Divisions that exist between some appear to be as deep as chasms. In fact, many have reached a virtual crossroads, eagerly expecting a Word from the Lord, and hoping that this will heal up the breach and bring forth a great deal of blessing.
What is the reason for the division which exists between those of one opinion and level of perception, and those of another? Is there a state of disunity? Is there a generation gap—a separation between the older and younger generations? Is there a conflict between the pastors and their Timothys? A thousand reasons could present themselves as being significant, but in reality none of them is because we are actually not so far apart. However, one fact must be understood. We will continue to have greater and greater ruptures within and among the churches until one thing is learned and learned well: It does not matter how many various approaches or opinions we have; the basis of our moving on with God, the basis of all revelation, is a right spirit before the Lord.
The Babylon of today is the traditional religious system; and as we come out of Babylon, the traditional approach to worship is taken away from us. Yet it is amazing how God has not allowed a vacuum or a dead space to result, but has prepared fertile hearts which are versatile, flexible, and ready to move into all that He has for them.
Whenever there is dissension or trouble within a church, it is related more to something that happened to the spirits of the people than to any other factor. I rather doubt that any amount of preaching could correct it.
For instance, in a church where a great deal of gossip exists, the pastor might preach for six months on the evils of gossip, and still the church would continue gossiping. His preaching would be ineffective in this situation because gossip and criticism are present in the hearts of the people. It is a state of spirit.
Once the heart becomes bitter and critical, the ears no longer hear what God is saying. If the angel Gabriel came down and preached the finest sermon, even he would not be effective if the ears of those listening were shut because of a bitter spirit. However, when someone has a broken spirit, his heart seems to open up readily to God. In the sight of God, that broken spirit is of great price (Psalm 51:16–17). A broken spirit is more important than you can possibly imagine.
Two passages in Isaiah tell about God’s special dwelling place. Isaiah 66:1–2: Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.” Isaiah 57:15: For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
In these passages from Isaiah, we read how God dwells in a high and holy place—the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him; yet He also dwells with the contrite and broken spirit. There is one thing God will always honor, a broken spirit. No matter what they have experienced, how much they disagree with one another, how many problems they have, or how much confusion they are under, the day a church reaches a common level of a broken spirit before the Lord is the day they move on with God.
It does not make any difference how right or wrong anyone may be. A church could be divided, with fifty percent of its members right and fifty percent wrong, but that would be immaterial. When their spirits are broken before the Lord and the last dregs of bitterness are drained away, He begins blessing and dwelling in that place. He says, “This is the people I will live with. I will dwell with those who have a contrite, broken, humble spirit before Me. These are the ones I will meet” (Isaiah 57:15). Those with a broken spirit may have far less revelation of the great truths of the hour and far less revelation in the Word than many others; but technical doctrines and teachings are not enough. What is needed is a broken spirit before the Lord.
Notice that Isaiah 66:7–9 makes further reference to those with whom the Lord dwells—this Zion who is humbled before God and of whom He says, “I will dwell with her” (Isaiah 66:1–2). “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons. Shall I bring to the point of birth, and not give delivery?” says the Lord. “Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?” says your God. Isaiah 66:7–9.
This passage is far different from the cry in Isaiah 37:3, that children had come to birth but there was no strength to deliver. That was what they experienced when their hearts were arrogant. Quite another thing is prophesied for them when their hearts are humble and God dwells with them. That is the hour when they will be fruitful. Zion will travail and bring forth her children. When we are broken before the Lord, we are fruitful. We will bring forth sons of God when we are broken in our spirit.
There is a reason why churches hit impasses. There is a reason why more people are not brought into the Kingdom of God. You can say, “I know why. If we disposed of our drums, new people would not be driven off by the noise.” That has little or nothing to do with it. One of the most reckless expressions in the history of the church came forth in England near the end of the nineteenth century. The Salvation Army, like a military band, stood on a street corner and beat on a big drum: “Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!” It made a travesty of established religion. Undoubtedly they were instrumental in destroying much of the religiosity of that day. The Church of England strongly persecuted the ministry of William Booth. Often, when the band played on the streets, people would throw rotten eggs at them.
Nevertheless, “Boom! Boom! Boom!” went the drum, and people who would not even step inside any other kind of church found God for the first time.
If there is within you the love and compassion, the tenderness and brokenness that reaches others, they will be drawn to you. You could not force them away. On the other hand, you can have the finest program in the world, but no one will be brought in by it if contention or bitterness of spirit exists among you. New ones seem to sense it automatically; they are turned off by it. There will be no fruitfulness except in the midst of a people with a broken spirit before the Lord.
It is wonderful that we are intense in our intercession. However, let me warn you that no matter what we do to obey God, it becomes effective only when we have a broken spirit before the Lord. Without it, intercession eventually could become very much a form, merely a pattern that God has given us. If you do not have a brokenness before the Lord, you are not giving Him the sacrifice that He really seeks (Psalm 51:17). God says, “I will dwell in the midst of that broken spirit” (Isaiah 57:15). According to the world’s evaluation of what makes a winner, you can do everything wrong; yet you will still win if you have a broken spirit before the Lord.
Do you believe that what you need now is personal ministry, or prophecies over your life, or a fresh commission? Probably you do need this very much. Yet it is a little disturbing that too many who have had hands laid upon them, who have received commissions and directive prophecies—and not merely from an outside source which they may have questioned, but Words to their own heart confirmed independently time and time again—eventually are stalemated, and wonder why they do not grow, why they do not break through. The problem is in their own spirit. A bitter spirit has cut off all the power and blessing that the Lord would bring to them.
This cannot be stressed enough. Even in previous generations, this pattern of bitterness repeatedly occurred. We can use the example of a hypothetical preacher who labored in a denominational church for many years. He tried to be faithful before God. He went through many difficulties trying to preach the Word. He had to do without even the necessities of life. His congregation did not support him or treat him properly at all. No one seemed to appreciate him. Before long, he became bitter. And in becoming bitter, it was not long before he was sitting on the sidelines without any ministry. Remarkably, this man who had once walked with God and had visitations from God, who had received Words and visions and revelations from the Lord, was now sitting on the sidelines with no more visions and no more revelations. He could not understand why. It appeared that God had turned against him. Nothing seemed to work for him anymore. Of course nothing worked anymore! Yet many ministers have gone into this state, bitter in heart, with the heavens shut up against them. They have lived and died without ever coming out of it! A bitter spirit is one of the most potent instruments Satan has. If he cannot convince you that the truths of this walk are not real, he will try to make your spirit bitter so that those truths will not be fulfilled in your life.
The opposite of a bitter spirit is a broken spirit before the Lord. How can you know whether or not you have a broken spirit? As you read this message, ponder in your heart if you truly have a broken spirit. Perhaps no one has ever challenged you on that before. Perhaps you have not had the realization that a broken spirit is the key to moving on in the Lord, of breaking every impasse, of loosing yourself from the barriers that hold you back. “No, no, no,” you say. “It is all of these other things. I have so many problems that have to be overcome, because of what people have said and done to me.” Believe me—your problems are not your problem! The way your spirit reacts to your problems is the problem.
Two men can experience the same hardship. Yet for one, that experience is absolutely pointless, because afterwards he is bitter; and he blames the experience for it. Actually, all that the experience did was highlight the spirit that was in him. The other man will come through the ordeal worshiping God and drawing near unto Him, because he has a broken spirit. A broken spirit is not challenged or threatened; it is not defensive. It reaches into God. A broken spirit comes out a pure winner every time.
What is the point of all the testings you experience? You are only hurting yourself if, after all you go through, you become a critical, bitter person. You have literally positioned yourself in a place of defeat. On the other hand, you cannot stop a man who is a winner.
A good example of a winner is Joseph. Imagine yourself in Joseph’s place. You had a big family of brothers who hated you so badly that they actually maneuvered to sell you into slavery. Then as a slave, when you simply tried to maintain some sense of moral integrity, you were imprisoned and forgotten. Even though you knew that God still loved you, would you not tend to become even a little bitter? How could they do this to you? You were a prophet of God! You prophesied one man’s release by interpreting his dream, and you only requested, “When you are out, please remember me.” Instead, you were completely forgotten (Genesis 37–40).
The day of release finally did come, however; and for Joseph, the throne of Egypt was only one step away from that dungeon (Genesis 41:25–44). His own brothers came and knelt at his feet to obtain food (Genesis 42:1–6). After Joseph had revealed himself to them, his brothers said, “Surely now he will kill us!” (Genesis 45:3; 50:15.) But Joseph had a broken spirit. After all those years of mistreatment, there was absolutely no bitterness in him. He wept because of his love for his brothers (Genesis 45:1–2, 14–15). He said, “You meant what you did for evil, but God meant it for good to save many people alive” (Genesis 50:15–20). What a fantastic spirit he had! Nothing could stop that spirit!
Think of all the men and women of the Scriptures who could have been bitter in spirit over what happened to them. For casting a demon out of a woman in Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned. Yet they sang some beautiful songs filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and an earthquake broke open every door of the prison and unfastened their chains (Acts 16:16–26).
It actually makes little difference what gifts and ministries of the Spirit you seem to have; if your spirit becomes bitter, they will not work. The more bitter you become, the more the level of pure perception you have decreases. You become blinded. You become locked into your own bitterness. How true this is. We have seen many who truly had a good spirit, who had a very pure revelation of the Lord, who moved in amazing gifts of revelation and perception. But when their spirits grew bitter, their revelation became distorted. Your perception decreases to the degree that a pure, broken spirit diminishes.
Are you beginning to see how this brokenness of spirit is exactly what we need to bring us into the unity God wants? A broken spirit is neither aggressive nor regressive; it simply follows on with the Lord. A broken spirit is a wonderful thing, because it positions you directly in the flow of genuine obedience to God.
If you come through certain problems and difficult experiences with a broken spirit and a heart that is truly right before the Lord and not bitter at all, you will draw conclusions from your experiences which are entirely different from those of a man who does not have a broken spirit. Even someone who does not go through those experiences, but merely observes them, will have a distorted view of what it is all about.
The story of Job is a perfect example. God said of him, “His ways are perfect before Me” (Job 1:8). Yet the Lord allowed him to be stripped down. His family and all his possessions were wiped out (Job 1:13–19). His own life hung by a thread (Job 2:3–8). Life was no longer precious to him. He cursed the day he had been born and wished that he had never had an existence (Job 3:1–16). Still he did not curse God. He said, “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:20–22).
What a reaction! Most people would have said, “Man, this battle is rough! The devil did this to me!” The devil did indeed do it, but Job looked beyond even the hand of Satan and so committed himself with a broken spirit before God that he said, in essence, “If God wants the devil to trample me to death, then that is what will have to be” (Job 2:10). However, that was not at all what God was doing. God was testing Job’s pure, broken spirit.
Job’s friends and counselors told him a different story. They only observed what happened; they did not experience it. They did not take pieces of broken pottery and scrape the pus out of their boils. They did not sit on an ash heap wondering if they would survive another day (Job 2:8–9). They simply looked on. And their observations were completely distorted because their spirits were not right. They were not perfect before the Lord. They had no broken spirit before God.
A broken spirit is always right because its judgments are determined by a higher conclusion—a conclusion that is based on revelation. No matter how dark the heavens appear, if your spirit is broken, you will always seem to possess instinctive revelation in moments of decision; you will not make the wrong choices. But if your spirit is bitter, ten thousand angels could solemnly attest on a stack of Bibles that you had been following God, yet you would still reach the place of withdrawing and sitting on the sidelines. The bitterness of your heart would overwhelm you. A broken spirit is like Jacob’s thigh thrown out of joint (Genesis 32:25). It clings and prevails. But a bitter spirit rejects and is defeated (Kingdom Proverb).
We do not yet perceive things according to God’s standard of measurement. The parable in Luke 18:9–14 describes a Pharisee and a publican. Both of them went up into the temple to pray. The Pharisee began to extol all the good deeds he had done, the correctness and rightness with which he had walked. He paid tithes of all that he possessed. He fasted twice a week. The publican, however, stood afar off, smote his breast, and said, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” And the brokenness in the spirit of the publican led the Lord to say, “That man went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee.”
The Pharisee was so grateful that he had not fallen into any sin. He was not an adulterer or extortioner or even like this publican. Indeed, he was not. By the world’s judgments, he was considered a righteous man. Nevertheless, his spirit possessed an arrogance, and his conclusions were wrong. Though all of his actions were performed in the name of worshiping God, he could not even see the publican’s heart or discern that he was seeking God. He stood there thanking God that he was not like the publican. But he should have been like him! He should have had that same broken spirit.
A broken spirit always leads to something great in your life. A broken spirit precedes a deep work of the cross in your life, as surely as Gethsemane precedes Calvary (Kingdom Proverb). It is in the hour when you pray and sweat blood and agonize in a brokenness before the Lord, saying, “Not my will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:39–44), that you guarantee the completion of the work of the cross in your life. If there is one thing that could guarantee the future of the churches in this walk with God, it would be the maintaining of a broken spirit before God. I have yet to see a man with a broken spirit withdraw from the walk.
God looks for a broken spirit. People do many things for the Lord, but He looks to see the spirit behind the action. A broken spirit that comes before the Lord is, in itself, a great sacrifice. It is the offering the Lord wants. He does not delight in burnt offerings, but in a broken and a contrite heart (Psalm 51:16–17).
Matthew 26:6–13 describes an instance in which the disciples’ spirits were not right. A woman with an alabaster box came to Jesus. She opened it and poured out upon the Lord a precious, costly ointment. Immediately, there was criticism among the disciples. They thought, “Why, that ointment could have been sold for a great deal of money! Think how many poor people would have food in their bellies tonight if she had not made this reckless gesture!” But note this woman’s tears—her brokenness. She had a broken spirit before the Lord! And He accepted an action which, by all appearances, seemed to be clearly foolish and wasteful. He rebuked the disciples, saying, “Let her alone! Wherever the Gospel is preached, this will be told as a memorial of her. She has come to anoint My body for the burial” (also Mark 14:3–9; John 12:1–8). A few days after this incident occurred, Jesus was crucified. When He was falling under His cross, and while the soldiers were nailing Him to it, that precious nard of great price undoubtedly was still on His body.
A broken spirit cannot miss. This woman did not know what would happen to Jesus. She only knew that she loved Him, and that anything she had would be given to the Lord. The disciples could not see that. Without a broken spirit, the revelation of even the most sincere person is limited and only partial. If you want to see the whole truth, the entire will of God for your life, know this: No matter how sincere you are, without a broken spirit the revelation over your life is partial and limited. If you want to grow, be broken before God. A broken spirit is a self-destructive act that you have had the faith to believe God to do (Kingdom Proverb). You have dared to say, “Lord, just break me. Let me be broken before You! Let my spirit be truly broken.”
Various degrees of revelation are apparent among those who give ministry and counsel. I have yearned for the day when people could come to the house of God and receive only a pure Word. Yet at times, some have received ministry or counsel which seemed entirely too harsh. (I say this not to criticize anyone in particular, but perhaps everyone in general.) The one ministering did not have the feeling for it. If your spirit is not broken, your revelation will not be on the right level. Even when you see a need, you will not see it the way you should. Your perception of it will always fall a little short.
One man, who in some ways was probably one of the greatest phonies I have ever known, did seem to have some deep perception. He would bring someone up for ministry, probe his heart, and discern whatever he could about him. Then he would literally humiliate that person, almost tearing him to shreds in front of everyone. It was a grievous thing to watch. The person would hang his head and think, “Surely God is doing this to me.” However, no fruit ever came out of it. What seemed to be such tremendous revelation still did not seem to work. In contrast, I have seen times in ministry when the Lord would reveal a man’s heart and give me wisdom how to voice his need in words which no one in the congregation understood. But he knew; and he would simply break before the Lord.
It takes a broken spirit to produce one. You must have a broken spirit if you want to produce one in someone else. A broken spirit does not formulate conclusions. It does not initiate ministry with a partial bias or preconceived attitudes. A broken spirit is the most objective basis of all relationships. If you have a broken spirit, you are neither above nor below anyone else because place is not an issue to you. It is extremely important that we grasp this truth about a broken spirit.
God is not a source of division, is He? Then why do we all not see eye to eye as God brings again Zion? (Isaiah 52:8.) Why do we still have different viewpoints of one another? Why do we still perceive things differently? What is the source of criticism? Hopefully, we are learning more each day. Frankly, there are some things we should have learned a long time ago.
I study carefully the revelations that others submit to me. Recently a man came to me and pointed out the negative condition of several brothers. He was apprehensive about what would happen to them. Amazingly, at the time I had been broken and weeping before the Lord. Suddenly I exclaimed joyfully, “No! That is not so! I have been before the Lord, and He has given me a witness about these brothers. They will make it! There will be a great deal of prayer and faith for them. God will stand by them.” His mouth dropped open, and he said, “Thank you! Thank you! I believe that!” His own heart was waiting to hear the verdict that came from a broken spirit. If God had not met me, my heart might have been a little hard and I might have reacted to this man’s criticism. But the Lord had met me; my heart was broken, and the criticism had no validity. Within a matter of a few days, everything that the Lord had shown me, as I interceded before Him with a broken spirit, happened for these brothers in question. God began to move on them, to bless them and to meet them.
This is exactly what we need. Problems will not be adequately solved any other way. You could give someone an honest, valid answer for every problem, but it would be heard and understood only on the level of perception his own spirit had already determined to be on. God is not the source of division; but your own spirit can be the occasion of hearing a Word rightly or hearing it only partially. Then what purpose is there in solving problems? It is pointless to solve the same problem for six different individuals who vary in degrees from a broken to a bitter spirit. They will have six different viewpoints on the answer, just as they probably had six different viewpoints on the problem to begin with. How then can we clearly see the problem? It is amazing that the more broken you become in spirit before the Lord, the less of a problem there seems to be. But the more bitter you become in your spirit, the greater the problem looms up to you as an unsolvable difficulty.
Have you ever heard or seen this happen? Has it been real to your own heart? Have you ever noticed how different a problem, as well as the answer, seems to be within a twenty-four-hour period after God meets you? One day your problem looms up as an awful thing. You are ready to break under it and withdraw. The next day, it looks totally different. We had better realize that God is not the source of division. But He could be a source of unity to us if we would all break before Him. We are on the wrong track if we believe that the problems within a church should be our primary focus. The primary focus always should be our worship of the Lord. We should be set upon Him, worshiping Him.
Even your faith can vary according to your own spirit. A bitter person, by all the laws of nature as well as the laws of the spiritual realm, attracts sickness and illness. Your bitterness becomes a low-grade infection that affects every area of your life. On the other hand, a broken spirit before the Lord becomes a health to the marrow of your bones (Proverbs 3:7–8). The grace of God seems to filter through. Do not think that all you need is a blessing. You can look at a portion of sunbaked earth and say, “All it needs is rain!” Then let a thundershower pour on it about three inches of rain within a short period of time. What will be the result? There will be a flash flood that sweeps and destroys everything in its path. When it is over, nothing has grown. Therefore the Lord says, “Break up the fallow ground until I come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12). As the rain falls upon a broken spirit, that spirit bears fruit upward to God (Isaiah 37:31). But when a heart is hard and bitter, all the blessings in the world will simply roll off and not penetrate it. That is the reason why there can be so many varying responses within a church, even within a single service, to the same Word.
If this disturbs you, realize that this Word is the only way to make you truly joyful. If you find your heart opening up to this and crying, “Oh God, help me! That’s me! I hear it!” chances are you need this message the least of anyone. Or are you one who is saying, “I do not think I like this particular type of message. What is he trying to convey anyhow? I wish he would get to the point!” If so, you are probably one who is bitter and critical, always ready to find fault, and slow to receive anything from God. If God were raining gold doubloons from heaven, you would not have enough sense to take down your umbrella. Your spirit has shut off the flow of every good thing that could come to you.
It is not God’s fault that some churches are blessed and others are not. The best possible ministry could be given to a church; but unless the minister can penetrate to the people’s spirits and instill a broken spirit within them, they will not respond. A tremendous example of a positive response occurred when two brothers went to minister to a church which was having some problems. I counseled them, “Be very objective. Do not take sides with anyone. Simply open their spirits to God and worship the Lord.” And so they did. Later, when I arrived, I said, “God, let every church I go to in the future be like this one.” True Timothys had gone ahead, and when I arrived every problem was already solved. Factions were healed. There was a beautiful flow. There was no apparent problem.
We can actually glorify the devil and give him credit for some things he has not done. We shut off our own water, and then wonder why we are thirsty. The truth is that anyone with a right spirit could continually grow and thrive in any church in this walk with God. About all the enemy does is try to hit your spirit. He knows that when you become bitter in spirit, you will succumb to a great deal that you would not succumb to otherwise. Immunity comes with a brokenness before God. To keep that brokenness is to guarantee your walking on with God. It is the one guarantee that our churches will walk on into the Kingdom.
Someone can say, “Yes, but we have to straighten up all the mistakes! We have to correct all of these problems!” I know that seems to be true, but something more than that is needed. You could correct all the problems you have now, and you would have a new set in another week. There are some who receive very little ministry, but because they have a broken spirit they keep growing. Others are in line for ministry after every service; they want help all the time, but they never are really helped. They are straightened out one day and return to their problem the next, because no amount of ministry they receive reaches the depth of their spirit. Their problems are not really their problem. It is their spirit that is the problem.
What should we do about this Word? Can we honestly believe that the situation over which our spirit has become bitter may be the greatest problem we have ever faced, yet it does not even need to be solved? Can we truly accept that all we need is to be broken before the Lord? We do not need any solution other than that. We should pray, “Lord, straighten us out by breaking our heart!” Rend your heart and not your garments! (Joel 2:13.) Seek the Lord until He comes and rains righteousness upon you (Hosea 10:12).
The issue is not who is right or wrong in a situation. All that matters is that we have a right spirit before the Lord. The world is filled with people who have lost out with God because in some experience of their life, they were right and another brother was very wrong. As a result, they became extremely offended because their brother had done the wrong thing in that situation. To this day they insist, “I was right! I was right!” They sit on the sidelines exclaiming, “I am right,” with a wrong spirit. What a way to defeat yourself!
This is why the Lord tells us that we had better be certain one attitude is in our heart. When you stand and say, “Lord, forgive me my sins,” be sure you forgive those who have sinned against you. Why would God say that? Of all that was said in the Sermon on the Mount, including the wonderful prayer the Lord gave His disciples, why was that included? “Our Father, which art in heaven …” What a beautiful prayer! But He immediately capped that prayer by saying, “For if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses” (Matthew 6:9–15).
In our own thinking, we interpret this as meaning that when we stand with bitterness in our heart and do not forgive our brother, then God is just as bitter when He looks down on us and says, “I will not forgive you either!” No, that is not the way it works. It is an objective and impartial law. It works the same for any man. The vilest sinner can say, “God, forgive me; everyone who has ever done anything against me, I forgive, Lord,” and God will meet his heart. It is bitterness that closes you off from God. If you are closed off, and you have done it yourself, He will say, “If you do not forgive, then you will not be forgiven.”
How easily can a broken spirit be obtained? It can happen the minute you say, “Search me, O God. Show me my ways. Show me my heart. Let me see what I have been doing (Psalm 139:23–24). Let me see what criticism and bitterness has really done to my own spirit, how it has shut off every blessing.” There must be a reason why people can be so close to the blessing, how they can hear so much and even believe it, and yet find that it still does not work for them. How can we listen to this Word of the Kingdom in this day of restoration, believe with all of our heart that it is true, and somehow still be so wrong in our spirit that we do not experience it working in our life to any noticeable degree? Doesn’t that seem stupid to you?
This seems to be an absolute absurdity; yet we have continued along with that inconsistency. You can convince yourself, “I know it is so! I know it is so! I believe it is so!” But if it does not work, you have to decide why. Either God is not in it—it is not His Word; He did not intend for you to have any of it—or else you are the one who is holding back the fulfillment. Do you say, “Don’t tell me that! I contributed to Shiloh and I pay my tithe, and when special offerings are needed, I am right there to help. I give to the building fund; I do a great many worthwhile things. I even intercede.” That is very fine. Why, then, is it not working for you? If you truly pay your tithe, then the windows of heaven ought to be opened upon you, pouring out a blessing which there is not enough room to contain (Malachi 3:10). Read the book of Malachi. In it the prophet talks about more than giving ten dollars out of every hundred. He is talking about the spirit with which you approach the Lord. He is talking about your attitude toward God. And your attitude toward God is determined by your spirit, not by any logic or reason concerning your problem. Your spirit either opens up to God with a brokenness, or else it is held back because of bitterness.
Are you in a situation now where there is criticism? You may not be openly critical yourself. Perhaps the problem does not directly affect you, although you do find yourself feeling a little bitter and critical at times. Hebrews 12:15 tells us that a root of bitterness springing up will defile many. Have you also read in Hebrews 12 about Esau? It states that he was a profane person. He found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears (Hebrews 12:16–17). It is quite significant then, as the preceding verse reveals, that a root of bitterness had defiled him. Esau had been cheated! Jacob had cheated him! Therefore, Esau said, “I am going to kill him!” (Genesis 27:1–41.) Later on, after many years, he decided not to kill him, and the two brothers experienced somewhat of a reconciliation. Nothing much came of it, however; there is no account of them relating closely as brothers after that. At least, by the grace of God, Jacob survived and Esau did not kill him (Genesis 33:1–17). But Esau never did receive anything from God. We might expect that God would at least have given him leftovers or seconds, but Esau received nothing because a root of bitterness had defiled him. And you too can be defiled simply by being around bitterness. It is accumulative, and it is deadly effective. It is spiritual poison.
Have you noticed that people’s personalities tend to become more set or rigid as they grow older? Occasionally, you find elderly people who are extremely sweet and lovable. They smile often and always seem to be friendly. They have a beautiful spirit. They are broken before the Lord. You do not feel that they are putting you down, and neither do you put them down. They have that quality of a good, broken spirit which has built up through many years. It is accumulative. On the other hand, some older people you try to avoid. When you meet them walking down the street, you want to run to the other side. Even their children do not want anything to do with them. They are mean and irritable, and they seem to become even more so every year.
The way you let your spirit react is extremely important. You do have a great deal of control over it. You can grab it and lay it on the altar and say, “God, assassinate this bitterness! Kill it! Break it!” That is the way it should be. He is the stone, and if we fall on Him, we will be broken. But if He falls on us, we will be ground to powder (Matthew 21:44).
Come to God and say, “It is written in Your Word. Jesus said it. Therefore, we believe it with all of our heart.” A broken spirit is what God intends to bring forth. Fall on the Lord and be broken in spirit. Fall on the Lord and see what He will do for you! This is the answer for all of us.
God has strange ways of bringing flexibility to the Kingdom, of removing us from the ruts of religion which were in the Church Age, and of helping us break through to fantastic participation in worship. The Body of Christ is rising like a great sleeping giant to bring forth the praise of God in the earth. It is truly a marvelous phenomenon, yet extremely difficult to adjust to. The aspect that will make it palatable to a world that is hungry for God will be our broken spirit. The world will be defensive against us; they will hate our best revelations and best-defended doctrines. They will stand against everything we do, feeling in their heart that they have succeeded, that they are absolutely right. But they will not be able to argue or prevail against a broken spirit.
A broken spirit brings forth the fruitfulness in the sight of God. Where does it start? It starts by humbling yourself before the Lord. The enormity of this truth has hit you! Seek to be broken again in His sight—broken afresh to serve Him and to love Him, to have His longsuffering and patience (Galatians 5:22–23). Every fruit of the Spirit is an evidence of a broken spirit, so that the life of Christ can come forth.
What does a broken spirit do? In the midst of difficult experiences and harassing circumstances, a broken spirit worships the Lord and becomes like Job, truly fruitful (Job 1:20–22; 42:10–17). The question “Can a nation be born in a day?” was asked about those with whom God dwelt—who were humble and broken and contrite in heart (Isaiah 66:1–8). Can our travail bring forth the fruitfulness that quickly? Yes it can, if we are humble before God. Don’t protest, “I don’t need to be humble! Who wants to be meek?” You had better want to be, for the chroniclers of the Kingdom will record that the meek inherited the earth (Matthew 5:5). There is no other way you will get it. No one, no matter how aggressive he is, will succeed without the meekness of Christ. He is meek and lowly in heart, and we take His yoke upon us (Matthew 11:29).
Has God been putting His finger on you and writing on the tablets of your heart? (II Corinthians 3:3.) Are you one who is in need? Believe for this Word to be imparted deeply into your heart. Simply put away your bitterness and be broken before the Lord. There is a great deal which you can assume by faith; believe that the Lord will make the rest an impartation to you. Reach for it and be determined to possess it. Read Psalm 51. Say with David, “You have searched me, God, and my sin is ever before me (Psalm 51:3). I know You want a broken spirit within me, and I believe that is exactly what You will have.”
Prayer: O Lord, You are the One who can help us do this beautiful work within our spirit of being broken before You. Let it be the dedication of our whole heart to be broken before You. We fix our heart; we set our heart upon Thee. We hunger and thirst after Thee. We turn our heart aside from anything else and say, “Lord, we love You! We love You!” Purge us of any bitterness. We would beware lest that bitterness arise to defile our spirits. Impart to us, Lord, even in a greater measure, this broken spirit before Your face.