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In this episode, Josh Brake reflects on a transformative week filled with stories of healing, the power of God’s presence, and renewed vision for Breakthrough Church. Drawing inspiration from the story of Nehemiah, Josh shares personal testimonies of miraculous healings and moments of spiritual breakthrough that are shaping the church’s identity as a house of presence and healing. Listeners will hear real accounts of faith in action, powerful encouragement to pursue God’s voice, and practical wisdom for embracing simple obedience. If you’re curious about what happens when a community earnestly seeks God’s presence, this episode will stir your faith and invite you deeper.
Chapters
(00:00) Lessons from Nehemiah’s Vision
(06:00) Breakthrough’s Calling as a House of Presence and Healing
(09:00) Healing Testimony at Church Planting Conference
(13:00) Miracles and Transformation at Saturday Gathering
(16:00) Impact of Healing on Personal Faith
(17:00) Student-Led Revival and Personal Healing
(19:00) Simple Obedience and Focusing on Jesus
Creators and Guests
What is Breakthrough Church Podcast?
Josh and his family are planting Breakthrough Church in Richardson, TX. Their prayer is that Jesus would use them to advance His Kingdom and to see many receive healing and deliverance in His name. Josh is married to Abby and has three kids, two boys and one girl.
Participant: Hey, what's up everybody?
Welcome back to another episode of
The Breakthrough Church Podcast.
Uh, very, very excited
about some testimonies.
Last week was crazy, y'all.
Um, just from the beginning of
the week, Monday, all the way
through the end of the week.
And I may have shared some of this in
my last podcast, but, uh, I know I di I
didn't share most of it, 99% of it because
it all happened pretty fresh last week.
But lemme just walk you
through this last week, okay?
Give context for everything.
I think there'll be something for, for
you as you're listening to this, it's not
just like my experience this last week.
I think the Lord is speaking, uh, and
will speak to you even as I share this.
Um, so last week on Monday, uh, Nehemiah
was the next book that I was reading
in my Bible plan, and I decided to
read the whole thing on Monday morning.
And, uh, I've never read Nehemiah,
the whole book in one sitting.
Maybe it takes 20 minutes or so.
And, uh, man, it was great.
I was captivated, uh, by the whole story.
And if you don't know the context,
it's on the heels of Babylonian exile.
So, Israelites had sinned over and
over again to the point where God gave
them into the hands of the Babylonians.
The temple had been destroyed
and the walls of the city had
been destroyed, the gates.
And so there was no security.
They didn't, they did not have
an identity as a nation anymore.
Uh, God's people weren't
God's people anymore.
Nehemiah is this character who's
the cut bearer to the king in
Babylon, and maybe Assyria, I forget.
You have to fact check me, but
he's the cut bearer to the king.
It's like a big deal.
Very trusted position.
And uh, he has some Israelites come
to the, to the, to the country.
He's the cup bearer for, to the king.
And, uh, these people tell Nehemiah,
Nehemiah asks, he says, Hey, how,
how's the, how's the city doing?
How's Jerusalem, how's Israel?
And they say the walls have been
broken down and it breaks Nehemiah,
he mourns and he fasts and prays,
uh, for days before the Lord.
And then says this prayer where he,
he's confessing the nation's sins and
asks the Lord for favor in the eyes
of the king because he was gonna go
and ask the king if he could leave
and go rebuild the walls and, uh.
That gives context for the whole book.
Nehemiah was so focused on the
vision that he had from the Lord
to build the walls around Israel.
Nothing could distract him or
discourage him from doing it.
There there was discouragement and
there were delays, but throughout
the whole book, he's convicted.
This is where we're going.
Tunnel vision, like the definition of
tunnel vision is what Nehemiah had.
He was looking down the tunnel and all
he saw was Israel with walls around it.
Secure and safe and restoring the
identity of God's people again.
Nothing swayed him from that vision.
There's external pressure
very, very quickly.
As soon as he leaves, he goes to Israel.
These guys named Tabba and Sanballat,
they hear about this man who wants
to seek the welfare of Israel.
And they freak out because they
know when Israel is strong, uh,
they defeat their enemies and
they don't want that to happen.
So they immediately come
to Nehemiah and the people.
And saying, Hey, who gave
you a authority to do this?
Who's letting you do this?
And, and they're basically like, God,
like we're, we're going because God
has told us to do this and you can't
help 'cause you have no part here.
And uh, and so those two guys, sand
OT, abaya, continue to discourage and
threaten Nehemiah and the people that
went with him to rebuild the temple, or
sorry, rebuild the walls around Israel.
And, and Nehemiah's, like, we're not
even engaging in conversation here.
There's a point where Nehemiah's on
the wall and we're doing the work,
and he receives a letter from them
saying, Hey, come down and chat.
Just talk.
Just talk to us.
Right?
We're not trying to just, just
come chat about what you're
doing and why you're doing it.
And Nehemiah has this amazing line
where he says, the work is too great.
I can't, I'm not leaving
now to even talk about it.
The work is too great.
And at some point in the,
in this narrative, the, the
enemy becomes so threatening.
And so real and near to them that
Nehemiah equips his builders with a tool
in one hand and a weapon in the other.
And you have this picture of, I'm building
this wall, but I'm also very aware that
the enemy is real and right behind us.
So we might have to turn and become
soldiers, uh, instead of builders
and such a captivating vision.
And then you get, you get a little further
into the book, and, and Nehemiah is, um.
Yeah, there's, there's oppression
and injustice happening
within the city limits.
So now he's having to go to these
Jewish people who are taking advantage
of these other poor Jewish people and
exacting interest, high interest rates
on these loans and all these things.
And he's like, enough, enough.
This is not how we're supposed to operate.
And he puts that to rest.
And then, and then it shares, shows
us that Nehemiah and all of this did
not take advantage of any person.
Like there was an allowance from the
king and he not, he did not once.
Take anything for himself,
but let the people have it.
It's a powerful story.
And what really struck me last week
when I read this was his tunnel
vision and his conviction and clarity
in the vision God had given him.
This is who God has called us to be.
This is what he's called us to do.
And so, um, as I was reading that,
I just felt like the Lord told me,
Hey, you have this tunnel vision.
I've told you exactly
what this place is to be.
This place meaning breakthrough.
And I didn't expect him to talk to me
about breakthrough when I was reading
this, but he was, and he was like,
you're Nehemiah, your heart's been
broken about something and you're
gonna build a house that's gonna
basically restore what has been lost.
And as I prayed through that,
um, the Lord brought to mind
his presence and his healing.
I preached a message.
Uh, I've preached it several times.
If you listening to this, many of
you have heard it about the presence
of God and what makes people of
God distinct isn't the building.
It's actually his presence, his
manifest presence in our midst.
That's what makes us a church, and we
need to lean into that and really be
aware of him and our gatherings and
our discipleship, whatever we're doing.
So I have this whole message, like
this 40, 45 minute message where
I've preached and I just felt
like the Lord said, preach that.
This weekend and I thought, oh
my gosh, I haven't preached that
message at Breakthrough yet.
Now most people at Breakthrough have
probably heard it, but so I just
felt like God said, preach that.
And then also I want you to
pray for healing because that's
where this thing started.
The church has become a place where
the power of God is not on display
regularly through healing and deliverance.
That has broken my heart over the
last several years as I've prayed into
this and, and God has discipled me
and he's wanting us to restore that.
To the local church.
That the local church is a place where you
can reasonably show up and expect to be
touched by God in power and to be healed.
Um, because there's so
many caveats to that.
And maybe too many, maybe we put too
many on that, too many caveats on that.
Uh, I sometimes can, um, hesitate to
really lean in on that, but I just
felt last week God was saying, do this.
So I'm sharing this with, uh, Sal on
Monday afternoon, the same day I had
really received this word from God.
And he was like, yeah, you know,
it really reminds me of our
time at the Blessing last year.
And I was like, oh yeah, for sure.
And if you're not familiar
with that, I won't go into it.
But I preached at another church,
this message on the presence, which
was my first time preaching that
message, uh, days after I had really
received that revelation from the Lord.
And, uh, he was like, yeah, it reminds
me of that when there was just healing
and deliverance broke out in the
place and, um, we were there for hours
praying for people, that people were
getting healed, delivered, touched.
It was just amazing.
I was like, yeah, you
know, it does remind me.
And I was like, wait, it was around
this time last year we did that.
I'm gonna look it up.
It was a year to the day, it was
the anniversary of me preaching that
message for the first time at the
Blessing Church on Monday of last week.
So I was like, oh, wow.
The Lord is clearly speaking and wanting
us to lean in on this identity as a
house of presence and a house of healing.
And that's, that is, uh, it
was so clarifying for me.
Um.
I didn't really need anything
else from the Lord honestly,
but he continued to minister.
So the next day, uh, me and Sal
went to a church planting conference
through Nexus and it's called
Think Next, started on Tuesday.
I show up.
I'm gonna try to skip through the
details, but I need to frame it for you.
Uh, Tuesday.
Uh, we get there around lunch and uh,
we're sitting at a table with a guy I
know and, uh, he planted a church in
Arkansas and his cousin is there who's
also on staff with him at the church.
And as soon as I see him, he's like,
Hey, you need to pray for my cousin.
His leg is all jacked up.
And I'm like, okay.
I would love to pray for his leg.
What happened, uh, long story short,
is in Chick-fil-A parking lot, he
works there, A guy hit by a car.
And his leg got messed up.
He's been limping real bad
for two to three months.
He preached last Sunday and
had to sit down while preaching
'cause it hurt so bad.
And he's been walking with a serious limp.
And, and I saw it, I saw him walking.
I'm like, Ugh, that looks
painful and very inconvenient.
And I said, yeah, we'd love to pray
for him at the end of the night.
So we go through the afternoon
talking about the Kingdom of God.
Discipleship.
What is a disciple verse?
A Christian, are they the same?
Are they different?
Which is a podcast for another day.
Uh, 'cause that'll, that'll preach.
But, um.
We get to the end of the day after
dinner, it's just us four in the room.
And I said, Hey, before we
leave, let's pray for you.
And he's like, great.
So I look at him and I say, Hey man,
has anybody prayed for your leg yet?
He said, no.
I said, okay, has anybody ever prayed
for you for healing and anything?
And he was like, no.
And I'll be honest, this is a little
uncomfortable and awkward for me.
And I said, okay, that's normal
and totally okay and won't
change what God wants to do.
So we can just rest assured that
God's gonna do something when we pray.
I don't know if you're gonna
get totally healed in your leg.
I don't know what'll happen.
I do know something will happen.
'cause when we pray everything,
something happens every time.
So we're gonna pray.
I'm gonna pray for your leg
and then probably so will
get a prophetic word for you.
And I was kind of trying to
keep things light and just laugh
about that, and he's like, okay.
Okay.
And so we started to pray.
I said, come Holy Spirit.
And my leg is right on
the pain point in his leg.
My hand is right on his
leg on the pain point.
And I said, come Holy Spirit.
And within like 30 seconds, his
leg starts shaking violently.
Every muscle in his left leg was
twitching and contracting off and on.
It was like, whoa, this is like a spasm.
And I said, dude, are you doing that?
And he was like, no, I'm not.
I'm kind of freaking out right now, dude.
And I was like, well, I'm not doing that.
This is the Holy Spirit touching
your leg, and he wants to
heal it, so let's keep going.
He's like, okay.
So we keep praying, keep
yielding, said Holy Spirit, calm,
just continue to heal his leg.
We bless what you're doing, Lord.
Thank you Lord.
And then I was like, all
right, Sal, what do you got?
He was like, I got a picture
of you in a taxi cab.
Uh, you're, you're in the backseat
and you're, you're just angry.
You're enraged about stuff and
you're out of control of it, and
that's what makes you so angry.
Does that resonate?
And he was like, you have no idea.
He starts weeping and.
I won't go into the details of why
that word resonated, but it, it
led him to forgive and to receive
freedom and breakthrough, to receive
breakthrough from the Lord in this time.
So he got wrecked.
I mean, he was like a, I mean, he got.
Whammied by the spirit whammy.
That's such a bad word for
what I'm trying to say.
He got touched powerfully by the love
and power of Jesus through the Holy
Spirit and the laying arm of hands.
It was awesome.
And so afterwards I said, Hey
man, stand up and walk around.
Check out your leg.
And so he did, and the pain was
completely gone, fully healed.
Uh, he would tell me later that
that night he laid down in his bed
and as he laid down in his bed.
His leg was still spasming and shaking.
The next morning I saw him,
he was walking more normal.
Um, and one thing I failed to say, say is
whenever I, I started to pray and said,
come Holy Spirit, I, I saw his, his hips
shift, like one was higher than the other.
And I, I saw him shift in his chair and he
would later would say, without me saying
anything, he's like, my hips shifted.
They were out of alignment because of my
limping, and they shifted back into place.
And I'm like, wow, praise the Lord.
So the next week, or I'm sorry, the
next day, he, his heart was free
and lighter and he, um, had no pain
in his leg, was walking normally.
Um, and then I just texted,
uh, him or his, his, uh, his
cousin, the one that I knew.
I texted him asking how he is.
He's like, no pain.
And he told, uh, our team on
Sunday, they're pumped up.
Praise the Lord.
And he's lighter than ever in his heart.
So just praising the Lord for that.
And on the heels of the Nehemiah Word
and the reminders of what happened
at the blessing, uh, to, to that, I
mean, wow, the Lord was very clear.
I want you guys to focus on
presence and healing and, uh,
and, and just really go for it.
So, Saturday comes along and,
um, I preached this message that
I've preached 15 times probably.
And the Lord was faithful and it was
powerful, not me, but you know, just felt
like the Holy Spirit was ministering.
And at the end, I just invited
the Holy Spirit and I said,
people just yield to him.
He's a person.
He loves you, so we're gonna invite him.
Come Holy Spirit.
And we just waited.
One minute went by, two minutes went by.
Our, uh, guy Ian came up, started
playing his guitar a little bit, and
um, I just felt like the Holy Spirit
was brooding hovering over everybody.
And a matter in a matter of minutes
felt like the Holy Spirit settled in.
And you look around the room and
there's tears, there's people like
clearly relaxing their bodies and
yielding to the work of the spirit.
And then Sal gets a, a picture and
shares that over the mic, which leads to
three or four people coming to receive
prayer and getting touched by the Lord.
And another guy, Luke, he got a word of
knowledge that that led to this woman
being completely healed in her feet.
She had pain, insane pain,
could barely walk for two weeks,
needs surgery in her feet.
And her pain went completely away.
She was healed.
She posted on Instagram the next day
talking about what had happened or
maybe it was that night talking about
being healed in our service on Saturday.
Um, there were two others that came
specifically to receive prayers for
healing with cancer and prayed for both
of them and time will tell to see if
they're healed, but stay tuned for that.
Uh, and then there was other, other
moments, but the, one of the coolest
things, there's this guy that came
forward and, and I won't go into all the
details 'cause it's his journey, but.
He hadn't fully surrendered
his life to Jesus.
And I just asked if he
wanted to, and he did.
And so he did.
And right there, he just surrendered
his whole life to Jesus, laid
it all out there and, and, and,
and confessed that to the Lord.
And, and then we're meeting, uh, this
week to talk about discipleship and what
it looks like to really follow Jesus.
Um, it was just really powerful.
One of the coolest things of the night
was I dismissed people, but said, if you
wanna stay in the room and just be in
the presence of the Lord, you can stay.
And most people stayed.
That was so cool, um, because you're
just seeing people have a hunger
for his presence and they sensed it.
And the fact that the Lord would
come and stay and abide with us as
a people was just such an honor.
Um, it was a highlight.
That was probably our, our, our
most powerful service so far.
Um, and, uh, I know there's just
more to come and people keep telling
us when they come, they're like,
this is special and, you know.
Uh, just buckle up and
I'm like, you know what?
If he doesn't do anything
else, it would've been enough.
Uh, but I also am like more, Lord, keep
setting people free and healing people.
And, and, and here's
what's happening, right?
When people get healed, it, it's
a big deal physically, obviously.
And if you've ever been chronically
sick or, or hurting in pain
and you get healed, you know.
It's a big deal physically, but what
it communicates about the heart of
the father when somebody gets touched
and healed is that he loves you.
He cares for you.
He sees your very life, every detail, and
he loves you enough to touch your body
right now and set you free to let you
get a taste of the future in the present.
And man, there's just nothing like it.
And I'll close by saying the
next night, Sunday night, I went
to this Unashamed Ministries.
It's a youth ministry.
It's a youth movement.
Led fully by students, and
there's no adults that do it.
Students, they coordinate,
they do all the logistics.
They, um, do all the marketing.
They lead the worship.
They teach, they, they
may invite adult to teach.
But it's completely student led.
And, uh, I got invited by the, the,
the guys that are leading it, the,
the high schoolers that are leading
it just to experience, just to see.
And, and so I went and we, it was a
great time, just hungry Gen Z students,
getting after the Lord and praise and
worship and responding to a word from
the Lord and going to the altar, bending
on their knees, just receiving the Lord.
It was like, wow, this is amazing.
More of this.
Let's breathe on this.
And um, but then at the end.
Uh, Luke Lamb, um, he's
on, he's at Breakthrough.
He is on, on our, on our launch team.
And I told him earlier about
the word of knowledge he had on
Saturday, I think was also for me.
And, uh, I would love him,
for him to pray for me.
'cause I've, I've had bad Achilles tendons
for the last few months, I think maybe
developing tendonitis or something.
Uh, and I was like,
dude, just pray for me.
And he's like, okay.
So that night he pointed at
my legs at the very end of the
night and was like, let's do it.
I'm like, all right, come on.
And he prayed for me and I was healed.
Achill.
I worked out this morning.
I went for a, like a 10
minute run and I lifted.
And even right now, as I'm, as I'm
saying this, I'm moving my achilles
around and there is no pain or soreness,
which is different than what it's
been like the last several months.
Uh, and I just, I'm like, come on, Lord.
Thank you so much, Jesus.
He wants to heal you.
Like if, if you're doubting, I
know he can, but does he want to?
I'm telling you right now, he wants
to, he wants to heal your body.
Will he always 100% of the time.
I don't know I, but I do know the more
people we lay hands and pray for, the
more people we will see be healed.
Jesus is waiting for the church to
fully believe and expect him to do the
very things he did when he was on earth
today or on Earth, and now he's on
earth today through the spirit in us,
and we get to lay hands and he wants
his church to be full of power again.
He's like, I feel like the
Lord is saying like, I'm alive.
Do you know that?
So many churches that they're, it
is just like, I'm just holding on.
I don't wanna blame church.
Let's just say Christians.
So many Christians are just trying
to hold on until they meet Jesus one
day and Jesus is like, I'm alive.
I live in you and I'm on
the earth through my spirit.
Let's go.
The kingdom is here.
Run, get after it.
There's a song I've been
listening to for the first time.
I, I never heard it before
until this last week.
Um, and there's a version by the
finding, um, on YouTube called
Loose, uh, lace Up Your Boots.
And you probably know this, but they sang
it at the unashamed thing last night.
So my whole week was like,
the theme was lace up.
These, these are the lyrics, lace
up your boots, put on your backpack.
It's time to ride, it's time to ride.
And it's, I'm riding with Jesus
wherever he goes, living surrendered.
This life's not my own.
And another lyric is.
There's a yes in my heart
that carries through eternity.
Simple obedience changes, history.
Come on dude.
Simple obedience, saying yes to Jesus
When he calls you, it changes things.
It changes you.
It changes people around you.
It changes your atmosphere.
Just say yes to what Jesus is
calling you, and you're like, well,
I don't know what Jesus is saying.
I don't know.
That means you have too much in your
life, too many distractions, too much
noise, and you need to slow down.
Just simplify your life and maybe
you need to say no to a few things.
Create space to hear the Lord and then
obey when, not if, when he speaks,
and everything will be different.
It's really that simple.
Focus on Jesus and say yes when
he calls, and things will shift
in your life and those around you.
And you'll be an agent of the
kingdom here on earth today.
Come on, this is it.
This is, this is, uh, why we
get to do what we do, man.
So, um, I hope you're encouraged.
I hope your faith is
built, please or built up.
Please come visit us on a Saturday
at 5:00 PM at Breakthrough.
Um, we're gonna be leaning into
his presence and his healing
for the foreseeable future.
Um.
And really expect God to
do, continue to do things.
So if you know anybody who's sick,
who's got pain in their body, cancer,
or maybe just they're locked up
spiritually in their hearts, uh, bring
'em to breakthrough, we wanna pray for
them and we'll be there as long as it
takes to, to just minister to people.
And, uh, it'll be, uh, all, all glory
to King Jesus because he is good
and his, uh, love endured forever.
So appreciate you guys
listening again, as always.
Uh, y'all are the best and love y'all.
Have a great week.
See ya.