The Roaring 2020s in the life of believers will be marked by breakthroughs and brokenness before God. This is not a good news/bad news scenario.

The outcome of both our miraculous breakthroughs and our painful brokenness will be the same: the voice of the Holy Spirit roaring through mighty men and women of faith who have been transformed by the grace of God. If we want to experience all God has for our lives, if we profess to trust the Father's good, good heart toward us, we must be willing to accept not only the breakthroughs He gives us but also the opportunities that issue us the invitation to engage with our brokenness and allow Him to bring healing.

I have found that leaders love to speak about breakthroughs. I cannot imagine the number of books that have been written and the number of messages that have been preached on breakthroughs, but "brokenness" is a word people don't tend to get as excited about. I think the reason is that it reminds us of failure and shortcomings. Talking about brokenness may not get you more likes on Instagram—can you imagine #YouCanBeBrokenToo! trending as a popular hashtag?—but it is part of the human experience.

Brokenness is a crucial aspect of our walk with the Lord. The Word of God is filled with broken, hurting people who win glorious victories. The common thread in each of their stories is that brokenness always comes before the breakthrough.

My life and experience have shown the same to be true. As I write this, I'm on a plane flying toward Moscow, Russia. Having a bird's-eye view of the land has a way of giving a person some extra perspective on the landscape of their own life. I can confidently say that every supernatural visitation and miracle I have witnessed or participated in and every time in my life when God showed up and demonstrated His extravagant love, generosity and power was during a time of brokenness. Zero exceptions.

I ask you to consider with me that God is not in the fixer-upper business, nor is it in His nature to wound us. God doesn't break things; we do. We form habits that become routines, which eventually break because we decide they no longer require faith. We make poor choices that end up on wrong roads or dead-end streets. Sometimes we are the victim of another person's brokenness, and their wound leaves us bleeding and limping.

Whatever the cause, God is the Creator of the universe, and He makes all things new. He won't Band-Aid our broken arm or duct-tape a lost limb back into our body. He takes our brokenness and restores us completely, not to the way we were but better—to the way we were made to be. In His hands, brokenness becomes beauty and joy.

Now, at the start of this new year and decade, as always, we are faced with two choices: We can turn to God and His Word, listening for His still, small voice and allowing it to grow within us and rise into a roar of change and breakthrough. Or we can harden our hearts, close our ears, shut our eyes and absurdly blame our failure on modern society, or something else unrelated.

I pray you have the courage to choose the former. If you do, I invite you to join me by spending the beginning of this year soaking in His presence and His Word.

Over the next 10 years, we will see and hear the voice of God roar from transformed lives as they worship the Lamb who was broken for our breakthrough. Do not fear your life being among that number. Rejoice instead, knowing your restoration is on the horizon!

You're beautiful. I see Jesus in you!

Have a great week!

Mikel French has challenged spiritual awakening all across America, where many celebrations extended into multiple weeks, and has conducted celebrations in France, Sweden, Russia, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Germany, South Africa, Malawi, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Haiti, Japan, Singapore, India and Thailand. He conducted an outreach celebration in Manila, Philippines, reaching 200,000 teenagers with the book of hope. Through the generous support of partners, he has presented the message of Jesus Christ to millions of people in the nation of Russia through televised citywide soul-winning celebrations. Mikel considers it an honor to assist in conducting the annual pastor's conference, where thousands of pastors from Russia's 11 time zones come for training, teaching and equipping. Mikel and his wife, Marsha, reside in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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