Journal

    Brokenness equals Victory

    Friday, August 15, 2008, 11:17 PM [General]

    The following is from my lesson today, but prior to this I have known that God’s world/kingdom is paradoxical (I hate that I forget that sometimes) to the world as we know it………… so let’s see what I am learning. (I have not already attained – I’m on the journey to be perfected through Him.)

    God’s kingdom is full of paradoxes: Through what seemed ugly defeat on the cross came Christ glorified. We find ourselves when we lose ourselves in Christ, victory often comes through defeat and the healing of our hearts through brokenness before Him. It is in forgiving that we are forgiven and on it goes.

    God cannot plant His life upon a hard heart, an unbroken spirit. He will only plant His seed where the tears of our true repentance as well as tears of joy have softened the soil of the heart.

    “Deliverance can come to us only by the defeat of our old life. Safety and peace come only after we have been forced to our knees. God rescues us by breaking us, by shattering our strength and wiping out our resistance.” A. W. Tozer

    “True prayer is born out of brokenness.” Francis J. Roberts

    What does brokenness bring: healing, life, revival, rescue, and true prayer.

    (16) You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. (17) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51

    God looks on the lowly of spirit with mercy and grace but He is not looking for a depressed person without hope. He is looking for a broken heart that is seeking Him – His truth.

    How I know this to be true – how often have I felt like a godly two by four hit me upside the head? “God disciplines those He loves, and this may be a painful process. But, remember that God breaks us so that he can remake us.” (Jeremiah 18).

    When we repent we must have our eyes on Christ – not ourselves – not self pity for getting caught. We may hate sin but that does not always make us repentant. If we only hate sin because of the punishment then there is no repentance.

    If we can hate sin because we know that it wounded Him – put Him on the cross then we have a truly broken heart. Do we believe that the wounds He suffered were for our sins? Only after we see the cross clearly – see His sacrifice clearly can we repent.

    If we cling to the sin and only dread the punishment where is the repentance?

    Who have we wounded? Only Him – crucified. Repentance is much more than a feeling – it is a true turning to our Savior and feeling broken before Him.

    It should be more common than not that God's people would be intensely grief-stricken over their sin, to feel our hearts are breaking.

    I like this thought and I’m not sure I have ever actively sought it before - when in prayer on our knees – staying there until we begin to feel something of a broken of heart.

    Born together are faith and repentance. If we do not see sin for what it truly is we will never truly repent of it or be free from it.

    To be honest – do I have the courage to ask God to break my heart so that my broken spirit may seek Christ more sincerely?

    Is it possible that good things in our lives follow brokenness? Think of these examples: “Gideon's lights only shone after they were broken, incense only gives off its pleasing aroma after being broken and crushed.”

    If we are sorry apart from true brokenness and repentance we will leave His throne with an empty soul.

    "But the fruit of the Spirit is....self control." (Gal. 5:22-23) “Brokenness of heart and soul make way for the entrance of God's Holy Spirit, even as the farmer must first break up the ground before planting the seed that produces life.”

    “For this is what the high and lofty One says he who lives forever, whose name is holy: I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” Isaiah 57:15

    We must be crushed in order to give off the aroma of Christ, broken in order to feed others. If you're currently becoming broken before the Lord, take heart, you are open before God. You are in a place where He can pour Himself in and through you!

    "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence." (Hosea 6:1-2)

    May the sorrows and bruises of this earth not go to waste; rather may it yield a heart that is quick to repent which leads to healing and restoration in Christ.

    371d36d75e05eda735858f8e467be99c
    0 (0 Ratings)
    Leave a Comment

    Sacrifice of Praise

    Saturday, August 9, 2008, 11:43 PM [General]

    “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel.” (Psalm 22:3)God’s word says that “God inhabits the praises of his people”.

    I have found this truth to be pretty powerful.

    One time I was sitting at the lake talking to God and I started to thank Him for some things. The above verse ran through my head and my simple logic had me thanking Him for things I wasn’t emotionally thankful for.

    My thinking was this: if God dwells in the praises of His people, if I thank Him for even the things in my life that I am not thankful for and He dwells ‘there’ what might He change in my heart?

    So as I began to list things my biological mom’s name went through my mind; so I thanked Him for her in a thoughtful way. This led to me finding her after 28 years and just writing a simple short note. I told her that God had a plan in her being my mother, that I held her no ill will and that I was thankful to Him for her in my life.

    On my birthday a few weeks later I received a small bouquet of pink roses (3) with a note that contained words that were so healing. Only God knew what I needed to hear from her. Our relationship did not progress from that point – but what a blessing I received I believe from that moment of thankfulness.


    The truth is we should heed that advice. It’s not just that it’s scriptural. It’s one of God’s principles that work when we apply it.

    At times we may be lonely, it may seem that our prayers toward heaven bounce off and back to earth. As we seek light we may only see darkness. Fear may rule over joy, hope, love.

    We may believe what the world, critics, Satan himself whispers in our ear. We may try to distant ourselves by becoming busy, sleeping – ignore it and the pain will go away.

    I know personally that even reading my bible as seemed empty at times. I know that it is not – but it has felt that way.

    For myself and I am relying on Jesus Himself to make intercession for me, falling on my knees in frustration – not even understanding myself, my emotions at times.

    Isn’t it ironic that we can experience a truth, a real blessing, and then as time goes by not think of it when we are in true need of it.

    I know that God really does inhabit the praises of his people.

    When it begins to feel like darkness is taking root in your heart, when doubt creeps in, when fear seems to be winning the battle we can choose to be thankful, to praise God for good and bad.

    Let a grateful heart take root within, sing God’s praises let thanksgiving sink in – see His beauty in so many things: friendships, family, nature and I know that you will released to ‘feel’ His presence.

    Blessings

    371d36d75e05eda735858f8e467be99c
    0 (0 Ratings)
    Leave a Comment

    Repentance - or just a bad feeling over failure?

    Thursday, August 7, 2008, 11:00 PM [General]

    This is serious, if we do not truly repent we are in peril of hardening our hearts. 2 Chronicles 36:

    "Zedekiah became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the LORD... The God of Israel brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and spared neither young man nor young woman, old man or aged. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar."

    How sad that because of Zedekiah lack of repentance, God handed all Israel over to captivity...

    I have been pondering the truth of 90 degree turning and 180 degree turning from our sin…………..

    A 90 degree turn from sin is a start but it is not complete in that while we turn from sin – what do we turn to? Ourselves, a self help book, others???

    If we would truly repent then we need to turn completely in the opposite direction to God; loving and serving Him.

    10 "For, He that would love life, And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips that they speak no guile: 11 And let him turn away from evil, and do good; Let him seek peace, and pursue it." 1 Peter 3:10-11

    How many times have I turned from an evil deed or thought or even words about to be spoken out loud? I felt so badly – because I was being 'bad'. Sadly it often ended there only to crop up again and again – why could I not turn from it and leave it behind? Why? Because I do not have within myself apart from Jesus the power.

    No partial turning enables us to escape temptation. We put our backs to the sin and walk away from it and walk toward Christ.

    Did you know that repentance is a gift? For myself, I easily feel badly when I do something wrong but I'm not sure I always feel truly repentant. It does not always turn me toward Christ.

    As we repent we begin to truly understand God. "Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses a man's conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God--against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight."

    We prove we are forgiven by being the opposite of what we were, by God's grace. Anything less than this is only remorse for having made a mistake, a reflex action of disgust at ourselves. Where is God in this? Are we thinking of ourselves or of the only one we have wounded?

    Perhaps the entrance into the Kingdom of God is lined with the pain of repentance.

    The Holy Spirit works in us the birth of these agonies of the soul which begets repentance and life in Christ. New life in Christ begins with tears of repentance. Do we examine ourselves to see if we have forgotten how to be sorry for our sins before the throne of God through Christ Jesus?

    "Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." 2 Timothy 2:25-26

    6 "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon." Isaiah 55:6-7

    To myself, I must not exalt myself or the will of man/woman. My purpose is to honor Christ the Lord, to magnify His grace and to allow His power to pour through me. In order to savor our relationship with Christ the one who truly loves us we must be free through repentance.

    Ask God with me for the gift of His repentance so that we may be truly free to enjoy His joy and peace.

    Baruch

    371d36d75e05eda735858f8e467be99c
    0 (0 Ratings)
    Leave a Comment

    Taking it Further

    Thursday, August 7, 2008, 10:56 PM [General]

    Reflections from my bible study.

    Today’s lesson was about what it takes to turn from sin, especially habitual sin.

    “He who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” (Ephesians 4:28).

    In the above verse we see that it is not enough to just stop stealing. The thief has to replace his old behavior with working with his hands and then share it with others in need.

    “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24

    So how do we put off our old self that has been corrupted from birth?

    “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” Jeremiah 13:23

    We cannot make the change from corruption to righteousness and holiness alone. We do not have what it takes within ourselves. God’s word tells us that we cannot change our sinful ways any more than a leopard can rub the spots off of itself.

    “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, "I will return to the house I left." 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” Luke 11:24-26

    How scary it this. We think we have cleaned our spiritual house only to find that now that it is clean and ‘empty’ the very sin we swept out the door returns and brings his nasty friends with him.

    We have to fill our spiritual house with Christ. We need to read God’s word, spend time talking to Him, fellowshipping with other believers. We need to think of new habits to replace the old. Write them down – ask God to help.

    If we are accustomed to doing evil we are like the leopard that cannot rub off it’s spots. It takes God’s grace and mercy to change our hearts, to clean our spiritual homes and to break our evil/bad habits.

    I love self help books – I am always trying to fix myself. Sadly so many even ‘Christian’ books/advice teach that we just need to believe in ourselves, that we have all we need within to be who we should be. Some have the seeming will power to change – but is it a heart change? If we have Jesus at our center then we do have what we need – but it is not ourselves.

    God wants us, it is not about religion rather about it is about a relationship. The more time we spend reading and meditating on his Word, seeking and listening to Him the more He can work in our hearts spirit to spirit and bring about change.

    “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 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 3:18-21

    Our destination is heaven where we will live in the presence of our Savior. It is He that changes us and we turn to Him and hold fast as if our lives depended on it. And our lives do depend on our holding onto Christ.

    ‘Each day of victory you will become stronger in your walk with the Lord and each temptation you face will be a bit easier to resist than the one before.’

    We are exhorted in Hebrews 12:1-2a to "lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith."

    The runner is disciplined. I do not know this first hand I have never been much of an athlete. But I do know it takes a daily discipline, practice and pre-set/thought out goals.

    So what do we need to turn from? What will we turn to and how will we fill the void the sin leaves when we repent?

    So our goal is this: To set our hearts and mind on Jesus, to practice repentance – receive it as if it is a gift, turn from the sinful habit and turn toward Him…………….In Christ we will enjoy each new day closer to Him/Heaven and victory. 371d36d75e05eda735858f8e467be99c
    0 (0 Ratings)
    Leave a Comment

    Advertisement

Journal Categories