BREAKING THE YOKE OF DELAY

Delay means to postpone, slow down, detain, linger or late. There is marital delay, financial delay, physical delay, spiritual delay, material delay or academic delay. Causes of delay include sin [Isa 59:1-2, Jer. 5:25], your foundation. [Gen. 6:25-27], curses [Gen. 49:1-4], wrong association. [Gen 13:8-12], wrong positioning. [Gen 12], various evil powers that can be ancestral or even the powers in the house you live in. There are withholding powers and they play a major role in the rising and falling of families, individuals, organizations, nations etc. They are crucial to the fulfillment or frustration of our divine mandate.

Scriptures: Genesis 28:1-5; Genesis 28:1-4; 11-19; 31:38-42; Psalm 105:17-22; I Cor. 15:8-10; Isaiah 60:1 

There are good things in life, but those good things could be delayed or withheld. There are powers that specialize in holding back good things which are actually available. The spirit of delay hinders people from entering their destiny at the appropriate or set time despite much efforts and labor.

Those who suffer from this spirit spend a much longer time to get what others get easily and quickly. They work so hard before they can get anything. By the time they eventually get it, all the joy of such achievement would have gone. They pay unusual price in getting anything done and they are always last on the line of blessing. The last to get admission, the last to pass examination, the last to get married, the last to have children.

But you can only correct what you are willing to confront. Victory is never accomplished without conflict.

Delay is not a good thing. It brings shame, late achievements, and sometimes non-achievement. It leads to wasted resources, efforts, and even a wasted life. Believers must break free from obstacles that prevent progress. “God will destroy yokes and take burdens off shoulders and necks” [Isa. 10:27] to free us from delay. God’s will is for us is to progress and rise higher, as the Scripture says, “The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children” (Psalm 115:14).

From the beginning, when God blessed humanity, He commanded them to be fruitful and multiply [Gen. 1:28]. This clearly shows that God is not the author of delay. The spirit of delay seeks to stop people from being fruitful, multiply, and fulfilling their destinies. We can categorically say an enemy has done this, in order to weary us from persevering until our goal is achieved, if we are facing spiritual delay.

Delay is when you are hindered or stopped from doing, having, knowing, or becoming what was originally intended. It is an obstacle designed to slow down or derail destinies. Delay is a satanic tactic aimed at causing frustration, stagnation, and missed opportunities. There are different types of delay, for example as seen with Zechariah and Elizabeth, Elkanah and Hannah. It could be divine delay, personal delay, inherited delay, programmed delay and satanic delay.

Breaking the yoke of delay requires recognizing the source of delay, identifying spiritual forces that may be hindering progress or causing delay and acknowledging personal weaknesses, fears, or doubts that may be contributing to delay.

“For we wanted to come to you … but Satan blocked our way” 1 Thess. 2:18 (NIV)

We must seek God's intervention through prayer and intercession, asking for breakthrough and acceleration. We must trust in and have confidence in God's sovereignty, goodness, and timing, even when faced with uncertainty or delay.

Some of the ways to break delay include using the name of Jesus [Acts 2:21], prayer and fasting [Matthew 21:17], anointing of the Holy Spirit. [Isaiah 10:27], praise warfare [Acts 16:25-26] and the ministry of prophet [Hosea 12:13]

Believers must exhibit persistent effort by continuing to take intentional steps towards goals and objectives, despite obstacles or setbacks and have strategic planning by re-evaluating and adjusting plans, seeking wisdom and guidance from God and others. We must embrace divine acceleration, which can bring sudden breakthroughs and rapid progress, and recognize and cooperate with the supernatural momentum that God can bring to our endeavors.

However, we must understand that delay does not necessarily mean denial sometimes; God may be using the delay to refine, prepare, or redirect. Breaking the yoke of delay often requires perseverance, persistence, and determination. We must also trust that God's timing is perfect, even when faced with delay or uncertainty. We must be inspired to break the yoke of delay, trusting in God's sovereignty, goodness, and timing, and persevering towards our goals and objectives.

Many times, we suffer delays in our lives due to satanic manipulations. When Daniel fasted and prayed for twenty-one days, the Lord had answered him from first day. Ungodly delay is a form of denial of God’s blessings. Is there an area of your life where you are experiencing stagnation or delay? Daniel got his answer eventually because he persisted in the place of prayers. When you check your life and you find out that the spirit of delay is in control, then you need to resist it. You must embark on aggressive fiery delay destroying prayers against the spirit of delay with holy aggression.

UNDERSTANDING THE YOKE OF DELAY

Proverbs 13:12 says “Hope deferred make the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” Delay is to defer, detain, linger, to pause hinder, and +to cause something to occur more slowly than normal. There are good things in life, but those good things could be delayed or withheld. There are powers that specialize in holding back good things which are actually available. The spirit of delay hinders people from entering their destiny at the appropriate or set time despite much efforts and labor. Delay is a spirit, and it’s one of the favorite tools of the devil and his agents used against the children of God. It is use to delay, distract, discourage, and destroy many people lives.

The devil is behind many of our delays, but not every delay originates from the devil. Sometimes, some people might be the architect of their delay through disobeying divine instructions, sins, procrastinations, negative thoughts, prayerlessness, negative confessions, one’s foundation or, wrong association; wrong positioning; double minded; a curse; redeeming our vows. Some of these can delay manifestation of our blessings and breakthroughs.

The goal of the devil is to deny or deprive people of what they need to make fulfilling their divine purpose or destiny. But on the other hand, there can be delay from God. He is the Creator of everything in heaven and earth. He can orchestrate any delay in one’s life because He is arranging a better thing for us at the appointed time. The birth of John the Baptist was delayed so that as the fore runner of Christ, he can be born around the same time that Jesus was birthed.

The Bible talks about the vision being for an appointed time. God promised to answer our prayers, but He did not say He will do it according to our own timetable. The timing might seem not right to us, but God has His own divine appointment time awaiting us. Take for example Joseph, it took another two years for Pharaoh to have a dream that needed interpretation, and it was only then that Pharaoh’s cup bearer remembered Joseph. We need to remember that God has scheduled an appointment time for us to connect with our divine helpers and we can’t force it to happen.

The Bible tells us of how a delay can happen when we pray to God. We’re told of how Daniel prayed and his prayer was answered but the Prince of Persia delayed the angel and God now had to send Angel Gabriel to deliver the answer to his prayer (Daniel 10:12-13). The same thing can happen to anyone’s prayers and answers. It was the operation of territorial spirits, forces of delay and frustration, for example, witchcraft manipulation. Also, Apostle Paul revealed how they were hindered by the devil according to 1 Thessalonians 2:17-18. Those who suffer from the spirit of delay, spend much longer time to get what others get easily and quickly.

The anointing of God shall break the yoke of delay. We must remember that time is very important; Time is value; life is time; and destiny is time bound. Jeremiah 30:8 says that “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck….” How do we break delay? We must first and foremost, analyze the history of our family or what we are trying to achieve to detect any pattern of delay; Through the help of the Holy Spirit; righteousness; divine Intervention; prayers and sometimes including fasting; meditating on God’s Word, and having godly fellowship with others, we can breakforth. I pray that the power of God come upon us to set us free from every form of delay and when the yoke of delay is finally broken, then the person afflicted will be set free from the spirit of delay.

STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING DELAY

In Genesis 15:9-18 God makes a covenant with Abram, promising him descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky but then God gave Abram time frame that his seed will be in captivity for 400 years.

Here we will be discussing strategies for overcoming delays in achieving goals and moving forward in life, where you will get knowledge about breaking free from procrastination and taking action to avoid delays in progress.

Delay is a real concept that can be experienced in both natural and spiritual dimensions. This means that delays can occur as a result of both physical circumstances and spiritual obstacles. The scripture emphasizes that God has not given us a spirit of fear [2 Tim. 1:7], so we must overcome fear in order to defeat it. Delay and fear are both two-dimensional, with delay being physical and spiritual.

To overcome these obstacles, one does not need to focus on the physical body, but rather on the spiritual realm. The word emphasizes the importance of fearing God over fearing those who can harm the physical body. It highlights the significance of the spirit in defining humanity, implying that without the spirit, a person cannot truly be considered human.

Delay can be seen in two dimensions: the physical delay itself and the spiritual aspect known as the spirit of delay. This spirit cannot be overcome through conventional methods, and instead requires a supernatural approach to be addressed effectively through spiritual warfare.

To overcome delays, one must confront them with a determined attitude. The word emphasizes that if you are only addressing physical delays and ignoring spiritual ones, you will not make progress and your efforts will be ineffective. We must engage weapons of our warfare [2 Cor. 10:4-6; Eph. 6:10-18]

For emphasis sake, delay refers to a period in which no growth or progress is seen except for aging. It is seen as a hindrance to achieving prophecies, visions, dreams, aspirations and advancing in life. Delay does not care about the prophecies spoken over your life, even if they were given by great men of God. Rather delay gets excited when it sees progress and prophecies, and it does not show any respect for them. Note that delaying addressing issues can lead to denial. The phrase “delay is not denial” can be an excuse created by the devil to justify procrastination in believers’ lives. Delaying dealing with an issue will eventually lead to denying its existence and it will inhibit your progress.

Many people struggle with delays impacting their lives significantly. Failure to address this negative trait or issue will result in future generations inheriting it. Genesis 15:13 states that God told Abram that his descendants would be in captivity for 400 years. This text explains that the captivity of the children of Israel was not the work of the devil, but rather a fulfillment of God’s word to Abram. The Israelites stayed in captivity for more than 400 years originally prophesied in Exodus 12:40, ultimately falling out of God’s prophetic calendar.

The scripture discusses how the Israelites faced delays despite God’s promises being true, highlighting the idea that delays can hinder progress regardless of authority. The text discusses the concept of delays in God’s timing, using the example of the Israelites staying in Egypt for more than the 400 years. Delay is not the only factor at play, as it is often accompanied by stagnation and backwardness.

When God speaks to someone about you, delays can prevent them from fulfilling what God had asked them to do in your life. The passage in 1 Kings 19:15-17 shows God speaking to the prophet Elijah, instructing him to anoint Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha for specific purposes. The scripture discusses the oversight of Elijah in forgetting to anoint Jehu as king, despite anointing two others. This suggests that Jehu’s situation had moved beyond the natural realm, as it is unusual for a prophet to forget such an important task. Prophet Elijah was taken to heaven with an anointment of king Jehu. Jehu was so frustrated about his destiny that he ended up becoming a soldier, yet God sees him as a king. This tells us that delay does not discriminate based on education or qualifications and can have negative impacts regardless of one’s level of expertise or experience. Delay can diminish the value of a person’s accomplishments or credentials. “Delay will turn your degree into a decoration.”

Delay is so stubborn even if they say education is the key to success, delay will come and change the lock where someone has the key, put the wrong lock and they cannot open the door. Delay is so mean that it can come and deal with the whole community, school, family or even nation. Delay is not merciful!