Do you believe in spanking children? I do. Some parents claim they can’t control their children. If I could spend about six hours with their child, I’d control him very simply. This is my procedure. Give him a knife and send him out to the nearest tree to select and cut a good switch, take all the leaves off, and put it in the bathtub to soak in water overnight. You also need a paddle, but that’s for later use. The switch, used on his legs, takes all the arrogance out of him. He will howl and holler, because that switching really stings. Then after you have his spirit right, you paddle him. Then spend several hours, praying with him and loving him. Soon you will have a child who will rise up to be a strong man in the land.
The key of all discipline—whether spiritual or physical—is not merely to punish a child, but to teach him to discipline himself. A great injustice is done to any child who is permitted to grow up without discipline over his life. When we cannot discipline our own thoughts or feelings or actions, we lose control of them. The greatest musical genius in the world will sit at a piano and play chopsticks and be of no value at all, if he hasn’t disciplined himself to practice and develop his talent. Great ability without discipline is worthless. You’re not doing your child a favor by saying, “Oh, My child is so bright. I don’t want to inhibit him.” You are inhibiting him by not teaching him discipline.
Never punish a child in anger. Your goal is to reach his spirit so you can teach him to discipline himself. If you strike a child in anger, shame on you. Why don’t you pick on someone your own size? Set about with compassion to help a child amount to something.
Do you wish that someone had disciplined you more wisely when you were young? Have you found time and time again that there is not the discipline in your spirit to follow the things you know you should do in God? God has to “whale the daylights” out of some of you when you come in to serve the Lord because you’ve never had anyone do it before. Some of our young men were spoiled brats and willful rebels until God put His hand on them, and changed them by His dealings, bringing forth the discipline, submissive ministries that are mature before God. Every son whom He receives He scourges (Hebrews 12:6). Some of you have the dealings of the Lord upon you because you never had anyone to teach you.
You learn the ways of the Heavenly Father if you have had a good earthly father to discipline you to walk with God. Even if it seemed cruel at times, you learned. Some people think God is cruel because of what He does to them. How can He bring you into mature sonship if He doesn’t discipline you? Read the twelfth chapter of Hebrews and you will see how true this is. He scrouges us so that we’ll be partakers of His holiness. It’s for chastening that we endure.