Week 5 Long-suffering ~the willingness to stick with things.
Truth Verses
Gal 5:22 the fruit of the spirit is…long-suffering (patience)
Gal 5:22 [MSG] much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard…we develop a willingness to stick with things
Hebrews 6:12 who through faith and patience inherit the promises of God
Colossians 1:11 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 - not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives.
Truth Story
The book of Genesis dedicates chapters 37-50 to the story of Joseph. This is a life-journey that demonstrates the quality of persevering patience or long-suffering.
God had given Joseph prophetic dreams that would be fulfilled only after many turbulent years. However, when Joseph shared his dreams with his older brothers, they were, in the words of Queen Victoria, ‘not amused"! He had shared how his dream had predicted that they would bow down to him as he ruled over them. Needless to say, those same brothers thought him to be an arrogant young upstart.
Their hatred was compounded by the fact that their father had also expressed favouritism to Joseph. His father Jacob had made him a special multi-coloured coat to wear. Their envy and jealousy was so intense that they had even considered killing him. Instead they feigned his death, dipping his coat in animal blood to deceive their dad. They pretended that a wild animal had killed his dreamer son.
From that point on Joseph suffered a series of life events that seemed like his dreams were "pie in the sky" figments of his imagination. He was thrown in a pit, and then thrown in prison and subsequently experienced false accusations during his stay in Potiphar's house. While in prison and in Potiphar's house he had consistently devoted himself to the concern and service of others and had been recognised by those in power to be a very effective leader.
However, through it all, Joseph never let his dream die. His prophetic dreams were often all that he had to hold onto. In these tough and extremely testing times he reached his destiny. It was through his faith and patience that he ultimately inherited his promised leadership dream (Hebrews 12:6).
Joseph had become the Prime Minister of Egypt. He then led a campaign of food storage that would save many lives throughout a period of famine. During this time of food shortage his brothers travelled down from Canaan in search of food, only to find themselves paying homage to the brother they had left for dead. They had meant it into Him for evil but God had meant it unto him for good (Genesis 50:20). God had permitted Joseph to experience hardship and trial, but ultimately used all the circumstances, the good the bad and the ugly, to fulfil the future He had preordained for Joseph's life.
Truth Unpacked
Long-suffering is an old fashioned [KJV] word used fourteen times in the New Testament, translated in newer versions (NIV) as patience. It literally means being “long-tempered.” This is a God-like characteristic (Exodus 34:6). Rather than retaliating in anger when offended, God patiently forbears or has a “long fuse” (James 5:19).
The Message Bible [MSG] culturally updates and unpacks this characteristic to be a willingness to stick with things.
Realising that the Lord is always with us (Matt 28:19ff), helps us never loose sight of the fact that God has a dream for our life and an important destiny for us to fulfil (Rom 8:28). So although our life calling may be delayed, tested and tried, remember that God himself is a long-suffering God (Exodus 34). He too has a "long-fuse" and shall be faithful, in time, to push the detonator of fulfilment to the dreams that he has promised for our lives.
Quote The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter
(Paulo Coelho, Book - Veronika Decides to Die)
Praying the Word
Spirit of the Lord, help me receive and develop this virtue. Deposit patience within my heart (Romans 5:3-5[MSG]). Let this ‘long fuse’ mindset help me to have the strength to stick things out for the long haul. Recalibrate my thinking to realise that the absence of action is often just a timing delay (Habakkuk 2:3). Help me to wait on the right time to act, for the right principles to apply and do them in the right way. Amen (Psalm 34:19; 37:7; James 1:3-4).
Lectio Divina [Prayer reading]
Pray, read and reflect.
• Have those that are willing pray, asking that the Holy Spirit would help them hear His voice (John 10:27).
• Read the scriptures again.
• Then go around the room [allowing for ‘neighbour nudging’ to let people opt out should they not want to share]. Have everyone willing then reflect, acknowledging one thing they sense the Holy Spirit is saying to them as they read.
Pray, reinforce and contemplate.
• Close the connect group time by praying that the Spirit would help empower everyone to demonstrate this Jesus-like characteristic of patience.
• Reinforce this by a participating in symbolic gesture or creative activity that does something to express our desire to receive this change (e.g. Share personal testimonies of how apparently setbacks were actually Gods setups. These stories will underscore the ongoing need for everyone to experience this trait of patience)
• Ask everyone to contemplate; to consider how they can demonstrate this characteristic more in their everyday lives.
