09 March 2012

Got Breakthrough?

"If you need personal breakthrough, try praying for someone else's breakthrough. Job 42:10: And the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends." -Chris Gore

From what I find in the scriptures, Jesus spent a lot more time helping others with breakthrough than he did off praying for himself. The time just before he was arrested to be crucified was a notable exception, but even there Jesus refused to focus on himself as we often tend to. Examples of this during the last day of his life include the healing the servant's ear, making sure Mary and John took each other as family, and forgiving the thief on the cross. (The effort to talk on the cross must have been massive and brutal, yet he expended that effort for others.)

As a rule, whatever I need, if I find someone to bestow that on, I get it by the truckload. Feeling left out? Include someone. Unloved? Love someone. Sad? Go make someone happy. Need healing? Go heal someone. I have found (and Scripture backs me up) that the more I pour out, the more I'm filled up. If I focus on God and others, I am taken care of. If I focus on me, I'm still cared for, but because my focus is wrong, I don't even notice. He could drop a breakthrough in my lap, and I usually wouldn't recognize it.

Don't do this out of principle or just to get what you want (or even need). Do it for love! You can't go wrong following the two greatest commandments:

"...The Lord our God is one Lord. Love the Lord your God with every particle of your being, physical and otherwise. The second one is just like that: Love yourself, and everyone else the same way." (Mk 2/29b-31a, Miles' Modern Version)

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the reminder. It can be very challenging to remember this when it seems like you're getting hit from every side. It is, nonetheless, true. :)

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