Galatians 5:22-23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. "
I heard a very interesting fact recently that really changed my perspective about waiting. Ready for this?...on The Golf Channel! The presenter was talking about the recipe for success for winning a golf tournament. They gave many "ingredients", but the one that caught my attention was when they said that to win a major tournament, a player needs to learn how to "wait properly". Why? Because during a four day tournament, the amount of time actually spent playing - hitting, swinging, putting, etc., is six minutes and 30 seconds! The rest of the time is spent walking or waiting for other players to advance. So, what a player does during that waiting time also requires practice…they need to learn how to wait.
In Galatians 5:22-23, a fruit of the Spirit called patience is mentioned. The King James Version calls it longsuffering. It's a Greek word that describes how that through grace, we learn to "bear along with frailties, offenses, injustices and provocations of others without murmuring, whining or resentment". Wow! I bet you've never heard patience described that way before.
Paul goes on to say something that I've never heard spoken of before, "against such there is no law". In other words, the law of Moses can't compete with the Gospel of grace. The grace that we need, to learn the proper way to wait when things are coming against us. The grace we need, to learn how NOT to take the bait of offense, or give in to resentment when someone makes a rude comment about us, or wrongfully accuses us. The grace that comes through the power of the Holy Spirit to learn how to wait.
Our cry, "Teach me Lord, to wait". Teach me Lord to think before I speak, to think the best of people in the worst of situations. I already have everything I need on the inside of me by the Holy Spirit. Now it's time to bear the fruit of the Spirit, to wait. To practice waiting. To simply wait on Him.
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Joseph Fortunato Ministries
Joe Fortunato has a genuine passion to see lives changed and the lost saved through the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God. He believes that God has an amazing plan for every person, filled with health, abundance, hope and victory. His purpose in life is to share the message of grace, love and the goodness of God, both in word and deed, everywhere he goes and to every person he meets.
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