Healed by Grace
Grace is Enough (Day 5) // Prayer365
"God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he'll have compassion on you; he'll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered. No matter how far away you end up, God, your God, will get you out of there and bring you back to the land your ancestors once possessed. It will be yours again. He will give you a good life and make you more numerous than your ancestors. God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children's hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live. God, your God, will put all these curses on your enemies who hated you and were out to get you. And you will make a new start, listening obediently to God, keeping all his commandments that I'm commanding you today." Deuteronomy 30:3-8 (MSG)
What a powerful week of devotion and prayer we've had in the theme, Grace is Enough. Each day we've walked through how God's grace is enough to uncover what was hidden, recover what was lost, and restore what was damaged. I’m so grateful to know that no matter how messed up we are, how broken we are, how wounded we are, or how inadequate we are, God can handle it. He’s the one person who we can trust above all others to uncover the areas in our lives that are most vulnerable. He’s strong enough to uncover our issues and he’s strong enough to recover us from destruction. He desires to restore our relationship with Him to how it was in eternity. But He doesn’t stop there. I want you to know this morning that God has grace to heal your brokenness.
Several months ago I was in the living room and I heard a the startling and disruptive sound of glass shattering coming from Elisha's bathroom. Immediately I knew what is was. There was a glass candlestick in her bathroom that her great grandmother gave us and it was there for decoration. Immediately I got up and went into the bathroom and found Elisha standing still in the same place (which was good). I asked her to leave the bathroom in the other direction so that I could clean up the glass. So I got the broom and dustpan and swept up the broken pieces of the candlestick (all that I could see). Days later I was sitting in the house again and I heard a loud scream come from Elisha's room. At that moment I knew exactly what had happened. I walked into the restroom and found Elisha in agony giving attention to her foot. She had stepped on a piece of the broken glass from the candlestick that had fallen days before. Like a good father, I calmed her down and pulled the glass out of her foot. Comforted her and told her it would be ok.
I can't help but see that many of our lives are like that glass candlestick. Somehow, inadvertently we were pushed over, broken and shattered into many pieces. The thing is when glass shatters there's no way to determine where it goes. And many times when we think we've cleaned up our mess, cleaned up our brokenness, there's a piece that's lingering and it ends up hurting someone else.
In our text, Moses is speaking to the Israelites before they cross the Jordan River into the promised land. He tells them that God is going to bless them if they would walk in obedience to His word, in the rhythms of His grace. In Verse 3, he says "God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he'll have compassion on you; he'll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered." When we go through life's difficulties, challenges and changes, there are many instances that we are broken so much that it's hard to keep up with all of the pieces. God doesn't desire to just bring us back into relationship with Him, but He desires to bring us back, pick up all the broken pieces of our lives and put us back together again.
Do you remember the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty? He sat on the wall, had a great fall. All the king's horses and men couldn't put him together again... You might have set on the wall of life and suffered a traumatic fall. No matter who you went to they were unable to help you with your broken pieces. But I want to tell you about a person who specializes in taking our broken pieces and making something beautiful out of it, and that is God. He's able to restore you today by His grace. He's not going to look at your brokenness and say that you're worthless. No, He's committed to you and He wants to take you and build you back up again.
There's one other verse I want to highlight, verse 6: "God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children's hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live." A lot of times when we've been wounded, bruised, betrayed, we develop these callouses around our hearts. God desires to cut away the callouses away from our hearts and our children's. Think about it, for all of the years that you were stuck, bitter and broken, it didn't just affect you but it affected those around you, especially our children. God says that He's going to heal your heart as well as your children's hearts, freeing you to love Him. Declare aloud that "I'm FREE today!" You are free to love God with your whole heart and soul so that you can live, really live. God is telling us that this process where we have uncovered what was hidden, recovered what was lost and restored what was damaged is so that you would no longer 'just get by', no longer 'just barely make it', but that you would thryve! So that you can really live.
I'm praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
What a powerful week of devotion and prayer we've had in the theme, Grace is Enough. Each day we've walked through how God's grace is enough to uncover what was hidden, recover what was lost, and restore what was damaged. I’m so grateful to know that no matter how messed up we are, how broken we are, how wounded we are, or how inadequate we are, God can handle it. He’s the one person who we can trust above all others to uncover the areas in our lives that are most vulnerable. He’s strong enough to uncover our issues and he’s strong enough to recover us from destruction. He desires to restore our relationship with Him to how it was in eternity. But He doesn’t stop there. I want you to know this morning that God has grace to heal your brokenness.
Several months ago I was in the living room and I heard a the startling and disruptive sound of glass shattering coming from Elisha's bathroom. Immediately I knew what is was. There was a glass candlestick in her bathroom that her great grandmother gave us and it was there for decoration. Immediately I got up and went into the bathroom and found Elisha standing still in the same place (which was good). I asked her to leave the bathroom in the other direction so that I could clean up the glass. So I got the broom and dustpan and swept up the broken pieces of the candlestick (all that I could see). Days later I was sitting in the house again and I heard a loud scream come from Elisha's room. At that moment I knew exactly what had happened. I walked into the restroom and found Elisha in agony giving attention to her foot. She had stepped on a piece of the broken glass from the candlestick that had fallen days before. Like a good father, I calmed her down and pulled the glass out of her foot. Comforted her and told her it would be ok.
I can't help but see that many of our lives are like that glass candlestick. Somehow, inadvertently we were pushed over, broken and shattered into many pieces. The thing is when glass shatters there's no way to determine where it goes. And many times when we think we've cleaned up our mess, cleaned up our brokenness, there's a piece that's lingering and it ends up hurting someone else.
In our text, Moses is speaking to the Israelites before they cross the Jordan River into the promised land. He tells them that God is going to bless them if they would walk in obedience to His word, in the rhythms of His grace. In Verse 3, he says "God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he'll have compassion on you; he'll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered." When we go through life's difficulties, challenges and changes, there are many instances that we are broken so much that it's hard to keep up with all of the pieces. God doesn't desire to just bring us back into relationship with Him, but He desires to bring us back, pick up all the broken pieces of our lives and put us back together again.
Do you remember the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty? He sat on the wall, had a great fall. All the king's horses and men couldn't put him together again... You might have set on the wall of life and suffered a traumatic fall. No matter who you went to they were unable to help you with your broken pieces. But I want to tell you about a person who specializes in taking our broken pieces and making something beautiful out of it, and that is God. He's able to restore you today by His grace. He's not going to look at your brokenness and say that you're worthless. No, He's committed to you and He wants to take you and build you back up again.
There's one other verse I want to highlight, verse 6: "God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children's hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live." A lot of times when we've been wounded, bruised, betrayed, we develop these callouses around our hearts. God desires to cut away the callouses away from our hearts and our children's. Think about it, for all of the years that you were stuck, bitter and broken, it didn't just affect you but it affected those around you, especially our children. God says that He's going to heal your heart as well as your children's hearts, freeing you to love Him. Declare aloud that "I'm FREE today!" You are free to love God with your whole heart and soul so that you can live, really live. God is telling us that this process where we have uncovered what was hidden, recovered what was lost and restored what was damaged is so that you would no longer 'just get by', no longer 'just barely make it', but that you would thryve! So that you can really live.
I'm praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
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