Broken

Many times we talk about being hurt and talk about being broken, we believe the saying that time heals all wounds, we believe that a few comforting words, a little sympathy will make everything alright, and we don’t seem to understand when people don’t seem to bounce back from something the way we think they should or as soon as we think they should. We believe that time should have healed their hurt by now, but what we fail to understand is that there is a difference between being hurt and being broken. And since we don’t understand that, we cast judgment on them and say things like they just need to get saved or let it go, because we never really understand the difference between being hurt and being broken. Children are growing up in a society that has pushed them aside, cast them off, and rejected them as being normal, acceptable, and viable members of the social order, they have even classified them as being called “Generation X”; with X being the unknown, so in essence they are the Unknown Generation. They are becoming what we have too much of today, adults who have no direction in their lives, wandering aimlessly, bound, confused, and perplexed. Some have been mentally, physically, and sexually abused. Feeling rejected, dejected, and alone, they are hopelessly waiting to die, imagining that everything will be over if what they have experienced to be life would just cease from being. Many people in society are being incarcerated mentally, physically, and spiritually. Although free from the human judicial system, they are regretfully imprisoned in a far crueler and ultimately eternal prison. They are sentenced with a life sentence of emotional emasculation, depression, and anxiety, low or no self esteem, and phobias. Some are on the habitual death row of deadly narcotics, alcohol, and careless, unsafe and uninhibited sexual activity. Others have been placed in a solitary confinement of physical pain, discomfort, and disease. They are being held captive behind these seemingly impenetrable bars and inescapable walls, being made to believe that this is all there is to life. So mentally messed up, emotionally emasculated, and spiritually lost, they are aimlessly wandering through life busted, disgusted, and broken. Their lives are shattered, their dreams are non-existent, their hope is gone, they are being battered by the angry sea of sin, tossed to and fro, bouncing from relationship to relationship, being drug down through the gutters of degradation. Their self respect has been broken, their esteem has been broken, their reputation has been broken, and their innocence has been broken. They are disappointedly unable to see that God has a far more excellent and abundant life. They are struggling trying to break free unable to come into the freedom that is promised to them. They are unable to understand that the price of their freedom has already been paid, they don’t have to remain in a broken condition, their shattered lives can be put back together, they can have life and have it more abundantly all they have to do is COME; COME and let Jesus put the broken pieces of their lives back together again. And this is not just our youth but grown folk as well.

So the question becomes today, has anybody ever been broken? According to the dictionary hurt is to affect adversely, to injure, and to feel pain, to become damaged or harmed. But broken comes from a Hebrew word called “SHABAR” and it means to crush into pieces, shattered, bruised, violated, not functioning properly, disconnected, overwhelmed with sorrow, raped, plundered, maltreated, and desecrated. So I ask the question again, has anybody ever been broken?

See when you’ve been broken spiritually, your body can’t take it if your mind is confused. If your mind is confused your body will break down because your emotions are not in check. Hair falling out, high blood pressure, diabetes, substance abuse, physical and emotional abuse. That’s why we look older than what we are. 30 looking 50, 40 looking 65 when we should be 30 looking 20 when we’re walking with God. You see a broken spirit happens when spirit attacks spirit; it’s what we call spiritual warfare and when our spirit is under attack we have to rely on a higher power, we have to let go and give it to God and have God to fight this battle. When we try to fight a spiritual war on our own, we’ve already lost and our physical bodies suffer. We cannot fight what we cannot see and even those things that we can see, we should turn them over to God. We wrestle not against flesh but against principalities. We are attacked on all fronts on a daily basis, the devil is busy; we are attacked on the front, the right side, the left side and the back, even those who “go” to church will attack you. Amen somebody. They aren’t washed in the Blood, because they come to shed blood. Everywhere that they go trouble and hell follow them. Abuse is physical and emotional and if you miss the Word of God it becomes spiritual. But I come to tell you today that God never sent anyone to abuse you. But what happens? What do we do? We ignore abuse and deal with it emotionally and it tears us down physically all because someone says that they love us. That, my brothers and sisters is not love because the Bible never mentions God’s children being abused. Love does not hurt others, or abuse them, mistreat them or use them in any kind of way. 1 Corinthians tells us that love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. So love will not abuse you or break your spirit but when our spirit is broken we become crippled, when we are broken we become crushed, when we are broken we become maimed, and when we are broken we become shattered. A broken spirit will wear you out. But tell your spirit enemy that you refuse to lose because the God you serve has already given you the victory. Somebody shout out I WILL NOT LOSE! I know all of you have heard the scripture “what shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Amen somebody! I come to tell you that if you heard that, you heard wrong. Romans 8:35 says, “WHO shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword.” I need 2 or 3 people to shout out, “NO ONE!” But watch this, Romans 8:37-39 tells us, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Turn to your neighbor and say, “NO ONE.” The beautiful thing here is that verse 37 says that we are MORE than conquerors which says that you are not just a conqueror but you are more than a conqueror and your victory will be bigger, your deliverance will be bigger, your healing will be bigger, your anointing will be bigger, your praise and worship will be bigger because YOU ARE MORE THAN A CONQUEROR through Him who loved us. We can do ALL things through Him that strengthens us because greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. Amen!