"The Chastening of The Lord: Part 3" Kathryn Kuhlman (The Lord's Discipline)

And Father God, we do commit today. And all that today holds, we commit our tomorrows into your care and your keeping. Whatever happens, we have this confidence. Our God maketh not. one mistake who is among you that feareth the lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the lord and stay upon his god Thus reads a portion of the Word of God as found in the 50th chapter of Isaiah. One reason that I am bringing you these heart -to -heart talks on sorrow, heartbreak, afflictions, tragedy that often comes into the home or life of one of God's children, is because... So very often you'll find someone who will point an accusing finger at one of God's precious children and will say in judgment, surely this has happened in that life because of sin in the life. Sometimes when a Christian is seen to be in darkness and trouble and tears, that superficial critic will pounce upon him and say, this trouble comes as a result of some sin. That somebody will, in judgment, point an accusing finger at that one who's having troubles. And tragedy. And say it's sin. Someplace, somewhere in that life. There must be sin and God is punishing. God is sending judgment. Remember something, beloved. The word of God is not that cruel. And don't you ever be that cruel. and point a finger at some one and say, God is sending judgment. God is punishing that one. The Word of God does not teach that doctrine. That doctrine is as false as it is cruel, and as cruel as it is false. For when you turn to the Word of God, it's perfectly clear that whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. I thought it was about time that I would bring a heart -to -heart talk on this very thing. Now remember, we're talking only to those who are God's children. Know that. god deals with the unregenerated in a very different way than he deals with his own we are dealing with this subject only from the standpoint of a heavenly father and his child and again i say if you are born again If you are His child living a daily victorious Christian life, if you are living in the center of His will, a life of full surrender and complete obedience unto Him, then nothing can come to you or touch your life or come into your life but what He permits. And if he allows it, as he allowed certain things to come into the life of Job, if he permits it, then, beloved, he will be there to be your strengthener and to take you through victoriously. You'll come forth a better person. The one thing that I want to talk, with you about in the next few minutes is his wonderful love in dealing with his children. This thing of love, God's love, is the most precious thing in the world. And never forget, even when the sun has ceased to shine in your own life that he is still there loving you caring for you i have loved thee with an everlasting love and when god says anything is everlasting it's everlasting it's for always I have loved thee with an everlasting love. And never doubt that love, whatever you do, no matter what happens to you. No matter what comes into your life. Death, tragedy, affliction. Not for one second doubt. the love of the heavenly father for you never doubt the master's love i mean exactly that you ask me why god loves like that why he loves his children with an everlasting love you might just as well ask why the sun shines all i can say to you is it just can't help shining Neither can God help loving, for God is love himself. He is love. Maybe someone is saying, if he really loves me with the depth of love as you're saying, if he really loves me like that, why has he sent so many troubles? into my life why the affliction that is come upon me every branch that beareth fruit he purges it that it might bring forth more fruit a woman battled within herself wondering if god really loved her because of her many afflictions and one day she was out walking and she champs to pass a vineyard in rich autumn glow a great wealth of leaves beautiful leaves and walking over she just bent over lifted the leaves and she was amazed to find there was no fruit on the vine whatsoever it was just a wealth of leaves that's all in that moment something marvellous happened to her it was as though the heavenly father literally spoke and yet it was just to her. And this is what the heavenly gardener whispered. Are you wondering at the trials in your life? Are you wondering why the troubles, the heartaches? The earthly gardener ceases to... prune to trim to harrow when he expects nothing from the vine. I am the heavenly gardener. I expect fruit from my children. Do you want me to stop my harrowing, my pruning, my trimming in that life of yours do you want me to expect no fruit from you just leaves and in that moment she looked up the tears streaming down her cheeks and she said i understand for the very first time i understand if a sorrow will make me more and i can help another then lord send that sorrow if a broken heart having my own heart broken will give me sympathy and understanding for another whose heart has been broken then break my heart if going through the valley of suffering if living hours in Gethsemane will make me more tender will give me a greater capacity for understanding the sorrows in the life of another and I can be of help to another then lead me through my gethsemane you know there never was any heart truly great and gracious that was not also tender and compassionate And you can never know real compassion. You can never have real compassion for another. You can never know a depth of tenderness for someone else. You can never have a truly great heart without suffering. You can't do it. you can never give to another any more than you have experienced yourself wherever showers fall most there the grass is greenest and wherever you find great fogs of tears and mists of sorrow you always find hearts that are full of the beautiful virtue of the comfort and the love of god beloved above all when god hides his face say not that he hath forsaken thee that he hath forgotten thee he is but tearing a little to make you love him a little better i walked a mile with pleasure and she chattered all the way and then left to me none the wiser for all that she had to say but one day one day i walked a mile with sorrow and not one word said she but oh the things i learned that day when sorrow walked with me You'll never know the full depth of the love of Jesus until you go through a Gethsemane. Never. And the amazing thing is that these are the experiences you have to go through alone. Do you want to know? How real the Heavenly Father is? Do you want to know the reality of Jesus Christ? Do you want to know the depth of His love for you? Do you want to know the tenderness of His love? You pray, O God, give me a greater capacity for you. Give me a greater capacity for your love. give me a greater capacity for loving and understanding and yet when he begins to answer that prayer you shrink from it you're afraid of it i have loved thee with an everlasting love i'll never forget something that came to me when i was very young i'm sure i was not more than fifteen sixteen perhaps seventeen years of age whether it was told to me or whether i read it i cannot tell you but it has never left me a young lad betrayed a trust that his father had in him. And one day, after a bitter fight, cruel, harsh words were spoken, and the young lad slammed the back kitchen door in the face of his bed and said, I never, I never want to see you again. Never. This is the last time I'll ever. looked upon your face i hate you and with that the young teenager walked down the road and they say that never again did he come home could his father ever find him did he ever look upon his father's face in life. The father died. The neighbors said he died of a broken heart. They tried to find Willie. Years had passed. And finally, after much searching, they found him. a grown man now with a family of his own and they said willie the funeral service will be to -morrow willie came not a tear did he shed not one as he stood there before the open casket and looked upon his father's face death. Out of the cemetery they lowered the casket. Not one tear did Willie shed. Not one. Cold. Stealed. Unemotional. A few days later they went into the attorney's office where the last will and testament of his father was read. The family was there. and when the attorney opened and read the last will and testament of his father this is what he read to my son willie i leave my all and in that moment that man stood to his feet and he began to weep and cried like a baby i never dreamed that my father loved me like that i never knew that my father loved to be like that. One of these days when we stand in His glorious presence, one of these days when we look upon His face, we're going to have the full answer to the why. of all of our questions and when he gives us not a partial but the full answer to all of our whys i believe that we too will say i never dreamed my heavenly father loved me like