TRANSFORMATION COMES AFTER SUBMISSION

Pr. James Victor Lubwama

Luke 1:5-14 (MSG)

“There was a priest assigned service in the regiment of Abijah. His name was Zachariah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. 6 Together they lived honorably before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth could never conceive, and now they were quite old. 8 It so happened that as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, 9 it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. 10 The congregation was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the incense offering. 11 Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. 12 Zachariah was paralyzed in fear. 13 But the angel reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. 14 You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you-many will delight in his birth.” 

In the Salvation walk, we all embarked a journey that is taking us to our hearts’ desires and beyond - to realize those things we did not expect to get. In this journey you will get the things you want but also God will amaze you and take you far and, do for you what you thought you deserved not. There are things you desire, but there are also things you are not aware of that the Lord has planned for you – just like the scriptures say in 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV) “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him.”

Salvation is a life of wonders and miracles but we seldom hinder God because we are ignorant. An egg is never removed from an incubator until it has been hatched: but for our case, we move from church to church and faith to faith – this week you are born again, tomorrow you go to bukalango and the other week you visit a psychic; and God is like, ‘when will this egg that is always disrupted be hatched? Instead of remaining in one place under the anointing until what I declared about it comes to pass, it’s just disrupting the hatching process.’ If you humble yourself and seat under the anointing, you will see what was prophesied unto you come to pass.

In the scriptures above, Zechariah had aged but without a child, however he kept doing his routine – serving God; he remained humble under the anointing and when the time came, God gave him a child: But as for you, when God gives you a word that you will get married, you sit in church for some time and when you do not see any cloud, you scatter - the church should not be a place you occasionally visit but a place you call home, and that’s how shall be able to behold real miracles. The local church is the incubator, the heat is the anointing and you are the egg, so you should sit in church without staggering if you want to see deliverance.

Once you become born again the devil will always aim at you; seeking to make you retreat to the old life by making you a vagabond Christian, and that’s why you have to continuously pray and submit under the covering of the anointing, or else you will turn out to be a lukewarm believer who will miss out his or her miracle because you – the egg is always on the move thus disrupting the hatching process.

We do not just come to church to trap miracles because God is not limited by location – he can work for you when you are at home or on the way; we do not just come to church so that God can bless us, but we come so that His word can transform us; so that when our time to leave earth comes, we qualify to enter heaven – our destination; and by that time God’s word and anointing would have transformed us into the image of Christ. God’s work toward us is not only to make us rich, give us children and build us houses, but to change our character and transform our inner man, so that we bear likeness with Him. The word of God - bible is about transformation, not just information. At the end of the sermon, Jesus said in Matthew 7:24 (NIV) that; “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Applying God’s Word in your life is crucially important. God does not just want to save you from debts, the debts will end, and money you want will come to an end; but a day will come when you shall stand before the Lord and all these worldly things are no more but only you standing before your maker, and he will ask you for the fruits.

Stay put under the anointing and at the right time, God will deal with you! The bible says in Psalm 110:1 (NLT) “The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.” Are you sitting in church or you are just visiting? Are you a servant in your church or a spectator? Do you have a local or home church or every church is your home? Do you have a spiritual father or you are your own master?

There is a man who can carry our burdens. He can restore and return what had passed-us by - the word of God transforms. Stay seated under the anointing, attend church more often and be part of the family of God not just a visitor. The bible says in 1 Peter 5:6 (NLT) says; “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honour.”

The daily word that is preached transforms us into what God desires and we can only be transformed if we sit humbly and submit under the anointing.