You can trust God to bring it to pass–as long as you don’t settle for less than his best.
Many of us are pregnant with a word that God has spoken to us either directly or through someone else. But if we have been carrying the word for a season with no indication that it is about to be birthed, we can become discouraged.
What promise has God proclaimed to you personally? Is it the restoration of your family? A ministry that mends the brokenhearted? Or a business that prospers and produces?
I challenge you not to settle for anything less than what God has spoken to you in the seclusion of your soul. The Bible tells us that He is not a man that He should lie (see Num. 23:19); if He said it, He will bring it to pass.
The problem that most of us face is not the promise or the provision for it. It is the process we endure to procure the promise. This process often threatens to abort the word before it is brought to full fruition.
That’s what happened in my life. When I was 5 years old my father committed suicide. From the ages of 6 to 13 I was sexually and physically abused.
The devil tried hard to keep me from my destiny. But at age 18 I heard the gospel. The revelation that Jesus died on an old rugged cross, was buried in a borrowed tomb, rose again on the third day and ascended to heaven so that I could be reconciled to my heavenly Father, God, revolutionized my life. Salvation was the starting point for all truth to be unveiled to me.
I began to realize I had a promise. That promise included protection, provision, safety, deliverance, wholeness, restoration and eternity in heaven.
I remind you that God is “no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34, KJV). In other words, He “shows no partiality” (NKJV). What He did for me He will do for you.
God has a promise for you. You need to tell the devil that you have decided not to settle, not to compromise or give up on what God has proclaimed for you. That is what his tactics have always been designed to do–to convince you to forfeit the promise of God.
His plan for Joseph, the dreamer, is a perfect example–and he used Joseph’s brothers to carry it out. When they saw him coming, they said, “‘Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, “Some wild beast has devoured him.” We shall see what will become of his dreams!'” (Gen. 37:19). This is the way the enemy works to defeat us.
The first thing he desires to do is to “kill” us. He wants to immobilize us–to paralyze us with so much pain that we are “cast into a pit,” or place of bondage.
The comment, “We shall see what will become of his dreams!” reveals his motive. He wants to steal our dreams.
How does this work in your life? Your dream is your destiny. It is the thing God has promised you.
The devil wants to destroy the dream, the destiny inside you. He may have sent an assignment when you were 5 to keep you messed up when you were 50, but don’t receive it. The devil is a liar!
Allow God to turn what the enemy meant as a stumbling block into a stepping stone. He has the ability to take the negatives in our lives and turn them into positives. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
Whatever God has begun in your life, He will finish (see Phil.1:6). What He has spoken, He will manifest. What He has promised, He will perform–as long as you can endure the process.
To endure means to stand firm under pressure. When you are under pressure you discover what is in you–and what is in you has already prepared you to prevail. “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
FROM PROMISE TO PROVISION
David is a person who learned how to endure while waiting for his promise. When he first received it, he was merely a shepherd boy. He had no royal background or impressive pedigree.
In fact, his own family apparently did not value him. When the prophet Samuel announced that he was coming to the home of David’s father, Jesse, to anoint one of his sons as the next king over Israel, Jesse didn’t even put David in the line-up.
David wasn’t concerned. He knew something we have to learn: As long as God has chosen you, it doesn’t matter how many people bypass you. His purposes will prevail.
Most theologians believe that David was approximately 13 to 17 years old when the prophet Samuel anointed him to be king. He was 30 years old when he actually began to reign over Israel (see 2 Sam. 5:4). That is a long time to be pregnant with a promise!
For approximately 17 years David was dwelling in caves, running from an army of men who were trying to kill him, eating whatever he could get his hands on and hanging out with a bunch of misfits who were discontented, distressed and in debt. How frustrating to know that you have a promise but to see no indicator in the natural realm that what you are believing for will be manifest!
But David held on. Ultimately he fulfilled all the will of the Lord and completed every assignment God had for him (see Acts 13:22). How did he do it?
Just before David died, he told an account that I believe will help us learn the secret to his victory (see 2 Sam. 23). He described a time when he was camped out with his mighty men and told them that he longed for a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem. When they heard the cry of their leader, three of the men risked their lives to break through the garrison of the Philistines, David’s longtime enemies, and get the water.
Considering the intensity of David’s desire, you would have thought he would be grateful for their commitment–and for the water they brought back. But instead, he took the cup of water and poured it onto the ground.
I believe David was making a statement about himself, his men and all those who would put their trust in God. His statement was simply: “not just a cup.” In other words, why settle for only a cup of water when God has promised you the entire well?
Today you must determine to be like David and refuse to settle for less than what God has promised you. Whatever you are pregnant with will be birthed if you endure the process with patience and trust God for the provision!
Paula White pastor of Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla. She also is a popular speaker and author.
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