“LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago…” Isaiah 25:1

Do you have a favorite song? One of my favorites is “Praise Before My Breakthrough” by Bryan and Katie Torwalt (see below). It’s meaningful for me because it spoke loudly to me when I was in a valley season. It is also the theme of a dream God gave me to show me a better understanding of His idea of breakthrough, so that is what I want to talk about today. Breakthrough–what is it in God’s eyes, and how do we get it?!?

The text I am going to share from is Acts 16:16-40.

Paul and Silas had been teaching in Philippi, and they came across a slave girl who was possessed by a demon who used her to practice fortune telling. She started following them, crying out for everyone to hear, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She did this for days, and finally Paul was so frustrated that he commanded the demon to come out of her.

Why would she behave that way? We know the enemy has no intention of helping us be about our Heavenly Father’s business. Satan wants to frustrate our mission, so why would she announce theirs? I’ve been reading Billy Graham’s biography, and he shared about being in London in 1954 when a newsman used his paper as a platform to tell people about Graham’s intention to evangelize there. He drew a lot of attention to the crusade, but his tone was mocking and his intention was to create animosity toward the preacher. Thankfully, his attempts backfired.

Like the newspaperman, the slave girl was being very loud. Strong’s Concordance says she was crying or shouting, and that it could sound like the sound of a raven. Days of that would surely become exasperating. Paul’s frustration is also translated as being grieved or annoyed, and the Greek word actually means that Paul’s work was made laborious. In other words, her activity was causing him more work.

After Paul called the demon out, the girl’s owners were outraged that they would not be able to make money from her fortune telling anymore. They brought false accusations against Paul and Silas so that they were arrested, their clothes were stripped off, and they were beaten and put into jail where their feet were chained with stocks.

Their plans to preach in that town had just gone from challenging to completely stalled. They had to have been in terrible pain.

What would you do?

Talk to each other about the terrible injustice that has just been done to you? Moan about your wounds? I think I might curl up in the closest thing to a ball that is possible and cry. But that’s not what they did.

They sang hymns and praised God! Through the night. They praised.

And God was SO moved by their worship, He caused an earthquake to shake the prison, open the doors, and break off their chains. Everyone’s chains, not just Paul’s and Silas’s.

Was that their breakthrough?

Nope.

They didn’t run away. They stayed right there because true breakthrough is about spiritual condition and not physical prosperity.

When the jailer woke up and saw the open doors, he was going to take his own life. He had been instructed to watch them carefully, and there would have been severe consequences for losing his prisoners. But Paul reassured him. He was so overwhelmed that he fell down before them.

What do you see here? I see GRATITUDE

When God gave me a dream about breakthrough, there were three scenes.

• In the first scene, I was pointing toward a lake and there was a shed next to it.
• In the second scene, there was a folded up animal hide that was soaked and shedding water. Both of these scenes are like Pictionary. Two words: Water. Shed. Definition of watershed: A turning point.
• In the third scene, I was in the driver’s seat of my van in a parking lot and God asked me if I praise before my breakthrough? I answered Him, “Yes, I do.” Then I proceeded to back up, turning the whole van to the right and stopped (Illustrating the turning point).  The End.

A watershed moment, or a turning point, is a breakthrough.

God used a supernatural event to bring about a crises moment for the jailer. The jailer brought them out of the jail and asked them how to be saved.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household.”

And here is the breakthrough.

They taught the jailer and his whole household the Good News. Right then, in the night, the jailer was changed. He took Paul and Silas and cleaned their wounds—because remember, they had been beaten. And afterward, he and his household were baptized. Then he fed Paul and Silas, and he was filled with joy because he and his household had come to believe in God!

What happened to Paul and Silas? They were released. The authorities were humiliated because they had broken Roman law by punishing Roman citizens without a trial. The Kingdom of God took ground. People, who God treasures, were saved. Lives were changed.

We praise God with our words and with our songs.

But even more, we praise God with how we live. Every choice. Every act. Honoring Him.

Do things the world’s way and you will experience grief unbelievable. But do you want breakthrough?

Align your beliefs and actions with God’s Word. That’s His will. That’s to His praise.

Want successful relationships? Do them God’s way.

Want better health? Follow Biblical principles—body, mind/emotions, and spirit are ALL impacted.

Want healthy finances? Manage them God’s way. It’s not a promise that you will be rich, but God provides in limitless ways.

What area of your life needs healing? Where do you know you need change?

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt…” James 1:5-6

In other words, genuinely seek God’s ways with the desire to obey Him and you will not be disappointed.

Breakthrough is immediate. The moment you submit to Him. Obedience brings down all the walls. Life is a journey of one breakthrough after another.

Does it mean you won’t ever suffer. No. You will. God used Paul and Silas’s suffering to bring the opportunity to the jailer.

Does transformation take time? Yes. It has a ripple effect that can just go on and on and on… Praise God!

That’s just it— such a beautiful thing, what God does in our lives when we live to praise Him.

Image by DanaTentis from Pixabay