Godly Discipline Results In Godly Fear
"FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE PUNISHES EVERY SON WHOM HE ACCEPTS” (Hebrews 12:6 NASB).
VISION OF HELL by Claudia (12/09/2021).
I had a vision from the Lord this morning, I saw myself with four other ladies standing on some balcony of a huge building with a stairway going down. The Lord appeared in a cloud in the air and said to us, "I want you to experience a full day in Hell". Almost immediately after the Lord's words, I found myself walking down these stairways, and as I descended further down I noticed a very dark place, and as we entered it I was met by a very, very foul smell which I'm unable to properly put into words.
This smell was so toxic I struggled breathing and sobs to breathe and it seems there was no fresh air to breathe. The Lord was still in the cloud and provided a shade of light just enough for us to see. I saw all kinds of animal type of creatures, which by their appearance looked evil and I could feel it as well. These beings could talk, but I was unable to hear what they were saying, they were laughing and tried coming towards us but could not reach us.
After just a few minutes, I prayed and pleaded with the Lord to take me out as I could not endure being in that place, and that's when I woke up and the vision ended!
A few months ago, I had a conversation with a pastor friend and one of the things we discussed was the issue of punishment. The 'feel good' gospel that we have been fed totally overlooks the authority of the scriptures on the issue of punishment. As it was, my pastor friend argued that God does not punish His children but He 'allows' things to happen as opposed to punishing his children. This assertion was based on his interpretation of Job's experience that God allowed the devil to destroy Job's possessions (Job 1:1-22; 2:1-10).
Contextually, when we read the first two chapters of the book of Job we can clearly see that Job was being tested and we know his test was based on his faith in God and that would he be able to endure the test (Job 2:9-10). In this context, the Lord gave Satan permission to test Job by destroying his earthly possessions and this is the premise from which the 'allow doctrine' emanates! Let us thus not be confused regarding the Lord allowing something to happen to test us, the Lord uses the rod of discipline or punishment when we have committed an act of disobedience (2 Samuel 11-12; Psalm 23:4). The Lord's discipline is always gracious and it is meant to humble us.
Now, our lead verse above clearly articulates that the Lord does punish a son or daughter He loves and such punishment will bring disruptions and discomfort to our lives which would not be welcome at the time but it eases God's wrath and provides favor for us with the Lord (Numbers 16:46).
As a family, we have also experienced God's punishment on us for acts of disobedience however as we confessed our sins and repented the Lord heard our prayers and granted us the relief we asked for (Judges 10:15-16). What a merciful God we serve, He holds no grudges as He is always ready to forgive us.
Having said this, we had a woman in our ministry who was in the habit of always taking her children's part and overlooking the wrongs they did. Consequently, this angered the Lord as it was not the first time she was warned by the Lord not to cover up her children's wrongs but to correct them on their sinful behavior. The Lord then issued a stern warning to her saying that God's curse was upon her. Yes, you read it right! The Lord did say to her that God's curse was upon her and this caused the woman to humble herself in God's Presence after receiving this warning and the next morning the Lord gave word that He accepted her act of humility in His Presence and forgave her (1 Kings 21:29).
Additionally, we need to remind you that the Lord of the Old Testament is still the same God, He has never changed (Hebrews 13:8). Let us thus not think the punishment was just meant for David and the Israelites, the Lord punishes His children according to our lead scripture above and given to our experiences with the Lord. Also, with people who acted outside God's will and became false witnesses, the Lord promised to punish them and we believe He did punish them. As it is, the Lord rewards obedience and not disobedience as we wrote in our 'blessings for obedience' article. finally, the Lord's punishment is not meant to cause us to stumble but that we rather walk closer with Him.
Blessed Grace
Brother Glenn
