THE BREAKTHROUGH FAITH

“And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." …………………… He said to the paralytic, 11 "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!" -  Mark 2:1-12

This story is one of my classics on faith that defies all odds and breaks through. The way of faith is not an easy way especially to a carnal man. This is why I believe the way of faith is never prescribed to a carnal person but to a spiritual person—the just or the righteous shall live by faith. To the just, I mean those who have been justified freely by the blood of Jesus, there is no other way; it is either faith-way or no-way at all!

From this passage, it is established that faith recognizes the fact of the problem, it doesn’t deny the fact of the problem; the only difference is that the breakthrough faith is aggressive enough not to accept the facts as final; it accepts the facts as subject to change. The breakthrough faith accepts the word of God as the final authority to which all situations submit especially when the force of faith is applied. Faith is a supernatural force with a creative and subjugating power.

NO BARRIER TO FAITH

The action of the four men who carried the paralytic appears weird and provocative to a natural or carnal man; nevertheless, their action pleased God! Breaking through the roof to bring their friend to the presence of Jesus might have incurred the wrath of the landlord; but Jesus called it faith, “When Jesus saw their faith”. Now this is the crux of this story; they needed a miracle, and their faith moved them in the direction of God, being undaunted by the crowd-barrier and roof-barrier; they broke through all to God’s Presence where the answer to their problem is.

BREAKTHROUGH FAITH IS ONLY MINDFUL OF GOD

This is one of the qualities of a breakthrough faith; it is neither mindful of self nor what others will think or say, it is only mindful of God. Breakthrough faith doesn’t seek to please self or others; it only seeks to please God. Once God is pleased, the miracle is received. When it comes to faith that breaks through, what I feel is irrelevant, what others feel, think, or say is of no consequence either; what really matters is what God says. God is never ashamed to honor this kind of faith.

One of the factors that are destroying our faith-life is what men will feel, think, or say. Won’t they think I have gone nuts? Won’t they think I have gone berserk? The day we wake up to the reality of faith that seeks to please and honor God alone; our faith will no longer crawl anymore, it will begin to soar and the supernatural will become a commonplace in our lives. If your faith is not irritating natural and carnal men yet, it is not a faith to be reckoned with; it is not a breakthrough faith yet. If you have not been called names on account of your faith, it is no faith yet. If you have not been disdained on account of your faith as Eli the priest despised Hannah and mistook her for a drunk because of her bizarre prayer posture; am afraid, your faith may not have spiritual momentum to breakthrough.

To break through the obstacles of life or the attacks of the devil on your life, you must be resolute in your heart never to mind your feelings or intellect, or better put, your senses. At the same time, you must never mind what people feel, think, or say; set your face like a flint only to please God by your faith actions. When you break through by your faith, it is the same people who mock you that will celebrate you.

As you do this, I see your faith break through and your mockers become your cheer group in Jesus name. Amen.

HOPE IN GOD

 “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.”  Ps 42:5

There are times when life seems to make no sense, when nothing seems to add up; at such times we are most vulnerable to despair, despondency, frustration, and before you know it, depression has set in. At such times, unless God comes around to get us on His own revelatory frequency and open our eyes to the big picture, we will be miserable and the devil will have a field day harassing us over the things that God has already concluded, settled and finished.  (….the works were finished from the foundation of the world- Heb 4:3). The major reason we become hopeless most of the times is our poor or wrong perception; when we cannot see what God sees, we get into self-pity and from self-pity to depression.

HOPE IS THE ANCHOR

When we lose hope, we become like a ship that has reached the harbor but it is not anchored. Such a ship will always be at the mercy of the waves of the seas, tossed about and restless. Bible describes hope as the anchor for the soul (This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil - Heb 6:19).

HOPE RELEASES ENERGY

Hope infuses and injects life and spiritual energy necessary to bring the invisible into this material realm. However, hope is not possible where you have not connected to God’s own frequency, to see as He sees. It has been established that vision modifies behavior—what you keep seeing will affect your thinking, what you think affects your feeling, and your feeling ultimately affects your behavior.

Therefore, if your hope is weak, it is as a result of weak vision. If you are hopeless, it is because you have been seeing a wrong picture that the devil, the enemy of your soul wants you to see. There is no how you will see from God’s perspective and not have a living hope. Hope is a powerful force produced by vision. Connect back on God’s frequency, for I’m sure that your dream will not become a nightmare, it will be fulfilled. Your vision is not a mere imagination, it is born of God; and hear this, “whatever is born of God overcomes the world” 1 John 5:4

WRONG PICTURE KILLS HOPE

They showed Israel the garment of Joseph, soaked in the blood of animal as an evidence to show that his son had been mauled by a wild beast. As a result of this false evidence (vision), Israel lost hope and lived in despondency for several years. Devil made him to be sad when it was baseless to do so. Devil made him to mourn over a child he should rejoice over. Imagine what devastation a false mental and spiritual picture can bring to your soul! You don’t have to lose hope because of what Satan is showing you about your life and destiny, because it is not true, it is false! Tune in to God’s frequency today and bounce back to life.

Hopelessness is one of the major dragon-headed evil this generation is attacked with day after day. If ever there is any crime, you can trace it to hopelessness. Suicide is like a normal evil this generation has had to put up with, divorce rate even among the children of God is assuming an alarming proportion. All these and other evils are traceable to the fact that someone somewhere has lost hope; he or she couldn’t see meaning in the whole scenario of life anymore.

There is no place where you can get an accurate and authentic picture of your future except in the word of God. Bible is full of graphics and images of your destiny. I dare you to behold it continually—behold it long enough and it is stamped on your mind permanently.

This is why I believe this is the time to preach this gospel of hope to this highly harassed and depressed generation. People have lost touch with the Source of hope (God) and are seeking for hope in things that can never give hope. Our God is called the God of hope.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”- Rom 15:13-14

From this beautiful passage above, we see that there can never be joy and peace where there is no hope. The next time you see a joy-less or peace-less person, just go straight to the root—the hope is under attack.

Your situation is not as hopeless as Satan painted it. You can still pick up the broken pieces of your life and hand them over to the Master—the Potter will help you put it together again and make of your life a masterpiece that will be celebrated all over the world! Yield to the Holy Spirit today, He will give you the power to abound in hope.

Keep abounding in hope.