Something’s Gotta Give

What does breakthrough mean to you? The word, itself, has become a slogan for modern Pentecostal churches, but what does it really mean? Webster defines breakthrough as (1) a military advance all the way through and beyond an enemy’s front-line of defense; (2) an act of removing or surpassing an obstruction or restriction; (3) the overcoming of a stalemate; or (4) any significant or sudden advance, development, achievement, or increase that removes a barrier to progress. Breakthrough means you win!

When David was anointed king over Israel, his old enemy, the Philistines, came out against him. He recognized the foe, inquired of God to receive direction, and turned to fight. When the dust cleared, David was victorious and named the spot Baal Parazim: Lord of the Breakthrough. When you receive anointing to stand in your place of authority in Christ, the enemy will wage war against you, and you will have to fight. The devil may cause circumstances to try to distract you or neutralize you; your own soul may try to keep you from stepping into your new place of anointing; others around you may try to discourage you or hold you back. When the fight comes, take up the Sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, and pray in the Holy Ghost. You have mighty weapons in God, designed to pull down strongholds in your life and destroy anything that tries to set itself up as “god” in your thinking. You will have to fight, but the Lord of the Breakthrough is on your side!

We have many walls or barriers in our lives that hinder us from believing God and acting on His word. Breakthrough is often the process by which we apply pressure on our soul to cause those walls to come down. Like the walled city of Jericho, old mindsets are usually the first things that need to fall in order for us to be able to step into the new place that God has for us. Whatever thinking has gotten you where you are today will keep you where you are. We must address those mindsets in order to break through to any new place Holy Ghost wants to take us.

When two sides cannot agree, you end up having a stalemate. Just look at Congress…they do it all the time. Congressional stalemates over issues can last for months and even years. Eventually, one side will make a concession allowing a breakthrough in the discussion. We often find ourselves in a stalemate situation with God. He says one thing about our life, but we have our own ideas. We bargain, we beg, and we refuse to obey, but He doesn’t budge. That means we have to be the ones to move over to His side. We need breakthrough in order to see things His way and act accordingly. In most cases, breaking through the stalemate requires laying down a piece of our lives that we wanted to cling to. Long debates with God won’t help you do this, but praying in tongues and fasting will! Prayer and fasting are two tools designed by God to help you get “unstuck” when following His plan for your life.

Although preparing for a breakthrough often takes a good bit of time, when breakthrough comes, it feels like things change quickly. Like the woman who had the issue of blood for many years, we press through the crowded thoughts, feelings, and circumstances of our lives to touch God. And suddenly, His power breaks through into our lives and causes an immediate change. Breakthrough comes, and we are free!

Expect to hear from God and receive your own breakthrough as you read stories of victory through Christ here on The Celebration. Remember, the Lord of the Breakthrough is on your side!

By Linda Frederick

Beware the Lotus Eaters!

You have a difficult circumstance from which there is seemingly no escape. Suddenly, God gives you an idea that turns the situation around resulting in VICTORY! Your enemy is defeated! You celebrate! You rejoice! You’re now ready for the next step in God’s plan for your life! As you set off on your next great adventure, filled with confidence, you enter into a beautiful place of rest and peace. Surely this is your reward! You relax and take your ease, allowing your mind to rehearse your former victory over and over as you revel in your accomplishments. Now…where were you heading? Where was the next place you were supposed to occupy in the spirit? The drive you once had slips away as you daydream about places you might go and things you might do… someday.

Wake up! You have been lured into the land of the Lotus Eaters!

The Greek poet, Homer, wrote the fantastical journeys of the hero, Odysseus, and his men. Odysseus (you may recall from your school days) was the mastermind behind the Trojan Horse: a clever ruse that resulted in the Greek victory over the once impenetrable city of Troy. As you can imagine, the people rejoiced and celebrated their triumph, sailing away from Troy ready for more conquests. Riding high on their victory, Odysseus and his men make a raid on a city, plundering and pillaging goods.

As they escape with their treasures, Odysseus’s ships are blown off course and they find themselves on a beautiful island. The natives are peaceful and provide the men with lotus flowers for food. Soon, the men find themselves in a blissful state of tranquility. They rehearse the victories of days past and dream sleepily of a homeland they may or may not ever see again. Purpose is sucked away by apathy. Daydreams become clearer than reality. Motivation slips through their fingers like the sand in the hourglass of time that is wasting away. Unless they are awakened, they will sit idly by forever and never accomplish one more thing.

Think about it…how many of you can say, “I was once so on fire for the Lord, but now…I was once passionate about prayer, but lately… I used to lay hands on my family and believe for their healing, and I saw it happen immediately, but the last time… I remember the time I had a great financial need, and I sowed a timely seed only to see that need met supernaturally, but…” I’m not talking about rehearsing past victories as you face a new battle. I’m talking about the ways we find ourselves stuck from time to time, wondering how we got into a place of apathy when we know for a fact that we have experienced victory in the past. If we are not watchful and awake, we will find ourselves like Odysseus’s men: trapped in a sleepy state of contentment, happily rehearsing old victories with no motivation to move forward.

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

~Prov 6:9-11

Poverty of spirit will result in natural poverty. When we allow ourselves to fall into the lair of spiritual lotus-eaters, our motivation to press into the things of God slips away. A ceiling develops over our lives and ministry, and we begin living off stale manna from days gone by. We’re content with what we have already done and are not interested in pursuing more. We become worthless, ineffective, and forgotten. Generations of Christians have done this. Denominations have fallen victim to this. What about you?

The Church cannot afford to be content with rehearsing our past victories while ignoring the things God intends for us to take care of today, tomorrow, and in times to come. Friends, there is more in front of us than there is behind us! Our best is yet to come!!! So, put the lotus flower of contentment down, stop living in the past, and let’s get going! There are great adventures yet to be had in the Kingdom of God!

~Linda

Winning isn’t Everything

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” – The Olympic Creed

Winning isn’t everything.

Check your reaction to that one statement, and it’ll tell you a lot about your image of yourself, of success, and of God. Let’s face it; we are a highly competitive society. We’re programmed from the time we’re young to WIN at all costs. Have you been to a little league ball game lately? You will find adorable children all dressed out in their ball uniforms surrounded by half-crazed parents screaming, cursing, and pulling their hair out if their kid’s team isn’t “killing” the other team. I know; I’ve been one of those parents!

We try to tell our children that it’s not if you win or lose, but how you play the game. But we don’t really demonstrate that in our own lives, because our identity is wrapped up in our accomplishments and in those of our children. So our children grow up believing that they are a disappointment to us if they don’t WIN in every thing they do. And because parents represent God to their children, they also believe they are disappointing Him by not winning or succeeding in every area, every time. So in our minds, winning really does become everything that builds our self-esteem and sense of worth. Winning becomes our goal.

The problem with that is when we gauge ourselves by the winning alone, we will begin to alter our experiences so that we always win. We’ll cheat, we’ll lie, we’ll force others to see things from our perspective so that we win. We cease to appreciate any experience that doesn’t lend itself to our personal victory. We begin to gauge ourselves by our measure of success, and if we’re succeeding, we feel good about life. If we’re not succeeding, we beat ourselves up and become depressed or despondent until we can figure out a way to win again.

“I always triumph in Christ, right? It’s in the Bible; I know I’ve quoted it thousands of times!” Well, after a closer look, 2 Corinthians 2:14 actually says “Now thanks [be] unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.” When we read that correctly, the scripture actually tells us that the giving of thanks to God causes us to celebrate the triumph Christ has already made over the enemy. It is our thanksgiving that demonstrates the knowledge of His victory everywhere we go. The Word doesn’t actually say that we win; it says that He already won.

But wait a minute, I thought I was supposed to always win, always come out on top. If I don’t come out on top, how can I say I am victorious? How can I BE anything? Well, you have to remember that you are victorious IN CHRIST. You can partake of His victory at any time by praising and thanking Him for it. And “any time” means even in those times when you are failing, falling, making mistakes, and experiencing trials and tribulations. So when you’re not winning, you can still thank God because Jesus already won. That means you don’t need to gauge yourself by your victories, but by His. See, when we perceive ourselves as “winning,” it is easy for us to forget that it is only because of Him. It’s easier to have confidence in ourselves when we are the ones in control of our success. Because we are successful, we don’t really understand what it means to triumph in Christ when we are busily triumphing in ourselves. No, we need to stop being success minded, and become Christ-minded, so we can say along with the Apostle Paul, “whether I am abased or I abound, I am content.” That way, our success is not our measure; His is. Our winning doesn’t determine our worth; His does. So, when we’re in our hour of deepest trial, we are still overcoming through HIM.

So, it really is not whether we win or lose, but how we play the game. When we “go for the gold” by pressing toward our prize, we need to remember that our prize is Christ, not a medal! We win IN HIM!

(First published 08.17.08)

He said WHAT???

“…Who [is] this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” I Samuel 17:26

Goliath was a mighty warrior. He had been trained from his youth to be a man of war. His mere presence intimidated the armies of Israel and left them shaking in their shoes, unwilling to do battle against him.

The children of Israel had done battle in the land for many generations by the time Goliath showed up on the scene. They had conquered Canaan land and had defeated all of Goliath’s ancestors. God had given them a land to subdue, and they had exercised their faith in God by taking the land away from the enemy. Where was this same faith, years later, when the seed of the enemy returned to challenge their right and authority to possess the land? Why is it they were afraid of this one giant, when their forefathers had defeated armies of giants?

David was a youth with a call of God on his life. He knew from experience that God had equipped him to defeat any enemy that tried to hinder him. David didn’t sit in the wilderness, crying out to God to save his little sheep from harm. No! Instead, David was a man of action; he acted on his faith. He knew that the same God who gave him the job to protect the flock in the first place, was the same God who would give him the strength and wisdom to keep that flock from lions and bears.

When David heard Goliath, he thought, “What can this one enemy do to me, when my God has called and equipped me to possess this land?” In other words, David was saying, “He said WHAT?!!” So, he gave voice to that thought when he challenged Goliath. But he didn’t stop there. It wasn’t enough to say, “Oh, it’s only an attack of the enemy.” No, David did something. He followed his words up with an action. He took what was in his hands, having faith in God, remembering his past victories, and defeated the enemy. He fought…and it was a good fight of faith.

You have an enemy in your life, challenging you to prove that you have the right to continue possessing your land. Like the armies of Israel, so many of us have forgotten how to fight the good fight of faith. We have forgotten that God is the one who called and equipped us. That God is the one who helped us defeat past enemies. That this same God is the one who has given us tools to defeat this present enemy. After all, the enemy staring you in the face is only the seed. Jesus already defeated Satan and made an open show of him. You already overcame the enemy in your past by standing on the Word and using your faith to possess what Jesus provided for you. This present enemy is only doing what Goliath did – testing you to see if you really believe that this land is yours and that God has equipped you to continue to possess it.

So, look at the enemy in your life rather than cower in fear against it. Challenge that enemy by saying, “Who are you to think you can stop me, a child of God?” Don’t be content to sit by after you have made the challenge. Remind yourself of all the times He has led you in victory in your past. Look to see what the Lord has put in your hands today, and use this to overcome the enemy.

Fight the good fight of faith!

Q: After you declare your victory and act on your promises, you need to testify of the goodness of God. We want to hear testimonies of your victory over the enemy in your life!!!