So it's never, never passive. You notice it says, be an imitator of men of faith, so if you study the lives of men of faith, you'll see something really common in all of them. No matter who they are, they had faith, they trusted God, and their faith in God turned into steadfast doing what God told them to do, and not quitting until the promise came, even if there were delays. You've got your part to play. Think about a pregnancy. Pregnancy, you go through and you've got the idea, got the seeds in there and it's all great and all exciting, great news. Then you wait and nothing seems to happen, looks like nothing's happening whatsoever. Then there comes a period - you just don't sort of get pregnant then have the baby, there's this period where everything begins to change. I watched my daughter. She was so very, very happy during the pregnancy, very, very happy, and she was one who was very conscious of her appearance and whatever. But during the pregnancy she loved the pregnancy, and she was happy. She would watch how big it comes, she'd say oh, now I'm spreading out like this.
Now when God puts something inside you, you have to grow and change and expand to be able to handle what God wants to bring through you. Then when the time comes, then you go through pain and turmoil and distress and you can't wait to get it all over with, then there's the baby and you've forgotten all about stretch and grow. It's now how can I contract and stop this thing and shut right down on the inside again. So that's why - now, so patience is never passive. You don't just wait around for something to happen. All the time a baby's growing, there's a nurture going on. A smart parent will be speaking into the child, making sure they're rested, providing - they actually focus on providing an environment that's really good for the child, so when the child comes out, it comes out with a great start. So it's the same in our lives with the promises of God.
When we have promises of God you've got to stick with it, believing it, holding onto God. In Hebrews 12, Verses 35 to 38 it says, you have need of patience, that after you've done the will of God, then the promises come. I watched Neil with the patience he had when he got cancer, standing on the word of God for week after week after week after week. He didn't just get a miracle like pop, someone prayed and it was all over. He actually held the word of God around his life, and persevered in faith. In that season of persevering in faith there was a delay when God's not showing up, and doesn't seem like you're getting better, you're getting worse - and this is the thing that produces results. We have to hold on to God. It's a challenge to do it. Now there are reasons dreams are delayed. Here's the number one reason; number one reason - it's not the most important one - devils interrupt our dreams. So you find that through the Bible it tells us very clearly, demons try to obstruct things on the way, but you and I have been given authority to deal with it, so demons are not a problem. Tell someone demons are not a problem, demons are not a problem. All you've got to do is rebuke them, they then leave, and away you go, and you carry on your merry way, so demons are not a problem to us.
God's given us stuff. Then there's divine delay, when God has appointed a time, and nothing you do will make it faster. You just have to wait. Now I'll show you what you've got to do when you're waiting, but you have to wait. You're not going to hurry God up. You can pray all you like, cry all you like, scream all you like, shout all you like, jump up and down, intercede all you like. You can't hurry God up. He just won't be hurried up. He just won't hurry up. I hate that part, but He won't hurry up, and I've had to accept it. HURRY UP! I've waited for seven years trying to get a piece of land in Dannevirke. HURRY UP! You know we had a school, and they told us they had to give up the building the school was in, and hand it over to someone else at the end of the year, and I still had no land. HURRY UP! Can't you see I'm in trouble here! That's kind of the thinking that goes on in our mind, you know? We kind of get a bit distorted, and think God doesn't notice you're in trouble, that God doesn't care about you're in trouble. It seems that way to you, but actually it's not true. It's just an illusion in your mind as you're starting to lose nerve.