Counterfeit Breakthrough

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. (2Corinthians 11: 13 – 13)

Remember Jesus teaching about a farmer?

There was this farmer who sowed good seed. Then as they were asleep an enemy sowed tares. Who determined that the wrong seed had been sown? Of course the ones who had sowed the good seed.

We talk, proclaim, confess and fast for breakthrough. We are always being taught to expect breakthrough in almost every Christian gathering we attend these days.

Does it occur to us that the enemy of our souls knows what we are expecting? And could he like the enemy in the parable present us with a counterfeit breakthrough? Could he sow fake breakthroughs in our expectant lives?

We could then be giving testimonies of breakthroughs when all we have are tares. Our expectancy overrode our spiritual alertness.

How does a breakthrough kill prayer? How does breakthrough kill our witness? How does breakthrough kill ministry?

Growth from one degree of glory to another does not mean from riding a bike to driving a car. It simply means from one degree of spiritual potency to a higher or better one. It means from a place of ministry effectiveness to a better one.

You see, for the Christian, if it is not unto God it must be against God.

You have prayed and fasted for a dream job. Why is it that since you got it you have been unable to go to church? How come you support ministry less, if any, than the small job you were praying out of? Why do you not have enough time for private devotion? How come you have almost stopped reading the Bible and praying?

Will you be offended when I call it a counterfeit breakthrough?

You prayed for a breakthrough in your business and got it. Why is it that most of your meetings are in bars at night when you should be with your children? Why are you most prominent partners comfortable with dirty language and blasphemy even as they give you those millions? Why is it that you are now being tempted to experiment with a sip of liquor? Why has your spouse all of a sudden become so bad you wonder why you married them? And why do your children now have an absent parent?

Could that be a counterfeit breakthrough?

You got the girl or boy of your dreams after praying for a long time. Why do they always want to bring you temptations? Why do they want you to go with them to suspect places? Why do they have friends who do not share your values? Why do their conversations disturb you so? Why has prayer for guidance become so difficult?

Could it be that your answer to prayer was a counterfeit?

You got a child after praying for years. Why does that child seem to be taking you farther from the Lord? Why has this child brought all this tension in your marriage? Why is your marriage breaking because of this child?

Could it be a counterfeit breakthrough?

You prayed fervently for a car and got it. Do you wonder why you are rarely at home with your family because it is now safe to arrive after midnight? Why are you getting estranged from your wife and children yet you were praying for the car to save you commuting time to spend with your family. Why is it difficult to use the car with your family because you are too tired when they want to go out?

Could it be a counterfeit breakthrough?

You prayed for ministry expansion. And a big church employed you. Why can’t you hear God better than before you got there? Why can’t you share the messages God is giving you? Why do you have to preach messages you are given? Why are you finding prayer so hard? And why are you getting frustrated even with all those perks they are giving you?

Could that door have been opened by another than the one with the key of David?

I can share enough scenarios. I know you can relate to these or even your own experience. Let me give a verse to debunk the modern ministerial myth that success is equal to acquisitions and positions.

Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife. (Proverbs 17:1)

I think you can see the contrast here. But notice that the house with everything is in the worship mode (sacrifices). They have meat, lots of food, but they do not have peace. Or they are not experiencing contentment. They could be equated to members of a mega church with amazing ‘worship’ yet that worship leaves them empty as it does not transform anything beyond itself. One leaves that worship and goes back to their depression, their sinful lifestyle, their corruption, their hate, their need. In short, that worship feeds on itself.

The other is a small church with ‘poor’ people. They do not even know what worship is. They pray, sing off key without instruments, give unending testimonies and have a preacher who thinks Hezekiah is a book of the Bible. But none goes back home the same.

The one who had a spat with his children has mature members going to reconcile them. The one who has run out of food has someone with slightly more to give (not sell) him some. The one who was feeling neglected has the church taking a fellowship to his house and the church making a resolution to have someone daily visiting him. In short they belonged to each other at all times.

Now, if you had prayed for a breakthrough, which church would have represented your breakthrough? What about the breakthrough you are presently experiencing?

We need to know God beyond being our provider. We must have Him as our Father and guide before seeking to have Him as a way breaker. We must have Him as our Lord before seeking to have Him as our source of sustenance.

Why do I say so? A father has a relationship with his children. He therefore provides in the context of that relationship. That is why we have children being disinherited or disowned. They had wanted their father only for what he could offer. They therefore lost the plot as a father is much more than that. It is a relationship that opens the door to the inheritance.

Look at Israel for instance. They had been offered the Promised Land. And they really longed for it, so much that they were always complaining about the journey.

Yet the journey was part of that promise, just as slavery in Egypt had been.

We therefore see a whole generation losing out on the Promised Land due to their dissatisfaction with the journey. They had just wanted the land, without any issues. And they lost both.

A Lord has a relationship with his servants. And it is a relationship built by obedience to his orders. An obedient servant can access anything the master has because there is no doubt at all about his loyalty.

Remember Abraham concluding that his slave will be his heir as God’s promise had seemed impossible? Remember the same servant being tasked with looking for a wife for Isaac? And he is the one who chose what to take and how he will accomplish the task. Everything Abraham had was in his hands. That was simply because his submission to his master was not in question.

A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren. (Proverbs 17:2)

How do you know that your breakthrough has come?

Simply look at your relationship with God. How is your Quiet Time? How is your prayer time? How is your witness? How is your scripture intake?

These are indicators of the health of your relationship with God. You can’t get much from Him if you are not on talking terms.

It goes without say that if those indicators are unsatisfactory; any breakthrough you may experience is suspect. Go back to that relationship to have God Himself tell you whether it was from Him or otherwise.

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22)

A blessing from God expands our ministry, our outreach, our prayer. It is counterfeit if it starts limiting them.

A lot of ministry breakthrough falls in that trap. In the zeal to maximize in the opening, many have killed the ministries that necessitated that breakthrough in the first place. In the desire and pursuit to remove or even reduce the hindrances that were limiting the ministry they killed the ministry.

For example, you were very deep in hospitality but your small house was severely limiting your overflow. You pray and are ‘given’ a huge house. But it is in a place that is totally inaccessible to your target community for one or the other reason.

Or maybe you ministered deep in the slums, places that limited your movement and meant that you ministered to too few people yet you had capacity to reach several times more. You pray for a vehicle to ease that ministry. Then you get these very expensive off roaders that will point you out as the system that has deprived them of decency. You realize that you have to look for somewhere else to minister. The vehicle might be a fuel guzzler that will severely limit your ministry as vast amounts of money must be required to run it. Conversely you might get one that is a mechanical nightmare that will need vast amounts of time and money to keep it running.

Maybe you were passionate for missions and was always enroute to one or the other. Then a church sees that passion and employs you as a missions’ pastor, making you a missions’ executive who might never go for another mission.

The long and short of what I am saying is the question, how is your relationship with God? Does He speak to you? Do you know what He is about in your life? And can you clearly know where any breakthrough is coming from?

Lack of that will land you in counterfeit breakthrough after another.

Let the whole Bible describe your breakthrough and not the one verse or two that spiritual conman always gives you. And I am saying conman because God has never said He will use people to speak to you. He seeks to connect with you at all times. Otherwise tell me this. Why does this verse appear in the Bible?

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27)

And it is not the only one that says it.