The Father Heart of God ***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Great is His faithfulness. Even as I come to our early morning meeting a little drowsy, His message is very clear.

“A Father disciplines the child he loves”.

Our assignment post salvation is to live for Christ and He told us that His purpose was to bring glory to His Father in Heaven.  The ultimate purpose then for every believer in Christ Jesus is to follow His lead and bring glory to the Father as well. 

As the world turns, ignorance of our Creator God flourishes and misconceptions about Him abound.  He is our Heavenly Father and the Sovereign God of all creation, but in the world He gets a bad rap.

We have the Word of God in our possession, the Holy Spirit of Christ as our indwelling Counselor, and the Love of God through Christ as our testimony.  So it is up to us to share what we know and Who we love to correct the ignorance and misconception about our Heavenly Father and the eternal plan He has for humanity.    

Our silence allows the lost and dying world around us to continue to slip into eternal oblivion without realizing they have and must make a choice for a relationship with the Creator God AKA our Heavenly Father.  Misconceptions about Him and the Truth of His being can cause people to run away, refuse His gracious offer of rescue or fail to grasp the depth of His love.

But today the Holy One speaks to me about those of us who do know Him yet cannot see the handwriting on the wall when it comes to His discipline over His people in the Body of Christ. 

Our Heavenly Father is love and mercy, of that there is no doubt, but our Heavenly Father is also Holy and many of us are operating in such a spoiled child syndrome we forget that we are to be transformed into the very image of Christ, the Son. 

When we first get adopted, we are (or should be) overwhelmed by our new family dynamic.  We are received into the family of God and gain the life and inheritance of a privileged child.  But then the trials come and the privilege meets up with the responsibility to represent the family Name.  We must live in co-operation with the love of God and in submission to the Holy Spirit of Christ who sought us out and then go seek others who are perishing without a hope.  For God is not content that any should perish but that all people come to the saving knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Divine Discipline is the right of the Heavenly Father to exercise over His child.  But what does Divine Discipline look like and how does “discipline” differ from persecution? Or does it?

Hebrews 12:3-7:

"For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.   You have not yet resisted to bloodshed striving against sin.  And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons: 

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 chasten and scourges every son He receives.  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons.; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?”

And then, Matt. 5:10-11 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.  Blessed are you when (not if) they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake”.

It seems to me that in our nation today, we who are the Body of Christ are experiencing both at the same time.  Our nation is being chastened for how far we have slipped from our foundational faith and personally we are being persecuted as we stand for the values we live out in obedience and according to our faith in Jesus.

As a Christian parent we understand the need and purpose for discipline over our child.  Discipline has the intended end to establish boundaries for the child’s safety and well being and to the honing of their Godly character.   We understand the threats the world presents and the eternal consequences for those who do not come to faith in Christ as their personal Savior.  We understand the pressure to compromise.

We get our instincts as a parent as an endowment from our Creator.  Just as a human father disciplines his child, our Heavenly father disciplines us.  Our earth years do not matter to our Eternal Father.  We are always His child and for the duration of our years upon the earth He will always be raising us up into His character and image.

As for this nation, I confess the lawlessness and war in the streets is in part a consequence of electing lawless leaders.  Putting our dependency on Government rather than the Lord also brings the dire consequence and necessary discipline needed to turn our hearts back to God.  We need to confess the folly of our betrayal and pray for His forgiveness and intervention.  

Back in the days of Elijah, the Lord’s dire discipline was a drought and subsequent famine that covered the land.  All people were affected by it.  The Divine discipline led to the great contest on Mt Carmel and fire from Heaven that drew the people back to their covenant relationship with God that they had violated and the One whom they had betrayed (2 Kings 18)

Would the drought and famine have been necessary if the people had been loyal to their God?

As for us personally, I can see how Elijah, the loyal one, was provided for in the midst of the drought and famine along with a widow who was in obedience to the Lord’s command.  I can see how Elijah was being honed in his character of faith and loyalty to prepare him for the future confrontation with Jezebel and the Priests of Baal.  What faith was being honed during the three years of the famine that was needed to call down fire from Heaven?   If you think Elijah did not have his moments of fear in confronting evil Jezebel and hearing her threats, remember the cave where he fled to hide and what he learned in that persecution.

Our Nation is in a place of Divine discipline in my opinion and we who stand firm on His principles are also in a place of persecution.   If we do not see that this discipline is due to our rebellion, we will not take steps to repent and turn.  If we speak of this as a God ordained “judgement” of the unsaved then the Cross is pointless and hard times are God’s place of reckoning His anger against sin and not the Cross.  If we compromise during persecution no one will see the Lord in our lives.

Time for us to stop the finger pointing at others while claiming grace for ourselves and let the Lord show us where we are in need of correction.   

The Word tells us that God said, “If MY people who are called by MY name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways…..THEN I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land”. 

If we truly know the Father Heart of God, then we will accept His hand of correction and take the steps to end His grief at our rebellion or self-centeredness otherwise known as sin.  When we step up and face our own accountability to our Heavenly Father, confess our sin and failures and with the help of His Holy Spirit turn from our own wicked ways, the purpose for the Father’s discipline is accomplished and we can be restored to the good times. 

Jesus opened the way to the Father so I have no excuse not to seek Him for what He wants to correct.  I have come to realize that God has an opinion on everything about my life and quite often it is different than mine.  He sees sin differently than I do so I need Him to tell me what He wants me to correct.

Out of the loving Father Heart of God comes the discipline I need to hone me in the understanding of His ways and transform me into the image of my Lord.  My Heavenly Father loves me and I know it.   He loves you too.  Do you know it?

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?