Skip to main content

Broken at Street Level

Colossians 4:6
“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”
We all seek improvement, we all seek to be better. When we find fault, so often times we attempt to become better in our own strength rather than laying our flaws down at the feet of Jesus. We assume that because the Lord has revealed a certain flaw to us that we need to fix it, but rather He wants us to come to Him at street level, broken, and willing to allow Him to be the vine in which His fruit flows from. Recently, the Lord has revealed to me the extent of negativity that I allow to flow from my lips into the ears of those around me. Hostile and cruel, I find myself responding in a way and a manner that is simply not glorifying to the Lord. I wish so desperately to have a humbled tongue, one that does not feel the need to respond to every comment with a seemingly bitter heart. But, Jesus says I do not need to wish, I just need to find myself in Him. When I find myself in Him, I am victorious in this area of weakness, because it is no longer me who dwells, but He who dwells in me, a victory that simply cannot be acquired by any other means. I soon find myself responding in love when I need to respond in love and the Lord humbling me when I do not need to respond at all. Of course, finding myself in Jesus is not a one time thing, but a constant surrender of what my flesh wants for what my spirit needs. If I strive after what my flesh wants, I am not broken before the Lord but attempting to be someone He has not given me the strength to be. So, Lord, let me be broken before You, being cleansed in Your blood and walking refreshed. Refreshed knowing that I do not have to attempt self-improvement, that I only need to reach for you. Let me rest assured in Your divine promises, that if I simply fall on my face in sincerity, You will be everything I need to overcome what overcomes me. 

Application
Today, I will apologize to my teammates with whom I have not kept short accounts with.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Overwhelming Conflict

Psalms 91:2 “I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.””  This past Sunday, team Uganda had the privilege to lead the two church services. From worship to the sermon, the Lord was present. Having never sung in front of really anyone to being on the worship team and having not one, but two solos, was rather frightening. In addition to having a spirit of fear, the morning of, I was faced with a myriad of conflict as a glob of toothpaste dropped slyly onto the shirt I was planning on wearing, I did not have a necklace to match the shirt I then had to put on, and I ran out of time for curling my hair and ironing my skirt. I knew the enemy was seeking to do whatever he could to focus my eyes on myself rather than on what the Lord was attempting to do in and through me for that day, but I was already defeated and left wondering how a day that had begun so terribly could have a positive outcome. I needed a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spir...

The Transformation

Mark 7:17 “There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the thins which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.” As I was reading my devotional this morning, it touched on something that I had said early on in my time here in Uganda: “You can’t run from sin because you can’t run from you.” Sin truly does live in my heart and it is only when I run to Jesus, who is the only One who can deliver me from myself, that my heart can be radically transformed. I can and have attempted in my own strength to change my heart, but this has only led to condemnation and failure. The Lord never asked me to fix myself, He has asked me to do nothing other than cry out to Him at street level so that He can fix me in my most broken state. That is how He wants me: battered, bruised, and broken because this is when I am honest; this is when I want nothing more than for the Father to fix what I have ruined, again. But, when I attempt to change what only the L...

Slaves for Christ

Romans 6:16 “Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?”  Slaves. Most people cringe at this word because they do not want to be owned by something or someone. However, what most people are not aware of is that they are slaves to their sin, which has complete and total ownership of everything that they are. But, where there is fault, there is always redemption. Jesus Christ brought hope to the hopeless so that they might be free, free indeed, from the chains that they are unable to break free from on their own. To be a slave for Jesus is to be a servant and I would much rather be a servant for the Lord than be under the ownership of the things of this world. Before coming to IGNITE, my fire flared vibrantly for everything other than God. I made it to church every Wednesday and every other Sunday - I worked ev...