Hebrews 12: 5-8 (KJV)
And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Hebrews 12:5-8 (NLT)
And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said,
“My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you.
For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.
“Chastening”
The Greek word for discipline PAIDEIA carry’s a subtle difference in its meaning as rebuke and correction. It also carries a positive meaning of training and guiding in instructions by a loving parent to a son or daughter to a mature adulthood. There is a difference between TRAINING and TEACHING.
Teaching basically imparts knowledge and is defined as, "to cause to know something, to guide the studies of, to impart knowledge or to instruct by example, precept or experience.” Training on the other hand seeks “to form by instruction, discipline or drill”. Training usually has a more specific focus than teaching, it seeks to help people master a specific skill, or skill set, until they are able to execute it efficiently.
The Lord’s discipline or training has two purposes
1. That we will not be condemned with the world - 1 Corinthians 11:31-32 (NLT)
But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
2. To enable us to share in God’s holiness and continue to live sanctified lives without which we will never see God - Hebrews 12: 11, 14
No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.
Heb 12:11 (NLT)
Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.
Heb 12:14 (NLT)
1 Timothy 4:7-8 (NLT)
Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly.8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”
Here we see Paul tell Timothy that bodily exercise profits little, Theologians who have studied this particular subject will tell you that Paul was not talking about physical exercise but the doctrine of those days. Today we see how much the world pays to gyms for work outs, everyone is talking about exercise. Paul in this scripture is saying train yourself to be godly for this training has more rewards.
So let us now look at the areas in which God wants us to be disciplined. We will be looking at these as spiritual discipline.
The Areas of Spiritual Discipline
God wants us to have inner discipline in the following areas:
1. The Inner Discipline
A. MEDITATION
B. PRAYER
C. FASTING
D. STUDY
2. The Outward Discipline
A. SIMPLICITY
B. SOLITUDE
C. SUBMISSION
D. SERVICE
3. The Corporate Discipline
A. CONFESSION
B. WORSHIP
C. GUIDANCE
D. CELEBRATION
Godly discipline or spiritual discipline calls us to move beyond surface Christianity into the depths. Spiritual discipline takes us beyond the earthly realms into the spiritual realm. It takes us to that place where we become the answer to a world in turmoil.
This spiritual discipline is God’s means to us to come into throne room of grace to receive mercy and grace to help in time of need. Hence we can place ourselves at God’s feet to be transformed.
The grace of God is not earned; you cannot earn it because it has been purchased by the blood of the Lamb. However for us to grow in grace we must bring ourselves to that place of spiritual discipline we must pay the price.
