“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Heb. 12:6-7)
There’s a terrible misunderstanding among believers today about God’s method of disciplining His children. They’ll point to some kind of disaster – a tornado or a car accident-and say, “I guess God sent that catastrophe to teach us something.”
No, He didn’t! A loving God doesn’t send death and destruction on His children to instruct them. He doesn’t unleash His bad dog to bite us on the leg so we’ll learn to wear our boots!
How does He chastise His own? With His Word.
Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, “Every Scripture is God-breathed-given by His inspiration-and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness, So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work” (AMP).
If you’ll look in 2 Corinthians 7, you’ll see an example of this. There the Apostle Paul talks about a situation in the Corinthian church that needed correction. That church had gotten out of line and had to be disciplined.
How did Paul do it? Not by asking God to send an earthquake to shake them up!
He did it by writing them a letter. He wrote them a word of reproof that hurt so badly they would have preferred being beaten with a stick. It cut deep into their spirits and brought them to repentance.
Your Heavenly Father loves you and because He does, He will chasten you. But He’ll do it with spiritual, not fleshly tools. He’ll use the spirit-power in His Word to chasten unbelief and purify your spirit in such a way that you’ll come out strong, not weak and condemned.
So quit bowing down to disasters and start subjecting yourself instead to the Word of God. Yield to the Word. Let it correct you and trim away the flesh and the lusts that lead you astray. Remember, the Sword of the Spirit is two-edged-one side is for Satan and the other side is for you. Let God use it to keep you in line!
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 7
Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries
For the last 50 years Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have been passionately teaching Christians all over the world how to apply the principles of faith found in God's WORD to their lives.
They have seven ministry offices around the world: United States, Canada, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Ukraine and Latin America. Their God-given directive is to preach and teach the uncompromised WORD of God on every available voice, which is being accomplished through a variety of channels, including our Believer's Voice of Victory TV and radio broadcasts, podcast and magazine; Believers' Conventions, Victory Campaigns and Living Victory meetings; published books, website, and social media channels, to name a few.
With the expansion of technology, they have more work to do now than ever. They are determined to let the world know Jesus is LORD, and they are not slowing down anytime soon!