I cannot remember a time in my life when I have been engaged in so many hard times—all at once. It seems like just about everyone I know is going through the toughest time of their life. Trouble is not only touching my friends, but my family, clients, neighbors and colleagues. During the latest crises involving the hospitalization of my grand baby, I can honestly say that if I didn’t know God like I do now, I wouldn’t have been able to put one foot in front of the other.
But—I ALSO would NEVER had been able to know the powerful presence of God like I do now if trials had not broken me. Why? Because my pride and self-sufficiency would have alienated me from Him. We all need God’s presence; but unfortunately we never know how much until we’re broken. It is after we’re broken that we experience God taking over and giving us the fruitful life that He planned for us.
Lest you think I’ve lost my marbles let me explain. 😆
When an apple seed is planted into the dark ground, the tough exterior must crack in order for life to sprout and fruit to grow. The shell is nothing. The fruit is everything. But the fruit doesn’t grow unless the seed cracks.
Ah, my friend, the tough exterior of that seed is everything about us that is not fruitful!
We must crack that hard shell of self-will, self-preservation, distrust of God, or whatever is keeping us from laying everything on the altar. And—the tougher the shell—the greater the force necessary to break it. After it is broken, the seed has two choices: Grow OR shrivel into the shell and die. And even sometimes when we choose to grow, we still make choices that stunt our growth and fruitfulness. We must be vigilant to keep the poison of sin from attaching to our tree.
When that tough shell breaks it allows us to recognize our absolute and desperate need for God. We desire life with Him. In King David’s agonizing prayer of repentance, he said:
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise.”
Psalms 51:17
The part of us that resists God must be sacrificed in order to experience the meaningful and fruitful life He has planned. That’s why the Bible says:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12:1-2
Thus, our mindset should be complete yielding to God of everything we are and have. The physical part of us is dying and our possessions will ALL be left behind. But if all our resources are used to produce eternal fruit then our “living sacrifice” will be—our wisest investment!
The gift of brokenness frees our heart to experience extraordinary manifestations of God’s presence.
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Out Now – Essential Faith, Volume II. Find it on Amazon by clicking HERE.
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