PROCESS BEFORE THE PROMISE
Spiritual growth in the wilderness and waiting season

Process Before The Promise. 4 Interesting Reasons God Does This.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Do you feel you have been in a never-ending wilderness season? Has God been taking you through a process before the promise? Maybe God gave you a dream or a vision about where He is taking you. And right now, your life contradicts where God is taking you and this is frustrating you. Well, today I have a beautiful word that will encourage you while you are going through your process. And before we get to the word, I want you to remember that God is not against you.

He is in this process with you; He is working through you and He is fighting for you. It is imperative that you let this truth guide you because if you don’t, you will not trust God in the process. And the repercussions of that are that you might end up missing out on the lessons and the training God wanted you to gain.

Table of Contents

Why does God take you through a process before the promise?

To test your loyalty to the promise.

You see, there is always a price to pay before you can step into your promised land. It is one thing to be excited about in your future. But when push comes to shove, will you still be committed to your purpose? Will you willingly hold on to the promise even when everything around you tells you to give up? Will you still desire to wait after 5 or 10 years of no fulfillment? How bad do you want your promise? And are you willing to keep pushing until you experience your breakthrough moment?

You see, at a time when our generation wants everything immediately, it takes a whole other level of discipline to wait patiently for what God has for you. And this can be proven when you find yourself not taking the easy way out or compromising because you believe God’s way is better. And to give you a practical example, let’s say God gave you a promise that you would be a kingdom financier.

The easy way would be for you to bribe your way to the top of a well-paying and influential job. Or you scheming your way into a lucrative deal. The problematic route would be to go through the process and learning curve until you experience breakthroughs in your business or career. Will you count the cost and hold on until you see it come to pass?

Elijah had to pray until he experienced the manifestation of the rain God had promised him. He travailed 7 times until he saw a cloud the size of a man’s hand. Mind you, he was travailing for a promise that God had already made to him. Child of God, will you still hold on to that promise even when it delays? God promised Abraham a son and for 20+ years, the promise was delayed. He, however, still believed. Not to say that he was perfect all the way. He experienced moments of doubt. However, he still came back to that place of belief. And today that is what I want to encourage you with. It does not matter how many times you fall, resolve to get up. Because it is when you persevere you will get to the other side.

Tyler Perry and Steve Harvey both believed in their dream so much so that they went at it even when everyone around them told them to quit. Child of God, how much do you believe in your dream? Are you willing to look ridiculous for a season until the dream comes to be? Don’t quit just because you have not seen it yet. Keep going. You have come too far to go back. And you will never receive your reward if you quit. Who knows, you could be on the brink of your miracle.

Luke 9:62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Read also: The 2 Main Reasons God Is Making You Wait.

Builds patience.

God will take you through a process to the promise to build your patience. There can never be a promise fulfilled unless you have had your patience tested. You see, at a time when instant success is celebrated, God wants you to exercise delayed gratification. The process before the promise aims at building your staying power. This will help you not give up when the going gets tough. Success comes to those who wait. And patience being a fruit of the Holy Spirit is something that you should aspire to have. You see unless you have had your patience tested, you can never build that discipline that will help you even when you get to the promise.

Let me ask you this: are you willing to wait until you are ready for something before you can receive it? Can you overcome FOMO even when the pressure to keep up is intense? Patience builds character. It will help you avoid going with the flow and people-pleasing because you recognize it is okay to stand out and not be accepted. Until you have gone through the process of exercising patience, you will lack the stamina to refrain from fitting in when you get to your place of promise.

IIs imperative that you realize there is such a thing as God-ordained time. Until it is God’s time, you will not receive the promise He gave you. Now it does not mean that God is mean or THAT he hates you. It just means that He is looking at the bigger picture. And just to give you a Biblical example, let me remind you of the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah. They waited for a long time before God blessed them with a child. At the time, they did not know why they had no child, yet they were faithful servants of God. But what we see later on is that John heralded the coming of Jesus.

The timing had to be just right so that God’s ultimate plan could come forth. God had to delay Joseph from becoming the second in command in Egypt because his role was to preserve his family from drought. God had to wait to reveal Joseph until there was a need so unique that only Joseph could solve it. Patience works out for your good. The beauty of patience is that the longer you wait, the greater your reward. Your anointing will not fight God. This means that if the delay is God-ordained, you will not speed it up. The secret is to however ask the Holy Spirit for the strength to persevere. Ask Him for staying power.

James 1: 2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseveranceLet perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything

James 1:12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Process before the promise helps you appreciate other people’s success.

Give honor where honor is due. In today’s culture, we have lost the art of honoring other people’s success. But the process before the promise helps you appreciate the sacrifices others had to make to get to where they are. One sure thing is that the most successful people had to go against the grain and do things differently to achieve success. Whether it was trying something new, pioneering a movement, or simply doing the same thing differently through trial and error, they spent time and resources to get to where they are today. And having gone through the process yourself, it is easy to recognize it in someone and also respect their diligence.

While it’s true that some people inherited wealth and influence, there are others who worked hard to get to where they are. And we know it is when we honor others that we, too, will be honored. Never take someone’s sacrifice for granted. This will, however, be easy to follow when you too have gone through the process.

The process before the promise helps to keep you humble

In order to remain humble in your promised land, God will take you through a process. You see when the place God has for you is great, your process will be challenging. And this is because when you find yourself living in pride, God will remind you of one experience you went through and it will humble you. Also, this will help you extend grace to others and desire to help others as well. After all, having gone through the process yourself, you will have empathy for them.

There are levels of greatness you will never experience until you go through the process. As God’s child, I want you to know that God will take you through the process because He wants you not to become conceited. He wants you not to lose your soul. And this is because God loves you so much. Sometimes the memories of what you had to go through will keep you grounded when it seems like pride wants to take over.

10 Scriptures that will help you endure the process before the promise.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Psalm 27:14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Luke 1:45 “And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Psalm 37:7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Exodus 14:14 The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Hebrews 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

Micah 7:7 Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

Psalm 40:1-2 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

Isaiah 30:18 And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

Conclusion

Do not abort the process because it is too painful. Today I want to encourage you because the plan that God has for you has an expected end and is glorious. After every process, there is a promise. And when the season of fulfillment comes, you will be so glad you never gave up. God has something beautiful waiting for you on the other side of your perseverance. Don’t lose hope. God is up to something. And even when it does not look like He is working, trust Him.He has a wonderful ending for you.

Praise Him in the waiting and stay rooted to Him. You will get to the other side. I pray that this post encourages you to go through the process. Trust that the God who began this, will complete it. God knows it is difficult. That is why He has scriptures for you. And the Holy Spirit is also present to help you. You are closer than you know. Keep going!

Mercy is the author and founder of radiantly resurging. She is a Christian and having gone through the wilderness season, she decided to impart the knowledge learned to help others navigate their wilderness season too

What was your take-away from this post?