When I started this journey with Jesus, I constantly heard the term “breakthrough” over and over again. I don’t recall when I first heard the word applied in a spiritual way, but the word landed softly on my ears and rested in my soul as if I just made a fast friend. Somehow, I knew I needed many breakthroughs in my life to get where I somehow knew I needed to get even when I didn’t have a goal or destination in mind other than the fact that I knew I must defeat depression.
Just as the banner for this website includes a man breaking the chains from around his wrists, it is a clear indicator that it is God (Holy Spirit) at work in us to bring about breakthrough and freedom from the works of the devil while it is Satan’s desire to confine us to a mental cage with rusty chains and keep us in spiritual bondage forever.
Photo by Stephen T. King on Unsplash
I had a conversation with a server from Honduras recently and we talked about how he left his country with the goal of making a better life for himself and his son and provide a house for his mother, so he emigrated to America and has started to accomplish just that. Sometimes, we must leave our comfort zones to gain true freedom to do what God wants us to do. But this wasn’t easy for them while he had to leave his mother and son behind while he lays the groundwork for the transition.
Life is made up of many moments when we choose the direction we will go. Some decisions carry much more ‘weight’ than others; like determining if we will accept or deny Jesus, whom we will marry, and where we will live. In those moments, if you recall, that was when the big decisions might not have seemed big at the time, but looking back, we can see they were much more important than we thought.
Photo by Jack Hodges on Unsplash
We have often made, as I like to say, “permanent decisions based on temporary situations.” I went to an event this past weekend and a former girlfriend was in attendance. In all honesty, I never thought I’d ever see her again. So, there is this awkward situation where two people who have split for a good reason are forced into the same place, even to almost rub up against each other as she walks right between me and the person in front of me in the food line. What was the point? Breakthrough.
Thirty some years ago, she had our child in her womb and she decided to have an abortion. It crushed my soul for many years, though I vowed to never let on. However, early into my transition from a dead-in-my-sins Agnostic to the alive-in Jesus person I am today, God brought a powerful breakthrough for me in knowing that our child is in Heaven with Him and that I will get to see him one day. What would be the point of carrying around the ‘dead body’ of the painful memory - or any painful memories - when Jesus wants us to be ALIVE IN HIM?
We must transition out of the old life and be conformed to the image of Jesus. When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost their glory and were conformed to the image of the devil in the twinkle of an eye. Once they gave dominion over the world to Satan, everything was immediately transitioned under his rule. However, God promised that a Messiah would come in sinful mankind’s stead to deliver them from Satan’s rule as this offspring of mankind (Jesus) would ‘crush (Satan’s) head while Satan would strike (Jesus’s) heel.’
“14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.””
You might be fine living the rest of your life without ever seeing ‘hide nor hair’ of a certain someone, but God isn’t. Actually, I could try hiding in a nook of a deep cave and God would have the person I want to see least waltz right on in as if it was a pure coincidence.+
Yahweh is the God of breakthroughs, healing, restoration, reconciliation, and all that is holy. We might as well get used to the fact that Father God will ask us to do something Jesus would do! We have been called to be Jesus’ hands and feet - and mouthpiece.
Photo by Padawan Sharma on Unsplash
The word ‘Breakthrough” represents the gist of what Jesus came to Earth to do — to give us breakthrough. Jesus’ desire for us is to grow in Spirit and our knowledge of Him, but that is just step one of this journey. We find in the Bible that we are to be conformed to the image of Christ* and Jesus says, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9-10) When Jesus revealed Himself to the world, His plan was to restore lost humanity to a righteous relationship with Father God and to establish righteousness on the Earth where Adam and Eve gave sin and death dominion. Jesus came to bring life, love, and liberty while Satan’s plan is to steal, kill, and destroy what God has made. (John 10:10)
“1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ”
You WERE dead.
You USED to live.
You FOLLOWED the ways of this world and the devil.
We WERE deserving of wrath.’
Then …
God made us ALIVE and raised us up with Christ.
We are SEATED IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS in Jesus Christ.
Why did He do that? Because God has a plan to prosper us and not harm us and to give us hope and a future! How does that pan out? He gives us a new life so we might show the incomparable riches of His grace! What does that look like? It looks like a laid-down lover who adores their God and is surrendered to His every command. He desires mercy, not sacrifice. In other words, just do as He asks. It’s going to benefit everyone who receives His love anyway!
Ultimately, we are alive in Jesus and we receive what Jesus receives! Chew on that a minute or two. Or as long as it takes for you to truly grasp these facts. We became blood covenant partners with God through the Blood of Jesus. Usually, a covenant partner has to shed their own blood and mingle it with their covenant partner’s blood in a covenant ceremony, but Jesus’ Blood is so pure and holy, it would be meaningless for us to mix ours with His.
There are three reasons why people don’t experience the presence, power, and freedom of God to find themselves in Christ:
1.) They don’t read the Bible daily.
2.) They don’t pray openly and honestly.
3.) They don’t truly worship God and praise Him.
Why not make today the day to start your new life for REAL?
PRAYER
Holy Father God, I choose to worship You. You are the best! The fact that You love me and have called me out of the miry clay and have set my feet on the Rock of my salvation still astounds me to this day. Hallelujah! You are worthy of all the blessings and honor and praise I will ever generate and offer up to You.
I come before You today in humble adoration and seek Your Face. Please reveal Yourself to me so I may fall more and more in love with You. Please help me to be the best ‘me’ you made me to be. Please allow me, Your servant, to glorify You daily in some precious and beautiful way. Allow me the privilege of being Your hands, feet, and mouthpiece everywhere I go. Let the people around me smell You and hear You whenever I am around. Let my life be a living sacrifice; holy and pleasing to You!
Grant me the freedom I need to once and for all leave this life of sin and death. Help me completely transfer out of the devil’s kingdom and into Your Kingdom no matter what it takes. Help me to leave behind what I must leave behind and grant me the faith to receive what You want me to have. Show me the way, my Lord and my God.
In Jesus’ mighty name I pray, amen.
Banner Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash
* Romans 8:29
+ Note: there are no coincidences. Everything happens for a reason, whether good or bad. There is always a cause and effect.