Broken Pieces - Daniel Kolenda

Part 4 - Broken Pieces -  Daniel Kolenda

Secret #2 - The Surrendered Will

This Bible study has been taken from chapter 7 of LIVE BEFORE YOU DIE

In Matthew 14 we read an amazing story about a miracle where Jesus fed a multitude with just five loaves of bread and two fish. Not only did the meager lunch become enough to feed thousands of people—it became more than enough! After everyone had eaten, there were still twelve baskets full of bread and fish left over! But before the small lunch became a mighty feast, before the little became much, before the miracle of multiplication could take place, it says in verse 19 that Jesus “took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the crowds” (NAS). Notice something very important here. It says Jesus did two things: first, He blessed the food, and second, He broke it. Jesus blesses only what He breaks. God can multiply only what has been broken. Do you want God to take your little life and do something mighty with it? Do you want to be blessed and be a blessing to multitudes? Then you need to be broken. Verse 20 is careful to specify that the baskets left over were made up of “broken pieces”—“They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets” (NAS). At the end of our lives, when all is said and done, and everything has been consumed, the only parts of our lives that will have lasting value are the broken pieces. The way the world looks at things is so different from the way God looks at them. The world values the lofty, powerful, proud, and big. God values a broken and a contrite heart, a heart that is humble and bowed low before the King. In Isaiah 66:2 the Lord says, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word” (NIV). The psalmist says in Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (NIV). Hebrews 11:21 speaks about the great patriarch Jacob at the end of his life and describes him by saying he “leaned on the top of his staff” (niv). Why is this detail important? Why even mention it? It is worth mentioning because Jacob had been defined by an encounter with the Lord that left him with a limp. The Jacob who limped was not the same Jacob who stole his brother’s birthright and defrauded his elderly father. The limping Jacob was a broken man. Jacob had struggled all his life to obtain God’s blessing through deceit and manipulation. He had stolen the blessing from his brother, Esau. He had embezzled the blessing of his father, Isaac. But it was only after he had been broken before the Lord that the Bible says he received the true blessing, the blessing of the Lord (Gen. 32:29). Most people would have seen Jacob’s limp as a handicap, but Jacob knew better. His limp was a memento of his life-changing encounter with God, which had left him broken and leaning. The broken Jacob was the blessed Jacob. This was the Jacob who became a mighty patriarch and the father of a nation that bears his new name, Israel. At the Last Supper Jesus took the bread of Communion and said, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you” (1 Cor. 11:24). This brokenness that He spoke of was the crucifixion He would soon endure. That brokenness would loose the greatest power the world has ever known. The apostle Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). When we are crucified with Christ, this death to self is a brokenness that allows the life of Christ to flow out of us. A broken person is a person who is crucified with Christ. It is in this kind of person that God’s will is being done and in whom God’s kingdom is present and flowing out to the world around him.

CROSSROADS

Crossroads are a wonderful place to be because you have so many options. You can go forward, return the way you came, or go in a new direction, either to the right or to the left.
Crossroads aren’t always welcome, though, because they force people to make decisions, and that can be an uncomfortable process. Especially in the case of major or potentially life-changing decisions, no one really likes the hard work of thinking and praying the matter through, the soul-searching involved.

I use the crossroads of life to help some people come to terms with mistakes or wrong turns they’ve made, and to give them a chance to get going in the right direction. For others who haven’t been off track, it’s a chance to go in a new direction that will make them even happier and get them farther in the long run. For yet others, it’s a time to confirm that they’re going in the right direction, so they can continue with the vigor that renewed conviction brings. Whatever the case, whenever someone comes to a crossroads, it’s an opportunity, because if they ask Me which way they should go, I’ll show them.
You can’t fail as long as you’re looking to Me and are open to whatever road I have for you. Maybe it will be something you’ve never done before. It might even be something you’re afraid to do. Or it could be the same thing that you’ve done for years. Whichever road I ask you to take I will also equip you for, even if you don’t think you have what it will take right now. As you take a step in the direction I’m leading you, I’ll give you what it takes. If you need more faith, I’ll give you more faith. If you need more courage, I’ll give you more courage. If you need more love, I’ll give you more love. If you need more strength or perseverance, I’ll give you those things. Step by step, as you follow Me, I will continue to do that. Whatever you need for your journey, I’ll give you that.
So instead of being afraid of those crossroad signs, you can look forward to them with anticipation, knowing that I’m by your side to instruct you and guide you and help you. I know your heart, and I know where you will be happiest and most fulfilled. If you don’t know where that is, just ask Me to point you in the right direction and start walking. I am always with you, no matter where you are and what you’re doing. I’m right beside you each step of the way. As you learn to hear My voice in your mind, pointing the way, you’ll really make progress. I love you, and I’ll never fail you.
—Jesus

LIFE HAPPENS

Sometimes, at the most unexpected times, we get little revelations that clarify perspective, give insight, and recharge our faith. I got one of those the other day.
It had been a long few months financially speaking, and now our vehicle was in the repair shop. As I waited for my husband to call me with the cost estimate, I asked God why this was happening to us now, of all times. “We’re already struggling,” I pleaded. “How can we afford an expensive repair on our vehicle?”

The reply I got was simply, “Sometimes, in life, these things just happen.”
It was not the comforting “I will put an end to this struggle” reassurance I had hoped for, but I didn’t feel that God’s reply was harsh or that He was amused by our predicament. He was simply stating the fact that life is full of challenges, unexpected misfortunes, and disappointment. It happens, and we get through it.
I have always wanted the easy way. I’m quite fine with being rescued before things get too bad. That would be ideal, but it’s not always what God has in mind. He was telling me that there isn’t always going to be a miracle, a magic bullet, or a free pass that allows me to skip the tough parts. It’s not that He can’t do the miracle, if that’s what’s needed, but He’s not a bailout for tough times. What He sometimes chooses to provide is the ability to soldier through—the grace, strength, joy, and stamina to work my way through the disappointments, struggles, and less-than-ideal happenings.
Of course, I can’t just accept everything that happens as “God’s will” and put up no fight, allowing myself and my family to become victims of happenstance. But when God’s message is, “Honey, you have to go through this one,” then I need to quit hoping for a way out and start trusting for a way through.
To be honest, I know that I need these times. I don’t like them, but I need them. These circumstances take my faith from a lovely “shelf” faith to a more practical “street” faith. It’s not as mystical, but a lot more real.

PS: We did have to pay a large repair bill that prolonged our financial struggles. It wasn’t ideal or how we would have preferred things to be, but I’m amazed at what that little word from the Lord did for my perspective on the situation. Just realizing that these things happen and that people get through them helped to vanquish the fear.

Fruit in Season Written by Dina Ellens

My son's voice broke as he spoke, "Mom, I don't know what's happening. I just moved my family in order to take a new job, but now that job has fallen through!"
I did my best to encourage him, but as the minutes went by, I could tell I wasn’t getting through the wall of anguish.
After hanging up, I couldn’t get my son’s situation out of my mind. Finally I stopped everything else to pray about what he was going through. My son and his wife are active Christians and responsible young parents. I knew that he would do the best he could to support his family, but I knew, too, that the worldwide economic slump meant it was even more difficult than usual to get a good job.

As I prayed for him, I was reminded of the first words of the first Psalm, and I knew these verses were the key for my son: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.”¹
“God is love,”² and His interactions with us are loving. He is always trying to draw us closer to Himself. Sometimes He allows difficulties and setbacks to befall us, but if our hearts are right with Him, then we are like those trees that are planted by the rivers of water, and we will bring forth fruit when the time is right.
Consider the life cycle of a fruit tree. Sometimes it goes dormant; all the leaves may fall off, and it may appear dead. But there are other times when the tree bursts forth with fruit in abundance.
In the same way, we also go through cycles. There are times when we’re at the top of our game and things couldn’t be better. Then there are times when things take a dip and we have to fight to stay positive. At times like that, I like to meditate on one of my favorite promises from God’s Word: “Do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”³
I couldn’t wait to get back on the phone and share these thoughts with my son. We prayed together for him to be freed from discouragement and worry.
My son and his wife began praying every day for a new job, and he also took on whatever temporary jobs he could find in the meantime. Within six months, he was able to get a good job in an electronics company, and after one year he was promoted to vice president of the same company.
He faced some major obstacles, but God came through for him. Although he’s very busy and challenged with his career, he continues to make his time with the Lord and reading His Word a priority because he knows that this is the key to happiness and success.

Singing in the Train

Jack sank deeper into his seat in the cold train carriage and pulled his hat down over his ears. He and his fellow passengers had been stranded there for several hours already. The steam locomotive and the lead carriage of the overnight express train had jumped the tracks halfway between hell and nowhere. Now all they could do was wait until help arrived. It was 1959, the middle of winter, and the dead of night. No power, no heat, and no light except for a few flashlights that the conductor and some passengers had.
Jack knew it was going to take a while before the alarm was raised somewhere up the line when they realized that the express was not on schedule. Search parties would have to be mobilized and sent out with some caution. A train could be dispatched up the single spur line in the other direction, but that would be risky, as they could find themselves traveling head on into the delayed express traveling from the other direction. The signal system on this part of the track was antiquated, as Jack, a train aficionado, knew. The real search, he concluded, would not begin until dawn.
The train had come to a jerking halt. The steam locomotive and the lead carriage were off the track and had plowed into a thick gravel embankment. Both were upright, and miraculously no one was killed, although the engineer and fireman had sustained nasty head injuries. They had been carried back to one of the carriages to endure the freezing night with their passengers, several of whom had also been hurt. It was frustrating and scary to know that they were out there with little chance of rescue till daylight.
Then from somewhere in Jack’s carriage someone started singing. It was the old World War II Vera Lynn song, “The White Cliffs of Dover.” Soon everyone in the carriage joined in. When that one was over, someone started another.
“We sang all night,” recalled Jack. “We didn’t care what the song was. We sang popular songs, old music hall numbers, hymns, even Christmas carols. As long as we kept singing, it kept our spirits up. People from other carriages came up and we all crowded in to keep warm. Most of us were strangers to one another, but we all became comrades in disaster, lifting one another’s spirits.
“It was a mixed bunch, from young army recruits returning to camp from leave, to young families and a few old-timers, even some guys I wouldn’t normally want to be around on a dark night. But somehow the social barriers all came down. I initially heard one enormous fellow—Clifford was his name, I learned—let off such a stream of cursing when the accident first occurred that it probably equaled all the other swearing and blasphemy that I had heard in my life until then. But he was the fellow that scooped up the engineer in his arms, carried him back to the carriage, and hovered about him like a cross between an angel and a nurse for the rest of the night. If I’ve met anyone in my life that was a rough diamond, it was Clifford.
“I’ve been guilty many times of judging books by their covers, but in this fellow’s case I was wrong—and probably have been many other times. It was the most incredible night of my life in many ways, and I made fast friends with many who were there. I was almost sorry when the rescue teams located us early the next morning.”
On that miserable night, stranded in the middle of nowhere, Jack and his fellow passengers forged a lifetime of friendships. They decided to have a reunion every year on the date of the accident. Jack went to their weddings and some of their funerals. Clifford became an orderly at a hospital and then joined the Saint John Ambulance Brigade. Seems he had only been out of jail a few weeks before the wreck and was traveling that night to settle a few scores with some erstwhile “friends.” “That wreck stopped me from making a wreck out of my life,” he told Jack at one of their reunions several years later.
Jack got on with his life, being my dad amongst other things. It wasn’t the most outstanding of lives, some might say, but he gained an outstanding lesson that night that never left him and one he was fond of telling me. Our darkest experiences can sometimes turn out to be our best and can forge the greatest friendships.

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Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter: whoever finds one has found a treasure.—Sirach 6:14

To the world you are just one person, but to one person you could mean the world.—Unknown

Reaching “Pleasant Places” Written by Amanda White

I love Psalm 23. Perhaps it’s because I especially love the verses about being in calm, beautiful, and peaceful situations: “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”¹

I was meditating on this psalm and realized that it’s somewhat of a snapshot of life. In that short chapter, just six verses, you get a brief picture of the cycles of life—the highs and lows, the good times and bad, the peaceful and chaotic. Yet through it all, one thing remains: God’s presence. The enduring and unchanging truth: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”²
I’m a creature of comfort and routine. I like the times in my life when I’m resting in the green pastures and drinking from the beautiful still waters—those periods when everything is going well, when I’m seeing and feeling the blessings, when everything is chugging along pretty seamlessly.
I naturally feel God’s presence more during times of peace and plenty. There’s not as much need, and I feel more confident that He’s there and with me. We don’t usually need to be reminded of God being with us during such times, because we already feel it—we’re in the green pastures and beside the still waters.
Sometimes, though, when things go haywire or not according to plan—the “dark valley” parts of life—I start to feel less like He’s with me. King David was no stranger to times of difficulty, perhaps that’s why he reminds himself of God’s presence in verse four: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”³
God is with us, He is comforting us, even if we can’t sense His presence as strongly. He’s there, even if the dark valley portion of our journey is a little bit longer (or maybe even a lot longer) than we had hoped.
I’m going through a dark valley time right now. And unfortunately, I’m impatient. I want the challenge over and done with. I want God to supply what I need right away. I want to move from the “dark valley” part to the “green pasture” part as quickly as possible—and when I get there, I know I will want that portion of my life to last as long as possible before I’m interrupted by another dark valley.
I read a quote this morning that clearly expressed my natural inclination and yet reminded me that God’s perspective and plan is so much bigger and better than mine. So often I want Him to be “done already,” whereas it’s going to take that little bit longer for Him to set everything in place as He has planned. Here’s the quote:
“God relishes surprise. We want lives of simple, predictable ease—smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see—but God likes to go off-road. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance and comprehension—and yet don’t. By His love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise.”⁴
I’d like the stomach churning to end, but I also like the thought that God is loving this ride. I know that He’s somehow going to work things out for my good. And in the meantime, I hope that I will gain all that He has for me to experience before this off-road journey ends and I reach the green pastures again. I just need to be patient and wait for His timing.
Another personal favorite promise is, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”⁵ I know that verse is talking about what God has prepared for us in heaven, but I like to also claim it for the things that I’m sure He has prepared for me here on earth as well. Since I love Him and He loves me, I know that He has good things lined up ahead.

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Those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.—Psalm 34:10

My future is in your hands.—Psalm 31:15 NLT

The godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God. They will declare, “The Lord is just! He is my rock! There is no evil in him!”—Psalm 92:12–13,15 NLT

Getting the Most out of Life!

It saddens Me that so many people are content to just let life pass them by. They may be busy keeping up or trying to get ahead, or they may fill every spare moment with relaxing activities, but where is all that busy activity taking them? When do they really live?

The secret to getting the most out of life is living close to Me and remaining faithful to My teaching.¹ I don’t mean that you should hide away and give yourself solely to quiet reflection and study, but rather that when you include Me in your daily activities and look to My Word for guidance,² I can help life take on new meaning and depth. You will not only be much happier and feel more fulfilled, but you will brighten the lives of those around you as you reflect My love.
It starts by making a habit of taking a few quiet minutes at the start of every day for prayer and time with Me.³ Then take what I have taught you in the “classroom” and apply it throughout the day. Whether you're on the job, running errands, or relaxing with family and friends, I can make you a greater blessing to others and bless you in the process. You’ll find life will be richer and more meaningful as you look to Me.
—Jesus