Latest / PAMOJA PODCAST | PAMOJA MINISTRY, A LIFE OF CHRIST INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES / PAMOJA MINISTRY — REFINED FOR A PURPOSE CONVERSATION XII — WHEN GOD CORRECTS THE PERSON HE LOVES

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PAMOJA MINISTRY — REFINED FOR A PURPOSE CONVERSATION XII — WHEN GOD CORRECTS THE PERSON HE LOVES · PAMOJA PODCAST | PAMOJA MINISTRY, A LIFE OF CHRIST INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES

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  Welcome back to our continuing conversation on
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  Refined for a Purpose. In our last conversation,
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  we talked about the crack before the collapse.
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  We discovered the collapse rarely begins on the
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  day everybody sees it. Usually, something has
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  been cracking quietly for a long time. A boundary
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  moves. A compromise is justified. An attitude
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  is excused. A warning is ignored. A conviction
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  is silenced, and slowly, something that once
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  seemed small can begin threatening something
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  much larger. But we also discovered something
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  hopeful. God revealing the crack does not mean
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  the structure is worthless. Sometimes revelation
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  is the beginning of restoration. Sometimes conviction
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  is protection. Sometimes God allows us to see
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  what is weakening. while there is still time
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  to repair it. And that brought us to another
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  question. What happens when God doesn't simply
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  show us the crack, but begins dealing with it?
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  What happens when God confronts an attitude,
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  when He interrupts a pattern, when He challenges
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  our pride, when He allows consequences, when
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  He uses His word, circumstances or people to
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  tell us something has to change? Because if we
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  are not careful, we can interpret correction
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  as rejection. We can begin asking, God, are you
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  angry with me? Have you abandoned me? Did I lose
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  my purpose? Is everything over? But Hebrews 12
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  gives us another perspective. It tells us the
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  Lord disciplines the one he loves. Think about
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  that. Scripture connects discipline with love.
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  And perhaps this is one of the most difficult
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  dimensions of being refined for a purpose. Sometimes
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  God's love comforts us. Sometimes God's love
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  carries us. Sometimes God's love restores us.
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  And sometimes God's love corrects us. So today,
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  I want us to have a conversation about something
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  we don't always like talking about when God corrects
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  the person he loves. Because correction is not
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  always rejection. Sometimes, correction is rescue.
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  And before we go any further, we need to establish
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  something important. Not every painful season
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  is God correcting you. Jesus rejected the simplistic
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  idea that every tragedy or suffering must be
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  traced directly to someone's personal sin. In
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  John 9, the disciples saw a man who had been
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  blind from birth and asked Jesus, who sinned,
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  this man or his parents? Jesus refused their
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  assumption, and that matters, because sometimes
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  we can become spiritually unhealthy by interpreting
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  every hardship as, God must be punishing me.
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  You lost your job. God is punishing me. A relationship
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  ended. God is punishing me. You became sick.
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  God is punishing me. A door closed. God is punishing
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  me. No. Life is more complicated than that. We
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  live in a broken world. People make choices.
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  We make choices. There are natural consequences.
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  There are spiritual battles. There are circumstances
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  we simply do not understand. And sometimes, suffering
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  has nothing to do with personal correction. So
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  this conversation is not an invitation to become
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  afraid of God every time something goes wrong.
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  It is an invitation to become teachable when
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  God is actually correcting us. There is a difference,
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  and that difference requires discernment. Instead
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  of immediately asking, God, why are you punishing
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  me? Maybe the healthier prayer is God. What are
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  you saying to me through this season? If there
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  is something to correct, show me. If there is
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  something to learn, teach me. If there is something
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  to release, help me release it. And if this season
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  has nothing to do with correction, give me the
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  faith to walk through it without falsely condemning
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  myself. Because God does not call us to live
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  under constant fear. He calls us to walk with
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  Him. And now we need to understand why love sometimes
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  corrects. Hebrews 12 says, Those are two completely
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  different reactions. One person receives correction
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  and says, it doesn't matter. Another receives
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  correction and says, everything is over. Scripture
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  says neither response is healthy. Don't dismiss
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  correction, but don't allow correction to convince
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  you that you have been abandoned. That balance
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  is powerful, because when God corrects you, The
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  goal is not destruction. The goal is formation.
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  Hebrews continues by saying that discipline later
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  produces a harvest of righteousness and peace
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  for those who have been trained by it. Trained
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  by it. That means correction is supposed to produce
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  something. Wisdom, humility, discipline, maturity,
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  self -control, righteousness, peace. God is not
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  simply saying You were wrong. He is saying, I
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  am teaching you another way to live. Correction
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  that only produces shame has missed the purpose.
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  Godly correction should move us toward transformation.
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  Sometimes God loves you too much to let you keep
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  going. Imagine seeing someone you love walking
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  toward danger. Would love remain silent? If your
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  child was walking toward traffic, would you say,
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  I don't want to interfere with their choices.
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  No. Love would interrupt. Love might shout. Love
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  might grab them. The interruption could feel
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  uncomfortable, but the discomfort would not mean
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  hatred. The interruption would be evidence of
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  love. And sometimes we want God to love us without
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  interrupting us. We want God to bless our plans,
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  bless our relationships, bless our decisions.
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  Bless our ambitions, bless our habits, bless
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  our direction. But sometimes God's answer is,
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  no, I love you too much to bless what is destroying
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  you. And that can hurt, because we may have already
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  become emotionally attached to what God is confronting.
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  Maybe it is a relationship, maybe an attitude,
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  maybe pride, maybe an ambition, maybe a habit.
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  Maybe the way we speak, maybe the way we handle
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  authority, maybe something we have convinced
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  ourselves we need, and then God puts his finger
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  on it and says, this cannot continue. That moment
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  can feel like loss, but perhaps what feels like
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  God taking something from you is actually God
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  protecting something greater within you. David
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  teaches us, that mercy does not always remove
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  consequences. David gives us one of scripture's
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  most difficult examples. David sinned with Bathsheba.
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  He abused his authority. He arranged circumstances
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  that resulted in Uriah's death. Then Nathan confronted
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  him and David said, I have sinned against the
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  Lord. Nathan told him that the Lord had taken
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  away his sin. There was forgiveness. but there
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  were still consequences. And this is where we
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  sometimes misunderstand grace. We think forgiveness
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  means consequences should disappear. But forgiveness
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  and consequences are not always the same thing.
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  You can be forgiven and still have something
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  to repair. You can be forgiven and still need
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  to rebuild trust. You can be forgiven and still
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  need to apologize. You can be forgiven and still
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  have to accept responsibility. You can be forgiven
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  and still have to live through the consequences
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  of decisions you made. And consequences do not
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  necessarily mean God has rejected you. Sometimes
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  consequences become part of the classroom. David
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  was forgiven, but David was also changed. Psalm
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  51 reveals a man who no longer merely wants the
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  situation fixed. He wants himself changed. He
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  prays, create in me a clean heart, O God, and
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  renew a right spirit within me. That is maturity.
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  Immaturity says, God, remove the consequence.
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  Maturity eventually learns to pray, God, change
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  whatever in me help create this. That is refinement.
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  And sometimes God corrects our success, not just
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  our failure. We often think correction only comes
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  after obvious sin, but God also corrects attitudes
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  that could become dangerous later. Look at Paul.
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  2 Corinthians 12 tells us Paul received extraordinary
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  revelations, and then Paul describes what he
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  calls a thorn in the flesh. Christians have debated
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  for centuries exactly what that thorn was. And
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  scripture does not give us enough information
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  to settle every detail. But Paul tells us something
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  important about its purpose. He says it was connected
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  to keeping him from becoming conceited because
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  of the greatness of the revelations. Think about
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  that. The danger was not simply failure. The
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  danger was what success could produce inside
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  him. Pride. And Paul prayed repeatedly for the
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  thorn to leave. But God's answer was, my grace
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  is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
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  in weakness. Sometimes we are asking God to remove
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  something while God is using that very season
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  to keep something else from growing inside us.
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  Again, we need humility here. We should not label
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  every difficulty a thorn or assume every unresolved
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  problem is God's discipline. But Paul's testimony
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  teaches us something important. God is concerned
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  not only with where you are going, but with who
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  you are becoming while you get there. Sometimes
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  success needs refinement too, because pride can
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  destroy what suffering never could. Peter shows
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  us the difference between condemnation and correction.
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  Peter denied Jesus three times. Imagine the shame.
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  Peter had said, even if everyone else falls away,
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  I won't. Then pressure came, fear came, and Peter
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  denied even knowing Jesus. Afterward, he wept
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  bitterly. Now notice what Jesus does after the
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  resurrection. Jesus does not pretend the failure
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  never happened. But he also does not discard
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  Peter. In John 21, Jesus confronts and restores
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  him. Three times Jesus asks, do you love me?
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  And then, feed my sheep. The place of failure
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  becomes a place of restoration. Jesus does not
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  say, Peter, because you failed, your purpose
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  is canceled. But neither does he say, Peter,
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  let's pretend nothing happened. There is confrontation.
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  There is restoration and then there is responsibility.
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  That is important because condemnation says you
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  failed, therefore you are finished. Correction
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  says this must change because there is still
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  purpose ahead of you. Condemnation pushes you
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  away from God. Conviction draws you toward repentance.
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  Condemnation tells you to hide. Conviction tells
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  you to come into the light. Condemnation attacks
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  your identity. Correction addresses your behavior
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  and your character. And Romans 8 .1 reminds us,
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  There is therefore now no condemnation to them
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  which are in Christ Jesus. That does not mean
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  there is no correction. It means correction happens
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  within a relationship of grace. Be careful not
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  to reject the person God uses to correct you.
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  This is difficult because sometimes we want correction
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  directly from heaven. We want an angel, a dream,
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  a voice, a scripture appearing miraculously before
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  us. But sometimes God sends Nathan, a human being,
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  someone who says, you are the man. And suddenly
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  the problem is not whether God is speaking. The
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  problem is that we don't like who he used. Maybe
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  your spouse sees something. Maybe a friend sees
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  something. Maybe a mentor sees something. Maybe
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  a leader confronts something. Maybe someone beneath
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  you sees something your position has prevented
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  others from telling you. Now, human correction
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  is not automatically correct. People can misunderstand
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  us. People can have wrong motives. People can
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  accuse falsely. People can manipulate. So everything
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  must be tested with wisdom, truth, scripture,
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  and prayer. But humility asks, even if I don't
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  like how this was said, is there something here
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  I need to hear? That question can save you because
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  pride asks, who are you to correct me? Humility
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  asks, God, is there truth here for me? Never
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  become so successful that nobody can tell you
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  the truth. Never become so spiritual that you
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  believe you cannot be corrected Never become
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  so powerful that everyone around you becomes
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  afraid to disagree with you Because when accountability
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  disappears the crack can grow without resistance
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  Sometimes the thing you call an attack may actually
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  be an interruption. Now we need discernment here.
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  Not every attack is correction. Not every opposition
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  is from God. Scripture gives us real spiritual
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  warfare. It gives us persecution. It gives us
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  false accusation. It gives us injustice. So we
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  should never casually tell someone, God did this
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  to you because you needed correction. We may
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  not know that, but in our own prayer life, there
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  is a question worth asking. God, is there anything
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  you are trying to teach me here? Because sometimes
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  we become so focused on escaping discomfort that
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  we never investigate whether the discomfort is
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  revealing something. We rebuke everything. We
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  fight everything. We call everything warfare.
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  But what if some moments require reflection before
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  resistance? What if God is using a closed door
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  to expose entitlement? What if conflict is revealing
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  your anger? What if waiting is revealing impatience?
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  What if criticism is exposing insecurity? What
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  if responsibility is exposing poor discipline?
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  What if success is revealing pride? What if disappointment
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  is revealing where your identity has actually
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  been resting? Again, the circumstance itself
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  may not have been sent by God, but God can still
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  use it. God doesn't have to author the fire to
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  use the fire, and that is consistent with everything
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  we have been learning in this season. God doesn't
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  waste the fire. There is a difference between
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  being punished and being trained. Hebrews uses
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  the language of training. That matters. Think
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  about physical training. Training places resistance
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  against the body. Not because the trainer hates
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  the athlete. Because resistance develops strength.
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  The athlete may say, this hurts. And the trainer
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  may answer, I know. But the pain has a purpose.
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  Now every pain in life is not divine training.
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  But when God is refining us, There are moments
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  when obedience becomes uncomfortable. Apologizing
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  hurts pride, forgiving hurts, accepting accountability
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  hurts, changing habits hurts, breaking unhealthy
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  relationships hurts, admitting you were wrong
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  hurts, starting again hurts, waiting hurts, surrendering
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  control hurts. But sometimes the pain is not
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  evidence that the process is wrong. Sometimes.
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  The pain is part of the training. Hebrew says
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  discipline is painful rather than pleasant at
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  the moment. Scripture acknowledges that. God
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  does not pretend correction feels good, but then
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  it says later. I love that word. Later. Later
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  it produces something. Later you understand.
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  Later you see why the boundary was necessary.
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  Later you appreciate the person who told you
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  the truth. Later you understand why God would
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  not let you continue. Later you recognize what
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  could have happened. Later you see the protection
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  inside the correction. Some things only make
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  sense. Later. The purpose of correction is not
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  to keep you in the past. There is another danger.
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  Sometimes after God corrects us, we remain mentally
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  trapped in what we did. We repent. God forgives.
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  We change. But we keep punishing ourselves. Every
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  prayer becomes about the failure. Every new opportunity
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  reminds us of the failure. Every good thing makes
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  us feel unworthy because of the failure. But
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  if repentance has happened, correction is supposed
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  to move you forward. You learn. You grow. You
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  make restitution where possible. You rebuild
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  what needs rebuilding. You accept consequences
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  where necessary and then you walk differently.
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  God does not refine gold so he can spend eternity
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  talking about the impurities he removed. The
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  impurities are removed so the gold can become
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  what the refiner intended. Don't build your identity
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  around the thing God corrected. Let the correction
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  produce wisdom. Let it produce humility. Let
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  it produce compassion. Let it produce boundaries.
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  Let it produce maturity. Let it produce testimony.
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  You are not supposed to remain forever at the
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  place where God confronted you. You are supposed
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  to become different because He did. And this
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  is where grace becomes beautiful. Grace is not
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  God saying nothing matters. Grace is not permission
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  to remain unchanged. Grace does not eliminate
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  truth. Grace does not eliminate responsibility.
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  Grace does not call darkness light. Grace meets
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  us in truth and gives us the power to become
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  different. Titus 2 says the grace of God teaches
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  us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions
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  and to live self -controlled upright godly lives.
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  Grace teaches. Grace trains. Grace transforms.
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  So when God corrects you, don't run away from
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  grace. Run toward it. Say, God, show me. God,
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  teach me. God, change me. God, forgive me. God,
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  help me repair what I damaged. God, give me discipline
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  so I don't return to what you delivered me from.
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  That is not weakness. That is maturity. So maybe
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  the question is not, Why is God correcting me?
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  Maybe there is a better question. What is God
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  trying to preserve? Maybe He is preserving your
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  marriage. Maybe your family. Maybe your ministry.
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  Maybe your calling. Maybe your character. Maybe
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  your testimony. Maybe your future. Maybe the
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  people who depend on you. Maybe the responsibility
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  you have been praying for. Because sometimes
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  correction is not only about what you did yesterday.
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  Sometimes correction is about what God knows
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  you will need tomorrow. Joseph needed integrity
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  before Pharaoh. Moses needed character for leadership.
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  Peter needed humility before Pentecost. Paul
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  needed dependence on grace while carrying extraordinary
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  revelation. God sees farther than we do. And
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  sometimes he deals with something now because
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  he knows what that something could become later.
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  That is why correction can be protection. That
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  is why discipline can be preparation. And that
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  is why correction is not rejection. But now there
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  is another question. What happens when correction
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  comes after you have already failed? What happens
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  when you saw the crack? but didn't respond. What
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  happens when the boundary was crossed? What happens
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  when the mistake was made? What happens when
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  you cannot undo what you did? What happens when
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  your own decisions contributed to the fire you
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  are now walking through? Can God still use you?
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  Can purpose survive failure? Can mercy reach
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  you when you cannot blame anybody else? Can God
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  restore someone who genuinely got it wrong? Because
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  there is a kind of theology that knows how to
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  talk about holiness before failure, but does
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  not know what to say to the person sitting in
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  the ashes afterward. And yet scripture is filled
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  with people whose weaknesses became visible.
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  David, Peter, Moses, Jacob, and still, God's
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  story with them was not over. So our next continuing
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  conversation will be when failure doesn't cancel
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  purpose mercy in the refining fire. We are not
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  going to use grace as permission to sin. We are
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  not going to pretend choices have no consequences.
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  We are not going to minimize damage. But we are
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  going to ask a deeply biblical question. What
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  does God do with a repentant person who failed?
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  Because perhaps somebody listening to me does
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  not need another warning about the crack. The
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  collapse has already happened. And your question
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  is no longer, how do I prevent it? Your question
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  is, can God still do anything with me now? And
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  if that is you, stay with us because the refiner
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  is not finished. Before we close today, I want
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  you to remember this. If God is correcting you,
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  listen. If he is confronting something, don't
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  immediately defend it. If repentance is necessary,
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  repent. If an apology is necessary, apologize.
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  If something must change, change it. If a boundary
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  must return, restore it. If accountability is
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  needed, receive it. But don't confuse correction
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  with abandonment. Don't allow conviction to become
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  condemnation. and don't allow shame to make you
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  run from the very God who is calling you back.
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  Maybe God is correcting you because there is
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  still something worth protecting. Maybe he is
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  disciplining you because there is still something
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  he intends to develop. Maybe he is interrupting
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  you because he sees where the road leads. Maybe
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  the correction that hurts today is protecting
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  you from something that would hurt much more
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  tomorrow. You ask God to refine you. Sometimes
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  this is what refinement looks like. The refiner
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  sees what we cannot see. The refiner removes
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  what cannot remain. The refiner knows how much
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  heat is necessary. And the refiner does not throw
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  away the goal because he discovers impurities.
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  He keeps working. So receive his comfort, receive
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  his conviction, receive his correction, receive
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  his grace, and keep walking. Because correction
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  is not always rejection, sometimes correction
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  is rescue. And even here, you are still being
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  refined for a purpose.