Note: Before I get into the message today, I want to make you aware of an opportunity to be a blessing. Due to COVID-19, our schools in the Dominican Republic are closed. While the children we were ministering to were receiving a Christ-based education, they were also receiving a hot meal per day. With the schools closed, they are missing those meals and many of the family members have come to our church and the schools there, asking for help. These are not people who are thriving financially. Since they cannot work, they don’t have money for food. Last Friday RIPMinistries distributed 180 “to go” plates of food for the families. Yesterday we made 200. We will continue to provide meals, at least three times per week, for now. If you would like to donate, please do so at http://ripministries.org/donate and use the COVID 19 Food Support item on the drop-down menu. RIPMinistries is a 501(c) non-profit organization, so all donations in the United States are tax-deductible. Thank you in advance for your contributions and support.
Today we continue our series entitled, “Faith and Patience Volume IV — The Wonder Twins”. I have laid the foundation for faith. Now I am doing the same for patience. Let’s get into it.
(?James? ?1?:?2-4? KJV)
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
(James 1:2-4 ERV)
2 My brothers and sisters, you will have many kinds of trouble. But this gives you a reason to be very happy.
3 You know that when your faith is tested, you learn to be patient in suffering.
4 If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to be.
(James 1:2-4 TPT)
2 My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can!
3 For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up power within you to endure all things.
4 And then as your endurance grows even stronger it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Patience is not a gift given by God.
a) Patience is one of those things everyone says they need, but no one really wants to go through what is required to get it.
b) I would love to tell you that patience is a gift from God and that you can simply ask God for it and receive it by His grace. But it’s not a gift to be given. It is not a gift or fruit of the Holy Spirit. Patience is not something God just gives you.
c) Patience is a virtue, a quality, and something that must be developed as part of your character. The type of patient endurance the Apostle James talks about in James 1:2-4 is not something that God will just give you. It can only be PRODUCED as a result of the testing of your faith.
2. The Bible says you have need of patience.
(Heb 10:36 AMPC)
“For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised.”
a) Patience is more than simply waiting for something to happen. It is more than just a quiet and passive adherence to terrible conditions.
b) Divine patience is the ability to remain the same (steadfast, unmovable, unwavering) in the space between God’s promise and the performance of the promise.
c) Divine patience is an inner force that empowers the believer to remain constant and steadfast inwardly, regardless of the conditions outwardly. And once this type of consistency and endurance is developed, it empowers you to hold on, remaining the same, day in and day out, no matter how long it takes for God’s promise to manifest. This type of endurance does not come easy and it does not come overnight. It must be developed over time, as your faith is tested over and over again.
d) Divine patience empowers the believer to successfully resist thoughts of fear, doubt, and unbelief; making it possible for you to remain in-faith while you are waiting on the manifestation of what God promised you.
3. We are called to live by faith, but we also need patience.
In this series you have learned that God does all He does for you by His unearned grace and you must accept and access His grace with your faith.
a) Faith is the currency of God’s Kingdom. Faith is how the earth makes an exchange in the Kingdom of Heaven.
b) Faith is how a human who lives in time can see into the realm of eternity, and then come back from that moment empowered to make decisions in the present, based on what was revealed about the future.
c) Faith is the believer’s legal entrance into the realm of the unseen, the supernatural realm of God, so the believer is equipped to walk by faith (the unseen) and not by sight (the seen).
d) Everything we do as believers, we are called to do by faith. Anyone can have faith for a few minutes or a few days. Anyone can get excited when God says something. But in this series, we are learning that we must add patient endurance to our faith. When days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into months, and months turn into years, we all feel the pressure to give up on what God promised. But the Bible teaches us not to. Abraham waited 25 years for Isaac. David waited 20 years to become the King of Israel. Caleb waited 45 years for his mountain. Many believers today can’t wait 45 days. We need FAITH and PATIENCE!
4. Determine to live by faith with patient endurance. (Read James 1:2-4, Heb 6:12-15).
a) Patience is produced when our faith is tested and we pass the test.
b) When we see into the realm of God and we believe what we saw, we are then in a position to make a stand in faith. Faith believes what you see and hear in the realm of God and it takes a stand that it is only a matter of time before it manifests in the earth realm. In God’s realm, it’s already done, in the natural realm it is only a matter of time before it manifests.
c) When you take a stand in faith, satan will put pressure on you in hopes that you relinquish your position. Satan’s desire is that you have a ‘faith failure’ before the manifestation of God’s promise in your life.
d) This is why Paul told us not to get weary in well-doing. Paul taught us that our harvest will come, “in due season”, if we don’t give up before it’s time (Gal 6:9).
d) Patience is required when satan puts pressure on you to give up, cave in, and quit.
e) Without patience, you will give up before your harvest comes due.
f) Without patience, you will never develop into the man/woman God called you to be.
g) Without patience, you will attempt to live by faith, but your faith will fail.
*** It takes faith and patience to access the fulness of God’s grace on your life.
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me about Your grace and my requirement to live by faith. You made plans for me before the world began. You made those plans by Your unearned grace. Now that I am Born-Again and filled with Your Spirit, You reveal to me what You planned by grace and You expect me to use my faith to believe it, receive it, make a stand for it, and take actions towards it. You want me to do these things, all-the-while knowing that it is only a matter of time before I see in my natural hands what I have already seen in my spiritual heart. But while I am waiting on the manifestation, satan will do all he can to put pressure on me to give up, cave in and quit. I declare that I won’t. I have the patience that has been developed over time, through the testing of my faith. This patient endurance enables me to remain constant and consistent IN FAITH. I will become the man/woman You called me to be because faith and patience are both in operation in my life! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
