Baal Perazim- Part Five

Hindrances to Receiving Breakthrough
Before we look at how to receive a BT, we need to think about the hindrances that keep us from being able to do that. Frank Hultgren wrote in his book, Prophetic Insights into Spiritual Warfare in the chapter entitled “Anointed for War” that “we gain victory over our enemies through confrontation and by destroying the strongholds these demons have on our life” (p. 110). So to gain spiritual BT, we have to confront and kill the spiritual giants inhabiting our promise land just like David did.

Hultgren talked about the types of giants that keep us from establishing BT. Giants in the Bible are representative of demonic spirits or strongholds keeping us in bondage or blinding us from knowledge of the truth. What follows is a list of the "most frequent" demonic strongholds people deal with concerning BT.

1. Fear (the #1 issue Christians struggle with), doubt, unbelief.
2. Disappointment in God, discouragement; self-pity is one key factor (the Shunamite woman mentioned earlier experienced great discouragement when her baby died).
3. Being lazy, passive or lethargic with the spiritual disciplines of prayer, reading the Word, fasting and worship.
4. Natural or carnal thinking versus being spiritually minded.
5. Not having true discernment- unable to discern truth from the deception of the enemy, being able to distinguish good vs evil or right from wrong.
6. Presumption and spiritual pride versus humility.
7. Believing the lies of the enemy- Satan's lies about who we are, who God is, lies about others.
8. Trying to achieve BT by ourselves- Call upon someone who is “anointed for war” to pray for you. The power of agreement is needed to get results.
9. Disunity and division- a sure sign demonic spirits are on the attack to destroy you. A house divided can not stand. You will experience a break down of spiritual authority and leadership-- if these giants are not defeated. These two strongholds are what empowers every church split and every Christian divorce.
10. Not being continually filled with the Holy Spirit- not being taught by Him, or submitted to Him.

What other hindrances can you think of? If you are dealing with a situation and are praying for BT, you will need to ask the Holy Spirit to give you revelation on the specific strongholds blocking the way and how He wants you to deal with them. Just like we discussed in the part 4, you will need to inquire of the Lord and find out from Him what is His will and His Way to gain the victory over the enemy who is trying to hold you in bondage or attacking you. Be wise; don't go to war until you have heard clearly from God.

Breakthrough- a prophetic painting by Amy Hope Rylander

“It's a time of preparation.”

One morning in January, 2014, I was awakened by the Spirit saying, “It's a time of preparation.” That's all I heard. To prepare for what? Several days later I began to understand what the Spirit was saying. Now is the time to prepare our hearts for breakthrough by repenting of every negative hindrance we have allowed to rob us of our destiny in God's kingdom. It is a time to purify our hearts of everything that would keep us from experiencing BT in our lives. Like David, it is a time to overcome all the ghosts of our past so we will be able to hear the Lord speak truth and life to us.

Occasionally, the Spirit wakes me up around 3:30 am to pray. So I get up and go to the living room and sometimes I hear something special which I record in my prayer journal. In February, 2014, I heard the Lord say, “I am coming for My Bride and it is time to prepare. There isn't much time left and you need to make the most of every day and every hour. Prepare yourself by spending time with Me in the Secret Place. You must be able to recognize my Voice so another voice you will not follow.”

Deception versus Truth

In the world, there are many voices trying to speak to us to influence our attitudes, emotions, behavior, beliefs, perceptions of reality-- all trying to deceive us. And within us there are voices trying to speak to us as well-- lies from the enemy trying to control us. 

For a Christian, however, Jesus Christ is the Chief Shepherd and He alone we must follow. To follow Christ wholly requires complete surrender and spending time in the Holy Place with Him-- listening and receiving His rhema words to us. Only if you have spent quality time alone with Jesus in prayer will you recognize the voice of another spirit trying to deceive you. 

 

5 Keys to Receiving Breakthrough

1. Anointing. It is the anointing of Jesus Christ that breaks the yokes of bondage. If we are born-again and baptized in the Holy Spirit, then we have the Anointed One living in us to do the works of the ministry. Jesus came to destroy the power of the enemy, to set the captives free, to release the prisoners from darkness (Is. 61, Luke 4:19-20). 1 John 2:20-27 tells us we have “an anointing from the Holy One” and we shall know the truth.

According to Hultgren, David had a double anointing to be a worshiper and a warrior. As a worshiper, he understood the importance of abiding in the Lord's Presence, abiding in the secret place of the Most High and under the shadow of the Almighty. As a warrior, he understood the principle that the Lord “gives our enemies into our hands” for their destruction. He was anointed for war by the Lord Jesus Christ and led into battle by the Holy Spirit.

Begging the Lord in prayer “to do something” will not work. Jesus has done everything already he needed to do to make us successful and now He expects us to do our part. Read the book of Joshua to get the full revelation of how God commands us to forcefully take our promise land and destroy all the “ites” remaining in our territory. Joshua 21: 44-45 explains that God hands our enemies over to us for their destruction. Then, and only then, will the promises of God be fulfilled in our life. Victorious overcomers have put Satan and his demons under their feet!

Gayle Sheehan, Director of Christian International Apostolic Network on 2-7-14 declared in the Elijah List newsletter that 2014 was going to be a year of double 7s, double portions, and double blessings. According to Apostle Sheehan, “The Lord is enabling believers to be Destiny Fulfillers. There will be a 'Double Portion' of His grace and anointing to cause destinies to be fulfilled. This upcoming year of 2014 and ongoing years will offer opportunities for Double 7 Prophetic Breakthroughs as we pursue them in faith. There will also be a release of angels to help us to fulfill destiny. Angels make up the victorious army of the Lord in the supernatural realm today.” Can I hear a shout of praise to our God! Lord, we receive your double anointing to fulfill our destiny in your kingdom! Amen!

"Baal Perazim"- God comes like a breakthrough of water.

2. Using the Keys to the Kingdom. Matthew 16:19 “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Jesus has given believers the authority to bind and to loose spiritual forces of darkness in our lives and to exercise our authority over the enemy through the Name and blood of Jesus Christ. Simply stated, when we enter into spiritual warfare, we bind up those spiritual forces coming against us and lose ourselves to receive what God wants us to have. For example, in the spirit realm we bind up spirits of confusion and division and lose ourselves to receive clarity and unity from the Holy Spirit.

3. Rhema Words. The Holy Spirit has given the prophetic gifts listed in 1 Corinthians12 to help the church function in the kingdom of God: words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues. The Holy Spirit will give us the gift of a supernatural prayer language to super charge our prayer life and enable us to know what the Spirit wants us to say and to do. The biggest mistake Christians make is to engage our brothers and sisters in Christ in conflict in the strong arm of the flesh, instead of the enemy behind the lines of battle causing the problems. It takes the operation of the gifts of the Spirit to know truth and walk in the Spirit.

4. Persistence. Be tenacious, set your will and be determined to get the victory. James 5:16 tells us to, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Even though we have power and authority over our enemy, he does not give up without a fight. He remains entrenched in our territory as long as he has a legal right to be there controlling us. By confessing our sins to one another and asking forgiveness from the Lord, we remove his legal rights. We engage the enemy on the basis of the righteousness of Christ at work in us and stand our ground until we see the victory.

5. Unity. First of all, unity is the power of praying in agreement with another Christian. Matthew 18:19. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” Secondly, God blesses the prayers of righteous believers that pray in unity for something that is according to God's will and according to His timing. Being in one accord is a basic principle in the kingdom and how we know God is directing us. Of course, the secret here is knowing God's will for a particular situation. 

In the final posting, we will look at one more important key to BT, a prophetic declaration you can use and a sample prayer for those interested in having some specific guidance for being a "doer of the Word" and not just a hearer only. Please leave comments or ask questions below or send them by email to: pjames@tolr.org.

 

References:

Hultgren, Frank. Prophetic Insights in Spiritual Warfare (1994). Frank Hultgren Ministries. Dallas, Texas. 

http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=13092 for Gayle Sheehan's article.

Painting used by permission from Amy Hope Rylander, a prophetic painter and art teacher in Jackson, MS. 

Photograph used by permission from Anne Grimes, Ayden, NC.