The 
Phases of Faith
Faith is the only way to grow in our relationship with God.
Saturday, May 8, 2004
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My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for giving me the opportunity to reflect this week on what it means to be faithful in the midst of delays. Delays are sure to come to me, and to every believer as we seek to follow You and Your dreams for our lives. I pray that You will fill me and every believer with Your Holy Spirit today that we may live as those who have received Your dreams and decided to follow through on them regardless of the delays involved. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
Habakkuk 2:3 (LB)
God says, “These things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day! (Living Bible Scriptures © Copyright 1976 by Tyndale House Publishers. Used with Permission.)
Reflecting on God's Word
What is the best thing for developing patience in your life?
Thoughts...Slowly, Steadily, Surely...
Slowly, steadily, surely…these are adverbs that none of us want to hear when it comes to the dreams and visions God has for our lives. We want God’s dreams to come true quickly, immediately, YESTERDAY! Throughout the history of God’s people, God has given dreams and visions and then as soon as they have decided to participate in their fulfillment, He has put them through delays. Why? As we’ve already said throughout the week, the delays build our trust in God. How do we learn to trust God, or a parent, or anyone for that matter, if our every wish and desire is granted immediately. We live in a culture that worships “immediate gratification.” In other words, when we have a desire, we want the desire fulfilled—NOW. We don’t want to wait. We have drive through restaurants, oil changes, cleaners—you name it and we will make it quicker and more immediate. But faith doesn’t grow quickly or immediately. Faith takes time. Faith is a process. As I pointed out last week salvation happens in an instant, but faith takes a lifetime to develop. Delay is part of the process of faith development, character development, of developing a meaningful and lasting relationship.
Think about our human or natural dreams. Let’s say someone wants to become a great athlete. If God has already given them natural ability for the sport the person desires to play, then the only thing necessary for greatness to develop is coachability and perseverance. Coachability is necessary so that a person will learn the appropriate form, techniques, strategies and habits to become a great player in the selected sport. Perseverance is necessary in order for the form, techniques, strategies, habits and physical skills necessary to become great in the selected sport to develop. No one masters a sport overnight. It takes a commitment to days, weeks, months and years of practice to become great. Delays abound along the way—injuries cause delay. The weather may cause delays. Finding a team or coach may cause delays. In the end the natural dream may be realized, but not without decisions, delays, difficulties and dead-ends.
How much more, then, are there delays, difficulties and dead-ends as we seek to pursue God’s supernatural dreams for our lives. After all His dreams for us are impossible without His participation in the process. The delays along the way after we make the decision help us to realize that if the dream is going to become a reality, it won’t be about us, but about God! After all, it’s never about us! It’s always about God! God wants you and I to rely on Him, so He sends delays, or allows us to delay ourselves, or allows others to delay as (as the case was with Joseph’s brothers), or He allows Satan to delay us (as happened when Daniel prayed for specific wisdom concerning a certain dream he had experienced). But God never allows His dreams for our lives to be delayed permanently—unless we decide not to pursue them. Once we make the decision to see the dreams through—God WILL see the dreams through. He will do it slowly, steadily, surely. Sometimes we will feel like we are taking two steps forward and three steps back—and maybe we will be for a while. Ultimately, though, God will see the dream through to completion.
God’s written word, the Bible, makes it clear that God ALWAYS comes through when He offers a dream and humans respond. Sometimes the wait is extremely long—Abraham had to wait 400 years for the promise of land to become a reality. Actually, Abraham was long dead when his descendants inherited the land. But the promise, the dream WAS fulfilled. We’ve examined the dreams of a number of biblical characters during this past week. Whether the fulfillment took years, decades or centuries, the fulfillment always came. The fulfillment always received at least part of its impetus from the folks who received the dream. That is God allows us to play a role—a vital role—in fulfilling the dreams.
One of the most vital roles we have in the fulfillment of the dream is participating patiently and trustingly during the delays. One of the surest signs of the level of our faith is how we deal with delay. Delay shows whether we can persevere. Delay shows whether we trust God, whether we’re willing to obey Him no matter what.
So, where do you stand today when it comes to dealing with delay? Is it easy? Hard? Impossible? What does God need to do in you right now so that you will be able to deal with delay in a positive manner? So many times we pray to God—Lord, give me patience, and give it to me NOW! We laugh at the absurdity of the request, and yet most of us also relate with it as well. It is NOT easy to be patient, so every time we need patience, but are responding with anger, or impatience, or sarcasm we need to take it in that moment to the Lord. Don’t wait. Don’t wait until after you’ve “blown a gasket” to go to the Lord. As soon as the anger starts to rise, pause and pray. As soon as impatience starts to rear it’s head, take it to Jesus. Drop it at the foot of the cross. After all, that’s where Jesus crucified all our sins, right? Don’t get discouraged when delay makes you crazy, just give it to Jesus, and let Him transform that part of you in that moment! Faith grows “inch by inch,” not yard by yard, so let’s turn to Jesus FIRST, not last! Then our faith will last!