Today’s 333 Devotional: “The Need for Brokenness”

God’s lessons are far too often hard fought, not by God as by us. We resist by trying to work out all the details of life while ignoring God in the process.

This was the lesson Jacob learned by the river Jabbok. God literally had to break the hold Jacob’s fleshly desires had over him so the spiritual man God made Jacob to be could come out.

The lesson, however, ended up costing Jacob the full use of his hip as he walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

A costly reminder!

The greatest hindrance to God’s work in our lives is not others or Satan; rather it’s us, the natural man, or what the Bible calls ‘the flesh.’ The flesh and the spirit, the natural man and the spiritual man do not walk in harmony. Instead they walk in opposite directions.

Literally they’re at war with one another.

“The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.” (Galatians 5:17)

Since the flesh doesn’t submit to the spirit’s control, it renders believers incapable of fully and whole-heartedly obeying God.

God therefore needs to break the natural or fleshly man within us so the Holy Spirit can take control. For the Spirit to break out, the natural man needs to be broken.

We see this in nature. Jesus says unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it will not produce the fruit God intended (John 12:24-25). The outer shell must first crack open for the fruit that lives within to grow.

Let’s ask God to break us of self so the Holy Spirit can grow within so we can be everything God has created us to be and to become.