YES!!!Sample

Day 5: The Promise Is a Process:

When God gives a promise, we often expect it to arrive like a package—on time, neatly labeled, and with no assembly required. But the truth is, God’s promises usually unfold more like a process—slow, surprising, and forged in the furnace of faith.

Chris was ready to quit. Two years into planting Encounter Church, he was exhausted, discouraged, and already writing the story of failure in his mind. He had been faithful, but fruitless. Passionate, but worn out. The numbers were dropping. The questions were rising. And deep down, he was already crafting a respectable exit strategy.

But God wasn’t finished. And more importantly, God was still speaking—just not in the way Chris expected.

In some of the darkest seasons of your life, you may hear a voice that sounds reasonable, logical, even spiritual: “Maybe God didn’t really call you to this.” But before you step away from what you’re building, ask yourself: Did I say yes too early, or am I being asked to say yes again—deeper, longer, with more faith this time?

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning—yes, more than those who watch for the morning."
—Psalm 130:5-6 (NKJV)

Waiting on God isn’t passive. It’s an act of fierce trust—of sitting in silence when the heavens feel like iron, of continuing in obedience when there’s no visible payoff, of fasting when it feels like your body is shutting down and your soul is running on fumes.

God doesn’t rush the process. Because He’s not just working on your situation—He’s working on you.

Chris eventually gave God one more year. Not because he felt like it, but because his wife reminded him of the call. And in that year, things got harder before they got better. Key leaders left. The silence thickened. And still, he fasted. Still, he prayed. Still, he said, “Yes.”

"Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."
—Isaiah 43:19 (NKJV)

Sometimes, God’s “new thing” doesn’t look new at first. It looks like regression. Like obscurity. Like letting go of your best ideas so God can resurrect His original plan. But that “road in the wilderness” isn’t a metaphor—it’s the real, rugged path that obedience walks.

In time, Encounter Church didn’t just survive—it grew. From thirty to over a hundred people. From a fading dream to a thriving community. It didn’t happen instantly. But it did happen faithfully. And that’s the process.

"He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
—Colossians 1:13-14 (NKJV)

You’ve already been rescued. You’ve already been redeemed. But now God is walking you through the renewing. That’s where process comes in. It takes time to unlearn doubt and relearn trust. It takes time to live as the person God says you already are. And yes—it takes time to sit at the table He’s prepared for you without getting up to chase the one that looks better across the room.

If you’re in the middle of a long, dry season—don’t misread the silence. You’re not being ignored. You’re being formed.

"Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
—Philippians 4:11-13 (NKJV)

That’s the kind of strength you don’t get overnight. It’s forged in the waiting. In the not-yet. In the process that turns promises into testimonies.

So if your yes hasn’t yielded the fruit you imagined—don’t dig up what God is still planting.

The promise still stands.

Just stay in the process.