Hebrews 12:1-11

God is the Brooding Father to His children,
knowing all their weak spots and
unexposed sickness.
He is in absolute control of what touches
His growing children and is the
Blessed Controller of
their experiences and . . . enemies.
I Timothy 5:15 Phillips

We are after ease. God is after emptiness
that His Son might be the fullness.

God is in relentless pursuit of the Old Man/Woman,
to hound them into the
rightful grave of their hopelessness.

Father God is out to destroy - in us - the Old man and
resurrect - in us - the New Man.
New-Man being
"Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Colossians 1:27

God is intent on bringing children into the likeness
of His Cherished Son by the indwelling
Life of Christ.

But we resist in ignorance of the level of our depravity
and by arrogance that insists on
living for God "on our own assessment."

So . . .
the Cross of our solution,
becomes personal wrongs by daily confrontation.

God sends the proud to expose my preening pride,
the evil to uncover my latent wickedness.
the angry to spark my fire of rage.

Offenses that bombard me are a frightful mirror
forcing me to see the face I have not known.
And to ask forgiveness for
attitudes that shock me.
Things my Father knew all along.

His scourging hand is behind every wound
and is a Lovely Father's perfect
correction for a secret Divine Purpose,
a Joseph-in-the-making
in me . . . .

Offenses begin with family,
the closest most vulnerable ties . . . . 
The wrongs extend to the work place of Potiphar
where miserable prison is
the reward for fidelity.

And Joseph, in the brilliance of his comprehension,
saw the Hand behind the many cruel hands of
his history, truly every person of his journey.
Joseph bowed to that Divine Hand
who burned and chiseled the vessel of
his soul into a Sterling Chalice,
trusted with containing God
in a foreign place of reigning.

God chastens those He loves
with "scourgings" like those He allowed His Son
to experience.
With death blows to pride and
wrestlings with Jacob-strength to break his "thigh."

"For whom the Lord loves He chastens
And scourges every son whom He receives."
Hebrews 12:6 NKJ

The offense is easier to accept
if the Ruling Father is seen
as Supremely Right and
Sovereignly Loving in all He sends.

And, as with Joseph,
forgiveness becomes the crisis of my own destiny
but the very means to its discovery!
Forgiveness of others yields to me, the
secrets of God's amazing plan for me!

Healthy fear of this Mighty God, His power to
orchestrate my history, is the great
inspiration of forgiveness.

 I charge you in the presence of God,
who gives life to all things, and
of Christ Jesus, who testified the
good confession before Pontius Pilate,
That you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Which He will bring about at the proper time -
He who is the blessed and only Sovereign,
the King of Kings and Lord of lords,
who alone dwells in unapproachable light,
whom no man has seen or can see.
To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
1 Timothy 6:13-16 NAS (emphasis mine)

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Copyright © 2001 Martha Blaney Kilpatrick