Part 1 – Introduction
This morning I started reading the book of Nehemiah to begin my day and I was surprised to see that Nehemiah’s experience can be associated with what we feel and experience today. Then I decided to look at the headings of all the chapters and what I found was that Nehemiah can be read in a way that is much like a self-realization experience that brings us either back to God or just that it brings us in a closer relationship with healing before a mighty God.
I thought about listing the titles of the headings here but that is something that you have the ability to look up for yourselves. What I’m going to do is tell a story through the eyes of a personal experience with brokenness and bring it through the battles and upheavals of healing and restoration. Follow through these next articles with me in this series of Weeping For The Broken.
Personal Vision
This is just the beginning and the introduction of my story or the story that I see through Nehemiah’s experience. This is what I see when I look at the headings for each section through the book of Nehemiah.
- Weeping for the Broken
- The Broken Reach Out
- Inspecting the Brokenness
- Rebuilding From Ruins
- Opposition of Frenemies
- Personal Defense for Rebuilding
- Continued Opposition during Rebuilding
- The Broken Made Whole
- The Broken Restored
- Personal Education
- Experiencing the Shelter of God’s Love
- Confessing Our Own Sins
- Decision to Obey
- Personal Vows
- The Lord Abiding Within
- History of Personal Leadership
- Dedicating the Wholeness
- Provision for Personal Worship
- Personal Reforms
These are just the things that stand out to me personally. They may not make sense to you just yet. As you continue reading what I see, I pray that you will be able to use it for healing in your own personal life or for your friends.
My Personal Story of Weeping
I want to tell my own personal story of weeping for the broken. This is my story of weeping for someone who was very broken. I wish that I could say that I was involved in their daily life but it was a physical impossibility. I know, though, it gives me greater opportunity to share with you that it was God’s work in answering my prayers and not anything that I have done beyond prayer and the bits of communication that we shared on a personal level.
My Prayer of Forgiveness
Several years ago, in the middle of the night, I was unable to sleep and so I got up and decided to pray. I found a quiet place in another room and as I began praying, I heard God ask me a very pointed question. This is what I heard. “Are you willing to forgive the person that I have put on your heart?” I felt a surprise within myself that I had not thought of this before even though I knew that I did not have positive feelings toward this one individual in my life.
I thought, “Wow! It has been a long time since I thought about this. I really should address it.” Then I said to God, “Yes. I’m willing to forgive my friend. I forgive my friend.”
Weeping in Prayer
In that moment, God’s reply came back immediately. He said, “Pray for your friend.”
So, as I began to pray for my friend, I began weeping like I have never wept or grieved in all my life. I wept so hard that my heart hurt. In fact, every time I thought of this person I prayed. And every night that I could not sleep, at the moment I began praying for my friend, I couldn’t even say anything because I entered a state of grieving like this…the weeping for a lost soul.
A Time For Rebuilding
God was not done with me yet. He used this situation to heal whatever was broken in my own heart and at the same time, He used me to reach out to this one person who walked away from Him because of his own broken heart and life experiences. I’m going to share a couple of examples of the way God used me to minister to my friend.
God’s Response to My Prayers
My friend had just went through the experience of almost dying on the operating table to remove a small tumor. When they were well enough to talk, they shared with me that it was the biggest wake-up call of their life. My friend had given up on trying to make things right with God because they didn’t think that they could come back to God. They thought it was too late because here they were toward the end of their life and they had done so much to walk the way they walked in life that they thought that there was no use going back. Little did they know that God was searching for this lost soul to be found.
Another time that I called my friend was when I heard God pleading with me to call them one evening. It just happened to be a time when they were about to have another operation and they were feeling uncertain and fearful. The future beyond this surgery was not guaranteed either. So I called my friend and God put a song in my mind that I shared. The song was called, “Oh, Why Not Tonight.” I sang the first verse of the song. We both felt the sure presence of the Lord in this moment. My friend survived the surgery.
Spiritual Restoration and Hope
Later, I traveled to see my friend in their home and I brought a set of Bible studies. I shared with them that I would like for them to see what I do. As we studied the first few lessons, they were foggy-brained and couldn’t stay awake. But as we continued through the lessons, they found that there was hope and they were filled with joy as they remembered that they had been involved in doing Bible studies with people in the community.
My friend accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior before they were laid to rest to wait for Jesus to come and call them from their grave.
This is just one of my experiences of weeping for the broken. God restored my friend’s spiritual self even though He did not restore their physical health. My friend died in the hope of salvation. This is what Weeping for the Broken is all about.
What is Your Experience?
Have you had an experience where you wept for someone who was broken? Feel free to share it in the comments or to send me an email at [email protected].
