Faith and Patience

Sometimes when I am reading I come upon something that is profound and yet obvious at the same time. This morning was one of those times. One of the books I am reading at the moment is "There Were Two Trees in the Garden" by Rick Joyner (a book I would recommend without hesitation). In it he quotes Hebrews 6:12 as exhorting us to "be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises". Joyner goes on to point out that "True faith cannot be separated from patience." Indeed, our ability to be patient (or not) is actually a measure of our faith in God; do we really believe that He is faithful and true to His promises? 


The alternative is that we are impatient and like Abraham, give birth to our own 'Ishmaels', symbols of our lack of patience and our belief that we need to work out our own answers rather than waiting on God. And there it is again. Waiting. Waiting takes patience. I would rather be doing. 


Personally, I have felt like I am in the waiting room for a number of years now. Every now and again, I wonder if I have missed something, if I should be doing something different. It's usually when I see others going out and all the pieces seeming to fall into place for them and I wonder why it is not happening for me, why my promised 'child' is so slow in coming. But each time, as I step back, I know that I don't want to run ahead of God. Even though there may be some immediate rewards and benefits (like human approval), long term I know I will not end up where I want to be. As a wise friend pointed out the other day, if we deviate only one degree off the course of walking beside Jesus, the further we walk down that path, the further away from Him we get. 


As I continue on with my studies looking at spiritual formation, I am reminded again and again that it is not about what we do or what we know but about Who we know and what we do with Him. One of my favourite pictures from Jesus is of the vine and the branches in John 15:1-17. Jesus repeatedly affirms that it is as we abide or remain in Him that He remains in us, and that this is where true fruitfulness will come from. The more time we spend abiding with Jesus the more like Him we will become and the more faith and patience we will find we have.