Between Patience and Breakthrough ...

Friday, July 17, 2015. Patience is needed for many things in life. In our institute for example, we have been working on a new system now for years - and it is not yet there for daily operational use. Too many parts of the organization are involved, and progress is slow due to delays here and there - and due to management decisions by our leaders who want other things first … and our system later.

The role of patience …

What is the role of patience in our life. I listened to a sermon recently about the 40 years which the people of Israel spend in the desert, before entering the promised land. Why these 40 years? There may be many reasons, but one point of these years was: they were travelling with the Lord. They were learning about him, and about themselves.

We might be comparable to the people of Israel sometimes, when we do not find the faith and courage to do what God has told us to do, or which would be needed. So we need to learn patience, and wait for his redemption, for his actions, for his help, for his spirit. The time of waiting is not an empty time, but it is filled, it has deep meaning. Let us listen to the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians:

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in

all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1, 9-14)

Breakthrough …

Sometimes we are desperate for the waiting time to end! We need progress, we need the breakthrough. We hope for wonders, changing everything.

But sometimes, the wonders are on a different level. The change is coming, but it is not the end of the suffering or the end of the waiting time as we have been anticipating. Sometimes the wonder is that WE are changed. The wonder is that we drop wrong expectations, that we find back to the way of life!

Let us ask the Lord, to open his mind and his heart to us. He can show us what he is up to. He can lead us into a wider view! He can guide us to understand his wisdom, and to learn about true life, in the middle of our personal circumstances. And he can strengthen us with his power the way he chooses, walking down his eternal path! (RWEP) ... more texts