Thoughts on patience

Patience
When do I need to give it, exercise it? When I am quick to anger and frustration?
1. Going someplace and waiting for someone
2. Working on something with someone
3. When I want someone to do something that I want
4. Teaching an idea or concept to someone
5. When things or situations do not go my way
6. Listening to someone and giving them a chance to talk and share
7. Anxious for a some type of event
Patience comes once I am done with myself. Needing patience and showing patience are too different things. Needing patience is much more indicative of a bad thing rather than a good one. When that changes is an indication that maturity is really entering in.
Needing patience is indicative of several things
1. There is a lack of self control
2. There is rapid motions of anger
3. Blatant frustration
4. Thinking that what I have to say is more important or more correct (Pride)
5. Pride
6. Indifference or hate instead of love
7. Not abiding (if I was I would see each moment for what they are instead of ruining them with an outburst of anger or frustration instead of self control and grace.)
8. Not walking with God
Most of the time patience is a just an exercise of self control, basically refraining from sin. It is not a virtue to refrain from getting upset or frustrated because someone is taking longer than you want them to. The virtue comes in a much higher form; in its purest sense (and what I want to be known for) is a patience that is hopefully waiting for something for someone. This type of patience stems from love and understanding. A proper patience for someone has their best interest at heart. It understands the process and steps that it takes to live this life to the fullest and therefore waits hopefully for others. To live out life in a composed nature is to see the big picture. When you see the big picture you can ascertain that it will not be conquered in a quick fashion. It will take perseverance, fortitude, and time to get where you want to go. Not having this picture in my will lead to frustration, anger, intolerance and agitation.
I think that one of the biggest factors in living patiently with people and life, in general, is having the big picture in mind. Knowing where you are going and how and what it will take to get there alleviates a lot of the frustration. If I was going on a trip to Kansas in which I needed to be there in two days, I would save myself a lot of irritation if I had a map compared to if I did not have a map. Could you imagine the lack of composure that would come from guessing how to get there? And with people, patience only comes from maturity. One of the key ingredients that are in maturity is understanding. You understand how you got to where you are at. You have a firm grasp on how life works. You have actually taken the trip to Kansas; you know how long it takes. If it took you 12 hours you would not expect it to only take someone else 6. You know that you cannot skip steps or make things go faster. This mindset can permeate all of life. When I am finally marked by it I know that I will be able to look in the mirror and see the reflection of God because He is the source of all patience. He is wise, He knows where we are going, He knows how and what it takes to get there. He remains without irritation and filled with composure because He came to this earth, He understands. He sits hopeful and waiting.
As a side note, I think and want others to know, that when I lose my patience that I look like a complete idiot and utter fool. It is a mark of immaturity and fleshly living.

The conditions of God's promises

In the Scriptures there are a number of promises that are given by God. There is something to really consider in regards to them in order to see the fruition of them. The only way that we can see if God’s promises are true is to remain confident and fully trusting that what He said is true. Just because it is promised does not mean that we will receive or experience them. Here’s an example to consider: I have a five year old that loves to play Mario Kart on the Wii. He asks just about every day to play. On most days he allowed right after he asks but on other days there are conditions. I promise (an agreement that guarantees something) him that he can play if cleans up his other toys and folds all of his laundry. There are two things that can happen: he can see the fruition of my pledge and do what was asked or he could not do it and not see the fruition. What I guaranteed did not change but it is not seen because a condition was not met. There are a couple reasons that this might happen. Maybe my son does not trust my word. He could be apprehensive and think that even if he did what was asked he still might not be able to play. The other is simple disobedience. He simply wanted what he wanted but not what I wanted, therefore he chose to not do what was required.
God’s promises are the same. We will never be able to call Him a liar. What He has promised He will willingly oblige. The only things that will keep us from seeing the fruit of His promises are distrust (not having faith) and disobedience. In matters of lack of faith, is there something else that you have found that can get you what God promises? Have you found a better way? Where are you putting your confidence? What is your hope? I am extremely confident that God has never lied or failed to supply His end of one of His promises, if you failed to see it, it is because you did not do what was required. You wanted your way, but not His way. If you like what He promises, look to see what is required on your end, and do it! He will do what He has said, ALWAYS! This is for me more than anyone that reads this, but I do hope that it encourages you. What is one promise that God has made that really excites and motivates you? I love that if I seek Him, I will find Him. He has never failed to live up to His end of the deal. Countless times, I have failed to live up to my end. He is faithful! His guarantees are extraordinarily abundant and inestimably valuable!

Some first draft meditations from tonight.

Below are some meditations from tonight that will need to be developed over time. They may or may not make sense to anyone but I see them as seeds being planted into me. We shall see what they will grow into. If any of them plant themselves into you, please let me know. This could totally be just for me, though, and that is okay.

You want me to know the power of the resurrection. In it is everything and it is where we find You.

You want us to first trust You and then continue trusting You and live accordingly. This would resemble living with all our heart, soul and mind in this belief. This belief makes You very excited. Living confidently is fully trusting.

Knowing You is what You want. You want us to know You and this takes place within the resurrection power. You wanting us to know You is profoundly spectacular!

When we close our eyes and completely balance ourselves, You (Jesus) will greet us. When we open our eyes, You will walk with us.

The reason that You want us to prophesy more than anything else is because it requires us listening to You far more than it requires us talking. The energy required to listen to You is found solely in the resurrection power. Living out prophesy is living out all the gifts. Not just speaking as a prophet but also living like a prophet. A prophet is alive to You. This is not some freaky religious person, this is someone that believes in all the life of Jesus and through that is awakened to You and comes alive on this earth. Very natural looking except it looks foreign to those that are not awake.

When a person has entered into this awakening something strange and life altering begins to take place. This world becomes a cocoon. It is very much resembles a caterpillar. Born and living yet it knows that something far greater lies ahead, doesn’t really know what it is though. This is a person that is not awake on this earth. They know that there is something but really have no idea how crazy it could be. Until the caterpillar decides to enter its cocoon it cannot see what lies ahead. The person that begins to trust that Jesus is still alive enters the cocoon. This earth is no longer the same. It becomes a place of transformation and change and that is all that it is. This life, my life, is life that is in the cocoon. There is something major happening. There is a transformation taking place and as long as I am alive, I am in the cocoon. The day that caterpillar’s cocoon breaks open is the day that it ceases to be a caterpillar and is now what it was meant to be. The day that this cocoon breaks is the day that I become what I was meant to be and live as I am meant to live. This earth is a cocoon to those that are awake. We are surrounded by those that do not know we are in one. If a caterpillar refuses to build a cocoon, it will never know what it was meant to be. It might look at a butterfly and say, that would be so amazing to fly, not realizing it is meant to fly. Those who are not awake have no idea that we who alive are now living, as if, in a cocoon. This is where all the change is going down. We are being morphed. It is as dramatic as a worm to a butterfly. What if there were a thousand caterpillars and only five made it to their cocoon? There would only be five butterflies. That is the only way that this world has butterflies. What if out of 4 billion people only 5 million of them trusted that Jesus is true? There would only be 5 million people that emerge from this life transformed and changed. (Although I believe the number would be much higher because I truly believe that God has a unique grace for children and if their chance to enter the cocoon was cut short they will still be transformed. Lots of caterpillars are eaten before they get a chance to transform.) We are not butterflies here in this life. We are worms that are ceasing to be worms becoming what we will be. This is the transformation.

It is very certain that if we trust You, You will show us that You are God. We will not have to read about it and how others have experienced You. You will show us personally and be that to us, because You are the same now as You have always been. I love this.

The thing about love....ok, maybe one thing.

I would have to say that most of the time, in order for love to be its best, you have to be at your worst. That is when the potency of love bubbles up and overcomes you. Love is potent when you do not feel a sense of entitlement to it. Unfortunately this is typically actualized when we are at our worst. When we are at our best and “giving” our love to someone we feel as if the same should be reciprocated. We feel as if we deserve it and are entitled to it. This creates the idea that love is something that is a reward or something that is earned. And this is how we interact and live with those that we love. This is all fine and dandy until we have one of those days where we know for a fact that we did not hold up our end of the bargain. We failed to “give” our love, we know that we failed. In our minds we believe that we are no longer entitled to “receiving” love. This is where actual love kicks in. Actual love is not based upon performance or as a compensation for labor. Actual love comes at you freely, with no strings attached. Actual love takes you at your worst and treats you as if you are at your best. This is something that is so foreign to the human soul. So foreign that in fact it is easy to want to push it away and reject it. We would rather wallow and wait until we deserve it again. This “foreigner” is persistent though and will not allow us to wallow in the mire. Why? Well, our love would never allow its subject any time wallowing, so why would someone else’s? Love comes in when we are down and picks us up. To reject it is pride. To say no, is to have no understanding regarding love actualized. When we allow it to pick us up it renews us with a sense of satisfaction. I have come to understand that this is because love satisfies. It takes us at our worst and makes us feel at our best. It will never allow us to feel unworthy of its rewards; that would be pity. Love is so much greater than pity; it heals as thorough as any medicine that can be prescribed or surgery that can be performed. It is almost a tragedy that this is the way that it must go. If we can lay all of our efforts and pride aside and allow love to do its thing I feel that we would experience something far greater than what we currently do. Love minus the entitlements is, indeed, one of the greatest most surreal things on the planet, it heals us and sets us free.