What a Breakthrough will Really Do.
Baal Perazim
Like an electronic Mario Bros. game, trying to break through to the next level, only to find out that in a little while you are repeating the same process.
David has just recently became king. He has not even had a good honeymoon in his new position.
(Honeymoon Crisis)
1 Cr. 14:8-14 (2 Sam. 5:17-21)
David was in a crisis. His was a military crisis. As a new king, he was being put to the test.
A crisis works on your pressure points. It stresses a person to his limits.
The story almost seems like a giant chess game. David becomes king. The Philistines come up to see him. David moves out to confront them. They move their army to the valley of Rephaim, in the direct route towards Jerusalem.
The enemy will try to get to you and keep you from communicating with God. He hopes that you will get so preocupied and nervous that you will make a fateful decision on your own.
The Bible tells us of a lady who had an issue of blood for 18 years. She was at a breaking point. But she was also on the same street as Jesus, and as she made contact with Him, she found her "breakthrough".
I. Confront your Enemies with Boldness
--the battle we are in calls for special arsenal that is beyond our reach.
Your journey to a breakthrough will require some special help from the Holy Ghost.
Acts 4:29
And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
2 Co. 7:4
Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
II. Call Upon God for Direction
--Don't lean on the arm of flesh
A. Ask God
Jer. 33:3
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
B. Hear God
Some do not hear God because they are not willing to receive His message.
Hearing from God may require that you get away from all the background noise to get the clear message.
IL.: Receiving a call from my family at the airport in Tuxtla Gtz. I was elated to get the call, but I could not understand all that was being said due to all the background noise.
Jn. 8:47
He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
C. Obey God
Jer. 42:6
Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.
III. Carefully Heed the Voice of the Lord.
James 1:25
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
IV. Correctly Claiming the Breakthrough (vs. 11)
David did not proclaim that he did this great feat in his own power. He recognized this victory as a real breakthrough. A place where God broke through a barrier that was holding back the advancement of the work of God.
God may do it with your hands, but never forget that it is by His power. Like a cloudburst from the skies, there is no stopping it.
Like the story of the paralytic in Mark 2, if he was going to get to Jesus, only a breakthrough would do, and his buddies broke through the roof to get him to Jesus.
There are time, like in David's case that the breakthrough come to you by the mercy and grace of God.
Other times, you have to strive and determinedly breakthrough the barrier by your own resolve, knowing that when you get to Jesus, you will have the victory that you have sought for.
V. Clean up the Battleground (vs. 12)
The enemy (Philistines) were thrust out in a great victory. In their haste, they left a number of their gods (idols) that they normally carried with them into battle. Now these could have just been left on the hills to deteriate or they could have been set in a trophy case up in Jerusalem. But I believe that David was inspired by the Holy Ghost to destroy them. He was not going to take a chance on some young soldier coming along and become inquisitive with these "gods". We need to do some good house cleaning and destroy some of the old gods that are still lying around on the battlefield of the Lord.
Don't be deceived to believe that you can have some skeletons in your closet and still expect God to bless you.
This is no guarantee that the devil will not come around again to challenge you. He will return again.
Just wait close to the mulberry trees. This is a type of waiting on the direction of the Holy Ghost. When you sense the stirring of the heavenly wind, you will know that it is the right time to go out and smite the enemy.
The Philistines are mentioned no less that 286 times in the Bible. They were a reoccuring enemy of the israelites. The devil will come back time and time again to make another attempt on your spiritual life. Let it be known that you can have repeated "Baalperazim" experiences and continue on from victory unto victory.
