16
Feb '19
Breakthroughs
16
Feb '19
I was listening to a podcast many months ago where the pastor was talking about breakthroughs. At the time, I felt like he was talking right to me, and now months later, I’m feeling the real peace that I believe comes before a breakthrough. I’m not sure when this breakthrough is going to happen, and I surely have ZERO idea what it looks like in my life, but whatever it looks like, I know it’s God’s plan. “Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” – Hebrews 10:22 NLT
Coming off of a struggle in my life over a year ago now, I’m blessed that I have gained so much peace and understanding just a short year later. Having been completely healed from that hard experience God allowed me to walk though has been nothing short of amazing; the only explanation I have to give you is God, Himself. During that time, God allowed me to feel the pain and grief that goes along with a hard situation, and there were even times I felt like the enemy was prowling around and trying to devour me, but he never did. God didn’t allow it. I felt that God may have been thinking in those times “Ok Dena, just get through this time, because on the other side, your breakthrough is getting ready to start. Hang on. Don’t forget what it felt like to be down, and struggling, and hurting and praying for the pain to go away. It is in this that you will be able to comfort others.” After all, 2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT says “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” I like to say – if I have no mess, I have no message!
How often have we thought about “changing ourselves, vs. our circumstances”? When we pray, we usually ask God to change our circumstances. We go through life choosing things of our own free will, and then when they get all messy and out of whack, we ask God to come in, turn things around and bless them. (I’ve done it! I’d choose something that I knew was wrong for me, and then beg God to fix it once it got chaotic!) Or we’ll pray to God asking Him to take away the pain and hurt in our hearts, and we ask Him to change all kinds of circumstances in our lives as we go through trials. Did we ever stop to think that maybe it’s not the circumstances that God wants to change, but maybe God just wants to change US to adapt to our circumstances? I must ask (and be honest with myself) – am I willing to change?
The example in the book of John in the Bible talks about a man who has been lame for 38 years waiting near the pool of Bethesda, and when Jesus walks up to him and asks him if he wants to be changed, if he wants to get well, the man instead gave God an excuse why he’s in the situation he’s in, (I can’t, sir”, the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” – John 5:7 NLT) God didn’t ask that. God didn’t ask for the excuses or the back story (God already knew all of that anyway!). God wanted the man to answer whether he WANTED to be changed, and WANTED to get well. It’s a simple response. Yes or no. The man finally answered “yes”, and Jesus told him to get up and walk – and he did. He got his breakthrough! It’s like we get in God’s way of finding the best path for our lives with all of these excuses we have. We tell God our circumstances, but we don’t want to change. We just want God to “fix it” for us. So, praise God for trials in our lives that he doesn’t “fix”! Praise God for the trails that He makes us walk through. Instead of asking God to change my undesirable situations and circumstances, I’m thankful that I can now praise Him for eye-opening, life changing trials that He’s brought into my life. Instead of asking God to change my circumstances, I now focus on asking God to change ME. “What do you want me to learn God? What do you want me to say YES to today?”.
God wants to use us in amazing ways, but we often forget that God’s ways are not our ways. The breakthroughs that He provides for us sometimes look different (who am I kidding? They usually ALWAYS look different) than how we’ve planned them. We are God’s children. He ALWAYS wants what is best for us. “God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.” – Ephesians 1:5 NLT.
So, as we allow God to use us, we shouldn’t be surprised when He does what He says He will do. He’s guaranteed us that He will give us the inheritance He’s promised us. Although this inheritance (whatever it is) may not look like what we think it should look like – it’s going to be even bigger and better for those of us that follow Him and call Him Father. We should EXPECT Him to do what He says He’s going to do, rather than be shocked by it when He does it. Doesn’t TRUST and EXPECTATION go hand in hand here?
“The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we could praise and glorify Him.” – Ephesians 1:14 NLT
God’s plans are SO good, and I am so thankful I went through the struggle, as my closeness to God has never been more evident than it is now. In the struggles and through the tears – PRAISE HIM. GLORIFY HIM.
BLOG AUDIO
*Dena*
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