How well do you protect your spirit? Recently, on my social media, I wrote about the importance of a quiet spirit. A quiet spirit is a spirit that lacks distraction and unnecessary noise. It’s a disposition of peace that allows us to hear God clearly, and to be more self-aware realizing what is going on within us. It also allows us to continuously move forward as we follow God’s leading. Without it, we have the potential to get stuck, delayed, or to lose control emotionally. Loss of emotional control can lead to poor decision making.
Did you know that patience is something that helps us to have a quiet and well-controlled spirit? I will discuss this a bit later in this post. Read the below scripture to see the danger of not having a well protected and controlled spirit.
He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. – Proverbs 25:28
Lack of self-control over our spirit produces a danger for us making us more vulnerable to being overcome. When referencing our spirit in this article, I am talking about the invisible part of us which is our soul. Our mind, will, and emotions make up our soul.
Practicing patience is one of the key ways to rule over our own spirits. Patience meaning: “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. (Google Dictionary),” or “the ability to remain calm when dealing with a difficult or annoying situation, task, or person.” Could smart remarks from others or uncomfortable situations be producing patience within us if we discipline ourselves to respond with patience? Below are three scriptures that discuss the power that God placed within us for self-control and patience.
Luke 21:14 – Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what you shall answer.
This speaks of our ability to practice self-control in what we meditate on. We can control how we respond to various situations. It also speaks to a leaning on God to show us how to respond. God instructs his disciples in the above scripture not to worry about what they will say in a nerve-wracking situation, but to look to him who will give them what to say. How often do we acknowledge God when confronted with words, or situations that make us uncomfortable or anxious concerning our response?
Luke 21:19 – In your patience possess your souls.
Jesus is speaking with his disciples about how it will be before Jesus comes back. He had warned about how it would be so bad that men’s hearts would fell them because of fear. In spite of a hard time, Jesus shared a clue on how his disciples could keep their minds, will, and emotions intact and that is through patience.
Remember patience is a way of practicing endurance without losing our cool. Endurance is a form of waiting through a thing that is difficult. It’s a way to forbear with the situation at hand and still maintain sobriety and self-control. This, of course, is going to require God’s grace to do so, but it can be done. We will talk about this more next week when we discuss protecting our spirit through humility.
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