SHALOM 🙏
Blessed to be a Blessing to the Blessed People 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦

✍🏽 “Do not withhold DISCIPLINE from a child…”
“PUNISH him with the rod and save his soul from death.” 📖 Proverbs 23 : 13-14

Discipline and Punishment

Should the parent PUNISH or DISCIPLINE the child ❓
DISCIPLINE is a primary means by which parents guide and shape their children. Children need love and discipline to become wise and loving adults.
PUNISHMENT administers pain for pain and hurt for hurt. Punishment is merely the expression of someone’s discontent, irritation, anger and no sign of love.
Prison punish ; that’s all they can do. Some parents punish too , but that’s not all we can do , nor is it what we are charged by God to do. Nor is it healthy. We are charged to discipline our children.

📌 In OT , the social order was ” an eye for an eye , a tooth for a tooth “. It ( punishment ) does not love the criminal.
✅ The benefit of punishment is for the person or the system administering punishment.

📌 But discipline loves the criminal. Discipline also gives pain , unlike punishment it seeks to change the child at the core of his being.
✅ The benefit of discipline is for the one who is being disciplined.

📝 The Bible gives us an example of bad parenting where the father failed to discipline his sons @ Eli and Samuel . The end results were fatal.

📝 The Bible says :
✅ “Discipline your son ( children ), for in that there is hope..” Prov 19:18
As a reward ( Ps 127:3 ) they will bring glory to His name.

✅ “Discipline your son ( children ), and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul ” Prov 29:17
Make way for them so that they would be a channel of your pride ( Prov 23:25 )

✅ “..if you punish him with the rod , he will not die ” Prov 23:13b
Punishment with the rod of love with good spirit will be beneficial for the child. Discipline and Love must go hand in hand.

💕 Beloved Church, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on , however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
✅ It was for discipline that we are set above children and the children under us.
✅ And punishment is not the charge God gave the parents .

🙏 Dear God, I want to raise my children or those whom I am responsible for in the best way possible. Help me to make wise decisions. Help me to discipline my children with love 🛐

Glory to God 🙌
✍🏽 Mark Boje
Arunachal Pradesh, India 🇮🇳

Fear = Worship

…….Be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long. Proverbs 23: 17

I am sure that you have heard a lot of teaching on fearing the Lord. I do believe in a reverential honour of the Lord. But I am not for any kind of teaching that promotes this idea that God wants you to be afraid of Him. God delights in having us close to Him. He welcomes us to dwell in His secret place, to be so close to Him that we come under His shadow.These are all pictures of intimacy. In any relationship, fear and intimacy cannot coexist. If you fear God today, you won’t be able to believe Him for His protection. That is why it is so important for you to be strong and established in His grace._

_The author of the book of Hebrews says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). This is a picture of the ark of the covenant, God’s throne of grace. Because our Lord’s blood has been shed on the mercy seat, today, we can come boldly into His presence without any sense of inferiority or shame, and receive His favour, His supply, His protection, and His help in our time of need.

Jesus defined the fear of the Lord as the worship of the Lord. In the wilderness temptation, Jesus responded to the devil by saying, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matt. 4:8–10). Our Lord was quoting from Deuteronomy 6:13, which says, “You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him.”
Our Lord substituted the word “ fear ” with the word “ worship.”

Jesus was showing us how to accurately understand the fear of the Lord. In the new covenant, it has nothing to do with being afraid of the Lord; it has everything to do with coming into His presence with boldness and worshiping Him. Stop living in fear, my friend. Instead, follow our Lord wholly like Caleb did and worship His wonderful name.
The prayer of protection in Psalm 91 is a psalm of worship. When you worship Jesus, all your fears will fade away. When you worship Him, the angel of the Lord encamps around you like a shield of protection. When you worship your Saviour, His Spirit of wisdom and counsel will lead and guide you with rivers of peace!

Stay Blessed 😊
Ravi