Broken

What I am about to share today may not seem to be as encouraging as I usually try to be, but I feel in my heart that this is what the Holy Ghost was saying to me this morning. And I want to say that I thank God for the church and the pastor that I serve, because what I see this in most of the church today, has not made its way into the place where I worship.

In the book of Nehemiah. The city of God, Jerusalem, is in ruins. The walls are a pile of rubble. How did God deal with this? How did God restore the ruins? Friends, I want you to understand something about Nehemiah: He was not a preacher, he was an average working man. The only thing that set Nehemiah apart from the other men of his day was that he was also a praying man. God found a man who would not just have a whim of emotion, a sudden burst of concern, and then let it die. Nehemiah initially turned down the appointment, he said "no." But then he fasted, and he prayed and sought God for a word. The Word says that he "prayed night and day."

“Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,

And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.” – Nehemiah 2:1-5

Why didn’t anyone else have the answer? Why did God use someone else to restore the ruins of Jerusalem? Why didn’t they have a word from the Lord? Because there was no sign of brokenness in them! No weeping, not a word of prayer, they had no passion to pursue God for an answer, meanwhile the city of God was in ruins!

As I look around at the whole church scene today, everywhere I see ministries of the flesh. They are powerless, they have zero impact on a world that is on it's way to hell. I see the world’s music taking over the house of worship and there seems to be an obsession with entertainment, entertainment replacing the power and presence of the Holy Ghost by people who call themselves “Christians.” All over the world, the House of God is in ruins!

There is a hatred by this current generation of  discipline and correction. A pastor cannot correct any of these ‘daffodil’ saints, and if he does, they leave. Nobody wants to hear the truth of their sin anymore.

What has  happened to brokenness in the life of the believer? What has happened to brokenness in the  lives of ministry? Brokenness is a word you simply don’t hear in this age of self-indulgence.. Brokenness is a term that has disappeared from most of the church’s vocabulary. Another word for brokenness is anguish, anguish means extreme pain and distress. It describes an event when your emotions become so stirred that it is painful.

Brokenness is deeply felt pain, a inner sorrow, it is the ability to feel, and empathize with, the agony of God’s heart over the ruins of the lives of so many

So many denominations, and so called 'believers,' have held onto their big talk about revival, but they have become passive. All true passion for the lost is born out of brokenness! Without passion, all their big talk about revival is just rhetoric, it amounts to the promises of a politician - its empty! All true passion for Jesus comes out of brokenness. I f you read the Word and you already know that when God was determined to restore, He would share his own agony over what He saw happening to His people. Then God would find a praying man and he would take that man and break him until he could feel the agony of God's heart. Then when that man was broken, God anointed him to recover and restore what was ruined. That's what He did with Nehemiah, that's what he wants to do in the people of God today.

Does it matter to you today, do you weep, is there any passion in you at all over the fact that the Church, in so many places, is married to the world? It is in ruins! Does it matter to you that indifference to the principles of God seems to be sweeping our land and that holiness has become a thing of the past for so many? The church is in ruins and it is draining spiritual power. We have become blind to the spirit of the church of Laodicea, blind to the lukewarmness and the ways of the world that is creeping into the body of Christ!

That’s what the devil wants to do, he wants to deceive you into believing that I’m okay and you’re okay when nothing could be farther from the truth. The enemy wants to take the fight out of you, he wants to kill your passion for the things of God. He wants to keep you from feeling the agony of God’s heart over what is taking place in the Body of Christ. Why? So, you won’t labor in prayer anymore, you won’t weep before God anymore, so you won’t allow yourself to be broken over what breaks the heart of God. So, you can sit and watch television while your family is going to hell!

Are the words that I'm sharing getting through to you today? Is the Holy Ghost convicting you at all? There is a great difference between being broken over something and being concerned about it. Let me share with you what I feel the Holy Ghost is saying to me today, if it is not born in brokenness, if it has not been born of the Holy Spirit, when what you saw or heard hasn't driven you to your knees, if it didn't take you down to an altar and break you, if it didn't cause you to weep and pray and seek God – then you're just concerned, not broken. Until we are in agony, until we are emotionally destroyed over it, and all our ministries and projects and everything we do is driven by a passion that comes from the agony of God's heart, we are not broken over it.

Where are the Youth leaders that weep and are broken over the kids that they know are receiving the message of repentance and going to hell? You see a true prayer life begins at the place of brokenness. If you decide to set your heart on prayer, God is going to come and reveal his heart to you. And your heart begins to cry out – Oh God your name is being blasphemed, the Holy Ghost is being mocked, the enemy is out doing everything he can to destroy the testimony of God’s people. You begin to become energized and you know that something must be done.

Friends, I want to tell you what God clearly showed me today. There is going to be no renewal, no revival, no awakening, until we are willing to once again let God break us. We are living in the last days, I know you’ve heard that for years, but look around you and you can see in the light of God’s prophetic Word, time is getting short, it’s getting late and it’s getting serious.

I’m fed up with folks telling me they’re concerned, and then they spend hours in front of the television and on the internet, but they can’ find 10 minutes to pray. Come on, really? You’re concerned? There are some receiving this message today that need to find and altar and confess: “I am not what God has called me to be, I am not walking where He has called me to walk. Jesus, I don’t have your heart or your burden for a lost and dying community that I walk and live in everyday. I have become passive, I have allowed the enemy to render my ministry powerless. I wanted it life to be easy, I just wanted pleasure and happiness, but I know now Lord that true joy only comes out of brokenness. I repent and I ask you to restore to me the joy of thy salvation that I might become a testimony for the lost”

There is nothing of the flesh that will give you joy. I don’t care how rich you are, how big your house is, or that you drive an expensive car, there is absolutely nothing physical that can give you joy because joy is a fruit of the Spirit. It is only what is accomplished by the Holy ghost when you listen to His voice and obey Him and take on His heart.

Build the walls around your family, build the walls around your heart, let God make you strong and secure against the enemy. Is that the cry of your heart today? God that’s what I desire!