“Baal Perazim- God of the Breakthrough”

Part I. Introduction and Principle One.
During January of 2013 I was attending a traditional, denominational church which was struggling with some past issues. The pastor asked everyone to pray and ask God to give them a fresh vision for the new year. On the way to church one morning, the Holy Spirit told me to pray for breakthrough for the church. Since I was not really sure how to do that, I knew I needed the Holy Spirit to give me understanding and show me how to accomplish a supernatural breakthrough (from now on BT) for myself and for others. That's when my study on this topic began. Over the past year I collected quite a lot of material, prophecies and revelation from the Holy Spirit. I could write a whole book, but for this blogpage format, I divided it into multiple sections and will post them separately.

To my amazement, I discovered that the Lord was speaking about BT to many people in the body of Christ this past year. Numerous prophetic voices are talking and writing about how the Lord plans to bring about supernatural BT to the body of Christ in order for God's purposes to be fulfilled in 2014. I'll be sharing some of these later as I go along.

Let's begin with the definition of breakthrough from the Random House Dictionary.

1. a military advance all the way through and beyond an enemy's front-line of defense.
2. an act of removing an obstruction; the overcoming of a stalemate.
3. any significant achievement or advancement that removes a barrier to progress.

So to achieve BT one must advance past the enemy's line of defense and overcome all obstructions, stalemates and barriers to progress. Aren't you glad God doesn't ask us to do all that by ourselves! Later on we'll see how He is Baal Perazim- God of the Breakthrough! He leads us into the battle, fights with us and enables us to be overcomers in this life.

Supernatural Results!

Examples of BT would be receiving a miracle, emotional or physical healing, deliverance from demonic strongholds, experiencing restoration of a broken relationship, experiencing the loving Presence of God or reaching our destiny in the kingdom of God. All the fleshly or demonic barriers to spiritual progress are destroyed and we become overcomers in Christ Jesus. With God's supernatural help we are enabled to accomplish something we could never achieve on our own and the glory of the Lord will arise upon us!

I want to introduce this message by sharing three principles for BT which the Holy Spirit has shown me over the last year. Then we'll study 2 Samuel 5 to learn how David was able to acheive BT. We'll look at Hindrances to BT and finally, some Keys for How to Receive a Spiritual BT. Does this message sound like one from which you could benefit? Do you feel fairly competent or incompetent at knowing how to achieve BT? Would you like learn more about how to help others receive a BT?

Principle #1
The first principle came to me back in May through an Elijah List newsletter entitled, “God of Our Breakthrough.” The author said that for a church or organization to obtain a spiritual BT there has to be an end of all “works of the flesh first” in the leadership and organization. Wow! That caught my attention. I knew the Spirit was speaking to me that day.

There has to be a breakdown of the current way of doing something before God can bring about a breakthrough. The old way of doing something has to come to an end; such as the traditional worship music or leadership style. It has to come to a halt! It has to be discontinued for a time so it can be replaced with God's new and living way. If there isn't this complete breakdown, then the new way of the Spirit will be competing with the old ways. The result will be conflict, competition, strife and discontentment from both groups within the organization. All this results in people being dissatisfied and leaving.

Scriptures to support this principle would be the following:
Judges 16:28-30. The story of Samson and Delilah, his imprisonment and eventual revenge on the Philistines.
Jeremiah 31:28. “And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.”
Matthew 9:16 -17. “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Luke 5:39. “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
Galatians 5:19-20. “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

In Churches
Traditional, denominational churches for the most part do not experience signs, wonders and miracles, or the awesome Presence of God in their services. This is because they just “keep on keeping on” with the same traditional way they have always managed their services for the last 50 years. They are not willing to embrace anything new or different. They insist on having only “sacred music” and a printed bulletin with the order of service every Sunday. Change is not something they wish to embrace, and indeed, resist it at all cost. These types of churches are filled with wonderful people who love God, obey His Word and serve Jesus Christ faithfully. However, adhering to tradition is a priority with the members and leadership.

On the other hand, some non-denominational, charismatic churches also get “stuck in a rut,” habitually doing what they have always done, because it always “worked in the past.” What once was a fresh, vibrant move of God twenty years ago, becomes a routine program with only a resemblance of the way things used to be. We get comfortable with our routine and don't want change. We don't even realize the Presence of the Holy Spirit is no longer manifest in the services. “The show must go on” as they say in the theater, so our services become more entertainment and hype than true worship “in spirit and truth.”

Warning! 
Works of the flesh, no matter how religious or spiritual they may seem to be, will not produce the Presence of God, nor the anointing of the Holy Spirit in a church or organization. Doing what we've always done, because we're comfortable with it will not produce BT no matter how many scriptures we use, or how loud we may preach. When we insist on managing services our way, we leave out the possibility of the Holy Spirit doing something fresh and new. The Holy Spirit is alive and wants to produce vibrant change in our lives on a regular basis. Getting in the flow with what the Holy Spirit is doing today requires change! Bringing an end to the current way has to proceed a BT by the Holy Spirit. It can be a difficult process to bring about change, but not impossible with guidance from the Lord. All things are possible with God in control.

In Marriages
My husband Tommy and I have a Christian counseling ministry called Tree of Life Ministries. Couples come to us for marriage counseling, because they are... in crisis. They experience a critical event, such as adultery or pornography, where there is a breakdown of their relationship. This crisis brings them to their knees where they humbly ask God to help them change.

When they both acknowledge and repent of the “works of the flesh”, then we can help them. They have to bring a halt to all the destructive attitudes and behaviors, and humbly repent before God. Then we can help them achieve the BT they need through emotional healing and deliverance ministry.

The crisis becomes the opportunity for growth.
In fact, it is going through the restoration process, experiencing the breakdown and the breakthrough, that the Holy Spirit empowers a husband and a wife or a church with new covenant hearts capable of demonstrating God's agape love toward one another. The crisis becomes the opportunity for growth toward Christ-like maturity and a new loving future together. God removes the critical, judgmental hearts and give them tender, pliable hearts capable of loving and serving each other.

Some questions to consider.

Have you ever experienced this negative principle of “breakdown before breakthrough” in your life, family or church? What was the outcome? Were you able to successfully achieve the desired Godly results, or did it end in a stalemate, division or broken relationships? Were you able to overcome all the obstacles and barriers to progress? Were you able to overcome all the plans of the enemy to keep you stuck in the breakdown stage? Have you also observed that in time with wisdom and guidance, God can bring restoration and reconciliation to broken churches and marriages? Yes, and Amen, He can bring about supernatural BT.

Part Two follows in the next post.