I believe attaining the high call of the Lord has two parts: Knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection, and to know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. I believe brokenness is the foundation for truly knowing Christ. His suffering birthed the longing of His heart, the magnificent vision of His Bride. Our own brokenness provides the ability to participate with Him in that travail, to bring forth His dream and consequently to know Him in the ultimate power of His resurrection.
“Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is My throne, and Earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,’ says the LORD. ‘But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My Word.'” (Isaiah 66:1-2)
There is a correlation between brokenness and humility and the ability to see and hear, just as there is between pride and being blind and deaf. I am not necessarily talking about the kind of seeing that is a prophetic, although that will certainly be affected because of mixture. I am talking about the seeing that releases an understanding of who God is and therefore of who we are before Him; of knowing Him in His ways and understanding His purposes and His will. Moses asked of Him, “Show me Your ways that I may know You” (see Exodus 33:13).
The Word of God declares to us that the sufferings that we experience cannot be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us! Brokenness keeps the flame of love burning on our hearts, whereas pride puts ourselves at the forefront. On the day that arrogance dies, the Lord will be seen high and lifted up and the train of His robe filling His temple as Isaiah saw in the year Uzziah died (also see Matthew 5:5-8).
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of His robe filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1)
Brokenness Takes Us Higher
There is great power and authority coming to the people of God that will be entrusted to those who have been prepared in brokenness and who have embraced it as the work of God in their lives. These are ones who repent with Godly sorrow when they see their hearts in the presence of a Holy God and cry out like Isaiah: “I am a man of unclean lips” (see Isaiah 6:5).
I believe there are many of you out there reading this who are being shifted to deeper levels in God through the door of brokenness. The fruit from this in your lives is truly magnificent. I believe there will be much revelation, sublime wisdom and an authentic and beautiful spirit—all with the fragrance of Christ!
“The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:17)
I love how the Message expresses this passage: “I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.” These Believers who have been broken are able to know Christ in the fellowship of His suffering. These people are the ones He will trust to know Him in the power of His resurrection. In brokenness, pride is shattered, and trustworthy safe vessels are made ready and are brought forth.
When Light Comes in, We Can See
During a recent conference I saw something in my own heart, an issue rooted in pride that I had been working on over the years. It was the pride of being overly opinionated without being in possession of all the facts. For a moment, it was if a burst of light landed on my heart highlighting the issue. I saw the issue with a clarity that I had not seen before and was able to see the many times it had hindered me in life. I was in a place of brokenness about this as I saw the many times God’s hand had protected me from sabotaging my destiny because of it, and His patience in waiting for me to grow in this area. I was broken because pride had kept me blind, deaf and unaware of any of this until that moment. As light came in, I was able to see because of the brokenness.
Since that time, I have had key moments of an increased ability to see and receive strategy and direction from the Lord—it’s as if a blockage has been cleared and the smudges on my glasses have been cleaned. (Interestingly, I recently had a heart attack because a main artery was blocked in my heart, and I just purchased my first pair of prescription glasses and can see amazingly well now.)
Prophetic seers must be careful to not fall into the trap of opinions. For as much as God reveals, we are never privy to all the facts. Only God sees it all at the same time—the past, the present and the future. He alone has perfect understanding! We serve Him with our gifts in humility and obedience, never going beyond the bounds of His instruction and revelation. Those who are careful in their walk before Him and handle His revelations with righteousness, become friends and partners of God, ministering to the heart of God and serving His love and care to humanity.
Brokenness is Actually a Gift of God!
As a consequence of seeing, we can choose to humble ourselves before God, seek His mercy and forgiveness for any arrogance that has kept us blind, bound to Earth, the flesh, opinions and judgments.
“For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'” (Isaiah 57:15)
To revive means: to make alive, give (promise) life, nourish up, preserve alive, quicken, recover, repair, restore (to life), revive, save, make whole. These are the blessings awaiting the humble heart. Brokenness gives us the wings to fly into eternal and supernatural possibilities. Those trained in brokenness will be transformed into a great army of eagles, flying with the Lord into the heights. They will be entrusted with eyes to see into the distance, given the ability to understand the times, to know like Issachar what is coming and what needs to be done. They will be discerners who understand the Lord’s movements and can easily detect the schemes of the enemy and the counterfeit. Brokenness sees and knows!
God’s Corporate Family
Twenty years ago, God told me that the Great Revival and outpouring of God I was looking for would come to a corporate people. In my immaturity at the time, I did not want to believe or accept that statement and was unwilling to wait for others. Like Joshua and Caleb, I felt that I was willing and ready to enter the Promised Land at the time. I was eating and dreaming revival, reading everything I could get my hands on! Zeal for the Lord was consuming me, yet there was little love in my heart. Twenty years later I am just beginning to understand that God meant what He had said.
Caleb and Joshua had to wait forty years for the old generation, marked by the old ways of division, pride, grumbling, murmuring, in-fighting, and usurping leadership to die off. They had to wait until a generation of warriors who had learned the lessons and chosen God’s ways of humility, came forth. Israel became a corporate, unified body that was beautiful in God’s eyes. Balaam who was called forth to curse the people of God could only prophecy the pleasure of God over His people.
“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel! Like valleys that stretch out, like gardens by the riverside, like aloes planted by the LORD, like cedars beside the waters.” (Numbers 24:5-6)
“He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox. For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!'” (Numbers 23:21-23)
The work that God has been doing in His people over the years, in His mind, has had one end in view—a corporate people who have become a unified Body in fellowship and in a love for each other that binds them together in Him. This is His great emphasis right now: the honoring and preferring of our leaders and each other, fellowshipping together, eating together, bonding together, and truly loving each other. This is as a foundation for the coming Harvest and the great and effective door He is about to open to His Body. As He has said in His Word, it is by our love that they will know Him!
Brokenness prepares the heart to express a love that is pure and authentic. It tenderizes our hearts and allows us to truly become a family—the family of God!
Faith Marie Baczko, Executive Director
Headstone Ministries International | Schools of The Last Wine
Email: contact@headstoneministries.com
Website: www.headstoneministries.com
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