Peanut Butter and Jelly

In yesterday’s post we explored Jesus’ revelations about the vine and the branches.  If you remember, Jesus revealed in John chapter fifteen that He is the vine, we are the branches and the Father is the Master Gardener.  We learned how the pruning of the branches is a vital process necessary for the overall health of the trees and shrubs in the garden.  Then we compared the members of the garden to our own lives, and how the similarities are with the Father’s care for us.

A couple of points that need to be clarified are that first of all, as we have indisputably proven through the Word over and over again, the Father is good and only has good things in store for us.  This means that He does not use evil tidings, sickness and disease, financial hardships or the death of a loved one to teach or (prune) us as part of our character development.  John 10:10 and many other scriptures assure of us this fact.  The bottom line is that all evil comes from the devil, while loving kindness, goodness and abundant life originate from the Father of life.  We all have opportunities to "walk  through valleys as dark as death" (Psalm 23:4 CEV), but once again, we go through them, guided by His loving hand through the promises established in His Word.  God always teaches and trains (or prunes) us by His Word.

The second point is how we handle the pressures during the walk through the dark valleys in life.  This is where the twin attributes of faith and patience come into play.  You cannot have one quality without the other.  Hebrews 6:11-12 tells us that we are to "remain confident (in His Word working for us) until the end... so that we will receive the promises through faith and patience."  (Gods Word © - parenthesis mine)  Hebrews 10:35-36 reaffirms this truth.  (see also 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Thessalonians 2:4, 1 Timothy 6:11 and Revelation 2:9)  Vincent’s Word Studies states that "Faith and longsuffering (or patience) go together.  Faith does not win its inheritance without persevering endurance, hence long suffering (or patience) is not only presented as an independent quality, but is predicated of faith."  According to the American Heritage Dictionary, that word "predicated" means "to state or affirm as an attribute or a quality of something."

So in other words… faith and patience go together like peanut butter and jelly!  And what is my point?  Simple my dear Watson!  Never give up when you’re standing in faith for something.  Expect to have your patience tested!  Plan for it.  Keep soaking in the promises of God that you are standing on and never stop expecting the hidden things of God (Hebrews 11:1-3) to manifest themselves, as your faith is replaced with the physical substance of what you are believing for.  When you feel a little weak, take a shot of Joshua 1:9 and 2 Timothy 1:7. 

God has good plans for you and wants you to succeed.  Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… "What am I expecting today?"