|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Do you need a breakthrough today?
Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because He always lives to intercede for them (Hebrews 7:25, NIV).
What is breakthrough?
Consider the image of being stuck. Think of yourself in mud, sitting on an ATV four-wheeler. The more that you gun the engine, the further you sink.
Breakthrough is freedom. Or getting out of the mud.
All of us are stuck in something. Too often we just accommodate it. Often, we have tried and tried but nothing works. Any effort seems to sink us further.
Think for a moment: Where am I stuck? What area of my life needs freedom?
For freedom, Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1, ESV).
Jesus, through the power of His Spirit dwelling within, gives you freedom – and changes your life so that you won’t be mired again.
What can you do?
First: All significant change begins by praying with others.
Jesus teaches in Matthew 18 that when two or three pray together, what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven. The devil’s ploy is to get you alone. Then with his lies and deceptions focused on keeping you blaming yourself and others – you sink deeper.
Second: Learn the discipline of confession. One aspect of the Catholic Church that I admire most is the confessional booth. James writes in his epistle:
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed (James 5:16, NLT).
Third: Keep in step with God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:25).
Breakthrough begins with an act of obedience. Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler to sell all that he owned because the ruler’s stronghold was money.
Jesus’s clarion call to his apostles was, “Follow me.” In obeying Jesus, all of us will need to leave something. Often the muck in our lives is things we enjoy – food, travel, money, videos, etc.
What is the goal of breakthrough?
Breakthrough doesn’t happen when we define our freedom. We must give up control and allow the hidden to be revealed.
What we consider good is often not God’s desire for us. Is our prayer for freedom from food because we want the adulation of others – or health to serve God? Do we want freedom from debt to enable larger purchases – or to support latter-day discipleship?
Finally: The Apostle Paul prays for you in Ephesians 1:17:
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better (NIV).
I find that a vision of God’s glory and His purposes causes me to desire breakthrough. The change required for freedom can only be motivated by loving God’s purposes more than our current mire.
This renewed love begins with a revelation of His glory!
Spend time developing or redeveloping your friendship with God this summer. Go for a walk on a clear night and ask the Spirit to give you instructions. Give Jesus permission to say to you…
…Follow me!
Then leave your fishing nets to follow Him.