PICK YOUR PROMISE BACK UP!

A few years ago, I had an unexpected upheaval in my life. I didn’t see it coming, and it blindsided me. It especially hurt and grieved me because it came from someone close. The individual apologized, but I couldn’t just bring myself to forgive.

Some days later, I went for a program – and the minister talked on forgiveness. There, in that program, I finally forgave and let go of the hurt. However, that situation made me take a decision I had been contemplating before the incidence – and that decision was going to involve a lot of money which I didn’t have at that time.

So, I did what I usually do. I went into God’s presence and talked to Him about it – and I sensed He was behind me in this. I got His promise regarding the situation, and started confessing and praising Him for the answer.

My faith was strong and I wanted to sort out things before the coming year, so I had given myself a deadline for the end of the month. That was October.

The date drew nearer and I still kept believing God and standing in faith, but October ended – and nothing happened.

My faith shook, but I gave myself another deadline: Before the end of November.

The end of November came and went – and nothing happened. If you’ve ever stood in faith concerning a situation, you know it is a battle in itself. This time, my faith had taken a major beating. I began to doubt the promise. I began to use my head to reason – and soon, my faith was gone.

I dropped the promise, let it go, stopped believing and confessing – and began to think of ways to achieve it on my own.

Now when it comes to faith and confessions, we know confession has to be continuous and steady to see results – and manifestations can take time. If faith wavers and your confessions stop, the whole process slows down – and even comes to a halt.

Therefore, I had disrupted the principles of faith, and it would be difficult – almost impossible – to see results.

One day, I attended my usual weekly non-denominational program – and the Pastor’s wife got up to give a little exhortation before the main message. She taught from 2Kings 4:37 and she said, “The promise you thought was dead is alive! Pick it back up!” Then she began to talk about how we shouldn’t get discouraged when God gives us a promise and it doesn’t play out the way we expected or we don’t see the manifestations – especially as the year was running out.

It was as if God was speaking to me. Of course, He was.

When she prayed, right there in the meeting, I picked up my promise again and began to confess it.

THAT VERY DAY, the money came in.

One, that experience taught me another lesson in my faith-walk. I rarely give God deadlines anymore – except He gives me one. I have learnt He knows the urgency of every situation, and the best time for the answer. I simply stand in faith until I see the manifestations.

I have also learnt that when the enemy knows you set a deadline, he would do all he can to delay you – so that your faith in God fails. Therefore, I have learnt, as Kenneth Copeland beautifully put it, to simply “stand therefore – until I get what I am standing there for.”

Two, I am not saying you will see immediate physical miracles when you chose to pick your promise back up – but, then, you never can tell. Remember the story of “…by this time tomorrow…”?(2 Kings 7) With God, anything can happen.

But more importantly (three), I am doing this end-of-year series because someone might be having the same experience(s) I went through.

You might have been standing in faith and confessing from January 1st to November 24th – and you are yet to see the results/manifestations. You have become discouraged and are about to give up. You have decided to do your own thing, go your own way – and leave God out of it. After all, heaven helps those who help themselves, and time is running out. It is possible you are about to drop your promise – or you have even dropped it.

Strangely, I am not the ‘encouragment’ type of voice in the Body, but I strongly sense God saying, “You see that promise I gave you? Go back to it. Pick it up again. Put it back into your heart. Put it back before your eyes. Put it back in your mouth…

And watch what I would do for you.”

I don’t know who this is for, but, whoever you are, Pick Your Promise Back Up Again.