The Shaping of a Disciple

When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man, and skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
To play for Him the noblest part,
When He yearns with all His heart
To build so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Then watch God’s methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects;
How He hammers him and hurts him
And with mighty blows converts him,
Making shapes and forms which only
God Himself can understand,
Even while His man is crying,
Lifting a beseeching hand…
Yet God bends but never breaks
When man’s good He undertakes;
When He uses whom He chooses,
And with every purpose fuses
Man to act, and act to man,
As it was when He began,
When God tries His splendor out,
Man will know what He’s about!

-Dale Martin Stone

Those who are passionate for the Lord have often prayed the prayer of consecration which usually includes a petition to “do what you need to do in me, Lord, to be used of You”. When you are called of the Lord to His ministry, the calling will require you to submit to His processes. We are all called to be His disciples, and as disciples, we must be molded into His image.
The processes of God are never easy, but they are worth it all. Most of us have heard the phrase “die to self”. Dying is not easy for a living being – but what we speak of is a death to the things we desire in our own natural way, and then life to the things God desires in a spiritual way.
Then, an amazing thing happens. As you die to your own natural desires, you find that what He requires from you spiritually becomes what you desire. In other words, God changes you from the inside into His disciple – one who can walk worthy of the calling.

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