Your breakthrough might need a breakup

Joke:  A little girl, dressed in her Sunday best, was running as fast as she could, trying not to be late for Bible class. As she ran she prayed, ‘Dear Lord, please don’t let me be late! Dear Lord, please don’t let me be late!’

While she was running and praying, she tripped on a curb and fell, getting her clothes dirty and tearing her dress. She got up, brushed herself off, and started running again!

As she ran she once again began to pray, ‘Dear Lord, please don’t let me be late…But please don’t shove me either!’

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Ezekiel 12:28 (NIV): 28 “Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ ”

Listen church there have been some promises that you have yet to see come to pass, some prophetic words your just waiting to see happen, and some of you have gotten discouraged in the waiting, but I’m here to let you know that even though it was delayed doesn’t mean it has been denied, as a matter of fact the Lord is saying His words will be delayed no longer.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that you don’t have some conditions because there are times that we may have some things God asks us to do to see what He has promised come to pass.

For example, You can’t be saved without asking Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.  He did a His part at the cross, to take our sin on upon His self, but until we ask for forgiveness we have not accepted what Jesus accomplished.  That’s our part.

And hear this church when we do our part, God always does His.

Here’s the thing, we can examine His track record of what has happened in the past and that should give of confidence that He will do what He said He would do. For a His track record is good.  And understand this there is nothing to hard for God.

2 Corinthians 1:19–20 (NIV): For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas  and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” 20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

I believe some of the problems we run into is that we come to church with no expectations.  We hope God moves, heals, and delivers, but we come not necessarily expecting that He will fulfill His Word.

Genesis 28:16–17 (NIV): When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

I love the parable of the persistent widow found in Luke 18.

We aren’t told what injustice took place, but she was on a mission. Maybe her son was falsely imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. Maybe the man who molested her daughter was still on the streets. We don’t know for sure. But whatever it was, she wouldn’t take no for an answer. And the judge knew it. The judge knew she would circle his house until the day she got justice or the day she died. Whichever, came first.  The judge knew there was no quit in the crazy woman.

Does the Judge know that about you? How desperate are you for the blessing, the breakthrough, the miracle? Desperate enough to pray through the night? How many times are you willing to circle the promise? Until the day you die? How long will you knock on the door of opportunity? Until your knuckles are raw? Until you knock the door down?

Joshua had to circle the city seven times until the walls came down.  Elijah had to send out his servant 7 times until he saw the cloud.

You and I may need to circle our promises, our situation, our obstacle a few more times until we see it come to pass.

The persistent widow’s methodology was unconventional. She could have, and technically should have, waited for her day in court. Going to the personal residence of the judge crossed a professional line. I’m almost surprised the judge didn’t file a restraining order against her.

But this reveals something about the nature of God. God could care less about protocol. If He did, Jesus would have chosen the Pharisees as His disciples. But that isn’t whoJesus honored.

Jesus honored the prostitute who crashed a party at a Pharisee’s home to anoint His feet. Jesus honored the tax collector who climbed a tree in his three-piece suit just to get a glimpse of Him. Jesus honored the four friends who cut in line and cut a hole in someone’s roof to help their friend out.  They to did some unconventional things.

And in this parable, Jesus honored the crazy woman who drove a judge crazy because she wouldn’t stop knocking.

The common denominator in each of these stories is crazy faith. People took desperate measures to get to God, and God honored them for it.

And church nothing has changed.

God is still honoring spiritual desperadoes who crash parties and climb trees.

God is still honoring those who defy protocol with their bold prayers. God is still honoring those who pray with audacity, tenacity and expectancy.  This woman with her unrelenting persistence was the only difference between justice and injustice.

And sometimes in order to get your breakthrough you may need a breakup.

See church here’s something if you hear nothing else today hear this, someone has said, “if the devil can’t make you bad, he will make you busy.”

And church if you get so busy you just may need a breakup before you get your breakthrough.

If your to busy that you can’t spend anytime with God you just may need a breakup.

A breakup of social media, television, whatever it may be that is stopping you from perusing Jesus.

The viability of our prayers is not contingent on scrabbling the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet into the right combinations like abracadabra. God already knows the last punctuation mark before we pronounce the first syllable. The viability of our prayers has more to do with intensity than vocabulary. It has more to do with what we do than what we say.

I mentioned the servant of Elijah sending his servant out 7 times to until he saw the cloud.  Why did Elijah get so excited about the cloud the size of a mans hand, because that’s all he needed to see to know God was going to do what He said he would do.

Ecclesiastes 11:3 (NIV): 3 If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. . .

There are defining moments in life when we need to prove to God that we mean business – and I don’t mean “business as usual.” In fact, it’s only when “business as usual” goes out of business that we’re in business – the Father’s business. That’s when we’re on the verge of a spiritual breakthrough.

Once again. ..

2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

This introductory text was spoken at the beginning of many Star Trek television episodes and films, from 1966 onward:

Space: The final frontier

These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise

Its 5 year mission

To explore strange new worlds

To seek out new life and new civilizations

To boldly go where no man has gone before

Church I think God would be pleased with us if we would just be willing to boldly go where he desires us to go.

Maybe some of done it, maybe a few are doing it, it’s time to explore the dreams God has given you, seek out the life he has for you, boldly go where He has called you.

God wants to restore the dreams, restore the hunger, restore the need to seek him, restore the vision he gave us, restore the life he promised us, restore the joy of our salvation.  Restore what the enemy has taken.

Give you the breakthrough you have been longing for.

It will take some persistence, are you willing to circle around the throne for your blessing, climb your tree to see Jesus, push through crowds to touch him.

God is waiting for His children just to trust Him, and know that bold prayers honor God and God honors bold prayers.

What has been stopping you from reaching the potential God has for you?

It is the desperate that stops Jesus.

Satan’s ploy has been to keep so full of junk that were not hungry for Him, and he has made us so comfortable with surviving on an earthly prosperity but a beggar’s subsistence in the spirit realm, that just a crumb of God’s presence will satisfy.

There are far too many churches that believe God is going to show up because they have a nice building or because the preacher preaches well, or the choir is well-trained.  But nothing is further from the truth, God isn’t impressed with these things, they are for us, not Him.  He shows up in response to worship and hunger.

And that sad thing is for some is that the church has obscured their view of God.

But until we get hungry enough we will never see everything that God desires for His church.  He is looking for desperate people.  And we have all heard the phrase desperate time’s calls for desperate measures.

God must be first, we need to spend time with Him, set our affections on Him.

Matthew 22:34–40 (NIV): Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Church how desperate are you for Jesus?  I don’t know about you, but I for one want more of Him, and the good news is there is more of Him to be had.