The Right Break Doesn't Break You. It Makes You.
The world has a saying for every risk we take: make or break. Go all in, and it's either going to make you or it's going to break you. At Axess Church we value risk-taking; it's the engine that builds our faith. But Scripture doesn't give us a make-or-break promise. It gives us a different one: if you break away, I will make something new of you. The break comes before what God makes in its place.
That's why I'm starting this series with one of my favorite passages, Genesis 12:1–3. "Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.'"
Notice what God repeats. After asking Abram to break from his country, his kindred and his father's house, God says twice, "I will make." Break from your nation so I can make a great nation out of you. Here's the truth of this story: the right break doesn't break you. It makes you. The key word is right: the break God calls you to make.
I've felt the fear that comes with it: is God really going to come through? But when we refuse to make the breaks God is asking for, we limit what He's able to do in our lives. Jesus, in His own hometown, couldn't do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Not none, but not all He wanted to. The same is true for us. What God wants to do in your life comes after you make that break.
Why did God tell Abram to go? It wasn't just a test. God was calling Abram out of an idolatrous system. In Genesis 11, Abram's father, Terah, moved the family from Ur of the Chaldeans toward Canaan, but settled halfway, in Haran. Archaeology confirms that both Ur and Haran hosted worship of a moon god named Sin. I wonder (and it's only conjecture) whether God called Terah first, and Terah stopped in Haran because it was familiar. What we do know is that Abram's family worshiped the moon god.
Why not just use Abram in Haran? Because that culture was polytheistic. You got your needs met from a panel of gods: one for fertility, one for the harvest, one for long life. Adding Yahweh would have been easy. But God doesn't compete with other gods. He isn't on the same tier. He was telling Abram, "If I don't pull you out of this system, you're going to add me instead of subtracting everything else."
Break #1: Break from every competing allegiance and say yes to following Yahweh. Many of you made this break when you called Jesus Lord; there's no such thing as a Christian who hasn't made it. But we're still tempted with a "Jesus plus" mentality. Jesus plus New Age practices. Jesus plus manifesting when God isn't moving fast enough. Jesus on Sunday plus fear of man at work. That's the same polytheism Abram was pulled out of. Mixture is pagan. If you have a plus sign after Jesus, you've stepped into idolatry.
Make this break daily, and you get single-mindedness. The first thing Abram did when God appeared to him in Canaan was build an altar. Jesus said you cannot serve both God and money. When God is the only God of your heart, the blessing that comes with it is a single mind.
Break #2: Break from beliefs you've inherited but never tested against the Scriptures. Abram left Haran, but what he'd been taught didn't vanish the moment he crossed into Canaan. After you come to Christ, you still wrestle with old things. The fight is different because the Spirit fights with you, but your mind still has to be renewed.
Abram didn't know he was in an idolatrous culture. To him, it was normal. You often don't know the lies you've believed until the truth comes into your life. We all have inherited beliefs, some under the banner of being "biblical," some from family and teachers. Just because Uncle Bob and Granny Mae said it all the time doesn't make it biblical. Just because it was repeated doesn't make it reliable.
Here's one I heard my whole life: if it's God's will, you'll have peace about it. I believed that until I read about Jesus before the cross. He was under such pressure that He sweat blood, and He asked the Father if there was another way. Then He said, "Not my will, but yours be done." In my own life, when something is God's will, my flesh often wants anything but. Testing that saying against Scripture reshaped how I discern God's will.
So test everything you've heard and everything you hear, including what I say from the pulpit and every prophetic word. When we do this, God builds a biblical worldview in us that lets us do what Romans 12:2 describes: test and approve what God's will is.
Break #3: Break from cultural shortcuts that replace trust in God. Abram and Sarai carried infertility into Canaan along with the promise. About 15 years in, Sarai told Abram to have a child with her servant Hagar. That was the culturally acceptable thing to do. Ishmael was born. But God said the promise would come through Sarah. When Isaac finally arrived, Ishmael mocked him. Anything born of the flesh will always be at war with what is born of the Spirit.
We do the same today. Testing a relationship to the fullest before marriage is a cultural shortcut. So is manifesting: I don't want to wait on God, so I'll take matters into my own hands. So is believing everything you see on social media without doing the work to confirm it.
When we break from cultural shortcuts, we're left with the promise of Proverbs 10:22: "The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it." When I've taken matters into my own hands, there's always a nasty aftertaste called sorrow. God's blessings come to you and remain a blessing.
The right break doesn't break you. It makes you.
Key ideas
The right break doesn't break you. It makes you. In Genesis 12:1–3, God tells Abram to leave his country, kindred and father's house, then twice promises "I will make." The break comes before what God makes in its place.
Break from every competing allegiance and say yes to following Yahweh. Abram was called out of Ur and Haran, both centers of worship of the moon god Sin, inside a culture that added gods to a panel. God would not be one god among many. Today's version is "Jesus plus": Jesus plus New Age, Jesus plus fear of man. Mixture is pagan; making this break daily brings single-mindedness.
Break from beliefs you've inherited but never tested against the Scriptures. Abram's idolatry felt normal because it was how he was raised. You often don't know the lies you've believed until the truth comes in. Test everything you've heard, everything you hear, the pulpit and prophetic words included (Romans 12:2).
Break from cultural shortcuts that replace trust in God. Sarai giving Hagar to Abram was the culturally accepted fix for barrenness, and Ishmael later mocked Isaac. What is born of the flesh will always be at war with what is born of the Spirit. Modern shortcuts: sex before marriage, manifesting, believing every headline on your feed.
God's blessing comes without sorrow. Proverbs 10:22: "The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it." The world's blessings leave an aftertaste called sorrow; God's remain a blessing.
