Sometimes it seems we pray for an extended time and the answer to prayer seems like it’s taking a long time to show up.

Don’t lose heart! Delay doesn’t mean denied; it just means God is stretching your Faith to contend for what’s yours.

When answers seem out of reach, we naturally go through a process of getting tired, discouraged and a bit frustrated — but, as we overcome each of these predictable stages, we regain our momentum in prayer like a runner who has just gotten their second wind. We keep running the race.

There are times when we can get help from others in The Body of Christ, but my personal experience is that God always seems to stretch my Faith and it becomes this wrestling match between God, myself and the promise.

There have even been times when I have asked for prayer and felt the touch of The Holy Spirit as others laid hands on me, yet healing didn’t manifest.

I wondered why, but I think God just wants me to get whatever revelation He is trying to impart through each particular situation.

Sometimes it’s about receiving from others, at other times it’s about contending. When God wants to increase our faith, He allows us to encounter a problem.

A few days ago, I prayed a simple prayer. I asked The Holy Spirit to help me see Jesus clearly, and to understand who I was in Christ, and who He was in me.

A couple hours later as I was worshiping and thanking God for my healing, I realized that the issue was battling was very similar in nature to something I had dealt with in the past.

Years ago, when I was believing for a miracle to have a healthy pregnancy, it was due to a lack of the right hormones.

We prayed and God reversed the situation, but I had to overcome grief, anger and disappointment at having had a miscarriage.

I needed to confess scripture out of my mouth in order to regain my confidence towards God, because “faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God.” Romans 10:17.

When my confidence came back, my Faith was activated and my words declared the reality of healing. It changed my physical situation because I no longer wavered between doubt and faith.

God requires us to make up our mind what we really believe!

When we have faith and don’t doubt, we can speak to the mountain that stands between us and our promise and tell it to go cast itself into the sea, and it must obey us.

Jesus replied to them,

“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, if you have faith [personal trust and confidence in Me] and do not doubt or allow yourself to be drawn in two directions, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen [if God wills it].” Matthew 21:21 AMP.

See, there is another thing we need to be aware of as we are believing for the answer to show up. The enemy tries very hard to wear us down.

He sends doubt, discouragement, strife, or even interrupts our sleep so that we are physically tired and don’t feel like contending much in prayer.

Take notice when you feel unusually tired, emotionally depleted or discouraged, because the enemy will use those things to wear people out.

These may be things we would ordinarily be tempted to dismiss as coming from a natural cause, but often it is the enemy’s form of spiritual warfare.

If you have trouble staying focused or like you’re lost in a mental fog of confusion, feel a wave of forgetfulness, feel down in the dumps for no apparent reason, worn out and just want to take a nap or disengage from reality for a while — those are signs of a witchcraft attack.

If you feel tempted to go backwards in your walk with God and indulge the flesh, forgetting who you are in Christ, that is also an indicator you’re being influenced by demonic spirits. It’s time to shake it off and resist the enemy.

When we have unhealed soul wounds, the enemy will stir up our emotions to magnify negative emotions to keep people in a state of spiritual weakness.

When our soul is in pain, our spirit is not healthy. The more we dwell on toxic, unbelieving thoughts and feelings, the weaker our spirit becomes. That is why inner healing and deliverance are so important.

The enemy looks for a place of agreement to carry out his assignment. This is often how a spirit of infirmity gains entrance into a person’s life.

When our soul is fighting for health, our body is in a weakened state. A spirit of infirmity (prolonged sickness and disease) takes root and causes physical weakness in the body. It’s your spirit man that withstands sickness and infirmity, not your body.

“A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?” Proverbs 18:14.

“Beloved, I pray that in every way you may succeed and prosper and be in good health [physically], just as [I know] your soul prospers [spiritually].” 3 John 2 AMP.

God wants us to prosper in every way, but it must first start with the condition of our soul.

Friend, how is your soul today?

James 4:6,7 reminds us that if we submit first to God then resist the enemy, he must leave us.

Let us examine our hearts to see if we are entertaining any doubt or discouragement that could place us (unknowingly) in agreement with unbelief rather than faith. If so, repent, submit yourself to the authority of The Holy Spirit, and encourage your spirit man to resist the enemy!

There is power in your confession of thanksgiving! There is power in declaring the word of God! There is power in your worship!

The joy of The LORD is our strength, and scripture tells us that in His presence is fullness of Joy.

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11 AMP.

God’s word is a light unto our path. If we linger in His presence, he will bless us with revelation. It’s the anointing that breaks the yoke.

Whatever the enemy has put on you to slow you down, hinder, halt or stop you, The LORD will break the power of it!

God is increasing the anointing in your life with every prayer, every bit of revelation. Your spirit man grows and the anointing increases. It’s preparing to break the yoke of sickness and infirmity that’s been in your life!

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.” Isaiah 10:27 KJV.

We draw joy from doing The Will of The Father. We draw joy from the living water inside of us, being filled with The Holy Spirit.

Speaking in our heavenly language not only edifies our spirit man and renew our inner man with strength, it also releases The Joy of The Spirit.

May your soul prosper and be in health! May your spirit be encouraged and strengthened today!

Ask The LORD if there is any place where the enemy is trying to forge an assignment against you. Bind his assignment in the name and authority of The LORD Jesus Christ and command it to leave.

Remember that we contend from a place of already having won the victory, because Jesus secured it for us upon His death and resurrection.Jehovah Nissi our Lord and Victor declared “it is finished!”

Whatever comes against you is already defeated, but Jesus always asks us to view our challenges in light of the question, “But who do you say I am?” What we believe will always come out of our mouth.

A good friend of mine recently made a comment that I thought was so profound in reminding us of the power of our words.

“Words have wings,” she said.

Where do your words fly off to when they leave your mouth?

Do they land in the enemy’s camp, or do the angels take words of faith back to The Father?

What assignment will your words activate?

Ecclesiastes 10:20 reminds us that a bird of the air (or a spirit) carries our words to a new destination and can even be repeated.

Speak Faith! We each have a history we can look back on and remember the goodness and faithfulness of God, and how He showed up for us at different times.

The miraculous, supernatural realm lives within us because The Holy Spirit lives within us. It is our Faith and confidence towards God that releases Supernatural Power to bring forth answered Prayer.

 

~ Laura Gagnon

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Laura Gagnon is a woman who has been blessed with the gift of understanding God’s restorative work through her own personal experience. Through her insights and revelation, God has led her to influence many individuals into a restored relationship with Jesus Christ. She is a woman who stands on the promises of God, encouraging others in an elevated expectation of the miraculous and declares the gift of His life. Laura is the author of Healing the Heart of a Woman and writes for her blog, Beyond the Barriers.

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