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You’ve got to have a breakup before you can have a breakthrough. These are the words the Lord gave me today. Our breakthrough is dependent upon our decision to breakup with what holds us back spiritually.

A breakthrough is the work of God manifesting a miracle or deliverance in a person’s life. However, we must make the decision to completely breakup with whatever is holding us back.

God wants us to breakup with old habits, old sins and old alliances. God only moves through a surrendered and committed heart. God says, “I want a relationship with you but if you refuse to breakup with unbelief there won’t be a breakthrough.”

I have found that people give up right before their breakthrough. They get tired of praying and serving God because they think their breakthrough is out of reach. It reminds me of the parable of the sower. In Mark chapter 4, Jesus refers to the seed as the word of God and the sower is the one who plants the word of God. The soil is about the receptivity of the word of God. In verse 16-17 Jesus says, “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately they receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure for only a time. Afterwards, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.”

There are people who give up when the least amount of trouble comes their way. You’ve got to keep going strong until you’ve gotten a breakthrough. Paul said in Galatians 6:9, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

The harvest is your breakthrough. If you keep planting and nurturing the seed you will see the seed breakthrough the ground and get a harvest!

That’s why you’ve got to keep on giving, praying and worshipping! You’ve got to keep on keeping on!

Breakup with what’s holding you back and press toward your breakthrough. It was Jacob who wrestled with a Man in Genesis 32:24-26. Jacob told Him, “I will not let you go unless you bless me!”

Jacob was blessed. Some of you are letting go to soon! You need to press through the crowd like the woman who had the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48). She was determined to get to Jesus.

God says, “Because you won’t breakup with old thinking you can’t discern the doors of opportunity I put in your lap.” You can’t think the same way and get different results.

It’s time to breakup! You’ve been in bondage with negativity and drama too long! Some of you may have a boyfriend or girlfriend that’s keeping you back spiritually. If they don’t want God or His family then breakup. Your breakthrough is right around the corner!

The moment you breakup with what displeases God will be the start of your breakthrough! Glory to God! You must make a decisive commitment. God will move for those who let Him.

You’ve got to breakup before you breakthrough.

In Genesis 18 and 19, God was sending two angels to the town of Sodom because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah was “so great and their sins were so grave.” He was going to have the city destroyed.  Abraham pleaded with God to spare the city if there were 50 righteous in the city. God said yes. He then asked if he would spare the city if there were 45, then 40, then 30, 20, and finally 10. God agreed that if 10 righteous people were found, then he would spare the city for the sake of the 10. As the angels arrived in the city, they did not find 10 that were righteous. Not only that, but when they arrived and were greeted by Lot and were invited into Lot’s house to spend the night and eat, the men of the city came to the house and wanted Lot to send them out to “know them carnally” as it is stated in the NKJV. Lot tried to stop the men by offering up his daughters just so the men wouldn’t prove that the destruction that was coming was justified. They then turned and were about to hurt Lot when the angels pulled Lot in the door to save him. They instructed Lot to warn all of his family to leave because they were about to destroy the city. Lot’s sons-in-law laughed as Lot warned them because they didn’t believe him. As morning came, the bible says the angels warned Lot again telling him to get his wife and two daughters out of the town, lest they be consumed in the punishment of the city. Still, they lingered, so the angels took hold of Lot, his wife and his two daughters’ hands and brought them out and sat them down outside of the city. They told them again to Escape for your life and “Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” When Lot and his family had safely entered the city of Zoar, the Lord rained brimstone and fire on the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all of the inhabitants of the land were destroyed. But Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.

As I read these accounts, I catch myself getting frustrated with Lot and his family. God is trying to save their lives and tells them numerous times to get out. Even before they got the verbal warnings, they knew who God was, and what was expected of His people, yet they allowed themselves to be surrounded by the evil that was in the town and didn’t leave. So he sends his angels. The angels arrive and Lot recognizes that they are different. He knows that they aren’t ordinary men. He knows they are sent from God. This is the time we see that all of the things going on around Lot aren’t just things he was ignorant of. He immediately goes into protection mode and has them come to his house to be safe. I can almost feel the shame he must have felt to know that the angels were there and could see what he is letting go on in his life and the compromises he has made in this city. An altercation occurs, they save him and tell him to get his people and go. But he still doesn’t leave. What in the world is wrong with this guy? Morning comes, they tell him again. Still stalling. Finally, they have to grab them by their hands and physically move them out of the city and tell them go to the mountains and don’t look back. All of this reluctance, for what? Worldly possessions? And if that’s not enough, Lot’s wife has to still hang on to the memories of these said possessions and take one more peek. And then, for her, it’s all over. No more opportunities to be had. No more chances to go.

So after my frustration, I think about my life. We are given the gift of salvation. When I got saved and every time I repent, I have that same feeling of shame about the things I have let go on. I feel guilty for the compromises I have made to make things easier. I start to understand how Lot and his wife may have felt. But when God releases us from the hold of sin, we are to let them go and not look back. We are to move forward knowing that He has forgiven us and even better, in Hebrews 8:12 it says our sins and lawless deeds He will remember no more.

I pray that we can all learn to let go of our past and stop letting our past sins decide our future. Let go of the old man and put on the new. I just heard a preacher describe doing this by comparing it to a prisoner being released from prison. He doesn’t wear his prison suit anymore. He has been set free and puts on new clothes to start a new life. That’s what we need to do. Don’t let your past sins or compromises destroy you. Leave ALL of your old sins in a pile and don’t look back.

Be blessed.

-DJ

Fixing The Fight

I remember when I was younger, my youth group leader told a story about a farmer and his 2 dogs, one white dog and one black dog.  Every Saturday, the farmer would take his dogs to the dog fight in town. People would place bets on which dog would win.  Sometimes the black one would win, sometimes the white one would win, but the farmer always won.  People kept asking him how he did it until he finally revealed his secret.  All week long, he would feed one dog and starve the other.  Whichever dog he fed was always the winner.

As I was contemplating what to write, I was telling Pastor Sam that writing doesn’t come as easy for me as it once did.  When I was in school, sometimes we’d have to write creatively for assignments.  Since I had to do it anyway, I made my stories funny just to entertain myself and I found out my teachers were usually entertained by them, as well.  Somewhere along the way, I stopped writing so much and my creative side become overshadowed by my analytical/logical side because that was the side of my brain that I was using the most.  That’s the side I was feeding.

There’s always a battle going on within us as Christians.  Our flesh is always fighting with our spirit.  We want to do good but our flesh wins and we end up sinning anyways.  The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7: 14-20:

14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
 New American Standard Bible

Just like the farmer that fed one dog while starving the other, we need to starve the flesh and feed the spirit so the spirit can win the fight.  We can feed the spirit by reading our Bibles, spending time alone with the Lord in prayer, fasting, and fellowshipping with other believers. We can starve the flesh by being careful what we’re watching, reading, and listening to, choosing the things that glorify the Lord over the things of the world, and avoiding the temptations and desires that we know are not pleasing to Him.  We can fix the fight just like the farmer did.  It’s up to us to decide which dog is going to win.

 

Prophetic Declaration

Have you ever heard of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel chapter 37? This factual story amazes me because of the intensity Ezekiel must’ve felt. He’s in a valley surrounded by bones of individuals and God asks him if those bones can live. The prophet said, “O Lord God, You know.”

Then God asks Ezekiel to prophesy to those bones. So He speaks directly to the dry bones word for word on what God told him to say. As Ezekiel was making a prophetic declaration, there was a noise and a rattling. The bones came  together and the skin covered them. Finally, at God’s command, Ezekiel prophetically declared that there would be breath in those bodies. Then what happened?

They stood on their feet and lived.

What was the point of this supernatural act? God was giving Ezekiel a concrete example of how He will restore Israel to their land after they have been saying, “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off.”

However, there was a link between Ezekiel’s prophetic declaration and the will of God. Prophecy is simply proclaiming God’s kingdom will in the earth. Prophetic declaration is so powerful that Jesus mentioned it in Mark 11:23-25. Solomon said that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Your words have creative power and when you match your words to God’s words there is a shift in the spiritual atmosphere.

Your breakthrough deliverance is found between God’s word and your prophetic declaration. As sons of God, we not only have asking power but affirming power. We must affirm what God has already did through prophesying.

Your miracle isn’t just around the corner. It’s actually in your mouth.

Everyday people are prophesying but it’s not always for God. Just take a listen to your co-workers, family and friends. Many people prophesy what Satan wants by complaining, etc. Listen to what they are saying. Pray for them. Equally important, pray for yourself!

As one minister put it, “Nothing ever happens in the kingdom without declaration.” It doesn’t matter who you are you can use your words to bring heaven’s reality into the earth!!! Go ahead and prophesy. Believe and confess the promises of God.