It is important for each of us to acknowledge and receive correction:
Proverbs 15:5 A fool despises his father’s instruction,
But he who receives correction is prudent.
We must be pliable and willing to allow FATHER to correct our thinking, assumptions, conclusions, and perceptions. HIS correction will come through many sources but the best and most direct source is by hearing HIM. The more pliable and willing to change you are will often determine how easy it is to hear HIM. You must be willing to hear and consider another view besides your own.
When you fully realize that FATHER Loves you and only has your best interest at heart will you fully let your guard down so that you can hear. When you truly want to change you will allow others to be used to convey FATHER’S correction specifically for you. Can you imagine Jesus directing the statement “Get thee behind me satan!” to you as He did to Peter? Ouch!
FATHER gives us a choice on the direction to take and HE will provide that choice through our interactions with others. Vessels of dishonor will attempt to convince to take the path toward death and destruction. Your own ego will attempt to guide you into situations where it can be fed and further strengthened. Your body will negatively respond when you take the wrong path and focus bitterness and unforgiveness.
As I have written before, it is not business as usual. What does that mean? You cannot assume your historical methods and walk to be applicable in today’s environment. What you thought was a sure thing in the past may no longer be effective and applicable. Consider the Great Depression. In the 1920’s everyone thought life was good and it appeared to be on a sustained path toward prosperity. When the stock market crash of 1929 occurred, their past assumptions were blown out of the water. Today we are in a similar environment but significantly more complex. With $220 Trillion in total liabilities, the U.S. has no positive outcome available without significant pain. Only FATHER has the solution and each of us must be willing to accept HIS correction or suffer the dire consequences.
The children of Israel were given the warning in Joshua 24:
14 “Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
The Hebrew word tamiym translated “sincerity” here means:
complete, whole, entire, sound
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complete, whole, entire
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whole, sound, healthful
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complete, entire (of time)
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sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity
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what is complete or entirely in accord with truth and fact
To receive correction we must be willing to hear the whole Truth, not a partial truth that supports our current belief that may contain bias. You must ask yourself the question: How correctable and willing to change am I?
What would happen if FATHER were to instruct you to take an action that went contrary to your historical perception of Spiritual matters? Would you immediately change your view or would you attempt to defend and resist HIM?
Matthew 21:1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.
3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
If the donkey and colt were yours, would you joyfully hand them over or would you resist the request? If FATHER had need of your resources, how would you respond? Do you think a stranger ever asked the owner of the donkey and colt to give them up for their use before that day? It is easy to sit on the couch and be theoretical about how you would respond to such a request.
Many are called but few are chosen and those who are chosen have a willingness to be corrected so that they can be unhindered to carry out HIS plan. If you resist correction and change you will be confronted with a closed door. Those who realize that FATHER is removing any and all issues and embrace the correction will walk through the open door with an excitement and expectation never before experienced.