Has your walk with God become stagnant?  Is your ministry diminishing or dissolving?  Do you find that people don’t really want to be around you?  Have you become unteachable?  There are several reasons why these things happen.  One of those reasons is brokenness, which is what I will discuss here.  

If we want to experience the fullness of Christ in our lives, we have to allow Him to enter every area of our lives.  If we want to reach our full potential and walk in the plans and purposes God has for us, then we must be whole spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.  All three go hand in hand.  You cannot be handicapped in one and expect the others not to be affected.  Thus an imbalance takes place within us.  

Too often we close ourselves off to people and God.  Those parts of us that are off limits are the deepest inner-most parts of our souls.  They are the parts that are broken and wounded that have never healed.  Jesus, in His mercy, allows us to use defense mechanisms to deal with pain.  If we didn’t have these mechanisms we would probably literally go insane.  Not all of us can handle extreme pain when it occurs.  We also don’t always handle truth well and that is why we experience selective amnesia, denial or justification.  Christ allows us to use defense mechanisms for a time, a season.  Mechanisms are not meant to be used forever.  There comes a time when painful memories of the past resurface.  Or perhaps your behavior becomes explosive or defensive.  This is when we have to ask ourselves, “What’s my problem?”   

Jesus gives us the grace to grow in our walk with Him.  He even allows us to experience certain things including success in ministry, peace, and joy.  But there can be a time when a believer may come to a standstill.  At this point, you have to ask yourselves some questions.  How do you live your life behind closed doors?  Do you practice what you preach?  Do you tell others to love and yet when you go home, you are verbally and physically assaulting your spouse and kids?  Do you get bothered when someone tries to correct you or teach you something?  This signifies that you have areas of brokenness and need healing.  It could be brokenness from your childhood, a previous marriage, abuse, and/or trauma.  Apostle Ron Carpenter says, “When you hit someone in the arm where there’s already a bruise, you get an over-reaction. Wherever you get an over-reaction, you’ve discovered a bruise, a place that hasn’t yet been healed.”  Things or people begin to re-stimulate pain from the past.  It is easy at this point to blame others.  But the fact is that Jesus is trying to get your attention.  The Lord knows that now is the time to deal with these heart-wrenching issues.  He wants you to sacrifice those areas to Him.  He wants to be Lord of all of you, not some.  He wants you to be whole in your spirit, soul, and body.   

God wants you to surrender every broken part of your being to Him.  In Psalm 51:17 it says, “The SACRIFICES of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart-These, O God, You will not despise.”  In Hebrew, the word “heart” refers to the inner man, mind, will, understanding, knowledge, conscience, heart (of moral character).  When we’re broken, our mind, understanding, and moral character will be out of sync with the Word of God.   

We are called to be blameless.  I Thessalonians 5:23 says, “…may your WHOLE spirit, soul, and body be preserved BLAMELESS.”  The King James Version uses the word UPRIGHT in place of the word blameless.  The Hebrew word for “upright” is Tamiym (tameem).  It means:  complete, whole, entire, sound, healthful, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity; what is complete or entirely in accord with truth and fact.  We ought to be searching our soul on a daily basis to see if there is any wicked thing in us.  We then can repent from it and ask the Lord to heal us so we can make things right with others.   

Isn’t it time you pursue wholeness?  Don’t you owe it to yourself to experience the fullness of God?  Don’t you want to be effective and powerful when ministering to others?  Then it’s time to become vulnerable.  Take the risk of opening yourself up completely to Jesus for your healing and deliverance.  Find someone trustworthy and wise that can counsel you.  Become brutally honest with yourself.  Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”  You cannot reach your full potential until you have surrendered to the Lord those broken areas in your heart and soul.    Copyright 2010 Mary L. Weinstein.  All Rights Reserved.

Mary Weinstein is the founder and CEO of Friends with Purpose™ Ministries.  Mary holds a Bachelor of Theology in Biblical Counseling.  She is an ordained minister.  She is a certified Life Purpose Coach.  She is also a Bible Teacher.  To see a lengthier bio on Mary, please click here.