• Key to Power. When Smith Wigglesworth was asked the secret of his power, he never mentioned his prayer life or long fasts or diligence of study. He simply said, “I am a man with a broken heart.” Wigglesworth raised the dead 25 times and had extraordinary power flowing through his life, primarily because of a broken spirit.
• Key to God's Presence. According to Isaiah 57:15, God dwells with those who have a broken and contrite heart. A hard heart resists God's presence, but there is no abrasiveness in the man with a broken spirit. God resists the proud because pride resists Him. God will not walk with the proud. He walks with the lowly for He is lowly.
• Key to Receiving Revelation and Guidance. To a soft and pliable heart, God is able to give impressions and promptings. In a heart of flesh God writes His laws, but in those areas where we are hard and callous He is unable to get through to us. A hard and stony heart is insensitive and incapable of hearing the still small voice of the Spirit. God only guides the meek (Psa.25:9).
• Key to Unity and Peace. In the low place there is unity. In the low place each one prefers others before himself. The Scripture commands that in lowliness of mind we should esteem others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3-4, Rom.12:10). The man or woman with brokenness is not easily offended or angry. Strivings and conflicts cease when there is a broken spirit (Prov.13:10). Loud, angry, assertive, domineering, strong personalities need to be broken. Others should not feel our spirit; they should feel God's Spirit working through us. When people feel our spirit more than God's, we need a broken spirit and this may require many crushing blows. A strong, unbroken spirit indicates a person was not properly disciplined and trained as a child.
• Key to Not Being Offended. It is not lambs who become offended and bitter, but lords! The man of humility whose spirit is mellow and broken is never the offended brother of Proverbs 18:19. The offended brother has an inflated ego that has been wounded. Grace has been refused and he has hardened his heart and become bitter (Heb. 4:16, cf. 12:15). An offended brother has harbored an offense and entrenched himself in a deep pit. He cannot be won over, not by apology or anything else until he has had a meeting with God.
An offended heart that is left unchecked becomes exceedingly wicked. In the last days many will be offended and this will lead to hatred and betrayal of one another ( Mt. 24:10). It is a very serious matter to allow the heart to be overgrown with offenses ! (See Prov. 4:23). I would like to repeat this—an offended brother is not a lamb; he is a lord, and he has a high opinion of himself and his own importance. He defends his ways and demands vindication for himself. One of the deceptions of a wounded brother is that he believes he has a right to be offended. He feels he is perfectly justified in harboring his anger and spreading his offense and venom to others. The only way to retrieve ourselves from this horrible pit is to become a lamb, surrender our rights, and pattern ourselves after the Captain of our salvation who entrusted all injustices to His heavenly Father (1 Pet. 2:21-23, cf. Mt.11:6, 13:21).
Hell is for the offended. Hell is filled with offended people who rejected God's grace when they were hurt. They died holding bitterness against God and those they refused to forgive. Actually, our salvation depends upon forgiving others ( Mt. 6;14,15). It is that serious!
Dr. Paul G. Caram
• Key to Receiving Revelation and Guidance. To a soft and pliable heart, God is able to give impressions and promptings. In a heart of flesh God writes His laws, but in those areas where we are hard and callous He is unable to get through to us. A hard and stony heart is insensitive and incapable of hearing the still small voice of the Spirit. God only guides the meek (Psa.25:9).
• Key to Unity and Peace. In the low place there is unity. In the low place each one prefers others before himself. The Scripture commands that in lowliness of mind we should esteem others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3-4, Rom.12:10). The man or woman with brokenness is not easily offended or angry. Strivings and conflicts cease when there is a broken spirit (Prov.13:10). Loud, angry, assertive, domineering, strong personalities need to be broken. Others should not feel our spirit; they should feel God's Spirit working through us. When people feel our spirit more than God's, we need a broken spirit and this may require many crushing blows. A strong, unbroken spirit indicates a person was not properly disciplined and trained as a child.
• Key to Not Being Offended. It is not lambs who become offended and bitter, but lords! The man of humility whose spirit is mellow and broken is never the offended brother of Proverbs 18:19. The offended brother has an inflated ego that has been wounded. Grace has been refused and he has hardened his heart and become bitter (Heb. 4:16, cf. 12:15). An offended brother has harbored an offense and entrenched himself in a deep pit. He cannot be won over, not by apology or anything else until he has had a meeting with God.
An offended heart that is left unchecked becomes exceedingly wicked. In the last days many will be offended and this will lead to hatred and betrayal of one another ( Mt. 24:10). It is a very serious matter to allow the heart to be overgrown with offenses ! (See Prov. 4:23). I would like to repeat this—an offended brother is not a lamb; he is a lord, and he has a high opinion of himself and his own importance. He defends his ways and demands vindication for himself. One of the deceptions of a wounded brother is that he believes he has a right to be offended. He feels he is perfectly justified in harboring his anger and spreading his offense and venom to others. The only way to retrieve ourselves from this horrible pit is to become a lamb, surrender our rights, and pattern ourselves after the Captain of our salvation who entrusted all injustices to His heavenly Father (1 Pet. 2:21-23, cf. Mt.11:6, 13:21).
Hell is for the offended. Hell is filled with offended people who rejected God's grace when they were hurt. They died holding bitterness against God and those they refused to forgive. Actually, our salvation depends upon forgiving others ( Mt. 6;14,15). It is that serious!
Dr. Paul G. Caram
