The  Fruit  Of  Patience

Ministered By Pastor/Evangelist Harlo White

I am ministering today on the fruit of patience. It is apparent that this message is needed. We need this, the fruit of patience. Patience and longsuffering are synonymous in quality. Now remember, this is not necessary in the definition of the words themselves, but in the working of the results, longsuffering and patience become Synonymous. We’re reading from the book of  II Timothy: 

• I ITim.3:1O-But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience.

Both longsuffering and  patience are conclusively brought together throughout the word of God with the same working of results, and they become synonymous. Let me define what the word patience means in the Greek. It means, The QUALITY OF ENDURANCE UNDER TRIALS, or in words, the ability to be able to tolerate tests and trials that you go through. Longsuffering is the attitude of forbearance and toleration with respect to people. That’s why they are synonymous. Patience and longsuffering. Longsuffering is patience; patience is longsuffering. One, in the definition of the words, involves your relation to other people. The other, your endurance when you are put to tests. We are dealing right now in this message with patience or longsuffering with people.

 Patience is a fruit. Longsuffering is a fruit. Remember, they are synonymous, and they have to be produced in your life to give you the ability of God, and the power of God. Turn to the book of Galatians: These verses are explanatory of what God wants out of your life in relation to patience.

• Gal.5: 22-But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,

Patience is what he is talking about. Patience is a fruit; I want you to notice that. It is not a gift. Praise the Lord! I said patience is a fruit; it is not a gift! It would be easy to get if it was a gift, but it happens to be a fruit! Let’s read from the gospel of Luke. We’re going to get down into the meat of the message in just a minute, but I have to give you these scriptures.

• Luke 8:10-And he said, unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

• V.11:-Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

• V.12:-Those by the wayside are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

• V.13:-They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation, fall away.

• V.14:-And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, and riches, and plea­sures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

• V.15:-But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

I said, patience is a fruit. If patience can produce fruit, which means patience is a fruit! You have to have fruit to produce fruit! Patience is a fruit of the spirit, and it deals with our individual lives in relation to the tests and the trials that every one of you is going to face, to come into the place of perfection. Let’s turn to the gospel of Matthew. I’m going to point out here, by the word of God, one of the tests that many of us are failing.

• Matt.18: 21-Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?

• V.22:-Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.

Some of you haven’t even forgiven them once, let alone seven times, and 490 times is out of the question. Peter said, “Lord, shall I forgive him seven times?” And the Lord said 490 times! This is a test that a lot of us are failing. Listen to what he said:

• V.22:-Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.

• V.23:-Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

Now, understand the only things that can compose the kingdom of God are people who have patience. You cannot be part of God’s kingdom without it. He said here very plainly, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

• V.24:-And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

• V.25:-But for as much as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him not to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

• V.26:-The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

• V.27:-Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

• V.28:-But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and. took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

• V.29:-And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

• V.30:-And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

• V.31:-So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

• V.32:-Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, 0 thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

• V.33:-Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?

• V.34:-And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

• V.35:-So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one of his brother their trespasses

      Now, I want you to notice, those who fail to develop patience are delivered to the tormentors by their own failure to succeed in patience. Your lack of patience delivers you to the tormentors! Let’s define the word tormentors. It is defined in the Greek as A TORTURER, TO TORTURE, PAIN, TOIL, TOSS, VEX, THROUGH THE NOTION OF GOING TO THE BOTTOM. Some of you are on the bottom because you have not manifested patience to other people, as God has manifested patience to you. Let me explain that this is why I have reached the place in my life where I never fret, I never worry! I have seen people turn right around and do just the opposite of what I preach! I never fret! I never worry over it! Do you know why? I’ve got patience, and because I have developed patience, I am never tortured! I have delivered myself from the torture of the tormentors because I have developed the fruit of patience. Somebody said, “Well, how do I do this?”

      “Well we are going to get to that in just a minute, as to how you develop patience. I said patience is a fruit. It is not a gift. A gift is something that is given to you. This is why you can see people manifest the gift of the Holy Ghost, and turn right around and fly off of the handle, because the gift does not demand fruit. A gift is something given. Fruit is something that you have to produce and cultivate. This is why Jesus said,

• Matt.12:35-Either make the tree good, and his fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt.  

       There is a little word here that I want you to notice. I want to emphasize the word (tree) so that we could refresh your memory that trees in the Bible are people. Emphatically, they are people through out the word of God. In the book of Revelation, when you read of a third of the trees being burned, it is people and they are not burned with an atomic blast, they are burned with the fire of God’s word. They’re burned up! They’re consumed! A fruit is something that has to be cultivated. Let^’s turn to the gospel of John.

• John 15:1- I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

• V.2:-Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Fruit is a product of the vine, and the power of the seed is in the vine to produce the right kind of fruit on that branch. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. The fruit does not grow on the vine, or on the trunk. Jesus cannot produce the fruit without you! This is why so many of these people are waiting for him to come back and do what they think needs to be done, are totally missing the revelation. He cannot do it, except in us! We are the branches, and the fruit of Christ has to come forth on the branches. The fruit has to grow in us, and grow on us. It’s the only way that He has of manifes­ting Himself. Why? Because He has no flesh except our flesh to mani­fest the fruit in. Patience is a fruit! It grows on the branches, and the branches have to be pruned. That means they have to be cut back! Look again at what He says in

• V.2: Every branch that beareth fruit, my Father purgeth it. We are going to define the word purgeth.   

      It means, TO MAKE CLEAN, TO PRUNE, and TO CUT AWAY DEAD GROWTH OR THE GROWTH OF DEATH. God has to cut off of your life that which is producing death in you. He has to trim it away from your life; other­wise you become fruitless, and lack production. Patience cannot grow in some of your lives, because you have never allowed the Father yet to prune away from your life the dead wood that is hanging on to you. The dead wood has to come off of you, and trying to hold on to that old dead wood ministers death, and lack of production. Somebody said, “What old dead wood?”  

      “It could be your father, in the flesh; it could be your mother, in the flesh; it could be your brother, or sister! It could be your friends! It could be a church system! It could be security of money! Not only that, but it could be the security of a lover!” We’re going to get to that in just a moment, of why some of you get into the messes you’re in. God is purging us, and this purging or this cutting away of the old dead wood from your life, is the only thing that can produce patience in you. Understand that God has no other way of bringing forth patience.

Somebody said, “Well, I’m tired of waiting!”  

      “For what? What are you tired of waiting for? For your compensation? That’s not where it’s at! You cannot allow yourself to see anything but the kingdom of God. I preached it last night, unless your eye is single, and only sees the kingdom, you are going to continually feel like you are going to have to wait for everything, but when once you possess the kingdom in your soul, the waiting is over!”

Somebody said, “Well, where is my money?”

      “You’re not waiting for it, you don’t even worry about it, because you know that through the kingdom in due time, God will bring forth the financial blessing that He has promised you. Patience! Some of you don’t even have enough patience to let these people shout!

Somebody said, “Well it bothers me!”

      That’s because of your lack of patience; and what if the Lord just brought you here today to prune away from you that old dead wood. Some of these people that don’t like shouting and praising the Lord, the Lord is going to set you down in the middle of the most screaming bunch of people you have ever seen in your life. Oh, praise the Lord! Patience! It’s either going to be this kind of screaming, or the kind your husband does so which one would you rather have? I’d rather have this, myself. This cutting away process, this purging away process is brought about through tribulation, now remember this! Let’s turn to the book of Romans:

• Rom.5: 5-And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Tribulation worketh patience.

What does that mean? It cultivates it. Tribulation cultivates patience. We defined what tribulation is. Tribulation is PRESSURE, OR TO CROWD. Do you feel as though people have been crowding you? It means, TO PRESSURE, TO CROWD, and TO THRONG?’ This is why some of you have experienced in the last few months, the throngs coming against you. Why? Because they are pruning you. Some of you haven’t just had one or two; you’ve had multitudes coming against you. That’s part of tribulation. Do you understand it? They are thronging you. It means to rub against you. It’s that tribulation that is producing and cultivating patience in your life, and about the time you feel like you are totally persuaded, God lets you go through another rub. Just about the time you think you’ve got it made, He lets you go through another temptation. Let’s turn to the book of James:

• James 1:3 - Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

• V.4:-But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

This is telling us that the only thing that will move you into a place where you do not have to want anything is patience! Patience is the only thing that will let you know that as you need it, God will supply it. The trying of your faith worketh patience. Trying is testing, and that is only for your benefit, not for God’s. He already knows exactly what you are! He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. He only tries you so can see what you are made out of. He lets you go through the trying and the testing to show you your own quality.

       Patience  the trying of your faith! Patience helps you receive God’s promises. God has promised blessing, total blessing to those who are faithful, and impatience causes us to miss the blessing be­cause it hinders our continued faithfulness.

      I told you this, that when I was sixteen, the Lord spoke to me to give my first car to a preacher. I thought the next week; God was going to bless me with a brand new car. I didn’t even get an old one back! I had to walk! I didn’t even get a new one to go into the ministry in. I went to the first revival that I preached, in an old jalopy that brother Gordon and I overhauled ourselves. It never did run right after we overhauled it either! We had very few clothes when we went into the ministry, and half of them we left on barbed wire fences in Texas, going through the fences trying to get water from every windmill that we passed, to put in that old car to keep it running. When we drove up for the first revival, they said, “Here comes the white tornado!” That car was nothing but a pillar of smoke! Now understand, this goes on, and on, and on! When I gave that first car to that preacher, and I would be walking down the street, and I would turn around and look for the brake lights to come on every new car that passed me, because I knew that they were going to slam on their brakes, back up, roll down the window and say, “Are you Harlo White?” I was going to say, “Yes, I am!” And they were going to get out and say, “Just as I passed you, the Lord spoke to me to give you this car.” It never happened! Patience! It was not until I got my eyes totally off of the car and on the kingdom, that God was able to give me a new automobile. I drove old ones for a long, long, time. Why? Because I wanted a new one so badly. Somebody said, “He’ll give you the desires of your heart!”

“But you forgot the first part, Delight thyself also in the Lord! (Ps.37: 4 That’s the key!

      Now, I am here to tell you that what will work for one person in God will work for another person, but what is demanded of one, is de­manded of another! If God demanded me to be faithful, He demands you to be faithful! Somebody said, “Well. I’ve been faithful for years!” “But your eyes have been evil! You’ve had your eyes on everything else, trying to look at the kingdom at the same time. Impossible! You cannot do it! The kingdom of God has got to take preeminence in your life and that is the only thing that you can see. With you, there is only one answer. Keep on being faithful; because this gives you power to possess the promise of God. He gives you power to possess it Let’s turn to the book of Hebrews:

• Heb.1O: 36-For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

     We have a lot of Christians who run out and perform what they feel is the will of God, and then get discouraged because they don’t see immediate results from it. I said we have a lot of Christians who run out and perform what is the will of God, and then get discouraged because they don’t see immediate results, and if you do, it stops the receiving of the promise. I don’t care how much you have done for God, if impatience interrupts your faithfulness, you’ll never even get the blessing you would have gotten for what you have already done! Somebody said, “Well, I was faithful for years!” “Yes, and then you got discouraged! So when you do that, you have to start all over! You have got to continue with your faithfulness without any interruptions, because it’s your patience that gives you possession of your soul.”

         I want to say this to some of you who want lovers. We let people who are not supposed to be in our souls, in because of impatience, and insecurity. We let them in because of impatience. When you have your eyes on the kingdom, nothing else matters. When I started in the ministry, I was not married. We had absolutely countless numbers of young women in our revivals, and I couldn’t touch one of them, and that is rough on young men! Somebody said, Why couldn’t you?” 

      “Because I was not about to let into my soul something that did not belong there, until first I had sought the kingdom. After a while, I let down and let somebody in, and it gave me nothing but misery, and God had to cut away from my life the dead, wood that was keeping the manifestation and the production of the fruit of His kingdom from coming forth in me. It all happened because I got impatient! I learned my lesson, and it was painful having to go through it.” Some of you are going through it, and have gone through it, and some of you are getting ready to go through it. Some of you are getting yourself in a position where you can go through it. Don’t allow yourself to become involved! I let someone into my life and got married when I should not have gotten married! It can cause you misery, and heartaches, and problems that will take you years to get rid of. The only thing that can remedy this is for you to set your eyes on the kingdom, and let God heal you of your wounds and deliver you from your mistakes, and your problems, and keep your eyes on the kingdom until God brings into your soul the one that is supposed to be there. 

      Impatience causes frustrations. Frustration causes offences. Frustration is caused by insecurity of seeing yourself falling short of God’s will. Remember that! You are frustrated because you’re not what you are supposed to be. Nothing else can make you frustrated! Absolutely nothing! When you are what you are supposed to be, nothing can frustrate you. You’re only frustrated because you see yourself falling short of God’s will, and gossip, and judging is the result of seeing yourself as a failure! Remember that! 

       I want you to let these things that I am saying today, stick in your spirit. If you gossip, and condemn, and judge other people, it’s only because you know you’re not what you’re supposed to be, because condemning others is only an attempt for you to try to justify yourself, that’s all. When you know you are what you’re supposed to be, it doesn’t matter what anybody else does, you do not have to condemn them because you are secure in what you are. So somebody said, “Well, what am I supposed to do when people are condemning me?” “Have patience! Do you know why you are supposed to have patience? Because if you are what you are supposed to be in God, what they do in trying to judge you, or condemn you, will not faze you anyway. Have patience with them. It’s only because they’re not in the place where you are, or they wouldn’t be condemning you. So from gossip, and judging, come offences. Let’s go to the book of James: 

• James 3:2 - For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

Do you understand what he is saying? Impatience is the very thing that is destroying your perfection in God. Some of you have done every­thing in your power to let God clean up everything in. your life that is unlike Him, but you don’t realize that impatience is hindering the perfection of God in you, because impatience brings forth many of these things that I have been preaching about today. You get frustrated! When you are frustrated, you open up your soul to people who are not supposed to be in there. Only when you are not frustrated, you can keep people closed out of your life, and remember you can only keep yourself in the place where you’re not frustrated when you know that you are what God wants you to be, and you are obeying Him.  So somebody said, “Well, what am I going to do?”

       “I’m going to leave this with you. Here’s the key! RELAX IN WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY PROMISED YOU! RELAX IN IT! It doesn’t make any difference whether it was ten years ago that God said it, relax in it! If God said it, He’s going to bring it to pass, no matter what happens, hell or high water! God will do what He said! In your patience, you possess your soul. You take possession of yourself, and nothing else can rule or reign in your life. You’ll never again have a nerve problem when you develop patience, because patience gives you possession of your soul. You’ll never again be frustrated when patience takes you over.” Somebody said, “Well what about my family?” “God said He’s going to save them. Relax in it, and know that what God has said, He will bring to pass!” LET PATIENCE HAVE HER PERFECT WORK IN US. This is the thing that is lacking in many of us right now, because we are so frustrated because we can’t see all the results we want to see. We want what we want, and we want it right now, and it doesn’t have to have anything at all to do with the kingdom. Some of your family members may never rule in the kingdom of God in flesh form. Forget it!  Somebody said, “But God promised to save my house!”

       “That has nothing to do at all with them possessing the kingdom that you are part of. You’re the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb. Some of your family members will only come into possession of the kingdom in the spirit realm. They will never make it in the flesh. They were not born to that end! They were not born to that purpose; they were born of the will of flesh, and not of the will of God. It does not mean that God will not bring them into salvation. It does not mean that God cannot devise a plan for them, but they who are not born through predestination have the power of choice, and only those who were born through predestination are those who do not have the power of choice. Praise the Lord! Don’t frustrate yourself over the people who do not have it! Praise God! Put them in God’s hand, and relax in the fact that God is going to save them and use you, and let Him cut off of you the dead wood! Let Him prune your life! I have already accepted the fact that some of the members of my family were born out of the will of the flesh. I have already accepted it, and I now totally relax in the truth that I was predestinated, totally irrelevant to any other member of my family. Do you understand what I am saying? I said in this we can rejoice, because we know that we were predestinated, and our names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the world! They did not get written in there when you got saved. Your name was in the book of life before you were ever born, and when you come to this revelation, you can be happy, you can rejoice, you don’t have to be frustrated. It develops patience in your life knowing this truth! Praise God! Quit wrestling with members of your family that were not predestinated. You are wrestling with them to your own destruction. Brother, let God say to you, Believe on the Lord, and thou shalt be saved and thy house, (Acts 16:31) and go on and shout the victory! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!