Doing the will of God

DiscipleDISCIPLE, n. [L., to learn.]1. A learner; a scholar; one who receives or professes to receive instruction from another; as the disciples of Plato.2. A follower; an adherent to the doctrines of another. Hence the constant attendants of Christ were called his disciples; and hence all Christians are called his disciples, as they profess to learn and receive his doctrines and precepts.DISCIPLE, v.t. 1. To teach; to train, or bring up.2. To make disciples of; to convert to doctrines or principles.This authority he employed in sending missionaries to disciple all nations.3. To punish; to discipline. [Not in use.]DisciplineDISCIPLINE, n. [L., to learn.]1. Education; instruction; cultivation and improvement, comprehending instruction in arts, sciences, correct sentiments, morals and manners, and due subordination to authority.2. Instruction and government, comprehending the communication of knowledge and the regulation of practice; as military discipline, which includes instruction in manual exercise, evolutions and subordination.3. Rule of government; method of regulating principles and practice; as the discipline prescribed for the church.4. Subjection to laws, rules, order, precepts or regulations; as, the troops are under excellent discipline; the passions should be kept under strict discipline.5. Correction; chastisement; punishment intended to correct crimes or errors; as the discipline of the strap.6. In ecclesiastical affairs, the execution of the laws by which the church is governed, and infliction of the penalties enjoined against offenders, who profess the religion of Jesus Christ.7. Chastisement or bodily punishment inflicted on a delinquent in the Romish Church; or that chastisement or external mortification which a religious person inflicts on himself.DISCIPLINE, v.t. 1. To instruct or educate; to inform the mind; to prepare by instructing in correct principles and habits; as, to discipline youth for a profession, or for future usefulness.2. To instruct and govern; to teach rules and practice, and accustom to order and subordination; as, to discipline troops or an army.3. To correct; to chastise; to punish.4. To execute the laws of the church on offenders, with a view to bring them to repentance and reformation of life.5. To advance and prepare by instruction.~From Ye Old Websters 1828 Dictionary~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Strongs;G3101μαθητήςmathētēsmath-ay-tes'From G3129; a learner, that is, pupil: - disciple."In those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. So the twelve called the whole group of disciples together and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, brothers, appoint seven men among you who have a good reputation, who are full of the Spirit and wisdom, and we will put them in charge of this work. Then we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." This suggestion pleased the whole group. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a gentile convert to Judaism from Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God continued to spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem continued to grow rapidly. Even a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. But some men who belonged to the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), as well as some Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and began to debate with Stephen. But they couldn't resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he kept speaking. So they secretly got some men to say, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God." They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes. Then they rushed at him, grabbed him, and brought him before the Council. They had false witnesses stand up and say, "This man never stops saying things against this Holy Place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us." Then all who were seated in the Council glared at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel." Act 6:1-15

Am at a low ebb sitting in this purging furnace once again, a glorious miserable conundrum, anything but 'enjoyable', but necessary. Proving once again that the Lord is Sovereign over all and His will, His thoughts are not our thoughts and our wills can be opposed directly to His.Hardly feel compelled to even open my mouth these days, but for what it's worth the lessons or the impression bearing down on me is from within these words:When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!"Joh 21:21,22His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. Joh 2:5 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love. Eph 4:10-16The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Joh 3:8Joh 3:8 - The wind bloweth - According to its own nature, not thy will, and thou hearest the sound thereof - Thou art sure it doth blow, but canst not explain the particular manner of its acting. So is every one that is born of the Spirit - The fact is plain, the manner of his operations inexplicable.~John WesleyAs most fish story's tend to be, overblown and exagerated...There are fisherman and anglers, and all variety's of fish species. Minnows, piranhas, goldfish, steelhead, barracudas and the wonderfully named bottom feeders, carp or 'sucker fish'. Using this silly little illustration in comparison to the church, to evangelism and to us as individuals all are present. Some are on ice and frozen. Some are fresh 'catch'. Some are just dead and piling up and beginning to stink. Some are beginning to bloat on a stringer, left in the water to long. Some are minnows being eaten up by the barracudas.If you have ever been fishing with the inexperienced or are just teaching your kid how to fish it can be as dangerous as it is comical. Tangled lines, hooks flailing around, 'snags' above and below the water line (depending on your casting ability's).One of the more unpleasant parts of fishing (until you get used to it) is in 'cleaning' them.Will spare the gory details, but it is often the part that gets left to 'someone else' to deal with.Being a fisherman is not always the glamorous, exciting 'thrill of the catch' that it may seem to be. It can be long hours of boredom, braving the elements, wet, cold, frustrating. Depending on where you are located everything from sea sickness to resentment that someone else is creeping into your spot where after long hours of searching, finally you are getting some bites. (not that this is very noble, it's just fisherman fact:) ) In some ways this whole silly analogy is just in that some of us just ain't good fisherman and we have an awful lot of them crowding up the banks when they could be doing something more productive like cleaning fish, cleaning up the dead fish that are still laying around or snatching the minnows out from before the jaws of the barracudas.The essence is in Ephesians:He gave some to be ...Hard not to notice Who is doing the giving, even harder is that somehow an impression has crept in that one has become more noble than the other and that mere men are the discerner's of 'what we ought to be doing', rather than accepting the Lord's place, where He would have us. Who wants to clean fish?"What are we laying down our lives for? Why do so many Christians go a-slumming? why do so many go to the foreign field? why do so many seek for the salvation of souls? Let us haul ourselves up short and measure ourselves by the standard of Jesus Christ. He said, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The mainspring of His love for human souls was His love to the Father; then if I go a-slumming for the same reason, I can never do too much of it; but if my desire for the salvation of souls is the evangelical commercial craze, may God blast it out of me by the fire of the Holy Ghost. There is such a thing as commercialism in souls as there is in business. When we testify and speak, why do we?: is it out of the accident of a poor little paltry experience that we have had, or is it because the whole life is blazing with an amazing desire, planted there by the Holy Ghost, for God to glorify Himself?Arrived here, all the powers keep silence and rest; this also is the highest work that the powers can perform, when they are inactive and let God only work."Oswald Chambers