Spirit-Powered Breakthrough: 5 Steps to Experience God Like Never Before

Excerpted from Breaking Open the Foundation of Your Deep.

1. Recognize the Blockages

First, we need to identify what’s clogging our wells.

For some, it might be a sin or compromise. For others, it could be fear, doubt, or religious tradition. Maybe it’s just the dust and debris of daily life accumulated over time. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Take some time to ask the Holy Spirit to show you any blockages in your spiritual life. Then deal with them ruthlessly. Repent if you need to. Break agreement with lies you’ve believed. Shake off the dust of apathy or complacency.

Common blockages might include:

• Unforgiveness: Holding grudges can block the flow of God’s Spirit in our lives.

• Worldliness: Being too entangled with the cares of this world can choke our spiritual life.

• Pride: Thinking we can do it on our own blocks our dependence on God’s power.

• Unbelief: Doubting God’s willingness or ability to move powerfully today.

• Fear: Being afraid to step out in faith can keep us from experiencing God’s power.

2. Stir Up the Gift

Once you’ve cleared away the blockages, it’s time to stir up the gift of God within you. Paul told Timothy: “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6).

This stirring up is active, not passive. It’s like priming a pump to get the water flowing. Spend time in praise and worship, pray in the Spirit, and meditate on God’s Word. These spiritual disciplines help to stir up the wells of God’s Spirit within us.

The Greek word Paul uses for “stir up” in this passage creates a vivid picture of stoking a fire to bring it back to full flame. This illustrates that spiritual gifts, like embers, can diminish in their visible intensity without regular attention. The stirring process isn’t creating something new but activating what’s already present—rekindling the flame of what God has deposited within us.

The following are some practical ways to stir up the gift:

• Set aside dedicated time for prayer and worship daily.

• Practice praying in tongues regularly.

• Surround yourself with faith-filled believers who encourage your spiritual growth.

• Listen to anointed teaching and preaching that stirs your faith.

• Regularly remind yourself of past victories and answered prayers.

3. Step Out in Faith

Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Breaking open your spiritual wells often requires a step of faith. It’s one thing to pray for the sick; it’s another to lay hands on them and command healing in Jesus’ name. It’s one thing to believe God can use you; it’s another to step out and share a word of prophecy.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

Don’t wait until you feel ready or worthy. Step out in obedience to God’s Word and lead and watch Him move through you!

Faith isn’t just a mental assent to spiritual truths but active movement based on those truths. The biblical concept of faith always includes corresponding action, which is why James emphasized that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). This stepping out isn’t about manufacturing spiritual experiences but about actively positioning ourselves where God’s power can flow through our availability and obedience.

Stepping out in faith might look like:

• Offering to pray for a sick colleague at work.

• Sharing your testimony with a neighbor.

• Starting a prayer group in your community.

• Volunteering to serve in a new area at church.

• Obeying when you feel the Holy Spirit prompting you to minister to someone.

Remember, faith is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.

4. Persist in Prayer

Breaking open spiritual wells often requires persistent prayer. Remember the parable of the persistent widow? Or how about Elijah praying for rain?

And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain (1 Kings 18:41).

Elijah heard rain before there was any natural evidence. He persisted in prayer until the cloud appeared. Sometimes, we need to keep praying, keep believing, and keep declaring God’s promises until we see the manifestation.

Elijah’s experience on Mount Carmel provides a powerful model of persistent prayer. After declaring the sound of abundant rain, he engaged in focused intercession, sending his servant seven times to look for evidence before the first cloud appeared. This persistence wasn’t about convincing God to send rain—God had already promised it—but about maintaining spiritual focus until natural manifestation aligned with spiritual reality.

Persistence in prayer involves:

• Praying even when you don’t see immediate results.

• Continuing to believe in God’s promises despite circumstances.

• Regularly fasting and seeking God for breakthroughs.

• Gathering with others for extended times of prayer.

• Declaring God’s Word over situations that need to change.

5. Create an Atmosphere of Expectancy

Expectancy is the breeding ground for miracles. When we gather, expecting God to move, we create an atmosphere where it’s easy for Him to work.

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place (Acts 2:1).

The disciples were in one accord, expectant when the Holy Spirit fell. Let’s cultivate that same atmosphere of expectancy in our lives and churches!

The conditions surrounding Pentecost reveal key elements of creating an expectant atmosphere. The disciples weren’t merely present physically but united spiritually—“with one accord.” This unity wasn’t uniformity of personality or preference but alignment of purpose and expectation. They gathered because Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit would come, and they fully expected Him to fulfill that promise.

I’ve personally experienced how creating an atmosphere of expectancy can lead to profound encounters with God’s presence. Let me share something remarkable that happened to me during an ordinary day in my hobby room.

I’ve been collecting model trains for most of my life and building my HO-scale layout for over a decade. It’s my favorite hobby, and I often enjoy time with the Lord as I’m working on my trains. There was one day, though, when the Lord caught me by surprise and I experienced a tremendous heavenly vision.

I was working on my trains, sitting at my hobby desk and thinking of the Sunday service the following day, which happened to be Resurrection Sunday. I was going over my message in my head and praying in the Spirit while I built a structure for the train layout. At one point, I decided to take a break from my project and knelt next to my chair to worship the Lord.

As I sang to Him with my eyes closed, I suddenly felt prompted to open my eyes, only to have a heavenly vision as real as the very chair in front of me and the floor below me. Two feet wearing sandals appeared standing before me as I was kneeling there.

I was so overwhelmed by what I was seeing and experiencing; I remember crying and trying to get as low to the ground as I could to show my honor to the Lord. I knew these were His feet appearing before me. I was so overcome by His love; the fear of the Lord gripped my heart, but at the same time I had such a sense of being accepted by Him. He was the focus; nothing else mattered to me—not me, not my trains, not anything else.

From the moment of the Lord’s feet appearing before me, He was the total focus. I could see nothing else. Though I had a vastly different experience, He showed me that day what He had shown the apostle John—that He is always to be the focus and center of our attention.

Nothing else matters or deserves our full attention except Him. No ministry can be effective—not one minister, prophet, or any person with any gifting—unless the Lord is center stage. Keeping the Lord as our focus will keep us grounded and centered on Him and will help us discern genuine prophecy and the prophetic. It will also aid us in keeping the right spirit when discerning prophecy and those who prophesy, because we will not make false judgments and critiques.

Creating an atmosphere of expectancy involves:

• Entering worship with anticipation of God’s presence.

• Attending church services expecting to encounter God.

• Approaching prayer times believing God will answer.

• Sharing testimonies of God’s faithfulness to build faith.

• Encouraging one another with reminders of God’s promises.