THE DISCIPLINE OF CONFORMITY

When Jesus called His disciples, the offer He gave to them was the offer of being made. He said, "Come, follow me, and i will make you", Matthew 4:19. 

As simple as that statement looks, there is a lot contained in it. 

Between the calling and the sending there is a process called being made. In between when the promise was given and its manifestation is a journey called wilderness. 

What is the significance of a wilderness in the journey of a believer? 

It is the place where we become the version of us that can manifest the promise of God. 

When God sent His word it was to Jacob but the manifestation was upon Israel, Isaiah 9:8.

The Jacob version was the one that received the promise but the version of Jacob upon which the manifestation of the promise will be seen is Israel not Jacob.

In between Jacob and Israel is the process called "Being made". The call of God is first to make us before giving to us. 

Jesus called the twelve to be with Him first before He gave them power and then send them, Matthew 10:1.

The process of being made involves a lot of discipline, Hebrews 12:5-11. 

Children must become sons to be able to receive and walk in their inheritance, Galatians 4:1-3. 

We are born as children into Gods kingdom but we are sent as sons. 

In between children and son is the discipline that brings conformity. 

The discipline of conformity is also what is called "Being made". To be conformed means to be made to assume a certain shape. 

Conformity revolves around  death, death to the flesh, death to your desires, death to having it your own way. Conformity and death goes hand in hand, Phillipians 3:10. 

There is a place God has prepared for you in destiny. You have a lot, a portion and an heritage that has your name on it, Psalm 16:5&6. 

But, to be able to enter into your portion and lot, there is what you must look like. 

If you get to that place and don't look like it, it will reject you because it is not this version of you that that glorious destiny is looking for.

The palace and the throne has rejected many because they got there by chance and not by growth and process. 

They came unprepared and after some time, that throne ejected them. King Saul was an example. 

Another example is Rehoboam the son of Solomon. The bible says he didn't prepare his heart to seek the Lord, 2Chronicles12:14.

Let me explain what I mean. 

If your place in destiny is to be a CEO of a conglomerate of companies that has branches all over the world, without the Lord bringing you into the discipline of conformity you won't be able to take your place in that destiny. 

No one enters into that kind of great destiny casually and unprepared. The weight alone is enough to crush anyone that is not prepared for it.

The destiny will reject you because you have not yet become that version of you that can assume that position. 

It is true that the wealth of sinners will be given to the righteous but believe me God is not going to give that wealth to unprepared and unserious christians, Proverbs 13:22.

What God does is to organize customized dealings that will bring you into the discipline of conformity. 

You will serve in places that will shape you and mould you into what that destiny is looking for, Jeremiah 18:6, Jeremiah 48:11.  

How serious you take those disciplines, determines how fast you get there.

So when God says you can't be sleeping all through the night, rise up and study and pray. He is not punishing you. He is bringing you into the discipline of conformity. 

That way, you will have what it takes to sit in that position. 

If you reject that discipline, even though God has given you the  promise you may never see its fulfilment because you rejected the discipline of conformity. 

The promises of God are not automatic, you and I have a role to play in it to make it come to pass and this role is the disciplne of conformity. 

For some it will be the discipline of studying or cutting away some relationships. 

For some it is the discipline of undergoing mentorship. 

Fr some it will be the discipline of serving somewhere, Luke 16:12.

It will be different things for different  people but the result will be the same in all: CONFORMITY!

You can't put a square peg in a round hole. You have to chisel and cut away at the square peg until it becomes round so that it can fit into the round hole where you plan to put it. 

The process of chiselling and cutting at it is called, "making or process". 

No discipline is enjoyable when it is being meted out, it always look like you are suffering but this message has come to help explain to you that you are not suffering, you are being made. 

Nobody puts any responsibility on the shoulder of children. Responsibilities  are put on the shoulder of sons, Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 22:24. 

A child is born but a son is given. This is where many of us are in our walk with God. We have left Egypt we have the promises of God but we are yet to see its fulfilment. 

All that we see is the wilderness around us, discipline, rebuke, correction, service, suffering e.t.c 

I bring you a word of hope, don't cast away your confidence because you are already becoming what that promise is looking for. 

There is nobody God used for something great in His plan that didnt go through the discipline of conformity.

Jesus went through 18 years of obscurity. He is the Word yet He submitted Himself to learn under the teachers of the law, Luke 2:46.

Moses served his father inlaw who was a Midianite priest not a Jewish priest. David served his father in the obscurity of the bush, also he hid in the cave of Adullam away from Saul for many years. 

Joseph served an Egyptian called Potiphar and the chief warder in the prison. 

These are where this great people were made conformed into what their destiny was looking for. 

Your job may be your own cave of Adullam. 

For another person it is his marriage that is his own wilderness.

For another person, it is your parent or your pastor. 

In short, anywhere  you find yourself serving, whether in the secular or religious circle the purpose is to bring you into to conformity to look like what your destiny is looking for. So,  serve well, Ecclesiastes 9:10. 

Do it as unto the Lord and not as unto men because now by reason of this message coming to you you understand  what is happening to you, you are becoming.  

Nobody is punishing you, you are only being made conformable unto death so that you can assume your rightful position in destiny. 

You may want to say it is the government I am serving, not God and they have not promoted me in the last ten years. 

The bible says promotion cometh not from east or west, neither from tge south; but God is the judge, He raises one up and pulls down another, Psalms 75:6-7. 

It is God that has prepared a place for you in destiny not the government, not the eatablishment or company where you work, Jeremiah 1:5. 

That place where you are currently working  is just helping to train and prepare you for your actual place in destiny. 

So your promotion comes from God not your boss, company or government, Isaiah 49:4, Revelations 22:12.

If you allow this mindset be in you, it will change your approach to your job, work or any service you are involved in. 

You  will do your job as unto the Lord and not as unto men(Colossians 3:23-25) not minding their attitude towards you, even when the conditions are very unfavourable because you understand what is happening to you.

PRAYER: FATHER BRING ME INTO THE DISCIPLINE OF CONFORMITY. I MAY CRY AND I MAY BE TIRED. BUT PLEASE DON'T STOP UNTIL I LOOK JUST LIKE YOU. UNTIL I LOOK LIKE WHAT MY DESTINY IS LOOKONG FOR, LORD DON'T STOP WORKING ON ME. 

SALVATION PRAYER

Salvation is found in none else, for there is no name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved, except the name of Jesus.

You may be watching this video and you have not yet given your life to Jesus. This is another opportunity for you to make that decision for Jesus by saying this prayer and mean it genuinely from your heart:

Lord Jesus, I love You with all my heart. I believe that You are the Son of God that died and she'd His blood for my sins. Today, I receive Your life and I declare thatI am Yours. Congratulations you are now born again.

PEACE