Family of God: Re: [FamilyofGod] God's Servants have to be Broken

Amen

On Wed Jan 19th, 2011 11:54 PM EST Michael J. Knight wrote:

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>God's Servants have to be Broken
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>
>
>When Moses was 40, he was strong in himself and felt qualified to be the
>leader of the Israelites. Yet in God's eyes he was not ready.
>
>Acts 7:22 says that at the age of 40, "Moses was educated in all the
>wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action."
>(Living). When Moses visited his Israeli brethren one day, he saw one of
>them being unjustly treated by an Egyptian. He defended the Israelite
>and killed the Egyptian. He thought that the Israelites would recognize
>him thus as their God-appointed leader. But they did not.
>
>Moses still did not understand what it was to be a servant of God.
>
>And so God took Moses out into the wilderness to break his confidence in
>his human strength and wisdom. In God's perfect plan, that training
>was probably scheduled to take only 10 years. But it took 40 years
>instead, for Moses to be broken.
>
>And so the Israelites had to wait for 30 more years - for their leader
>to be ready.
>
>God's plans can be delayed when God's leaders are not broken in
>time. God has an appointed time-period in which we must be broken. We
>cannot shorten that time-period. But we can lengthen it, if we do not
>yield to God's training. If we are hard and unyielding, we ourselves
>will lose much. And God's work also suffers.
>
>We may see ourselves, like Moses, well-taught in the doctrines of
>Scripture, knowing the whole counsel of God, anointed with the Holy
>Spirit and in our own eyes, as "men of power in words and deeds"
>(Acts 7:22). We may even be concerned, as Moses was, about our defeated
>and oppressed brothers. And so, we may imagine that we are well-equipped
>to serve God. But we are not.
>
>We may be eloquent in our speech ("mighty in words") as Moses
>was. The mere fact that others are willing to listen to us preach for
>one hour proves nothing, for people are willing to listen to political
>leaders for even two or three hours!! We have to be careful that we
>don't seek to do God's work with our natural resources.
>
>The more gifted we are, the more we are in danger of depending on our
>human abilities to serve God. That's why we need to be broken.
>
>The Israelites did not have confidence in Moses. God also did not have
>confidence in him to appoint him as their leader. How can a man lead
>others when neither God nor man has confidence in Him?
>
>We may consider ourselves as fit for God to use as His representatives.
>But God may not think so. If we are to do an effective work for the
>Lord, we must have the attestation of God on our ministry. And He
>won't attest our ministry until we are broken.
>
>Once Moses was broken, the same man who was once mighty in words,
>finally said, "Lord, I cannot speak" (Exod 4:10).
>
>How did God break Moses? He sent him into the wilderness. There Moses
>got married and had to live with his wife's parents in their home.
>It is amazing how quickly one can be broken when he has to live in
>helpless dependence upon his in-laws!! That was how God broke Jacob too,
>many years earlier.
>
>It was in Moses' home situation (with his wife and children, and
>in-laws) and in his work situation (looking after his
>father-in-law's sheep) that God broke him and humbled him. And that
>education took 40 years. God was willing to wait. And God's people
>had to wait too - for God's man to be ready.
>
>God is waiting even today. There are many places in the world where
>there are needy souls who need to be built together as the Body of
>Christ. But God is waiting for men and women whom He can find, whom He
>can break and prepare, to be used as His servants to build that Body.
>
>That is why we need to see our home and work situations as God's
>University. The tense situations that we face with our in-laws and other
>family members are all part of God's education process whereby He
>prepares us to be His servants. He is teaching us something more than
>doctrine in these situations. He is breaking us.
>
>But how few God finds who submit to Him, as clay in the potter's
>hand. Most trainees rebel and refuse to die to themselves - and so God
>sets them aside.
>
>What Moses learnt in those 40 years was not doctrine. Doctrine can be
>learnt in a very short time, if one has a clever mind. But it takes time
>to be broken. It is not easy to be rooted and grounded in small thoughts
>about ourselves at all times.
>
>We may not consider ourselves as important people when we are in the
>midst of more mature believers. But when we go to our own home-churches,
>there we can begin to think we are quite important. That's the
>danger. God has to break us so thoroughly that we recognize ourselves as
>the least of all the saints, everywhere we go.
>
>Remember
>Only one life, will soon be past,
>Only what is done, for Christ will last.
>
>The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
>communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (2 Corinthians
>13:14)
>
>Love & Prayers,
>
>Michael J. Knight.
>
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A-C-T-S/
><http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A-C-T-S/>
>
>What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.
>