattle or causing him bodily harm. Some might say he would be justified in doing that but this is not so.

Instead, he continued to work for Laban, who was a bad employer, never losing his spiritual integrity, remaining faithful and obedient to God. He left Laban in God’s hands. № 16

The Lord Remembers God did not forget Jacob during his trials and tribulations. While Jacob continued to care for Laban’s flock, he requested to take the worst of the cattle for himself, including the spotted and speckled cattle and goats as well as the brown sheep. God blessed Jacob and his cattle and servants began to increased greatly. Laban’s became angry and accused Jacob of stealing from their father. Even Laban’s behavior towards him changed.

Thus, Jacob thought it best for his wives, children, servants and flocks to flee from Laban. № 17

Laban Pursues Jacob 3 days later, Laban found out that Jacob took his family and cattle and left his house. He also discovered that his idols were gone, which Rachel had stolen. He began to pursue after Jacob for 7 days. But God warned Laban in a dream that he should be cautious how he approach and talk to Jacob. Lets see what Jacob said when Laban approached him and accused him of stealing his idols. â„– 18

Genesis 31: 38-42 “This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.” № 19

Our Stories In this current day, we will not face the exact situation Jacob did.

But you may have experienced the following scenarios in your life: 1). You might be a single person hoping to marry one day but you want the Lord’s guidance as far as selecting the right person. You may not meet someone right away and you remain in prayer. Your patience is being tried.

2). Maybe, you have lost a job. You are unemployed, bills need to be paid and you have had interview after interview. You have prayed about it but still no job. Your patience is being tried .

3) It takes several miscarriages before you or your spouse is able to become pregnant. Your patience is being tried. â„– 20

Up Ahead Is Bright Daylight Each of these scenarios will cause you emotional distress, and rightfully so. But even through these trials, we must realize that God has not forgotten us. He answers our prayers according to his will and at the time he deems is good. Often times, we would like our prayers to be answered right away. We don’t want to wait but the truth is, you have to wait on the Lord. And by learning to be patient and long-suffering, you draw closer to that light at the end of the tunnel, where we will gain the glory of immortality and be ever joyful in God. Amen № 21

Special Thanks This presentation was developed and narrated by: Elisabeth C. Pointer

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Questions?

For questions regarding this presentation please contact us via email at info@householdofisrael.org or by phone at 219.949.9308.

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