Our God is Master of the Breakouts

In 1 Chronicles 14, we read:

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went out to meet them…

… David inquired of God: “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?”

The Lord answered him, “Go, I will deliver them into your hands.”

So David and his men went up to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, “As waters break out, God has broken out against my enemies by my hand.”

So that place was called Baal Perazim.  (1 Chronicles 14:8-11) (NIV)

 

So, David was made king over Israel, and the first people to take notice were his greatest enemies, the Philistines.  And the Philistines, of course, wanted to challenge David’s authority.  

They wanted to knock him off the throne as quickly as possible.  They had a bad feeling about David, that if they didn’t stop him quickly, he would wreak havoc on them. So as soon as David became king, the Philistines came out in full force against him. 

 

What’s that got to do with us?  Part of our blessing as Christians is that we rule, not over other people, but over the demonic realm.  Jesus says 

 

“I have given you authority to … overcome … all the power of the enemy.”  (Luke 10:19) (NIV)

 

And in His Name we will drive out demons (Mark 16:17) (NIV).  As Christians, we are rulers over the demonic realm.  And just like the Philistines sent out their army in full force against David, the new king, guess who’s going to challenge you? The devil, of course – your greatest enemy.

 

In our story from 1 Chronicles, God had told David to go attack the army of the Philistines.  David did as God said, and he won the battle.  And then David said something very interesting:

“As waters break out, God has broken out against my enemies by my hand.”  (1 Chronicles 14:11) (NIV)

 

I once visited a waterfall, and at the very top, I noticed a rock wall.  In the middle of the rock wall, there is an opening where the water pours through.  I imagine that originally there must have been a river high up on the mountain top, and the water pressed against that part of the rock wall until eventually the water burst through. The water broke through the rock wall.

 

I think this is exactly what David is saying.  “the enemy put up this invisible rock wall – a prison – around me.  I was totally surrounded and outnumbered.  It was hopeless.  There was no way out.  But Praise God!  Just like water breaks out through walls made of rock, my God broke me out of my prison!” 

David called the place “baal perazim.”  In Hebrew, that means literally “master of the break outs!”  (Strong 1983)

  

Our God – Jesus Christ – is the Master of the break outs!

 

Hallelujah!!  When the devil puts you in an invisible prison, when everything seems hopeless and dark and those walls start closing in on you and you feel that you will be crushed by them you just remember one thing!!! 

 

Your Jesus is the Master of the break outs!

 

Acts 16 tells the story of how Paul and Silas were stripped, beaten, flogged, and thrown into the inner cell of a prison.  Their feet were locked in stocks.  But, they must have known what David knew – that our God is the Master of the break outs, because they started praising God: 

 

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. (Acts 16:25,26) (NIV)

There was a violent earthquake, the prison doors broke open, and the chains and stocks of every prisoner broke off, because Jesus Christ is the Master of break outs!

When the prison walls close in on you, and you feel hopeless and defeated, don’t lay down and curl up in a ball.  Start praising Jesus that He will break you out!  That’s called faith.  Nothing pleases God except faith. 

 

In your life you will go through hard times; we all do.  The devil tries his best to bring Christians down.  But you have a very strong weapon – your faith.  Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

 

You have so many promises of victory.  Promises are like little seeds.  You can plant a seed in the dirt but it won’t sprout unless you water it.  And you can read the promises of God but they won’t manifest in your life if you don’t water them.  How do you water them? And how do you cause the River to rise up and break through your invisible prison made of thick rock walls?

 

You Praise Jesus!!

 

Instead of focusing on the problems, the hard rock walls, praise Jesus – the Master of the break outs!!

 

 

 

Reference:

 

 

 

Strong, James. Strongs Exhaustive Concordance: Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order, Together with Dictionaries of the Hebrew and Greek Words of the Original, with References to the English Words. Baker Book House, 1983.

 

 

 

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.  Used by permission of Zondervan.  All rights reserved worldwide.www.zondervan.com.  The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

 

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.