MFM Daily Devotional 26 August 2023
TOPIC: Mystery of Divine Discipline
MEMORY VERSE
For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father Verse: the son in whom he delighteth.
Proverbs 3:12
MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES: Divine discipline today is divine profiting tomorrow.
PROPHETIC WORD FOR TODAY
Henceforth, God will envelop you in His love and favour, in the name of Jesus.
FIRE SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 12:3-11
PRAISE AND WORSHIP: Take praise and worship songs as led by the Holy Spirit
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Songs of Solomon 3 – 4; Matthew 5 – 6
MFM Daily Devotional 26 August 2023 MESSAGE
God loves His children and disciplines or chastises them when they make mistakes. He is a disciplinarian; He does not spare the rod to spoil the child. However, many believers do not handle His discipline the right way. This often leads them to more serious trouble with their Maker. How do you view and respond to divine discipline?
In our fire scripture for today, the Bible admonishes us not to despise divine discipline. If God punishes you, find out the reason and make amends. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God (Hebrews 10:31). It also admonishes us not to faint or get discouraged when God chastises us. Rather, it enjoins us to endure (Hebrews 12:7).
READ MFM Daily Devotional 25 August 2023 – The Refiner’s Fire (II)
Moreso, divine discipline has several benefits. Let us examine some of them. First, it proves our sonship. Hebrews 12: 6-8 affirms that if we are not disciplined by the Lord, we are not His sons but bastards. When he disciplines us, then we are truly His sons, heirs and objects of His love. Second, divine discipline tests our submission to God. As believers, our submission should not be mere lip service but genuinely exhibited in our actions. God uses His discipline to test and prove if truly we have submitted to Him. Third, divine discipline has great profit for us. It is meant to make us better, disciplined, mature, fruitful and to fulfil our divine purposes on earth as well as make us to spend eternity with the Lord in heaven.
Jonah disobeyed God’s instruction. He headed to Tarshish instead of Nineveh. God’s rod of discipline located him and drove him into the belly of a fish for three days and three nights of pain. In the end, he repented. God forgave and released him. Then, he carried out the divine command. David also was disciplined by God when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah, her husband as well as when he wrongfully took Israel’s census. In the New Testament, God made Zechariah dumb for some time for doubting Him.
Jonah, David and Zechariah were vessels in the hand of God. Yet, He disciplined them to make them align with His will and fulfil His purpose. Those that God loves. He chastises.
MFM DAILY PRAYER POINTS 26TH AUGUST 2023
MORNING
1. Thank You. Father, because You are good and Your mercy endures forever, in the name of Jesus.
2. Father, I thank You because You correct in love, in the name of Jesus.
3. I will not despise divine discipline, in the name of Jesus.
EVENING
4. I will not faint or be discouraged when divine discipline comes, in the name of Jesus.
5. I receive the faith and the grace to endure divine discipline, in the name of Jesus.
6. Father, help me to be in the centre of Your will all the days of my life, in the name of Jesus.
7. Spirit of error and disobedience, I am not your candidate, die, in the name of Jesus.
