Spiritual Brokenness
What is God peeling off from your life?What first comes to your head when you think of being broken?
What have you established between you and total surrender to God?
What do you want more than you trust God?
What do you love more than God?
A Broken Heart
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)
God will break us, modify us, and make us grow until we reach spiritual maturity.No matter how long it uses up or how complicated the system could be, God will keep on breaking us and bring us to a place of integrity and spiritual maturity so that He could use us as his instrument in bringing others to wholeness and spiritual maturity. We can not attain spiritual maturity without suffering and pain, and we cannot engage in teaching without being willing to suffer even more power and pain. The joy set before us is the satisfaction of experiencing that God is with us. He is doing His oeuvre in us, and through us, there is no joy greater than knowing that God is pleased with us.
Maybe you are facing a point of brokenness, and it is as if the emotional pain is more than you can handle. Or maybe you are dealing with a series of disappointments. Instead of becoming fearful, which is what Satan wants to pull you away from God, ask God to reveal to you what He is up to.
God did not stop the thorn from Paul's life, but He helped him understand why He allowed it to remain. The Holy Spirit revealed a hint of pride in Paul's life, and it was given to humble him and cause him to rely only on Christ - 2 Corinthians 12:1-11.
In experiencing God's altar of brokenness, you will encounter spiritual knowledge, which was missing before the trial started.
Do not be surprised on the fiery ordeal which is to try you, as though something strange befell on you, but rejoice to the extent that you share in Christ's agony, so that when His glory is revealed, you may be overjoyed -1 Peter 4:12 -13.
God knows that soldiers are only created in a conflict. They are not developed in peaceful times. Warriors are highly educated in the midst of whizzing bullets and roaring cannonades.
God is developing the qualities of a soldier in us, by throwing us into the battle. We should use every endeavor to come off as a winner.
Brokenness is a sign of the love of God for us.
It shows His interest in our life. When He breaks our self-reliance, it is because He loves us. He knows that when we are left on our own, we could easily give in into pride and selfishness. Any discipline that we face in times of brokenness is God's way of preparing us for future ministry.
God uses brokenness to deepen our wisdom in at least three ways:
- We get a new understanding of His grace and provision.
- We get to develop a complete understanding of our self.
- Our compassion and concern for others' misery grows.
God is purifying and proving us. He will refine us as gold until His face is reflected in us.
When we are not willing to endure hardness and allow suffering for the sake of truth, which God requires, it means that our wills are not conquered. It means that we did not consecrate ourselves wholly to God. They did not seek the greater choice which is to do His will.
Ministers and people need spirituality and true godliness. God will shake everything that can be shaken because God wants for everyone to repent and not perish, but have eternal life. (Hebrews 12:27)
We will be brought into the most trying positions.
We must all be settled, rooted, and grounded in the truth, or our steps will inevitably slip.
If God comforts and nourishes the man with His presence, then it can withstand even though it is dark and difficult. For the night will soon pass away, and the true light shines forever.
God purifies His people, zealous of charitable works. God is our refiner and purifier until His face is fully reflected in us.
Then the prayer of Jesus will be answered in us: Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.
When the truth has sanctified our hearts and lives, we can glorify Him as partakers of His divine nature, having escaped all evil that is in the world, and we can contribute to God satisfactory service.
What is it that you trust more than you trust God?
Jacob's name means "the one who struggled with God".
1. Jacob blessed himself.
Jacob tried to support himself by buying God’s grace. Through guile, he oblige his older brother to trade his birthright, which is the blessing of a father meant for the eldest son. God cannot use a self-reliant person. This alone can explain the answer to the deviousness of our self-life. It is not a matter of reformation or of moral resolutions or even of our determination. It is a matter of the Holy Spirit possessing us to the full, ruling and governing our lives.It was only when Jacob was broken, that he was blessed. It would be dangerous for God to bless an unbroken man. It is like giving a gun to a baby. God is mindful.
2. Jacob is broken.
Jacob’s furious brother threatened him with annihilation. It was during this brokenness that God met Jacob and wrestled with him until dawn. God dislocates Jacob’s hip to prove that Jacob was no match for God. (Genesis 32:25)Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. (Corinthians 15:43)It means liable and not weak but given. Just like Jacob, God strips us. Jacob was hopeless and crippled. Just like sheep, we are crippled to get us to the place where He can use us. It was when he was broken that he desperately held on to God.
I will not let you go unless you bless me. (Genesis 32:26)
Until we hold on to God, we would not be fully receptive to God's direction and purpose for us. With his new direction and purpose, God gave Jacob a new name which is Israel, which means the one who struggled with God and has overcome.
Jacob surrendered his all to God, broken and repentant.
From striving, God brought rest.
and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts 11:26)
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living. (Matthew 22:32)
Ask for forgiveness and make matters right.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)
God brought Eve to Adam.
When people spend some time with you, do they say you're a Christian?
I honor my Father and you dishonor me. (John 8:49)
Jesus, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:21)
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
3. Jacob is blessed.
From lying and scheming, God brought security to Jacob.From striving, God brought rest.
and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts 11:26)
Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (Genesis 32:26)
Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. (Genesis 32:29)
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. (Hebrews 11:21)I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living. (Matthew 22:32)
Ask for forgiveness and make matters right.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)
God brought Eve to Adam.
When people spend some time with you, do they say you're a Christian?
I honor my Father and you dishonor me. (John 8:49)
Jesus, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:21)
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)