Jentezen Franklin - It's Broken
If you have your Bibles, open them with me to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 30, verse 21. I'm speaking today on the subject, "It's Broken". It's broken. Whatever's been holding you or your loved ones, it's broken. Whatever the enemy has been trying to do, it's broken, in the name of Jesus. Verse 21, "Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and see, it has not been bandaged for healing, nor a splint put on it to bind it, to make it strong enough to ever hold a sword. Therefore thus says the Lord God, 'Surely I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, both the strong one and the one that was broken; and I will make the sword fall out of his hand".
Notice that. "I'll scatter the Egyptians... and disperse them throughout the countries". Verse 24, "But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put My sword in his hand; I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he will groan before him with the groanings of a mortally wounded man. Thus", or then, "I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; they shall know that I am the Lord, when I put My sword into the hand of the king...'"
I want to talk to you about this, these two words. And you will be able to define it, I believe, before we leave here, 'cause it's personal. My it may be different from yours, but it's broken. It's broken off of your family, off of your life. When a baby is born, it has approximately 300 bones, some vary, but for the most part, most children, infants that are born are born with 300 bones, but amazingly by the time a child reaches adulthood in their 20s, they only have 206 bones. So, over 90 bones fuse together to form stronger bones. God in His genius knew that if those bones were in the place they were supposed to be when the child is born that the child would be not agile enough to come through the womb.
It's amazing that when you read the scripture, God has a lot to say about His own arm and hands and even fingers. He said in Isaiah 52:10, "The Lord made bare His holy arm to the nations". That when the nations came against Israel, God rolled up His sleeve and made bare His holy arm and said, "I'll fight and defend Israel with My holy arm". And then, in 1 Peter 5:6, it says, "Humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, and in due season He will exalt you..." So that hand not only exalts, but the arm defends.
And then, we see in Luke 11:20, Jesus said that Satan was cast out by the finger of God. God is so prevailing, God is so powerful that He says, "I will prevail with My arm, I will defend nations with My hand, I will exalt who I want to exalt; and with My finger, I will defeat the powers of Satan". God is so powerful. We're not serving a defeated God, a weak God; but He has more power in His finger than Satan has in his whole kingdom. When the Bible said that "I by the finger of God cast Satan out", Jesus said, what He was saying was like the flicking off of a bug on your lapel.
The devil and God are not co-equal powerful beings. Jesus said, "All I've got to do is give the devil the finger and he has to exit a home, a family, a body, or any situation". It doesn't even take His fist. It doesn't take His hand. It doesn't take His arm. And my point is this: you don't just have the finger of God defending you and your family, you don't just have the hand of God with its 27 bones, you don't just have the arm of God, you've got the arm that defends, you've got the hand that exalts, and you've got the finger that defeats Satan's... No wonder the Bible said, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper".
There's a powerful principle to be uncovered in Ezekiel 30. He said that "when I break the arm of your enemy", notice this, "the arm, when it's broken, the arm is broken and the sword", the scripture said, "will fall to the ground", or fall out of his hand.
Ephesians 6:17, And I want to flip this for just a moment. If when God breaks the arm of the enemy that's what happens, that reveals a little principle and strategy of how the enemy attacks us with warfare. His objective is to break the arm of the church or break the arm of you the believer so that the sword which Ephesians 6:17 says, "taking the sword, which is the word of God", the sword of the spirit is the word of God. And if the enemy can break your arm, he knows that you can't hold on to the word of God. And so, his whole attempt, the way that he wages war against us is to get us to drop the word. And the only way we'll let go of the word is when he breaks our arm.
And so, the enemy tries, with sin, he's trying to break our arm. With compromise or carnality or pride or any of these works of the flesh, they come to break our arm. Even discouragement and even, you know, lack of faith. It's all to break our arm so that we lose our grip on the promises of God, because the word of God will conquer the power of Satan if we will hold on to it. The word or the sword will fall, though, if the enemy can break our arm.
There's a man in the Bible, in 2 Samuel 23, that was one of David's mighty men, and I want to be like him; that when the war is being waged and when the enemy is attacking with everything he's got, the scripture said this man's hand clave unto the sword and would not let it go, and they had to pry his fingers off of the sword after the victory. If you'll hold the word, the word will hold you. If you'll get a hold of it, it will get a hold of you. And the way that we win, because we are in a warfare whether you recognize it or not, and the only way you will defeat the enemy is by the word of God.
And the whole attack of the enemy is to break your arm so you will drop your weapon and he can take over you and your house and everything that you have. But as long as you're cleaving to the word of God and you pull out scriptures in the face of everything that you see that looks like the opposite and you say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" with purity, we will serve the Lord with great delight, we will serve the Lord and enjoy it, we will be triumphant and victorious.
You use the word of God every time you worship. That's why your worship is so powerful even today, because every time you're worshiping, you're saying to the enemy, "You're not breaking my arm and getting me to let go of the promise. I have a prophecy over my children. I have a prophecy over my marriage. I have a prophecy over my livelihood. I have the gifts of God in my life and nothing's going to make me let go of the sword of the spirit, and I'm not going to allow you to break my arm".
So when you praise, you're making a declaration. "I'm still holding to the promise". When you worship, even though you've had a terrible week sometimes, that's the time to really raise your hands and say, "Devil, you hit me but you didn't break my arm. I'm still clinging to the truth. By His stripes, I am healed. I'm the head and not the tail. I'm blessed. I'm not cursed. I'm victorious not defeated. And the word says it and I believe it. And it looks like I'm losing but I'm winning as long as I'm holding the word of God". Somebody give Him a praise, at every campus, if you know Jesus is Lord and the word will endure forever. Grab it. Hold it, and don't let the enemy break your arm.
Tell somebody, "I've still got my sword". Ezekiel 30 says that God said, "I'm going to break his arm so bad that he's going to drop his sword and he'll never be able to pick it up again with that arm". And then, God said in the next verse, "And then, when I get through doing that, I'm going to break his other arm just 'cause I want to". Because sometimes we get free in one area and the devil attacks us in another area.
Sometimes, you know, people will testify and say, "I want to thank the Lord that He set me free from alcohol, but I've been smoking more than I've ever been smoking" or "I want to thank the Lord that I quit eating so much, but I've started drinking like a sailor". You know? And it's like you get free from one thing and the enemy doubles up in another area. But God said, "I just want the enemy of your life to know that I'm going to break his good arm and he's not going to be able to ever use that weapon against you again". Notice, He said, "They're not going to be able to doctor it".
Did you catch that in the text that I read? Said they're not going to be able to put it in a splint or they're not going to be able to wrap it up and put it in a cast. He said it's not going to be repairable. "What I'm going to do is break the thing, the weapon that the enemy has tried to use against you; and when I break it, it's done. They're not coming back. It's not coming back. It's not going to get on you and your children and your children. I'm breaking the arm and the sword's going to fall. And when I get through with that, I'm going to break his other arm because I have decreed it is broken and broken it shall be".
The curse is broken off your family; the curse of addiction, the curse of deception, the curse of strife, the curse of bitterness, in the name of Jesus, we decree today it is broken. Somebody shout at the word of the Lord today. Hallelujah. No, we're not crazy. We're not crazy. Every curse has to break, every addiction has to break, in Jesus' name. When the arm of the enemy is broken, the things he's been using against you will fall.
"The sword that held you, the sword that hurt you, the sword that addicted you will never be an issue again. It'll never be your struggle again, when I get through with you". Some things change when the arm gets broken. That's why He said in Luke 11:2, when a strong man is in control of a house, and he will run that house: A strong man, fully armed, he guards his palace and he has that house.
And some of you have had a strong demon that's been controlling some things in your home and he'll keep doing it until, the next verse says, something happens. But when the stronger one than he comes upon him, y'all know who the stronger one is? Anybody happen to know who the name of the stronger one is? His name is Jesus. When He comes in, He's going to overcome him and break his arms. His armor's going to fall to the ground and He's going to pick up his sword and strengthen your hand and put the enemy's sword in your hand.
The devil should have left your family alone, left your children alone, left your ministry alone, left your business alone because all it's going to do is arm you with more insight, more revelation, more anointing, more purpose, more of a determination to say, "Hell's going to pay for everything it's done to my life, in the name of Jesus".
I love the story of Dagon in the Old Testament. It's found in 1 Samuel 5. The Bible said the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant, which was the presence of God under the old covenant. They brought it into the temple of Dagon and they set it beside their statue god, Dagon. And the Bible said when they left that night, after having a big party celebrating their victory over Jehovah, they left their god up a little bit higher. And this poor little Jehovah God in His box is lower. They came back the next day and your Bible said that the Dagon had fallen over on his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue hall confess.
If you read the rest of the story, it says that his head broke off. God just gave him a nose job, broke his nose, broke his... Mr. Potato Head. And these poor people, they start heaving and hoeing. "Let's pick our God up". Heave. Heave. Heave. And they're heaving him and trying to set him back on his throne. I don't need a god I have to pick up. I don't need a god I have to put his pieces back together. I need a God who can pick me up. I need a God who can put my broken places back together.
The Bible said they left him and they came back in the next day and he was fallen over again. And this time, his head was broken off, and his arms. His hands, his arms, they're gone. I want you to understand something; that when Jesus enters into the temple, which is your body, doesn't matter what demon is setting on the throne, the moment Jesus enters, He says, "Get off My throne", and instantly they're dethroned. When you sit in a service like this and you respond to an altar call, the devil or that addiction or that bondage or that enemy is dethroned. Jesus sets on the throne of your heart. And the first thing He does is breaks his head. The first thing the enemy has to do when Jesus comes in is the thinking begins to change because you start thinking saved.
You don't think lost. You don't think defeated. You don't think addicted. You get into the word and you start thinking, "I am an overcomer". You start thinking, "I am free". You think saved. And then, when you start thinking saved, guess what? The arms get broken and what used to hold you can't hold you any more. It tries to, but because your mind is renewed, suddenly, the stuff that used to control you, it cannot hold you anymore because the arms of your enemy has been broken. He said, "When I break your enemy's arms, I'm going to turn around and break his other arm that I've already broke before; but I'm going to break it again". It's multiple deliverances. And the weapon's going to lay on the ground.
And then, the next verse says something interesting. He said, "Then I'm going to strengthen the other person's hand, the one that I'm for. I'm going to strengthen your hand and I'm going to put that sword that he can't ever pick up against you and use it, I'm going to put it in your hand". And instead of it chasing you, you're going to chase it. Instead of it defeating you, you're going... Instead of it terrorizing you and your family and reaping havoc... What the enemy meant to destroy your family with, it's going to become the weapon, the same area that you will defeat the enemy and break his arms off many, many, many others.
Now, I close with this. Calvary broke the arms of Satan. Does anybody agree with that? Do you really believe that on Calvary, when they stretched Him wide and hung Him high and drove the nails through His hands, that in that moment, He broke the arms of Satan and every weapon he had in his kingdom fell to the ground? But what blesses me about that story of Calvary is because the blood is all over Jesus.
When they were at that crucifixion scene, the Bible said the Roman soldier went over and broke the bones of the thief on the left and broke the bones of the thief on the right, and his legs; breaking bones. And they came to break the bones of Jesus, and the Bible said the command was given, which was a prophecy that went all the way back to the book of Psalms, "Not one of His bones shall be broken". It was law.
The last thing they did, every person who was ever crucified under Roman law would have their bones broken as the last thing that would happen in a crucifixion. But when they came to Jesus, they didn't know they were fulfilling the law, but one of 'em said, "There's no need to..." They stabbed Him in the side and the blood and water, they said, "He's dead, He's dead; no need to break His bones". Because Jesus, through His blood on the cross, broke the arms of Satan, none of His bones were broken. He is the body of Christ and He said, "None of My bones has to be broken".
You and I are the New Testament body of Christ, and He said, "If you've got blood on your family and blood on your life and blood on your home, it's not My will for you to be broken. I want to strengthen your hand. I want to put the enemy's sword in your hand. And I want you to walk in victory. And I want you to use what he attacked you with against him like never before".
That's what's happening. And I told you I didn't come to preach; I came to prophesy. And here's what I'm prophesying. "It's broken. It's broken. He opens doors no man can open and we shout about that, but I want to shout about another thing. He shuts doors", Revelation said, "that no one can ever reopen again". Shout, "It's broken". I dare you to get up on your feet all over this room, at every one of our campuses; I dare you to lift up both hands and say out loud, verbally, with great faith mixed into this message, "It's broken".
Curses are broken. Addictions are broken. Hurt is broken. Offenses are broken. The weapon of the enemy has fallen to the ground. It's broken, in the name of Jesus. Granny, you better shout like you believe God knows how to deliver your children and grandchildren. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It's broken. It's broken. We're not playing games. This is life or death, heaven or hell, and that demon is broken off of your family, in Jesus name.
Every head bowed, every eye closed. If you're under the sound of my voice and you would say, "Pastor Jentezen, I know I'm not right with God, I know I'm lost, I know I'm living in sin, and I'm ready for a change; I want Satan's power and grip on my life completely broken, I want the blood of Jesus to cleanse me so that I don't live a broken life, I want to be forgiven and I want to pick up a sword today that the enemy has used against me and I want something good to come out of it; I want to chase the enemy out of my house and my family, I want to leave here with the stronger one on the inside of me..." Are you ready? "Pastor, you're talking to me. I know I'm not right with God".
You may be up in the balcony, on the main floor, at any of our campuses. Wherever you are, right now, if God is speaking to you and you know it and you're ready for a change, I'm not going to embarrass you, I'm going to pray for you right where you are, but He will not come where He's not invited. This is your chance. Invite Him. "Pastor, pray for me".
Lift up those 27 bones in your hand. Lift 'em up and say, "I surrender". If you don't know you're right with God and you want to get right with God, raise your hand right now. That's beautiful. That's awesome. Hands all over this room. Keep your hand high. I want somebody else to take your 27 bones in your hand and lay it on the shoulder of that person around you that has their hand raised. Look around you. if you see anybody with their hand raised, don't touch 'em on the head and all that, just place your hand on their shoulder. Now, let's pray this prayer out loud. Everybody, agree and touch and say these words:
Lord Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God and I today receive what the blood of the cross did for me. I am forgiven, I am saved, I am a child of God from this day forward. And today, the arms of the enemy are broken off of me and my house. And in the name of Jesus, my hand is strengthened. I will pick up the sword that the enemy tried to destroy me with and I will fight and I will win, in the name of Jesus.