* You can now watch a video of this message at: https://new.livestream.com/rickpina/live.
This morning we continue our series, “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing with our new mini-series entitled, “Growing in Grace.” A few days ago we started walking our way through 5-9 of Peter’s second letter. The Apostle Peter wrote, “So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books” (2 Peter 1:5-9 MSG). Today we will focus on the statement, “complementing your basic faith with… passionate patience.”
What is patience? Most people think of patience as simply waiting, but there is more to Biblical patience. The Greek word translated patience means: steadfastness, consistency, endurance; the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith, even when against the greatest trials and sufferings. I like to say that Biblical patience is the ability to remain the same, regardless of the circumstances. Adding patience to your faith is very important (Heb 6:12). When you couple passionate patience with powerful faith you will be able to believe God and to hold on to that belief until you see in your hands what you have believed in your heart.
So what does this mean to you today? I will share a few nuggets from Gal 6:9, where Paul said, “And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint” (AMP).
1. The Holy Spirit will lead you to pursue your purpose. The fact that you are reading this message is evidence that you have a desire to discover, develop and deploy in pursuit of your divine purpose. In this series you are learning that as you grow in the knowledge of God, you will also be able to grow in grace so you can make the most of the life God gave you. The point of today’s message is that you will need passionate patience in order to arrive at God’s designed destination for your life, because you will face challenges, setbacks and even delays along the way.
2. Passionate patience helps you resist weariness. No one is so spiritual that they cannot grow weary. We all get tired from time to time. Sometimes you don’t feel like praying, studying, worshipping, or going to church. Sometimes you don’t feel like being nice to people or doing good. But we don’t live by how we feel, we live by what God called us to do, even when we don’t feel like going after it. The Apostle Paul knew there would be times when we simply did not feel like doing right, but we cannot resign ourselves to living an emotion-led life. Emotions change, but the Word of God and His purpose for our lives never change. The more you remind yourself of God’s Word and of the purpose He gave you before the world began, the more you will be able to resist the thoughts of growing weary and giving up.
3. There is a blessing in it for you. Solomon told us that there is a time to sow and a time to reap (Ecc 3:2). Paul likens doing good to a seed. If you sow ‘do-good seed’ you will reap a ‘do-good harvest’. The CEV translation of Gal 6:9 reads, “Don’t get tired of helping others. You will be rewarded when the time is right, if you don’t give up.” The key is not giving up. You must add passionate patience to your faith and to the grace God has given you. Imagine a new farmer who bought a plot of land, sowed seed in the ground that takes 90 days to harvest, but then sold the land after just 80 days because he got weary of waiting. He missed his blessing by just a few days. The same thing happens with believers all the time. You never know when your next harvest is coming from your do-good seed. Don’t allow frustration to keep you from believing in God’s best, from pressing-on in spite of opposition, and from living with an expectation that you will complete your divine assignment. You will be rewarded, if you don’t give up.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me the importance of patience. I have need of patience and I declare, by faith, that I develop in divine and passionate patience daily. The more I grow in You, the more I am able to maintain my patience and I remain the same, regardless of circumstances. I am not moved by what I see, I am only moved by what You said in Your Word and by what You say to me daily. I do not get tired of doing what is right. I sow do-good seed every day, and because I continually sow, I will also continually reap. I reap do-good harvest all the time. Your blessing overtakes me daily. I see it, embrace it, enjoy it, and walk in it. But even when I don’t see it, and even when things look like they are taking longer than I wanted them to, I keep going, I keep pressing, and I keep believing that I will see the manifestation of Your promises in my life. The more I grow in grace, the more I grow in divine patience, and the more I am able to remain consistently consistent in my daily walk. I enter this day and this week with an expectation of good, because I have sown good seed. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
