There's a Crack in Your Armor Perry Stone

Holy Spirit. The dents you see in your armor today from battles in the past should become the fuel for your destiny tomorrow. We must learn how to take our most serious trial or strongest temptation and what was intended for our permanent defeat and make it the fuel of motivation for ministry. For example, years ago a precious couple saw one of their young children, a beautiful girl under ten years of age, die with a rare disease. They stood in the gap for her healing, but for reasons only known to God the healing never manifested. These were not just emotional cracks in their armor—they felt as though the spirit of premature death had burnt their faith to ashes, and their hearts were void of faith and filled with grief. Someone shared a word with them that just as they were now parents without children, there were many children in the world without parents. Instead of focusing upon their own loss, they must focus upon being parents for those who have no parents—orphans in foreign lands—and raise up their own spiritual children, either in America or on foreign soil. Just as much as they emotionally missed their child, there were children who also missed having a mom and dad. After intensive researching, they became involved in an orphanage and soon discovered that because they ministered to someone else’s need, God in return ministered healing to their own wounds. Their wounds turned to zeal, the zeal into purpose, and the purpose into ministry. What about parents who experience the pain of watching a child, perhaps a teenager or a son or daughter in their twenties, die of a drug overdose? Nothing is more heart wrenching than to see a child depart this life prematurely, knowing that God