James 1:3-5 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

³ knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. ⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. ⁵ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Yesterday I spoke of a need for detachment in witnessing. Here in these verses it is expressed with these words, wanting nothing. Impatience is a desire of the flesh and if you are walking in the Spirit, the walk is sufficient unto itself. We have done all that is asked of us and the rest is up to God. This may well be why James followed up with the call to prayer for wisdom.

Lord what shall I do now? Amen

Micah 6:8 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV) He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

What does walking humbly with God look like? If we run ahead, does that look humble? If we drag our feet does that look humble? If we gaze of at our surroundings with a wandering eye does that look humble? Does fixing our eyes and ears upon the object of our affection look humble? It will if the Lord is our object of affection.

It is not that we have not seen what is good, just and right, it is a matter of doing what we are asked in the manner we were shown.

Romans 8:13-15 (ESV)

¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sonsof God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Do the lost know we are being led by the Spirit to say and do what we are asked? That is a hard one to prove to the lost. The motivation of the heart are not under examination by the lost, our actions are the only observations they can see. They do not yet have spiritual eyes and ears. If falls upon us to make sure that we are hearing by faith and obeying by faith. If we can do that, God can do the rest.

It is easy to fall back into the role of the fixer. Men are raised to fix it. If it is broken fix it. There has to be a certain amount of detachment in witnessing because we want to see results. God is willing to take His time to make sure salvation is found through God and not us. We save no one. We speak truth and allow truth to do its work.

When we get to know the lost there is a sincere desire for them to come to know God. That is God’s desire and because of the indwelling love of Christ, it is our heart. When we feel this need to fix it that is the time to pray. Our first instinct is to fix it. Our first instinct as sons of adoption should be to seek instructions from the Father on what to do next. Patience is required. Patience is developed in us because it is not natural in us.