Surviving Satanic Harassment in a Season of Delay
by Dr. John Tetsola

Are you tired of waiting for a vision or a promise of God to be fulfilled in your life? Have you received it, believed for it, and fought the good fight of faith with it, and still have yet to see it come to pass? You are in a season of delay.

This is exactly the way it is when God take control of your life. He gives you a word, a promise, a vision and then begins to set in motion all the things that are required to bring it into being. But He does not cause it to be fulfilled until just the right moment.

Harassments or storms are simply repeated attacks or raids we encounter in our pursuit of the purposes or promises of god. As we pursue the promises of God for our lives, families, and ministries there are certain satanic harassments or storms that we experience.

When harassment comes into our lives during pursuit of the promises of God, and we are not prepared in our spirit, the first thing we do is to give up, whether on God, the church or life, because of the pressure the harassment or storm produces. What you must understand is that in any pursuit in life - whether of vision, the promises of God, or the very word of the Lord over your life - there are going to be storms or harassment of the enemy to delay or to prevent you from seeing the manifestation.

There are a couple of very important principles from storms or harassments that we must as believers become very conscious of and embrace, if we are going to survive as we pursue the promises of God or the very vision of God for our lives.

As we were being dangerously tossed about by the violence of the storm, the next day they began to throw the freight overboard;

And the third day they threw out with their own hands the ship's equipment (the tackle and furniture).

And when neither sun nor stars were visible for many days and no small tempest kept raging about us, all hope of our being saved was finally abandoned. Acts 27:18-20 AMP

The first of these principles is to determine in a harassment not to let go or drop the very things that have gotten you where you are right now. There are certain foundations, truths, disciplines of life, certain degrees of commitment and faithfulness that were established in our lives as believers that have taken us through experiences and difficulties. These things end up becoming the very bedrock and solid foundation that keep us standing during harassments or attacks. These are the exact same things that the enemy determines for us to relinquish in an harassment.

Ask yourself the question: What are those things in my life that are valuable to my standing in a storm? Know them and keep working them. Learn to stay with the first word of the Lord for your life. Stay with those disciplines of life, that level of commitment and faithfulness, and those obligations to the things of the Spirit that kept you in the past. Don't just start lightening your load, and throwing overboard the very things that kept you alive. The reason we do this is because we think or assume that the loads are the very thing responsible for the cause of the harassment and the delay in accomplishing the promise of God.

What we do is let go of the very things that have been the real source of our survival in the past, and that have gotten us where we are in the pursuit. We cut down on church attendance and participation. We cut down on prayer, studying and practicing the Word. We cut down on sowing. We end up lightening ourselves of the very things that are the source of our strength and power to pursue. Often, these decisions and actions are as a result of our fear, doubt and panicking state of mind. We do this because we think, or we are told by friends or relatives, that the reason we are in the situation we are in is because of too much involvement in church, in praying, sowing, fasting or evangelizing. Be very careful what you lighten yourself of during the times of harassment. They might be the very things that are responsible for your survival.

And the third day they threw out with their own hands the ship's equipment (the tackle and furniture). Acts 27:19 AMP

Look at the Scripture. In their fear and panic, the sailors who were on the ship with Paul while he was on his way to Caesar (which was his pursuit), decided to lighten their ship of the loads during the storm because they thought that by lightening the ship the storms would stop, or at least reduce in strength and intensity. They did not understand the reason for the storm. It is important to understand the reason or purpose for the harassment against your pursuit. Determine to know what the purpose is before trying to lighten your ship. Storms or harassment are a result of our disobedience, lack of wisdom, or hastiness in decision making, the devil himself, or it can be God ordained. There are certain storms or harassment that have the handprint of God all over it. When you know the source or reason for the harassment, then you can determine the posture to take, and what needs to be thrown off your ship and what needs to be kept onboard.

In actuality, in their panic, fear and lack of discernment of the source of the harassment, the sailors ended up throwing away very vital instruments of the ship. The Bible says that they "threw out with their own hands the ship's equipment." That is exactly what happens to us. We end up throwing out or letting go in panic and fear those essential foundations that were laid in our lives. We cut down on the very things that had once been responsible for our growth, our zeal and excitement in pursuit.

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. Proverbs 26:2

But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.
Acts 27:21

The second lesson to surviving harassment is to always find the cause or the source of your storms. The Bible says that a curse without a cause shall not come. That means that every storm that we encounter has a cause. It can be because of our disobedience or our foolishness. It can be a lack of wisdom kind of storm, or it can be a storm directly allowed by God. Study your storm to find out if it is from God, the devil or from your own stupidity. The only way to resolve a storm or an harassment is by discovering the cause. So instead of panicking in a storm, first determine to find the "why" of the storm. Find the reason. Once the source or reason is identified, then the strength of the storm can be dealt with. In Acts 27, Paul while on his way to a God assignment was interrupted by a storm. It was mandated for Paul to stand before Caesar. That was an assignment upon the life of Paul, and Paul was willing to pursue it. However, in the process of pursuing the mandate, the boat he was on experienced a storm. Paul, unlike the sailors, was able to locate the cause of the storm. In verse 21, he said the reason for the storm was because of disobedience.

Paul was able to help the sailors understand the reason for the storm they were experiencing. It is very important to understand this principle, because not every storm is of the devil. Some storms are spiritually orchestrated by God, and some storms are as a result of our stubbornness and disobedience. In this case in Scripture, the reason for the storm they were experiencing was not demonically orchestrated. It was simply because of an act of disobedience. This is important to understand because, when we truly discern and locate the reasons for the storms in our pursuit, our attitudes toward it will change and we will then able to deal with it appropriately, without panicking and giving up our pursuit. 

Knowing Your Destiny

But [even] now I beg you to be in good spirits and take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you but only of the ship.

For this [very] night there stood by my side an angel of the God to Whom I belong and Whom I serve and worship.

And he said, Do not be frightened, Paul! It is necessary for you to stand before Caesar; and behold, God has given you all those who are sailing with you.

So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith [complete confidence] in God that it will be exactly as it was told me;
Acts 27:22-25 AMP

The third principle is to learn to become destiny minded, if you are going to survive an harassment. Every life on this earth - regardless of who you are, what has happened or is happening to you, how you have given up, and how hopeless you may feel - has purpose and destiny. You may have given up on your call. You may have given up on the word that God has given you a year ago. You still have destiny. You are placed on this earth for a reason and for an agenda.

For this [very] night there stood by my side an angel of the God to Whom I belong and Whom I serve and worship.

And he said, Do not be frightened, Paul! It is necessary for you to stand before Caesar; and behold, God has given you all those who are sailing with you. Acts 27:23-24 AMP

It was the will of God that Paul stand before Caesar. Caesar was Paul's destiny and purpose. Just like Paul, we have our own destiny and purpose. Caesar is a type of the promise of God over our lives, a type of the word of the Lord and assignment over our lives. If God has destined you to face and to stand before Caesar, and you believe it and begin to walk in it, there is no storm or harassment on earth, no sickness that can take you, or destroy you before your time. Paul was very destiny minded. He knew it was ordained for him to stand before Caesar and, despite the storms, Paul believed God that he was still going before Caesar.

So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith [complete confidence] in God that it will be exactly as it was told me;
Acts 27:25 AMP

Look at the incredible statement Paul made in this verse. He said, ". . . for I have faith [complete confidence] in God that it will be exactly as it was told me." That is someone who was thoroughly destiny minded. In the midst of what was happening to his assignment and his pursuit, he was able to encourage others and then focus on the strength of God to keep His Word. He did not freak out like the others. He had a spiritual reference point about his assignment. A spiritual reference point is a divine knowing that is established in a believer of a time or a place in their past when the call or assignment was given, released or established. Every believer in ministry or with an assignment must know this place in their lives if they are going to effectively stand in a storm during seasons of delay to a call, vision or promise. Paul had this. He knew he was not just going to Caesar on his own, but that it was ordained by God. When we become destiny minded in our pursuit of the promises of God, it will be impossible for the enemy to cause us to abandon our pursuit in times of delay.

by Dr. John A.Tetsola