The Breaking Point

“ ⁴ You have not yet struggled to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; ⁵ and you have forgotten the divine word of encouragement which is addressed to you as sons," “My son, do not make light of the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart and  give up when you are corrected by Him; ⁶ For the Lord disciplines and corrects those whom He loves, and He punishes every son whom He receives and welcomes [to His heart].” ⁷ You must submit to [correction for the purpose of ] discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ Now if you are exempt from correction and without discipline, in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate children and not sons [at all]. ⁹ Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we submitted and respected them [for training us]; shall we not much more willingly submit to the Father of spirits, and live [by learning from His discipline]?  ¹⁰ For our earthly fathers disciplined us for only a short time as seemed best to them; but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. ¹¹ For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose].” (Hebrews 12:5-11)

I’m sure you can tell right off what I’ve been through these past few months. I would almost call it a “Season” of breaking, because never before in my Christian walk have I been through a breaking process like this. But I truly believe this is an on-time word for someone out there. I’m not claiming to be the greatest authority on this subject (I mean it’s not like I’m the Queen of Brokenness!) but I have learned something that is worth sharing.

I have experienced times of what I would call “hard” breaking from the world and times of “sweet” or “soft” breaking from the LORD. And this breaking from God comes in the form of conviction. It is a breaking of the carnal nature, the flesh. Whereas the breaking from the world comes in the form of condemnation. I dare say most Christians can relate and would rather take the sweet, soft breaking of the LORD.

And that’s no new revelation to me. The revelation I have just had is this:

There are times I have received a hard breaking from the world because I resisted receiving the soft breaking or correction from God. But in God’s enduring mercy, He turned that hard breaking for my ultimate good. The lesson was still learned, only it was messier than it could have been.

We know that God’s word is akin to a surgeon’s scalpel.

^"12 For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

His word, if received, even in correction, has the power to “fix” you that you may be in right standing with Him (that is the peaceable fruit of righteousness mentioned in Hebrews 12).

But there are times we resist His word, we resist the truth, and therefore we resist God and His plan. Now remember, if you are under the new covenant, you are considered a son or daughter of God and He disciplines us for our good. Just like in our own families, there were situations where if I would have listened to my parents I would not have fallen into a particular error. But because I rebelled against their counsel, I got into trouble and often received the “rod” of correction (or the switch of correction, or belt of correction, and from some people I know the shoe of correction, lol). 

What I’m getting at is it didn’t feel good to my flesh to receive their "counsel" because it opposed my emotions. But it felt even worse to my flesh to get that spanking! Either way, there was a lesson to be learned.

Proverbs 27:6 says “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” I couldn’t agree more. Look at it this way, often we think that our parents are just trying to make our lives miserable by setting rules that go against our natural emotions or mindsets, and that the people who give us free reign to act out in our natural emotions or mindsets truly have our best interests in mind, but that is a common misconception. A true friend (or a someone who truly loves you) will not always agree with your reactions, or with your self-will. They will, hopefully with love, let you know that your reaction or will is not the best way. One of your greatest enemies, besides yourself, are those “friends” or “family” who encourage your self-destruction.

For Example:

A fellow student or coworker comes up to you and says something totally out of line:

“Girl, you’re looking hot!” or

“Man, your presentation was the dumbest thing I have ever heard!” or

“You don’t belong here, you don’t fit in with the rest of us!”

(Obviously, I’m playing it safe with the insults, but you get what I mean)

Your flesh wants to shoot back, either verbally or physically. Because the old saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is a straight out lie! Words hurt! They can cause deep wounds, and even cause old hurts to resurface.

So for the woman who is treated like a sex object, she is immediately brought back to a past incident where she was molested. Or the guy giving the presentation at work, who did his best and spent many hours on the project sacrificing time and money with the expectation of getting a much-needed promotion, now feels like a huge failure. Or the kid at school who would do anything to just “fit in” with a particular group is rejected and wonders “What is wrong with me? Why am I even alive?”

Those are deep emotions and deep emotions call to the flesh, begging for a swift and harsh reaction. And when we are hurt, our natural reaction is to cause hurt in return. However, a true friend will advise you to pray for those who curse you. An enemy to your soul will tell you to strike back.

Children of God are not called to react according to their flesh.

“ ¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” (Galatians 5:16-17)

Jesus tells us “ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;” (Matthew 5:44-45)

If there was ever a supreme authority on being mistreated, it is our Lord Jesus Christ as He walked on this earth.  The scriptures describe Jesus as being “despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3) And yet He was most righteous, never sinning, never reacting according to the desires of His flesh. When His flesh was tempted, He responded to it with the word of God. That very word available for our instruction, correction, and encouragement. That same word that cuts “softly” into our deepest being to remove the evil mindsets and fleshly personality quirks that do us the most harm. That divine word which keeps us standing as Children of God.

I don’t know about you, but I would rather have something in me fixed using a scalpel than a ragged knife! Or so I thought.

Recently I choose the ragged knife over God’s scalpel.

I reacted to a situation rather badly and I know it did not honor or please God. Was the situation worthy of the reaction? The world would say “Yes!” The world would tell me that I didn’t react harsh enough! But I am not a child of the world. The ways of the world are my enemy. I am a daughter of the Most High God. And my reaction did not reflect this fact.

Thankfully, oh most thankfully, God is true to His word and He has not left me nor forsaken me!

^"10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. ¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; ¹² As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. ¹³ As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. ¹⁴ For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103:10-14)

HALLELUJAH!

Yet, I have been through the ringer, all by my choosing. And it was a harsh breaking resulting in a long healing. But God, in ways that are only known to Him, has turned this “yucky” failing into a beautiful lesson, after my sincere and true repentance. Don't forget that part, lol. We must repent when we have strayed from the straight and narrow path. When we repent, the Lord is faithful to lift us back up.

I want you to realize this right now: God is not looking for a reason to abandon you!

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the LORD, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:10)

“Surely He scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble.” (Proverbs 3:34)

“The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart – These O’ God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

“But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2)

He is FOR you! God desires for us to succeed so that His glory may shine brightly through us in this dark world.

So you messed up……get over it!

“ ¹² Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. ¹⁴ Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶ lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.” (Hebrews 12:12-17)

Get over it! God is telling you right now to get over it, to let it go! “…strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.” So you messed up! So what? We all do at some point in our lives. Just turn to the LORD sincerely and He will receive you. God disciplines and corrects those whom He loves and if He did not discipline and correct us, then we would not be His children. So lovingly yet firmly, I say “Move on. Pursue God and all that defines Him! “Pursue peace…and holiness…””

And be watchful! Keep watch over your mind, heart, and soul, that you do not allow bitterness to take root and taint the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Do you know why it is so important to reject bitterness? Because it is like a poison. Once in the body, it spreads and destroys all it touches. Eventually it kills. Bitterness stems from anger and disappointment at having been treated unfairly. Bitterness only exists in the absence of forgiveness. And we know from the scriptures that if we do not forgive those who have done wrong to us, then God will not forgive us our wrongs to Him (Matthew 6:15). We also know to not let the sun go down on our anger (Ephesians 4:26). And we know that disappointment is just another weapon of the enemy. God reminds us often to not be afraid, to not be anxious, to hope against hope, to have faith, to persevere and endure, that He is in control, and that He has a plan and purpose for our lives.  

How awful to loose everything that means anything because we couldn’t let go of the actions caused by another person or of the unfairness of a situation. That “everything” and “anything” we could loose out on refers to God and His kingdom. And yes, you can loose out on spending eternity with God because He will not receive you if you allow sin to stay in your life. Sin separates us from God, but our Great and Merciful Father has given us ONE WAY around that separation. His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Follow Him! 

Our God is a WAY MAKER! But you must choose to walk in that way.

“¹³ No temptation [regardless of its source] has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word—He is compassionate and trustworthy], and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist], but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy].” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Press into God in those moments where your flesh is tempted beyond your ability to control. HE IS FAITHFUL and He alone has the strength to get us through the situation untainted by sin.

I am here to urge you: Stop holding on so tightly to this one issue because it will hinder you from receiving the blessing God has for you. And yes, God does have blessings for you. He is our Father and He gives good gifts.

You’ve been at a breaking point. Good! That is the perfect place to regroup and allow God to restore you, to remold you, and if you will let Him, to bless you. That’s why it’s called AMAZING GRACE! We can’t earn it, we most certainly don’t deserve it, and yet He freely gives it. All because God is a good Father!

So, “clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph! For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth.” (Psalm 47:1-2)

Give Him praise, because He is worthy! He makes the way where there is none. He restores what no one else can. He heals the brokenhearted. He lifts us out of the miry clay. He forgives us our sins and remembers them no more. He is our God and we are His people, His Children.

“ ¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! ² Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: ³ Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, ⁴ Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, ⁵ Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:1-5)

Yes, Bless the LORD!

May God bless you! Amen.