Winning the war against procrastination.
Resistance will always happen when you set yourself on the path to do something of value in life. As soon as you try to climb up a level in life, resistance will try to make you descend two down. You begin to feel unmotivated; a lack of interest will shower over your head; feelings of inadequacy will arise; and the good old self-sabotaging will bloom like flowers on early spring.
The truth is, your brain hates change. Especially change that requires a change from within: such as becoming a better person, a wiser christian, a more patient parent or a better lover.
This resistance is called procrastination. The postponing of change for a tomorrow that never comes, justified by your feelings of inadequacy and as in many cases, the impostor syndrome.
Going back to the roots
The word "procrastination" comes from the Latin procrastinare, which means "to put off until tomorrow." It combines the prefix pro- (meaning "forward") and crastinus (meaning "of tomorrow”).
It would be great if, indeed, you actually did it tomorrow. However, yesterday you said tomorrow. And tomorrow you’ll say you should have done it yesterday. And the endless cycle of postponing your dreams continues. Under procrastination, tomorrow is always a mirage in a distant future, while God wants you to take action today—in this very now.
Commit to discipline, or marry a life of regrets.
The pain of regret will always hurt more than the pain of discipline. Procrastination feeds regret, and regret feeds the sense of a purposefulness life. I believe that at the end of the day, this happens when there’s a lack of commitment to your life, and especially towards your own decisions.
Jesus actually addressed this commitment fluctuation we have in Matthew 5:37: “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”
In other words, all you need to do is say to yourself “yes, I’ll do it”, or “no, I will actually pass on this thing” and commit to your decision.
Matter of fact, procrastination is a decision in itself. it’s a decision to stay idle when life requires movement. It’s a decision to not go down to battle when the God of armies has already called you to His harvest.
Procrastination is also a symptom of spiritual attack
It’s perfectly normal not to feel motivated all the time; however, it’s not normal to all the time feel unmotivated. When you have a God-given task, you will face Satan-made resistance. The evil one knows He can’t win, so He will do what is in his power to delay you from your purpose.
God isn’t calling you to rush your goals. However, He also says to you “Do not lose your sense of urgency. Be still, and know I’m God. But walk also, when I part the seas”.
Jesus said, 'With God all things are possible' — Matthew 19:26.
The key to more self-control is more self-authority.
When I speak of self-control, it’s not only about having the will power to steer your own life. It’s not only to possess the ability to master your own emotions. Self-control goes beyond being strong enough to say ‘no’ to things. My point is, a big part of self-control is having more authority over your life. It’s speaking authority over yourself. It’s using God’s Word has a sword of justice when you feel your flesh taking over.
God-given authority over yourself is walking by the Spirit, and speaking through the Spirit over your flesh, so it obeys and do what pleases God. God-given authority over yourself is speaking to yourself “The strongholds of procrastination has no power over me, in Jesus’ name.”
Pray with me.
Lord Jesus, I pray over this person reading these words. I thank you for bringing them here, for there’s no such thing as coincidences in the matters of the Spirit. Almighty One, I rebuke every unclean spirit of procrastination and delay over their lives. I break the chains and traps that satan has set in their ways to stop or delay them, in Jesus’ name. I speak accomplished goals and God-given authority over your child’s heart.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24
In Christ alone, amen.
