But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
- James 1:4
Usually, when we are in the midst of a trial, the last thing we feel like doing is counting it all joy. We are in no mood to jump and rejoice over the opportunity to develop patience. But if we let patience have her perfect work, we obtain whatever the Word of God has promised us. (Heb 10:32-36) confirms this. We have to believe God when it is hard to do so. We have to keep walking in faith when our flesh just wants to quit.
Patience is the ability to remain under all kinds of trials and difficulties without becoming discouraged. It is the force that keeps us from fainting under pressure. The moment we were born –again we were equipped with patience. Long-suffering is to have a quality whereby one is not easily provoked by those who do and say the wrong things concerning him. It endures indifference, hate or ill-treatment without anger or thought of revenge. It is a part of the fruit of the Spirit and God equipped us with it. He placed it into our recreated human spirit. (Gal 5:22-23) It is God’s very own patience. God is extraordinarily patient (2Peter 3:9) He has the power to persevere until circumstances line up with His Word. Because we are born of His Spirit, we have that power too.
Paul had joy in the midst of his suffering. He asked the Lord thrice to remove a serious problem from him, but (2 Cor 12:9) He said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness”. The Lord Jesus Himself displayed joy when facing extreme circumstances, and He now indwells us to enable us to do the same. (Heb 12:2) “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”. Lord Jesus is our example, and none of us will ever have to go to the extreme He went. Though he was not guilty He took all the sins of the world upon Himself. In the midst of this mental anguish over the sin of the world, He could think of joy- the joy that was set before Him. It was the joy He could see on the other side of the cross after He had made salvation available. The joy was that He might have you and me with Him for all eternity because we had trusted in His finished work of redemption.
He sees what is possible as He works in our lives by providing redemption and all that we need to live a godly life. (Psalm 40:8) “I delight to do thy will, O my God”. Let us determine, by the grace of God, that we will not do His will just because we have to but because we want to. We will only come to this place as we recognize that He is the all-wise God who knows what is best for our lives. This will also help us to have patience with circumstances and be long-suffering with people. (James 5:11) “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.” Patience in Job’s case was not merely a resignation to the circumstances but a deliberate and persistent endurance of his extremely difficult trial, God had pleasure in Job’s joyful patience: “The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10)
We can prepare ourselves in advance for those hard times by deciding that when they come, we won’t give up. We can train ourselves for victory by starting right now to develop the force of patience we need to make it through when the going gets tough. We will be counting it all joy without giving it a second thought.
But just as water won’t flow from a faucet unless we open the valve, the reservoir of patience God has put within us won’t flow unless we release it by an act of our will. We need to spend time with God in prayer and in the Word by meditating on His patient love and believe that the very same patience is operating in us. We need to exercise patience at every small opportunity, so we can find ourselves much stronger when the big challenges come. Patience will see us through to victory even though the pressure is intense.
Usually, when we are in the midst of a trial, the last thing we feel like doing is counting it all joy. We are in no mood to jump and rejoice over the opportunity to develop patience. But if we let patience have her perfect work, we obtain whatever the Word of God has promised us. (Heb 10:32-36) confirms this. We have to believe God when it is hard to do so. We have to keep walking in faith when our flesh just wants to quit.
Patience is the ability to remain under all kinds of trials and difficulties without becoming discouraged. It is the force that keeps us from fainting under pressure. The moment we were born –again we were equipped with patience. Long-suffering is to have a quality whereby one is not easily provoked by those who do and say the wrong things concerning him. It endures indifference, hate or ill-treatment without anger or thought of revenge. It is a part of the fruit of the Spirit and God equipped us with it. He placed it into our recreated human spirit. (Gal 5:22-23) It is God’s very own patience. God is extraordinarily patient (2Peter 3:9) He has the power to persevere until circumstances line up with His Word. Because we are born of His Spirit, we have that power too.
Paul had joy in the midst of his suffering. He asked the Lord thrice to remove a serious problem from him, but (2 Cor 12:9) He said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness”. The Lord Jesus Himself displayed joy when facing extreme circumstances, and He now indwells us to enable us to do the same. (Heb 12:2) “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”. Lord Jesus is our example, and none of us will ever have to go to the extreme He went. Though he was not guilty He took all the sins of the world upon Himself. In the midst of this mental anguish over the sin of the world, He could think of joy- the joy that was set before Him. It was the joy He could see on the other side of the cross after He had made salvation available. The joy was that He might have you and me with Him for all eternity because we had trusted in His finished work of redemption.
He sees what is possible as He works in our lives by providing redemption and all that we need to live a godly life. (Psalm 40:8) “I delight to do thy will, O my God”. Let us determine, by the grace of God, that we will not do His will just because we have to but because we want to. We will only come to this place as we recognize that He is the all-wise God who knows what is best for our lives. This will also help us to have patience with circumstances and be long-suffering with people. (James 5:11) “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.” Patience in Job’s case was not merely a resignation to the circumstances but a deliberate and persistent endurance of his extremely difficult trial, God had pleasure in Job’s joyful patience: “The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10)
We can prepare ourselves in advance for those hard times by deciding that when they come, we won’t give up. We can train ourselves for victory by starting right now to develop the force of patience we need to make it through when the going gets tough. We will be counting it all joy without giving it a second thought.
But just as water won’t flow from a faucet unless we open the valve, the reservoir of patience God has put within us won’t flow unless we release it by an act of our will. We need to spend time with God in prayer and in the Word by meditating on His patient love and believe that the very same patience is operating in us. We need to exercise patience at every small opportunity, so we can find ourselves much stronger when the big challenges come. Patience will see us through to victory even though the pressure is intense.