Delay has been like a swear word to believers. Many have felt like they have been delayed pertaining to what God has spoken to them. We tend to give the enemy credit for a divine set up that God has done, which includes time. Time is an element of the prophetic equation that most people don’t know how to factor in. Culturally we are a “now” time people. We have instant noodles; insta cart; instant cash at the ATM; instant, instant, instant and if it is not instant we call it poor service or delay.

What if it wasn’t God delaying us, but rather time is part of the development stage of us and we don’t necessarily like it, because we don’t understand it? When I was in high school I took a photography class and we had a dark room where we developed our own film and photos. The dark room had a red light, so we could see enough to put the film in the right chemicals in order to go from a film strip to a photograph. This process included multiple tubs, each tub having a distinct purpose. We transferred the film from one tub to the next, rather quickly, until we came to the developer tub, it had to sit in there for more time than the other tubs. Many have been and still are in the developer tub process as God is waiting to see His image on us.

The Bible says in Isaiah 46:10 “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come. I say, My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please.” When God speaks prophetically to us, He is declaring the end we will see, from the start, from the beginning, so we have hope to walk through the whole process and not quit along the way. Don’t despise the days of developing, for the end is not yet, but it is coming and all will see what God saw when He created you. He is not delaying you, He is developing you.