Lord of the Breakthroughs!
Our nation stands in need of a moral rebirth. Leadership seems
assaulted on every side, as though anarchy were desirable above any
government. Our personal lives or our ministries may seem filled with
frustration. The Church seems caught midway between revival and
restoration, or a return to religious irrelevancy. Indeed, this is a
day to seek the Lord.
The Lord spoke to some of us in worship just a short while ago that a
breakthrough was imminent, that the day of the release of the Lord from
our constraints was near at hand.
To illustrate this, picture a powerful, fearless horse that has been
hobbled. Capable of great strides, possessing amazing speed, yet
virtually immobilized by simple loops of weak rope tied around its
ankles.
A hobbled horse is impotent. But God promises to loose their power:
“For the Lord of hosts (armies) has visited His flock…And will make
them like His majestic horse in battle…” (Zech. 10:3 NAS)
In order to use his God-given strength, a war horse has to be
un-hobbled. He needs a breakthrough so he can break out and break forth
and run the race.
When I heard this word, “breakthrough,” intercessors had already heard
it. Prophetic worshippers zeroed in on it next. I simply caught the
persistent highlights of the Holy Spirit’s word to the church. “He who
has an ear, let him hear what the Sprit says to the churches.” (Rev.
2:17 NAS)
Later, the Lord presented this same word to us again, only now in the
sense of finishing what had already been started. Prophetic
intercessors were told: Pray through for your Breakthrough!
You may never have heard the expression, “I’ve prayed through about
it.” Older saints know what this is. I used to hear my mother use this
expression a lot. When you’ve done it, you know it. It means to press
your case in prayer, to not let up, to not give up, until you have the
inward assurance from the Lord that you have been heard on high. John
said “And if we know that He hears us, we know we have the requests
which we have asked from Him.” (1 John 5:15 NAS)
You’ve prayed through when you know you have the answer, when you know
your cry has been heard in heaven.
Why do we need to pray for something that God has already promised? In
the natural, it doesn’t make sense, does it? But in the kingdom of God,
we are co-laborers with the Lord. This is the great mystery and also
the great privilege of prayer. God’s will is only potential until it is
activated on earth by our obedience and by our faith. Therefore, to be
able to hear the Spirit’s prompting and pray God’s agenda into reality
is vital to our success.
For me, one of the questions is how to know what is my part versus
knowing what is God’s part. What will God do? What do I have to do? As
we mature in the Lord, this balance can change and may require more
discernment.
In Ezekiel 36:37 God says, “This also I will let the House of Israel
ask Me to do for them…” Yet God had already promised to do it ten
times, saying in the preceding verses, “I will…” Why is this? We play
an important role in advancing God’s kingdom. God’s will and our will
must line up, first in prayer, and then in our obedience of faith.
There is genuine power associated with following up on prophetic
promises. There is a big difference between praying to discover God’s
will and praying fervently for God’s will to be done on earth once His
will is revealed to us. Once we know God’s will, it is rebellious for
us to pray a weak or uncertain “if it be Thy will” kind of a prayer.
When the Spirit of God speaks forth the heart and mind of the Lord (and
that will always line up with the Bible), we know what the will of God
is. Then we have to act on what we’ve heard. We can realize we’ve been
authorized to petition the Lord for this very thing. We can pray with
confidence!
Knowing God’s will, we are energized by the Praying Spirit to resist
Satan’s discouragements and his robberies. By faith, we can be
confident and persistent in pressing our claim by both private and
corporate prayer. (Never forget the power of small groups!) We can
prevail in our battle by using the spiritual weapon of praise. We can
exercise powerful agreement by harmonizing with the Scriptures and by
agreeing with prophetic declarations as they are spoken to the church.
When I heard this word from the Lord, I immediately thought of the
occasion when King David had been installed and yet vicious new enemies
rose up to destroy him. This insightful story is found in 2 Samuel 5.
This is an amazing analogy and illustration of coming to power to lead
God’s people in a kingdom dynamic amidst great conflict.
David was a shepherd who served his father. After being chosen by God
and anointed by a prophet, he was harassed and chased by Saul for
years, yet he kept his integrity and upheld his honor toward authority
even when it mistreated him. Finally, he ruled over Judah for 7 years
and was then anointed by Israel as king for another 33 years. He was a
type of Christ in these matters. He also is a type (O. T. symbol or
shadow of a N. T. reality) of New Testament apostolic team development,
warring with the help of mighty men and prophets and using prayer and
praise and worship to win battles.
After David consolidated his victory and took the stronghold of Zion at
Jerusalem, a last great assault came against him from the Philistines
(modern term: Palestinians) in an effort by Satan to resist God’s
kingdom being established over His people and thus blessing them in
their inheritance in the land.
Look at David’s tactics in order to engage the enemy: he inquired of
the Lord (vs. 19), he acted on what he heard (vs. 20), and then God
gave him a mighty break-through! In fact, David named that place of
battle Baal-Perazim, “Master of the Breakthrough.”
Do you need a breakthrough? Then do something extraordinary! Add
fasting to your prayer. Get up earlier to pray more. Schedule private
prayer three times a day: morning, noon, and night. Meet up with a
prayer partner and agree together concerning key issues. Let your heart
become broken over the matter so that your tears are mingled with your
prayers. Pray according to Matthew 7:7- Ask, Seek, Knock.
What area have you felt hobbled in? In what areas have you felt defeat,
humiliation, confusion, delays, and frustration? Where the land is
being contested by the devil, our inheritance is likely buried. Here
lies the victory, if we hold on to our title-deed.
Hold on to your faith by choosing to believe what God has said. Let the
fire test your faith. If we keep our heart right and guard it from
wicked attitudes and feed our faith even when we are mistreated, if we
press the battle against the enemy and don’t become passive or pinned
down to the mat, then we can surely expect to see God break through in
our behalf.
The Lord doesn’t just give us a breakthrough-- He is our Breakthrough!
And with God, all things are possible.
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© “Lord of the Breakthroughs” 2004 by Ron Wood, President of Touched By
Grace Inc., P.O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405. For resources, visit
our website at www.touchedbygrace.org. Permission is given to copy or
share this article as long as the content and byline remains intact. We
are touched by grace to touch the world!
