Correction & Discipline

Treasure My lashes of love for the compliments they are, without fearing them. The more you dwell in My Word the better you know your weaknesses, for My Words are a mirror to your soul & an exposing light of the wickedness & deceitfulness of the heart of man. My Word is a two-edged sword, discerner of thoughts & intents of the heart, & if you really want to know the truth about yourself, study My Word. In fact, that's the main reason why most people shun My Word, because it reveals the ugly truth about them. It's not always very uplifting or encouraging; it's breaking, & a downer at first. But then again, it's like the story of the wayward son who didn't stick it through the reading of his father’s testament until the good part came. The good news is that I can deliver you from all the sins & weaknesses & make a new creature out of you. What’s important is that each correction is done in love, and that all your teaching is an act of love. The Father purges every branch that it may bring forth more fruit, so, the chastisements, corrections & purgings must come. He eliminates all blemishes from My bride for Me, so that she may be pure, blameless & spotless before Me, which is also the main reason for the Tribulation ahead... Judgment must come, & it must begin with My own house. It takes humility to take correction in order to serve & follow Me. I love you as My dear, beloved child & bride, & love it to be gentle & sweet & tender with you. But I also have ordained it that My people should shepherd each other, & you have to get used to correction. Your survival in this war depends a lot on the progress you make in your training, and in order to grow, you need correction. Correction from Me, although hard to take, brings forth the golden, peaceable ”fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Heb.12:11). It’s a matter of exercise, training, being drilled & used to it. Don’t shun it. It’ll do you so much good. Learn to appreciate & cherish it & be grateful for it. It’s a great humbling factor, the medicine to your soul you need. Judgment begins with the house of the Lord, & those who knew their Master’s will & did it not will be beaten with many stripes. There comes a point when the only love that seems to be successful and able to do the subject justice in getting rid of the sin, is the love manifested in chastisement. Consider it a compliment and a token of My love for you, when things are going rough in the physical, because that means I'm drawing you closer to Me and into My spiritual Realm! You’re learning precious lessons through My withholding the flow of blessings at the rate you would want it: you’re learning patience, consideration, learning to put Me first in the whole process & to praise Me in spite of the fact that I’m not giving you everything you want, because I know better what’s the best for you... You’re learning to communicate about these issues, which is rather humbling for you, and thus you’re also learning greater humility out of all of this, which is also good. Thank Me even for My purgings and chastisements, by which I purge you and purify you so that you might bring forth more fruit. You must allow Me to correct you in different ways, without immediately assuming that I've forsaken you. You must view the difficult times in your life differently not as something bad or dreadful, as a sign that I've abandoned you, but as a token of My extra special care for you. I'm spending extra time with you, paying extra attention to you in order to mend your flaws, to make you better, enhance you, make you more beautiful for Me. I "deal" with those first who are closest to Me. If you're going through rougher times than others, consider it a privilege, because it means that I'm considering you to be among those who can handle it. I'm doing something special in your life, and it's nothing to feel bad or abandoned about. I'm right here with you! Be not surprised that I'm still having to chasten & cleanse you, as long as there are other things that are evidently more important to you than I am. It is necessary for Me to bring on the night before I can bring back the Spring. It is necessary to bring on the purging before all is pure again. You say, "Bring on the good times! Stop all this suffering," but it's necessary for Me to bring on My judgments first. You must agree with Me on this, you must desire them as something good. You still resist them, and tend to murmur in your heart against Me for allowing the times to be so rough. But if you would

make an effort to see from My vantage point, you'd see the sense in it. When you see a spoiled child, you know that what it needs is not more of what he wants, but correction. I'm asking you to agree with Me that judgments must come, and to pray that I bring on that which I know the world needs most. Don't resist My discipline and purging, but trust that it's good for you! Welcome it! Welcome Me with open arms, even if I bring correction with Me. Dread it not, but cherish it. Be thankful for it, for through it I am making you what you need to become, not what you are but what you're going to be by My grace, and My chastisement is My grace in this case, My privilege & special honor I bestow upon you. Your conduct is of extreme importance, and if you break the rules, if you commit sin, it's going to be judged! There's no more getting away with it! Someday you're going to look up to Me & say, "Lord, when You let me get away with everything & you spoiled me & gave me all my requests, I loved You, but I didn't love You as much as after You pulled out the rod & started chastising me for my sins and shortcomings." You will know that I knew best what you needed. I needed to show you that you would never love Me as much by spoiling you as you would by Me correcting you! I could have never given you enough! You would never have been satisfied, no matter how many of your hearts' desires I would have granted you. No matter how much love you would have received, it never would have been enough for you! You will sing like king David: "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Thy Word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn Thy statutes." You only learn to truly keep My law of love by the afflictions I'm letting come upon you! You must learn to look for the good in people! Then it will also not be so hard for you to correct them or tell them about some of the things they do you consider wrong, because they'll still feel that you love them & consider them a positive addition & a blessing to your life, not a burden. I'm testing My brides to see how receptive they are to correction I give them through others. For a healthy diet, you won't only listen for or read My sweet words of love to you, but also the words of correction & instruction; the stuff that's naturally a little bit harder for you to chew on, but essential for your spiritual health. I'm having to purge you of those elements of friendship with the world that make you compromise, ashamed to stand up for Me before them, because you don't want to lose your popularity with them! You need to get rid of this filth, this dirt, this virus, or it's going to spread! Temptations will keep coming & knocking at your door, but it's your choice whether you will succumb to them! It's time to acquire some spiritual strength & the greatness to resist them, because the repercussions will come, whether they will seem related to the sin or not! Whenever there is something going wrong in your life, or not the way things are supposed to be, you can be sure that there's a cause for it, and a very good reason. If it comes across as if I'm punishing you, there must be a good reason for it, and you can be sure that this is also out of My great love for you, and that it will work together for your best. Him that I love much, I will also have to chasten much when they go astray. I'm zealously keeping you from the contaminations of the world. I want to keep you pure unto Me, and you would also that I keep you thus. I keep you close to Me and I chasten you because of My great love and care for you. So, rejoice when you fall into divers temptations, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial and count it all joy if you're often being reproved by the things I allow to happen in your life as a result of even your littlest strayings. Those things are keeping you in check, they keep you from straying one inch farther from Me than you would possibly want, and they will make you that what I want you to be! Sometimes people have to prove that they're mature enough to hold a certain blessing. And if they're not, if they're allowing their feelings to go haywire with them instead of keeping the priorities straight in their hearts & focusing primarily on what's truly relevant, namely the advance of My Cause and Kingdom, then they will simply have to forego that blessing. I won't hesitate to take it away, if it becomes a god before Me to you. If it consumes more time and becomes more of a hindrance than a help. You've got to train and discipline those thoughts in the obedience of Me. They try to break loose and run wild, hither, thither and yon, but you've got to catch them & bring them into captivity, tell them Who's the Boss, and Who they should obey. It's almost like pulling a stubborn horse or mule back in the direction you want it to go when it starts to go the other way. That horse is like your flesh which thinks it can do it without My help & trudge off on his own. So, you've got to pull the reins & say "No, fella, this way!" That's what you've got to do in order to train & discipline your mind! Everybody needs shepherding. Even when it seems like they're rejecting it. Kids need training &

correction, even if they act as though that's the last thing on earth they may need or want. Many grownups aren't better than kids in that aspect... If things don’t look so rosy right now, it is only for your best. It is a form of discipline which is going to result in greater riches and blessings than physical abundance, a token of My very special love for you. Be thankful for My corrections & chastisements, for showing you that something is wrong, and that things can't keep going the same way. I'd be a bad parent, listening to your whims & giving in to them, instead of letting you experience what you really need. I and the Father know exactly what each one needs to come to repentance and enlightenment. Every iniquity is going to be purged, & someday it's all going to be okay. It's an art to be able to tell people their flaws in the right way, and few possess it...to really confront people eye to eye with their sins without self-righteous hypocrisy. Being a shepherd or even simply a brother entails the love and honesty not just to silently accept another's failure, which you know is going to harm and impede their fruitfulness and happiness for Me, but to courageously and lovingly confront them about it. When you choose not to tell people the truth you see about them, you abandon them in some way and give up on them. You don't believe or have hopes that telling them the truth would do any good, and thus you label them as incorrigibles and hopeless cases. It's simply something that My followers are going to have to learn to be more willing to deal with. You can't just ignore a sickness or disease, nor would anyone ignore the fact that they might need a bath desperately. But when it comes to spiritual health & cleanliness, people are a lot more slack & tolerant of evil. That's basically what it's all about: people's individual tolerance level of evil. How willing are you to accept evil in your life? How ready are you for compromise with evil? If you realize that correction is an important ingredient of love, and confronting someone honestly about something you see they're doing wrong is a real token of true love, then your attitude to correction will change. How much nicer is it to be told by a true friend what they think is wrong with you than just the deafening silence of those who don't want to confront you with it! Openness brings you further. Openness toward each other, to both learn from and teach each other, to care and be cared for, to receive and to share, to shepherd and correct, as well as be shepherded and corrected. Even if it hurts, you must trust that it's a good, godly hurt, the "lashes of love." Even if what I'm telling you hurts you deep inside, you must trust that I say these things out of love. Persecution is often an instrument in My hands which I use to make My own church white and to purify. It's the judgment I bring upon My own house first, for that is where judgment begins. I cannot judge the rest of the world while I let My own children get away with sin. The world needs a fair God and Judge. Your self is the first thing you've got to change in order to change the world & make it better. And what other way do I have to let you know that you need to change; that things are not okay the way things are, but to allow things to go wrong? Woe to them who are not being chastened & disciplined by Me. If you desire truth in the inward parts, that's what you're going to keep getting for a while: more not-sopleasant revelations about your innermost self, about areas in your life in which you're not quite being the saint you wish or even thought you were. How much do you avail yourself of Me, and how much do you still depend on other crutches? Can you let go of those crutches voluntarily, or will I have to take them away? Let Me shower your soul with My cleansing, warm and healing light. I am the Light of the world. Are you ready for that light? Are you ready for My touch, My Words, My truth, My love? Are you really ready for it? And how far will you go? How much can you handle? I'm trying to free you and cleanse you from any barriers and hindrances that might stop the flow of My power and light in your life, from My heart to you. I'm trying to make sure that all your pipes are clean in order to ensure a smooth and steady flow, a constant stream of My power and current through your life. I'm making sure that the light you give off shines clearly. Each of My brides should regularly check their own hearts to make sure that everything is working properly and all the incentives, priorities and motivations are right.

I'm not expecting you to just take people's flaws without doing or saying anything about them. But I'm expecting you to deal with them, confront them, say something about them, not altogether avoid them! It's called being a shepherd, or your brother's keeper. That's what it's like to have a shepherd's heart. It involves correcting things that you see are wrong. There's no way you're going to be able to drill love and kindness into human heads by force or discipline. The only thing that will teach them love is love. I cannot protect you from the impact and the repercussions of allowing yourself to fall when you ought to know better. I let you reap and taste the results. When folks start shifting their priorities away from Me, the results are tangible. That's why certain things happen in your life that are like warning signs. What I gave you, I gave you because I knew you could handle it, and if at anytime you do fall into one of the Enemy's traps, then you know by experience I know how to make you snap out of it real quick, because you've experienced My hand of correction, and you always feel it upon you. I've earned your respect, so to speak, and since "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," I let you continue and grow on the path of wisdom, past its beginning. Go on, walk down the road of wisdom. It's a "downhill" road, alright, since it won't take you to any high places in this world. Just like the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, it's also the other way around: the wisdom of God is foolishness to men. So, you've got to get used to that "fool on the hill" image, but as the song says, "he knows that they're the fools…" In the beginning it doesn't exactly evoke positive feelings to be corrected and shown that you were wrong, but in the end, the sincere and true learners will be thankful. Sometimes, love hurts. Sometimes there's no way around "the wounds of a friend" or "lashes of love." Sometimes My children make it so comfortable for themselves in this life that it becomes hard to part with those comforts, and the thought of having to move on elsewhere becomes unpleasant for them. When that happens, and you become too attached to this world, then you've backslidden in heart, and it takes My loving chastisements to get you on the straight & narrow again. You can only make progress, you can only be corrected on something, if you're willing to admit that negative quality or trait to yourself, and if you're willing to face it and see it. There aren't many who allow Me to shine the light of My truth into the deepest and darkest regions of their hearts, like King David prayed, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps.139:23, 24). I'm not saying that people should spend time thinking about their sins, but I would recommend that they allow Me to show them a few of their weaknesses and allow Me to help them overcome them and work on them. And one simply cannot start overcoming a certain weakness until they become aware of it. It's something they need to work on! A coach shows the team its weaknesses. "Why Shepherding?" You need to be told the things that are wrong with you, since most of the time you simply don't see them yourself, and accordingly, you'll miss out on full-scale reality somewhat. People can turn into monsters without correction. Messes have to be dealt with, that's what shepherding is all about. Whereas nothing is getting sorted out if you just avoid and ignore the issues. Are you just going to watch the sheep go astray, simply because you don't want to cross them, and don't like the confrontation of having to disagree with them? Some messes simply have to be sorted out. You can't just leave them to rot under the carpet somewhere.... Sin or wrongs of any kind need to be dealt with, that's what shepherding is all about, and to be neglecting that part of life is to be neglecting one of your greatest God-given duties. You've got to go through times of purging; I can't make you what you ought to be without it! Correction is a part of love. It may be disguised as something painful, but it is love nonetheless, love of a kind which requires humility in order to be able to receive it... It requires humility to give and to receive it, and where there's no humility, that part of love simply cannot flourish, and thus problems are bound to occur. Where there's no readiness to receive correction, there can be no growth, and thus there is only stagnation.

I, the Good Shepherd of your soul, must keep you and protect you, sometimes even by the sheer force of the circumstances around you. I must close the doors which are not My good and perfect will for you. The art is being your brother's keeper without coming across like a party pooper or nagger... Quite a challenge, isn't it? But that's what would determine a good leader & shepherd: someone who doesn't pull his punches, is not a man-pleaser, but at the same time also remains Spirit-led in the constructive criticism and correction he does share. When the conquering kingdom is ordained by My hand, then you'd do better to yield to it and to welcome it and accept it, even as My punishment, My way of disciplining the world for its sins that they are often unaware of, and thus self-righteously defend their "innocence," which unfortunately only exists in their minds... When I apply judgment to people: I'm trying to finally get their attention. The judgment scare is very impressive and sobering, and I'm afraid we're not going to get around it in the long run. What we want most of all is that folks pay more attention to Me, right? You'll be better off if they do, they'll be better off, and I'll definitely be happier, too! Pray for something that's going to get their attention and will make them listen up! If you really do your best and do all you can, it doesn't matter how little you accomplish in numbers. I know when you have given your all, but I can also tell when there's yet more you could be doing for Me, when there's yet a bit more of an effort you could make to really stay close to Me and within the lines of My perfect will for you. And as long as you're not, I have to keep giving you those nudges, those little tokens and signs of correction, My "ho-humms," so to speak, in order to wake you up to the fact that things could and should be better. Discipline is a very important part of love, and without it, there can be no love in today's world. Sin is something that's got to be dealt with. Just as it wouldn't be love to never change your baby's diaper or never wash him or his clothes, so it isn't love to just let them get away with sin, either. I don’t want My children to enter My Kingdom unprepared. I don’t want those who truly love Me come before Me ashamed, and that’s why I’ve got to show them, even in sometimes painful ways, when they’re going the wrong way, or putting too much emphasis on something else than Me, giving their priorities to another, which in effect means, having another god before Me, which I cannot tolerate. The heat of My refining fires, purification and cleansing is a natural part of the process of making out of you an instrument, a vessel, or item of value for My use. Just like everything else, this pain and this purging also belongs. My church needs cleansing, purging and chastisement to be made white from all her sins. So, it behooves you to take My cleansing and chastisements with grace and allow it to happen and yield to it… to welcome it, instead of rejecting it and resisting it. “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Thy Word.” What makes you keep My Word is My afflictions and chastisements, the cleansing process, the opening of your eyes about the wrongness of your path. It’s an uprooting process, which causes the pain. I can’t allow you to become comfortable with your sins, or too friendly with the world, because friendship with the world is enmity with God (Jam.4:4). “He that soweth to the flesh will reap the corruption of the flesh.” If you focus too much on the creation instead of the Creator and worship what’s given instead of the Giver, you’re bound to experience the repercussions. I can’t just let you go down the wrong track without doing anything about it. That would be a very irresponsible Parent. In creating a spiritual diamond, jewel or gem when someone is “becoming gold” in spiritual aspects, every little lesson involved in that process is important. The degrees of pressure and “heat” have got to be just right, the amount of adversity you experience, before you can be taken out of the fire again to be cooled by My fresh pure waters. I’m not in love with what you do for Me, but with who you are. It’s not the “blind” type of love that mothers often have for their children, which sometimes fails to see the areas in which their child would badly needs discipline. I know your impurities will be taken care of by the Father. That is why you are so upset at Him at times, and it is He toward Whom your anger is directed when you know you’re being chastened and things are going rough for you. But all I see, My love, is who you are in the spirit, and the Father has put that love in My heart for you that makes Me see only the good;

I hardly notice the bad, which I know is only temporal, anyway. Sensitivity is one of the great hindrances to spiritual growth, because it won’t let you take correction as you should and thus prevents you from growing and learning by it. Sensitivity-awareness is a vital pre-requisite to spiritual growth. If you realize you’re reacting sensitively to correction, then you must realize that this will endanger your growth and maturation process, unless you choose to fight and overcome it. Correction and taking it used to be one of the most natural things in the world, but the Enemy has boosted people’s egos to such levels that taking correction has become something more and more difficult for them, especially in Western societies where the Devil has been undermining family values for decades, undermining the authority of the head of the family and his role, undermining the authority of and respect for parents in general, all with the intent to destroy the family per se. There comes a time when everyone will have to reflect about their sins and mistakes. Say you are some kind of a prisoner in the situation you’re in. Would you know what you’re doing time for? Do you know why you’re there? Are you aware of the mistakes you made, the crimes or sins you have committed, the hurt you have caused others? Do you think the disciplinary measures might possibly be justified? That’s basically how it is in life: you encounter unpleasant circumstances, and you consider them unjustified, as if you deserved better than that. But do you, really? If you believe in My love and justice, can’t you also believe and assume that the circumstances I am allowing to befall you are the precise set that you deserve and need in order to deal with your mistakes and learn something from them? The wrong attitude to have would be not seeing your sin and guilt and thus not being able to learn anything out of life and life’s circumstances. So, you’re having to deal with a set of unpleasant circumstances. What are they trying to teach you? There will always be forces who will resist change, and who will resist the finger of the prophets pointing at weaknesses. But being a brother’s keeper is telling when you see something wrong. Of course, it also takes that healthy measure of self-criticism and openness and honesty concerning your own mistakes, otherwise, all that will come across will sound self-righteous. What makes you “real” is the suffering I bring across your path without you trying to evade it. You “eat” it, and you don’t insist on Me having this cup be removed from you, but say, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.” Everybody has hard times and trials and sufferings in My service, but they don’t always swallow the depth of all that there is to learn from them. Not everyone is willing to really face the ugly truths about themselves that have brought their fate upon them. To make a difference for Me and be a positive force for good in this world, and not go the way of all flesh & drift down the stream of personal desire requires discipline and sacrifice. You cannot just allow yourself to be pampered like a baby and still think you’re being a revolutionary Christian! Every time you correct a child, or anyone for that matter, it’s really a token of love (Heb.12:6), as opposed to lazily just letting them do as they please and ignoring the matter. It’s the sacrifice of love that you make in order to help them do better and the one part you can do in order to change the situation for the better and correct it. That’s what correction amounts to: situation improvement. By approaching certain people on the possibility of improving their behavior, you’re ultimately improving your situation. If you refuse to do it, the situation remains the same, or might possibly get worse, and it proves you’re not much of a leader, shepherd or parent, and basically shows a pitiful lack of conviction and courage. Just as you’re finding out that your children in reality appreciate the boundaries you’re setting for them, and really appreciate the correction they’re receiving, so it is with most people: they want to be told the truth, even if it hurts. Of course, if you can deliver it with the least amount of pain possible, then that’s all the better. My silence makes you think. That’s a neat feature and advantage of silence. It makes you think. It gives you room to think, for a change, and gives you a break from all the endless noises and distractions which are trying to achieve just the opposite. Silence gives Me room to move. Remember that it’s the space in-between the objects that does it. So it is in the acoustic realm. The power lies within the empty, silent spaces between all the clamor and clatter. When I get you to the point where in silence you contemplate and realize that all you’ve been up to lately was vanity, then I get another chance to present to you My program, which, granted, may be a lot more low-profile than all the rah-rah and ado of self-advertisement and aggrandizement.

It’s back from the pinnacle of the temple of temptation to the hill of the humble cross, the true reality of what this world has to offer for every one of My true followers… It’s hard to disappoint Me, since I usually know ahead of time what you’re going to be up to. But don’t be surprised if there’s going to be a period of silence from Me, if that’s what it takes to bring you back to your senses and make you think. Some of the circumstances you experience cause you to reflect negatively on Me, and you derive from them that I must not love you anymore or not as much, and that I am punishing you for something. But even if that were the case, you must remember that even My chastisements are an act of My love for you, and if I’m allowing certain of My blessings to be withheld from you, or their flow to be reduced, then you’ve just got to trust Me that that is also part of My love for you, and that I know what I’m doing. You can rely on My wisdom. Certain things just require consequences and action taken. You’ve got to repent and change your ways. You’ve got to move on to a higher level. Experiencing the fruits and results and consequences of evil is necessary for mankind in order to learn their lesson. Sometimes I have to discard an unfruitful branch in order to purge and prune My tree, so that it will be ready and stronger to bear more fruit. It may seem like a loss, temporarily, but time will usually tell and reveal that that which I have taken away was necessary in order to make room to bring in new and better fruit. I do with what I have while it’s available, but when the time comes, and a branch grows old, it’s wiser to cut it off and make room for new fruit to grow. The pruning is painful, but the future fruit that will be gained through it will more than make up for it. “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” I often give you what you want, rather than what you need sometimes, because I most of all want you to know that I love you and to be sure of My love for you above everything else. Once that’s established, I know I can also give you a little needed correction, because you’ll be able to handle it then and also receive it as a token of My love. It takes wisdom not to fall into the trap of carnal temptations, and usually that wisdom is only acquired by the experience where that sort of temptation will lead – the ultimate lack of real satisfaction and the disappointment and failure to keep what it promised, or simply the price you have to pay for it in the long run. It’s not as though some people are 100% gold and the others 100% fake, but the content of gold varies in each one, depending on how much of My refining process they have allowed Me to put them through. “Becoming gold” is what life is all about, and the more you have experienced the refining fires of My chastisements, the closer to the Real Thing your life will be, and the more of Me it will resemble. The problem with today’s society is that correction has sort of become a taboo, and instead of training their children and young people in receiving correction, and allowing them thus to become refined, they just basically let them rot in their own stew, meaning that many miss this process and original purpose in life completely, and accordingly wind up with nothing much to show forth at the end of their road. It takes effort to bring “every thought into the captivity of the obedience of Christ.” The mind wants to run free, like a wild horse. It takes a strong, skilled and experienced rider to tame it and bring it into submission. An obedient mind is like a well-trained and reliable horse. So, in order to train it, you have to bring it to Me faithfully for “training classes” where it can learn the rules and etiquette of My Domain, in order to render you a useful knight for My Cause and Kingdom. Often horses are ruled by fear and mistrust, and they have to learn trust for their master. They need to find out by experience that their master is a reliable source of food and care for them, even better than if they run off and rely on their own strength and wit. Other horses are ruled by a stubborn and angry temper, and yet others can get a little lazy, almost like a mule, but I can bring out the best in each one, if I’m given a chance to work with them. Of course, it’s not just your mind I need, but your heart also. Once your heart feels at home and at rest with Me, your mind will eventually follow. You have to tell your mind who’s the boss, similar to the way you have to let your child know, since otherwise it will just do whatever it wants, and obedience becomes harder and harder then. You can only train others as well as you have trained yourself, and you can only convince others of the benefits of yielding to Me, if you have yielded yourself to Me first. When your mind wants to run off, give Me your heart, and I will whisper into it and cause your whole spirit to be steady. I will be your “Heart Whisperer.”

The limitations and boundaries are for your own good. You may tend to disagree, but you will see in the end that it was so, and you’ll be very thankful for them. Sometimes you have to save people from themselves and from the atrocities they would commit against themselves, and you cannot just let them go down the road to ruin. I have no other choice but to take the blessing away from you again, if it threatens to take the place of the Blesser in your life. I test you to see whether you are able to handle that extra blessing or not, and when it becomes a factor that stands between you and Me and threatens to separate us and drive us further apart, then I will have to eliminate it again, and simply take it away… Every now and then I’ve got to remind you of Who’s No.1 in your life, even if it’s by the painful process of removing some of those blessings that you tended to allow to usurp that place.