Pressing in for breakthrough

Through my travels this summer is has become evident to me how much the devil likes to try to distract us from what we are supposed to do. At the beginning of this month, poison oak on my leg caused swelling that led to stiffness and serious pain whenever I stood up. This of course was while I was on a Firestorm. I didn't want to do a thing other than rest, but I pressed in through the pain and wound up experiencing healing on the trip after I stepped out in ministry in words of knowledge and healing while I needed healing myself.

This weekend I was on another Firestorm and felt very weak due to pain in my stomach. Determined to not let the devil keep me from ministering, I went out on outreach and prayed for a woman who was paralyzed due to a stroke, her husband who was mostly deaf, and another man with no feeling below his knees. Then, that evening I led worship at the service, something I have never done before. After worship started I no longer noticed the pain or any weakness in my body. One person on our team commented that the worship was highly anointed and that she had never been that drunk in the Spirit during worship.

Oftentimes our breakthrough is just on the other side of the hurdles that stand in front of us. After experiencing somewhat of a spiritual low point during parts of February and March, I pressed in hard for the last two months of school. Right after graduation, my sensitivity to the Spirit increased dramatically. Starting with a trip to a Todd Bentley conference I noticed an increase in people getting healed and my accuracy in words of knowledge. With each successive trip, there has been an increase.

In the past I had been quick to become content with the measure of breakthrough that I received. This summer I have realized that being content is foolish. I am extremely thankful for the measure God has given me, but there are people who are still being oppressed by the devil and need to be healed. That is why I am continuing to go after more. I am taking the opportunities that God is bringing me and not allowing myself to become complacent like I did back in February when I had ramped myself up to a big trip and then came back mildly discouraged at the outcome. When we see results that we don't like, that is the time to press in for more, not the time to give up and just hope that things turn out different next time.

When a baseball player who is very serious about his game returns to the dugout after an at-bat he will talk to the hitting coach regardless of whether he struck out or hit a homerun. Why? He could have done something wrong on the homerun and just gotten lucky or he could have done the right thing when he struck out but just missed. Likewise, if we really want to grow in our ability to co-labor with God and minister to others it is imperative that we ask the Holy Spirit for advice whether the person we prayed for died of cancer or was raised from the dead. I think God is pleased with us when we ask Him questions even after victories. It shows our hunger for more and it shows that we know who the Healer is. God has a good track-record of exalting those who humble themselves and ask for help even when things are going well.