Who has it?  Who wants to do the work to get it?  Work?  Yes, it takes work to shape and form passionate patience.  This isn’t your normal, natural homegrown, do-it-yourself patience for short periods of time such as being okay with spilled milk of a child and helping them to clean it up.  This is God formed patience.  It is forming the kind of passionate patience that God has for us, forgiving us when we make a mess of things and come close to devastation of our lives and in the lives of those around us.  It does not come at once but is shaped over the years in our journey with Him.  The more we get to know our Lord, the more we become like Jesus in our thinking, talking and walking.  He then works in us as we begin to form His character traits. 

Just as children mirror their parents without even thinking, may we mirror the character traits of our Father in Heaven.  That’s what Jesus so perfectly mirrored to us while on earth!

Having patience in all troubles and circumstances is not easy.  Jesus told his disciples (and us), thought that there would always be troubles, but with the promise that HE has already overcome it all.  “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. So, therefore we are overcomers with Him. And what about that peace in Him!  Just to know that battles we face are only temporary and that victory is already ours, helps to frame life’s temporary skirmishes in our present circumstances into victory! 

Our Victor also sent the Holy Spirit to guide and develop passionate patience in us through troubles.  It is one of the character traits of God that Paul calls the fruits of the Spirit.  As we obey the work of God’s Holy Spirit living in us, as believers of Jesus, the Spirit begins to grow and mature us in all kinds of ways.  The closer to Jesus and the more pliable we are to His Spirit, we will discover that we are changing from the inside out. The deeper we go in His teaching, we see the “fruits” of His labor of love displayed in our lives, forming character traits which reflects the One we believe.  Passionate patience is one of those characteristics.  We cannot form this ourselves.  Patience for me is not a trait I was born with, it had to grow, it is still growing!

Paul tells us specifically of other fruits of God’s character, what they are and where they come from: “…the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”  Galatians 5:23-26

In this next passage, Paul tells us of the wonderful benefits of allowing God’s Holy Spirit to freely do His work in us.  Read on…

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 5:1-11, The Message

Developing Patience

^1-2 By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

^3-5 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

^6-8 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

^9-11 Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!

ICYMI:  THE BENEFITS OF THE HOLY SPIRITS WORK IN US…

“We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.”

“We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.”

“…we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!”

“Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready.”

“God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”

“…when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life!”

We are friends with God!!  Because we believe in Jesus, we have this amazing friendship with God! 

Lord,

Our friendship just keeps growing and maturing and taking me to places I never thought possible.  You have had the patience to put up with my messes and shortcomings.  Your love and passionate patience is amazing.  You are the One and Only who sets things right with you.  Then, as an added bonus, you develop your kind of passionate patience in us.  I trust You. I trust in what you are doing continually in me.  Not there yet, but on my way.  Thank you, Lord.

In Jesus Name, Amen.