Patience is a virtue we all respect—that is, until we have to exercise it in our own lives. In this message, Dr. Stanley lays out the truth plainly: Patience is indispensable to our ability to obey God and receive His best for us. It may feel excruciating to wait upon the Lord, but that’s exactly when He renews our strength (Isaiah 40:31). Discover why you can trust God’s perfect timing.
Dr. Charles Stanley: When you
trusted Jesus Christ as your
personal Savior, immediately the
Holy Spirit came into your life
to seal you as a child of God.
That’s the reason we know that
we are eternally secure.
It is His work and not our
conduct that makes us acceptable
to God.
And in the process of doing so,
when I think about that, I think
about the fact that the Holy
Spirit sealed us and equipped us
to do whatever He’s called us
to do.
Many people will live out their
life in church, baptized early
in life, heard lots and lots of
sermons, and will never
understand that God never
intended for them to live the
Christian life.
He didn’t, He intended for them
to allow the Holy Spirit who
lives within them to live out
the life of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
So, we are not only equipped
to the salvation, He’s equipped
us to do whatever He’s called
us to do, whatever
He’s–whatever He has made us to
be and made us to do.
So, when you think about your
life and you think about the
challenges you face, remember
this: that you are already
empowered by the Holy Spirit to
live and to face any situation,
any circumstance of life.
He didn’t just save us and let
us get along the best we can.
So, when you think about your
life, and you think about things
you face, when you face
difficulties, would you say that
you’re a patient person?
And the truth is, all of us
probably have areas of our life
that it’s difficult for us to
stand by or hold back what we
think or what we’d like to do.
But patience is a gift from God,
but it isn’t something we
work up.
It is a gift of God through the
Holy Spirit.
When you were saved, He sealed
you as one of His children, and
He began to release in your
life, if you’ll allow Him, the
fruit of the Spirit: love, joy,
peace, patience; and so that’s
what I want to talk about.
I want to talk about this whole
issue of how essential it is
that you and I experience God’s
patience in our life because it
affects every single thing
we do.
And so, when we have the Holy
Spirit living within us,
sometimes He’s going to say,
“Mmm-mmm-mmmm-mmm, no.”
Or He may say, “Not now.”
Or He may say, “Tomorrow,”
or whatever.
But God gave us a compass: the
Holy Spirit.
He gave us a sense of direction
in the Holy Spirit so that you
and I would not have to go
through life just making up our
mind and making decisions that
oftentimes we would regret.
So, I want to talk about this
whole idea of patience, and
because the Scriptures says
that’s a gift of the Spirit.
So how many of you know you’re
saved, raise your hand.
All right, hold them up now.
You know you’re saved?
All right, how many of you know
that you have the Holy Spirit
indwelling you?
Well, the same ones should
raise your hand, because if you
got saved, then you have the
Holy Spirit there.
And one of His primary
objectives is to enable us to
walk patiently in our Christian
life.
So, listen to this, Psalm
twenty-seven verse fourteen,
“Wait for the Lord, be strong
and let your heart take courage;
yes, wait for the Lord.”
Well, why would he say that?
Because to wait for the Lord,
sometimes we have to be strong
and we have to take courage.
Because sometimes pressures are
there for us to make decisions
in our life.
Husbands and wives, families,
business, whatever it might be.
He says wait.
In the thirty-seventh Psalm in
the seventh verse he says three
times, “Rest in the Lord,” in
this passage, “Rest in the Lord
and wait patiently for Him, do
not fret.”
The fortieth Psalm says, “I
waited patiently for the Lord,
And He inclined to me and heard
my prayer.”
Look at that, “I waited
patiently for the Lord, and He
inclined to me.”
He bent to–He heard what I was
talking to Him about, and He
answered my petition.
So, patience is very important
in every aspect of life.
So, how would you define
patience, if somebody said,
“Well, explain–just define
patience for me.”
What would you say?
It’s the quiet, uncomplaining
endurance under stress or
annoyance, or long-tempered.
So ask yourself the question:
are you quiet and uncomplaining
when things don’t go your way?
And let me give you the simplest
definition of patience.
Listen to this: patience is the
will to wait.
That’s all you need to know.
Patience is the will to wait.
That is, situations come our
way, we have to make decisions;
and yet, there are times when we
don’t know what to do, or times
when God gives us a check in our
spirit, and we have to make a
decision.
Will I wait for God’s direction,
or will I not?
Most people don’t want to wait.
They want God to act on their
timetable.
Think about this, we would
acknowledge that God’s
omniscient, He knows everything.
We would acknowledge that He
knows all about us.
We would acknowledge that He
knows what’s best for us.
And yet, we come to those
situations where God tells us to
wait and we don’t want to wait.
And so, we come up with all the
reasons why we shouldn’t have
to wait.
We look at other people and they
have this, and they have that,
and why should we have to wait?
Because God in His infinite love
and power for us knows that at
certain times in our life,
certain things don’t fit.
That is, God created us to do
what?
To live for Him, to serve Him,
and to reflect Him.
He created us to live out the
life that He’s placed within us.
Whenever I want something He
doesn’t want me to have and I
insist on having it, I’m being
impatient.
Whenever we push God, “Well,
Lord, I’ve waited long enough,
it’s time for me to have what I
want.”
Watch this, God is your greatest
protector.
When He says no, listen, don’t
think about it as God rejecting
you, it’s God doing what?
Protecting you.
When God says no, it’s a word of
protection.
We oftentimes think, “Well, God,
if You loved me, You’d let me
have this, that, and the other.”
It’s the will to wait.
So, ask yourself the question:
would you say that you are a
patient person?
Now, just think about it a
moment.
Would you say that you’re a
patient person?
That is, that you calmly
tolerate the delays that God
places in your life when He
says no.
You come to Him for something
that you believe is the will of
God for your life, you ask Him
about it, and yet, watch this,
here’s what happens.
You ask the Lord about it and
you don’t hear anything.
And you ask Him about it and you
don’t hear anything, and so you
say, “Well, God hadn’t–well,
must be okay because God didn’t
tell me I couldn’t.”
Don’t ever go that route.
If you say, “I’m going to do
this because God hasn’t told me
I shouldn’t,” what about waiting
for God to tell you that you
should?
And so, we can manipulate the
Word, and we can manipulate
circumstances in order to
justify our own desires when
oftentimes they are handicaps
in our life.
They’re the seeds of destruction
in our life because we’re not
willing to wait for God.
Listen, would you agree that God
loves you?
Would you agree to that, say
amen?
Well, some of you do, some of
you don’t.
God does love you, and let me
ask you a question.
You love your children?
Come on, now.
Do you love your children?
Okay, if they ask you for
something that you know that’s
going to hurt them, do you want
to give it to them?
Well, why do you expect God to
do that?
You ask God for something, and
sometimes God says no.
Then here’s what you do.
Oftentimes people say, “Well,
I’m gonna get in the Scriptures,
find out what God says,” I’ve
heard this so many times.
And so, they’ll go in the Psalms
and the Proverbs or somewhere,
and they’ll look around, they’ll
find a passage that says, let’s
see here, now they’ll look and
look and look and they’ll say,
“Well, surely, God must be
saying something to me.”
And they’ll find them a verse
that says that they can
interpret that God says yes, and
they say, “God told me I could
do it.”
That’s not the way God operates.
Listen to this, when you were
saved, the Holy Spirit sealed
you as a child of God, lives
within you twenty-four hours a
day.
One of the primary purposes
having written your name in the
Lamb’s Book of Life, having
sealed you as a child of God
forever.
He lives within you to direct
you.
To give direction for your life.
“The fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, and patience.”
That’s part of what He does in
our life.
So, you have within you the
absolute truth, the right
compass, the one who’s going to
give you the right direction
every single time you ask Him.
That’s who He is.
Because God knows how
complicated life is.
He didn’t just leave us here
apart from the Spirit.
He told His disciples, He said,
“Sit down in the city of
Jerusalem, until you be endued
with power from on high.”
“You can’t live out the life
I’ve given you without the Holy
Spirit.”
And so, that’s exactly what
they did.
They waited till He came and
entered them.
When you were saved, the Holy
Spirit came into your life,
sealed you as a child of God.
You’re always a child of God,
you can’t be lost.
Once sealed by the blood of
Jesus, you can’t be lost.
But you can certainly mess up
your life by not listening to
the Holy Spirit who came to live
within you to give direction and
guidance and clarity at every
single aspect of your life.
So, patience, patience is
critical.
Listen to what He says, “The
fruit of the Spirit,” that is,
you can expect the Holy Spirit
to express Himself in the
following ways: “Love, joy,
peace, patience.”
So that you have the One living
within you, willing to direct
you in every circumstance
of life.
So, let’s think about it for a
moment.
What’s required of us to have
patience?
First of all, I’ve got to have
faith in God.
I have faith in God to believe
that He will direct me every
single time, whatever I need,
whatever direction, because He
promised to do so.
Second, I must have the spirit
of obedience.
If I have an obedient spirit, I
choose to obey God.
I may falter in that by missing
it somehow, but the Holy Spirit
is there to enable us to give us
guidance, to do what?
To follow Him.
Then, of course, here’s what’s
happening.
The discernment of God’s timing.
The Holy Spirit will show us
when.
Oftentimes, we will ask Him for
something that’s not His will at
the moment.
It’s not His plan right now, but
His plan later.
And what we have to do is be
wise enough to say, “Okay, God,
if it’s not Your will or if it’s
not Your will now, give me the
grace to wait until You give me
permission to have or to go
with whatever it might be.”
Then, if I’m going to be
patient, I’ve got to love God.
If I don’t love God, I’m not
going to be patient.
If I don’t love Him, I want
it now.
If I don’t love Him, I want
things to work out the way I
want them when I want them.
And yet, if I’m going to be
patient, I’ve got to love Him.
In other words, if I love Him, I
will be patient.
If somebody says, “Well, I love
God, but.”
No, there’s no but.
If I love Him, I will be
patient.
If I don’t love Him, I don’t
trust Him, I won’t be patient.
So, ask yourself the question:
would you be considered by your
husband, your wife, your
friends, people you work with,
do they see you as a patient
person?
Now, there’re only two answers.
Yes or No.
Yes, they do.
No, they don’t.
And that’s because of your
conduct, your conversation, and
your character around them.
If love myself, if I love
things, if I love other people
more than I love God, I’m going
to satisfy myself.
But God wants the best for His
children.
There’s not a single person who
can say, “Well, God doesn’t want
the best for me.”
Yes, He does.
“Well, if He did, He’d-a given
me her or him or this or that.”
No, the reason He didn’t give
you that’s because He does love
you.
Because God’s love for us has no
limitations.
And that love is so powerful
that God will say no.
When He knows that what we want
is not of Him, He’s going to
make it known to us.
The fruit of the Spirit is
patience: willing to wait long
when necessary.
So, you ask yourself if that’s
true.
Now, it takes courage to be
obedient to God.
It takes courage to be patient
because sometimes–and I can
think back in my life at times
when I thought, “Well, Lord, I’m
coming to the edge over here,
and if You don’t do something
soon, I’m gonna fall off the
edge.”
What?
Do you know who’s on the other
side of the edge?
Almighty God.
You’re not going to fall off the
edge.
There are times when God will
let us get very, very close to
what we think is an ultimate,
unchangeable desperation, but
He’s always there.
He’s a God of love, of
direction, guidance, and counsel
in our life.
It takes courage to trust Him;
and, simply said, I have to be
determined to wait.
Now, I could give you a lot of
illustrations of people over the
years that I’ve counseled to
wait about something they were
going to purchase, wait about
something in their marriage,
wait about something about their
children, or young people about
decisions they’re making about
college, and so forth.
Every single time that I can
recall when a person heard godly
counsel and chose to do it their
way, it never ended the way they
intended.
You know what?
Because God wants the best
for us.
And He says, “I will guide you
and teach you in the way which
you should go.”
Watch this, we started off by
saying patience is the fruit of
the Spirit.
It’s a gift from God, which
means that you have within you
the capacity to make wise
choices.
The fruit of the Spirit is
patience.
The Spirit of God will exercise
patience in you, for you, to
you, through you in your behalf
because that’s the will of God
for us, that we follow His will,
walk in His way.
And God knows that there are
difficult times and difficult
situations that we face, and
sometimes we don’t know what
to do.
He’s there to show us what
to do.
If you’re a follower of Jesus,
if you’re a Christian, if you’ve
trusted God in your life as your
Savior, you have within you the
ultimate, ultimate, ultimate,
ultimate Counselor for every
single solitary situation in
life.
He will direct you.
God would not withhold truth
from you.
He’s not going to withhold wise
counsel from you.
If you don’t have wise counsel,
it’s because you’ve not asked
Him.
He’s–why?
Because He loves you
unconditionally.
He wants the best for you no
matter what.
So, the fruit of the Spirit is
patience.
Patience is not a–it’s not a
popular subject.
You know why?
I’ll tell you why, because we
want what we want when we want
it, how we want it, that’s it.
And when we can’t have it, we
don’t want anybody telling us
why we can’t.
I understand that.
Jesus had the same thing when He
talked.
People didn’t want to hear some
of the things He said, but
that’s okay.
So, let’s think about it for a
moment.
Why do we say that patience is
essential to experiencing God’s
best?
Number one, it’s essential to a
life of obedience to God.
If I’m going to obey God, I got
to listen to Him.
I must hear Him and I must obey
Him.
If I’m going to obey God, I must
be willing to give up my own
personal desires and opinions at
times in order to do what He
says.
That’s God loving me.
Watch this, whatever you’re
going through, and you’re
praying about it, and God says
no to you, watch this, when He
says no to you, what is He
saying?
Here’s what He’s saying: I love
you.
God’s no is I love you.
And somebody says, “Well, no,
when God says no to me, I get
angry.”
No, when God says no, He’s
saying I love you.
Then think about this: it’s
essential to building a good
relationship with other people.
That is, patience.
If you’re going to have good
friends, you have to be patient
with them, and I don’t need to
tell that if you’re married, you
have to have patience with each
other.
Wherever you work, you have to
have patience.
It is not only a gift of God,
it’s a requirement to be able to
get along in life with your
children, with your husband,
with your wife.
If you live with somebody who
has no patience, that is a very,
very difficult situation.
All of us need to express
patience, and all of us need to
be able to express that patience
toward other people because
other people make mistakes.
We can all get impatient if
we’re not careful.
But you notice something?
Impatience never cures anything.
It doesn’t.
You have within you the Holy
Spirit who will give you clear
direction about anything in your
life you’re concerned about.
Anything!
Any relationship, whatever it
might be.
And think about this, timing is
so very important.
Timing is important in sports,
important in finances, important
in relationships, important in
war, important in photography.
Timing is very important.
God is always there within you
as a follower of Jesus.
Have your Holy Spirit within
you, there to give you clear
direction in any and every
circumstance of life if you’re
willing to wait for Him.
“Wait upon the Lord.”
Does He give you clear direction
immediately?
Oftentimes He will, but a major
decision in your life, you may
have to wait until God tells you
what to do.
Are you willing to wait?
Do you treasure the wisdom of
God?
Do you value the wisdom of God?
Do you prize the wisdom of God?
Do you desire the wisdom of God
enough to wait until He makes it
very clear what you should do?
And I’ve seen so many people
make decisions that they knew
they shouldn’t have made.
But here’s what I hear
oftentimes: “Well, I waited for
three months.
Well, I waited for six months.
I waited for two weeks.
I waited and waited and waited.
Nothing ever happened, so.”
So what?
“So I did my own thing.”
God loves us.
He only wants the best for us.
When God says wait, here’s what
you listen to: “I’m loving you.”
That’s what He’s doing.
He’s loving us when He tells us
to wait.
Remember we said it’s
simply–patience is simply the
willingness to wait.
And when we wait, we see God at
work.
And oftentimes, I’ve watched
this in my own life.
Having to wait and wait and wait
about something, and then watch
God finally bring it to a
conclusion.
Over and over and over again, my
response has been, “Thank You,
Jesus.
Thank You, thank You, dear God,
that I waited.
Thank You, Jesus, that I didn’t
step ahead of You.”
Most people today probably are
unhappy because they have
refused to wait upon God for
direction about something in
their life.
Lot of people are in deep
trouble today because they
didn’t wait.
How many times have I talked to
people who are married who’ve
said to me, “I knew I shouldn’t
have done that.”
Why did you do it?
“Well,” they’ll give me some
reason.
Or, “I made this decision in my
life and I never thought about
asking God.”
What I want you to see is one
simple thing: God loves you, He
created you, He has a purpose
for your life.
You may not know what the
purpose is.
You may have lived two-thirds of
your life, never even asked God
about anything.
But I’m telling you, He loved
you, He saved you, He has a
purpose for your life, a plan
for your life, and He will make
it clear if you will ask Him and
relax.
Don’t push Him.
In other words, you say, “Well
I’ve waited two weeks.”
That’s long enough.
That’s long enough from your
finite mind.
It’s not long enough.
Watch this, let me ask you a
question: is God perfect?
Say amen.
congregation: Amen.
Dr. Stanley: Well, is He
late?
congregation: No.
Dr. Stanley: Then why don’t
we wait for Him?
If we say He’s perfect and He’s
not late, then if I’m waiting,
I’m on time.
I’m waiting till God says this
is the moment.
I’m telling you with all of my
heart, you can never lose.
Never, never, never, never lose
waiting upon God.
Trust Him, listen to Him, wait
for Him, and watch to see what
happens.
Well, if you’ve never trusted
Jesus as your Savior, none of
this’ll work, won’t work.
And so, I’ll simply say this to
you: you will struggle through
life and make many mistakes and
end up in a disaster without
Christ in your life.
But if you’re willing to ask Him
to forgive you of your sins,
surrender your life to Him, you
have this awesome, eternal,
omnipotent asset, the Holy
Spirit giving guidance,
direction, and perfect timing,
if you’ll listen to Him.
And I would encourage you if
you’re not saved, never trusted
Christ, settle this issue and
let the Lord Jesus Christ become
the master of your life, life’s
going to change.
Listen, don’t live a life
outside the will of God because
to do so is live outside the
blessing of God.
Father, we love You and praise
You and thank You that You never
make a mistake, always perfect.
Your timing is perfect to the
second.
We pray the Holy Spirit will
speak to every single person
here, that we all examine
ourselves afresh and anew about
the degree of patience we have
or do not have.
You know who’s seated right
here, right now, who’s facing a
decision this afternoon,
tomorrow, or sometime this week,
or before the week is over,
major decision in their life.
God, I pray that You’ll give
them wisdom enough to wait until
they hear clearly from You what
they should do and to be
confident that You will always
give them clear guidance in
everything.
We love You and we praise You
for it, Father, in Jesus’s name.
Amen.