How God punishes and disciplines His children II

ByPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
Greetings to you, dear friends!Grace and peace to you from Father God and our Lord Jesus Christ! Yesterday we started talking about how God punishes and disciplines His children. We established that: 
  1. God uses His Word – the Bible – to correct and discipline us.
 
  1. God also disciplines us through the people that have been given spiritual authority over us.
 Today we will discuss one more way God uses to correct us. 
  1. God often disciplines us through our finances.
 Finances play a major role in our life, so the Bible has a lot to say on the subject. Financial difficulties can be one of the disciplinary techniques God uses to encourage us get back on the right track. The following scriptures is an illustration of this thought: 
«”Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, „Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in our panelled houses, and his temple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: „Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” Thus says the LORD of hosts: „Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the LORD. „You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of hosts. „Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you run to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labour of your hands”» (Haggai, 1:2-11).
 The passage above describes an economic and financial crisis experienced by God’s people. It was a disciplinary technique God used to correct how God’s people were treating God’s house at the time. Everyone was busy with building and setting up their own houses, while God’s house and His work was being neglected. God’s people knew quite well what was written in God’s word; they were told to love the Lord with their whole heart, strength and understanding. Yet this knowledge did not affect the priorities of God’s people, and God had to change such wrong attitude. In order to change the situation and discipline His people God allowed this financial crisis. They sowed a lot and expected a great harvest, but harvested little. The money they earned was worthless; it felt like they were putting it in a purse with holes in it. Drought and other natural disasters were causing different financial and economical loses. God disciplined His people so that He would draw them near to Himself, straighten out their priorities and values. That is what Proverbs talk about: 
 «Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction, but he who regards a rebuke will be honoured» (Proverbs, 13:18).
 We can see once again that financial difficulties in the lives of these people were not sent by God; they were the result of them rejecting the teaching and instruction of the Lord. The good news is that as soon as they repented and began working on God’s house (made Him a priority in their lives), God began blessing them to much greater extent that ever before: 
«So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius» (Haggai, 1:14-15).
 Tomorrow we will see what the result of God’s discipline and their repentance was. May God bless and strengthen every one of you in your daily walk! Pastor Rufus Ajiboye

Support us so we can do more

We’ll get right to the point: we’re asking you to help us support our Church online minisry. We’re a nonprofit that relies on support from people like you. If everyone reading this gives €12 monthly, Spirit and Truth city Church can continue to thrive for years.

Similar Posts

  • Are you in bondage, in the wilderness or in your promise land?

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    We read about how God promised the children of Israel a land flowing with milk and honey, but when it came time to possess it, as a nation they were not ready. There are attitudes that keep you in bondage and wandering in the wilderness, while a promised land flowing with milk and honey awaits you. The Bible is full of the record of sins that plagued the rest of the children of Israel which we are to be aware of today in our lives.

  • The seed contains tremendous potential

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    Our attitude towards God’s Word is very important. God sends His Word into our lives so that His Word would bring to us that which we need. In order for the seed of God’s Word to grow in our hearts, the condition of our hearts is particularly important. «For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing which I sent it.» (Isaiah 55:10-11).

  • Does the Lord answer all prayers?

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    «If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.» (John 15:7).There is a God´s promise in this scripture: «whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.» Which one of you had prayed for something but it was not given to you? I guess many of you had, so where is the problem? We often read in the Bible that people prayed and received the answer to their prayers. God Himself told us to pray, and He promised to answer our prayers.

  • Worship the Lord

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    God wants us to talk to Him the way we talk to our father. Jesus said in His prayer: “… blessed be Thy Name!” The word “bless” means He worshipped the God Father in reverence to Him. Worship prepares our soul to meet the God. It also involves our spirit. Just like in order to listen to a broadcast on the radio you need to tune it up first, worship helps us to turn our spirit on and tune it up on the God´s wave. Jesus taught:«You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve»

  • Prayer is just like breathing; it is the heavenly aroma that accompanies our life and activities

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    Prayer is the living breath of heaven. As believers, we can be givers and can be involved in many important activities; nevertheless, without prayer all this ‘work’ will lack the heavenly breath of life. Take a look at artificial flowers: they are beautiful, but have no aroma. We are able to do good works without prayer; but we have to realize that our works will lack the aroma of life, the footprints of heaven. If these flowers were alive, then they would smell.

  • The devil as the source of tragedy

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    You might want to ask why the devil (and not God) is the ruler of this earth. The answer is that God entrusted the rulership of the earth to humans for a time and He cannot take it back before the set time. «May you be blessed by the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men» (Psalm, 115:15-16).