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The Lord's discipline is an often-ignored fact of life for believers. We often complain about our circumstances without realizing that they are the consequences of our own sin and are a part of the...
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Discipline is suppose to be corrective and not just punitive. Especially when it is the Father (God) who administers it, it will be evidently refining. I John.1:9 declares that God is always willing and ready to forgive our errors or mistakes if we admit without arguing or gainsaying it. The question is,why wait for the loving Father to instill discipline before admitting your fault because the Bible says a sin confessed and forsaken will be pardoned 1 Jn 1:8-9. The Father also declared in Isaiah 43:25-26 that we should come and plead our case (I.e Error, fault, mistake or sin), confess our shortcomings before Him and He will forgive us. We must acknowledge that a heart becomes seared with hot iron when it persisted in wrong doing under repeated admonitions of the Holy Spirit (heretic after three admonitions). Again, we must be clear about the father's relationship with His children and His disposition towards the unbelieving. An erroneous child of God only opens himself or herself up to satanic insurgencies and should not think for once that he or she is being punished by God for his or her errors. He has the judgement seat of Christ to answer for all of his or her misbehaviors. However, the unbelieving are already under a verdict of condemnation and eternal punishment John3:18 "...he that believeth not is condemned already...". It is evident from the scriptures that God does not punish His children while they are still on this earth, He justifies them and protect them Romans 8:33 It is always the adversary (satan) that takes advantage of their wrong positioning with God to inflict or afflict them with adversities. Praise Jesus!
"Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the LORD your God disciplines you for your own good" (Deuteronomy 8:5). "So obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and fearing him" (Deut. 8:6).
We can always differentiate 'Fatherly discipline' arriving from GOD to correct us, from 'afflictions' being brought upon us by Satan, by recognizing when the 'joy and peace' arrive during the process. If we are being 'disciplined' by our Father, the 'joy and peace' doesn't arrive until the end when we recognize that we are being 'corrected' and we take steps to repent, (Hebrews 12:11). If we are being 'afflicted' by evil for living an obedient life or making obedient choices, the 'joy and peace' arrive right away and remain with us throughout our ordeal, (Acts 5:41). The Holy Spirit describes GOD's discipline arriving upon us in three increasingly powerful forms of 'punishment': 1) 'weakness,' (the inability to perform intended tasks; 2) 'sickness,' (chronic or debilitating weakness stifling our 'normal' activities; 3) 'sleep,' (early or unnatural death arriving to rescue our soul from being destroyed by evil). These can be found by direct illustration in 1 Corinthians 11:30-32. GOD takes sin VERY seriously and promises us as part of the terms of His Holy Covenant in Christ that He will even take our physical lives, if necessary, in order to save us from being 'judged along with the world.' That is quite some commitment to us as His children. However, He certainly doesn't want us to take our personal disobedience this far and end up 'destroying our own work' and losing our eternal reward in the process, even if our souls are still preserved from eternal punishment, (1 Corinthians 3:13-17).
Sin is not being imputed to anyone today (2 Corinthians 5:19) during God's Ephesians 3:2 'dispensation of grace'. Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and took the punishment at Calvary that we deserve. All our sins, past, present, and future, were nailed to the cross so that we are no longer burdened with the anguish of being unable to live up to God's requirements. God's grace is not a license to freely sin, but our license to serve God by properly sharing today's good news. Jesus Christ was perfect for us, and God was in Christ on the cross reconciling the world unto Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). Our job is to reconcile ourselves to God through faith in Jesus Christ and His finished cross work on our behalf by belief in the gospel that saves today: 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 KJV: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" When we believe this, we are sealed with the holy Spirit until the day of redemption, and thankfully not just until our next sin (Ephesians 4:30, Romans 7:22-25) KJV. Our faith alone in Jesus makes us the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
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