How does God Discipline His Children?

The only time God would need to discipline is when we disobey. If you are not disobeying, there is no need for discipline. Or, if you immediately confess your disobedience and get it taken care of, you will avoid discipline.

I think there is great confusion between God's discipline and the natural consequences of sin. If I smoke all of my life and then die of lung cancer, it is not God judging me for smoking, it is the cigarette judging me for my stupidity.

If I pick up a rattlesnake and get bit, it is not God judging me, it is the snake judging me for picking it up.

God does disipline His children to be sure. His discipline is more preventative than corrective IMO. The natural consequences of sin should be motivation enough for us to get right, God's chastening will help keep us right.

 

Obedience begets blessings, disobedience begets lack of blessings.

 

Hebrews 12: 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed... I come to the realization that after I am chasten by the Lord that it is because he loves me and is only seeking the best for my life in service to him!... Brother Glen

 

Quoted by PastorBob63;

Boy, I sure wish my earthly father had this view of disobedience when I was growing up. Sure would have cut down on the spankings I got.

God Bless!!!

Adam

On Eagles Wings

p.s. hey, when do I get to add my picture to my postings???

 

Remember also when you are chastened of God it is in his time and not ours. I remember when I was a boy when I had done wrong waiting for a spanking which I sometimes didn't get... Waiting for it was worse than getting it... Once I got it it was over and forgotten... but the waiting and then not getting what I deserved was what really hurt. God does not have to punish us physically and neither do our real fathers... though sometimes they do. You can always pull something over on the old man and get away with it and think you outfoxed him. Later on you find out he knew all about it but let you stew awhile. God on the other hand knows all about us and will deliver the chastisment in his time and when it will bring the desired effect he intended!... Because he loves us!... Brother Glen

 

Thankful,

I believe that verse 8 is referring to professing Christians who think they can live anyway they want to. They feel they are alright because God has not chastened them yet. Paul (or whoever you believe wrote Hebrews) was telling such people, "You can't, as a Christian, live anyway you want to and expect God to turn a blind eye." On the other hand Paul is saying, "If you are living in sin and not experiencing the chastening hand of God, you better check out your salvation. You may not be a child of God in the first place."

This is consistent with Paul's warning in 2 Cor. 13:5 " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"

God's children need not fear their heavenly Father's chastening. Everything God does is for our best. As Christians, we should be constantly examining ourselves and getting our lives in line with the Word of God. That way, God will have no reason to chasten us.

1 Cor 11:31 "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."

Paul again, consistent with Hebrews 12, tells us that God will judge us as children and not with the world.

 

I know I have been disciplined by God. But that does not always mean punished! Maybe that is the problem? Discipline and training are essentially the same. But I do get consequences for my actions -- and a guilty conscience is one of the tools God uses to discipline me. And, sometimes, when I am doing Bible study, a verse will 'leap out' and slam me in the conscience as well!

Sometimes it is going off on my own way for what I think is a wonderful thing to do "for God" and it comes to nothing. That is discipline -- it is teaching me to check with Him at first and not at last!

One common type of discipline I get is via sickness and tiredness. I have this insane desire to make sure my house and yard always look nice. That takes a lot of time and effort and is, on the surface of it, laudable. But sometimes God would direct my attention to a person or another thing He wants from me and much, much too often I will say, in my heart, "OK, as soon as this is finished...." And that was NOT what God wanted and I end up trying to do it all 'my way' and getting exhausted or sick or both.

I have learned from this that there is always enough time for what God wants me to do. Best to leave myself out of it.

Another way is, of course, through my husband. But my husband, believe it or not, has NEVER criticized me! He prays when something is not what he thinks it should be and then lets God take care of it. But every once in awhile when I am being too stuck on what I want or what I am saying, there will be this slightly sharp tone in his voice. And, for me, that's enough to snap me to attention and get me back where I should be immediately. This is not someone I want to displeasure!

And so I am being disciplined on a daily basis to keep my eyes on Him, to obey immediately, and to be more sensitive to my husband and others around me.

As I improve, I find that things go much more smoothly and there is peace and joy in my heart (oh yeah, when that gets diminished, that is real discipline for me!). That, too, is discipline -- the reward kind!

 

I have been disciplined by our God many times,
but I do not recall ever feeling punished by Him.
There have been many times when He has
shown me a problem with my life, and I have
known that I needed to straighten it up or
suffer the consequences.

While some of these lessons have occasionally
taken time, and I recall one time when I pro-
tested, Ii usually shut my mouth and take it. He
is, after all, God, and that makes Him pretty
difficult to argue with. 8o)

 

God always disciplines His children with love, and with the purpose of producing righteousness (Heb. 12). Perhaps another way to say it is that He "corrects" us.

Discipline is not to be confused with judgment or wrath. Christ endured judgment and the wrath of God for His people at Calvary.

Rev. G

 

We can't confuse discipline with punishment for sin. Our punishment for sin has been dealt with completely at the cross. Never to receive condemnation again. Most of our discipline, or instruction (or Helen rightly pointed out, training ) comes from the Word of God:

2 Tim 3:15-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
NIV

[ October 09, 2002, 08:58 PM: Message edited by: Chet ]

 

At 200 posts.

http://www.baptistboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000081

 

Thanks for the info Clint.

God Bless!!!

Adam

 

The most common way God chastises believers is with hardships. It is those with no hardships that do not seek after God. Psalm 55:19b.

If not for our sin nature, there would be no need of chastisement. None of us left to ourselves would seek after God. Therefore, all are partakers of chastisement.

 

I think too, Aaron, that our God disciplines us
according to what works for us. I have had
hardshp as well, and knew that it was a disciplin-
ary action of our God. But I also had a whole
year in which His discipline was gift after gift
after gift. Each gift was an unexpected surprise,
and each one was a small wish, not even a
prayer and most of them had never been spoken
out lout, that our God answered. This was a
fabulous discipline that taught me much, drew
me closer to Him, and left an unforgetable im-
pression upon me.

Some may inquire, "Discipline? How is that
discipline?" I would answer them with a ques-
tion: "What is the purpose of discipline?" It is
to teach, to guide, to prod in the right direction.
How did His gifts to me that year discipline me?
I will never forget Who is the giver of every good
and perfect gift; I will never forget that such gifts
and such fortune cannot come from the enemy
of our souls; I will remember that as I follow our
God, even the bad things in my life will work
accodring to His will and will thus end up also
being a good and perfect gift in His way, in His
time.

That year of gift-giving was hilarious and shock-
ing. Many times throughout that year, I stopped,
looked up at the sky, and said, laughing, "This is
another present You've sent me, isn't it?" And as
I laughed I believe He was laughing, too, at my
joy and surprise.

[ October 10, 2002, 05:56 PM: Message edited by: Abiyah ]

 

This is just me okay?

When I am not humble...God puts something or someone in my path to humble me.

When I am not thankful...I get a trial that usually brings me to my knees...and I do mean literally.

When I need a closer walk with Christ...the trials move from small to big....and then I find I'm really lost without praying a whole bunch.

I've been wantingly disobedient...and was given an illness. (timing... seems to prove this...not a coincidence as far as I'm concerned)

God gives you what you need...and it's not always pleasant...but the result usually is better for it.

Molding the clay.

 

Amen, WisdomSeeker!