As I"ve thought about the matter of human impatience, I"ve realized that impatience is the fruit of pride. The proud can"t seem to wait for anything with a proper att.i.tude. It"s as if they cry out, "I deserve it-and I deserve it right now."
I want to point out something from the words of James 5:7. G.o.d doesn"t say, "Be patient if you wait," but, "Be patient as you wait." He uses the beautiful example of farmers. They prepare the soil and plant the crops, and then comes the season of waiting. They know in G.o.d"s time, the crops will produce, and they also realize it"s a different growing season for tomatoes than it is for wheat. They know waiting is necessary for harvest, so instead of making themselves miserable while they wait, they enjoy the time in between seed planting and harvest. You can make a decision to do the same thing.
We need to enjoy our lives now-right now while we wait. So many people complain about wasting time (which is how they talk about waiting). Instead of pacing and grumbling about how long we have to wait in line at the grocery store or the traffic congestion on the expressway, what if we said, "Thanks, G.o.d. I can slow down now. I can enjoy this moment. Every second of my life doesn"t have to be busy, busy, busy"?
The psalmist said it this way: "My times are in Your hands; deliver me from the hands of my foes and those who pursue me and persecute me" (Psalm 31:15). This was the prayer by a man in a desperate situation. His enemies were out to kill him. Still, he didn"t panic, but said, "My times are in Your hands."
Isn"t that how G.o.d wants you to live? Your life and your times are in G.o.d"s hands. Doesn"t it follow then, if you"re facing delays and have to wait, G.o.d knows? He"s the One Who controls the clock of life. "My times are in Your hands." That"s the way G.o.d wants us to live-and to enjoy the waiting time. Don"t focus just on reaching your desired destination. Focus on the journey and be determined to relish the moments G.o.d gives you to relax, and enjoy them as a gift from G.o.d Himself.
CHAPTER 53.
Too Hard?
Please make everything easy and simple for me, dear G.o.d. I don"t like to struggle, and I want constant victory without exerting any effort. Let me go on my way as I let You do everything to keep me secure."
I have never heard anyone pray those words, but I have heard people ask for an easy life in prayer. Too many people want victory without battle, triumph without effort, and ease without labor. G.o.d"s world simply doesn"t function that way. After thirty-three years of ministry I have never had a person ask me to pray they would be able to endure their difficulty with a good att.i.tude. They always want their problems to go away; and looking at it naturally, that makes sense. We all probably feel that way until we learn that some of our greatest blessings come out of our challenging times in life.
Too many people want victory without battle, triumph without effort, and ease without labor. G.o.d"s world simply doesn"t function that way.
"It"s just too hard." I wonder how many times I have heard people say that. I wonder how many times Joyce Meyer has said that. And I have. There was a time when I tried to make a firm stand for following the Lord, but in my heart (and often in my mouth) were the words, "It was just so hard."
G.o.d convicted me of negative thinking. He taught me that if I would stop looking at the hardships and obey Him, He would make a way for me. Deuteronomy 30:911, 14 tells us G.o.d wants to bless us and prosper from the work of our hands, but we must obey His commandments, and in verse 11, He a.s.sures us we can do it: "For this commandment which I command you this day is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off." The first time I saw that scripture it destroyed my lifelong excuse that what G.o.d was asking me to do was just too hard. Anytime G.o.d asks us to do something, He always gives us the ability to do it.
Because we spend so much time listening to the negatives and figuring out what can go wrong, often we forget the promise that His will is not too difficult for us. Instead, it may help if we expect our difficulties to actually work out for good. For instance, take encouragement from Joseph. After he spent years in Egypt and saved the lives of his family in Canaan, his brothers were afraid of him. Before that, they hated him, plotted to kill him, and sold him into slavery. After their father, Jacob, died, they expected Joseph to punish them. He could have done that and groaned about his hard life-and his life had not been easy. Not only was he sold as a slave by his brothers, but he was wrongly imprisoned and could have been put to death if G.o.d hadn"t been with him.
Instead of saying, "Life is so hard," Joseph said, "As for you, you thought evil against me, but G.o.d meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day" (Genesis 50:20). He understood how G.o.d works in human lives.
Joseph didn"t look only at the hardships; he looked at the opportunities. Joseph didn"t listen to the whispering campaign of his enemy; he turned his ears to the encouraging words of his G.o.d. In no place do we read of him complaining. He saw everything that happened to him as something that would work out for good in the end.
Even in difficulty we need to remember G.o.d loves us and has a good plan for our lives. The devil likes to creep in to say, "If G.o.d loves you so much, why are you in this mess?"
The best answer I can give is to repeat the words of Paul the great apostle: Let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fort.i.tude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for G.o.d"s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us (Romans 5:35).
G.o.d never promised us a life lived on easy street, but He does promise a blessed life.
CHAPTER 54.
Choosing the Right Response When you and I begin to break ourselves of any bad habit, we have a struggle on our hands. We have to fight within ourselves, crying out to G.o.d, "Lord, help me, help me!" It is so wonderful to know that the Holy Spirit is always with us to help us all the time.
If you know you have given yourself over to some bad habit like emotional eating, when you sit down to the table you have to say within yourself, Holy Spirit, help me not to overeat. In a restaurant where everybody at your table is ordering dessert, and you can feel yourself starting to waiver, you can cry out inside, Holy Spirit, help me, help me!
I have found that if I depend upon my flesh through sheer willpower or determination alone, I will fail every time. But if I am determined to resist temptation by calling on the power of the Holy Spirit, I find the strength I need for success.
I have discovered that the Lord is not going to do everything for us in this life. We can"t just find someone to pray for us to be set free from all our bondage. There is a part we must play with our minds and wills. It takes a combination of faith and action.
The apostle Paul said he did not take the grace of G.o.d in vain (see Galatians 2:21). He meant that he did not expect G.o.d to do everything for him without doing his part too. G.o.d gives us the ability to do what we need to do, but we must choose right action. We must keep our eyes on the Word of G.o.d and do what it says-not what the enemy causes us to feel like doing.
If you are going to be a person committed to the Word of G.o.d, you will have to learn to be led by the Spirit and not by your emotions. Whenever an emotion rises inside me, I test it to see if it is in line with the Word of G.o.d. If it is not, the Holy Spirit reveals it to me, and I resist it.
If you are going to be a person committed to the Word of G.o.d, you will have to learn to be led by the Spirit and not by your emotions.
That"s how we fight against rash reactions-by using our will to make a decision to follow G.o.d"s Word rather than our feelings. We have spent a lifetime reacting to most things without considering G.o.d"s Word, so the change will take time. But don"t be discouraged and don"t ever give up!
CHAPTER 55.
Developing a Compa.s.sionate Heart Many times when people have been hurt badly in their past, they develop a hard-core att.i.tude and build invisible walls to protect themselves. They may have all the same feelings others have, but they are unable to show them. Sometimes they may even be so hurt they become callous and unable to feel anything. In either case, there is a real need for healing.
The Lord called my attention to two things in a pa.s.sage in Ephesians 4 about unbelievers. First of all, it says unbelievers are so callous and hard they are past feeling. But in the same verse it says they live by their feelings in sensuality and carnality. As I meditated on that statement, the Lord showed me that such people are past doing what they should be doing with their feelings.
G.o.d gives us feelings for a specific purpose in our walk with Him. Unbelievers have been hardened to the place they are, past using their feelings for the right purpose. Satan has moved them into an area in which they are living riotous lives, doing whatever they feel like doing. You and I are not to live by the philosophy of today"s world: "If it feels good, do it!"
Jesus experienced every emotion and suffered every feeling you and I do, yet without sinning (see Hebrews 4:15). Why did He not sin? He did not give in to His wrong feelings. He knew the Word of G.o.d in every area of life because He spent years studying it before He began His ministry. The Bible says that as a child Jesus "grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom" (Luke 2:40). By the time He was twelve years old, He thought He was old enough to go to the temple in Jerusalem and "be about His Father"s business" (Luke 2:4152) but He still had years of learning before He entered His full time ministry. You and I will never be able to say no to our feelings if we don"t have a strong knowledge of the Word of G.o.d within us. Jesus had the same feelings we do, but He never sinned by giving in to the bad ones.
When I am hurt by someone and I feel angry or upset, it is such a comfort to me to be able to lift my hurt to the Lord, saying, "Jesus, I am so glad You understand what I am feeling right now, and You don"t condemn me for feeling this way. I don"t want to give vent to my emotions. Help me, Lord, to get over them. Help me forgive those who have wronged me and not slight them, avoid them, or seek to pay them back for the harm they have done me. Help me to not live under condemnation in thinking I shouldn"t be feeling this way."
It is not a matter of just thinking, I shouldn"t be feeling this way; it is a matter of crying out to G.o.d and functioning in the fruit of the Spirit already inside us called self-control (see Galatians 5:23). You and I don"t have to feel condemned because we have bad feelings. Jesus understands. His main concern is that we come to the point where we are like Him: humble, gentle, meek, and lowly. This does not mean we become a doormat for people to walk all over, but G.o.d wants us to develop compa.s.sion, understanding, and softness of heart.
Because I was hurt really badly in my childhood, I developed a hard core and built walls for self-protection, just like those I have mentioned. I became hard and calloused on the inside. But I learned and am still learning that we can become like Jesus, Who is humble, gentle, meek, and lowly, and not harsh, hard, sharp, and pressing (see Matthew 11:2930).
No matter what our past experiences or our present feelings, we are to be compa.s.sionate toward others. We are to rejoice with those who rejoice, but we are also to weep with those who weep (see Romans 12:15).
When G.o.d gave Solomon the opportunity to ask for anything he wanted, he requested an understanding heart. No matter what anybody does or has done to us, we should pray for them and try to understand what happened to them to make them the way they are. Hurting people hurt people, but love can heal and change them. Anybody can be tough, harsh, and hard-hearted, but those who seek G.o.d can be tender, compa.s.sionate, and understanding.
It is obvious Satan wants us to develop hardness and callousness so we cannot feel or be sensitive to the needs of others. G.o.d wants us to be more sensitive to the feelings and needs of others and less sensitive to our own feelings and needs. He wants us to deposit ourselves in His hands and let Him take care of us while we are practicing being kind and compa.s.sionate and sensitive to other people. As believers, we are not to be led by our negative feelings, but we are to be moved by compa.s.sion and understanding to those in need. This can only happen when we bend our will to G.o.d"s will.
As believers, we are not to be led by our negative feelings, but we are to be moved by compa.s.sion and understanding to those in need.
CHAPTER 56.
Proper Timing I would like to give you an a.s.signment. I"m suggesting that you read the book of Proverbs and notice how often it speaks of wisdom. It never tells us to be led by emotion, but it strongly encourages us to pursue wisdom. I like to say wisdom does now what it will be satisfied with later. It does not merely do what it feels like doing, but it chooses what is right.
I think we all know that people led by their feelings do not want to wait for anything. They want everything right now, but as you study Proverbs one of the things you will learn is wisdom waits for the proper time to do things.
Wisdom always waits for the right time to act, while our personal desires call for immediate action. Emotionalism is rash. It does not stop to consider the outcome of its actions. While wisdom calmly looks ahead to determine how a decision will affect the future, feelings are only concerned with what is happening at the moment. "Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter a word before G.o.d" (Ecclesiastes 5:2).
Wisdom always waits for the right time to act.
How many times have you said or done something in the heat of the moment, then later experienced deep, deep regret for your rash action? "Oh, if I had only kept my mouth shut!" It is amazing the damage that can be done to a relationship by one emotional outburst.
One time, when I was trying to learn to control my mouth and not talk back to my husband, I got so emotional the Lord had to say to me, "Joyce, that"s enough! Don"t you say another word!" I hurriedly left the room, ran down the hall, and locked myself in the bathroom. I was so upset I buried my face in a towel and screamed into it! Sometimes the strongholds in our flesh become so ingrained it takes some pretty determined action to break them down. That"s why we need to learn to fight against our undisciplined desires and bring them into submission to the will of G.o.d.
How many times would things have turned out quite differently in your life had you only waited and seriously thought about a decision before you made it? We can all think of many times like that, so let"s at least learn from our mistakes and not keep doing the same destructive thing over and over. We think it is hard to wait and often say that, but the really hard thing is behaving rashly and then spending days, months, or even years trying to undo the damage done in that moment of reaction.
Even when I am making a serious purchase I often walk away from the item for five or ten minutes, giving my emotions an opportunity to subside before I decide what I want to do. Most of the world is in deep debt because of emotional spending. Something they see gets them excited, and their desire hinders common sense and reason. I really encourage you to make a decision to be an expert at waiting for proper timing. Don"t do things you don"t have peace in your heart about doing.
Thousands of people struggle trying to keep commitments they made in a time of heated emotion. Think before you make a promise and make sure you really want to do long term what is going to be required.
Your Emotions