Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Monday, March 24, 2014

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me [Jesus], because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."¹

I believe it was Ernest Hemingway who coined the phrase "growing strong in the broken places." When a bone is broken, for example, the calcium buildup that "welds" the bone together makes that the strongest part of the bone.

When our life is committed to God and we bring our broken parts to him for healing, we, too, become strong in the broken places.

Another aspect on being broken is in the words of Vance Havner who said, "God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume . . . it is Peter, weeping bitterly [after his failure of denying Jesus], who returns to greater power than ever."

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please give me the courage to face every ‘broken part’ in my life and bring these to You for Your healing and lead me to the help I need for full recovery. Grant that I, too, will grow strong in the broken places and be used by You to be a blessing and encouragement to others. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."

1. Jesus (Luke 4:18).

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