TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Part 4
June 16, 2019
Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1JOHN 1:9: If we confess [name] our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
Let’s recap our study of The Fruit of The Spirit. God The Holy Spirit produces the fruit in each believer’s life when he/she carries out the Pre-Designed Plan of God through the filling of The Holy Spirit and the consistent study of Bible doctrine. There are nine fruits and we’ve studied the first three, which are: love, joy and peace. The fourth is patience.
The Greek word for patience is makrothumia which is pronounced mak-roth-oo-mee-ah, with the emphasis on “mee.” In the Bible, makrothumia is generally used to refer to a person who could avenge himself but doesn’t. In other words, if someone said you have makrothumia, you might find yourself in a situation where you want to get back at someone for doing something bad to you, but you refrain from doing it.
Patience (makrothumia) is also translated as endurance, steadfastness, and perseverance, especially as shown in going through troubles and trials. It’s also translated as slowness in avenging wrongs. Now, wanting vengeance is a very common and very sinful desire. There’s not a person on earth today who hasn’t wanted to take vengeance on someone for something that person has done. You must have experienced it, in your own life.
Maybe you let your friend borrow your favorite dress and then she moved away without ever returning it to you. The dress cost you all the money you had worked so very hard to save and it was a bit expensive. It was colorful and very chic! But your friend left without saying goodbye and she didn’t give you or any of her other friends, her contact information (new phone number, address, etc.)
Or maybe it’s the bottom of the ninth inning and the score’s two to one. There’s a man on second base and your team has two outs. The batter hits the ball over the outfielder’s head and the ball rolls to the fence. The runner on second base, takes off for third base and the coach at third base sends the runner home to try to score. The outfielder picks up the ball and throws it to the shortstop, who turns and throws the ball to the catcher at home plate; but the runner is out, ending the game. Because of the coach’s decision, the game is over, and you’ve lost the game.
In each of the two scenarios given, you might want to take revenge. In the first one, you might want your friend’s mother to mistakenly throw your dress in with the white clothes and bleach it. In the second one, you might want to scream at the coach at third base in front of everyone. But if you’ve matured as a Christian and you’ve developed patience, you won’t!
Patience (makrothumia) is used in reference to God and His attitude to humans. Look at EX 34:6-7: So, Moses cut two tablets of stone just like the originals. He got up early in the morning and climbed Mount Sinai as God had commanded him, carrying the two tablets of stone. God descended in the cloud and took up his position there beside him and called out the name, God. God passed in front of him and called out, “God, God, a God of mercy and grace, endlessly patient—so much love, so deeply true—loyal in love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. Still, he doesn’t ignore sin. He holds sons and grandsons responsible for a father’s sins to the third and even fourth generation.” This is a fascinating piece of scripture! In order to get Moses’ attention, God Himself “called out the name, God.” In other words, this is God speaking of Himself.
God then “called out, “God, God, a God of mercy and grace” in order to get Moses’ attention even more! God describes Himself in these verses as “endlessly patient” which His attitude toward Moses and His attitude toward you!! Patience (makrothumia) is also defined as long-suffering, which means patient endurance of long-lasting injuries or troubles. Patience (makrothumia) also means tolerance.
Patience (along with every Fruit of The Spirit) can only be produced, in believers’ lives, by The Holy Spirit. It can only grow in our lives by The Power of The Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine resident in our souls. The apostle Paul wrote this about patience: Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul [patience] —not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength [patience] God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. (COL 1:9-12)
The Power of The Holy Spirit is available to any believer who names and acknowledges his/her sins to God The Father in His Son’s name. This is called Rebound. When you rebound, you’re filled with The Power of The Holy Spirit and you’re in the patience zone! We need to become more aware of rebounding throughout the day. If we don’t, we’re not operating in The Power of The Holy Spirit. If we’re not operating in Divine Power, we cannot have The Mind of Christ. Without the Mind of Christ, we cannot have patience. Patience is a system of thinking, not an emotion. You must study God’s Word daily in order to take in enough Bible doctrine to change the way you think. There is NO OTHER WAY. God has designed it that way, so we know it is best for us.
This Divine Way of Thinking enables you to have patience and it allows you to operate with Divine Power NOT WITH EMOTION! This is taught in COL 3:12 (New International Version): Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Patience (coupled with Bible doctrine) will give you the kind of grace-based system of thinking you need to have greater sensitivity toward others: He who is slow to anger [has patience] has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly. (PRO 14:29) The Message Bible’s translation of this verse is great: Slowness to anger makes for deep understanding; a quick-tempered person stockpiles stupidity. You have to love “stockpiles stupidity” as a translation!!
You will be able to settle your differences with other people if you have patience with others. This is taught in PRO 15:18 (New International Version): A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.
Patience enables you to react well under pressure: Moderation is better than muscle, self-control better than political power. (PRO 16:32 The Message Bible) What this verse is saying is that patience is better and more powerful than strength (“muscle”).
Patience gives you the strength and power to handle undeserved suffering and mistreatment and to bring glory to God. This is an important lesson because throughout your life, you will find yourself working. And the people in charge may treat you badly – you have to expect that. So, if you remember this verse and apply it to the workplace, you will glorify God: 1PE 2:18-20 (The Message Bible): You who are servants, be good servants to your masters—not just to good masters, but also to bad ones. What counts is that you put up with it for God’s sake when you’re treated badly for no good reason. There’s no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.
When you have problems, which may make you lose your patience, what’s really happening is you’re having your Bible doctrine and your faith tested! Do you remember what the Faith-Rest Drill is? The first part is obvious – you put your faith in the character of God. How do you rest in the Lord? You do it by turning over your problems to God to give you the answers that are needed when problems arise. You do it by letting God take care of your problem and resting because you have faith in Him and His perfect ability to solve your problems.
To use the Faith-Rest Drill, remember you must be in fellowship with God, which is achieved when we use Rebound. Once you’ve rebounded, relax and don’t panic! Turn over your problems to Him and this will enable you to be patient: Knowing that the testing of your faith [your doctrine; the Faith-Rest Drill] produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (JAM 1:3-4) Look at The Message Bible translation of JAM 1:2-4: Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So, don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work, so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
Patience is using God’s grace and the Power of The Holy Spirit to get through troubles without complaining. You know we can’t resist complaining! Still God has patience with us, no matter what we do! The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. (PSA 103:8) Use Our Lord as your Example and you’ll see that you won’t get angry as much and you won’t say or do things to hurt others. Always remember, it’s not fun being around angry, impatient people. God is so patient and loving with us. He never gets impatient – even when we get off track.
Patience allows us to put up with each other, as we continue to grow in the Grace and Knowledge of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It helps us to “treat other people with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love. (EPH 4:2)
{to be continued}