"A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher" (Luke 6. 40). "But why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say"(Luke 6.46)?
Although these verses in the book of Luke are not sequential, they are two thoughts in which I would like to minister unto you as the Lord has ministered unto me. Before I communicate what the Lord is saying in this hour, I must first tell you the Greek idea of a disciple. The Greek word for disciple is mathetes and is a noun that means a learner. In this prophetic teaching I want to help you to understand the relationship dynamic between a disciple and the disciples teacher, and to also explain the difference between a Christian and a disciple.
All Christians are not disciples, but some Christians are disciples. I say this because not all Christians obey Jesus Christ, but all disciples, for the most part, obey Jesus Christ. Just like a student attends some educational institution, completes homework, studies, reads, researches, presents projects, become elevated and promoted to higher grades, matures, fails and pass tests, the disciple experiences the same dynamics with Christ.
A Christian does the bare minimum. A Christian is like the person that attends school, believes that school is good, but is not involved in the learning process. The Christian does not do the homework, does not research topics, performs the bare minimum requirements with a spirit of lethargy, is late for class, disrupts class while their classmates are attempting to learn, predominantly fails tests with a careless attitude, does not memorize topics, themes, and concepts, and does not respect both him/herself and their teacher. A Christian attends church, and maybe pays a tithe whenever he/she feels like they should. A Christian does not communicate with his/her teacher on a consistent basis, but communicates with the teacher when he/she needs help. Times of need are when prayer is needed, a bill paid, son needs to be bailed out of jail, daughter is pregnant, stressed, going through a divorce, and the list can continue.
A disciple spends much time with their teacher. During the Greco-Roman period, the teacher-student relationship existed only if a student's parents were wealthy. The poor, the widows, the sick, and the orphans were not able to be taught by a teacher because a teacher had to make wages. Not only did the teacher make a wage, but in the fields of astronomy, history, logic and reasoning, physics, philosophy, and countless other topics that required some sort of brain manipulation, the teacher was a male. Female teachers were uncommon. However, if someone had a teacher then that person could be regarded as wealthy, and only the wealthy could succeed. In fact, it was very uncommon for a poor person to succeed.
God humbled Himself to experience all that humanity experiences in the flesh as Jesus Christ to deliver us from our Adamic nature so that we would not suffer the penalty of sin. In doing so, Jesus taught those whom He met, particularly His disciples, how to be like Him. First of all, Jesus had an exclusive amount of disciples which were 12 and that number later on grew to 72, but notice that everyone whom Christ met did not become a disciple. Jesus chose disciples and some of His disciples wanted to be with Him so bad that they resigned from their normal lifestyle to be with Jesus. In other words, Jesus' disciples terminated their former lifestyle to continue the works that they saw Jesus perform. Jesus commissioned His disciples to travel throughout the world preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and baptizing in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
A disciple is an avid learner of Jesus Christ. A disciple not only learns from Jesus Christ, but a disciple learns from Christ only when the disciple is with Jesus. A disciple cannot be a disciple if the disciple is not with Jesus. The only time Jesus separated Himself from the disciples was when Jesus went to the side of a mountain to pray, but other than Jesus' time of prayer the disciples were with Jesus. Even when Jesus went off somewhere in a secluded area to pray, the disciples wandered, journeyed, and went on quests searching for Jesus because they wanted to be with Him. How bad do you want to be Jesus? Jesus sits on the throne at the right hand of God the Father and Jesus is not moving until He receives permission from the Father. Therefore, it is not hard to find Him, I believe the question that will challenge us is do we want to be with Jesus?
As the disciple finds Jesus, the disciple receives instruction, guidance, revelation, understanding, strength, rebuke, correction, discipline, healing, deliverance, salvation, reconciliation, and insight as to what Christ wants. As the disciple receives all these attributes, the disciple becomes, develops, grows, and matures into the nature and character of Christ. Of course, a disciple will never be perfect. A disciple will never be sinless and sin not be found in him/her, but the disciple will sin less. The disciple will sin less because the disciple's concern has matriculated from being concerned with self to being concerned with the concerns of Christ. A disciple will be so concerned with accomplishing the will of Christ that the minute things will not be a priority. The priorities of a disciple will change as a result of now being and spending time with Christ.
List your priorities and then spend three days with Christ and evaluate your priorities to observe if your priorities have changed. The priorities that I am referring to are not bills, children, and daily nourishment, but the priorities of watching "America's Top Model," "Housewives," "the Game,""Househunters," or any other thing that takes away time that could be spent with the Lord.
How can you know what Christ wants if you do not spend time with Him? As Jesus asks, how can you call Me Lord, and not do what I say? Well, in order to do what Christ instructs us to do, we must first spend time with Him. After we spend time with Him and He gives us a homework assignment, then we can be obedient. Obedience is where the true maturity and success will begin to manifest. Because as a child, we thought, spoke, and understood as a child, but now that we are mature men and women, we do not make the same child like mistakes we made in the former days.
The Bible says that Jesus is the light. Is that true? Well, yes it is true! The question that I probe is: Is the truth, that Jesus is the light, true for you? Is that true for you? If He is the light, then what Jesus is doing is shining light on everything that is dark. If you are unable to properly understand, or is experiencing darkness to the point where you cannot see straight and clearly, then ask Christ to shine His light in your life so that you will be able see!
The Lord says,"as I shine My light upon you, you shall see clearly and act as I, the Lord, your God acts. You shall behave, understand, and speak like Me. You will begin to mature in ways beyond your imagination as a result of the time that you spend with Me as your Teacher. I do not cost a thing says the Lord. You have received your eternal inheritance and the price has been paid, all you have to do is come to Me and I will show you the way so that you can walk right and walk with Me. I will take you to heights that you have never seen. I will open doors that no power can shut; I will bring you before people that will be amazed with how much you have changed. You will change because you will spend time with Me and allow Me to give you insight and instruction. Do not let this time of learning slip through time, but capture and seize these moments that I have prepared for you. You need to mature so that you can have authority and be successful!
Amen!
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