Discipline Part I: When Love Gets Tough

Leading others is difficult. Whether it be your family, a group of friends, a team at work, a classroom of students, or any other committee of people you have the good fortune to guide. Leading has highs and lows, rewards and heartbreaks, times of celebration and times of work...hard work...even times of providing discipline.

There it is. Yes, providing discipline is a part of leading. It is a very unpleasant part of leadership but, it is necessary and a vital part of the learning process for those we lead. Some say that to discipline those who deviate from the path of the team, family, or organization contradicts God's nature or Christ's nature. But the opposite is true. Christ is love; but Christ is also righteous. He acts not only with love, but also with integrity and justice. As Christians, we are called to discipline.

Hebrews 12:5-11 MSG advises us about our acceptance of God's discipline, "So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God."



In Proverbs 3:11 MSG, "But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this."

So, why must we provide discipline? What is its purpose?

To motivate individuals within our team to change their behavior. In Leviticus 26:14-16 God, through his guidance of the Israelites, warns us what would happen if we refuse to obey Him, "But if you refuse to obey me and won’t observe my commandments, despising my decrees and holding my laws in contempt by your disobedience, making a shambles of my covenant, I’ll step in and pour on the trouble: debilitating disease, high fevers, blindness, your life leaking out bit by bit." While we do not have the authority to administer diseases and physical ailments, we can administer progressive consequences that range from verbal and written warnings, docking pay, removing privileges, limiting playing time, assigning additional work, all the way to suspensions and eventual termination of employment or removal from the team or group.

To make others within the team aware of poor choices, deter them from making or repeating those choices, or to eliminate the harmful influence that might lead others to poor decision-making. Deuteronomy 13:11 says, "Every man, woman, and child in Israel will hear what’s been done and be in awe. No one will dare to do an evil thing like this again." While we do not get pleasure from disciplining, there is value in others within the group learning from the mistakes being made. Disciplining warns others that such conduct is unacceptable and has serious consequences. Negative consequences certainly deter most from partaking in the bad behavior of others.

To preserve the integrity, honor, and respect of the organization among those who belong to it and those who view it from the outside. Exodus 32:25 NIV demonstrates that this is not a new challenge, as when Moses returned from conversing with God on Mt. Sinai, he found the Israelites had defied God. It says, "Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies." No one wants their organization or family to become a joke and not be taken seriously. Instead, we want there to be no question when it comes to what we stand for and what it is that is our purpose.

Dear Father,

Not a one of us enjoys disciplining others, but we accept it as part of leadership. We pray that all of us could join in common beliefs and purpose and obey the laws, rules, policies, and regulations of our organizations. Please help us to not only follow the rules, but to communicate them clearly to those among us. We pray that when we have to discipline our friends, coworkers, children, students, and teammates, that we do so with the right heart. Help us to convey the purpose of the discipline so that optimum learning takes place. Please help us to be strong and not become weak and begin to tolerate bad behavior that hurts our organization or its purpose. It is in the strong name of Jesus we pray... Amen.

Grace Part III: From Salvation to Daily Living - Now What and How?

Have you ever said to yourself, "Have I actually been saved? I said the prayer of invitation, but I don't feel different yet." Have you thought to yourself, "Why do I not feel the presence of God?" Whether we are new followers of Christ or those who have been raised in the church, we all face the daily challenge of building, nurturing, and maturing in our relationship with Christ.



We must remember that by His grace, God gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit as soon as we became believers. Ephesians 1:13-14 NLT says, "And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him." Why does this gift of the Holy Spirit matter? Simply put, our human minds are not capable of understanding all heavenly things. Many of us struggle to believe without physical proof - seeing is believing, right? The Holy Spirit functions as the interpreter for our minds and souls by helping us to understand, to see, to communicate to, and to sense the very presence of God around us, and it gives us the courage to share what we learn and know to be true.

There are several steps we can take to grow our relationship with Christ that allow us to experience God's presence each day and confidently know we are one of His children for eternity.

First, we must take full advantage of the power that comes from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:11-13 NIV tell us, “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” In the Promise Bible, Dr. Douglas J. Rumford explains this verse by stating, "Though the Holy Spirit lives within us after we ask and believe, we pray expectantly that God will release more and more of the Spirit's power in our lives. In a way, the Holy Spirit is like the potential power of a dammed up reservoir of water - only when it flows through the turbines will it generate the power we need."

1 Corinthians 2:9-13 NIV, says, “What no eye has seen,what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. We can call upon the Spirit to help us understand the truth of God." Not only can we understand the truth of God but we can also rely on the Spirit to broaden our intellect and the wisdom that we gain will not be from our own human understanding but from a deeper spiritual understanding that can only come from the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:26-27 NLT, explains that the Holy Spirit communicates to God on our behalf when we do not have the words on our own. It says, "And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will."

Second, we must spend time in a meaningful relationship with Christ each day in order to experience God's presence. This can be done through prayer, journaling, song, actual conversation, daily bible reading, or any combination of the aforementioned methods of worship. God patiently waits for us and desires a personal relationship with each of us. Ephesians NLT 3:12 tells us,"Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God's presence, assured of his glad welcome." Moreover, in Colossians 1:21-23 MSG, the apostle Paul tells us, "You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message." Any relationship requires nurturing in order to strengthen the bond that exists. A friendship has a deeper bond than that of an acquaintance and an acquaintance has a deeper bond than that of a stranger. Our relationship with God is no different. The more time we spend building the relationship, the deeper the bond will be.

Finally, in combination with our quality time spent with Christ we must work to strengthen our faith in Christ by listening to the message of the Good News. We do this by reading the word, attending corporate church services, and spending time with other believers in dialogue surrounding the study of His word. Hebrews 10:22-25 MSG says, “So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” Romans 10:17 NIV says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." We as Christians need one another as we journey together in communion with Christ. Our faith can only grow when we not only challenge ourselves by maintaining a heart of worship but equally challenge one another to stay grounded and accountable for the God we represent. Rumford adds, "Faith is grounded in God's word. It is not simple a matter of positive thinking or the creation of human effort. Faith is divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit working through the word of God. Our faith grows as we read the stories of God's work across the centuries and we received the truth of his instruction."

Our Father in Heaven,

We so desire to experience your presence each day, to confidently know we are saved and counted among your children. We pray that we learn to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in our learning and to translate for us as we read, study and hear the word of God. Help us to trust in the Holy Spirit to intervene on our behalf, when we have no words and don't know what to say or pray. Help us to grow closer to you in a meaningful, personal relationship and increase our faith so that we might know you better. It is in the amazing name of Jesus, we pray...Amen.