Father's discipline

Ever had a rebuke from God? A dream in which you are told you did something not quite right? A terrible feeling in your spirit when you are thinking something wrong? A verse from the Bible nagging at you? Ah!!!! Then you know what I mean.

I was sitting around hating this old friend of mine, someone whom I realized was quite selfish....way after other folks realized she was selfish. Someone who took and took and took and ending up with a beautiful house because she went on welfare, had a baby, etc. While silly me took five years to pay off my son's birth and never took any money from the government for his disability. Well, here comes this big mortgage crisis. And I was passing my old acquaintance's house, kinda wishing she would lose the house. Heck, she bought this very big house in a wealthy neighborhood and she just came up from Jamaica and got off welfare twelve years ago. And she is waaaay over-extended. So, yeah, I was wishing all her greed would come up and bite her. Then I would kinda -- through some weird lord-knows-how way-- buy it up in foreclosure. Yep. I was thinking that. And yeah, I suppose all this anger at her has been growing because life's been a struggle lately. So I was in comparative mode. Yeah, I shouldn't have been.

Then what do I hear in my spirit? The ten commandments. And what do I hear in my spirit? "Carole, pray for her that she doesn't lose her house." And what do I hear? "Wow, Carole! This is the first time you have ever coveted your neighbor's house."

Hebrews 12:6 "Whom the Lord loves, he disciplines."
Psalm 94:12 "Happy are those whom you discipline, O Lord."
Psalm 23: 4 "They rod and they staff they comfort me."
"Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord!"

Can you imagine going through life without God ever disciplining you? Can you imagine being a person whom God doesn't care about conforming to the image of His Son, Jesus?

Now, God doesn't give us sickness to discipline us (as some people think.) If he loves you he will discipline you. If you aren't disciplined, the Bible implies that pretty much God has left you to yourself.

I still haven't prayed for her not to lose her house. But at least I'm not praying for her to lose it. And I thank God for his rod and his staff and the way he pulls his little lamb by the neck sometimes. Softly but firmly. -C