God Loves While He Disciplines!

Good morning friends! Thank you so much for joining me today. I pray this message finds you and helps you as we navigate the highs and lows of life. I know it can be hard living as a believer, especially when it seems as if life is falling apart. We will unpack a common misconception about our God in this post, and we will look at scripture to help us connect the dots between our disobedience, God's discipline, and the promise of glory at the end of those troubles.

Ten Minas

It can be easy to feel like God doesn't hear your prayers when life is difficult, or when you think you've messed up too much. I know from experience. I was getting ready to spend time with Abba(God) this morning when He dropped Luke 19 in my spirit. I woke up this morning thinking it was going to be a regular morning with God, He had other plans though. As I was getting my coffee I was thinking and sort of praying "what do you want me to learn from Luke 19 today Lord?" I went to my kitchen table, opened my Bible to Luke 19 and the first thing I see is the Parable of the Ten Minas. I immediately knew what God had in mind for me, it was correction time. The Parable of the Ten Minas is where Jesus talks about how God has given us each an assignment and resources to complete the assignment.

Sometimes, when we are walking with the Lord, it can be hard to remember He has prepared us for the task at hand. It can look intimidating to evangelize and teach people the Gospel. What happens then is we start to waste the resources God has given us and we start to fall into all kinds of difficulties. These difficulties are often God's discipline and the consequences of not obeying Him. So what does that have to do with the parable? Well, there were 10 servants who each got 1 Minas (3 months wages), they were to take that money and basically multiply before the king returned. The first servant gave 10 more minas than he started with, the king was pleased. The second servant gave back 5 more, the king was pleased. The third servant gave 1 mina, the one he started with, and the king was not pleased. That servant lost what he was given and then some. (Read Luke 19: 11-27)

God's Discipline

I say all this to say when God gives us an assignment, we should steward the resources well that He has given us. If we don't, we will face discipline or even worse lose what He has given us all together. That is not to make you afraid that you are doing something wrong, it is to make you aware that God expects us to use the talents He has blessed us with to make disciples and spread the Gospel according to the gifting He has given you. So friend, take this as an opportunity to praise God because He sees you and wants you to work for His glory. The discipline of God is a beautiful thing, it says in Proverbs 3:11-12, "My child, don't reject the Lord's discipline, and don't be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights" (NLT). Friend, if God is disciplining you, consider it a great joy!

Now, you may be wondering what God's discipline looks like. Well, it looks different for everyone. Sometimes God will warn us not to do something (i.e. Taking a Job, Getting in a relationship, Making certain friends, Sharing information). When the Lord warns you not to take a job position and you do it anyway, you make a mess of your life and you tend to be more miserable in that position as opposed to waiting on God to bring the perfect position to you. When God tells you not to date that guy/girl and you do it anyway, you can find yourself in a very toxic and detrimental relationship that leads you away from Him and closer to the enemy. When God warns us not to do certain things, we need to take heed to those warnings and lean in to what He's saying. Don't be afraid to ask God why you can't do those things. He will let you know, unless of course you do it anyway, in that case the lesson comes after a world of heartbreak that could have been avoided.

Sometimes Gods discipline looks like being reprimanded at work by your superior. It won’t always feel that way in the beginning, but once you think about it and pray about it God will reveal there was something in you that needed to change, and that was the only way to get your attention. Discipline hurts friends, change hurts, and if we want to look more like Christ, we are going to experience pain in different forms. God has to rid us of everything that is not of Him, everything that does not look like Him. Which is why crucifying our flesh is so important. We can’t carry our cross without expecting to be crucified. It’s all part of the sanctification process, and on the other side of that is spiritual maturity and everlasting life.

Keeping The Faith

It can be so easy to take Gods discipline the wrong way, especially if you’re not used to discipline of any kind. Meaning, your parents didn’t discipline you as a child, you have a difficult time respecting and submitting to authority, and/or you live life recklessly and have no ability or desire to get yourself on track. That’s what an undisciplined life looks like. So naturally when God disciplines you it feels like life is falling apart and like God hates you. Hear me when I say this, HE LOVES YOU!!! He loves you enough to not want you to stay the same! Let that take root in your soul friend, God loves you so much and sees what His discipline can do for you. He sees who you will become once you’re through the fire! You will look like His son Jesus, that’s the point! I pray that gives you hope and increases your faith today.

Another wonderful piece of scripture that should light your heart on fire for God is Hebrews 12:5-11. Take some time to read it for yourself, and meditate on the fact that when God disciplines you it's because you are His child. God would be a horrible father if He didn't discipline us, I mean really, humans are wild and we need the help of the Father to get where He wants us to be.

My child, don't make light of the Lord's discipline, and don't give up when He corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child. (Hebrews 12:5-6, NLT)

So with all that being said, hold on to the promise of holiness and eternal life at the end of God's loving discipline. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says that we should never give up because our spirits are being renewed everyday, our troubles are small and will not last long. Yet those same troubles produce a glory that outweighs them and lasts forever. So, do not look at the things going on as a bad thing, look at heaven in the process of God disciplining you; the things God takes out of your life are for your own good, and the things you see today will soon be gone, but the eternity with Abba we can't see right now will last forever. The heartbreak you see right now will not last forever, but the divine growth you experience in the process will be with you in eternity. Do not focus so much on the negative and the ugly, but rather fix your mind on the heavenly things!

I pray this helps you today friends! I love you dearly.

Here is the link to purchase the NLT Bible I use. I do not have any kind of affiliate code and this is not monetized, I just want to help new believers find a Bible that is really helpful and easy to understand.

https://a.co/d/aRVBSpv