“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.”
― Vance Havner
― Vance Havner
DANIEL 7-8
1In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.(7:1)
1 JOHN 5
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
JOURNAL
What does it mean to overcome the world? I think it means that the world stops controlling us. We no longer are controlled by the emotions and temptations that arise because of evil and sin. It is not that they no longer exist, for they will exist as long as we are in this world. But God breaks through all that. In the midst of loss, brokenness and tragedy...God shines through. But we must be broken first. This is a hard reality and initially if fills me with fear and anxiety over the pain and uncertainty of the breaking.
Yet in order to be changed at the core...the core must break. The breaking hurts, it often feels permanent and hopeless yet this is the beauty of the gospel. This is where its power is revealed. In order for chains to be loosed, chains must exist. In order for sin to be forgiven, sin must exist. In order for death to be defeated, death must exist. Often I wish I could get the healing without the hurting. Yet this is a shortcut that God has not authored.
Embracing this truth changes us fundamentally. It does not suppress or change the fact that we are still human and will always deal with heartache, sin and death. In fact it makes it more relevant and part of the redemption story. When I experience hurt, brokenness and loss is when I am most open to God's power and love. In fact it is where God's essence is revealed.
This is where the road divides...do I seek the path of ease, quick fixes, instant gratification? Or do I follow the path of uncertainty, humility and sacrifice. Scripture makes it clear...if we follow God down this daunting path...yes it may lead to suffering and heartache but in the end we get God in all his power and wonder. We become transformed into the image of Christ...could there be anything greater?
Yet in order to be changed at the core...the core must break. The breaking hurts, it often feels permanent and hopeless yet this is the beauty of the gospel. This is where its power is revealed. In order for chains to be loosed, chains must exist. In order for sin to be forgiven, sin must exist. In order for death to be defeated, death must exist. Often I wish I could get the healing without the hurting. Yet this is a shortcut that God has not authored.
Embracing this truth changes us fundamentally. It does not suppress or change the fact that we are still human and will always deal with heartache, sin and death. In fact it makes it more relevant and part of the redemption story. When I experience hurt, brokenness and loss is when I am most open to God's power and love. In fact it is where God's essence is revealed.
This is where the road divides...do I seek the path of ease, quick fixes, instant gratification? Or do I follow the path of uncertainty, humility and sacrifice. Scripture makes it clear...if we follow God down this daunting path...yes it may lead to suffering and heartache but in the end we get God in all his power and wonder. We become transformed into the image of Christ...could there be anything greater?
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
ROMANS 12:1-2
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