Breakthrough, is the word that the Lord gave to us this past fall for this new year 2017. For many 2016 was a year of frustration and challenges, a year without gaining traction. I think about the precious promises of God that is in his word as well as those words that he speaks to our hearts and how we have hope. So many today don’t have hope. I am amazed how the unbelievers in our society can even have hope, for many of them are atheistic humanists that believe that somehow they have a life of meaning, yet how gloomy this is. Without the hope of eternal life there is no life, there is no hope!
To have hope in the Lord and to know that ““God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Numbers 23:18 NKJV. Having this hope and confidence we can be at peace for a better tomorrow. A tomorrow where there can be a breakthrough in our lives!
What is a breakthrough? Miriam-Webster’s dictionary defines it as:
a warfare : an offensive military assault that penetrates and carries beyond a defensive line. (And/or) an act or instance of moving through or beyond an obstacle <a breakthrough in the talks between the region’s leaders> <a breakthrough agreement>. (Also,)
a : a sudden advance especially in knowledge or technique <a medical breakthrough>
b : a person’s first notable success <a breakthrough novel> <the actress’s breakthrough performance>
A spiritual breakthrough comes when we as believers are actively believing God for a breakthrough in our lives, either a specific area, or overall. As you stand in faith you must remember also to:
- Breath through these things, allow yourself to be at peace knowing that Christ is working right now.
- Go through, you are going through this problem not stuck permanently in it. The Lord makes a way where there seems to be no way out.
- Pray through, this term I have heard for years and have found it true. To pray through is to do what Jesus told us to do, “Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 Amplified.
- Run through, we must not stop running the race of Christ that is set before us. Do not let any worldly distractions take away from you the hope of this breakthrough. Remember, “For by You I can run through a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.” Psalm 18:29 Amplified.
We must meditate on Isaiah 43:18-19 for this is the word for us this year!
“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
Old Things
We are exhorted to forget, to cast away, to cease entertaining the thoughts of yesterday, or yesteryear. These old things are experiences that evoke in us feelings and thoughts of regret, sorrow and longing. Things of our past keep our eyes in nostalgia, anger, hopelessness because we are trying to change our past experiences but we must give up all hope for a better past. Our past can also represent our failures and reinforces them for our future. If we can’t let go of the old we cant have the new.
New Things
Shall you not know the new thing that the Lord is going to spring forth? He is giving you hope, can you believe him? In the middle of your wilderness, those areas of your life you may be ashamed of, frustrated with, depressed about, tired and exhausted with the Lord will make a way out of your scenario, he is going to deliver you if you will let him. Remember, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3 NKJV. Keep your mental focus on the Lord and his promises to you and the Lord will give you and keep you in perfect peace in the midst until the fulness of his goodness is revealed in the land of the living.
In the desert there is no water, no shelter, no provision, a place of loneliness, and abandonment, but the Lord tells us that he will provide for us water. Water is the provision of refreshing and life and vitality. He is going to provide for you and I even in the desert the impossible. He specializes in the impossible, for with God all things are possible (Luke 1:37).
If we are focused on the new things he is bringing for, on Him, His ability and promises then hope springs forth in our hearts and mind. Through hope faith is born which yields supernatural results. Results such as rivers in the desert.
“It is God who is at work in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13,14)
-Article by Rev. James Miklos, Ph.D.