Text: Luke 2:25-35
Memory verse:
“For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”
II Corinthians 4:11 NKJV
Revival is God coming to man in an unusual way, and its first result is genuine repentance in people. However, God never meets us in revival without us having met Him in brokenness. “…“I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isa 57:15). Did you see that? God sends revival to those who are humble and contrite in heart.
Through brokenness, God strips us of our pride, self-reliance, carnal confidence, and self-righteousness to become totally dependent upon His grace working in and through us. As Moses struck the rock at Horeb, breaking its surface, and causing water to flow out of it for the people to drink, so, our pride, hardened hearts and strong will must also be broken before the rivers of blessings can flow through us to others. (Ex. 17:6).
Through the crushing and humiliating experience of denying Jesus, Peter was broken of his pride and carnal confidence. This failure was God’s tool to break him and make him humble, dependent on Him and prepared to give leadership to the early church (Luke 22:62).
According to our text, Mary was favoured above all women to birth the Saviour of the world, yet this indescribable gift brought grief to her. Prophet Simeon spoke of her, saying, “A sword will pierce through your own soul.” (Luke 2:35). So, her joy was mixed with grief, particularly as she watched her son nailed and crucified under the wicked hands of men! (John 19:25). Yet, at that darkest moment of her life, when the sword of grief pierced her soul, the greatest blessing of God was given to the world. A Son was given!
This is the way God works. In bringing His salvation to others, He leads us along unexpected paths and sometimes agonizing pains. Our deepest wounds become the channels through which the most profound grace flows. The seed has to crack and break before it can grow. The wound or the opening that was created with the crack is the place where the light of God enters through. It is this light that becomes the life in us (John 1:4).
Friends, sometimes, failures, sufferings, the opposition of men, and their false accusations serve to keep us broken before God.
Prayer points
1. Father, please, break every hardness in me that the rivers of Your blessings may flow through me to others in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, let the light of Your life penetrate into me through the opening that the wounds of my failures, humiliation, and griefs have created in Jesus’ name.
Today’s declarations
1. I won’t resist brokenness lest I stop the rivers of blessings from flowing through me to others.
2. The wounds from my failures, disappointments, and griefs are the channels through which God’s grace flows through.
Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng