As we head into a brand new year, breakthrough is quite the appropriate topic! Many have been pondering which resolutions they will make for 2019, and I doubt anyone sets a goal with the intention of failing to reach it. It seems we all begin with the highest of hopes that we will, in fact, reach breakthrough. We will see our plans accomplished. Whatever obstacles may arise will not deter us for long, because we are determined that this year should be different!
It’s a possibility, indeed, that this year should be marked with success. However we have failed in previous years, we will be careful not to repeat history. What we must be mindful of, however, is the process which will lead to that success. Breakthrough doesn’t happen by good intentions or sheer determination alone.
Before I dive into the third tool for practically stewarding your breakthrough(s), I would like to revisit the first, momentarily: Contending for the breakthrough God wants for you. You may remember that the point of this tool was making sure you have the right blueprints for the space or season God has appointed for you, and not just the ones you drew or imagined for yourself. This definitely applies to making New Year’s resolutions. So let me share a golden nugget with you as you set your heart to dream for 2019: seek God’s will over your year.
Quite a number of years ago, I gave up on making my own New Year’s resolutions, and decided instead that I would be much more likely to meet with success if I went after God’s plans for my year. I began to ask Him what He wanted to do in my life each year, and then I would write that word or phrase or verse (essentially it was a promise) down, and watch it unfold as He had His way. It has been a thrilling and satisfying experience, year after year!
That being said, and assuming you will heed the wisdom shared, the next tool for stewarding your breakthrough and seeing your promises realized is:
Actively trusting God’s nature and timing.
There are several elements to this tool, the first being found in the dynamic combination of God’s nature and timing. I think most of us expect to have to wait – at least a little – for the unfolding of God’s plans in our lives. Of course, that waiting sometimes takes much longer than we anticipated, and we must be reminded to continue trusting His perfect timing. Many have heard the old adage: He is always on time – never early and never late. It is a truth we often lament over – until the moment of breakthrough finally comes and we realize that, had it come sooner or had it come later, something would have been amiss. We often discover that, in fact, He truly knew what He was doing, and just how to orchestrate it all perfectly.
The other half of this combination, however, is trusting God’s nature as we wait for Him to be faithful in fulfilling His Word. The story of Joseph comes to mind when I think of having to trust God’s nature in the midst of patiently waiting for breakthrough. Joseph was given early dreams of His elevation, only to find himself betrayed by family, enslaved to foreign strangers, and thrown into prison unfairly.
As he sat for those many years, no doubt reflecting on the dreams He had received, and the God his father had taught Him about from the Scriptures, Joseph faced a choice. He could trust what his circumstances communicated, or He could trust what He had been taught about the nature of the God Who had promised to bless him. Thankfully, by the end of his story, we see that He chose to trust God’s nature and His timing, and eventually rose to the place God had promised to bring him into. From that place, Joseph was able to influence many with his faith and his story, and countless lives were saved.
Some promises, some breakthroughs, will be realized in just weeks or months. Some are appointed for you to step into in the year of 2019. Still others may take generations to come to pass. Thankfully, God’s faithfulness doesn’t depend on our ability to see what’s been promised. As the Promise-Giver, His Word tells us He is faithful to keep His Word to those who wait upon Him for fulfillment. This tells me that, when the waiting is hard, and I’m not sure if I will see the promised breakthrough in my own lifetime, I still must trust Him. Not only must I trust that He knows the right time, but I must trust that waiting does not equal negligence. Waiting does not mean He has forgotten. Waiting does not mean that He has failed me. Waiting, in fact, must build my expectation and hope in His goodness and His faithfulness. And I must teach those who come behind me, those who might just be in line to inherit the very promises I’ve received, to wait and trust, as well.
This, of course, becomes a challenge for those who are used to being disappointed. Unfortunately, our experiences with human relationships tend to cast an ugly and unfair shadow upon God’s nature. If we’re not careful and aware, we can project our expectations of being disappointed onto God, and that will lead us to abandon our trust in His nature and timing. If you haven’t already done so, I recommend doing a study on the nature of God, so that you will know what to expect of Him as you wait for breakthrough. (Here’s a great article to get you started: https://www.allaboutgod.com/attributes-of-god.htm)
When King David, who was promised much by God, was preparing for his death, he had a very important conversation with his son, Solomon. He told him in 1 Kings 2:2-4, “I am going the way of all the earth. So be strong. Show yourself to be a man. Do what the Lord your God tells you. Walk in His ways. Keep all His Laws and His Word, by what is written in the Law of Moses. Then you will do well in all that you do and in every place you go. Then the Lord will keep His promise to me. He has said to me, ‘Your sons must be careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and soul. If they do, you will never be without a man on the throne of Israel.’”
David knew that some of God’s greatest promises to him were promises that he would not see for himself, at least not while he was still alive on the earth. Some of those promises he would see fulfilled from his new home in Heaven. Therefore, he understood the need and responsibility to train his son in actively trusting God’s nature and timing, too.
As a parent in today’s very busy world, it is easy to fall into the rut of surviving: making sure the kids get 3 square meals and plenty of snacks; a bath; a proper education; and enough entertainment to keep them out of trouble and argument free for at least 30 minutes a day. Admittedly, I don’t always think in terms of the future promises I am stewarding, and which I must prepare them to steward, as well, if we are to see the breakthroughs God has promised for our family. For us, those breakthroughs are astronomically big. I have a history of generations of addiction, and God has broken that cycle in my life. That promise, that inheritance, belongs to all my future generations, as well.
But if I don’t teach them and prepare them to steward that promise, how will they ever know? What will keep them from going their own way, instead of seeking the fullness which God has promised me for them, and for all those who come after them? This is serious business indeed, and more and more, I am compelled to pass on the trust I have learned to have in God’s nature and timing, so they will be equipped to reach the breakthroughs I have received and held onto for them.
The final component to today’s tool has everything to do with movement. Waiting necessarily involves trusting, but it is not usually a sitting trust. It is an active one. There are times, of course, when waiting will mean doing nothing – especially when you want to do something to make it happen for yourself. In such moments, actively trusting God’s nature and timing will mean fighting your own nature to take over. It will mean digging into prayerful conversation with God until your spirit and your will yields to Him completely. It will mean battling fear and anxiety, and refusing to accept a counterfeit version of what God has promised, because the enemy is always waiting around the corner with at least one of those.
There will also be times, however, when actively trusting looks like saddling up your camel and setting out on a journey, like the wise men who waited years did, when the stars finally aligned. Sometimes you will have to step into a healing journey, and connect yourself to people who will walk you through old, deep wounds, so you can break through into new expectations and promises. Sometimes you will have to intentionally plan and implement teaching for your children, so that they will be equipped to walk in the ways of God and inherit the promises you’re holding. Sometimes you will have to pack up your belongings and bid farewell to your comfort zone, and set out in whatever direction God has told you to go – even if you don’t yet know the final destination. Sometimes you will have to rise up into realms of responsibility that may be unfamiliar and a bit terrifying to you.
Whatever the necessary steps may be, you can be sure that a great part of trusting God’s nature and timing will involve action of some kind. So be prepared to move when He says move, however He tells you to move – even if moving means moving from a place of frantic reaching and searching into a place of being still and quiet. He will lead you, and you will surely find rest in His presence as you walk the path He has laid out for you.
Next week, we will meet again to talk about the fourth tool for practically stewarding your breakthrough: Worshiping and working while you wait.
Until then, Dear Woman of Breakthrough, may your New Year begin with the dreams of God’s heart for you, so that your riches may be attainable, and your process may lead to fulfillment.
{Photo images courtesy of http://www.pixabay.com}
She Dances Over Graves 