Blows of Love

God lives and works today. He is a loving Father who wants to bring up His children correctly. And so we read in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by Him.

For the Lord disciplines him whom He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives. The following program by Baselius Schling will help us to better understand God's love in His chastening. Two friends of ours were being severely chastened by God.

It looked as if God were actually against them. He let their work fail and continually set new obstacles in their way. It caused them many sleepless nights and humiliations before other people.

Sometime later when we saw our friends again, they greeted us with radiant faces. They had experienced something similar to Job. After the tears and suffering, God had showered them with three times as much goodness.

He can't respond in any other way because He's a loving Father. The great joy that shone from our friends' faces overwhelmed us. We longed to become just as happy, and we told them so.

And they smiled at us and told us, You can have this happiness too, because God is love. He has only one thought in His heart. He wants to make us happy, you and me.

However, there's one specific way that leads to this happiness. For God doesn't want to make us happy only for a short time, which would only disappoint us. No, He wants us to have an eternal happiness, one that never wears off.

That means He wants to begin to make us happy here on earth, so that later we can be happy too, for all eternity. And the way that leads to this lasting happiness is a way of preparation, of being brought up and chastened by the Father. Now you might think, then the whole world must be awfully happy, because look how much suffering and chastening we all have to go through.

However, chastening alone doesn't let us become happy. Only when we committed ourselves completely to God's will and humbled ourselves beneath His mighty hand did we experience His will is goodness and loving kindness, so good the ways by which He leads. God's will is goodness and loving kindness, so good the ways by which He leads.

And what happened? The ways of chastening purified us and brought us near to Jesus. And whoever comes near to Jesus, the eternal joy, becomes truly happy. He can sing, Who makes us happy? Jesus is you.

That person has found a wonderful treasure which no one can ever take away. Who makes us happy? Jesus is you. Therefore my heart rejoices in you.

Jesus, oh joy eternal. You've been listening to a program written by Basilia Schlink of the Little Land of Canaan. If this program has been a help to you, we'd be happy to send you a free leaflet by the same author.

Please write to God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85028-4099. That's God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85028-4099. Please write and ask for your free leaflet.

God bless you.