Category: Spiritual Warfare

Posted on

Keys to Partnering with God’s Breakthrough

If you could draw the word “breakthrough” what would it look like? A sledgehammer crashing through a wall? A dam bursting its banks? A sapling pushing through the hard dirt? Perhaps you would use words to describe its process like hard work, grit, tenacity, and maybe even weariness.

At times in our good-hearted, passionate pursuit of breakthrough we can ever so subtly shift our focus onto our own effort and will. We begin to carry the burden for breakthrough on our own back, and grow weary in the struggle. But if we turn to the scriptures to define this powerful word, we see a picture – not of humanity breaking through barriers – but of God as the One bursting through on behalf of His people.

When David faced the Philistines, in what was called the Valley of Giants (Rephaim Valley, 2 Sam 5:18), he watched the Lord burst through upon his enemies, and win the victory on Israel’s behalf. There David renamed that Valley of Giants to ‘The Valley of The Lord Who Bursts Through’.

What valley of giants are you facing? God wants to burst forth against your enemies with such power that you rename that valley after Him – The Lord Of The Breakthrough. Right now, all of heaven is breaking through on your behalf. Heaven is bursting at the seams, breaking into our churches, our cities, our cultures and our workplaces. May we simply “show up” in the valley, give God our “yes” and see Him burst through. Continue reading “Keys to Partnering with God’s Breakthrough”

Posted on

Empowering Our Future with Mind Renewal – Part 2

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”.  Proverbs 23:7
If we think we are weak, we are weak.
If we think we are less than others, we are less than others.
If we think we are righteous, we are righteous.
If we think a problem is a problem, then it is a problem.
If we think a problem is an opportunity, then it is an opportunity.

We can become the sum total of our repeated thoughts. We cannot consistently do what we don’t believe we are. For instance, if we try to act righteous, but we think (believe) we are a sinner, we will actually sin by faith, and this negative experience will bombard our thoughts with the lie we are prone to do wrong. Truly, our thought life is where the biggest spiritual battles are fought. Continue reading “Empowering Our Future with Mind Renewal – Part 2”

Posted on

FINISHING STRONG

The battle isn’t over till it is over. We need to finish strong. We need to persevere to the end. This is not always easy. The passion that comes at the beginning of a fight can wane if the fight wears on. I believe David displayed three keys that helped make his fight with Goliath, as well as many of his future battles, strong to the end.

Preparation First, David came to the battle prepared. The development of David’s heart did not start on the day he met Goliath on the battlefield. It’s foolish to believe we can fight giants without having prepared ahead of time. Instead, as the apostle Paul says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training” (1 Cor. 9:25). Just as athletes prepare for competition well in advance of the event, so we ought to prepare ourselves spiritually before we face giants. Otherwise, we won’t be ready to fight the battle when we find ourselves on the front line. When the door of opportunity opens, it’s too late to prepare. Continue reading “FINISHING STRONG”

Posted on

THE POWER OF OUR WORDS

Our words are more powerful than many of us know. The Bible tells us this over and over. More than eighty Scriptures address the power of the tongue. This is because we are made in the image of God, and God uses His words to create. In fact, the very first thing we see God doing in the Bible is speaking the world into existence (see Gen. 1:1–3). God created the world and every living thing in it with His words. When He spoke in Genesis 1, nothing became something. The word for created in Genesis 1:1 literally means “something from nothing.” God said it, and it was so. It is hard for us to wrap our minds around this reality, but this is the power of God’s voice. When God speaks, He creates. The author of Hebrews describes it like this: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Heb. 11:3). God created the tangible universe using nothing but the power of His words. Continue reading “THE POWER OF OUR WORDS”