God has prepared work He wants us to do, and our delays in carrying out His plan constitute disobedience. That makes habitual procrastination a serious problem.
Praying, tithing, and daily Bible reading aren’t the only things Christians can put off. We can also delay:
Serving in the church. We volunteer to serve, but when the call comes, we say no. If asked, we might reply it is the length of the commitment that doesn’t suit us. At other times we say the position itself is not a good fit. In both cases, if we examine our feelings, we will find we are dodging what we do not like or feel inadequate to do.
Sharing our faith. We can get very anxious about how to express ourselves, what reaction we’ll get, and whether we’ll be able to give adequate answers. When insecurity threatens us, we often choose inactivity over obedience.
Surrendering our will to the Lord’s. Just thinking about giving God control in certain areas makes many of us feel fearful. So we cling to our way and avoid His. True submission says, “Lord, I am willing to do whatever You want in this situation. I will obey Your Word.”
After a while, because of our procrastinating ways, our spiritual growth is inhibited. Then our usefulness to God and our sense of joy in Him diminish.
The Lord has asked us to be His ambassadors, who represent Him to a hurting world according to His plan and timetable (2 Cor. 5:20). Therefore, procrastination has no place in the life of a believer. Which areas of your life does this bring to mind?
Colossians 4:2
Have you ever considered the fact that each one of us pays a price when we allow our prayer life to fall by the wayside? When there is such a lapse, we usually don’t stop to think about what a toll it will take.
When we fail to make prayer a priority in our life—essentially forfeiting our time alone with the Father—we will begin to feel an emptiness in our heart, accompanied by a strange sense of unrest and uneasiness. In contrast, when our prayer life is active, the weight of these burdens will be lifted from our shoulders by the mighty hand of God.
With this in mind, why would anyone choose to cease praying? The sad truth is that many of us have become so accustomed to weariness and hardship that we feel lost or uncomfortable without it. Yet if we continue to nurture this style of living, we will begin to rely upon ourselves instead of upon the Lord, thereby becoming vulnerable and at risk of disaster.
To avoid these difficulties, then, the clear solution is to place high priority upon our fellowship and communication with the Lord. After all, we must be in contact with our heavenly Father in order to hear His voice and to understand and follow His will for our life.
If you have allowed distance to come between you and your heavenly Father, confess this to Him today. 1 John 1:9 promises, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us.” When you renew your prayer life—the most important part of your Christian walk—you will once again be able to experience God’s best.
Waiting on the Lord is an important spiritual discipline in our walk of faith. King David’s life teaches us about the value of following God’s plan and the danger in moving ahead of Him.
When David was a young shepherd boy, he was anointed as Israel’s next king by the prophet Samuel. Yet he did not become the ruler for many years. Waiting for the Lord to place him on the throne was made more difficult because the current king, Saul, turned against David and repeatedly tried to take his life. Despite the opportunity to take matters into his own hands and kill his enemy, David held back. He wouldn’t allow anyone else to attack Saul, either (1 Sam. 24:1-7). He waited on God and was greatly blessed for his obedience.
When he was king, David learned the hard way why it is a bad idea to move ahead without the Lord. One year, he chose not to join his troops in battle, even though that was one of his duties (2 Sam. 11:1). During the time he stayed home, he noticed Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and he coveted her. Acting upon his desires, he conceived a child with her and then tried to cover up his sin. What a mess he made of his life. Instead of following the Lord’s plan and being blessed, he experienced divine chastisement and much heartache.
As believers, we want to obey the Lord, but there may be situations when intense desire propels us forward without waiting for His direction. Like David, we will experience the blessing of obedience or the heartache of disobedience. Be sure to seek out God’s plan before you act.
Scripture makes it clear that our heavenly Father hears and answers prayer. Yet, though we pray for the Lord to act right away, we’ve all known times when we’ve had to wait. What are some reasons for the delay?
The Father sees when our attention is misdirected. Our relationship with Him should have priority over any earthly matter (Mark 12:30), yet minds and prayers can become so fixed upon a need that our gaze shifts away from God. Then He may delay answering until we refocus on Him. In other situations, He waits because the timing isn’t right for granting our request. Perhaps certain events must happen first, or people’s thinking needs to be changed.
There are also seasons when the Lord wants to stretch and grow our faith. One of the ways He accomplishes that is by having us watch for His response. In these times of waiting, the Holy Spirit will work to mature us and bring forth righteous fruit (Gal. 5:22-23).
Other reasons are a wrong motive for our request (James 4:3) and the practice of habitual sin. We all fall short when it comes to God’s standard of holiness, but some of us persist in a lifestyle of disobedience. The Lord may delay His answer so He can prompt us to confess our sin and turn back to Him.
Waiting on the Lord isn’t easy—faith and trust are needed (Heb. 11:1). If His answer is delayed, check that your focus is on Him, your motive for asking is God-honoring, and you aren’t practicing habitual sin. Then believe that His response will be for your good and His glory.
It may sound strange, but I actually get excited about certain times of frustration. When I sense a restlessness followed by dissatisfaction but cannot identify the cause, then I know to ask the Lord what He’s doing. Past experience tells me that once I make the move He desires, my frustration will end and I’ll be in sync with His plan for my life.
Frustration is usually considered a negative feeling. However, when God agitates us, His purpose is always good. He sometimes uses our sense of dissatisfaction as well as spiritual and physical barriers to guide us toward new insights. For example, I woke up one Saturday morning during my seminary years feeling as if I were in an emotional butter churn—I could not settle to any task or relax, and I did not know why. So I started praying about these feelings and asking the Lord to reveal His will. I spent most of the day on my knees. Soon I discovered that the good plans I had made to temporarily pastor a California church were not His plans. Had I ignored the frustrated feeling, I would have missed a vacation to North Carolina, which resulted in a call to the church God intended for me.
In a culture of busyness, we can easily and foolishly overlook or ignore restlessness. But divinely sent frustration is meant to get our attention. God wants us to ask, “What are You saying?” and “Do You want me to be doing or thinking something different?” As soon as we are willing to deal with whatever the Lord brings to mind, He starts revealing what we need to change in order to receive His insight.
