Worthy Devotions - Daily Christian Devotional » Brokenness

Mark 14:3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.

This is the touching story of how Jesus was anointed before His crucifixion. But there’s one thing about this passaage that stood out to me as I read it again. Jesus was not anointed with ointment until the box of alabaster was broken! In the the same way, we must be broken before the Lord so that His anointing can be poured out upon us to touch others!

We should never be ashamed to be broken. God will not deny a broken heart and a contrite spirit! When we humble ourselves in His sight and place our pride on the altar of sacrifice, it is then that God’s anointing will be greatest upon us. It will pour out of us like the ointment from that box — and we will be used greatly for His kingdom!

Let’s ask the Lord to break us where we need to be broken this week so that we might be anointed completely to do the great things He’s called us to do!

Matthew 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Jesus began His earthly ministry by being baptized in the Jordan river. The word Jordan in Hebrew is “Yarden” and its root is “yarad”. It literally means to descend, which would make sense being that the Jordan descends more than any river on earth.

If we truly want to walk in the fullness of the Lord, we have to follow the example that Jesus set before us. Jesus descended from Heaven, He descended from glory, was baptized in the Jordan and fulfilled the calling that the Father bestowed upon Him by being our perfect sacrifice on Calvary. Jesus totally and completely surrendered Himself to do His Father’s will.

We too must descend and surrender all that we are and all we have been given. We must truly give our lives, not for our own glory, but for His. Until we do that, we’ll never be able to see all the blessings and opportunities the Lord has prepared for us since the foundation of the world.

Let’s learn a lesson from the Yarden today. When we descend, we’ll be lifted up! We’ll see the blessings freely flow from a Heavenly source which will never run dry!

2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Did you know that when a bone is broken and then heals, that previously broken place becomes the strongest part of the bone? What an amazing thing!

The same is true of any of our broken places. The places where we have been hurt, have fallen and failed, and are afraid are the very places that will be strongest if we allow God to heal us. How do we allow this healing? We become transparent before God — we ask Him to cleanse us and pour His healing mercy over our wounds.

When we are faithful to bring our broken parts to God, He will be faithful to heal them. His strength is made perfect through our weakness!

Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Tonight begins one of the highest holy days of all the feasts of the Bible, Rosh ha Shana (Head of the Year). According to Jewish tradition, Rosh haShana is the Day of Judgment, the day when the righteous have their names inscribed in the Book of Life and the wicked are judged for their transgressions. It is a day to commemorate the creation of the world, the creation of mankind, and the Akeida, the binding of Isaac to the altar. On this day only the ram’s horn (or the shofar) is blown in synagogues all over the world to commemorate the ram that was provided in lieu of Isaac’s life and call us to repentance.

After the sound of the Shofar, many eat apples dipped in honey and say “shana tova oo-metuka” (to a good and sweet new year)!

For those of us who know Jesus, this is a day to remember our sweet redemption in Him. Every portion of Scripture that is read and remembered in this service paints a beautiful portrait of our salvation in Jesus our Messiah, Yeshua haMashiach.

This is a time of conception of goals and aspirations of things we desire to attain for His Kingdom during the next year. It is a time to pray for the world to unite and press forward under the banner of Messiah. It is a day of salvation for all mankind both Jew and Gentile alike.

Let’s take this opportunity to crown Him as King of our lives once again and determine to live every breath, every moment, every day for His honor and glory in this new year of 5767!

2 Corinthians 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Some of the wealthiest individuals in the United States are real estate developers. They make their money by buying a piece of property that is terribly run down, seemingly useless, without any value to the naked eye and reforming it completely, making it look brand new! These businessmen are not as much interested in what is on the property as they are interested in the land it’s on!

So it is with God and us. He’s not at all interested in what we’ve built with our lives — he’s not interested in our wealth or the diplomas we’ve acquired or the name we’ve made for ourselves. He wants to completely renovate us! He has a vision for our lives much greater than we can imagine. All He needs is for us to give up our land so that He can go to work and start rebuilding!

We’re an old warehouse, slated for the wrecking ball! And we have the opportunity to be renewed today. Let’s give Him our lives yet again.