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When We Are Bombarded

I once heard someone say that trouble sometimes comes in bunches like bananas. I can identify with that statement. Have you ever been bombarded with back to back incidences and thought, “what else can go wrong”?

In these situations, the bigger issue is not how the Lord is going to deliver us, but how we respond in the middle of the crisis. As believers, our spiritual instinct tells us that God is bigger than any situation we encounter. Deliverance is just a passing thought to God, that’s because He is more interested in how we respond in the middle of the crisis, than how He is going to deliver us.

Will we choose to trust Him even if He is slow to respond, or if it appears that deliverance is not coming at all? If you haven’t noticed yet, when you are serious about your walk with God you will continually be thrust to the edge, or as Henry Blackaby puts it, you will experience “a crisis of belief”.

This recurring wave of attack is like an invasion. Sometimes it’s about finances or material needs and other times its about family, relationships or physical health. If we are not careful, our focus will be so centered on our problems that we are tempted to take our eyes off of God’s ability to deliver.

We must remember that we belong to THE KING. He spoke the world into existence and by His word the universe spins on His command. What circumstance could possibly be greater than our Father’s ability, love, and concern?

Jesus addresses this issue in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life, whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you more valuable to him than they are?” (Matthew 6:25 NLT)

It’s apparent by the tone of this passage that Jesus wants our trust level to be at such a point, that when trouble comes, we automatically assume our Father knows our need and is already working in our behalf. He then concludes this thought by emphasizing the absurdity of worry; “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”

Bottom Line

As a committed follower of Jesus we can expect two things. First, there will be times when we are bombarded with circumstances that we can’t control nor fix. We can expect to have a sense that we are out of control.

Secondly, when that happens we must remember that our “spiritual instinct” is to trust and not worry. We are to assume that if God allows it, then we know our Heavenly Father has our back, and there is more to the event than a need to be delivered.

“Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6;34 NAS)

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The Role of Repentance

Repentance is one of the lost attributes of modern Christianity. In our quest to be culturally relevant and seeker sensitive we have forgotten the importance of repentance. But when we take a close look at Scripture we see the Lord continually nudging His children toward repentance.

How did we so easily forget the role of repentance? Maybe it was the constant pounding from our pulpits about our sinfulness and very little teaching about grace and our identity in and with Christ? Or maybe we thought after our initial conversion our need for constant repentance had ended?

Whatever the reason for our neglect, like everything else in life, there must be balance. On one hand we are to walk and live as those who are “more than conquerors”, but on the other hand we need the balance of keeping our “sin list” short.

God doesn’t want us to walk around with a sinner mentality, but walk as victorious saints. But like any valued relationship, if we are not intentional about maintaining those things that make our relationships flourish, then we will find ourselves slowing drifting away.

Keeping the need for repentance in the forefront is not about loading ourselves down with daily guilt, but rather more about having a daily reminder of our need to keep our “little unconfessed sins” from hindering the flow of fellowship with God. It’s about protecting and maintaining our communion with God.

How do we maintain the proper attitude of repentance without falling into the trap of “I’m just an ole sinner saved by grace” mentality? In the following passage the apostle Paul list seven ingredients that help us live in an attitude of repentance.

“Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.” (2 Corinthians 7:11 NLT)

1. An awareness to please God – “Just see what this Godly sorrow produced in you”. It is having an instantaneous sensitivity that you have sinned. One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to prompt you when you have sinned.

2. Maintaining a clear conscience – “Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves.” Having a clear conscience is making things right with those you have offended. In other words, keeping your “offense account” at zero.

3. Having an outrage over your sin. “such alarm” – This is not a “beat up on yourself” event, but rather it’s being concerned that you have messed up again and you don’t want that sin to define who you really are, so you deal with it by repenting and then move on to living
victorious.

4. Fear of God. “What alarm” – This is not a fear that “God is going to get you for this” but rather it’s having a healthy fear of God that leads to a desire to make it right so that you can enjoy restored fellowship.

5. It’s having an intense yearning to make things right with God. “such longing” Like with other relationships, when things are not right between you and the other person, you are miserable until you make it right. It’s the same with our fellowship with God. We have this longing to make things right with God, so we can have a harmonious fellowship.

6. Repentance creates a zeal for God. “What zeal or concern for holiness” When repentance is a regular part of our life it creates a zeal for God and a desire for holiness. We desire to be right with God and enjoy His fellowship.

7. Repentance helps us deal with our strongholds – “readiness to punish wrong” – Every person has some sort of stronghold that they struggle with. It may be anger, fear, unforgiving attitude,pornography, jealousy or anything you have trouble controlling or surrendering.

Bottom Line

Repentance is allowing God to go beyond the surface of everyday living and remind us of those things that hinder and damage our fellowship with Him. Once we are put into Christ at salvation our relationship is secure, “nothing can pluck us out of His hand” (John 10:28-29) Our relationship may be secure, but our fellowship can be hindered or blocked by unrepentant sin.

Repentance is our gateway to restored fellowship with God, When we have a sensitivity toward sin and practice repentance, we can then enjoy an ongoing, intimate fellowship with the creator of the universe.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)

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Heaven

The older I get and the longer I walk with God, the more I long for Heaven. I am not anxious to leave on the next load, because I still have some living to do. But there is something about being a “pilgrim and stranger” to this world that causes me to sense a gravitational pull toward my real home, Heaven.

When you add the volatile world situation, the declining political climate or the possibility of being the one out of three who will get some form of cancer, it makes Heaven look pretty good. But there is a greater reason for that pull and longing toward Heaven.

For the committed follower of Jesus there is a growing confidence and inner assurance that God has prepared a place for us that is our real home (John 14:1-6). This is more than just a group affinity thing, it is a natural spiritual longing because of who we are in Christ. The Scripture even says that “we are seated in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). We are already there positionally so it’s natural that we would have this physical pull toward home.

I believe the Apostle Paul perfectly describes this bent toward heaven.

1For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. 4While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 5God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
6So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. 7For we live by believing and not by seeing. 8Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. 9So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. (2 Corinthians 4:1-9 )

Bottom Line

Hope is probably one of the greatest attributes that a person can possess. Hope gets us up in the morning. Hope helps us look forward to another day and gives us something to live for. However, there are many things in this life to destroy one’s hope. That’s because hope in this world is limited and temporary at best. But for a believer our hope is based on an absolute. It is based on the authority and power of a risen Christ and His promise of a new life. Our hope is vested in another world that is perfect and is way beyond our deepest dream. So look up fellow believer, and put your hope in your eternal birthright as a child of the living God, because Heaven is your home.

For God has prepared, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man all that God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)

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Subtle Dangers

“But Martha was distracted with all her preparations: and she came up to Him and said, “Lord do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?”…the Lord answered…only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part.” (Luke 10:38-42)

In our walk with God, there are always subtle dangers lurking in the shadows attempting to get us off track. More often than not, it’s the little things, that in itself might be good, but in the end rob us of “the main thing.”

We see an example of this in the story of Jesus’ visit to Bethany to have a meal with his friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Martha was busily serving the meal while Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet anointing his feet with expensive perfume. Martha approached Jesus and and said, “Master, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me?”

Luke’s account of this event says that “Martha was distracted with all her preparations” (Luke 10). It wasn’t that Martha was doing something wrong, she was performing her job as host by serving the meal to her honored guest. But in doing something good she missed a divine moment. She could have been sitting at Jesus feet with her sister. This opportunity never passed her way again, for in a few days Jesus would suffer the cross.

Jesus told Martha, “only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part.” Jesus was not scolding her for doing her job as hostess, but He was reminding her that doing things for God is not what’s most important. In her busyness to do something good, she missed a historic and divine moment of sitting at Jesus feet and learning of Him.

In this story we learn of a subtle danger facing most of us in our endeavor to walk with God. We let “doing things for God” replace our devotion to Him. God wants our total devotion, surrender and abandonment. He wants us to “risk it all” for Him. He doesn’t want us to hold back anything for ourselves. He wants our time, talents, attention and our resources. All those things were given to us by God in the first place. But He wants us to give it all back to him in surrender. It’s not that God needs anything, it’s us that needs to learn the value of not placing anything or anyone ahead of Christ in our devotion.

Bottom Line

Therefore, the normal Christian life is to be a radical life, one that includes absolute surrender and abandonment. Anything less and we are guilty of drawing on Him to simply satisfy ourselves.

When we gave our hearts to the Lord Jesus, we became a soldier of the cross. Soldiers are enlisted to do battle with the enemy, and our life is no longer our own. We are to be a living sacrifice, willing to pour out ourselves for the sake of the gospel.

So next time that you are compelled to “do something for God”, remember that He desires our devotion more than He wants our service. Thats because true service to God flows out of a life that is fully devoted and surrendered to intimacy with Christ.

Oswald Chambers says it best in his book My Utmost of His Highest,;

“ The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him. It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him. The goal of the call of God is His satisfaction, not simply that we should do something for Him. We are not sent to do battle for God, but to be used by God in His battles. Are we more devoted to service than we are to Jesus Christ Himself?”

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Your Attitude Creates Your Altitude

Years ago I picked up a saying from my Air Force military training; “Your attitude determines you altitude.” This is one of those truths that stick with you throughout your life because you know that your attitude impacts every aspect of your life.

No matter what season of life you are in, your attitude is a key player in your level of contentment. Attitude is more important than wealth, education, good looks, popularity, relationships and almost anything else the world may consider important.

As a follower of Christ, your attitude is an indicator of your level of trust and devotion to God. Having a vast knowledge of Scripture will not necessarily make you a successful believer. Some of the most miserable people I have met are Christians. They weren’t miserable because their faith didn’t work, they were miserable because their attitude was rotten.

If you are a businessperson, your attitude will be a key element in determining your success, but it will also see you through a tough business climate. If you think you can’t succeed or make it through the tough times, then your attitude will be your downfall.

As a committed follower of Jesus, maintaining an attitude that reflects our dependence and trust in a sovereign God to guide and direct us is an important element in maintaining inner peace. Many times we can’t control our circumstances, or what others say about us or do to us, but we can control our attitude. A negative attitude is usually a result of your reaction to a given situation. We can choose to trust God, and believe He is in control, or we can choose to be fearful and hopeless.

When you live with a Christ-centered worldview, the normal response to any crisis is to let go and trust God to give you wisdom and peace. By trusting God in every situation, we develop an attitude of dependence. We have this inner peace that everything is going to turn out right, even though we can’t see the end result. Why? Because we know God is ultimately in control.

The Holy Spirit allowed Paul to use the word “Abba” when referring to God in Galatians. Abba is a term of intimate affection that denotes “Daddy”, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His son into our hearts, crying “Abba! Father!” Our heavenly Father is not only our God but also our daddy/protector who loves and cares for every area of our life.

Bottom Line
Our attitude reflects our level of trust. God wants us to love and trust Him so completely that our life reflects contentment, regardless of our present circumstances. Because we are loved, cared for, and watched over by our loving God, we should rest in the fact that Christ is enough. Remember, your attitude determines your altitude.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NASB)

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Will the Real You Standup?

There is an old saying, “The real you is who you are when you are alone and no one else is around.”

If this saying has merit, and I believe it does, then when no one is around, who are you? Does your public persona match who your are when no one else is around? Are you as sensitive toward spiritual matters in private as you appear to be in public?

I think that is one of the challenges of living the Christian life, that we are as consistent in our private life as we appear to be in our public life. We certainly don’t want to be known as “ who you are speaks so loud that I can’t hear what you are saying,”

Jesus addressed this issue in His sermon on the mount. In Matthew 6 He speaks about man’s tendency to “showboat” when it comes to good deeds. He said, “Don’t do your good deeds publicly to be admired by others…don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” (Matthew 6:1,3 NLT)

Further on in that same chapter, Jesus addresses the issue of prayer. He said don’t pray in public so that you can be seen, but pray in private. He said,“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly…I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get…but when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private.” (Matthew 6:5-6 NLT)

Jesus’ implication throughout this passage is authentic faith. It involves being consistent outwardly with who you are in private. They should be the same person. This kind of life yields transparency, authenticity and consistency. It’s at this point that our life becomes salt and light. Those we encounter will see real faith in action and it will draw them to Jesus.

Bottom Line
How do we make sure that who we are in private is who we want to be in public?

1. Live out of your identity in Christ. We have been given the life of Christ within us, so walk in that identity. (Romans 6)

2. Endeavor to practice humility. Humility is not a spiritual gift, but occurs as we surrender more of out life to Christ’s control. (John 15:5)

3. Practice surrendering your rights and expectations of others so that you can love and serve them without expecting something in return.

4. Practice trusting God daily and having a thankful heart. (I Thessalonians 5:18)

5. Make regular prayer a priority. A personal private prayer life is usually an indication of the depth of spirituality and the degree of trust in God. It’s not how long you pray, but prayer is the communication gateway to fellowship with your Heavenly Father. (Philippians 4:6-7 )

The end result will be “who you are in private will be who you become in public – a humble, authentic follower of Jesus.”

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less, and others more.

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God Has Not Left Us Alone

“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.” ( Ephesians 1:19-23 NLT)

One of the challenges of living the Christian life is laying aside our self-effort mentality. Somehow along the way, most of us fail to connect “salvation by faith” and “living by faith”. We know that our salvation is vested in Christ alone but seem to have trouble connecting that living for Him is also vested in Christ alone.

God never intended for us to live our life in our own strength. Many believers live with the attitude that they will “do the best they can to live for God and then if they get in trouble they will ask for God’s help.” But God never intended for us to go it alone.

God Wants Us Dependent
Nothing pleases God more than for us to lean and depend on Him for every aspect of our life. Matter of fact, I believe that is what the Christian life is all about – turning every segment of our life over to his control. Why is that important? God can order and direct our life better than we can. He has a master plan that includes us. We were born for a specific purpose, during a specific time in history. (Psalm 139, 2 Timothy 1:7-9)

It’s clear from Scripture that God draws us to Himself so that He could empower us with “the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead …”. We have as our daily resource the power of God. This power was not given to us to better cope in this world, but it was given in order that we could live above this world. That’s because God is not only preparing a place for us, but He is also preparing us for a place.

The power of God sets us free from the entanglement of the world, but it also allows us to be content in this world knowing that we are here for a purpose. Wherever God plants us and whatever circumstances we find ourself in, God is there in that moment with the full power of heaven to help us see our way through with grace and purpose. Therefore, our end purpose in every situation is to glorify God.

Bottom Line
Are you drawing on the “…the incredible greatness of God’s power?” If not, it’s there for you; it’s found in the person of Christ who indwells you. God is poised and ready to carry you to the next level of maturity and trust. He wants you to live daily within the realm of His mighty power, trusting Him to do the miraculous.

Many years ago I heard a sermon by Evangelist John R. Rice. He was preaching about prayer and how God desires for us to live at a higher level of trust. I will never forget the illustration he gave to conclude his sermon. He said, “This is what I think will happen just after I get to heaven. After I pass through the pearly gates an angel will usher me to a huge warehouse. He will open the door to the warehouse and point to the vast array of blessings. Then he will say to me, “John, these are all the blessing you could have had if you had just asked. “

God wants us to live at a higher level of trust and dependence. He wants His children to trust Him for great things that only He can do. He wants to move us out of the “safe zone” to the “trust zone”. That will only come as we surrender our lives to His control and then begin to trust Him for the impossible.

“Satan is so much more in earnest than we are–he buys up the opportunity while we are wondering how much it will cost.”
― Amy Carmichael

“Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” (Ephesians 3:19 NAS)

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Learning to Trust God

It was a glorious day when I made a decision to trust Jesus as my Savior. After the decision I had a deep settled peace. I knew that my eternal destiny was settled and that I was truly a child of God.

However, I soon realized the decision to follow Christ was creating a whole new paradigm for living. Before, my life was all about me, my needs and what I wanted. Now I was being called to let go of my life and trust God with all of my dreams, plans and goals.

Letting go of a self-centered life is not an easy thing. To be completely honest, I still struggle with giving God complete control. There is something about the flesh that wants to control and be in charge.

It’s an issue of trust. I think most believers struggle with this. We may give verbal agreement that we trust God, but when it comes down to crunch time, we had rather worry or take matters into our own hands than give God control.

Why do I choose at times not to trust God? He has never failed me nor allowed anything to come in my life that was eventually for my benefit. As I have pondered this question, I discovered a recurring pattern that keeps me from relinquishing control and fully trusting Him. It is called spiritual indifference.

Spiritual Indifference
Spiritual indifference is a gradual thing that happens, but left unattended it quickly becomes drifting. We wake up one day and realize that we have drifted away from God. One of the problems with spiritual drifting is you never drift upward, always downward. Spiritual indifference creates a downward spiral that sends you away from intimacy with the Father.
Spiritual indifference is a result of several factors, but I think its root cause can be traced to neglecting personal fellowship and worship.

Early in my Christian life I did the daily devotional thing because I was told it was something I ought to do. My goal was to get it done so I could check it off my list.
That was a big mistake. My indifference kept me from getting the spiritual nourishment I needed. I thought the Sunday sermon would be enough to carry me through the week. The only problem with that is I hardly ever remembered what the sermon was about on Monday. I found myself spiritually enemic.

Trust is only developed by spending quality time with someone. If that is true in building human trust, then its reasonable to assume it’s also true with getting to know and trust God.

When your devotional time becomes a priority rather than an obligation, you develop a longing to know God and develop spiritual intimacy. As you expectantly read through the scripture, you get to know the character of God. The more you know and understood His character the more you realize you can trust Him with your life. Surrender becomes a positive word in your life rather than something negative. Surrender no longer means you are going to lose or give up something, but it becomes the door to knowing and trusting God. Your spiritual indifference turns into a new level of trust.

Bottom Line
Spiritual indifference is the doorway to drifting away from God. Left unattended it can lead to indecision, doubt, worry and fear. But it’s an easy fix; it just takes courage and deciding to be intentional about regular fellowship with God. It’s making a decision to pursue God.

Remember, God loves you as His child. He accepts you and He desires to pour His love and His very life into you so that you will manifest the “sweet aroma of Him in every place..” ( 2 Cor. 2:14).

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)

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Your Calling

For almost 100 years, a huge piece of flawed Carrara marble lay in the courtyard of a cathedral in Florence, Italy. Then, in 1501, a young sculptor was asked to do something with it. He measured the block and noted its imperfections. In his mind, he envisioned a young shepherd boy.

For 3 years, he chiseled and shaped the marble skillfully. Finally, when the 18-foot towering figure of David was unveiled, his student exclaimed to Michelangelo, “Master, it lacks only one thing—speech!”

We are like that flawed piece of marble with God as the master sculptor. He meticulously whittles away at our life’s imperfections and makes something beautiful and useful. Like that piece of marble, we are destined for something useful, but only if we are patient enough to allow the master to spiritually sculpt us for his purpose.

Our usefulness is not necessarily determined by our public visibility or recognition. God often does His greatest work through those who never get recognition or notoriety. Matter of fact, the scripture says, “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful…as a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.” (1 Cor. 1:27-29)

The simple truth is God uses simple folks like us to do His greatest work. We are in the trenches daily, among everyday folks who are struggling to make sense of life. The Christ in us, manifested through our gentle and quiet spirit, speaks volumes without saying a word. Because of our testimony, at the appropriate time God connects us with those who need Him, and then gives us the words to say. We don’t have to craft a speech or prepare a Scriptural dialog. We depend on the Holy Spirit to create the opportunity and then fill our mouth with just the right words.

Bottom Line
If you are thinking, “what am I here for?”, remember that you are called by God for a purpose, and that purpose is to live everyday dependent upon Him.(Proverbs 3) The essence of our calling is not “what am I to do?”, but it is more about “who you are to be.” You are to be salt and light wherever the Lord plants you. You will be salt and light for different people during different stages of your life. You may or may not be aware of who those people are until they approach you and share their hurts and sorrows. But rest assured, when that happens, its God at work in you fulfilling your calling.

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 1:9

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Surprised by Brokenness

“He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:39)

Years ago I went through some of the darkest days of my life. What I thought was going to be the greatest and happiest time turned into days and weeks of deep hurt and disappointment.

During the middle of this situation I was an emotional wreck. Matter of fact, my wife was concerned that I might be having a nervous breakdown. Like Jacob in the scripture, I was wrestling with God. I couldn’t understand why this was happening to me. I had done nothing wrong to merit such treatment.

As I continued my argument with God, as to why He was letting this happen, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a sincere prayer that I had prayed months earlier. Leading up to this moment, I had been reading a book where the author asked the question “What means more to you than Christ?”. The Holy Spirit captured my attention with this question. It so occupied my thoughts that a few weeks later I preached a sermon around that question. After the sermon I gave an invitation for the congregation to exam their lives. Nearly the whole church responded to the invitation with tears and sincerity.

In the closing prayer I prayed a prayer similar to this; “Dear Lord, show me the things in my life that mean more to me than Christ, and then help me to have the strength and courage to surrender those things so that you may become my life in that area.”

As the Lord brought that prayer to my mind, I continued my argument with God, “Lord what means more to me than Jesus? I had surrendered my life to preach and teach the gospel. I was a faithful witness for Christ and I was doing the best I could serving as a pastor. What could possibly mean more to me than you?”

Then the Holy Spirit pressed my heart with this question? “Why are you such a basket case about your situation?” I responded, “Because I could lose my ministry.” Then, like a ton of bricks, it hit me. my ministry was my life, and I was about to lose the thing that was life to me.

Surprised by Brokenness
Beginning that day I had a new appreciation for crisis and trouble. I now knew what it meant to come to the end of myself and be broken. I discovered a new fullness of Christ’s life. Jesus desired to be more than my Savior, He wanted to be my very life. In my zeal for ministry I had let the work of the ministry replace Jesus as my life.

In hindsight, even if someone whom I highly respected had pointed out that ministry was my life, I would have denied it. It took being surprised by brokenness to bring me to the end of myself so that the Holy Spirit could reveal how I had slowly, but intentionally, allowed ministry to replace the Lordship of Christ, and the fullness of the Spirit.

Brokenness is your best friend
What I had considered my biggest hurt, had become my greatest blessing. God loved me so much that He allowed me to be deeply hurt. He knew what it would take to bring me to the end of myself. I was in a situation that I couldn’t fix or make better. God opened my eyes to the real need, and that was total surrender and abandonment.

Are you in a struggle with something you can’t change, fix or pray your way out of? Then take note, it could be the Lord attempting to get control of something you are not willing to surrender. The more you worry, the deeper your despair and the greater your self-induced unhappiness.

Can a person make Jesus their life without experiencing brokenness? Yes, it’s possible, but not very probable. Most of the time God uses our circumstances to bring us to the end of ourselves, so that we have no place to go but Him. Have you heard anyone say, “Well things have gotten so bad, all I have left to do is pray.” That’s pretty sad isn’t it? Prayer should be the first thing we do. If you are like me, I haven’t said those words but the way I lived reflected that attitude.

The flesh is a very strong component of our life. It fights every attempt of surrender and utter abandonment. So God in His mercy, and His long-suffering, allows us to get to the point where we can’t change or fix our situation. The only place for us to turn is to Him. We must lay down our rights and our expectations and give God permission to take control. Then acknowledge that whatever He allows to come our way as OK. That’s the work of brokenness, and it’s your best friend.

I often tell people that brokenness is both an event and a process. It becomes an event the first time your realize that brokenness has come to your life in order for Christ to take control. Secondly, brokenness becomes a process when your realize that you will have “little brokennesses” all along the way in your walk with God. These events will be reminders that there is an area of your life where God is not in control. This becomes your cue to identify and surrender, in order that Christ might become life in that area of your life.

Bottom Line
At the turn of the last century, missionary statesman Watchman Nee wrote a book entitled
The Normal Christian Life. In the book he teaches the principle that brokenness and surrender is the normal Christian life. In other words, brokenness and surrender are to be a normal part of our walk with God.

God’s intention for us is to live in complete surrender of every aspect of our life. Do you have the courage to ask the Lord if there is something in your life that you haven’t been willing to give up control to Him?

Remember this principle: God seldom takes anything away from us that He does not replace with something better. That’s because when you are in God’s will you are in God’s hand.