Beatings

Proverbs 20:30"Lashes and wounds purge away evil, and beatings cleanse the innermost parts."

I was led in the Spirit to write this devotion; nevertheless, it is tough to write on tough & hard subjects. Not many would want to hear about beatings, though, anybody listening?

We find in this scripture repetition of words like " lashes, wounds, beatings" that kind of raised my eyebrows but the end results seems to be good. What are the end results? A) It purges away evil

B) Cleanses the innermost parts.

Isn't that wonderful? The gain outweighs the pain! Many times in life we love to swallow pain killers in order to escape pain; nevertheless, the pain returns, so we got to embrace the process of pain in our life.Let me quote: Philippians 1:29 “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.”

While reading this portion of the Bible, I highlighted this scripture and wrote down beside it 'afflictions are good", that very night I had severe , acute kidney stone pain from midnight that lasted the whole night until I went to the hospital early morning. During this time of pain, memories of certain things came across my mind and I repented before God. That's what God calls as"cleansing the innermost parts".

Jesus said: Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.’” Luke 11:29. I had to ask myself, am I like the Pharisees? Am I purging the evil in my midst? The evil that lives right inside my heart? Or am I more concerned with my outward appearance? God is speaking to you too!

After my healing, birth of my son Joshua(in the year 2000) and most important my encounter with the Lord Jesus, my life changed upside down. Yes, upside down. I started waking up at 3.30 am to pray, read the Bible voraciously and ravenously, went on the roads to give Gospel tracts, shared the Gospel with people on the road, stopped watching movies, closed doors to all worldly stuff and opened my heart to Jesus. I broke movie CDs to pieces and tore all wordly magazines . Still going steady for Christ, in fact, burning more high now!