Spare the rod and spoil the child
We’ve all heard this scriptural passage to mean corporal punishment (the rod) is necessary to rear our children well.
How you choose to train your children is YOUR business…but I’m offering a few things I’ve learned about this concept.
The word “rod” is most clearly defined as follows:
1. The shepherd’s tool that was used to draw the sheep close, to redirect them away from danger, to reach out to a lost sheep for the purpose of bringing it home.
2. A rod of authority, most often held when speaking.
The “orphan spirit” is the greatest issue in the earth today. Rejection rules the day and produces anger and hate and division and self-preservation and false identity.
It is so significant that the promise made by Christ, Himself was, “I will not leave you orphans.”
Religion has corrupted the truth of the power and beauty of what Father Yahweh has really offered us through Christ. So much of the cultural gospel preached is fear-based: You’ll be cursed. You’ll go to hell. You’ll die of the diseases that run in your family. All these punishments if you DON’T do “right.”
And the whole time, He sent His Son to bring many heirs close to Himself…to offer us eternal life. To bring healing to us and to our bloodlines. To give us peace that passes understanding. To bless us with the desires of our hearts.
Earthly fathers are essential to this cause.
When men receive the nature and character (glory) that Yahweh offers through His Spirit in them, they will father like He fathers.
They will use the shepherd’s rod to bring their children close, to redirect them away from danger, to reach out to their sons and daughters who are struggling, for the purpose of bringing them “home” to their true identity in Christ. These faithful fathers will wield their rods of authority when speaking to and about their children…not an authority of anger and punishment, but of blessing and love and direction and provision.
We can have all the church outreaches, government programs, and educated therapists we want – but until the orphan spirit is broken by the faithful supper-table ministry of fathers and mothers, we will continue to see generation after generation of lost individuals who perceive every person and every situation in their lives through rejection and abandonment.
I am encouraged to know that there are many faithful fathers in the earth fulfilling the most important call ever issued. And I am encouraged to know that for those of us who were forsaken, Father Yahweh has made provision. Truly, He did NOT leave us orphans. Not any of us.