3 Signs God Is Preparing You for a Breakthrough

John 15:1-5

Breakthroughs can come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes we need to overcome a harmful sin habit. At other times we need help dealing with some insecurities or identity issues. And other points we are in need of a relationship breakthrough where we finally meet the one God has for us.

In any case, if you need a breakthrough in some area of your life, there will always come a season of preparation before the victory. So here are 3 signs God might be preparing you for a major breakthrough that could be right around the corner.

1. If God Is Removing Harmful People, Places, and Things from Your Life, This Could Be in Preparation for a Breakthrough

God doesn’t build on uneven ground. God doesn’t try to grow seeds in soil that is not good. And before God brings you into his presence, he will first cleanse you from all sin. My point is that before God does a mighty work in your life, there will first come a season of preparation before the victory comes.

Sometimes before God will bless you with a breakthrough, he will first remove the people, places, and things in your life that are causing damage to your heart. If God blessed us before he prepared us, oftentimes we would miss the blessing of misuse it once we got it. Notice what Jesus said in John 15:1-5. It states:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. . . . I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Notice in John 15:2 Jesus said that even when you are bearing fruit for God, he will cause you to grow even more fruit for him by pruning you. This is a great example of how God often has to take us through a painful season of preparation before he can produce even more fruit in our lives. To prune means to cut away the excess so even more can be produced in your life.

If God is taking away the people, places, and things in your life that are hindering your growth, this pruning process can be very hard and painful. Just know that this is in preparation for your breakthrough.

2. If God Is Taking You Through a Season of Repentance and Healing, This Could Be in Preparation for a Major Breakthrough

Sometimes there are external barriers in our lives that are blocking God’s blessings. At other times, however, it is not the people, places, or things in our lives that are hindering our growth. Sometimes there are things within our own selves that are blocking God’s blessings.

When there is a character issues or a wound deep within us that is keeping us from living out our full potential as new creations in Christ, God will take us through a season of repentance and healing in preparation for a breakthrough. As Hebrews 12:5-6 (NIV) states:

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

So if you sense the Holy Spirit tugging on your heart and pointing out an area in you that you know you need to improve through God’s grace, don’t ignore God’s loving discipline. For as Hebrews 12:11 also states, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” In other words, before your breakthrough God will often prepare you through his loving discipline.

3. If God Is Renewing Your Passion for Studying the Word and Spending Time in Prayer, This Could Be a Sign He Is Preparing You for a Breakthrough in Life

God brings growth in many wonderful ways. Sometimes it’s through a YouTube video. Sometimes it’s through a great Christian book. At other times a song might come on at just the right time that God uses to comfort you.

But throughout church history, there are a few staples that have always been used by God and will continue to always be used by God. Two of these staples are studying the word of God and personal prayer time. As Psalm 119:9-16 states:

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!  I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. . . I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”

Notice that there is a prayerfulness combined with an intellectual understanding of God’s word. We need both to keep growing in the Lord. We need biblical truth and wisdom to lead us down God’s true path for our life. There really is one way and we must know God’s objective Scriptures so we are not led away by our feelings, desires, and the world’s lies. However, understanding is not enough. We need to personally connect with God’s presence as well. We need to sense the Holy Spirit truly leading us into God’s will for our lives.

So if you sense that God is renewing your passion for studying his word and pursuing him in prayer, this is a good sign that God is actually preparing you for a major breakthrough in life.