Father doesn’t need to punish his child for being disobedient

Father doesn’t need to punish his child for being disobedient; the real time result of being disobedient is punishment enough.

If I were to climb to the top of the office roof and jump off, I would experience the consequences of my decision almost immediately. The roof is 3 stories up, about 25 feet from the ground. Ouch! I am fully aware of the principle of gravity. I also know that Jesus is the author and sustainer of that principle. Scripture tells me that he created all things and he holds all things together. I could have prayed that God would suspend gravity for a couple minutes while I jumped off so I could float to the ground gently and avoid pain and injury. I could have prayed all the way down as well. Father, through the Spirit was reminding me of the effects of gravity while I stood on the edge of the roof. He reminded me of them on the way down. He will remind me of them as we spend some time together in the E.R. Upon landing, Father does not say, “I’m going to send him to the woodshed for this.” Instead, he tells me that he loves me and that he is pained by my pain. He lets me know that he will put me back together and in time, he will encourage others not to jump off buildings with my story. Father uses our recovery times to draw us closer to him…closer so that we can hear him more clearly and learn that he desires to lead us along a narrow path…the narrow path. People who disobey Father’s instruction is nothing new to him; it has been happening since the first ones were created. All of us are disobedient regularly and some of us daily. Knowing Father’s heart helps me to understand that the outcomes of my actions provide an opportunity for me to draw closer to him.

"I will make you as white (clean) as the snow"

"Four women......Three with their husbands and one with her mother and father, sat quietly and nervously as the service began. It was supposed to be a celebration...a time to rejoice over the lives of their children. Their journey,begun some eight weeks earlier,was one filled with ups and downs, laughter and tears, fear and courage, loneliness and the amazing discovery of “never-aloneness.” The hurt, loss, they had hidden in their souls years earlier had been revealed...The secret had been surrendered. I watched them all cry, some with a depth of emotion that caused them to tremble. They all spoke of their journey and the way that Father had revealed himself to them along the way. Each one of them had heard Father speak directly to their hearts…they heard him say,“I love you, I always have and I always will.” As I anointed them with the oil of gladness I looked deeply into their eyes. They were full of joy and glimmered through the tears. As I prayed, I heard Father say, “do you see how clean snow really is?” I do know something about snow. Living in Michigan, snow was a major part of my life for over 12 years. But I had never seen snow that white, that clean before. As we ended our time of celebration I charged their men to find the same forgiveness and healing for the secrets in their souls......so that they too could know that Father’s heart is turned absolutely to his children. That is, after all, the Father’s heart."

Father doesn’t reject me because I am disobedient to him.

He looks at my disobedience as an opportunity to build me up. After all, he knew I would be disobedient before I was.

Many of you have fathers that turn their back to you whenever you disappoint them or are disobedient to them. We seem to learn early on that acceptance in the “real world” requires compliance and living up to someone else’s expectations. It continues in marriage and then we model it to our children and the cycle starts all over. Fortunately that isn’t the way of the Father regardless of what you have been taught in Sunday school, church, or bible study. Our Father knows when you are going to be disobedient before you ever are. He offered Jesus for forgiveness of that disobedience before you ever lived it out. Father is the one who is with us always and never leaves us…no matter what. When we are disobedient to him, he knows that the good to come from it will be our change…our conforming to the image of Jesus; if we will allow it.