It's Time to Pursue, Overtake, and Recover All!
I know so many people who are waiting for their breakthroughs. There has been a deep discouragement and frustration that is trying to take root in the hearts of many, but the season has SHIFTED and we need to SHIFT with it.
There may be many reasons why breakthrough has not happened, but a NEW GRACE to overcome and obtain breakthrough is being released. The enemy is continuing his smoke and mirrors tactics, but don't listen to his lies. You are about to break through!
I saw a vision in worship yesterday of the large paper banners that are hung on the goal posts before a football game begins. The vision I saw was of the players on the team bursting through the paper banner to the cheering of the crowd. The banner looked like a "wall" and those who broke through could not see what was on the other side. But, the truth was the barrier or wall was paper thin and EASY to break through! I felt like God was saying that we will be surprised at how easily many of our breakthroughs will occur. All along the enemy has lied and used deception to cause us to believe that the wall is just too thick, or the barrier too high. One of his favorite words is "impossible", but that word is NOT in God's vocabulary! The walls and barriers that have kept you out of breakthrough are going to begin to fall down as you move forward in faith and obedience to the voice of God.
Recently, the Lord reminded me of a prophetic word a friend gave to me through another friend in 2016 when I was in an intense season of illness. My friend relayed to me, "Tell her she will 'Pursue, Overtake, and Recover All!!'". I could hardly wait to look up this scripture found in I Sam. 30:8, and these words along with the story surrounding them, became a focal point of meditation and strength for many months.
In this familiar story of I Sam 30, David and his mighty men had lost everything. Their wives and children were taken and their city burned by the Amalekites. To make matters worse, David's own men begin to turn against him and talked of stoning him. Then, it says in I Sam. 30:6b," But, David found strength in the Lord his God." This one phrase is like a hinge that turns the entire story in a different direction.
As David found strength in the Lord, I believe he must have done two things. First, I believe he worshipped God. David's history with God had taught him that worship always shifts our perspective to where it should be. Many times we go to God and lament our heartache and need for breakthrough, but do we take the time to worship, giving God our love, devotion, and honor? Do we call to remembrance who He is, our Sovereign King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, the One who defeated death and the grave? I believe David did, and it was the very source of his strength.
The second thing I believe David did as he found strength in the Lord was to recall who he was in relationship to His God. He must have remembered the faithfulness of God to him over and over as well as the prophetic words and destiny spoken over his life. He must have remembered how as a young boy he had been summoned from tending the sheep, only to be anointed as the next king. Or, he may have remembered how God positioned him strategically in the house of Saul, and how God protected him time and time again when Saul sought to take his life.
It was only after David found his strength in God that he then called for the ephod. The ephod was the priestly garment that the priest wore in order to meet with the Lord and inquire of Him. David's heart had been prepared to hear from God's perspective by preparing and strengthening himself in God's presence.
David then inquired of the Lord, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?" And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” I Sam. 30:8.
Friends, I feel so strongly that this is a now word for the season we are in! Many have been through past seasons where you have experienced much loss and much has been stolen from you. This is a word for you! It is time to find your strength in the Lord, exalting Him for who He is, and it is time to remember who you are to Him and in Him. This place of worship may be the "hinge" that turns your life in a new direction. This is the place where war room strategies and battle plans are given to you. Many will receive here their plans to pursue, overtake, and recover all.
After David executed the plans that God gave to him, we find this account in I Sam. 30:18-20,
"David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, "This is David's plunder."
God has plunder for you from the battles you have faced! That which has been stolen from you He wants to restore, and then some! The things that the enemy has meant for evil, God will turn for good. I encourage you to step into the stream of grace being released from Heaven for breakthrough. Step into the place of worship, so you can see things more clearly from God's perspective and in that place receive your battle plans and strategies for breakthrough. I believe it is His desire that you PURSUE, OVERTAKE, and RECOVER ALL as keys of breakthrough flow from His heart to yours!
It is a season of victory, vindication, and JOY, as God uses you to inflict vengeance on the evil one. It is time for the Bridal Army to awaken and rise up to her full stature as she shakes off the distractions, pain, and loss of the former season. God has plunder for his Bridal Army to seize as Heaven's perspective flows freely to her worshipping heart.
"For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them--this is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the Lord." Psalm 149:4-9
