The Building Blocks of Intercession

We started talking about how brokenness relates to intercession in our last lesson, and I highlighted four important aspects of brokenness:

1. Understanding God's perspective on brokenness.
2. Brokenness shouldn't be mistaken for something else.
3. Why brokenness must be embraced to experience its benefits.
4. How to avoid bitterness from brokenness.

We already discussed the first aspect (our need to understand brokenness from God's perspective) in lesson 6. So let us move on to aspect number 2.

Brokenness Shouldn't Be Mistaken For Something Else

Don't mistake brokenness for something it isn't. For example, there are those who believe that brokenness results from God's displeasure. People "break-ground" before they start a great undertaking, as opposed to "christening" a ship, where they finish a big project. Our problem is, in the spiritual world, we expect christenings, while the Lord is just beginning a work. When God breaks ground, we call it a funeral, because we think something is being buried instead of getting started.

We walk away from the unearthing, abandoning a God-inspired dream because of the pain, grieving over a loss that is, in fact, not the His final word on the matter. Brokenness is God's invitation to a groundbreaking in the supernatural. Our dreams aren't meant to push up daisies, but to lay down roots. In Hosea, the Lord put it this way: "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you" (Hosea 10:12).

Also, brokenness is mistaken for unfruitfulness. God made the world with defined seasons in mind. The seasons are somewhat analogous to the spirit world. Trees look desolate in the winter. During the planting season, the ground also appears unproductive. At times, you feel out-of-touch with God's work1. Questions arise during that time, especially if you are taking steps to stay close to God, rather than distancing yourself from Him. This situation shouldn't be mistaken for a barren womb. Instead, it's a gestation period. God is working out of sight; things are being orchestrated behind the scenes. Our frustration over our lack of fruitfulness breaks our spirit. That brokenness allows God to plant new things in us that He could not otherwise. And that broken ground allows the Fruit of the Spirit to poke through.

Or, brokenness is mistaken for a junkyard. We feel that God is done with us, that we're disqualified, or otherwise obsolete. When God remakes a vessel, He takes the pot through several steps. Before we look at those steps, I want to include a couple of verses about how God is the potter and we are His clay:

"Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to its maker, 'He did not make me'; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'" (Isaiah 26:19).

"'Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will announce My words to you.' Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?' declares the Lord. 'Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel" (Jeremiah 18:2-6).

Now, let's look at those steps. First, God reshapes the pot, applying pressure with His fingers. Have you ever felt God apply pressure to some area of your life? Once the vessel is in the proper form, He dries it out. Have you ever gone through a dry period for some unexplained reason? Then, the pot is dipped in a fresh glaze. Has God given you new opportunities that lie outside your comfort zone? Finally, the artisan places the pot in the kiln, where it is fired. Have you gone through a furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10)? The pot can only hold water after it's gone through the entire process.

How often have we struck out on God's behalf only to strike out? Did that happen because we walked out of the Potter's cottage, before He was finished with us?

God sets aside people after their first start, so their self-confidence may die down. Moses spent forty years on the backside of a desert. On his first assignment, he ran away. Paul also spent three years in a desert, after his first testimony. We learn the hard way that, when it comes to a God-given task, we are inadequate. Brokenness is losing faith in our abilities and gaining faith in His abilities.

Thus, we learn to lean on the Lord, for as Paul says: "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).

I'd like to list other things we confuse with brokenness:

• Brokenness isn't accepting depression.
• Brokenness isn't accepting an illness.
• Brokenness isn't accepting an assignment of the devil.
• Brokenness isn't accepting spiritual abuse at a church.
• Brokenness isn't accepting verbal or physical abuse in marriage.
• Brokenness isn't accepting a sexually-hostile workplace (Genesis 39:6-21).

Brokenness doesn't mean you should become someone's doormat, whether they are visible, or invisible. For example, when a father abuses a mother, she isn't the only person harmed. If the enemy exploits a pastor, an entire congregation is despoiled. We shouldn't deny the frank emotions--such as sadness--that accompany the breaking process. But, we needn't become a victim.