The steps God takes in disciplining us II

Dear friends, welcome to „Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”! Yesterday we talked about what happens when we do not listen to God’s messengers; in those cases God allows some corrective judgments or punishments to come into our lives such as financial breakdowns, ‘closed doors’, draughts etc. It says in the Scripture: 

«If you walk in My statues and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rind the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before y ou. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. ‘For I will look on you favourably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you. You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new. I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright. But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statues, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you » (Leviticus 26:3-17).

 If we listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit that is communicated through the people God sends to us to correct us and repent of our sins, then He stops all the judgments. But, if we continue in our stubbornness and resist Him, God allows more trouble in our lives in order to show us that there are spiritual problems in us that we need to resolve. If after that we still resist Him and refuse to humble ourselves before Him, then He increases penalties. God does that because He loves us and does not want any of His children to perish. 4) If the problems and troublesome circumstances in the life of a person do not lead him to repentance, God multiplies the intensity of the judgment seven times. Without any comments I would like us to read one more passage from the Bible that confirms this previous statement: 

 «And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. (..) Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins» (Leviticus, 26:18, 21).

 If after all of this a person still refuses to repent of his sins and does not listen to God, then he loses the glory and presence of the Lord. Tomorrow we will see why this very thing happened to the house of Eli. May God bless every one of you on this wonderful day! Pastor Rufus Ajiboye