The Heart God Revives

    “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17).

    Proud people focus on the failures of others.
    Broken people are overwhelmed with a sense of their own spiritual need.

    Proud people are self-righteous; have a critical, fault-finding spirit; look at everyone else’s faults with a microscope, but their own with a telescope; look down on others.
    Broken people are compassionate; can forgive much because they know how much they have been forgiven; esteem all others better than themselves.

    Proud people have an independent, self-sufficient spirit.
    Broken people have a dependent spirit; recognize their need for others.

    Proud people have to prove they are right.
    Broken people are willing to yield the right to be right.

    Proud people claim rights; have a demanding spirit.
    Broken people yield their rights; have a meek spirit.

    Proud people are self-protective of their time, their rights, and their reputation.
    Broken people are self-denying.

    Proud people desire to be served.
    Broken people are motivated to served others.

    Proud people desire to be a success.
    Broken people are motivated to be faithful and to make others a success.

    Proud people desire self-advancement.
    Broken people desire to promote others.

    Proud people have a drive to be recognized, to be appreciated; are wounded when others are promoted and they are overlooked.
    Broken people have a sense of their own unworthiness; are thrilled that God would use them at all in any ministry; are eager for others to get the credit and rejoice when others are lifted up.

    Proud people have a subconscious feeling, “This ministry is privileged to have me and my gifts”; think of what they can do for God.
    Broken people have a heart attitude that says, “I don’t deserve to have any part in this ministry:  know that they have nothing to offer God except the life of Jesus flowing through their broken lives.

    Proud people feel confident in how much they know.
    Broken people are humbled by how very much they have to learn

    Proud people are self-conscious.
    Broken people are not concerned with self at all.

    Proud people keep others at arm’s length.
    Broken people are willing to risk getting close to others and to take risks of loving intimately.

    Proud people are quick to blame others.
    Broken people accept personal responsibility and can see where they are wrong in a situation.

    Proud people are unapproachable.
    Broken people are easy to be entreated.

    Proud people are defensive when criticized.
    Broken people receive criticism with a humble, open spirit.

    Proud people are concerned with being respectable, with what others think; work to protect their own image and reputation.
    Broken people are concerned with being real; what they care about and what matters to them is not what others think but what God knows; are willing to die to their own reputation.

    Proud people find it difficult to share their spiritual needs with others.
    Broken people are willing to be open and transparent with others as God directs.

    Proud people want to be sure that no one finds out when they have sinned; instinct is to cover up.
    Broken people once broken, don’t care who knows or who finds out; are willing to be exposed because they have nothing to lose.

    Proud people have a hard time saying, “I was wrong; will you please forgive me?”
    Broken people are quick to admit failure and to seek forgiveness when necessary.

    Proud people tend to deal in generalities when confessing sin.
    Broken people under the conviction of God’s Spirit, are able to acknowledge specifics when confessing their sin.

    Proud people are not concerned about the consequences of their sin.
    Broken people are grieved over the cause, the root of their sin.

    Proud people are remorseful over their sin, sorry that they got found out or caught.
    Broken people are truly, genuinely repentant over their sin; which is evidenced in the fact that they forsake that sin.

    Proud people wait for the other to come and ask forgiveness when there is a misunderstanding or conflict in relationships.
    Broken people take the initiative to be reconciled when there is a misunderstanding or a conflict in relationships; they race to the cross; they see if they can get there first, no matter how wrong the other may have been.

    Proud people compare themselves with others and feel worthy of honor.
    Broken people compare themselves to the holiness of God and feel desperate need for His mercy.

    Proud people are blind to their true heart condition.
    Broken people walk in the light.

    Proud people don’t think they have anything to repent of.
    Broken people realize they have need of a continual heart attitude of repentance.

    Proud people don’t think they need revival, but are sure that everyone else does.
    Broken people continually sense their need for a fresh encounter with God and for a fresh filling of His Holy Spirit.

    – Reprinted with permission of Life Action Ministries, P.O. Box 31, Buchanan, MI 49107-0031.