The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Psalms 51:17 I’m sure most of us have heard expressions such as, “Why don’t you leave well enough alone” “Don’t kick a sleeping dog.” “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. We all believe that if something is working we should leave it alone and let it continue. While it may be true that these sayings offer good conventional wisdom, they provide very little when it comes to spiritual matters. As a matter of fact I believe that without experiencing true brokenness we cannot achieve true blessedness. Now, the words ‘broken’ and ‘blessed’ don’t really seem like they would go together but I’m going to show that when we fit them together properly they provide great power in our Christian lives. We all know what it means to be broken; to be shattered, to feel as if our entire world has fallen apart, or perhaps been blown apart. We all have times in our lives when we don’t want to raise our heads off the pillow, and when we feel certain the tears will never stop flowing. Brokenness is often accompanied by emptiness, a void that cannot be filled, and a sorrow that cannot be comforted. To be honest, nothing feels blessed about being broken. In fact, the most painful and difficult times of my life have been those times when I felt broken. You see, I’m the type of person that doesn’t like pain, suffering, or feelings of brokenness any more than anybody else does. Yet I’ve had to deal with certain circumstances in life that hurt, at times so intensely that I thought I would never heal. Yet, one of the things I have discovered through being broken, however, is that after brokenness we can experience God’s greatest blessings. This morning I want us to look at what the Bible says about being broken. Psalms 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” That word ‘contrite’ means “grieving and penitent for sin or shortcoming.” Every saved person had to reach a point in their life where they realized they were a sinner and needed forgiveness, so the first thing we need to understand is that brokenness is the key to salvation. Simply put, you cannot receive God’s perfect gift of salvation without having a repentant heart. The second thing we need to understand is that brokenness is a key factor in spiritual growth. Think about it, are you running from or facing the pain? Most people do not understand what the Bible teaches about brokenness; therefore, the last thing they want in life is to experience it. Instead they would rather spare no effort in running from brokenness. In a time when we hear so much talk about prosperity, about God’s healing, and about God’s desire for our happiness, the message of brokenness does not appeal to many people. In fact, it only appeals to those who want God’s best. Why do I say that? Well, because God is in the process of changing what we desire, far more than He is in the process of giving us what we desire. You see, God didn’t create us to give us our every whim and wish, but rather, to bring us to the position where we will want to do whatever He desires. Here is what we need to ponder, do we really want God’s best for our life? Do we truly want to become who God designed us to become before we were born? Are we willing for God to do anything necessary to bring us to total surrender so that He is free to accomplish all that He wants to do for us and all He wants to make out of us? To have God’s very best; we must be willing to submit our all to Him. We must be willing to submit to the point where God’s Holy Spirit is overwhelmingly guiding our lives. We should be living, walking expressions of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth today, but this state of being does not come easily. Spiritual growth is a process, one that includes setbacks, failures, hard lessons, and yes, brokenness. You see, our growth includes not only a spiritual growth, but a renewal of our minds and emotions. Old habits are not easily changed. Old desires cling to us in spite of our efforts to remove them from our hearts and minds. Old patterns of responding die hard. In many cases, old relationships must be renewed or redefined. Sometimes others whom we love dearly don’t seem to grow spiritually as fast as we might desire, or as quickly as we ourselves grow. The third thing we need to understand is the fact that brokenness is a key factor in Christian service. A.W. Tozer writes, “It is doubtful that God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” The Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians 12:10 puts it like this, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” You see, God has a reason for breaking us. I believe that God allows us to go through the valleys in our lives because that is where the people are, it’s where most people live. How are we ever going to be able to tell them that they can come out if we ourselves have never been through a valley experience? So today I ask you, what is it going to take to break you before the Lord? Understand this, we must be broken before we can ever be used of the Lord, and trust me, He has many means of breaking us. What will it take in your life? Word For Today The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. – Psalms 34:18 - God never breaks with the rod of judgment those who are already sore with the rod of conviction. Prophetic Word I hear the Lord saying that we are in the month of completion and on the verge of new beginnings. There are some things that God is about to bring to completion that you have been waiting on for many years. He is calling you into a place of preparation for He is about to bring about a transformation in the area of your family. Pastor, I hear the Lord saying to you; “Watch! Seek My face, for the enemy desires your sons.” Strange weather and storms – watch and pray, for there is a shifting coming in the climate and weather patterns.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 03:57:05 +0000
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