Brokenness, the Path to GlorySýnishorn

Do we dare pray this prayer?

Most sincere Christians have at some time or other prayed this prayer in one way or another, “Lord Jesus, do whatever it takes to make me useful in your kingdom. I want to be a powerful servant of Yours and will gladly pay any price to bring glory to Your great name.” Really, we are praying for brokenness, but we scarcely ever realize it.

So, God sends problems into our lives, including suffering and heartache. He sends failures and setbacks that are uniquely designed for us. Way too often, we refer to them as tragedies. But the real tragedy is that we often get angry with God when all He is trying to do is answer our prayer. He knows the things that will most effectively shatter our lives – and whatever He, the most loving God, chooses for us is best; even though we would never have chosen it for ourselves.

Well-known author and speaker, Chuck Swindoll said in “Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life”: “What a strange lot we are! Enamored of the dazzling lights, and the splash of success, we seldom trace the lines that led to that flimsy and fleeting pinnacle. Bitter hardship. Unfair and undeserved abuses. Loneliness and loss. Humiliating failures. Debilitating disappointments. . .We resent those intruders. We treat them as enemies, not friends. We forget that those who are really worth following have. . .come through the furnace melted, beaten, reshaped, and tempered.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10: “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

When King Jehoshaphat was being invaded by a vast army in 2 Chronicles 20:12, he prayed: “Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

This is total dependence on God, and the product is worth it. Broken Christians walk with God like Enoch. They are friends of God like Abraham. They know the ways of God like Moses, and are highly favored and blessed like Mary. Broken Christians enjoy a special intimacy and power with God.

It is not our Christian disciplines like attending church, reading the Bible and praying that make the difference, although all are necessary in our lives. It is our complete dependence on God plus nothing. Indescribable joy is a definite by-product of following Jesus Christ in His way and in His time.

The process is challenging, but we pray that these devotions have demonstrated the beauty and value of God’s ways, and that whatever needs to happen to us, to make us useable by Him is more than worth it!

Thank you for completing this plan, we invite you to visit our website www.Biblword.net for more inspirational resources, and also to sign up for our daily devotions here.