But the fruit of the Spirit is?
Galatians 5: 22: But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, PATIENCE, kindness, goodness……….against such things there is no law (NIV). In the KJV the word longsuffering is used instead of the word patience.
What does patience/longsuffering mean? In the Greek translation this means endurance, constancy, forbearance or fortitude. Patience is that calm and unruffled demeanor that one exhibits in the face of tribulation or turmoil. It means that you can have love joy, and peace even over a period of time when people and events annoy you. God does not easily get irritated with us and hence we should not be easily irritated with others. See Romans 9: 22
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? I guess
If Satan is unable to overcome us by force then he will try to wear us down, the only way to overcome this is to remain patient and wait for Satan to get tired of his own game.
For this week let us pray for our Children to exhibit the spirit of Patience and Longsuffering in their everyday life. In today’s society it would appear that patience is a thing of the past, it seems like every one is impatient, parents get easily impatient with their children and children with their parents, we get impatient with other drivers on the road, impatient as we stand in lines to be served. We get impatient with the elderly, impatient with our job. We want things yesterday, as put by someone- we are in a microwave age- where everything is fast. We no longer write letters, we e-mail or text and with texting we use the shortest possible way to get our message across (like C U later, or 2morrow). I am not saying we should remain in the dark ages, but we really need to slow down some. I hear it so often, a patient is prescribed a medication today in the evening and they call you first thing the next morning to say it doesn’t work because they are not back to normal. As we exhibit patience it allows us to reflect, to think, make right decisions and it builds strength and character in us. It is possible to exhibit patience, as a Christian, we have the fruit of the spirit- Love, Joy, Peace longsuffering/patience, let us start to use it. Let us wear Satan down, instead of him wearing us down. Do not give in let us endure to the end.
Father, I thank you for my child or children. I pray for the manifestation of Patience in their lives, with their friends, in school, with their co-workers, with their spouses and their own children. I pray that as they abide in you that patience will become easier each day. I pray that they will remember that they can do all things in Christ who gives them strength so being patient is possible. As I pray for their patience, I pray that I will be an example for them by exercising patienc with them. In Jesus’s name Amen.
In His Service,
Vilma
