Broken-ness: It’s Inevitable, But It Brings Us Closer to God

Broken-ness: It’s Inevitable, But It Brings Us Closer to God              Kelly Durant 

Psalm 119: 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments. 67 Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. Matthew 5: 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

2. One thing that has always bothered me about life was since I was a kid I noticed that when something breaks, it becomes worthless and trash, and that special thing is lost, if not able to be repaired, and it is gone from your hands into oblivion! When I was about 6, I recall I got an electric train for Christmas, and I was so excited. I watched it go in circles for hours, but that only lasted for one day! The instructions were to unplug the transformer when not in use and we forgot to do that, so it burnt up! The smell of the burnt wires, and the dead, once alive train, was gone. I was devastated!

All things break overtime, right? It is nice when you get a new toy, tool, some new shoes, but despite how much you like your new acquisition, it is bound and condemned to get old, wear out, and become trash, and be gone forever except for existing in your memory.

Because broken-ness and losses of all kinds hurts, few of us want to dwell on this subject. It really hurts when we lose a friend who dies. Notice that our own God created our psyche to be designed to make us forget our pain and bad moments over time. Our losses and humiliations of never having something forever gets buried deep inside; but those memories are there, like a scar that few ever get to see. 

3. There are many ways we as ordinary people respond to our pain. Often a loss, a breaking event, or a trauma totally reshapes our being and causes us to become someone very different from whom we once were.  We meet and observe all different kinds of people every day, all choosing to live in reaction to their past experiences of both good and bad.

When a person is overly aggressive, overly shy, or extreme in some way, we often conclude they are that way because something happened to them to make them become that way. Some people have gotten so broken in life that they just give up, they no longer care how they look, no longer dream to accomplish something inspiring, and it is as if they have died and are still walking around like a confused zombie. How sad, right?

But broken hearts, dulled brains, and sad indifferent cold personalities, mad at the world, are not in God’s plan for humanity! The plan to see us broken, suffering in pain, sick, and confused is what Satan wants for us! This is why Satan hates Jesus so much, because Jesus brings healing, restoration, and a new life out of the brokenness. He takes us like a dried-up dead looking seed, not good for anything, and waters with His wonderful Words of life and makes us spring back into life to produce good fruit! 

4. What we must learn through our brokenness, like it or not, is humility. People that have had losses, or been broken, intimidated, abused, and deeply hurt can respond in 2 ways, either they forgive, and God heals them, or they decide they want to be the abuser, not the abused, so that they have the dominion but then they repeat the painful sins done on them! 

What a sick evil abuse it is when a person who knows personally about a deep pain, that instead of wanting that for no one ever, they, in response, repeat the evil that they experienced on another. That is Satan’s demons getting passed from one victim to another! 

Just living life’s breaking realities will push you and me towards God for comfort, or these pains will leave us permanently wounded in a world where no love or sympathy is our daily bread, and prideful selfishness takes over.  Over time you and I either start getting more full of Jesus, or more full of ourselves, and people full of themselves, prideful like Satan is, are very destructive dangerous personalities! Their boastful stories are boring, and they do not see how others see them as they are blind to their sin, shamefulness, and pitifulness.

5. Here are some verses that spoke to me when I was lost in the world, surrounded by other lost souls. When I read Scripture, it spoke to me…It penetrated deep!

James 1: 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Like personalities in the movies, and by what I observed in people around me, I thought I needed to display myself with a tough façade, I needed to show myself to the world as strong, in need of no one, and arrogant so no one messes with me. But these verses convicted me to change! I was broken inside already, like most everyone when young, but to read I needed to be broken even more, that I should weep and be humble, well, I concluded the sooner I do this the better it will be for me!  I did shed tears when I prayed and sought God! True repentance is emotional, when God touches you!

6. Think of this, God’s heart is very broken over all the horrific sins in this world, and over our lack of love for Him, our creator, and the lack of love for each other. He needs us to be remade in His image, humble as Jesus taught us, desperate to share His salvation to this dying world that Satan is manipulating. Getting to know God’s heart will break yours!

There is a huge difference between humbling yourself, in giving your brokenness to God, and in getting humbled, intimidated, or broken by another. We must choose to let go of the past, to let the Lord do a new thing in our lives. God is in the business of taking broken lives and giving them a rebirth, but we must choose to escape the ways of the world and reset.

Jesus said we must deny ourselves, in other words leave behind all the pain, brokenness and baggage of who you think you are, and to take up the cross and follow Him. 

Luke 9 23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

7. The way of Satan’s world is totally opposite of Jesus way! Broken people without Jesus usually seek positions of power; power is an obsession as it brings them pride and the feeling that they are in control despite their weakness. But it is for nothing! Once their sins are exposed, no one respects them anymore, they become hated and despised! Like Satan, they want adoration and worship, but they are not worthy of it lacking holiness and love! 

Satan knows how to break and hurt a person beyond repair. Jesus can heal but the fight to convert over to God’s side is real as demons do not leave quietly! In the secret societies they perform humiliation rituals on their unsuspecting initiates. The elites and ‘principalities’ of this world cruelly manipulate, by Satan’s design, their recruits by abusive power plays. Broken people become vulnerable for demons to take over.

It has been exposed of late that all high-level politicians, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, and Satanic cult members get a humiliation ritual done to them. Their handlers make them participate in shameful acts such as making porn, consuming drugs, performing blood rituals, and worse! This creates a trauma from which it is very difficult to recover from! People become mentally insane puppets in their hands. Imagine the stupidity of agreeing to sell your soul to the devil for fame and fortune! How tragic! It leads to severe trauma, demon possession and those who want to escape it either go crazy or die (killed) young!

8. In conclusion, each one of us may have a good reason to justifiably be angry over being broken, over being abused, over being disillusioned of what one expected in life, but it did not happen. I have discovered in my years that almost every family is divided, almost every person hides their pain, and most every person will confess they feel lonely, rejected, and unloved! There are always hidden chapters no one wants anyone to know about!

Jesus came to love and heal us; He understands us as He Himself was broken! Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

If we have lost possessions, or family, been rejected and are full of pain and sorrow, those things are just temporary anyway, so we must learn to give them up for The Lord. Doing God’s work is what brings togetherness and undoes brokenness. Matthew 19:29 And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

9. By age 20 I saw through the world, how Satan has all the people here crazy insane over not being loved, over being rejected and broken. Most people have no one to turn to when they have an accident, surgery, or suffer a loss, like the loss of a loved one. That’s why as Christians we must be different from the people programed by the lies of the non-values of this world.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. In the end, He is the Potter, and we are the clay!

Are you broken? Do you need healing? Most of us are wounded healers by God’s grace! Do your family and friends let you down? Gain a new family in Christ by being a brother or sister to the hurting! Jesus was broken, everyone is, so let His love fill all the holes in your life!

Dreaming of Your Perfect World? Not in this life!

Dreaming of Your Perfect World? Not in this life! Re 5-1-22 Kelly Durant

A study of the life of Job, Elijah, John the Baptist    Jesus said: Matthew 21:44 “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” 

2. How many of you have sadly laughed when you have heard speakers, preachers, or read in books, that anyone with faith can speak into existence the dream reality they want! These erroneous ones claim that you can command God to give you the wealth and the material blessings you deserve! Just demand what’s yours from God! I pray the Holy Spirit protects you from such misguided ideas and theologies! Jesus had no place to lay His head and life here is not easy! 

Our reward is in heaven, so why should any of us worry so much about what we have while on earth? Everyone who has read the Bible knows well that Jesus was not rich! He exposed the rich young ruler as loving riches more than God’s will. Many parables of Jesus express that in this life we will have no security, and while building bigger barns we may die in the night! In the end we are all just unjust, undeserving servants and the perfect world we dream of is only going to be in heaven! Many people communicate with God according to their own ideas, premises, and demise of how they want the world to function around them, but this is not how God’s plans come to be a reality in our lives. This is my warning to you; life may not always be as you want it to be!

People, even believers, often forget how easily their selfish sinful human condition often influences their dreams and they live by their illusions to avoid the reality of seeing who they really are or in accepting their lot in life: It all is because of our fallen world. Throughout the Holy Scriptures it is clear, not one of us controls God, and God does not even control us if we don’t want to let Him! Did you pray for His will to be done in your life today? We pray, ‘thy will be done’, right? If so then this implies you leaving behind your plans, and your expectations and yes, your dreams as well! God provides for you and me, giving us contentment despite our surrounding conditions, as long as we worship Him and are obedient. Luke 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. This includes what’s in our dreams in the future as well! 

3. Jesus said: Matthew 21:44 “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Jesus is the stone. It is God’s plan for you and me to die to ourselves, to become like a dead seed so that you and I may blossom back to live again. You and I are just worthless rocks, but if we willingly accept getting broken and smashed open, then the beauty of the crystals (like in the Brazilian stones) inside will show for others to awe and wonder at. Those who never want to accept God’s broken-ness through Jesus will one day be broken beyond recognition and usefulness; made powder in His judgment.

I am addressing this because too many people lately have a misconception of God, that God is there to serve you and me, and in their minds God should be providing for each of us our dream world. The ultimate dream world will only happen in heaven! In the meantime this world is headed for a crash course! God has us temporarily here in this terrible place to be learning how to love Him, His Son, and others, learning obedience by the things we suffer, just as Jesus learned. Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Everyone must willingly fall on the rock (Jesus) and be broken apart and get humbled and remade and reshaped in life. Actually, just living out life’s circumstances as you wind on down the road will be enough to break you! But all the lessons and suffering will all be for nothing and wasted unless you capture the soul reshaping lessons God has in it for you. 

4. Consider this, due to our mental blocks, due to our living in our own idea of what the world should be like influenced by media and culture, and due to our resisting of God’s breakings, many of us may actually be living in a bubble or in an artificial world. Ask yourself, am I honestly being sensitive and open to God letting His mysterious plans work in me? Have you signed a blank page for Him to fill in?

Here are 3 quick case studies of God’s servants in the Bible. These are 3 people of God that suffered tremendously and it cost them but they surrendered to accepting God’s will. These great men of God had to give up different things such as their position, wealth, health, freedom, and loved ones. They were glorious and superior to other men for a season but then they suffered some severe losses. The life of Jesus is paralleled in these lessons as well. He was glorious healing the sick and raising the dead, but look how He was hated and crucified in the end! How he suffered with only a lasting handful of followers when dying! But all of these and millions live eternally in glory because of Him being faithful!

5. What does everyone know about the Book of Job? That Job had incredible riches but lost them all suddenly, that the devil wanted to tempt Him to curse God and die, but in the end due to his faithfulness God, he got returned to Him double of what he lost! Not everyone in this life gets back the things they lose!

This is a great story with a great lesson on faithfulness but remember Job did not know how it was going to end: to him in the middle of the trial it was the very end! Job lived in his own perfect world where he loved God and God loved him back, and God permitted him to be superior to others. Everyone knew God favored him because he had great riches, and a big family and a perfect world!

Many people live in this type of modern illusive world where they think nothing will ever go wrong but when it does, what a faith crisis and dilemma it is! It can cause a complete nervous breakdown! Isn’t God supposed to provide and protect? He always does, God wins in the end but only if we are willing to give up our idea of what He should be doing and submit to learn humility and love.

6. Job’s friends could not console him in his extreme pain! He had boils all over his body, thieves had stolen all of his thousands of camels and animals, and the worst of it was it seemed God had abandoned him! He had done no sin, but he was put to the test. What poverty and horrible circumstances! His pain was unbearable! 

Listen to this cruel statement, Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” When your or my world is coming apart what happens? Instead of getting support from those closest to us, we quite often get criticism and cruelty, and as the saying goes ‘people make firewood from the fallen tree’. Jesus had compassion on the broken ones, we should too!

Isn’t that what happened to Jesus? How can you or I expect any better in our life? Prepare yourself, life is long and you and I have no clue of what sickness, or loss of home, freedom, and wealth is to come. Just praise God to know that like Job that if you are faithful you will be blessed in heaven and maybe on earth as well: Blessings will happen beyond your own imagination and dreams one day!

7. Now take into account a man that was so close to God he called fire down from heaven on Mt. Carmel! Elijah was not only a righteous man but he must have been quite strong as well because he killed 450 evil Baal worshippers in one day! The evil Baal worshippers sacrificed to false gods and Elijah wanted justice.  

I Kings 18:22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 1 Kings 18:40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there. Never forget despite its unpopularity, we play a role in stopping evil!

After this great moment he had to escape evil queen Jezebel’s command to kill him!  I Kings 19:4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

8.  God provided for him food by the ravens bringing it to him daily by the stream where he lived alone in the woods. Maybe in Elijah’s mind he was supposed to be the great new leader of Israel. He just proved how God is victorious so how did his world fall apart so quickly? Once again we see that God’s plans do not always happen within our ideas of expectations. God deals with all things His way 1 Kings 19: 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a [a]broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”.

Reflect on what we just read here in I Kings 19:4, a prophet of God is asking God to let him die! Have you ever felt that way that you want to just die?! I know I have about a half dozen times! I have prayed like Elijah on a few occasions when I have felt like life is enough already. I have complained, “Lord, these people in this place where you have me now are horrible and do not genuinely convert, they are two-faced, I have wasted my life, time, love and effort on so many unthankful abusers, I don’t want to live and keep on doing this anymore!”

But in the end God wins me back to the right compassionate attitude! Everything is a process and conquering evil takes much time so each of us must be patient when God has us in a time out. Jezebel was killed not long afterwards and Elijah lived to do more miracles! Encouragement comes, we have to pray and just wait!

9. Now the last person we will look at who reached the bottom and was disillusioned with reality and what should have been while rotting away in a shattered world was John the Baptist. He was truly brave and countered the corrupt system, even telling Herod it was unlawful for him to have his brother’s wife. In a time when the Romans would kill you for anything, he certainly had audacity to start up what would be considered a “holiness sect” today. He had a few faithful friends and followers in the desert who preached with him about repentance and holy living (as we Salvationists preach) and they water baptized as an expression of a desire to live for God with a clean spirit. Remember John made it known that Jesus would baptize His followers with ‘spirit and fire’! 

He was God’s man for that hour but his mission was short lived. Jesus even said that he was one of the greatest! Matthew 11:11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

But when John was in prison he was not living in the world he thought he should be living in! He asked himself, “Was Jesus real, was it all in vain?” Matt 11: 2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples. 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” What an absurd question! John saw the heavens open and the Holy Ghost spoke, Matthew 3:17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

John was human and became confused and discouraged in the loneliness and isolation. It can happen to anyone of us! John had no clue he was going to lose his head over an exotic dance as a revenge on him from Herod’s wife. An early promotion to glory in heaven was what God knew was best for him! We must all be willing to accept God’s will, and we must accept God’s will as in Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

10. I get encouraged when I read these types of stories of the lives of the people of God! No person of faith has ever had life easy, and if your life is easy, and you are not suffering persecution for Christ’s sake as most have, just accept it as a blessing because may happen one day! John Wesley, the first Methodist who preached over 40,000 sermons in his lifetime came to the U. S. in Georgia for a time, but he failed to convert anyone after a few thousand sermons in America and be able to start a mission! How discouraging after being so successful in England! Only after his death did his Methodists churches really take root in Georgia and everywhere else in the USA. I am sure he dreamed to see America convert to Christ, but he suffered sadly to not see his dreams come true! I can relate to his suffering as a disillusioned dreamer who has frustratingly not seen enough people in the world follow Jesus and obey His mission of love & salvation!

The reality is the world will never be as you and I want it to be! All of us are subject to the will of God and often the evil ones in this world changes everyone’s plans! Having reviewed all this, don’t you agree that none of us should create in our minds dreams or plans for a perfect world, of a perfect Corps or church, of perfect leaders, or of a world getting better in general as it may not happen!

It is better to just not dream for anything! God will give you more than what you could ever dream of in heaven! Another reality on earth is that not all is suffering; there are happy fulfilling times as well! Many of them! 

How much obedience do you and I have, how much of our dreams are the dreams of the Lord? Are you letting God break you open so you are useful? The dreams in your mind for the future need to be laid on the altar of sacrifice! Are you willing to give up your world in God’s hands today? Every person of God, even Jesus, had to give up all, and now He and mega millions live in eternal glory! Come, forget the past and don’t worry about the future, confess your weaknesses, fears, and dreams, let God’s will be done in you!

Our reward is in heaven, so why should any of us worry so much about what we have while on earth?! Everyone who has read the Bible knows well that Jesus was not rich! He exposed the rich young ruler as loving riches more than God’s will. Many parables of Jesus express that in this life we will have no security, and while building bigger barns we may die in the night! In the end we are all just unjust, undeserving servants and the perfect world we dream of is only going to be in heaven.  KD