One of Those Days

We all have days when it seems like everything is working against us. Your son missed the school bus; your daughter left her lunchbox at home; you had one meeting after another at work; you stood in line for 20 minutes at the grocery store; and you fought rush-hour traffic on the way home. Days like that can be frustrating, and in those moments, it’s easy to lose patience with situations and the people around us.

We may seek to be patient, but we cannot generate a long-suffering spirit apart from the Spirit of God. It is not within our own capacity to be this patient. It is when the Spirit of God is pouring patience into our hearts that it becomes a defining characteristic of our souls rather than simply something we futilely strive to practice in our own strength.

In fact, we can only manifest the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control—when the heat is on, in times of trouble. If you try to manifest the fruit of the Spirit when everything is going fine, that fruit won’t be evident. How can you exhibit joy in your life unless you are thrust into a joyless situation? How can you exhibit the peace that surpasses understanding unless you are in a scenario where it doesn’t make sense? How can you manifest patience unless someone is trying your patience? The fruit of the Spirit can only be exhibited when the fullness of the Holy Spirit is leading your life day by day, moment by moment. The Holy Spirit never fails to produce fruit in the life that is abiding in Christ, the life that is totally committed to Him.

Christian patience, kindness, goodness, and the other fruit of the Spirit are based upon the absolute, unshakeable belief that God is sovereign and that He is at work in the lives of His children. We will bear this fruit when we trust that we are never forgotten nor forsaken by God no matter our circumstances.

Prayer: God, thank You that no matter what comes my way, You have not forgotten nor forsaken me. Help my life to exhibit Christian patience even in the most trying circumstances. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.