2 Corinthians 4:7 – “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”

I heard the Lord say “You may be flawed, broken and incomplete but I am reconstructing you for My glory”. To reconstruct something is to build or form something again after it has been damaged or destroyed. I strongly sense this is what the Lord is doing in this season in many areas of people’s lives. He’s taking what were once broken and incomplete and turning it into something perfect and beautiful.

‘When Clay Meets Fire’

If a vessel doesn’t come out the way the Master Potter wants it to, He will keep on perfecting it until He’s fully pleased with His masterpiece. Jeremiah 18:3 “Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.” Like the vessel of clay, in the fire you are transformed from your humble, soft beginnings into a strong person of FAITH that’s capable of withstanding many assaults from the enemy, all because you, as clay, met with the All-Consuming Fire.

1 Peter 1:6 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ”

‘A Wounded Butterfly Vision’

The Lord has reminded me of a vision I once had of a wounded butterfly on the ground with both wings torn into shreds. It was frantically trying to fly despite its injured wings. It painfully dragged its fragile body across the ground, which caused further damage to its already frail wings. There was a sense of desperation and despair in its attempt to fly. I then saw a hand stretch out towards this beautiful little creature and scooped it up so it couldn’t hurt itself anymore. Its savior’s hand provided a reprieve and security from the dangers lurking on the ground.

Have you ever felt like this little butterfly? The more you try to get out of an undesirable or painful situation, the stronger desperation and anxiety tighten their grip on you. But the Father will never fail or abandon you. He will lift you up and over every obstacle, His healing touch bringing relief from your pain and grief. Eventually, the very thing that tries to break you will become the thing that God in His great mercy will use to launch you to greater heights and glory.

Everything that has been sent to break you is a catapult that will launch you into upgrade and promotion. In ancient times, the catapult was a successful powerful warfare mechanism used to afflict great damage to the enemy’s camp. It provided warriors with superior advantage over their enemies because of their capability to reach great distance, height and depth. Your testimony is one of the most powerful weapons you have in your tool box that will defeat your enemy (Revelations 12:11 ).

The image of the little wounded butterfly with shredded wings is a perfect representation of those that have ever gone through fires and storms, through trials and testings, through persecution and tough times. Maybe you’re going through it right now but there’s HOPE! The butterfly symbolizes NEW BEGINNING and wings symbolize spiritual TRUTHS. In John 8:32 Jesus said “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Just a little further in verse 36 He says “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”. What a great truth and words of hope from our Savior!

Untruths (lies) about WHO God says you are, are of the enemy spoken to destroy you, and if you come into agreement with those lies they will ‘shred’ your ability to rise and soar. Renewing your mind (Romans 12:2) with God’s truths (word) will bring healing, restoration and new beginnings for those with shredded wings.

You were never supposed to go from defeat to defeat or from battle to battle. Rather, you were always meant to move from glory to glory, from victory to victory, from rejoicing to rejoicing.

‘The Breaking Of The Vessel’

You have heard it said ‘What doesn’t break you is going to make you!”. Spiritual brokenness is a requirement, a necessity and a prerequisite to release the treasure deep inside of you. You have within you a deep well of Holy Spirit oil that needs to be poured out so you can be continuously refilled.

As a believer, you are anointed by God to minister unto the Lord with signs and wonders (Mark 16:17). Like Mary of Bethany, you have been called to honor the Lord with your anointing, the gold within. To access the anointing there needs to be a breaking of the vessel (Mark 14:3). In Mark 3:4, we see that the breaking of the vessel was met with harsh criticism from religious spirits. Likewise, during your breaking, many will judge and criticize you because they don’t understand what God is doing in you and through you. They don’t understand there’s purpose in brokenness. It’s in the crushing, the squeezing and the pressing that the aroma is released. You are the aroma of heaven, a fragrant oil of worship that pleases the Lord! 2 Corinthians 2:15 “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.”

When King David was confronted with his sins he responded in repentance and he began to experience the pain of brokenness. In Psalm 51:8 he laments “Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice.” And again in Psalm 51:17 – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.”

Spiritual brokenness brings us on to our knees in humility and submission. Like sunshine after the rain, there’s JOY beyond brokenness because of the mercy of our Lord Jesus!

‘The Discipline Of Brokenness’

In order for wild horses to be tamed they are put through a certain discipline referred to as ‘breaking a horse’. Depending on the method used it can seem rather harsh to some of us. Once broken, the horse cannot be broken again.

Discipline should always be done in love and fear tactics are a no-no. God disciplines us in love and never in fear. Discipline without love is abuse! Proverbs 3:11 “My child, do not despise discipline from the Lord, and do not loathe His rebuke. 12 For the Lord disciplines those He loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.”

The Father loves and cares so much for the discarded, the unwanted, the rejected, the abandoned, the unloveable and the broken. He brings restoration, wholeness and healing to those that are afflicted. Psalm 147:3 – “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

Two Visions: ‘Finding The Treasures’ & ‘Breaking Of The Vessel’

Recently whilst I was praying it was brought to my mind two visions I had a couple of years ago where I saw Jesus, disguised as a homeless man, going through a skip bin and pulling out discarded junk. Some of the junk included jars that were completely broken or others that were very badly cracked and chipped.

In a separate vision I saw Jesus hold up a jar above His head and intentionally drop it to the ground where it broke into many pieces and a golden golden substance that was contained inside spilled out onto the ground. Brokenness comes before breakthrough!

Below are excerpts from posts that I have previously shared over certain periods of time:

‘Broken Vessels – The Gold Within’

When things go wrong, as they often do, we wonder where is God in all of this? We go through relationship breakups, divorce, get dumped by partners, spouses or friends, bullied, abandoned, beaten, abused, discarded and rejected as junk. But we have a loving Father and Savior who sees us as lovable, repairable, acceptable and usable by Him. He picks up the pieces of our lives and makes something beautiful out of it that’s worth its weight in gold.

We may be regarded as the junk of this world that can’t be repaired and used but to Jesus we are worthy to be fixed, loved on and used. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He heals our broken hearts, pours fresh oils of healing over us and binds up our wounds. He waits tenderly and patiently by our side until we heal and our strength returns. All the time He pours His love into us, saturating, filling and equipping us until He sees us fit enough to be released back into the fields again. The process may be long but as His masterpiece, WE are worth the wait!

The breaking of the vessels, which is us, is important to release the GOLD within. Each one of us is unique and carry our own unique ANOINTING, the gold! The gold is our gifts, abilities, Agape love, compassion and other godly attributes that Jesus pours into each of us. You have Jesus, you have the gold in jars of clay. You are the broken vessel that God can use and you are definitely worth your weight in gold. Get ready to be released!

‘Beautiful Broken You’

I have come to learn about “Kintsugi” (or Kintsukuroi), a fascinating Japanese artistic method for repairing broken ceramics with a special lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum, the process usually resulting in something more beautiful than the original.

‘Brokenness Yields Joy’

Brokenness in any form is extremely painful, and so devastating at times. The HOLY SPIRIT once said to me “Brokenness yields JOY.” ‘How?’ I enquired. He replied “Even after a stormy night, the sun will still rise at the crack of dawn. After the rain, comes sunshine. Likewise, those that have OVERCOME brokenness and defeat are able to ENJOY the victory”. Psalm 30:5 – “Weeping may endure for a night but JOY comes in the morning”

JESUS suffered brokenness 2000 years ago. He was persecuted, betrayed, slandered, beaten, scourged, mocked, rejected, abandoned, cursed, pierced and crucified on the cross of Calvary for mankind’s sake, but He conquered the grave and rose VICTORIOUSLY on the third day when the rock was rolled away.

Here are a couple of great quotes that I’ve found: ‘Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat’ (Michael Forbes). ‘The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths’. (Elisabeth Kubler-Rose)

‘He Makes You Beautiful’

You may have suffered greatly but your Abba Father will take your brokenness and make something beautiful of it. We are all a work in progress and sometimes we may wonder “Will He ever finish perfecting me? Will I ever heal and be whole again?” The answer is “Yes, He will, and yes you will”, and you will be far better than you could ever fathom.

Some of you may be thinking that you’re broken beyond repair, or that your cracks are too deep to fix and your ‘mess’ too complex to sort out. You may be a cracked and shattered vessel, unrecognizable and seemingly beyond repair, but the Master Potter molds and remolds you, and He shapes and reshapes you, until your beauty is beyond compare and pleasing to His eyes. He calls you BEAUTIFUL!

His powerful yet gentle hand delicately tends to you so tenderly, as He fills the cracks and repairs the broken pieces of you so perfectly. He makes you better than gold. Your scars become just beautiful reminders of what you once were and what you have become after He takes control of your situation. Ecclesiastes 3:11 – “He has made everything beautiful in His time”

May the Lord speak to you, encourage you and show you that you truly are not flawed but because of your brokenness, He is able to reconstruct and transform you into something amazingly beautiful and flawless in His eyes.

Anne Janssens 1 November, 2017