Topic: Divine Chastening [Wednesday April 18, 2018]
Text: Hebrews 12:5-13 (KJV)
Key Verse: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Hebrews 12:6,8).
MESSAGE:
Trials, stated Charles Spurgeon, make room for consolation. “There is nothing that makes a man have a big heart like a great trial. I have found that those people who have no sympathy for their fellows – who never weep for the sorrows of others – very seldom have had any woes of their own. Great hearts can only be made by great troubles. The spade of trouble digs the reservoir of comfort deeper and makes more room for consolation. God comes into the heart – He finds it full – He begins to break our comforts and to make it empty; then there is more room for grace. The humbler a man lies, the more comfort he will always have.”
Christians should welcome chastening from the Lord. Though the chastening may be presently unpleasant but afterwards will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. So, partakers are to make straight path for their feet; and allow those hands hanging down and the feeble knees get healed.
Challenges are tools in the refining process through which the Lord brings out the best in a Christian. These may come in the form of wrong accusation even from close associates, deprivation of lawful entitlements, discouragement, disagreements in marriage, church or home. God allows them so as to bring us to higher levels of usefulness and growth. He uses trials as an opportunity to prove to Satan, the world and ourselves, the depth of our commitment to Him.
As a partaker of His holiness, whatever you are experiencing might bring transient sorrow and heaviness of heart, but they are meant to refine, purge and purify you ultimately. Trials are part of the necessary training of legitimate children of God. Note that God’s best are often produced in the furnace of afflictions.
Thought For The Day: God brings men into deep waters, not to drown them but to cleanse them.
Bible Reading in one Year: Psalms 17; 35; 54; 63
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
 Key Verse: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Hebrews 12:6,8).){kind=link}