DEFEAT THE SPIRIT OF DELAY

Today’s Focus: By embracing daily discipline, you can anticipate and overcome the temptation to procrastinate.

If you want to win a battle, you’ll need to identify the weapons being used against you.

One weapon that has brought down many creatives is the spirit of delay and procrastination.

It is so tempting to believe that things would be better, easier, or less taxing if we just wait a day or two.

That art project? The song idea? The new business venture? Surely there are more pressing things to attend to. It can wait til the ‘time is right.’

But procrastination is not making things better for you.

You know implicitly that if you push things back, they don’t get easier; they get harder and harder to pick back up.

If you wait a day to mold your clay, the clay hardens and becomes less malleable.

If you wait a day to write the song, there’s a chance you’ll forget the best part of the melody.

If you wait a day to write the poem, your ideas may shift, and the honesty that would have flowed from your pen could be lost to overthinking.

Nothing makes the enemy’s job easier than inaction.

When Jesus encountered a blind man, and his disciples asked whose sin was the cause (the man’s or his parents), Jesus’ response was to ignore the debate and get to the root of the matter.

Something needed to be done.

His response? As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4, NIV).

How could it be that Jesus would encounter a time that He couldn’t work?

It seems that even Jesus understood that the time to do your best work, the work you are called to, is limited.

There’s an opportunity that can be lost.

The uncomfortable truth is that procrastination is our attempt to avoid the battle entirely.

It’s throwing in the towel before the fight starts.

Leonard Ravenhill stated this fact in a different way:

“The opportunity of a lifetime needs to be seized during the lifetime of the opportunity.”

For the writer, artist, entrepreneur, or creative professional, this means battling against the mindset that there’s benefit in delay.

The idea that you should sit back and let a chance go by when you could be creating is you allowing the opportunity of a lifetime to escape you.

Of course, not every day will contain a breakthrough or, inspiring moment. In fact, it will often feel more like drudgery than delight.

But your efforts will pay off in the long run.

Thomas Edison said it like this: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Winning the battle over procrastination requires a level of trust and submission. You must choose to value God’s process over your own comfort.

Give up the desire to see the reward and, instead, decide to endure the mundane in service of the Master.

Don’t let procrastination steal a moment that God could use to grow your character and advance His Kingdom.

Now that we’ve identified a common weapon that the enemy uses against us, let’s explore how God prepares us for the battle.

APPLICATION FOR TODAY

Today, commit to taking small but deliberate actions that will advance your gifting, creative project, or talent. Recognize that every time you delay or make excuses, you give the enemy ammunition to thwart your progress. Pray for boldness and discipline to maintain your focus and resist the temptation to make things easier.