Picture this: You are born again. You pray in tongues, read the Bible, and you try to do everything the scriptures teach. As far as you know, you are doing everything right.
One day, you pray to God about a mountain in your life that deeply troubles you. At first, you are hopeful, especially because you know what Luke 1:37 says: ‘For no word from God will ever fail.’
But as time passes, frustration begins to grow because nothing seems to change despite the many prayers you have been making.
Not wanting to admit your frustration, you decide to pray harder and read the word of God more. You continue like this for some time until you reach a point where you can no longer keep going. At that point, you become more honest about how you feel. But before giving up, you humble yourself and ask God if perhaps there is something you are missing.
At that point, you cannot tell whether you still have the strength to keep trusting God. However, deep down, you realize that you cannot denounce Him. You may not fully understand why, but you know you cannot walk away from God.
Today, I will be explaining this frustrating situation that many believers find themselves in. But before I explain, let me share a personal predicament I once experienced.
My personal predicament
I was blessed to be part of a church where people prayed fervently and believed that God still spoke to His people. It was fascinating to hear the promises that God was making concerning people’s lives. Messages from the Lord were shared almost every time we gathered for fellowship.
Like everyone else in the fellowship, I also desired to receive a word from God. Thankfully, I did not have to wait long. During one of the fellowships, I received a word from the Lord. It was more like a report about what God had observed in my life, and it was pinpoint accurate.
Even though it did not come with a promise, I was encouraged that God knew me that well. That word motivated me to pursue God even more.
Not long afterward, the Lord used one of the leaders in the fellowship to give me a promise. This was exactly what I had been hoping for.
In the following fellowships, I received a few more promises over my life, and each one excited me greatly. All of this happened within the first year of my joining that church.
However, after being in that church for some time, things began to change.
Fulfillment of God’s promises
One evening after one of the fellowships, a sister had noticed that I had received many words from the Lord over several months. She decided to ask me a question. I could tell that the question had been on her mind for quite some time, but she wasn’t sure how to bring it up.
“Augustine, can God make a promise and fail to fulfill it?” She asked.
I sensed that there were deeper concerns behind her question. Not wanting to say much at that moment, I simply answered, “No.”
She said nothing more, but the question lingered in my mind.
I could roughly understand why she had asked it, and I also understood why she had been hesitant.
In our church, many words from the Lord were given, but we rarely discussed whether those words were fulfilled. Asking about fulfillment could easily make you appear faithless.
Interestingly, that sister was known for going against the flow. On this occasion, that trait helped her speak up when everyone else remained silent.
In the days following her question, I quietly began analyzing the words from the Lord that were being spoken over people. Shortly, an uncomfortable truth emerged. I tried to brush it off, but it became impossible to ignore.
The uncomfortable truth
Many people would become very excited when they received a word from the Lord. But when those words were not fulfilled, they would either act as though the word had never been spoken or quietly leave the fellowship.
Quite a number of people were discouraged by unfulfilled promises, yet few were willing to speak about it openly.
Because I tend to question things more deeply, I decided to investigate further. I soon discovered that some of my friends had similar concerns, but like everyone else, they did not know what to do.
The issue troubled me so much that I eventually decided to ask the one person everyone else seemed to avoid asking. From that conversation, I received two answers, and those are the two explanations I want to share.
The process of delivering a breakthrough
Anytime you pray in tongues while trusting God for a breakthrough, an interesting sequence of events takes place in the spiritual realm.
First, God is pleased that you have chosen to trust Him for that breakthrough.
Second, the enemy is displeased that you have chosen to trust God to deliver the breakthrough.
As a result, the enemy searches for accusations against you to present before God in an attempt to stop your breakthrough. This is why he is called ‘the accuser of the brethren’ in Revelation 12:10.
If the accusations are false, God ignores them and delivers your breakthrough. If the accusations are true, God refrains from granting the breakthrough. If the accusations are debatable, God may allow a test to determine where you stand.
When God tests your stand, He often begins by giving you a promise. The promise is conditional, though many times the conditions are not clearly revealed to you. Then God allows situations that push you to your limits.
If you remain firm throughout the testing, God confirms before the accuser that you have overcome the test, and He releases your breakthrough. But if you give up during the test, God refrains from delivering the breakthrough because the accusations of the enemy against you have proven true.
If you remain undecided, the test may continue until the day you make a clear stand.
Activating your breakthrough
So, what should you do if you have done everything you know to do, yet your breakthrough has not yet come?
First, make sure your request to God is very specific. The more specific your request is, the clearer and stronger your stand becomes.
Secondly, become more proactive in your actions. The more steps you take toward the breakthrough you are trusting God for, the more your faith is demonstrated. Faith shown through action often moves God to respond, as written in Mark 11:24.
And whenever doubts try to creep in, continue praying in tongues.
God bless you.
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