Notes of Faith April 22, 2026
Pastor’s Pen Pulpit
August 25, 2002
“THE WORK OF COUNSEL AND DISCIPLINE”
Proverbs 19:20
Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days.
One of the major problems with many of the youth of our day is the negative attitude they have toward counsel and discipline from their elders. Their attitude for the most part is, “I know what is best for my life. I know what direction I want to go in life”, and they take it! Often the result is chaos. (Young people, I am not picking on you. Read on!)
This is nothing new. The news media if full of the results of “doing our own thing.” I think we all have this attitude to a certain degree. It’s built into us from Adam. However, if we’ll just listen to God’s Word we could save ourselves much heartache.
This is true of adults as well as the young. If we as adults would listen to the counsel of God and accept His discipline we would be not only examples to our children, but much better off ourselves. For example in our passage for today’s Pen Pulpit, Proverbs 19:20, we are told to listen to counsel and accept discipline. Why? So that we may be wise the rest of our days.
We must realize that God’s counsel takes everything into consideration, from beginning to end. He sees the pitfalls that could be avoided. He knows exactly how to discipline us back onto the right paths when we stray, and He does this because of His great love for us.
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him, FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES, He disciplines (Hebrews 5:6-7).
Scripture also tells us that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord (Psalm 37:23) and He delights in his way.
So – what is the end result of accepting counsel and discipline? Wisdom. Once thing is certain and that is we can’t get by in this world without it. We need wisdom in the decisions we make and that comes from counsel and discipline.
No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed.
No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined.
No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is funneled.
No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, and disciplined.
Beloved, let us work on getting counsel from our God and gladly accept His discipline, then pass that on to our children and our children’s children.
In His matchless grace,
Pastor Charles
Prov 1:5
A wise man will hear and increase in learning,
And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel
Prov 1:30-33
"They would not accept my counsel,
They spurned all my reproof.
31 "So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way
And be satiated with their own devices.
32 "For the waywardness of the naive will kill them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them.
33 "But he who listens to me shall live securely
And will be at ease from the dread of evil."
Prov 27:9
1 man's counsel is sweet to his friend.
Ps 33:11
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.
Ps 33:15
He fashions their hearts individually;
Ps 33:18
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
Ps 34:4
I sought the Lord, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
Be disciplined in the Word of God and prayer and you will receive wise counsel for daily living. God reveals His will to you. You need to respond with faith and trust in order to live a righteous, godly, fruit-filled life! Seek the counsel of the Lord!
Pastor Dale