How to Overcome the Spirit of Delay. HOW TO OVERCOME THE SPIRIT OF DELAY
Delay is not denial; it is just a time lag. A time of delay may not necessarily mean you are out of Gods program. Delay may mean that there is something wrong you need to fix. Your responsibility is to identify what it is and fix it.
There are several steps to take if you must overcome or pull through a time of delay. Hold On to Gods Promises Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matt 24:35. Here is Jesus speaking about the enduring power of God’s word. Jesus is giving us assurance that God would come through with His word no matter what.
A time of delay will not invalidate the words of Jesus. He will fulfill what He has promised. When you can’t see anything as yet, hold unto His promises, they are as real as their manifestation. The prophet Isaiah reaffirms this in his prophecy: “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts” says the lord, and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine: for just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher your thoughts.
God’s word will be fulfilled. The expectations of the righteous will not be cut off. So, if the righteous puts his expectations in God’s word, the fulfillment is as sure as the day. You overcome delay by knowing that it is a matter of time and your dream will materialize. Follow God from the Inside God does not speak to our minds or our physical body. He speaks to our spirits. Consequently, only the spiritually sensitive will be able to follow God’s direction. To follow God from the inside means to follow Him with your spirit. Jesus says that the true worshippers will worship God in spirit and in truth for the father seeks such to worship him. Those who follow God with inner conviction will not be stranded along the way. Paul says: for I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed onto him against that day. Paul is saying here that the circumstances surrounding our lives don’t decide our lives. It is our conviction that does. Those who are persuaded don’t quit. The assurance of God’s presence makes you unconquerable. When you experience delay in your life, before you take any decision or throw in the tower, just do an inward check. Check what God is saying to you or what your heart is saying.
More often than not, the solution we seek is inside us. There in our heart or in our spirit. Situation could look so bad but there is that inward witness that tells you that help is on the way. That inward witness, my friend is more real than that adverse situation outside.
Resist the Pressure from other People
Sometimes the pressures of life are intensified by other people. Family and friend could mount unnecessary pressure on you. They may want to let you see how others are already far ahead of you. They show you how backwards you are and how your neighbor is already ten years ahead of you. The pressure from family and friends sometimes comes with good intention. We all need motivation or to be challenged sometimes but we don’t want anyone adding to the already tensed atmosphere around us.
When you face such pressure from family and friends be firm and tell them to give you some space. Don’t start looking for husband or wife by all means because your friend is married or because all your mates are married. Take your time to pray through and search for what you want. Tell whoever mounts pressure on you to hold their peace is. After all, it is your life not theirs.
Make Adequate Preparation You don’t have to live for a hundred years to know that this life is full of ups and downs. In fact in the first twenty years of your life that fact would have been engraved in the very depth of your being. The earlier you learn that, the better equipped you are in the race of life.
Things don’t always work out the way we planned them.
Sometimes there are delays. The five foolish virgins didn’t expect any delay from the bride groom. They took the amount of oil they felt would be adequate for their journey. This is what made them foolish. They acted as people who have never been engaged in the affairs of life. They should have known that things don’t always work out as planned. So, taking extra caution would have saved the day.
People become frustrated when they face delay because they did not prepare adequately.
I started out in my early twenties as a minister of the gospel. I had a big dream of reaching the world with the gospel and I still do. After so many years, I couldn’t fulfill my dream by relying on invitation to preach in churches. I went into education. I became a teacher in a secondary school. I discovered that that helped me to advance my dream.
What if I never went to school to acquire a skill for teaching? Perhaps, I would have been stranded.
It is important to learn anything you can learn. Acquire skills. They could serve as the extra oil you need in case of delay in your journey of life. While you wait to gain admission into a higher institution, you can use your musical skills, computer skills or any other skill to make a living.
Don’t Be Idle
Idleness can lead to frustration and depression. Get involved in life activities.
One of the reasons delay get really hard on some people is because they are idle. Time drags very slowly when you are doing nothing. When you fall into a deep sleep at night, the morning would be like a blink of an eye but when you can’t sleep, it’s like eternity.
Don’t make the mistake of staying idle. Get involved in legitimate activities it is more difficult to be idle than to have a job.
Pray
Another vital weapon against delay is prayer. Prayer can help you deal with the spirit of delay.
Have you ever heard the saying: if you don’t pray, you become a prey? That saying is true. Prayer releases the power and presence of God. Prayer is a means through which we fight our spiritual battles. Battles with demonic forces are not physical, they are spiritual. The Bible says that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against power, against the rulers of the darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places Eph. 6:10 Prayer in a very simple definition means communicating with God. We can talk to God, and when we do, He hears us. He does not only hear us, He answers us. When He answers us, we receive the manifestation in form of deliverance from demonic harassment, breakthrough, healing and provision that we seek.
Now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us 1 John 5:4
Prayer Points
I command every of my blessing that is hanging to be released right now in Jesus name
Father God, let all my years of delay be restored to me in hundred fold in Jesus name
I command every demonic force on assignment against my life to fall and be destroyed in Jesus name
Let every obstacle put on my way to delay my progress be removed right now in Jesus name
I recover every stolen blessing in my life in Jesus name.
Amen
cc. John Ijeh