Friday, April 23, 2021

Hebrews 12:8 and 12:11

8. “If God doesn’t disciple you as he does all his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.”

11. “No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening-it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”

Happy blessed Friday WBFWE Family. We’ve made it to another blessed Friday. And after today we will never see this Friday again. So let us enjoy this day. Let us praise The Father for this day. Let us be thankful for this day. I pray you have a blessed, safe, and enjoyable day and start to your weekend. Appreciate you stopping by… see you again soon!

I pray blessings and plead the blood of Jesus over you. In Jesus name… Amen!

The definition of discipline is as follows: The practice of training people to obey rules or code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience. Another definition of discipline is training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character. There are also 3 types of discipline and they are as follows: Preventative Discipline, Supportive Discipline, and Corrective Discipline. In a nut shell here are the definition of the 3 types of discipline. Preventative Discipline: provide proactive intervention to avoid the rise of behavior problems. Supportive Discipline: provide suggestions and options for correcting a behavior before a consequence is necessary. Corrective Discipline: when all else has failed to correct a behavior that’s when consequences are brought forth.

Discipline is good for us. Discipline is necessary for us. How else do you get changed behavior if there isn’t some form of discipline. All jobs/fields/professions require some form of discipline, without it anything goes and any behavior is acceptable. Athletes require discipline to train their minds, bodies, and attitudes if they want to get the very best out of themselves. If they don’t have the required discipline they won’t last long in whatever sport they are in. The military requires discipline. Imagine a military that has an undisciplined force. A force that doesn’t follow orders and does what it pleases. An undisciplined military will not win a battle. Parenting without discipline is a heartbreak waiting to happen. How can a parent expect a child to do as they’re told and know right from wrong if there isn’t some form of discipline.

Yahweh tells us in His WORD the following about discipline: Proverbs 12:1 – Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. Proverbs 13:24 – Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. Proverbs 15:32 – Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Job 5:17 – Behold, blessed is the one who God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. Hebrews 12:11- No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening- it is painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. Revelation 3:19 – Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. There are a plethora of scripture that talks about discipline and with Our Creator putting so much emphasis on discipline there must be something to this discipline thing right?

Imagine if Jesus wasn’t disciplined and He did what He wanted and not what He was sent to do. He would not have died thus not taken away our sins. He would’ve put us in a quandary for real for real. What I mean is before Jesus came, in the Old Testament, they had to sacrifice animals to Lord God in order to atone for sins. Just imagine we having to sacrifice animals in this day in time to be forgiven of our sins. We as people sin so much that each person having 100 acres of land with nothing but animals on it possibly would not be enough. We would run out of animals to sacrifice in a week or month tops because we can’t stop sinning. We would be slaughtering animals for repentance more than we would be eating them. We run out of animals to sacrifice and all that would be left would be plants and veggies to eat (if it’s a vegan who runs out of meat they would be ok, but a meat lover like myself… ohhhh nawwww I’d be in a hurt’an status). Would we stop sinning because we run out of meat… chances are NOT. Either we would go steal someone else’s animal to sacrifice for our sins, and the stealing of that animal would further compound our problems. Or we would go to our neighbor with the expectation that they would take from their home/family and give to us. Would that be fair to the neighbor… nope. Though we lacked discipline and now lack animals, we will still find a way to avoid dealing with our consequences. What I just wrote may sound comical or maybe confusing, but that’s what happens when we lack discipline. People with discipline laugh at or find the undisciplined comical and confusing, because discipline is not as hard as we make it.

If Yahweh doesn’t discipline us The Word tells us that we are not His children. And if we are not His children, then whose children are we? I’ll give you a hint on whose children we would be. I’ll give you one consonant and one vowel… S A _ A _ and it ain’t Santa :-). Almighty God disciplines us because He loves us. He knows that discipline develops character, patience, strength, love, self respect, tolerance, etc. And all that helps make us better children of His, better vessels for Him, better people for this world, and better brothers and sisters in Christ. The same concept with a parent’s discipline for their child. It will make them better children, better students, better parents when/if the time comes, better workers in the work force, better people for society and the world, etc. I know growing up, man oh man, did we have some discipline in the home. Belts, switches, plastic race tracks, extension cords, etc. (don’t wanna tell all my parents disciplinary secrets)… and yes my parents used talking as a preventative discipline tactic before the corrective discipline tactic took place. All my welts have gone down and all my bruises have healed lol. I turned out pretty good. I’m sure some of you had similar experiences, but you and I both lived to be here today and we are better off for the discipline.

But God isn’t going to use a belt or switch or shoe to discipline us. The Father will talk to us and give us warnings/signs first. He will use Preventative Discipline and Supportive Discipline before resorting to the final straw of Corrective Discipline. He knows what to do to get us back on track or get us to where He feels we should be. If we listen and accept His reproof we are golden. If we don’t listen then call us stupid, or stubborn, or a glutton for punishment. Sometimes we act like we are from the show me state where we feel that Him showing us is better than Him telling us. Our Father doesn’t want to use corrective discipline on us, just like our parents didn’t want to use belts to discipline us. Our Heavenly Parent and for the most part, our earthly parents, would much rather discipline through talkings and warnings and not with a heavy hand or corrective discipline… but all options were/are on the table:-). Going through the discipline didn’t feel good as a child back then and it doesn’t feel good as an adult today. But it was for our good then and for our good now. It’s much better to be disciplined The Almighty’s way than the world’s way. Lord God’s discipline we can and will recover from. The world’s discipline we may or may not recover from.

Remember: Our lack of discipline determines the type of discipline we receive… and the type of discipline determines our consequences… it’s better to just have discipline!

WBFWE

Song: It Wasn’t Easy by CeCe Winans

Song: My Life Is In Your Hands by God’s Property & Kirk Franklin