Did you listen to Podcast #37 from the AgeTurners.com website? It is entitled, The Discipline of God, and has as introduction: How do we know that we are genuine children of God? We know because we have a Father who not only loves us but also disciplines us as His sons (Heb. 12:7).
In this podcast we will see the reason behind the discipline of God and learn what to do when we are under His discipline. Below are two small portions of enjoyment from this podcast (you can listen to it online here: The Discipline of God, mp3).
What an enjoyable podcast! Hallelujah, God our heavenly Father disciplines us so that we may be trained and perfected! God often disciplines us as a father disciplines his sons so that we may learn certain lessons and partake of His holy nature. We need to develop a normal healthy fear of God.
It is hard for us to know, to enjoy, and to pursue Him if this fear is something that is not in our being. We need to be infused with a healthy fear of God. In the age we live in today there is no fear of God; people think they can do anything they want with no consequence.
But the Bible tells us that God is real and that one day He will come to judge all kinds of people. There is a day coming when everyone will believe that God exists. Today they may mock this, but one day they will believe that there is a God.
Therefore, we need to learn certain things in our Christian life. We are real children of our dear Father, and therefore, we will be subject to His discipline. Hebrews 12:5 says:
And you have completely forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with sons, “My father, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when reproved by him.
There are two kinds of reactions that we may have when His disciplining hand comes upon us. We may joke and make fun OR we may be so discouraged that we would faint. Hebrews 12:6a says, “For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines.” This means that as sons of God – just like in our earthly family – we are disciplined because the Lord wants to train and educate us. He would like to teach us many lessons.
He wants us to be like His beloved son, the Lord Jesus. We need to be the reproduction of Jesus. Therefore, there are many lessons and things we have to pass through. We should not see it as a punishment, but as training, that we would learn something and be perfected.
This is a sign of the Lord’s love for us. He would not let us go; He won’t let us behave wildly, improperly and carelessly. If the Father does not deal with you as His son, through discipline, it is a sign that you are not His son. You may be a false or illegitimate son.
Therefore, we need to respect the discipline of our Father. Hebrews 12:10 says:
For they disciplined for a few days as it seemed good to them; but He, for what is profitable that we might partake of His holiness.
He disciplines us for a profit. It is not for the sake of hurting us, but so that we would learn something and gain something, even that we would be partakers of His holiness. This is His nature, and it needs to be wrought into us, worked in us. It is through discipline that we would become these partakers.
We need to be exercised when we see ourselves under the disciplining hand of the Lord. It yields fruit, which is something related to life, and it bears the fruit of righteousness. In our Christian life, as young people, we can be loose and careless in how we speak, behave, eat, spend money and clothe ourselves.
We do not live the Lord; instead, we express our own opinions, and speak and joke about spiritual things lightly, which may offend the Lord. Sometimes, we are completely unaware of this.
Then, the Lord may allow something to come into our life. Our health may be affected, or we may be involved in an accident, or lose our job. Something comes along, and when these things come, God is dealing with us as His sons. This is what He does to get our attention, so that we may stop and open up to Him.
He wants us to fellowship with Him and to see what He would like us to learn. Do not treat this lightly, because another, more severe situation may come because we did not learn our lesson the first time.
In Isaiah it says that while we are going along on our pathway, He may allow things to happen. This becomes the path of our judgement. Then, we should go to Him with an open, repenting heart and say,
Lord, shine on me; I don’t want to be the same. I repent and turn to you. What lesson do You have for me?
While the Lord is chastening us, we should wait for Him in the path of His judging in order to learn the lesson that He would give us. God’s judgement always teaches us lessons in righteousness. This is where we are going. God wants to have us in righteousness.
The Bride adorned for her Husband in Revelation is clothed with the righteousness of the saints, the lessons of the saints. Isaiah 26:9 says:
My soul desires You in the night; Indeed my spirit within me seeks You at the dawn, for when your judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
I enjoyed that we really need to listen to the Lord and allow Him to shine on us. If we would be under His disciplining hand, we will be trained and perfected, and we would be like the Lord Jesus. God does not discipline us to punish us or to hurt us; He does so because He is our beloved Father. He leads and guides us day by day, that we may be partakers of His holiness. [sharing by sister Grace L based on her enjoyment of podcast #37 on the AgeTurners.com website]
Oh Lord Jesus! We just need Your discipline, Lord! There were many realisations I experienced while listening to this podcast. As young people we are loose – so loose with many things we do – but we just need the Lord’s discipline. But thank You Lord that Your discipline is only out of love, Lord, and that this discipline for our training and perfecting! Lord Jesus we just need You!
One sweet point that touched me is that in the smallest of problems we can find discipline which God has predestined – that we may seek Him and learn of Him as sons! We as young people should not pass up such a cherishing opportunity, but turn to Him whenever we can for our perfecting! O, Lord, we all need You more and more each day – just soften our hearts for You, Lord! [sharing by brother Richard S. from podcast #37 on the AgeTurners.com]
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