Brokenness: The Secret of Spiritual Overflow: Leading God's people, #3

By Zacharias Tanee Fomum

"BROKENNESS," by Professor Fomum, is a real classic for walking the Christian life with total abandonment to the Lord.
After the new birth, a man's spirituality is not measured by his capacity to preach great sermons, to cast out demons, or to heal the sick. Such capacities could be the manifestation of spiritual gifts, which are received from God, regardless of who the person is. Such a person may

• be totally unrecognizable at the slightest provocation,
• be selfish and self-centred,
• love sin,
• hide or blame others for his mistakes and failures,
• get worried when faced with the least problem, and act before he has prayed about it,
• etc.

This talks of an unbroken life in which, unfortunately, most believers who truly confess the name of the Lord, find themselves several years after conversion.
The purpose of God in the new creation is to produce people who attain spiritual maturity, by quickly attaining the stature of broken men and women. God does it through the cross, to break and destroy the natural man and, by the work of the Holy Spirit, to build the character of Christ in the believer. Brokenness therefore depends on the degree to which a person has allowed the cross and the Holy Spirit to work in him.
Taking Jacob's life as a basis, the author shows how one can go from the state of the natural man (unconverted) to that of a carnal believer (unbroken), then to that of a spiritual believer (broken); that is, a life in which the believer

• belongs totally to the Lord, 
• allows free access to God in the minutest details of his life,

no longer presents any obstacle to God.

Read this book. It will challenge you and help you to make progress on the pathway of brokenness, to such an extent that you will soon be able to confess with apostle Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books4revival
• Release date: Jul 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9798224762392

Zacharias Tanee Fomum

For FREE books from Zacharias Tanee Fomum: https://books.bookfunnel.com/ztf-free-ebooks. Professor Zacharias Tanee FOMUM was a man of uncommon spirituality, a leading voice for revival, a workaholic, a prophet-teacher, and a world-shaping spiritual genius. He was a bestselling Christian author (with over 350 books, over 10 million copies in circulation in over 100 languages) and a professor of Organic Chemistry (with over 160 published scientific works of high distinction (earning him the award of a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Durham, Great Britain). His books and the millions of people he influenced in more than 40 years of Christian ministry continue to impact the world with the Gospel today. He founded Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMFI), a missionary movement that has planted churches in more than 120 nations on all continents. He believed in a life of simplicity and with the support and dedication of his wife and their seven children, his all—time, money, heart, and soul— was dedicated to spreading the Gospel. He carried out exploits for God through the making of disciples for Christ, planting of churches, building spiritual leaders according to the model of the Bible, and serving the body of Christ, especially as a teacher on prayer. Learn more and read exclusive excerpts at: https://ztfomum.org

Book preview

Brokenness

BROKENNESS

The secret of spiritual overflow

LEADING GOD'S PEOPLE

BOOK 3

ZACHARIAS TANEE FOMUM

Books4revival

CONTENTS

Preface

1. The marks of the unbroken and the broken life

2. Jacob as a natural man

3. The crisis of the conversion of Jacob

4. Life in the converted but unbroken state—1

Jacob and Laban—1: a wife for Jacob

5. Life in the converted but unbroken state—2

Jacob and Laban—2: worldly possessions

6. Life in the converted but unbroken state—3

Jacob and Esau

7. The divine breaking of the converted man—1

The night or sunset of an unbroken man

8. The divine breaking of the converted man—2

Jacob and the heavenly man

9. Life in the broken state—1

Israel and Esau

10. Life in the broken state—2

Israel and God

11. Life in the broken state—3

Finishing touches

12. Life in the broken state—4

The overflow

Back Matters

PREFACE

This book, Brokenness: The Secret of Spiritual Overflow, is the third in the series, "Spiritual Secret Books." The books of the series include:

Book 01: The Secret of Spiritual Grandeur (or, Knowing the God of Unparalleled Goodness)

Book 02:The Secret of Spiritual Rest

Book 03:Brokenness: The Secret of Spiritual Overflow(or, The Secret of Spiritual Brokenness)

Book 04: The Secret of Spiritual Success (or, How to Succeed in The Christian Life)

BROKENNESS, is a real classic for walking the Christian life with total abandonment to the Lord.

After the new birth, a man’s spirituality is not measured by his capacity to preach great sermons, to cast out demons, or to heal the sick. Such capacities could be the manifestation of spiritual gifts, which are received from God, regardless of who the person is. Such a person may

be totally unrecognizable at the slightest provocation,

be selfish and self-centred,

love sin,

hide or blame others for his mistakes and failures,

get worried when faced with the least problem, and act before he has prayed about it,

etc.

This talks of an unbroken life in which, unfortunately, most believers who truly confess the name of the Lord, find themselves several years after conversion.

The purpose of God in the new creation is to produce people who attain spiritual maturity, by quickly attaining the stature of broken men and women. God does it through the cross, to break and destroy the natural man and, by the work of the Holy Spirit, to build the character of Christ in the believer. Brokenness therefore depends on the degree to which a person has allowed the cross and the Holy Spirit to work in him.

Taking Jacob’s life as a basis, the author shows how one can go from the state of the natural man (unconverted) to that of a carnal believer (unbroken), then to that of a spiritual believer (broken); that is, a life in which the believer

belongs totally to the Lord,

allows free access to God in the minutest details of his life,

no longer presents any obstacle to God.

Read this book. It will challenge you and help you to make progress on the pathway of brokenness, to such an extent that you will soon be able to confess with apostle Paul, It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

1

THE MARKS OF THE UNBROKEN AND THE BROKEN LIFE

2

JACOB AS A NATURAL MAN

A natural man is one who is not born of God. He has been born of the flesh. He has natural abilities received from God as Creator. He sees all things from man’s point of view and responds at that level. He may have many good characteristics, but they are his by nature and he does not depend on God for their reception or application. All human beings begin life as natural men. They may be born of parents who are saved and consecrated to the Lord but, all the same, they are born into this life out of touch with God. Jacob was a natural man from the word, ‘go’.

Jacob was a fighter and a man who was unyielding from the womb. The Bible says,

The children struggled together within her (Genesis 25:22).

Why was there a struggle? Could it be that Jacob was anxious to come out first? Was the struggle one over the better position in the mother’s womb? Was it a matter of the quantity of food that they each had? We do not know the details, but it is likely that Jacob contributed significantly to the struggle.

Later on, it was time for the two children to be born. The Bible says,

The first came forth red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came forth, and his hand had taken hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob (Genesis 25:25-26).

Jacob had lost the battle to be the first-born when Esau came out first. As he ‘saw’ Esau coming out first, he made one last attempt to stop him. He used his hand to take hold of Esau’s heel. He did not, however, succeed to stop him.

The two children were born. They were brothers. They were twins, but there was a big wall between them. This wall was caused by Jacob’s wounded self. He had wanted to be the first, but he had become the second. He was jealous of his brother. Jacob, however, did not yield to the inevitable. He had wanted to be the first-born but things had not turned out that way. He could have asked, Has God some special reason for causing my brother to come out before me? What is that special reason? He did not ask that type of question. He did not know God and did not want to seek His purpose, for fear that it might interfere with his own desires. He wanted to be the first at any cost. He must have said to himself, I have lost the right to be the first by an act of God. How can I become the first through my own efforts?

He had to find an answer to that question. He sat down and thought over it carefully. He possibly said to himself, I do not care how I get the birthright. The end justifies the means. God will understand. I can sin now and repent afterwards. Having made up his mind to take away the birthright from Esau at any cost, he worked out a plan of action. Natural people and converted but unbroken people know how to make

plans,

scheme,

manoeuvre,

things,

events and

people

in order to accomplish their selfish desires. They are always planning, scheming, manoeuvring, and so on. Jacob was looking for an opportunity to accomplish his plans. Then the opportunity came. The Bible says,

Once when Jacob was boiling pottage, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Let me eat some of that red pottage, for I am famished!’ (Genesis 25:29-30).

If Jacob had not been self-centred, he ought to have said, My brother, welcome back from the field. I am sorry that you are so tired and hungry. Please sit down and I will serve you the pottage and all other things that are available. He instead saw an opportunity to exploit him. Natural people and converted but unbroken believers are always exploiting others. They exploit them

emotionally,

spiritually,

intellectually and

materially.

They are always at the receiving end. They receive love, attention, care, praise, encouragement, sympathy, and so on, and they give nothing back, or they give too little back. They receive material things of all kinds, but never face up to the fact that they either never give or they give too little. They are hard and unthoughtful. They release very wicked thoughts that pierce and wound people, without thought as to what they are doing. They may continue in that way for so long that they become hypocrites. They become deceived. They may be selfish but think that they are generous, because of an occasional thing that they give someone. They may be thoughtless, but because they once showed someone kindness in the past, they think that all is fine.

Broken people labour to outdo others in giving away all that they are and all that they have. They, like the Lord of glory, are committed to giving and giving and giving. Because of what God has done in them, they are able to flow out and flow out and continue to flow out. Jacob was far from broken. He was not even born again. He was pre-occupied with himself and so, when he saw Esau’s condition of need, he decided to use him (Esau) to accomplish his (Jacob’s) goal. The Bible says,

Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ Esau said, ‘I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?’ Jacob said, ‘Swear to me first.’ So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way (Genesis 25:31-34).

Jacob saw Esau’s