Spiritual Spanking

We are chastened when we do something that we should not be doing, and as a concerned Father, the Lord deals with us. Whenever I am spiritually spanked and corrected, I rejoice, as the Word says, “Whom the Lord loves, He corrects.”
“And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to children, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” Hebrews 12:5-6
The Lord is hindered in chastening us when we have not given, or surrendered to Him the right to all that we are and have. In the Garden of Eden, Adam gave up his dependence on the Lord and chose to become independent by eating from the tree of (self) knowledge. Later, an animal was slain and Adam was covered with its skin. He was forgiven but what he had eaten was still within him, and now he had the “right” to choose for himself what he would do or not do.
Although we are forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we also still have within us the right to our own lives, as through Adam, we also “ate” of the tree of self-knowledge.
When I saw this, I carefully gave back to the Lord the right to do as I please. Jesus is my Savior, but now He is more than this - He has become my Lord. Therefore, I can place myself under His headship and ask Him to chasten me, that I might enter into and possess all that He has for me.
As we rightly respond to the process of being tested and corrected, we grow spiritually and enter into our spiritual identity as being a mature son. Now we are ready to be scourged, which is beyond our being chastened, as the Word tells us that “every son whom the Lord receives, He scourges” (Hebrews 12:6).
We are chastened when we do something wrong. Our being scourged has nothing to do with any wrong doing. Rather, it has to do with the reduction of our independence, and is an indication that we are doing everything right (every son He receives).
Scourging reaches into the very depth of our being and crucifies our self-life (our right to our own ways), and removes our propensity towards all self-sufficiency.