Forbearance

With all lowliness and meekness with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. Ephesians 4:2

The Greek word forbearing means to hold up against, to endure. A person who forbears doesn’t forget someone and walk on. No, instead he says, “Your actions have insulted me, but I’m not leaving. I will forgive you and keep ministering to you.”

You see, Satan loves to keep us from God’s blessing, because it’s easy to lose the skill of forbearing. It’s easy for satan to defeat us by using a little offense to drive us past the blessing.

Mark 4, Jesus identifies the tools satan uses against a believer: affliction, persecution, and offenses. He uses offense against us to keep us from getting the 30-, 60- and 100-fold blessing. That’s why the Lord used the Apostle Paul to remind them that their enemies are not flesh and blood. You see, we have to look past the person to the enemy behind them; knowing that there’s a hundred-fold blessing for us around the corner. But, it is conditional. You see, we must commit to receiving what God wants to give us, keep His commands and His laws, and follow His principles. All of this has to be done on purpose. In other words, we have to decide that we want to improve. It’s also the place where we’ll see the greatest change in ourselves, change that comes from walking in love.

I find this to be such an arduous task. However, it has proven to be a winner. The Bible says that LOVE CONQUERORS ALL. Believe me, it does.