I think it's interesting how few people ever pray to get the long-suffering fruit of the Spirit.
People are different and created that way purposely. People of a prophetic nature tend more toward long-suffering or patience than say a motivational gift of service or teaching. I think it was Isaiah or Ezekiel (?) that God told to lay on one side for a long time (really long) and to lay on the other side for another long rounds of weeks. People who are more encouraging in nature (like TinTin) or giving rarely have a natural portion of patience and long-
suffering, motivational encouragers can seem immune to the reality of any kind of suffering, because their heart is to encourage. God created people different on purpose. (If people knew this, we would get along about 100% more than we tend to.)
Evangelists, for example, will tend toward encouraging others and less toward being long-suffering. With encouragers, nothing is 'too hard', and you can beat anything; this is why evangelists make good 'missionaries' and will go everywhere, even into notoriously dangerous places. Moses was a motivational encourager. He led steel necks in a 40-year-deep circle and only lost his calm once.
Since you tend toward the prophetic, patience, perseverance, forbearance, long-suffering, diligence, integrity, and other like things will be found in your repertoire more readily than the traits naturally found in the possession of say a motivational mercy, encourager, or giver. In Acts 17, Paul says a little but means a lot. Part of what he said in his address at the Aeropagus was that God made everyone as they are (character, skills, talents, callings, anointings-- He owns every part of their lives), placing boundaries around people (in that passage, 'boundaries of their dwellings' doesn't only mean physical 'dwellings'). He created some black, some white, some with these desires, some with those skills.
This is what you see when you are in a Christian gathering in person or other: the people with the same gifts (of the three main types) always group together because they feel together. Teachers hang with teachers. Leaders hang with leaders. Mercies love to be around other mercies, because they are very sensitive to the hurts of others. Prophets hang with prophets, always preaching about what is true or false. Etc. By the way, mercies and prophets get along least among the motivational gifts as mercies make compromises (and sin) in order to show mercy and prophets are too hard charging (and sin) in their
desire to proclaim the truth (
their gift (
Jeremiah said it was like a fire in his bones which he couldn't help but let out)). I hope that helps, because it needs to.
