- Dangerous Prayers
- No comments
On Sunday we talked about three dangerous prayers; one of these was the bold prayer for God to “Break me.” What an incredibly dangerous thing to pray for. How many of us can honestly say that we are really desiring to be broken apart? How many of us really long to be shattered by the work and will of God in our lives? Brokenness is not appealing, but if you really think about it… being broken and poured out is kind of the point of Christianity, right?
It’s easy to forget the magnitude of Jesus’ brokenness for us. Jesus left the throne of the Universe to willingly become like us, just to be broken, tortured, mocked, and murdered on a cross to save us from our own brokenness. Jesus saw our brokenness and it moved Him to take brokenness on willingly. He became broken and poured out for you and me. Now when we look at the brokenness of Jesus on the cross, shouldn’t we be moved to brokenness for His sake? The Bible promises a challenging journey for believers in Jesus. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it (Matthew 16:24-25).” Denying self means making a daily, hourly, maybe even every minute decision to put away the flesh and pursue more of Jesus. Taking up our cross to follow Jesus isn’t a warm, comforting invitation, but it is where we find supreme joy and fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The gospel is an invitation to die to ourselves and to live for Christ who died for us, this assumes brokenness in us because of the brokenness of Christ.
I’ve heard it said many times before, “Growth and comfort cannot co-exist.” We can choose to stay comfortable, or we can choose growth in submission to the Father; even if it means heartache, pain, suffering and brokenness. When we are broken, all of our own strength and ability is exposed to be completely artificial and delusional. We know when we are broken to our core that God is in control and we are nothing apart from Him, His perfect strength, and His sustaining grace. I’ve listened to people before who experienced some sort of traumatic experience that changed their life forever, and heard about how their brokenness amplified the intimacy of their relationship with Christ… and as I envied their dependence on Christ and their level of intimacy with Jesus, I’ve wondered if I could be bold enough to ask God to break me. To make me more dependent on Him and His grace.
Asking God to break you is a terrifying request, but it is worth it. In our weakness and surrender His strength is best displayed (2 Corinthians 12:9-11). Could we pray for a broken life that would reveal our true source of strength, joy and fulfillment in Jesus Christ?
Pastor Josh