A Patient Of Patience, Evans Olang

James 1:4, “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing”

To walk with God, patience is a must or else you will not last long with God. As I walk with the Lord, I am learning that God is not in a hurry. If anything, He takes time to do things. Whatever He is doing is not just for today and tomorrow, He is doing it for days to come. He is building His people who will stand through time. I am amazed how some Christians want things yesterday. They get saved today, tomorrow they are dying to be on talk shows teaching everyone how to get saved. Many are anxious to be recognized and entrusted with positions and when it does not happen within their time frame, they get angry and leave. In church if their talents are not recognized, they change churches. Such people do not make it long with God. Such people want God to fit in their schedule and God is not going to. Either you are in His program or you are alone.

Genesis dedicates roughly 12 chapters on the life of Joseph. It is a vital story that relates to the life of a believer. From the time Joseph receives a dream to the time the dream is fulfilled takes a great deal of process. We shout over the end results but forget that there is a process. When you understand that there is a process, you ready yourself for it. If you want to live a meaningful life, your goal should be large enough to serve as a challenge. Your greatest responsibility is however to do the will of God with patience in the circumstance in which He has placed you as His representative. Whatever you have to accomplish has to have a beginning. You cannot jump to the result without starting from somewhere. Someone said, “a journey of a thousand miles begin with a step“. Joseph rejoiced over his end results, he even shared it with his family and we know how that did not go well. Almighty God in His own wisdom knew that this armature would need work to sustain that dream and develop a character to support it. I see that God’s main thing in our lives is not so much to deliver us out of situations or give us what we desire, He is in the business of building characters. Character causes one to live in any kind of situations and still shine while in it. Their character will not change with time or positions, it will remain intact. Patience is an ingredient that should not miss in a believer’s life.

James 1:4, “But let patience have its perfect work”. James (Jesus’ half-brother) tells us to “Let patience do its thing”. We cannot dictate it, push it, work it up; It goes in its own pace. With patience expect obstacles, barriers, setbacks, walls, and delays. Let it perfect your character through each step, that is its job. Joseph had his shares of struggles, a lot of obstacles, barriers, setbacks etc. It was not even clear if the dream would ever come to pass due to turn of events, still he persevered. His responsibility was to persevere in every stage, patience was building his character and God was orchestrating His destiny. David and Job had different experiences that required a lot of patience, God built their characters. “…that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing”. Perfecting something means taking time to work on it, at times things may not go as expected but you stick with it. This is what God is doing with His children, taking them through a process of perfection and completion leaving them lacking nothing. Joseph, David and Job took this class and we read about their later lives, they lacked nothing character wise.

If you are frustrated with God because of what He has not done, check to see if you growing in patience, see how your character is impacted by it. When God delays promises, it is not because the promise needed time to be made, it is because the person who He made the promise for was not ready for it. In short, the problem is not with God, the problem is with us. There are so many things that I have prayed to God for and now I see why they have not come, I do not have enough character to support the results yet. I am letting patience do its work, I do not want to mess the blessings God will send my way because I had no character. I am checking in with Dr. patience, I need work. I am a patient of patience, what about you?, Blessings Evans

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