Snippet: True Brokenness

Trina's Snippets
Brokenness, The Heart God Revives
Nancy Leigh DeMoss

“TRUE BROKENNESS:
Brokenness is not a feeling or an emotion. Rather, it requires a choice, an act of the will. Further, this choice is not primarily a onetime experience, though there may be profound and life-changing spiritual turning points in our lives. True brokenness is an ongoing, constant way of life. True brokenness is a lifestyle--a moment-by-moment lifestyle of agreeing with God about the true condition of my heart and life-not as everyone else thinks it is but as He knows it to be.

“Brokenness is the shattering of my self-will—the absolute surrender of my will to the will of God. It is saying, ‘Yes, Lord!’—no resistance—no chafing, no stubbornness—simply submitting myself to His direction and will in my life.

“Contrite is one word that is used in the Old Testament to speak of brokenness. That word suggests something that is crushed into small particles or ground into powder, as a rock is pulverized. What is it that God wants to pulverize in us? It is not our spirit He wants to break, nor is it our essential personhood. He wants to break our self-will.

“When we speak of a horse being ‘broken’, we don’t mean that someone physically breaks its legs; we mean that the horse’s will has been broken—that it is now compliant and submissive to the wishes of its rider. In the same sense, true brokenness is the breaking of my self-will, so that the life and spirit of the Lord Jesus may be released through me. It is my humble and obedient response to the conviction of God’s Word and His Holy Spirit.

“Brokenness is the stripping of self-reliance and independence from God. The broken person has no confidence in his own righteousness or his own works, but he is cast in total dependence upon the grace of God working in and through him.

“Brokenness is the softening of the soil of my heart—it is the breaking up of any clods of resistance that could keep the seed from penetrating and taking root. I believe one of the reasons many pastors faithfully preach the Word week after week and see so little fruit in the lives of their listeners is that the soil in many of our hearts has become so hard and fallow that the seed cannot penetrate. Believers with broken, contrite hearts are receptive and responsive to the Word.

“As wax or clay must be soft and pliable in order to be molded by the artist’s hand, so the broken, contrite heart is easily molded by the hand of God and does not harden itself against the circumstances God chooses to mold it in.”

“You and I will never meet God in revival until we first meet Him in brokenness. Our families will never be whole until husbands and wives, moms and dads, and young people have been broken. Our churches will never be the vibrant witness God intended them to be in the world until their members-pastors and laypeople alike-have experienced true brokenness.”

“Snippets”—clips, morsels, fragments from something

I’ve read recently…something that has ministered to

me or someone else. They are meant to encourage,

challenge, or cause us to ponder. They may even
cause you to run to the nearest bookstore and

pick up a copy of the book they are snipped from.

If you forward “Snippets” to anyone,

please send it in its entirety, not
deleting the ‘original source of author’”.

I Choose, He Enables and Empowers

God has been teaching me this big lesson lately.

I MUST CHOOSE AND
THEN HE ENABLES AND EMPOWERS ME.

So many times I feel defeated in my walk with Christ and wonder why the power of the Holy Spirit is not evident. Recently He spoke to me that I must make the choices (freewill) and then He will empower and enable me through the Holy Spirit to walk it out.

Sounds simple. =)

Scripture for Memory and Meditation #8

2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV
"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

Just a brief moment to post concerning scripture number 8.

I do believe that satan, my enemy, uses my thoughts to cause more havoc, defeat, and destruction in my life. First the thought then the actions follow. Proverbs 23:7 says, "As a man thinketh (KJV) in his heart, so is he."

To take our thoughts captive requires a conscious, deliberate, purposed action. I want my thoughts to be pleasing to my Father (Psalms 19:14), I want my thoughts to be true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8), and I want my thoughts to be of victory and life through Jesus not defeat (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Father, help me to recognize and be aware of the weak places in my armor where satan attacks my thoughts and in that awareness and in my choice to be obedient to you, help me to take every thought captive. All to Your glory and my freedom and victory!

Scripture for Memory and Meditation #7

Colossians 3:12 NIV
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."

Every morning we get up, wash our face, shower, "put on our makeup", "put on our clothes" and begin our day. Have you ever considered how much time we spend doing our makeup, hair, clothes, jewelry etc. so that we look good? For various reasons we sometimes have to go through this routine more than once a day. We put a lot of effort into clothing ourselves and there's nothing wrong with wanting to look your best.

However, God wants us to also clothe ourselves with the things that are of lasting value, things of true worth-

compassion
kindness
humility
gentleness
and patience

When these things drape our lives, we are moving outside ourselves and touching the lives that cross our paths each day. We are bringing God pleasure. Can you imagine for a minute what it means to bring God pleasure?

At the end of our lives, or even at the end of the day, will people remember the outfit we were wearing or will they remember that we had compassion for others, were kind to those around us, that we were sacrificially humble instead of selfish, arrogant and proud, or that we were gentle and patient when it was hard? Will they wonder were we bought our stylish clothes or will they wonder about the God that makes this difference in our lives? I hope the latter.

Each morning as we "put our outer trappings on to look our best" why don't we start a new habit of praying through our morning routine...

Brush my teeth and and pray for God to give me a spirit of compassion and to
notice those in need.

Comb my hair and pray for God to comb
kindness into the way I treat others.

Wash my face and ask God to wash away every trace of selfishness or arrogance from my life and instead fill me with a humble heart.

While gently putting on my jewelry, ask God to help me to be gentle rather than harsh or demanding.

As I put my clothes on pray for God to weave patience into the testings and
irritations that come into my day.

And why do we do all of this? Because we are God's CHOSEN people and we are holy and dearly loved by Almighty God, Creator of all things, The King of Kings.