The Secret To Receiving Your Breakthrough

“The condition for obtaining God’s full blessing is absolute surrender to Him”~ Andrew Murray

Trusting God for a breakthrough can be extremely challenging. Some of us have been waiting a long time for the Lord to intervene on our behalf and break into our circumstances, but to no avail. The secret to receiving your breakthrough, however, is actually pretty simple-it’s absolute surrender to God. This means trusting Him 100% with the outcome.

Trusting God for a breakthrough can be extremely challenging.

I’ve been praying fervently for something specific for over eleven years! I have contended with God day and night, for a breakthrough. Crying out to Him, like the Psalmist in Psalm 13, “O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?” (Psalm 13:1). Have you ever felt like this? Each year seems to get more challenging to keep believing that the Lord really is listening. We begin to doubt and we wonder, will He ever make a pathway through the wilderness and refresh me (Isaiah 43:19-20)? Will I ever have a breakthrough in this area?

This year I told Him, “God, I can’t go through another year as weary as I am. I need you to breakthrough for me.”

Then I began to wonder-is it possible that we are the hindrance to receiving our breakthrough? Doesn’t God want us to meet Him in the middle? After all, we are in a “partnership” with Him. He will do His part, but He needs us to do ours. It occurred to me that when we hold on tightly to our desires, we are going against everything the Lord wants from us. He ultimately wants us to love Him above all things and one way we do this is to submit our will to His. Yet, letting go of our desires into the Lord’s hands is no easy task.

Are you completely and absolutely surrendered to whatever outcome God has planned for you?

Have you laid down your prayer request at His feet, and made a conscious decision to leave it there with Him, trusting Him one hundred percent with the outcome (Proverbs 3:5-6)? When we aren’t willing to live like this, our faith and hope get depleted, and we become weary.

Surrendering completely to the Lord is not easy. By nature we tend to be people that want to be in control, and we get very upset when things don’t go the way we want them to. Below are 5 steps to help you to surrender completely to God. Keep in mind, God’s ways are higher than our ways, and it’s never a guarantee that you will get your heart’s desire. Again I say, we must learn to lay the outcome with the Lord, loving Him more than we love our own life (Mark 12:30).

1. Accept your vulnerability

First of all, we must die to our fleshly desires (Galatians 2:20). There’s a process to reaching a point of full acceptance of where God has you planted. Admitting your powerlessness over your circumstances can be painful. For example, it hurts deeply when God doesn’t bless a young couple with a baby. How do we grasp this when the Bible says “Be fruitful and multiply”?

To fully rely on a God that sometimes seems far away takes courage. You are a human being with strong emotions. Allow yourself to grieve the circumstance you find yourself in. Make it a goal to grasp and accept your vulnerability.

2. Seek God for help

Part of admitting you don’t have control over your life, is embracing the fact that the Lord does. As a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives inside you. Ask Him to fill you afresh with the Holy Spirit’s power and love. Let Him know that you cannot do this, but you trust Him. Hold on to His promise in Jeremiah 32:17 that says, ““O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!”

God sees you, knows you and loves you. Ask Him to fill you afresh today with His spirit, and continue to trust in His perfect plan for you.

3. Stop overthinking

When I’m feeling overwhelmed and hopeless, because I see no progress, it’s because I am overthinking about my situation. There’s a false sense of control when I am obsessing about my situation. On the other hand, when I’m at peace about where God has me, it’s because I’m absolutely submitted and surrendered to His leadership. All of this is part of the spiritual battle we are in constantly. Remember, the battle is always between our flesh and the Spirit of God. The mind is the battlefield. Train yourself to be aware of your thoughts and to control them. And remember the battle belongs to the Lord (2 Chronicles 2:15). Give all your burdens to Him. Like literally hand them over to your loving Father in heaven.

4. Where is your focus?

Along with overthinking, it’s important to re-direct your thoughts. Are you focused on the Lord and His goodness, or are you consumed with the breakthrough that you want? Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both inclination and character], Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].” One way to take refuge in God, and to put all your faith and confidence in His good plans for you and your loved ones, is to cultivate deep intimacy with Jesus.

As you wait on your breakthrough, stay focused on God’s character more than on your prayer needs.

5. Fasting

I’m not talking about a food fast here (although that’s always a good idea too). I’m suggesting a fast from thinking about your situation. For example, if you are a single person and have been wanting desperately for God to bring you a spouse, decide to fast from thoughts of being married. Enjoy the moment you’re in. Cherish your singleness and where the Lord has you. Get outside and smell the roses and create a life you love.

God is the Creator, but you have the ability to enrich the life He’s given you.

Many years ago, I interviewed a young woman who even fasted from dating for a year. Fasting, among other benefits, has a cleansing effect on our minds, body and spirit. The idea of fasting is to remind ourselves of our frailty and need for a savior. Fasting often brings a shift and/or a breakthrough in your circumstances.

I hope these 5 steps will help you to find freedom in your desire for the breakthrough you want. In my walk with the Lord, I’ve seen that when I sincerely surrender my heart’s desire to God, He blesses in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I wonder if He just wants to know that we genuinely love Him more than we love getting what we want. Think of Abraham and how he sacrificed his only son, Isaac, at the altar (Genesis 22:1-19). In Genesis 22:1, it says “God tested Abraham’s faith.”

Our surrender to God has to be authentic. We can’t fake God out. He sees our heart and knows our motives.

Surrendering to our Creator is actually a wise thing to do. After all, who can direct our lives better than the God of the universe? He is the one that created us and knows us better than we know ourselves. He is the only one that knows what’s best for us. Accepting this fact is what true surrender means.

Our breakthrough is more likely to come from a heart that is willing to say as Jesus did, “not my will Lord, but Yours be done. My desire is to live a life that pleases You. I want only what You want. Lead me Holy Spirit. I trust You.”

Yet, the reality is, God is a mystery, and there are many things about Him that we will not understand this side of heaven. As you wait on a breakthrough, take heart and hold on to God’s promise that you will see the His goodness while you still live in this world (Psalm 27:13).

I end with a beautiful quote by Corrie Ten Boom: “Surrender to the Lord is not a tremendous sacrifice, not an agonizing performance. It is the most sensible thing you can do.”

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him...” ~ Psalm 37:7 (NKJV)