“Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God (living in unbroken fellowship with him) in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:11; AMPC). Powerful words! Unbroken fellowship with God, not just in the “sweet by and by” but now, today! Romans chapter 6, verses 1-11 are talking about baptism. When we are baptized, we symbolically share the death of Jesus, we die to sin and we also share the resurrection of Jesus, living a new life with Him. Another aspect of unbroken fellowship with God is “abiding.” 1 John 3:6 tells us that, “No one who abides in Him (who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him – deliberately, knowingly and habitually) commits (practices) sin” (AMPC). In other words, if we are truly abiding in God, we will not deliberately sin, and when we do slip up, we can immediately confess our sins, knowing that God will forgive us right away and restore fellowship with Him (1 John 1:9). God is always with us, He never leaves us (Heb 13:5) but we need to stay connected to him through prayer, Bible reading and worship. As you know, if we want to have unbroken fellowship with God it’s not just a Sunday morning thing but constant communion throughout the day. I understand we have jobs to go to and stuff to do but we can still be conscious of God as we do these things. Increasing our fellowship with God doesn’t happen overnight, it develops over a lifetime. I’m reminded of Enoch who, “walked with God” (Gen5:22). That’s what I want, how about you?

How can anyone come close to adequately describing the character and nature of God? Let’s look at some scripture verses. “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome” (Deut 10:17a; NKJV). God is the beginning and the end (Rev 22:13), the creator of all things (Gen 1:1) and He knows when He will send Christ back to end the present age (Matt 24:36). God has unlimited power (Isa 55:11; Gen 18:14; Luke 1:37), He knows all things (1 John 3:20) and is present everywhere (Heb 4:13; Ps 139:7-10). He is our everlasting God; He never gets tired (Isa 40:28) and He never changes (Mal 3:6; James 1:17). God is light (1 John 1:5). There is no darkness in God and He doesn’t just love, He is love (1 John 4:16). “For the Lord our God is our sun and our shield” (Ps 84:11a; NLT). He is our rock or foundation, our power (2 Sam 22:32-33). God described Himself to Moses, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin” (Ex 34:6b-7a; NKJV). All God’s works are perfect; He is a God of justice, truth and faithfulness. He does no wrong; He walks in righteousness, a Holy God (Deut 32:4; Isa 57:15). We could write so much more but what we have written should leave us in awe of our mighty God. This is our God who chose to love each one of us and make us His children (1 John 3:1). Sit back and meditate on all of this for a while!

Simon Peter and some other fishermen were washing their nets when Jesus asked Peter to take the boat out from the shore a little so Jesus could preach to the people assembled on the shoreline. When He finished preaching, He told Peter to head out into the lake and throw in his net for a catch (Luke 5:1-4). Despite fishing all night with no results Peter replied: “at your word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:5b; NKJV). Now that’s obedience! It’s sometimes good to think, “how obedient are we to God?” Jesus told us that He only did, “what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19; NKJV) and He did not follow His own will but that of the Father (John 5:30b; NKJV). In fact, Jesus’ obedience to the Father extended to dying on a cross (Phil 2:8). Jesus, in addressing a large multitude of people, said, “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do the things I say?” (Luke 6:46; NKJV). Sadly, many church goers do not speak or act any differently from non-church goers. We are not to be men-pleasers bit God-pleasers, doing His will from our hearts (Eph 6:6). The apostle John wrote that we would be less than honest if we claimed an intimate relationship with God and yet did not walk in obedience to Him (1 John 2:3-6). To be part of God’s kingdom requires serious obedience (Matt 7:21). If we truly obey God’s word He comes and dwells with or makes His home with and in us (John 14:23). Let’s give Jesus the last word, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it”! (Luke 11:28; NKJV). I like that, how about you?

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One time when the Philistines were attacking King David, he asked God if he should fight them and if he would have the victory, to which God answered, “yes!” “So David and his troops went up to Baal-Perazim and defeated the philistines there. “God did it!” David exclaimed. “He used me to burst through my enemies like a raging flood!”” (1 Chron 14:11; NLT). The Hebrew word for “breakthrough” is “paras” and can also mean break open or burst out. I love the way David gives immediate glory to God but acknowledges that God used him to bring about this victory. We need to be co-labourers with God (1 Cor 3:9) and be prepared to do our part, with God’s help and direction. I also like the way David consulted God before doing anything at all. So often when we are faced with a challenge, we immediately want to go into action to solve the problem. However, if we seek God first, He can give us wisdom and a game plan which will be much more effective than our ideas.

In Micah 2:13 this same word, “paras” is used twice, “The Breaker (the Messiah) will go up before them. They will break through, pass in through the gate and go out through it” (AMPC). This verse points to Jesus, who is the called the “Breaker” and He is the one who brings about our breakthrough. If you are in need of a breakthrough today, talk to the Breaker and get His wisdom for your situation. He can show you how to deal with all the hindrances and break out into victory!