Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Key to Inheriting the Promises

Heb 6:11-12 "And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (NASB).

In his book The Apostolic Ministry, Rick Joyner states "... if it takes 'faith and patience' to inherit the promises, why do we have this huge 'faith movement,' but no one has even heard of a 'patience movement?'" I would even suggest that along with self-control, patience is the least sought after fruit of the Spirit. I digress for a moment to suggest that while "fruit happens" is a nice cliche and generally applicable, I think that we could all agree that "fruit happens from a life of pursuing Him" which includes the attributes of His nature that we lack. Anyway, I have been praying for patience frequently lately (in dealing with people as well as work scenarios) and the Lord spoke to me about it and said "Patience must be learned... slowly."

Dismissing our need for patience and not pursuing what we know is in His nature, is inherently sinful (we are created to be in His image, if we pursue another image it cannot be a holy one). So why pursue patience? It is the key to His promises. God is always faithful. It is not, however, a pleasant gift to grow in. The "growing pains" of our instantaneous satisfaction based lives in the 21st century have given us a bent towards believing that if something doesn't happen immediately it must not be His intentions. I actually believe that this one key is the reason people fail to see healing or have their prayers answered: they give up. Luke 18 tells the parable of the unjust judge and the widow who continues to come to him. Christ than equates faith with persistently asking. As long as we continue to believe and stand in faith, while we are in agreement with His will, He will show faithful.

Likewise in Matthew 17:20 Jesus says, "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (NASB). The significance of the mustard seed is not only that it is a small seed, but it has exponential growth over time. If the seed of faith is sown in fertile soil in your heart (Mt 13) and is watered with the living water within you (Jn 4:14) it will grow exceedingly! But guess what? You can't throw out the seed if you don't see a plant in 30 minutes. His promises of healing, provision, deliverance, etc. all regularly rely on our choosing to believe in what He says, acting on it, and not giving up. Just acknowledging the possibility isn't enough, we must be proactively pursuing this patient endurance with faith in His promises in order to see them realized.

2 comments:

  1. great post Jeff...

    Praying for patience will allow God to give us many opportunities that will test our patience.

    It is in those testing situations, that we get to practice doing things God's way and not our own. I have found through seasons of suffering and trials that it too will develop much patience and learning perseverance.

    Keep writing!

    Be blessed,
    Jean
    BlueJean751 at Twitter....

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  2. Thanks Jean.

    I've found that the longer we can be patient with faith, the more our faith grows. While testimonies can increase our faith on the short-term, to increase our faith in the long-term requires God "coming through" for us over the duration of a trial. Again, be blessed in Jesus name!

    Jeff

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