WHY BROKENNESS is SO CRUCIAL
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
by Delwyn McAlister
I don't watch many movies but one of my older daughters insisted I
watch 'V for Vendetta' with her. It happened to be one of those
movies that leaves us wondering how much truth is hidden behind
the fiction. One part I'll never forget was when a young woman
(chosen to make a difference in a dictatorial, chaotic world) came
to a point of utter brokenness, which led to her raising her arms in
absolute surrender to the cause. As I watched this I was reminded
of the reason we are broken, and that is to bring us to a place
where we surrender our all.
The fragrance from Mary's alabaster box could not be released
until it was broken. To activate the anointing and ignite revival you
will need to allow the Lord to totally break the outer you so the
inner fragrance can be released.
Watchman Nee comments on this theme by writing, 'The breaking
of the alabaster box and the anointing of God filled the house with
the odor, with the sweetest odor. Everyone could smell it.
Wherever you meet someone who has really suffered, been limited,
gone through things for the Lord, willing to be imprisoned for the
Lord, just being satisfied with Him and nothing else, immediately
you scent the fragrance. There is a savor of the Lord. Something
has been crushed, something has been broken, and there is a
resulting odor of sweetness'.
Psalm 51:17 (NKJV) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A
broken and a contrite heart - These, O God, You will not despise.
The greatest need in Christendom today is not necessarily more
training seminars and conferences. The supreme need is for men
and women to be broken before God. Once broken we will be
empowered with divine supernatural energy and the anointing will
be overwhelmingly evident and we will be well equipped for revival.
During the Welsh Revival of 1904-05, the song that was heard
frequently from the lips of broken, contrite hearts was, 'Bend me
lower, lower, down at Jesus' feet'.
Peterus Octavianus, a man greatly used by God in the 1973 revival
in Borneo, reminds us, 'Revivals do not begin happily with everyone
having a good time. They start with a broken and contrite heart'.
Smith Wigglesworth believes, 'You can not take people into the
depths of God unless you have been broken yourself. I have been
broken, and broken, and broken. Praise God He is near to those
who have a broken heart. You must have brokenness to get into
the depths of God'.
Evangelist Sammy Tippett shares a time God showed him the
importance of brokenness; 'One morning as I was sitting on one
of those boulders and contemplating the majesty of God, nature
began to give me some answers. I noticed something very
interesting about the grass with fresh dew on it. The blades that
stood tall and reaching towards the sky had no droplets of
refreshing water, but the blades that were bent to the ground had
several droplets on them. That grass reminded me that seasons
of spiritual refreshing often come when we're bent and broken. The
life that stands tall and arrogant can't hold the dewdrops of heaven.
As soon as they hit a proud heart, they roll off leaving that soul
dry and thirsty. But Divine dewdrops rest on the heart that's bent
and broken. It's the position of brokenness that enables us to
experience the refreshing waters of life'.
Here is an example of someone who has shared his first
experience of being broken: 'The first time I can distinctly
remember the experience of being broken, I was about 18. At that
time I didn't understand anything about what was happening,
except that it was painful and it hurt.. Throughout the conference, I
was walking around like a peacock with his feathers displayed. I
was thinking,"My goodness, what am I going to do when the
conference is over? Everybody is going to want me. How am I
going to say 'no' to so many people? I am going to be in such
demand. What am I going to do with myself?" But when the
conference came to an end, I had not been chosen to be on
anyone's team. Nobody wanted me. The selections were made,
and I just sat there all alone..The next few days I said to myself
over and over again, "I will never preach again. I will never teach
again. I don't ever want to do ministry again. Nobody wants me..
That was the first time I can distinctly remember knowing the need
to embrace the cross. I began to understand then that my worst
enemy was my own stubborn, unbroken life.' The author of this
testimony, Mr Yohannan, became founder and international
director of Gospel for Asia. He has written more than two hundred
books published in India and six in the United States, including a
national best-seller with more than 1.5 million copies in print.
A number of years ago, an impressive palace was being built in
Iran. Part of its construction was a long mirrored hallway leading
up to the throne room. But when the mirrors arrived, many of them
were broken. To the onlookers' astonishment, the interior designer
started smashing all the other mirrors. One year later the hall was
open for all to see, and there was the most elaborate hallway of
mosaic mirrors, far superior than the original design. So it is with
us, beloved reader. We are a mosaic of magnificence if we allow
the breaking, and the Designer create what He chooses.
Psalm 34:18 (NKJV) The LORD is near to those who have a
broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.
Many people are tentative at the prospect of being broken, but let
me assure you from someone who has been broken again and
again, that there is blessing in brokenness. Without brokenness
we would remain proud, arrogant, selfish, and callous. The
outcome of brokenness is genuine humility and a total reliance on God.
'The question is no longer if revival will come, but rather through
whom will revival come? Where are the humble and broken people
who will allow God to birth a mighty visitation through them?
Where are the ones who are willing to empty themselves of their
own agendas and plans in order to become pregnant with God's
vision for revival? Will YOU allow Jesus to break you and use you
in the coming revival? Invite the Holy Spirit even now to fill you with
that kind of all-consuming vision and calling. Yield to the Spirit and
give Him permission to ache, weep and pray through you! Humble
yourself and repent of ANYTHING that would hinder or quench the
Spirit of revival! Ask the Lord to let you feel what He feels about
the state of the Church and the world'. -David Smithers.