Without discipline you can't be a disciple

I am fascinated by the words discipline and disciple. They are so similar, and they carry different connotations. Yet, I don't think you can have one without the other. Ironically, when you take out the word " in" out of discipline, you get the word disciple.In other words, once these things are "in" you, you become a disciple.     Discipline, to me, is inward. when I think of discipline, i think of fasting, journaling, prayer, etc. Once you get these things and make them a regular habit, they become a part of you,. They start to form you. They naturally emerge from you. If you notice, Jesus spent a lot of time with people he called "disciples", and he taught them what that meant. He taught them how to pray, how to care for others, how to be saved etc. Even though they didn't understand it, they were formed by His teaching. Then, once he was done teaching, he sent them out to live out what they had learned. it is the same with us. Once we are formed by these disciplines,( fasting, prayer, daily Word, etc.) we are formed. The true test, however, is when we live out what we learned. that is the difference between being a true disciple, and going through the motions.

Are you practicing daily disciplines that are making you into a disciple?

More importantly, are you living out what you believe?