The Theory, the Practice, and the Fruit of Patience Purity 817

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the sun dipping into the Pacific Ocean over a gathering of adoring palm trees comes to us from a friend who captured this scene while vacationing in Hawaii back on May 30th. Well, it's the second workday of the week, and even though I am on vacation this week, I am being reminded that we never get to take a day off from life, and no matter what what our work status may be on any given day, we will invariably find that there are things to do that will challenge our peace and test our patience. As much as I could probably devote a lot of time to this topic, I have to cut to the chase because I have an early morning appointment to get my car serviced, and so I have to hurry up and to get there on time where I I have already decided to sit and wait until whatever is making my car's check engine light, um, glow, uh, to be diagnosed and, uh, be resolved. Seriously? Yes, seriously. And in those previous statements, I've already set the stage for an exposition on the theory and practice of patience. Patience reveals problems, or is it problems require patience? Correct. I think those are both right. The need for patience is born out of two things: reality and our expectations. In this life, we will be called to wait for things. That is a truth. I don't know if it— if enough scientific study has been done on that, but if there was, the law of waiting would probably be right alongside the law of gravity as one of the operating principles of life in this universe. However, even though the inevitability of waiting is more or less certain in life, many of our expectations are based on beliefs that either deny or seek to control the waiting aspect of our lives. Here are some beliefs that we may assume in life that will hinder our ability to practice patience: Everything will be okay. I shouldn't have to wait. People are lying to me. People are trying to take advantage of me. Bad things always happen to me. My rights are being violated. This is wrong. If I plan adequately or do everything right, I shouldn't have to wait. I am an important person. This is an unreasonable amount of time to wait. Every one of these statements are either a false expectation based on the lie to the extreme, which are revealed by words like everything, always, or should, or are based on personal value judgments that we are imposing on reality. Those value judgments are based on our perceptions of ourselves or others and may have been formed by past experiences that may or may not be operating in the current situation. In my car appointments this morning, I've already possibly set myself up for a challenge to my patients. Do you know what it is? While it may, may not be clear, I stated that I will sit and wait until the problem with my car's check engine light is resolved. That indicates that I expect it to be resolved, resolved today, resolved today within normal business hours. Because I couldn't sit there if they closed the place. And because I got an early appointment, is my hope and my expectation that will be resolved in a quote-unquote timely manner. What is— what timely will be determined— what timely is will be determined. That's what it should say. My value judgment of timely and the reality of the time it will take to perform the repair may not be the same thing. If I'm holding some of those other beliefs such as waiting is wrong, certain times of waiting are unreasonable, or I am an important person who is being lied to, taken advantage of, or having my rights violated, my ability to be patient will be less. My ability to remain— maintain my peace and joy will be hindered. So what do we do here? Well, this is where being a Christian who is walking in the Spirit should really come in handy, because if we walk in the Spirit, the fruit of patience can be cultivated. But as Romans 12:1-2 tells us, our transformation will be based on our surrendering our bodies to the Lord's service and renewing our mind according to God's will that is based on his word. His truth, or his truth, his word. As Christians, uh, we are to surrender ourselves to best represent God's kingdom, and we are encouraged to be patient people. And it is through challenging all those false expectations and personal value judgments that we can be victorious in being patient and experiencing peace and joy while we wait. Psalm 1 The first Psalm, guys, as in maybe the first thing we should practice in speaking of the blessed man, says that his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. So our waiting period could actually be used for Bible study if, if you so choose, but it could also be used to meditate on the truth, on the various truths, uh, that God's word, uh, word— various truths that will help us in our current situation. Sorry about that, guys, get a little confused. For instance, Proverbs 16:9 says, a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. This verse is one of several in the Bible that points to God's sovereignty. That means God is in control. We aren't, and those people behind the counter aren't either. Although we may plan and hope and expect things in life, God's sovereign will will be done. If God wants us to wait, we will wait. If God wants us to literally die in the waiting room, we are dead. He directs our steps. So if we, if we think If we are thinking waiting is wrong, we are thinking that his— that this part of God's plan for our lives is wrong. And instead of using the time to meditate on his truth— uh, sorry, we're— instead of wait— uh, on his word and him— sorry, wow. Um, my apologies. So if we're thinking waiting is wrong, we're, we're thinking that this part of God's plan for our lives is wrong. And instead of using the time to meditate on his word in him, we are actually opposing his will and denying his presence in our lives. We put the focus on ourselves and totally forget about our relationship with him. We make ourselves an idol of sorts and demand to be served and worshiped by everyone to do our will rather than anyone else's. Instead of taking joy that other patrons have been successfully serviced and are released to go, we can become envious and angry when our focus is on the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. So because I'm pressed for time, I have to move it to the end here. Patience. But I hope this little bit I've written and spoken about today helps those who hear, who hear or read this, that patience is not just grinning and bearing it. There is no peace if we just impatiently endure and keep busy, uh, or keep busy until our waiting time is over. Our whole lives as Christians are intended to be lived in the presence of God to represent the kingdom of God, and are based on our identity in Christ and the trust that God is with us, and the course of our lives are meaningful and purposeful because they are being directed by him. He calls the shots and knows about everything we are going through. So meditate on the truth of God's words as you live your life and keep walking and talking with God no matter where your life will take you. The peace in, in his presence, wisdom, uh, in applying his word to your life— and there is peace in his presence, wisdom in applying his word to your life. And when we walk in the Spirit, we can have joy regardless of the things we have space or the times we have to wait. Practice what you preach is not just following rules. Our daily spiritual practice is to live in God's presence according to his wisdom and ways. Practice may not make us perfect, but if we practice our faith, we will progress to be more and more like Christ in our character, and we will see the fruit of patience grow in our lives. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Psalm 60:12, and it says, with God's help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes. Today's verse tells us that with God's help we will do mighty things and defeat the enemies in our lives. Today's verse was given under the heading When We Feel Powerless. And it can be a great encouragement when we are facing hardship or opposition. This verse is the concluding verse of a Psalm where David pled to the Lord for victory over his literal enemies, the Moabites, who had recently defeated him. He was crying out after a loss for victory. They say David had a heart for God, and it is proven in this Psalm because David goes to the Lord when it would seem that the Lord had let him down in a major way. But David knows who God is and that he is more than able to turn things around. So even in his defeat, David does— doesn't give up his faith. He still trusts that God can do mighty things in and through his life. So David disavows any ideas that he can be successful in his own strength. And says that only with God's help he will be able to do mighty things. John MacArthur's commentary on this verse says that the nation relearned the truth that only God gives victory. So for us, we may need to relearn that our victories come through the Lord, and that if we wish to do mighty things, we need to be in a close personal relationship with God that is defined by love and obedience to his ways in order to see the Lord do mighty things in our lives that will make our enemies flee. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. This morning, today, we continue sharing from Clinton Arnold's Powers of Darkness. And we're in chapter 14, and we're— today we're sharing the sections that say the powers exploit our inclination to do evil and the powers in sickness. So just a reminder that it's about the powers of darkness and their influence on people. And obviously today's sections are on how they— those powers of darkness exploit our inclination to do evil and can even affect our physical health with, with sicknesses. So if you're interested in either one of those topics, go to mtforchrist.org and check out that resource at the end, uh, at the bottom of today's blog post. As always, we encourage people to go out and, uh, you know, get learning, get understanding by studying God's word and books written by Christians that, you know, um, interpret and teach about what God's Word says. So if it's Clinton Arnold or John MacArthur or Dr. Neil Anderson, you know, there's several authors out there that can help you learn about your theology and the application of God's Word to your life. So that's what we do. And that's— so we point to other people, we point to the Word of God, and we point to God. As the— as our helper, you know, the one who can, you know, give us victory over enemies of sin and death and everything. Um, but we have to trust him and follow him and love him. Um, so we, we encourage that, uh, on the, on the podcast, in the— our YouTube channel, we share our teachings that we did in 2021 for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. Um, you know, their basic discipleship classes that, you know, address who we are in Christ and who the enemy is and how we can overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. Um, so check them out. As always— oh, I, I'm, you know, it's not— I really wanted to put it in the blog, but I didn't, but here it is on the podcast that I just want to announce. Basically, uh, Mike My Freedom in Christ class for the fall is filled, so if you intended to check it out, you'll have to wait. Basically, I already have 13 students registered for it. We wanted to cap it at 12, but somebody, the 13th person, snuck in. So that's all, folks. I'm very happy. I honestly believe the Lord has blessed me with this ministry with Freedom in Christ. And I'm very happy that, that we'll be moving ahead with a full class. Whether or not it will stay that way will have a lot to do with the individual participants, the Holy Spirit, and the enemy. And so I, I pray for those participants that signed up that they'll stay the course and finish the course, go through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, experience their freedom, and, you know, maintain it, and then go and tell others. About what the Lord can do when we trust in him. So just, that was a small announcement I wanted to make and give God glory for. And also, yeah, I don't know, maybe I'll write about that tomorrow, but basically I'm going to be web hosting the monthly teaching that Freedom in Christ does for there are Community Freedom Ministry associates in their community. Basically, I'll be hosting the meeting for Zoom as I was trained for that role last night. So, um, lots happening. And even though I'm on vacation, I'm currently preparing, or going to start anyway, preparing for the Bonhoeffer discipleship class that I'm going to do with which is basically a book study on the cost of discipleship. So if you're people who pray, pray for me as I seek to prepare for all of these things that are coming up in the September— month of September. And I'll pray for you right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you've done for us through your Son Jesus Christ, for coming and paying for our sins and giving us new life through the revelation of his gospel, his good news, uh, to us, that we can be saved, forgiven, and made new. Um, Lord, we pray for everyone listening today, Lord, that they'd be blessed if they go to work, or blessed if they don't go to work, Lord, that your divine favor would be with them in their prayer request and in their walk. Uh, Lord, we We're not, we're not alone in this thing. We're with you, but we also have each other in the body of Christ, Lord. And we just pray for our brothers and sisters that, that hope to follow you. We thank you, Lord, as we go forward today, Lord. We just hope that you will help us have patience, whatever we have to face, and help us to use the time of, you know, to reflect on who we are in Christ, who you are and the fact that whatever we're facing is within your will, and, uh, we should use it to represent you and to build up our faith. So help us to do that today, Lord. Open our eyes to the things we need to see and lead us into the things you would have us do. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.