MAINTAINING YOUR DIVINE BREAKTHROUGH DIMENSION (PART ONE)
FROM THE GENERAL OVERSEER,
Pastor (Dr) E. O. Abina
GOFAMINT
MAINTAINING YOUR DIVINE BREAKTHROUGH DIMENSION (PART ONE)
Sunday 31st May, 2015.
“And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water” (Joshua 7:2-5).
Joshua had an overwhelming success at Jericho when he watched the walls of Jericho collapse at the shout of the children of Israel. It was indeed a glorious moment. It was a powerful breakthrough; the wall of obstacle and hindrance fell flat before the children of Israel. What had stood to keep them from advancing caved in to the power of the Almighty;That same power is still available today. I decree that every wall of obstacle to your success and breakthrough will fall flat before you today in Jesus Name.
Getting to your breakthrough is not enough, there are people who do not stay at the level of their breakthrough, and they regress to their former condition of failure and defeat. They go from breakthrough to breakdown, they leave their promised land and head straight for the wilderness. Some on the other hand, move from one breakthrough to another, breaking new grounds and becoming continuously successful. The plan of God for you is to go from strength to strength, from one breakthrough to another. May this be your portion in Jesus name.
In order to maintain your breakthrough there are things that you should do and there are things that you must not do.God promised Joshua good success (Joshua 1:8), however it is conditional on his commitment to meditating in the word and obedience to biblical principles. In Ai, Joshua and the whole of Israel lost the battle because Achan disobeyed. Joshua 7:20-21.There are things which if indulged in that can destroy one’s breakthrough.
First, let us consider the things which we must not do if we want to maintain our breakthrough.
1. Pride: It is easy to be humble when one is still looking for a breakthrough; your true essence manifests when God blesses your efforts. A carnal mind will resort to boasting and being proud. Pride is one of the fastest way to having a free-fall from the top. Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”God hates it so much that He resists whoever is proud.James4:6
2. Arrival Mentality: “Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward” Deuteronomy 2:3. Some when they have their breakthrough, they believe that they have arrived and they settle, they forget that there are still other grounds to cover. They look around and they see themselves as being the best in their neighborhood. The question to ask yourself is can this breakthrough that I have now be sufficient to see me through the next 5, 10 or 20 years? Can it be a blessing not only to me but to others around me?
Some have camped around their financial breakthrough until their responsibilities increased and caught up with their breakthrough and the breakthrough becomes a breakdown. If it is an academic breakthrough, will you still be relevant in your field in a decade’s time? You must keep on pressing. God wants to give you more than He has already given you.
3. Abandoning of God’s presence: God is not against our having good things but He is against thing having us or possessing our souls. Some treat the house of God like a hospital; when you are sick, you go to the hospital and immediately you are healed, you check out. When some receive their breakthrough, their relationship with God suffers; they become a stranger to the church. The same church where they received their breakthrough, they will now call it “old school” and will say they can no longer attend services there. They will no longer attend vigils, they may say there are too many mosquitoes. Even when there is no ground for excuses they will create one. Such breakthroughs don’t last, because God cannot be treated with disdain.
4. Lack of discipline: When you do not discipline yourself to do what is right even when you don’t feel like, it becomes difficult to maintain what God gives you. It takes discipline to maintain your breakthrough. If it is financial, you must not fritter away your God given resources.
5. Sin: Some are pure when they don’t have their breakthrough; but immediately they have a breakthrough, they use the breakthrough as a platform for sin. A student who needed admission, finally gained admission to the university and started living an immoral life on campus. An unemployed brother gets a fantastic job with all the juicy benefits of a car and a good accommodation and turns his house into a haven for immoral acts and his car he does use as a tool to woo ladies to commit fornication. Such people cannot maintain their breakthrough; it is a matter of time before they lose what they have.
Abandoning of covenant practices: Some abandon their commitment to the work of God. They negotiate or fail to pay their tithes and offerings. Suddenly their tithes become too big for them to lay down and they resort to academic arguments over whether they should tithe the gross or net income. They rationalize giving to the work of God and when they give they do not give what represents them. The sin of the rich man in Jesus’ parable who had a breakthrough harvest was that he was amassing wealth for himself but was stingy towards God and as a result, he lost everything the same night. “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” Luke 12:21. Beloved think on these things; next Sunday, we shall conclude the message on Breakthrough. Till then, keep on possessing your possessions and breaking through in Jesus mighty name. Amen.