Series 3 of 7: Overcoming the Spirit of Impatience, Ep 21
Welcome Back! I am your host, Dawn Simmons, and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are continuing our focus on our 7-part series for the next 5 weeks, which is the remainder of 2022. We started the series discussing the Spirit of Bitterness, we've also talked about the Spirit of Strife. This week we are going to be discussing the spirit of Impatience. The series focuses on 7 demons that are so common in our lives that I wanted to address them directly and really focus on understanding them and evicting them as we end 2022. The plan was to enable us to start 2023 with a new heart for the Lord, but the plan got so much better which I will share again in a moment as a refresh. With 4 weeks left, the 4 demons we will be addressing in the next 5 weeks are: Insecurity, Worry, Accusation and Cursing, not necessarily in that order but that is the remaining 4. Then on week 8, we will have a new beginning as we enter into 2023.
To remind you how this series began, as I sat down to hear from the Lord on specifically what content He wanted included, it became clear He wanted me to address the marriage between Him and His church. This is what He asked me to share with you, these are His words for you, not mine.
"There are mainstay areas that need to be cleared out so people can move on and develop their time and relationship with Me in a new way and rid themselves of their heavy burdens and areas that have controlled them or limited them. Break chains and release them for more. My love is waiting to heal deep wounds. Some will think it cannot be done, but they are closing their heart and mind and believing the same lies the devil told Eve and created the first divide. I came to create a bridge over all divides until the divide can be resolved once and for all. You are to show people there is a bridge, they are to take a step onto it and I will meet them there. That's all I ask. Some will walk farther than others, it doesn't matter, I'm on the bridge waiting for everyone."
When the Lord said at the beginning, there are "mainstay areas" I wanted to make sure I understood what He meant. The definition of Mainstay is: a person or thing on which something else is based or depends. (idols, incorrect understanding of Him, demonic influences) He said there are mainstay areas that need to be cleared so we can develop our time and relationship with Him. In doing that we will rid ourselves of burdens and things that have controlled or limited us. He specifically said we need to break chains. Folks, He wants us to get rid of demonic influences in our lives that are holding us back from our John 10:10 relationship with Him. The fullness He can provide. Whatever wounds we have, He can heal them, He is willing, He is able if we come to Him. The enemy created a divide with sin, but Jesus came to redeem us and as a result provide us a bridge over that divide, so it no longer exists for us. The only thing he asks is that we take a step onto that bridge. That's it. He knows some of us will take one step, some will take ten, some will run up on it to meet him. He just asks us to take a step to meet him. So, let's work some more on getting things out of our way so we can get ourselves to that bridge.
The Spirit of Impatience, I would consider this Spirit as a loud spirit. It starts out as a quiet spirit, but as it builds, it can't help but let itself be known whether it be in word or in action. Impatience is by definition, a lack of patience. I will say, not all impatience is a demonic influence, there is a difference between someone who has a lack of patience and someone who is demonized by the Spirit of Impatience. The Spirit of Impatience can demonize someone who is patient, so we need to understand both so we can identify when the Spirit of Impatience has made an appearance and is attempting to influence us and tempt us into actions that manifest demonization.
The Spirit of Impatience will generally be the Strongman and will often be accompanied by the Spirit of Agitation, The Spirit of Frustration, the Spirit of Intolerance, the Spirit of Resentment, the Spirit of Criticism. Impatience begins to have an influence over us, develops over time quietly and then pulls in one of these other demons to manifest even uglier behavior and that's where colorful behavior and the "loudness" becomes apparent.
When we become agitated, we start to see our actions speak by slamming things, throwing things, breaking things, speaking rudely. It's like a little volcano starts to percolate and if we can't get past it the explosion occurs. We talked about resentment and the role it can play when we discussed bitterness. These 7 demons in this series are entangled together so we will see them in multiple environments.
The Spirit of Criticism will frequently show up in marriages and other familial relationships. It is extremely common because people we spend the most time with will likely be the ones who we become impatient with if we are experiencing something over and over. As the Spirit of Impatience works to grate on us, percolating, the Spirit of Criticism is readying itself for that explosion, but it won't be a huge one-time Mt Vesuvius, it will be over time, smaller eruptions of tearing someone else apart through our words. The end result is the same as if it were Mt Vesuvius, you are killing the people around you with your harsh words.
The Spirit of Intolerance has gained immense power in the last 5 years. It snuck up on us and now there is a strong Spirit of Impatience across the globe that produces a level of Intolerance that is deadly. The enemy has raised up people all over the world with a Spirit of Impatience for what they want, and they want it now. If we don't all agree with whatever it is they want, then the Spirit of Intolerance comes out and uses hate, twists everything to make it appear anyone and everyone is intolerant.
The Spirit of Frustration builds off Impatience, starting out quiet and then building to an eventual explosion as well. Unlike the Spirit of Criticism which tends to be more focused on specific targets, Frustration is directed everywhere. More of a blitzkrieg if you will.
I will readily admit that I am an impatient person. I do not have a Spirit of Impatience demonizing me, but I can for sure see where I have had that in the past. A lot of times you will see the demonization occurring more in type A personalities. It is easy for this Spirit to attack these people because there are easy opportunities, like hanging fruit. I used to be a Type A personality when I was younger. I still have the tendencies, but being more experienced in life, having more wisdom, I know when to step back and work with things out of my control rather than try to fight against things out of my control that I don't like. I will never be a Type B personality. My sister was more type B, it always struck me at how opposite we were with the same parents, same DNA essentially in terms of our genetics. We could not have been more opposite in personality, appearance, interests. She rode a motorcycle, had her leather ensembles. I enjoy the safety of the metal surrounding me in my car. I will say, my dad also forbade us to even sit on a motorcycle as a kid, they were too dangerous. So, imagine my surprise when my sister got a motorcycle, and then unbeknownst to me my dad gets one as well and I think they even rode together. I am digressing but the point I am making are that people change. So, if you find yourself dealing with impatience and you are not dealing with it as gracefully as you would like, you can change it. Whether it is due to demonization or not, we can all change.
Let's see what the Bible tells us about Impatience and how will you know if you are just impatient versus being influenced by the Spirit of Impatience. When we want to understand how the Lord sees impatience, we want to look for what the Bible says regarding patience, the virtues associated with what direction His truth guides us.
We will start off with the anchors that Paul gives us for Godly character, Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." If we had any doubt of the importance of patience, this should settle that. A Godly character includes patience.
Here is Paul again encouraging us in how to treat each other. Ephesians 4:2, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
Psalm 37:7, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." How many people are praying and seeking an answer from the Lord, but won't wait patiently for Him to answer, instead move ahead in their own plan. It won't work that way.
Proverbs 14:29, " Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly." The Lord will give us great understanding, but this indicates one with a quick temper will not receive that and instead behaves foolishly.
Proverbs 15:18, "A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel." Same concept as the previous proverb. The temper invites strife.
Proverbs 16:32, "Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city."
This is one of my favorites, I quote it frequently. When I am waiting on the Lord, this is a good one as a reminder for myself. Also this is a great defensive and offensive weapon. If you feel the enemy provoking you or even your own will working against you, take authority over it all and use this scripture. Just because we don't think we have an answer, and I say that meaning the Lord may have responded but we missed it because we wanted what we wanted and were not open to what His best provides, but this will help to put things into perspective and cool your jets so to speak.
Romans 8:25, "But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."
Romans 12:12, " Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Patient in affliction is master level self-control. We should strive to be at this level. When everything is out of your control and you need a movement from the Lord, but we are waiting on Him, master level patience at work.
1 Corinthians 13:4, " Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." This is important for those dealing with a spirit of criticism. Generally, if you are criticizing it is because you think your way is better than someone else. Whether it is or not, pull back the criticism and allow the other person to have some free will, dignity and time to improve if they need to with good guidance.
Hebrews 6:15, "And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised." I love this scripture because it is evidence that if we wait on the Lord, he will come through. He has for centuries from Abraham to now.
2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." This one is always a good one to review because it essentially is reminding us that the Lord is patient with us as we make our mistakes and behave in ways dishonoring to Him and others. He doesn't yell at us, he corrects us, but He does it in a loving way and we need to exhibit the same in how we relate to others. I know we don't want the Lord to treat us the way we treat others at times.
Patience is mentioned so many times to us, and these scriptures are only a snapshot, but it is mentioned to us because it is a struggle. The enemy has many opportunities to use it against us if we let him. SO how can you tell the difference between just patience as an area we need to build up in our character or demonization? We are going to use the scripture as our guide.
1. In all cases, based on Galatians 5:22, we know that it is an area we need to build up in our character.
2. When our impatience is bringing in other sin areas, we can start to get an idea there is a demon influencing us.
a. Is your impatience leading you to argue and create conflicts with others?
b. Is your impatience beginning to create seeds of resentment toward others?
c. Does your impatience cause you to say things that tear others apart?
d. Is your impatience creating a chasm in your relationship with the Lord?
e. Do you behave in ways you are ashamed of or embarrassed by later?
f. Are you having to apologize for your behavior after the fact?
g. Does it cause you to behave in ways you wouldn't otherwise but for the impatience?
h. Are you creating divides in your marriage, family or any other relationships because of how you behave as a result of being impatient?
i. Do others avoid you or steer clear of certain conversations in your presence?
j. Do you ever feel like you are not able to control yourself when you get impatient?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you likely are experiencing some level of demonization. It will continue to grow if you are not willing to address it and make changes. If you answer no, but still want to improve how you handle impatience, here are 5 steps to begin change. It's very similar to strife, but
1. Acknowledge it: we can't pretend, others around us already know
2. Understand it: what is driving it, what relationships or areas trigger you
3. Address it: Think ahead, how will you stop yourself when you feel triggered? What action can you take as it occurs
4. Release it to the Lord: Take whatever occurred, whatever is triggering you and hand it over to Him and let go of it. Sometimes we hand it over and forget to let go of it.
5. Replace it: Impatience can be difficult to shift gears immediately, so you must first stop and be still. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you maintain control. You are working to shift from impatience to kindness and love. That's a huge shift for some so it will take time. If we are going to evict the enemy and his influence, we need to replace impatience and fill ourselves with what the Holy Spirit provides. Use your scriptures as you pray to help you gain strength. If you are struggling with replacing it, go back and check if you completed step 4.
We want to focus on and clear out these areas so we can have our path, our minds and hearts open to meet the Lord on the bridge. He can help us with anything we need when we are working to get to the bridge and deepen our relationship with the Lord.
I hope this has been helpful to you. If you know someone who is struggling with this, please share this podcast with them. It can change their life if they are willing.
Ok so as always let's recap the Top Show Points:
· We are continuing our focus on our 7-part series for the next 5 weeks, which is the remainder of 2022. We started the series discussing the Spirit of Bitterness, then the Spirit of Strife. This week we are going to be discussing the spirit of Impatience.
· A few weeks ago I sat down to hear from the Lord on specifically what content He wanted included, it became clear He wanted me to address the marriage between Him and His church. I shared what He wanted me to share with you.
· The Spirit of Impatience will generally be the Strongman and will often be accompanied by the Spirit of Agitation, The Spirit of Frustration, the Spirit of Intolerance, the Spirit of Resentment, the Spirit of Criticism.
· The Spirit of Impatience can demonize someone who is patient, so we need to understand both so we can identify when the Spirit of Impatience has made an appearance and is attempting to influence us and tempt us into actions that manifest demonization.
· Let's see what the Bible tells us about Impatience and how will you know if you are just impatient versus being influenced by the Spirit of Impatience. When we want to understand how the Lord sees impatience, we want to look for what the Bible says regarding patience, the virtues associated with what direction His truth guides us. Galatians 5:22, Ephesians 4:2, Psalm 37:7, Proverbs 14:29, Proverbs 15:18, Proverbs 16:32, Romans 8:25, Romans 12:12, 1 Corinthians 13:4, Hebrews 6:15, 2 Peter 3:9,
· So how can you tell the difference between just patience as an area we need to build up in our character or demonization? We are going to use the scripture as our guide.
· In all cases, based on Galatians 5:22, we know that it is an area we need to build up in our character.
· When our impatience is bringing in other sin areas, we can start to get an idea there is a demon influencing us. Asked several questions to flush out.
· 5 steps to begin to change our Impatience:
o Acknowledge it:
o Understand it:
o Address it:
o Release it to the Lord:
o Replace it:
What we ask of you:
· Subscribe! Subscribe! Subscribe! Share with friends
· Give us a review
· Follow us on social media….
· Send us your questions and stories to share on an upcoming show. Send them to contact@conqueringourunseenenemies