What Could be Taking So Long for this to Manifest

by Victoria Thornton

What if your friend walked up to you and said, 'you know last Sunday I went to Church and before the service ended I went to the altar and I asked Jesus to save me.  I cried, prayed, repented of my sins and asked Him to forgive me and be my Lord and Savior.  Though, currently I'm waiting for the manifestation.'

You might be shocked at your friend's approach to salvation and respond by telling him that the moment he received Christ as his Savior, he was saved.  That He didn't have to wait to be saved.  You would probably explained to him that Jesus died on the cross almost 2,000 years ago so the person's salvation is complete. That receiving salvation is instantaneous because the moment he asked, he received.

Matthew 7:7-8
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

You could go on and on explaining to this individual the importance of receiving it as done when he prayed.  Adding, that just because he still looked the same and the circumstances in his life is the same, doesn't mean nothing has happened.  You might further add that in the spirit realm his soul, which was once in the kingdom or darkness, now has been translated into the kingdom of his dear son (Col 1:3 ). Even though nothing in the physical realm changed.

In believing God for your mate, sure you may have to stand in faith until it's realized, but are you firm in your belief that you RECEIVED the moment you prayed? Are you steadfast in your thinking that you have it now and not when you see it manifest? Have you settled it in your heart that you have received your mate even though you haven't laid eyes on him or her?

If you had been the one at that altar to pray for your mate, would you get up with full assurance that you now have what you asked God for? Would you be able to get up from there and say 'manifestation or no manifestation I believe God because I have it based on His Word only?'

Consider the person who is believing God for a mate. She doesn't get out much so the chances of meeting someone are quite improbable.  She attends school or work but feels invisible because her day-to-day routine doesn't require her to meet a lot of people.  But the moment she firmly sows the belief in her heart that she RECEIVED her mate the moment she PRAYED; her humdrum life will change.

Once she fixes her eyes on God and His Word, she should be in expectation in meeting her mate. The outward circumstances haven't changed and she's still not seen by a lot of people, but that doesn't matter.

She now has the Spirit of God involved in her life and there is no situation He can't work through. Once she releases true, Bible-believing faith, she can be assured God has gotten involved. God knows how to get her and her soon-to-be husband together.

What's in Your Heart?
Since the heart is the production center for faith, the heart can be entangled with all kinds of issues and wounds that can slow down or stop the production of faith.  Many issues and wrong teachings can fester in the heart, if not dealt with. can produce doubt and unbelief.  If this happens, you have to work to rid the issues out of the heart for your faith to work.  In dealing with an issue that may be stopping faith from working, the most common mistake believers' make is to work to increase their faith. When the right action should be to get rid of the thing that is plaguing them.

There are countless times I've witnessed that to go further, you need to get rid of things in the heart that aren't supposed to be there.  If you have the wrong teaching that marriage is not for everyone, then you need to tackle that wrong belief.

It won't do a bit of good if you worked harder on your faith in this situation, when what is needed is to get rid of the wrong thinking.  What many don't realize is the heart can be full of junk and not just faith.  Since faith, which sees results, must reside in the heart; it is wise to have a heart free of the things that can stop faith from working.  As Jesus spoke about the heart in Mark 4, there are lots of things that crowd the heart causing faith to be ineffective.

To the Person Waiting a Long Time
Now to the person who has been waiting a long time, you need to find out specifically what's causing your delay. It could be anything. It could be something that happened to you that affected your belief system long ago. Some examples might include . . .

1. You grew up in a single parent household and you never got to see what a marriage looks like.

2. Or, you were subjected to a bad marriage and now believe, 'Marriage isn't for you.’

3. You may have accepted the wrong teaching that apart from their maleness and femaleness that men and women are created the same.

4. You had a bad experience with one female and now believe, 'All women want to control you.’

5. You have a feministic view of men and now you believe, 'you don't need a man, you just want one'.

These views and many like them can affect the heart which can result in trouble sustaining the level of faith needed to see your manifestation.  Therefore, a wounded person could struggle in this area, while trying to believe God for a mate.

Know the Problem
If someone asked you, what could be taking so long? How would you answer? What would you say to explain the long awaited wait for the spouse God promised you? Would you make excuses about God and unanswered prayer?

Would you blame it on your own lack of faith? Would you blame it on timing? What would be the reason you would give your friend to answer her question?  And if you shouted out a reason that you've come up with without getting God's response, know in this instance, you are leaning on your own understanding. To avoid wasting time and disobeying the Word, I would encourage you to ask God instead.

And when He does answer, work earnestly not in your own power, but working with him to resolve it.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

For example, there was a girl who believed it was taking too long for her prayer to manifest. On her own, she saw a teaching she thought may be the root of her problem.  So she spent time applying this teaching. However God spoke to her and told her, 'her problem was she was not taking authority over the enemy'.

How frustrated she had become when she learned she had wasted all that time studying one subject when all she had to do was ask God and He would have given her the answer. Once she repented for leaning on her own understanding, (by trying to figure it out herself), she did what God said to do and things started happening.

A minister, giving a Word from the Lord, said
“Faith people have gotten hold of confessing the Word, claiming the Word, and knowing their rights and authority in Christ. But they're way behind in their communing with Me and letting Me guide every step of their lives. And that's why they're failing.”

If you believe it is taking too long, ask God to show you the problem.  Then do what He tells you to do.  When you do that, He opens the door to another step, and then another step.  You keep taking steps until finally what you've been praying for comes to pass.

Do you see the work as finished?
When you realized you had a need, isn't when God discovered it.  God has written your life in a book and His Will for your life is finished. God knew you would need a mate. God put the desire in you.  So as you believe for your mate, do you have the accurate view-- that it is finished?  All you are doing at this moment in time is receiving this portion of His Will He already planned for you to have.

But are you seeing it that way? Your job is to get a revelation of that plan and walk it out by faith.

For example, when you go to any store, it's not when they make the product.  No, they have it in inventory waiting for you to have need of it. When you need bread, all you have to do is go and get it.

In this world, you’ll have to purchase it upon leaving. But in God’s kingdom, God has given us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness.  Is a happy marriage part of life? It was God, who created marriage in the first place, so how can you believe, 'marriage isn't for you?'

And last, Stand Your Ground
Oftentimes you just need to stand.  Stand firmly in your faith until the manifestation comes because you don't know what's going on behind the scenes.  While you're standing in faith, God is over here working on these people and then over there working on those people.  He has to work out both situations before His plan can come together.  We just have to rest in peace and confidence, communing with Him, believing He is on the scene.

Therefore, as you 1) renew your mind, 2) see it as finished and 3) stand your ground, things will begin to happen.  What could be taking so long has more to do with what's in your heart than anything happening in your circumstances. †