Brokenness leads to blessing. To receive a double portion of the spirit of Elijah, Elisha, who was a farmer, had to break and burn his plough. To demonstrate her love for Jesus, Mary had to break open her box of costly ointment and pour it over Him. To defeat the armies of Midian, Gideon’s three hundred soldiers had to break their pitchers, let their light shine, and make themselves a target.

The truth is, God has to break each of us in different areas in order to use us. What areas? Bad habits. Stubborn wills. Inflated egos. Evil thoughts. Crippling fears. Secret prejudices. Misguided ambitions. The list is endless. If you’re facing east, you won’t go west, so God has to turn you around. Sometimes that requires discipline. And it’s you, not God, who determines the length of that discipline and the extent of it. ‘No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening – it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way’ (Hebrews 12:11 NLT). If you’re a parent, you understand this. One child will collapse in tears, whereas another will defy you.

God will do whatever it takes to break your habit of of self-sufficiency! Paul writes, ‘Now may…God…sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Thessalonians 5:23 NASB). Notice that your body comes last in order of transformation. As a regenerate spirit living in an unregenerate body, you will always be ‘fighting the flesh’. What’s the secret of victory? Brokenness and surrender!