There's a terrible misunderstanding among believers today about God's method of disciplining His children. They'll point to some kind of disaster—a tornado or a car accident—and say, "I guess God sent that catastrophe to teach us something."

No, He didn't! A loving God doesn't send death and destruction on His children to instruct them. He doesn't unleash His bad dog to bite us on the leg, so we'll learn to wear our boots!

How does He chastise His own? With His Word.

Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, "Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness, (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action), so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work" (The Amplified Bible).

If you'll look in 2 Corinthians 7, you'll see an example of this. There the Apostle Paul talks about a situation in the Corinthian church that needed correction. That church had gotten out of line and had to be disciplined.

How did Paul do it? Not by asking God to send an earthquake to shake them up! He did it by writing them a letter. He wrote them a word of reproof that hurt so badly they would have preferred being beaten with a stick. It cut deep into their spirits and brought them to repentance.

Your heavenly Father loves you and because He does, He will chasten you. But He'll do it with spiritual, not fleshly tools. He'll use the spirit-power in His Word to chasten unbelief and purify your spirit in such a way that you'll come out strong, not weak and condemned.

So quit bowing down to disasters and start subjecting yourself instead to the Word of God. Yield to the Word. Let it correct you and trim away the flesh and the lusts that lead you astray. Remember, the sword of the Spirit is two-edged—one side is for Satan and the other side is for you. Let God use it to keep you in line!

Scripture Reading:
2 Corinthians 7

The Word tells us that God shows Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are "perfect" toward Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). That word perfect doesn't mean that we have to do everything just right and live without making a mistake. Thank God, we don't have to do that. It means "devoted"—a heart consecrated, dedicated, loyal and faithful to God.

The mistakes we make will not stop God from working in our lives. Only our lack of faithfulness can do that.

Who is faithful? The one who spends his time doing what God has called him to do. Or as Jesus put it, the one who takes up his cross and follows Him. The one who denies his fleshly desires and spends his life on the things God desires him to do.

Maybe God has been urging you to spend more time in His Word and in prayer or dealing with you about ministering more to the people around you. He may be calling you to pray for the sick or to teach the Word. But you're busy, so you glide on with good intentions and tell God you'll do it later. Well, later is here!

Decide today that you are going to be the faithful and wise servant. Find out what is stealing your time from the Lord. Serve His interests instead of your own.

Do you want to be a ruler in the household of God? Do you want Him to show Himself strong for you? Then take up Jesus' thoughts today. Take up His purposes and His plans. Now is the time to be faithful!

Scripture Reading:
Matthew 24:42-51

If you really want to get the wisdom of God, you'll have to do more than casually read the Scriptures a few minutes a day. You'll have to feed on them night and day. You'll have to get rid of the rubbish you've been feeding into your consciousness by reprogramming your mind with the Word of God.

"Oh, Brother Copeland," you may say, "that's unreasonable!"

Yes it is. But consider this: A music major in college practices for hours every day. Olympic skaters spend six to eight hours a day training for their routines. They do it because they're unreasonably committed to their goals.

The same is true for you. If you're going to achieve the kind of spiritual excellence you're hungry for, you're going to have to be unreasonably committed to the Word of God.

That may well mean that you'll have to carry a tape player around with you everywhere you go. It may mean that you'll have your razor in one hand and your tape player in the other or a tape player in one hand and a fork in the other.

Do whatever it takes to totally saturate yourself with the Word of God. I would speak to you no differently if I were your commanding officer about to send you into combat against the best trained elite troops of a savage enemy.

You are God's frontline assault force. You have an enemy who is doing his dead-level best to destroy you. In this crucial, all-out, no-holds-barred offensive, Satan will dispatch hell's choicest personnel to bring you down. If you're going to make it through in victory, you're going to have to put yourself in training.

Be unreasonably committed. Get wisdom.

Scripture Reading:
Proverbs 1:7-33

Death. It’s not a popular topic—even among believers. In fact, a great many are just plain scared of it. Oh yes, they talk about having eternal life. Yet when the devil tries to threaten their earthly survival with sickness or calamity, they panic.

Why? Because they haven’t learned to look at death through God’s eyes. Even though their spirit has been made immortal, they haven’t renewed their minds to include that truth. If they had, when the devil tried to push their panic button, they’d just laugh and say, “You can’t scare me, Devil. I’ve done all the dying I’m ever going to do!”

That’s true, you know. The Word of God says that you, as a born-again believer, are never going to see death (John 8:51). Jesus has been your substitute. He suffered death so you wouldn’t have to. And He was raised from death, Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “Destroy[ing] him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver[ing] them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

If you’ve made Jesus the Lord of your life, the only death you’ll ever experience is behind you now. It occurred the instant you received Christ. At that moment, your old self—the one whose nature was to sin and rebel against God—died. Your body didn’t die, but your spirit man—the real you—died to Satan and all of his works. You became “a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17), immortal and absolutely incapable of death!

When you’re finished with your work on the earth, you’re not going to die. You’ll simply shed your earthly shell and relocate to a far more glorious place.

Go to the Word and get God’s perspective on death. Make a study of it. Once the reality of your immortality begins to dawn on you, the devil will never be able to threaten you with it again.

Scripture Reading:
Hebrews 2:9-15