Dealing with Delay

Delay, delay, delay. A lot of our life is in waiting mode.

Think about it, most of our life is lived in the waiting place. We wait in lines, we wait in traffic, we wait to bring children into the world in pregnancy and in birth, we wait for a new day and we wait to die. But that waiting is important. What do we do in that time and space? We have many challenges and much to learn about waiting because most of us don’t wait well. 

Waiting is something we ALL will do. There is no getting around waiting time. But, we are tempted to try and go around the waiting or get ahead of the waiting but we can’t. Some of you are waiting right now for prayers to be answered. You are wondering what is taking so long for God to move and do something about your situation, your loved one, you finances, your health, your children, your marriage, etc.

Well, you have to know some things about God to know about waiting and how to deal with it. He is the God of the appointed time. Everything has an appointed time to come to pass in our lives.

“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved, And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” – Habbakuk 2:1-3

Let me give you some great instruction about what do when you are waiting.

What you must understand about God while you are waiting is this……

1. God is the God of the appointed time. In Genesis 18:14 God is asking a question “is there anything too hard for God” and telling Sarah that she will have a baby at the appointed time when she is surely old and not able to have a baby. In Job 7:1 it tells us that there is an appointed time that man is upon the earth. Psalms 102:13 talks about there being a set time of favor. There are many more scriptures on this but know, God is the God of the appointed time. 
2. There is an appointed time for everything.  Every dream, promise, prophecy and revelation you get from God has a set time to come to pass in your life. It will come to pass at a certain day and hour on God’s schedule. Habakkuk 2:3 says that the vision is for an appointed time. So, take comfort in that verse. Things will happen in the fullness of time. 
3. All things are beautiful at the appointed time. If you are struggling and looking at your life and nothing looks beautiful and you just can’t see the beauty of life. Hang on. There is a time coming, a promise you can hold on to. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God will make all things beautiful in His time. Just hold on it will change. 

Ok, so you see from the word of God that God is the God of the appointed time but, you are still waiting. About to lose it, give up, cave in, run… what do you do? You believe or sort of believe that God wants to answer your prayer.  But, you see from the scriptures that God will do it in His time. (Usually our time and His time do not match) But yet, you have to wait and you are tempted by things. It’s hard. You want to give up. You are discouraged.

There will always be a challenge from the time you get a vision, prophecy, revelation or promise of something God will do and it doesn’t happen “tomorrow”. The challenges come in the form of temptations. I want to give you the challenges and then give you the solutions to those challenges.  Let’s talk about these to help you stand strong. 

Challenges to Waiting

1. Temptation of discouragement and depression. This is where you get disappointed with God. Feeling of being abandoned by God. Delay most times carries depression. 
2. Temptation of bitterness with God and man. You are challenged with the bitterness of waiting on God that overflows into bitterness with people. You may have a situation where someone is unhappy with God or angry with God and they transfer that aggression to others. There is a lack of niceness to people. You struggle with just being nice. You struggle with no interest in people. You are sorrowful in spirit.  
3. Temptation of weariness and abandonment of spiritual responsilibilities. You are just tired and weary in the waiting and you want to stop and abandon your spiritual habits that keep you strong – going to church, bible study, prayer, etc. 
4. Temptation of accusations. This is where you start with the God accusations or self accusations. You look at God and say this is not fair. You say that God prefers others over yourself and others say you are the problem like they did in talking to Job.
5. Temptation of impatience. You now come up with alternatives because God is taking too long. You want to take matters into your own hands and come up with alternatives to how to get the prayer answered. You decide to settle for something else less than perfect of what God wants you to have. 
6. Temptation to accept the current situation as final destination. You think this situation you are in is final. It won’t ever change this is the final answer and the way it will be. You just won’t believe God anymore and settle that this is it. You fail to realize that it is never too late with God. 
7. Temptation of backsliding. You are tempted to just go right back to the world. The worst temptation ever. 

Now that I showed you the temptations you can face when waiting and especially when you have been waiting a long time let me give you the solutions. 

Solutions to Delay

1. Continue to review the promises of God and what He said in your heart.  Don’t let it go or forget what He said. Plaster the promises on the wall if you have to.  
2. Continue to pray over the vision, promise, prophecy and revelation. Talk to God about it all the time. Don’t let it go.
3. Continue to meditate on how faithful God is. If He did it in someone else’s life, He will do it for you.
4. Continue to embrace patience and wait. Faith and patience inherit the promise. Refuse to grow weary. Don’t faint. 
5. Continue to do what you know to do as a child of God. Don’t quit on spiritual responsibilities. 
6. Continue to reach out to other people and help them. Get you off your mind. Lift up the spirits of someone else.
7. Continue to trust that God is preparing you for the answer. Trust that He is maturing you to handle the answer.  
8. Continue to have joy in your life. Don’t let go of you joy. 

Remember waiting it not easy but delay will be over soon!