Yesterday our awesome teaching pastor, Jim Laffoon, really gave us a great message to digest. Last week he exposed the lie “I AM A PRISONER OF MY PAST.” Yesterday he exposed the lie “I AM BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR.” There is no way I can capture all of the meat Pastor Jim presented, but here is my feeble attempt to share what I received.
Psalm 69:20
Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.
Jeremiah 23:9
Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.
Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
When someone has been severely broken, they have issues trusting, bonding, and loving.
Psalm 31:12
I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.
A person hardens his/her heart to hide the pain. He might say to himself, “If I’m going to hurt, I’m going to stay hard.” Bitterness can seem like a shield (to protect your heart), but once you allow bitterness and resentment, it moves from one person to the next or from one church to the next.
Hebrews 3:13
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Proverbs 28:14
Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
Ephesians 4:18-19
They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
Did you ever notice that the hardening of a heart brings DARKNESS IN UNDERSTANDING — ignorance and a separation from the life of God? A person’s continual lust for more happens if he can’t bond with others and can’t feel spiritual pleasure. Things get darker and darker in his sense of gratification.
A person might make the choice: “I’d rather be hard than hurting.”
A result of something being hurt or broken in someone might be the LOSS OF FAITH. He might lose faith and confidence in God’s purposes, promises and Person.
THE LABOR
The labor to healing is a process! The pain can be just as bad during the process of healing.
Jeremiah 4:19
Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry.
Hebrews 4:11
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Labor to enter into rest? Yes, we must:
1. REALIZE our brokenness.
Jeremiah 23:9 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.
2. RENEWAL. We must RENEW our faith by confessing, reading, and meditating on the promises of God.
3. Repent. Repent of the sins that have contributed to the condition of your heart.
4. RE-creation. God promises us a new, healthy heart.
Ezekiel 36:26
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
God wants to bring us to a healthy heart. A healthy heart feels, trusts, and operates in a state of being.
Hello Beth,
I think you did a great job writing about this.
Ephesians 4:18-19 was especially meaningful to me. I have had pain harden my heart. I certainly never want to let pain separate me from God because I harden my heart.
Thanks!
♥Hope
So glad you shared this with us today, Beth! Where would we be without God's amazing love?
Beth this is really good, what a great teaching…. I been struggling with a heart issue, so this really helped me thank you
Have a beautiful and blessed day 🙂
Pondering this message…thanks for the thoughts.
Beth, this was really great. Let us labor only to get into that rest that is provided for us by Jesus! Thanks for the great Word today!
So true. I experienced bitterness once, and it completely ruined me. I hope to never do that again! I'd much rather hurt than be bitter and let it consume me.
Great stuff here.
THe first step to healing is definitely brokenness. I love the scriptures here.
What a great post!
Great teaching Beth and definetly a Word that needs to be said more often. -blessings.
What a great message your Pastor gave and you wrote this so well. I love lots of scripture references because the Bible says it all really doesn't it!
Love Collette xxx
Thanks Beth…this comes timely for me…
what a powerful study. So glad you bought it to our attention. This has really touched in a way you have no idea. I hope you get a chance to stop by my one year blog party and giveaway!!
Awesome Beth!
Thank you. This is terrific.
Praise God He came to heal the broken hearted. I am so glad that this heart of mine has a second chance to be healed and mended on a daily basis.
What an Awesome post!! And Wow so many people need to read this. What a blessing you are to the blogging world!! How are you? I hope enjoying your summer 🙂
Amen, Beth! Hard, bitter hearts do not bring happiness. They only bring an absence of joy to the one whose heart is hardened.
A healthy heart is safe in the hands of a loving God!
Bitterness controls the one who embraces it and it becomes their prison. Thank God He has come to set us free!
ooops, forgot I wanted to add that clearly you should never let me loose in your cow pasture…..I might break your fence.
thanks for writing about this issue. being broken severly sure is a difficult thing to continue to heal from… i can't help but think of jim and pray that one day he can find healing like this. seems even more impossible for him than for us. makes me sad
Bless you for sharing this.
I didn't end up posting a comment on Monday but wanted to let you know I read it and found much blessings from it..Thanks SO much for sharing.