Are you impatient? If your in a check-out line with only a short line but the cashier is new and doesn't know how to do everything, would you get impatient? Well today we are going to talk about a few steps that will help you with patience.
The first thing to do is STOP and submit! You need to draw near to God. You need to stop what your doing and submit the situation to God. How do you do that? Just a simple little "God I can feel my patience level is getting dangerously low and I know that I'm going to say something that I shouldn't! Please help!"
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Janes 4:7-8;NIV
Secondly you need to DROP what you are about to think or say. Pretty much what I just wrote above with the prayer. Our youth pastor did the sermon and his example was he had his arms full of bocce balls. If you don't know what those are, there super hard, heavy balls that you play an outdoor game with. Google it if you have no idea what Im talking about. He had the whole set in his arms then one by one he dropped them. His load got lighter and lighter. Towards the end of them he said "But God I really like this.." "Nope! Drop it!"
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Dont they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you dont have, so you scheme and kill to get it. James 4:1-2, NLT
Lastly you need to ROLL with the punches and delays. You need to adapt. Count on delays. Count on your food taking extra look to cook at the resturant. Count on you getting the new cashier at the store. Josh gave a story that really made me go, wow! So true!! Josh was driving with this guy who he had an internship with. They went out to lunch and Josh drove. Lunch went a little longer than expected so he was behind and had a lot of things to do that day. They were pulling up to a stop light and it turned yellow so he slowed down. She mumbled something about the yellow light and how he wish it would have just been green so he could have kept going and blah blah blah. But then the guy he was with looked and him and said this, "What if God made that light yellow to make you stop and prevent you from getting into a car crash at the next intersection." Wow... Breath taking thought hu?
You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. James 5:8, NIV
Next time your siblings are just pushing you to burst, stop, drop, and roll!
Sydney
Awesome post Sydney! I'm so mad I missed church these past few weeks..that sounds like a great sermon I needed to hear! Great examples too..and I especially liked the one Josh said about the yellow light. Very true, and a very good statement by his friend. Lovely post. :]
ReplyDeleteThanks Ali!! I know church has been great lately, so sad I'll miss next week!!):
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