THE PRINCIPLES OF BREAKTHROUGH!

This year God has promised us BREAKTHROUGH. However, one thing we must know is that God is not a respecter of persons. He is a respecter of His principles. 

In Acts 10:34-35 Peter said, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons…”

So to experience the desired breakthrough in your life this year, you MUST carefully follow His principles. For instance, In Genesis 4:1-10 God was saying to Cain, “I didn’t bless your brother Abel because I liked him more. I blessed him because he invested what I wanted. I blessed him because he obeyed my principles. If you do what he did I will bless you too.”

What is a principle? A principle is an original law placed by the manufacturer on how his product should be used.

The laid down divine principles that will enable you breakthrough in every sphere of life include: (1) You must pray, (2) You must sow quality seed - Seed Faith, (3) You must walk by faith, (4) Realize in every promise of God is the seed for your breakthrough, (5) Expectation: You should be very expectant because breakthroughs happen when you expect them, (6) Create an Atmosphere for breakthrough, (7) You must diligently serve the LORD and (8) You must walk in righteousness and holiness (Heb. 12:14).

Today, we want to focus on the first principle of breakthrough – “PRAYER.” Every breakthrough in this life comes as a result of prayer. Except you pray things won’t change because God has to get involved for things to change. When you pray, you licence God to get involved in your affairs on this earth. Therefore, expect you pray you’ll never get the breakthrough you expect.

John Wesley said, “It seems that God is limited by our prayer life – that He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him.”

Why is this so? It is God that made man and gave man dominion over ALL the works of His hands. Psalms 8:6 says, “Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet.” Everything is under your feet dear child of God.

God has given to man the earth and everything that is in it. Psalm 115:16 says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD': but the earth hath He given to the children of men.”

Therefore, Adam had dominion over this world. He was originally the god of this world. But Satan came and lied to him through his wife and Adam fell, thereby selling out his God-given right to the devil.

2 Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan “…the god of this world.”

But here is the Good News: Satan was the god of this world until Jesus came to the earth, paid the price in full, and got our dominion back from the devil. He then handed this dominion back to the Church.

In John 14:13-14 Jesus said, “And whatsoever ye shall ASK in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ASK anything in My name, I will do it.”

The emphasis in this Scripture is “ask.” Why then do you find it difficult to ask God to give you a financial breakthrough, to promote you, to heal you, to protect you? The truth is that if you don’t ask you won’t receive (Matt. 7:7-8)

In Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus said, “ASK, and it shall be given you; SEEK, and ye shall find; KNOCK, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

In John 16:24 Jesus said, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (Jn. 16:24).

In Matthew 21:22 Jesus said, “And ALL things, whatsoever ye shall ASK in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

The Bible says, “MANY are THE AFFLICTIONS of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken” (Ps. 34:19-20).

How does the Lord deliver His people from affliction? He does that through prayers only.

In Jeremiah 33:3 God said, “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

In Zechariah 4:6-7 God said, “…Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit…”

1 Samuel 2:9 says, “...for by strength shall no man prevail.”

Ecclesiastes 9:11 says, “...the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus gave an open invitation to everyone that needs a breakthrough saying, “(1) Come (2) unto Me, (3) ALL ye that labour and are heavy laden, and (4) I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”

Why should the afflicted come to Jesus? The afflicted must come to Jesus for two reasons:

1. He is the only solution to your problem (Acts 4:12); Jesus is the only One that can do something positive about your affliction!

2. You can reach or receive from God the Father through Him only.

In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (KJV).

NLT puts it this way, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”

Look at what the Lord wants you to do when you need a breakthrough in any area of your life: Simply Pray!

James 5:13 says, “Is any among you AFFLICTED (does anyone need a breakthrough)? Let him PRAY...”

Somebody may ask based on Matthew 6:8 where Jesus said, “... for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ASK Him,” “Why pray then?” After all, the Lord is all-knowing. Therefore, He knows all my needs even more than I do.

Here is the point: You pray because God asked you to do so. Why did God ask you to pray? He asked you to pray because Heaven needs your permission to get involved in your affairs here on earth. This is so because it is illegal for God to come down here on earth to do anything except someone invites Him to come.

How do you invite Him? You invite Him by simply asking Him (in prayer) to do so. This is precisely why Jesus said, “...men (people) ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Lk. 18:1).

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “PRAY without ceasing.”

Ephesians 6:18 says, “PRAYING ALWAYS with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…”

In Ezekiel 22:30 God said, “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 God said, “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

This is the very reason why Jesus showed up on the scene. He had to come in the form of man to have the legal rights to operate on this planet.

In other words, God needs you to invite or authorize Him continually into your affairs. Prayer is what connects you to the supernatural. It is the only way to get God involved in our affairs here on earth. It is how we get angels on the scene. It is how we stop the devil and his demons from harassing us.

The Bible recorded some examples of people who prayed when they needed a breakthrough. For instance:

1. The church prayed before Peter was miraculously released from jail (Acts 12:1-12).

2. Hannah prayed for a child and God intervened (1 Sam. 1:2-20).

3. Rachael prayed for a child and God gave her a breakthrough. “…God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son” (Gen. 30:22-23).

4. David ran to God when he faced affliction (1 Sam. 30:1-19).

5. In another instance David rendered the counsel of Ahithophel useless through prayer (2 Sam. 15:31; 2 Sam. 16:23; 2 Sam. 17:14-15).

2 Samuel 15:31 says, “And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Lord, I PRAY thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”

2 Samuel 16:23 says, “And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.”

2 Samuel 17:14-15 says, “And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. 15 Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled.”

6. Esther and the children of Israel prayed and God delivered them from the plot of their enemies --- to exterminate them.

7. Daniel was a man that understood the place of prayer (Dan. 6, 10).

8. Elijah cried out to the LORD when a certain problem arose and the LORD answered him (1 Kings 17:17-20).

It is written, “And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? 19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.”

Elijah was led to cry out to the Lord for the boy. 1 Kings 17:21-22 says, “And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? 21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. 22 And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.”

9. Jehoshaphat went to God in prayer when affliction struck (2 Chron. 20:1-12, 17-18, 20-21).

10. Jabez went to God in prayer when he needed a breakthrough in his life and God obliged him (2 Chron. 4:9-10).

11. Paul and Silas went to God in prayer when they faced affliction. Acts 16:25-26 says, “And at midnight Paul and Silas PRAYED, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.”

You too can cry out to God right now for the breakthrough you need, and God will grant it.

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

• Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor)                           Jan. 15^th, 2017