Break Through inspite Delays
Very often we get delays to the answers we seek, the questions and situations we are going through and result in anxiety in us especially because today we are used to having things fast and immediate than in the past when people learnt how to persist.
Endurance
is usually going through a trying moment while bearing the weight of hardship, it involves a season of waiting and the hardships involved, in scripture endurance is often seen as the time between when a promise is given and when it has been fulfilled.
Perseverance
is keeping on in spite of those challenges-going on to overcome those challenges.
Types of delays
Divine delays
Caused by God in our lives when He says “not yet” or “no”
God uses them for the purpose of His divine spiritual growth and maturity in us. He uses these delays to bring us to the point when we are ready to receive our answer. So that we wait for His timing. In his time He makes all things beautiful Ecclesiastes 3:11
During divine delays, as Christians we should;
We need more instruction on waiting and faith than miracles, as opposed to the way we want things to happen more quickly and immediately.
Elijah prayed for the drought and God honored his prayer but he was not ready for the consequences of the draught. In the midst of this delay and drought, Elijah needed God to speak to his confusion.
When you are going through a God instigated drought, then you need His word more than a miracle. Elijah was in this situation when God spoke to Him.
1Kings.17:8 New King James Version
8Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 New International Version
5Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Oftentimes than not, our understanding misguides us to demand immediate answers or to think the delay is from the devil, but when we trust in the Lord, He helps us to lean on Him and wait for His word.
When we go through a drought we need to learn to listen more.
Hearing and obeying God’s voice unlocks God’s provision and promises upon our lives. We must therefore sharpen our listening skills and ability through waiting on God. We should desist from quickly binding and casting out what we think is causing the delay in our lives.
Don’t be in a hurry to find your own solutions because there is a way that seems right to a man. This way often looks easy to follow, it looks like the natural and simple alternative but deadly. It is therefore important to listen and wait in times of divine delays.
Proverbs 16:25 New King James Version
25There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
We need to learn to develop a godly attitude
Job 23:8-10 New King James Version
8“Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; 9 When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.10 But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
When God seems to delay, we should allow him to demonstrate His power over our impossibilities and bring to purpose what He has desired and purposed in our lives.
Waiting can be difficult, even one hour of waiting can be really painful. When Lazarus died Jesus waited 2 more days before he went to the house of Mary and Martha’s.
How long have you waited for your answer, is it a God ordained drought or delay?
Demonic delays
These delays are from the devils. They make one go round in circles without breaking through from a particular loop, because the devil has tied a web around you with demonic activities forged against you.
We should understand that when we pray there are spiritual battles raging behind the scenes.
Daniel 10:12-13 New King James Version
12Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.14 Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”
If you are going through these demonic delays, it is time to command the treasures of heaven to be released., the treasures of darkness to be released, the riches hidden in secret places to be released.
We should understand that when we pray, there are spiritual battles that are going on behind the scenes. Therefore we must persist in prayer.
1 Thess.2:18 New King James Version
Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us.
We must fight back these delays through the word of God, we need to go on the offensive till we receive our breakthrough.
Broken Relationships
There are also delays in scripture that we see caused by broken relationships
1 Peter 3:7 New King James Version
7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
Anger opens a door for sin in your life and that hinders your prayers and in the end causes delays in your life.
Ephesians 4:26-27 New King James Version
26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil.
Isaiah 59:2 New King James Version
2But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Allowing the devil cause broken relationships and unresolved issues can cause delays in your life, therefore you need to deal with them to walk into your breakthrough
Speech and use of the tongue
The way we use our tongue, by murmuring, complaining, speaking out before we think through, can bind us and cause delays.
Numbers.14:26 New King James Version
26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, [c]clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Sin
The area of sin can cause a delay; the sin of Achan was a hindrance to Israel till God told David to deal with the sin of Achan.
We need to deal with the sin of our lives if we are not making a breakthrough.
You may have persisted and still not breaking through. You need to;
- Mind your relationships, those can sometimes be injured causing delays
- Mind your language
- Fight back in prayer using the word of God
Let us then;
- Persist in the Lord
- Persist in prayer
- Persist in faith
- Persist in hope
- Persist in speech
- Persist in Righteousness
