Q1. Patience

[Godswriter]

Q1. (Acts 9:30; Galatians 1:15-17) Why do ambitious Christians struggle so much when they don't seem to be doing anything important? Why is patience with God's plan so important to growth? Why is a period of spiritual formation so important to future leadership? To listening for God's voice?

I believe the biggest reason we struggle so much when we are not doing something important is because we believe we need to be constantly doing something of importance and be recognized by others. However, that it is not how God works at all. He works in His own timing and His own way and we have to understand that. Patience with God's plan is important because we learn to be content through all circumstances. Spiritual formation is important for leadership because without it a person can not lead the way the way the way they should. They will lead the way of the world. It is also necessary for being patience for listening for the Lord's voice and being patient enough to listen for His voice when we read His word.

[Lottie]

Q1. (Acts 9:30; Galatians 1:15-17) Why do ambitious Christians struggle so much when they don't seem to be doing anything important? Why is patience with God's plan so important to growth? Why is a period of spiritual formation so important to future leadership? To listening for God's voice?

I believe that ambitious Christians struggle with it because they want to be doing more for the Lord. They don't want to sit on the sidelines while others do more important work. And sometimes they do't understand that God needs to teach them something before He can use them. Some of them like Paul are proud of their pasts or church backgrounds. They need to become humble before God can use them so that they understand it is not about them but about the Lord. That they need to grow more in the faith before they can do anything.

Patience is an important fruit of the Spirit that all believers need to have. They need to learn to trust God in any given situation and go to Him first fornhelp. They need to mature and grow into the person God wants them to be. They need to learn patience so they can deal with people who are difficult. They need to learn patience while waiting on God for answers. Only through trials and troubles will their characters be refined and the Lord's reflection shone through them.

I believe that true leaders are ones who have gone through the fire and come out knowing God better. They are the ones who have gone through great suffering and still believe that He is good. They have learned how to handle defeat and disappointment and still trust God. The ones who know God is in control not them and they are willing to let others share the load and give them credit as well.  God cannot use people who are proud and arrogant. People who think they know better and refuse to listen. A true leader will realize that in God's family everyone works together and strives to win the same prize.

I believe that only someone who has been tested and tried can learn to know when God speaks. Someone who knows God's word well and knows when He speaks and knows when it is not from Him. Someone who has learned to spend time in the Word and in prayer;learning  to be quiet and listen for God's voice.

[Kaye Wingham]

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Q. Why do ambitious Christians struggle so much when they don't seem to be doing anything important?  

Ambitions  for many  defines who they are in life and amongst family and friends; the same effect as a Cuccio bag.  

So, ambition creates an issues for Christians because ambition often leads to wealth, status, power, prestige plus many other trappings that raise the question, do you really need God?

After all ambition seems to be giving you all you need.  

The crunch comes for ambitious christian's  in that the teaching of Jesus exemplifies that  less is more, dependency on prayer and God the Father is  everything, the Father will provide for all our needs in a manner that will deepen out spiritual growth.  So why be ambitious?

We can be ambitious because ambition is a part of us and we are God made, so ambition is a gift and the importance of the gift is how it is used and shared; Parable of the talents. 

So, there should be no struggle with being an ambitious christian,  rather  ambitious or not  they should live life being the beautiful people God created us to be to the glory of His Name.

Why do ambitious Christians struggle when they think they are doing nothing important?

All people are  invited to lay their lives at the altar of God and live a  kingdom life shaped by God. Some will be priests, another a disciple and another a learner, some roles carrying more authority and responsibility than another. Ambitious Christians who feel they are doing very little may struggle because their  ambition causes them to think big and so they miss the fact that,

"whatever you do for one of these little ones you do for me." may limit time spent with God and cloud their understanding of God at work in their lives.

 

The fact the ambitious christian is struggling with the question that they are doing nothing may mean that they need to consider. 

*"What is God teaching them at the moment."?

For God has given life to all for the purpose of being ambitious towards living out His will in His strength. 

* God provides work that should feed our needs,  bring healing, use our gifts and deepen our faith and relationship with Him.

*Maybe God is wanting the person to use their ambition for the kingdom or in a different way

 

All that we do we do for God, no matter how small. 

 

  

 

[Work in progress]

Patience is a virtue manifested as one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit .It is not easy to wait patiently before the Lord as we may  feel we must be doing sth to influence  + bring about change. Pray as we mature in Christ ,the Holy Spirit grants us more patience to wait upon the Lord and simply to rest in the Lord .

Practising  listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit through intentional discipline of Quiet Time ,Reading His Word , Meditation and Prayer and Fellowship  as we grow and walk more closely with Christ .This would not be possible without God 's grace as we are distracted by worldly affairs .

[frances.fink]

Christians struggle when it seems that "nothing important happening" in their lives, and that struggle leads to self, finding a way that he or she thinks it is right, but is not of God.  He actually desires us to have patience, and patience is a virtue, but we find all that difficult to go by, so we think and devise a plan that they feel will satisfy their need to be "doing" something important.      But  in it all if we Wait upon the Lord, for HE will want us to hear from Him, to hear and see His plan and then go His way.

If we learn to wait upon the Lord to hear from Him, He forms in us the ability to see what is to be done and how to go about it...Leadership comes from those under the authority of leaders who have gone this way before, the right way.   If we wait upon the Lord in prayer and persistence, we will know how to proceed and then be able to lead others in the correct direction that only the Lord can give.

[Stanley Tavaziva]

Ambitious Christians find always difficult to walk with God because they thing they are holier than thou. 

We are to rejoice under our Lord Jesus and ask for patience of God in our trails, weakness of sins for us to grow.

Revelation 21: 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.

Instead of our going up to meet him, he comes down to be with us, just as God became man in Jesus Christ and lived among us (John 1:14). Wherever God reigns, we recognize His voice and we become fruitful, there is peace, security, and love.

[Maggz]

We cannot see God's plan in all its fullness.  Confident in our own abilities, we seek to do the big, earth-shaking things and we are not content with a more minor role, when we are expected to "be" rather than to "do",   to rest in God's presence and wait to hear his will.

Basically, patience is important because God knows best.    He knows what our abilities are, and in which areas we still need to improve.  Only through submitting to His will can we grow in the Christian faith.

In any area of work, a person must be trained before he or she can accept responsibility.   Part of this training is becoming open to God's prompting, to listening for His voice.   He knows what is best for us, and we can only achieve our full potential through His guidance.

[Nandita]

Q1. (Acts 9:30; Galatians 1:15-17) Why do ambitious Christians struggle so much when they don't seem to be doing anything important? Why is patience with God's plan so important to growth? Why is a period of spiritual formation so important to future leadership? To listening for God's voice?

Our problem is hidden in the word 'seem'. Our output or achievements may not seem important to us because we don't see things from God's perspective. In reality, with each mistake we make, we take one step closer to expertise. With each moment that passes, we fine tune our skills or amass knowledge. And when God gives us our chance we can be sure that the timing is right, as are the people, and the opportunity. But because humans are prone to impatience we don't often see that.

 

Patience is important in many ways. It builds faith in God. It makes us more resilient in character. When we're made to wait until we're ready or the circumstances are right and then spring forth to fulfill our potential, we get to experience God's wisdom and love in the most personal way possible. I've experienced this so many times in my life. I've thought myself ready and felt both upset and confused to be told to wait by God—only to find that he'd say "Go ahead", later, at an even better time and place.

 

Everything good takes time to develop. Everything important takes time to digest. God built Paul up gradually—but when Paul was ready he was the most effective spokesperson for Jesus we've ever had. Listening to God's voice is a simple process but it takes knowledge of God, a release of control, and humility. We need to develop our faith in God, develop humility, understand our faith, and understand our relationship with him. This spiritual reformation takes time. And it is the preparation we need to hear God's voice.

[Ihuoma chuks]

Struggle is divine streng given to an ambitious person to keep him moving until he comes to the point of rest. This was the nature of Paul until he comes to the purpose of his calling. 

 Patience is very important because every God purpose is for time and season and time and season is concomitant to event. Paul have to wait patiently to the understanding of his calling.

Period of Spiritual formation is so important to future leader because the need directions so as not to fight against God like Peter who did not see it wise, the salvation of the gentiles untill he got a director. The apostle would not have accepted Paul and his gospel of Christ if not by by divine direction.
 To listen to God voice is the only way a disciple of Christ can do what he is call to do. In listening he will get directions and right thing to do. If God do not reveal his mind to man it will be impossible for man to know and please God.

[rigorodgers]

Why do ambitious Christians struggle so much when they don't seem to be doing anything important? first the holy spirit doesn't need us to become someone else in order to work in us we should remain who we are.you can not have an ambition out of the blue but it should have come from someone.This simply means that the struggle they are in is based on human knowledge rather than wisdom.If all that was based on wisdom it would be a struggle in decigise since the holy spirit always knows which way to go.These christians put their minds on what has to be done outside of them than inside of them,they don't focus on the teacher but rather on the work they think they have to do.They chose what to do by them selves.

Why is patience with God's plan so important to growth?As I wait patiently it's in this period that am remolded to be the best tool for the plan a head of me hence spiritual growth.

Why is a period of spiritual formation so important to future leadership? 
To listening for God's voice? with in this period one is being rebuilt both spiritually and in their thinking,so when it comes to leader ship one with all the above makes a good leader.spiritual formation is important to listening to the voice of God cause one is aware of the greatness and hirerachy of God.So it's easy to concentrate and listen to His voice.

[Irmela]

Acts 9:30; Galatians 1:15-17) Why do ambitious Christians struggle so much when they don't seem to be doing anything important?

Why is patience with God's plan so important to growth?

Why is a period of spiritual formation so important to future leadership? To listening for God's voice?

It is easy to fall into a trap to believe that you are only useful or only learning something when you are doing something important. When you are busy. Meanwhile, observing, waiting for the right moment etc are all also things that fall under the category of being useful. 

An embryo/fetus is no good out of the womb before the allotted time inside the womb is complete. Each stage in the womb is important for its growth. Coming out before the time is dangerous to its life /health etc. So just as it is best for the growth of the unborn in the space God has allotted it, for the right amount of time, just so it is important with God's plan about work, life's partner, etc. His timing is best. 

Spiritual formation is also very important. It is so easy to think we are ready. We need to truly stay in the Word. Talk with God, wait on Him. What we have read, He can bring to mind again. If we are in touch with Him it is second nature to call to Him at anytime, than when that is not our normal lifestyle. 

THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD

they are the ones who are strengthened, who can stand, who can go on unwavering. 

[Krissi]

Why do ambitious Christians struggle so much when they don't seem to be doing anything important?

Obviously, someone needs to explain this struggle from the point of view of a so-called "ambitious Christian."

It's not so much the importance of the task that's so enticing -- though that helps! -- but it is the actual doing of a task that matters. It's the challenge. The next mountain to climb. The feeling of being a total failure if a week/hour/second goes by without accomplishing something. For years, I charted all my little achievements: the number of words written, number of tomatoes grown, weight and strength, etc. I loved to see progress. Change. To be a bigger and better me. 

Why is this so difficult to understand, folks???? It's not ambition in a social sense, but in a personal sense. It's the driven, Type-A personality. 

Why is patience with God's plan so important to growth?

I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "Don't just sit there, do something ..."  Some guy in the 1950s/60s inverted that phrase, "Don't just do something, sit there." That guy needs to have his butt superglued to a heavy chair for that phrase is inhumane, cruel and unusual!

Look, some of us are born with personalities that are driven! I can't sit still. Never could. In my wee opinion, the most ridiculously impossible verse in the Bible is this: "Be still and know I am God."  

Having said this, I know that God not only has given me my personality (and is busily changing it), but also has forced me to be still, to live in solitude, and be separated from the bustle of existence.  Though I have prayed for a "big life" for the past six years, God has made my life even smaller. He has His inscrutable reasons. Admittedly, it's been a time of accelerated spiritual growth. I often wonder, however, why a good God can't come up with a kinder way of helping me learn of Him as a person.

If you have read Lettie Cowman's devotionals, you'll understand the horror of solitude and stillness from the perspective of a Type-A woman who is far more spiritually mature than am I. Suffice it to say that for the driven, not being challenged is pure torture. Being stuck at home, puttering around the house, feeding my elderly father, watching snow fall and then trees come into leaf, reading book after book after book after book after book after book, writing a few books ... too, petting the dog, studying devotionally for hours because prayer is so difficult -- this is torture to a driven person.

Yet, I know that God puts people like me into house arrest because that's the only way He can get us to focus on Him and not on the tasks we're eager to do. If he had not plunged us into seeming inactivity, we'd be starting this or that group, raising money, rushing off to the mission field, speaking incessantly ... without looking at Him or really knowing Him. We would be less obedient than frenetic. We wouldn't really know God.

Why is a period of spiritual formation so important to future leadership?

Waiting is the supreme test of obedience. I'm not sure waiting is important only to leaders, however, for it is also important to average, everyday pew-warmers like me.

A "period of spiritual formation" is a time of nothingness and waiting. "When the cloud tarried ... then the children of Israel ... journeyed not." The poor Israelites were forced to camp for months, perhaps years, without starting fun building projects, digging deep wells, putting in irrigation to make fields productive, dragging stones to make roads, teaching in schools and writing the curriculum, etc. These are the things one would do who was NOT merely tarrying, but knew his calling, purpose and reason for existing. It must have been horrible to be sitting in a dry, ugly desert, looking up at the cloud in tears and begging God to make it move. I feel their pain!

Tarrying is for the lost. It's for those who have to learn something before life can start again. It's the pause between the projects, the "pregnant silence" before the crescendo. I wait because God has not assigned me to do anything. Sure, it's a preparatory period, but that's the point, isn't it? Waiting, in itself, is meaningless. It's ONLY preparation for something else.

No one likes to wait.

To listening for God's voice?

I've never heard God's audible voice. If I did, I'd probably spin around to see who is behind me! 

One of the things I am learning, slowly, is to hear His inaudible voice as I pray. Perhaps this time of house arrest has taught me the rudiments.