Wrecked by God

Have you ever read a book or heard a sermon or had a conversation with someone that wrecked you? I mean emotionally stirred you, physically affected you and spiritually convicted you? Have you ever been so challenged by something you read or heard that your entire life plans were altered? I guess what I'm really asking is this - Have you ever had the Holy Spirit so challenge you that you were visibly moved and emotionally stirred to the point of concern?

In my experience, it seems like those 3 things all work together (books, sermons and people) as a team to get our attention and wreck the plans that are not the ones God wants for us. It seems like God will use one of them to plant a seed and then start watering the heck out of that seed with the other two. Almost, like He is forcing growth out of that seed. And when it is happening everywhere you go and everything you hear is touching on that one small seed that has been planted in your heart and mind. And over time it wrecks you!

For me personally God has used messages by J.T. Pugh and Anthony Mangun, Tom Foster and Johnny Garrison, Jeff Arnold and Chester Mitchell, Andy Stanley and Francis Chan, T.D Jakes and John Bevere to wreck me through the years. He has allowed the Books - "Fresh Wind Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, Next generation leader by Andy Stanley, Prayer by E.M Bounds, Holiness by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Axiom by Bill Hybels and many others to challenge my thinking. And he has led me into conversations with Tim Zuniga, Chester Mitchell and my own pastoral team that have produced fire in my bones and passion in my soul. All these over the years have shaped me into the man I am today. But the process was not always pretty or pain-free.

Some people say God uses the 2x4 method on them to get their attention. They describe the moments in their lives where real and lasting change occurred as "come to Jesus" meetings. And always when they are telling the story - they are excited and encouraged by the fact that God got up in their face and hit them metaphorically over the head with a 2x4 of truth.

If what I'm describing seems weird or out there to you then I guess you wouldn't be able to relate to how the Apostle Paul described God's pursuit of him. He describes it like this:

Php 3:8 ...for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Paul said I have suffered the loss of all things so that in return I might win Christ.

That phrase - "suffered the loss" is not a pleasant statement. It's an accurate way of describing God wrecking someone. It's an accurate way of defining what it takes sometimes to get our focus right and our journey clear. It's tough words that are meant to show us what it felt like and looked like to Paul.

So back to the question - have you ever been wrecked by God? Would you be willing to suffer the loss of all things so that you could in return win Christ. I think there are a lot of us out there that would say yes to that. So in Jesus name let the wrecking begin. Bring a book or a person or a sermon into our lives God that begins the wrecking process. And in the end - may we all WIN CHRIST

E.M. Bounds said this
"what the church needs today is not more or better machinery, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use - men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men - men of prayer."