Patience: the one commodity that we don’t seem to have

At this moment in life I would see this small word as being ironic because this is something that I myself have gone through, but as a Christian, I know that there is no such thing as irony especially when it comes to things happening in your life that lead you to following the will of your Father.
The church of today and the Christians that exist in it seem to have a lot more advantages than that of the early church or even the servants of the Old Testament, but there is something that they had that we most certainly lack in, Patience!!! This thought sends shivers down my spine when I think of the actions and the decisions that are made by the church today, better still what about my actions and my decisions. Are they rushed, are they not rationally thought out and what if my will, desires and decisions are out of sync with that of my Lord’s plan for my life, what will the end result be? The answer is simple, ‘A NIGHTMARE!’ Many children of God treat their relationship and their walk with Him like the service that you would expect from a fast food restaurant and they expect to receive a blessing and an answer to prayer like the delivery of a ‘happy meal’. Let me be the first to say this, nothing good can come to you at this pace. Look at these real servants of God and how it took years for the blessing to come. We are told in Genesis C.30-41 how Joseph was thrown into prison for being accused of raping Potipher’s wife, (a pathetic accusation at that) and because of this Joseph found himself in jail. Imagine that, you know that you are going to be a servant to the Lord but you end up in jail. Most people would have packed it in at this point but Joseph always believed through these periods of trial that he was always in the will of the Lord. Joseph ended up being in prison for over two years, now there’s patience. If we read Gen. C.41 we can see that Joseph became a mighty ruler in the command of the Pharaoh and all of this was in the plan of the Lord. If we even look at the thirty years of waiting that John the Baptist had to survive through before he could yell, ‘Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the Sin of the world’. Thirty years of waiting in a desert to train for eighteen months of service that ended by being beheaded at the hands of Herod. Even if we are to look at our great example for life, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, how He lived in obscurity for thirty years just working in the family trade, then to drop it all at the age of thirty to follow the Fathers will and this service lasted for 3-4 years. If the Lord himself was under this period of waiting, what makes you think that the answer to ministry or the fulfilment of the Lords plan for you must arrive now? I look at my own ministry, nearly 11 years of working in clay, 8 of those years were a period of learning for us and it is only 3 years of actual service, and let me also state that this period of development and learning is still continuing. Clay has made the claim that we want to see all of the young people of Ireland won to the Lord. This is a bold statement which will take decades to see any kind of solid victory. All that I want to leave with you is this, Proverbs C.5 v 5-6 ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and He shall direct thy paths,’ If you decide to follow these verses’ through you will find out for yourself that it will take patience and waiting to see where you will be led. Please don’t make the mistakes that so many have and as a result of this have missed out. Just wait, your time is coming to serve your Lord.