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DEVOTIONAL

Stand Up!

Posted on February 15, 2007

‘The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?’ – Joshua 7:10

It was a time for action and Joshua just kept praying. It was time for a breakthrough and Joshua needed to deploy the direction and instruction that the Lord had already imparted to Him. Joshua did not need to employ a geographical shift, he needed to deploy a mind shift.

I have often said that the devil is not concerned with driving you backward as much as he is with containing you where you are and keeping you from getting to where God wants to take you. “Containment” by definition is keeping something or someone within limits by restraining, controlling, checking, or halting. This is precisely the devil’s plan for our lives in regards to our faith, freedom in Christ and stepping up and into new realms of the Spirit. Containment is not limited to the spiritual areas of life. It also attacks your mind. You may be contained about what you think about yourself, your family, and other people. Or you may be contained in the material realm by your attitude and practices regarding money and possessions. Fear is also a cause of containment and so are unresolved emotional hurts.

In these last days God is calling us to be “apostolic people.” God always desires to do a new thing and He will use apostolic people to do it. Apostolic people have the strength and mentality of a pioneer and have the ability to persevere in the face of opposition. God has granted you a “breakthrough anointing.” The word “breakthrough” is defined as an act or instance of breaking through an obstruction; an offensive thrust that penetrates and carries beyond a defensive line in warfare.

As pioneers entrusted with God’s authority, we have the ability to break through fear, doubt, lack of resources and other obstacles that keep us from advancing. The only thing that will limit us from advancing as individuals and as a church is the comfort of containment and the fear of change. We must be risk-takers if we wish to be historymakers. We must foster an atmosphere in our churches where people feel free to risk in their gifting because they know they are free to fail. If people are not free to fail then creativity is minimized while an attitude of cautiousness is maximized. This overly cautious climate will stifle the entrepreneurial spirit and ministries will become stale and sterile.

Breakout character on the other hand includes a hunger for God, a teachable spirit, freedom from shame, and ongoing transformation through God’s intervention. Joshua was a man of God but he needed to be reminded by God that sometimes we need to move out and posses the breakthrough here on earth that God has already provided in heaven.

I want to urge all of us to be praying into this word and see where God would want to have a break through in our lives. We need only to trust Him and step up and out in faith no matter how uncomfortable or unstable it may seem in the natural. If He is blowing the trumpet we can be assured that His timing to lead us forward is trustworthy and precise.

Rick D’Orazio
Conference Pastor

 

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