Period of Discipline

Pastor

? mmm ?

Depends ... the man of God turned aside because a man of God told him to ... He died for disobeying God's Command. God told David that he would suffer the consequences of his sins ...

... Paul said that people in the church were sick from their sin ...

 

ALL Christians continue to sin after their born again experience. As Paul said, "for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." The whole question is whether we repent of our sins and get back on the right path.

 

Hi pastorSBC1303,

First of all, I hope you had a wonderful time of worship today! (He is Risen indeed!).

To address your question, I refer to Hebrews 12:5-7 (with which I am sure you are familiar): "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him: For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. (7) If you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?"

I think, based on my own experience, that God in His infinite love will on occasion prolong the time of chastening, in order that we (hopefully) don't do it again.....Of course only He knows how long that will take, for only He knows our hearts.

I know in my own life, (being a hard-headed kind of guy) that God has on occasion allowed me to undergo what I refer to as the "refiner's fire" in order to get my attention and turn me back to the point where He could use me. In retrospect, I am very thankfull that He did so.

So yes, I do see a biblical parallel in this (remember David after his sin with Bathsheba?), and I am just happy that your friend has been renewed. That brings me to the second point of scripture found in Hebrews 12:11: Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

 

Pastor,

Is this more a question of the discipline of God or maybe a question about God's sovereignty in the course of our lives? Maybe they are both connected? Many think that God causes everything to happen for a reason in their lives and some believe that he knows and understands what is happening but lets our life take its natural course. I can certainly see the discipline that ultimately brings us back to a relationship with him, but, I think its a mistake to feel that everything is some sort of Godly intervention in our everday lives. Does everything happen for a reason? Are our lives already totally mapped out by a higher power? IMO, if thats the case does prayer make a difference as it seems like everything is a done deal. So....I believe God is all knowing but allows us to make our own choices and to suffer and to live with those decisions. Maybe God disciplines us, he intervenes on our behalf but ultimately we are the people that must respond in ways that bring us back into relationship with him. Sorry, more questions than answers.

jman

 

Hi jman,

Don't be sorry, the questions you have raised have kept greater theologians than I will ever hope to be occupied!

 

mmm

mmm ... oh I did type what I thought I did ...

Pastor ... what is there for a servant of the Most High to say?

You trust your friend and you want me to find it in the Bible for you ...

Like I said [I checked]

? mmm ? Yes God is GOD! Yes, your friend could have lost his blessing from God. Yes God could return the blessing to your friend.

But, NO I cannot give you scripture to show that it is ok to trust your friends theology in this ... That is not in the Bible ...

 

Maybe this is kind of similar to the situation, just a personal testimony. After I repented of my sins and came back to the Lord, I had made a commitment to read my bible all the way through, as I had never done this. After a while, I started to get sidetracked with fishing of all things. I didn't see any harm in going fishing, it was sure better than the stuff I had been doing, but it became an obsession. I was spending almost every spare moment fishing, and my bible reading went by the way side. But it was a funny thing, after the first trip or two, I couldn't catch any fish. At first I just chalked it up to bad luck. I kept going in hopes of catching something, but I would spend hours 'drowning minnows' and nothing would bite. One night I spent about 8 hours on a pier with no results and a man came up and asked me how the fishing was. I replied something to the effect that there were no fish in the lake. He threw in a minnow and pretty quick, pulled out a bass. He had his wife and kids with him, and they were all catching fish. His kids were catching catfish, he was getting bass and crappie, and I was getting NOTHING.

So I had to repent of my fishing, of all things, and I told God I would not fish until after I read my bible all the way through. I spent about three months reading, and I was amazed how the word of God spoke to me as I turned page after page. I had never done this before, remember? Well, when it was all said and done, I went fishing and I caught fish. But I really don't have this incredible urge to go fishing all the time anymore. I would like to go again soon, when I have some time, but I think in retrospect, Satan was using it as a tool to keep me from doing what I had set out to do in the first place. God however, had other plans for me.

 

I think that is a better illustration.

 

james' story goes to show that satan canuse ANYTHING for bad, while GOD can use anything for GOOD. Now, while fishing itself isn't bad, of course, (Several of the apostles were pro fishermen) the devil was using it to keep James from reading his Bible.

I know a man who fishes quite a bit while reading a Bible. He says that in his boat he has the solitude to read and meditate...and he catches his share of fish, too! Dif'rent strokes, dif'rent folks...

I had a Sunday school teacher who'd cut back on his offerings to buy a new car. Two days after buying it, while it was still uninsured, he struck a deer, destroying the car. He fully believed(and so do I) that he was punished for stealing from God. And he was "under discipline" for awhile because he still had two years of payments to make for a car he didn't have! But he increased his offering ABOVE what it was before, and simply "did without" until his debt was paid.(NOT at the expense of his family! The man spent just enough on himself to live...no new clothes, cheap shoes, etc.)

 

PastorSBC, I too have had a similar experience. I made a choice to be involved in a sin a couple of years ago, which lasted for exactly 3 months. God moved me out of a particular type of service (I'm not a pastor btw) for exactly 3 months. God also moved me out of a different type of service for another set number of times that corresponds to the amount of time I was in my sin.

I wouldn't say that God always works this way, but he certainly did in my case.