God Uses Broken People

 God is perfect and you are not perfect. You will never be perfect on this earth, but God loves you in your imperfection.

Once I was in a church service.

The pastor, who is now in heaven, said after the sermon that we could come to the front. Anyone who needs healing can come forward on the left-hand side. The healing team will pray for them. If you want to hear a personal word from God, you can come forward on the right side.

I wanted to hear from God and I went to the right. A strange man asked me if I wanted to hear from God, and I answered yes.

Then he described a vision he saw for me.

He saw a hill. On the top was a tree with the sun rising behind it.

About nine months later, I landed with my wife at Frankfurt Airport at six o'clock on 25 December. An older man and his wife, who I didn't know, picked us up and drove us to his house in the Taunus Mountains. The hills were covered with fir trees and the sun was rising. This man's vision was true.

God loves very imperfect people like me and you. He uses very imperfect and often emotionally wounded people to proclaim his loving plans.

When Jesus began his ministry as an itinerant preacher, the first person to proselytise for him was a woman who was not highly regarded in the village.

Jesus was travelling from Judah to Galilee. He stopped at a well in Samaria and was thirsty.

There he spoke to a woman. At that time, it was very out of line for a rabbi to speak to a woman alone, but Jesus was never conventional.

After a short conversation, Jesus said:

He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.”

The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’;

for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” Jn 4:16–18 NASB95

Jesus loves disreputable and emotionally wounded people, people who are often despised in synagogues or churches.

Then the conversation continued.

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”
Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” Jn 4:25–26 NRSV

So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and said to the men,
“Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”
They went out of the city, and were coming to Him. Jn 4:28–30 NASB95

Is your life a mess? No problem for Jesus.

Do you have to wait until your life is in order before you can proclaim the good news of Jesus? No! No! No!

Reaching Broken People

 Are you under threat? Attacks can come from all directions.

I have had to go through many crises in my life: Illness, unemployment, bullying, persecution, financial problems.

I am grateful for the help of my parents and my Christian relatives and friends, but without God's faithfulness I would have been ruined.

I know a very likeable young woman who had no help from her family. As a young girl she had already believed in Jesus, but she went through traumatic experiences and then she was alone.

She worked as a prostitute for years until she finally experienced real Christian love when some Christian women visited the brothel. She is now a faithful Christian.

She told me that she believed in Jesus as a young child, but not that she prayed as a prostitute. But I suspect that she sometimes begged God for help.

Gaby Wentland is a pastor who does missionary work among prostitutes and ex-prostitutes. She said there is more prayer in brothels than in many churches.

I read in the Bible that the Hebrews were enslaved and horribly bullied in Egypt. When God spoke to Moses in the desert, he said that he had heard the desperate prayers of the Hebrews.

Then the LORD told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. Ex 3:7 NLT

When it comes to mind, I often pray for prostitutes.

There are already Christians who help prostitutes and victims of human trafficking. Jesus said that many people are ready to receive God's salvation, but they need help.

Not all Christians can visit brothels or minister in pubs, but some can and should minister in difficult worldly places.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.
Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” Mt 9:37–38 CSB

We can find broken victims everywhere, in schools, universities, offices, shops in your neighbourhood and on the street. Broken victims often maintain a facade of respectability, but not always.

I know a pastor who was shocked to learn that a seemingly decent woman in his congregation was a stripper in a nightclub.

When I see people who look very sad, impoverished or mentally disturbed, I often pray for them briefly. I believe God will answer many such prayers in an amazing way.

When I see people who look very sad, impoverished or mentally disturbed, I often pray for them briefly. I believe God will answer many such prayers in an amazing way.

Friendly greetings can also be a meaningful encouragement to many people.

(Jesus) said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

This is the greatest and first commandment.

And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ Mt 22:37–39 NRSV