Sweetly Broken

Psalm 51:17 (TPT) The fountain of your pleasure is found in the sacrifice of my shattered heart before you. You will not despise my tenderness as I bow down humbly at your feet.

As I wrote on Monday, there was a day that I prided myself in the hours I spent in the presence of God. I had very little patience for those who didn’t live up to my spiritual standards... yeah... it’s embarrassing to admit, but it’s the truth. It’s strange that even as we read God’s Word and spend time with Him, we can still be filled with pride & arrogance and allow sin to dictate our actions. I knew the way I felt was wrong and I’d ask God to change my heart. What I was hoping for was for Him to instantly change me by His power and might...

God operates very differently than the way we would imagine. There is a process He takes us through when we allow Him to have His Way in our lives. He strips away everything we lean upon for support other than Him and His Word. Then He deals with what we feel are our talents and strengths. You see, if we really desire change, growth, holiness, and humility, we must be broken. Every wall we’ve built up destroyed and our self-sufficiency eradicated.

Oh, He doesn’t do this to punish His children, but rather to bless them as He makes them powerfully effective for His Kingdom and unwilling to take the credit away from Him. This isn’t a process that’s taken lightly. It’s not something you pray for unless you are 100 percent sold out for Jesus. It is however the path to total surrender. It’s laying down abilities, strengths, crutches, defenses, independence, and self-reliance for total dependence on His strength, abilities, gifts, talents, and protection. When you come to the end of yourself through God ordained circumstances, you realize you are absolutely nothing without Him! Any glory you once would have taken for yourself is now given to Christ and your greatest pleasure comes from pleasing Him!

If you’ve asked God to mold you and make you into a vessel that can be powerfully used for His glory... don’t be surprised by the process... yield to it, learn from it, and take steps to draw closer to Him. He’s sweetly and gently breaking and remolding you into a humble vessel of beauty and honor! As He flushes out the impurities, you begin to reflect more of His glory!

2 Corinthians 3:18 (TPT) We can all draw close to him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being transfigured into his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

James 4:4-9 (TPT) You have become spiritual adulterers who are having an affair, an unholy relationship with the world. Don’t you know that flirting with the world’s values places you at odds with God? Whoever chooses to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy! Does the Scripture mean nothing to you that says, “The Spirit that God breathed into our hearts is a jealous Lover who intensely desires to have more and more of us”? But he continues to pour out more and more grace upon us. For it says,“God resists you when you are proud but continually pours out grace when you are humble.” So then, surrender to God. Stand up to the devil and resist him and he will flee in agony. Move your heart closer and closer to God, and he will come even closer to you. But make sure you cleanse your life, you sinners, and keep your heart pure and stop doubting. Feel the pain of your sin, be sorrowful and weep! Let your joking around be turned into mourning and your joy into deep humiliation. Be willing to be made low before the Lord and he will exalt you!