The Wisdom To Grow – 2

Matthew 13:8-9(KJV); But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Christians grow at different paces. Some grow slowly while others grow faster. Some manifest limited results while others manifest great results.

These are the distinctions in our theme scripture of the thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

In Mark 10:29-30, the Bible speaks of the hundredfold blessing and says, ‘And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.’

The hundredfold blessing follows the life of sacrifice.

There is a Christian claiming the hundredfold blessing but they have not “left house, brethren, sisters, father, mother, wife, children or lands for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s”. They have not counted all things as loss that they may win Christ.

In this, Jim Elliot’s words ring true, ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.’

What you are willing to lose in this life determines your fruit in the gospel. What you can detach yourself from determines how much you will grow in the things of God.

Make the choice to seek Christ above the comforts of this life.

God’s name be praised!

FURTHER STUDY: Mark 8:36, Mark 10:29-30

GOLDEN NUGGET:

What you are willing to lose in this life determines your fruit in the gospel. What you can detach yourself from determines how much you will grow in the things of God.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this day. Thank you for this great knowledge and wisdom. Thank you for this instruction in growth. For indeed, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? My soul is exchanged and my life is laid down for the cause of Christ. I choose to spend and be spent for the sake of the gospel and the expansion of the kingdom. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Wisdom To Grow – 1

Apostle Grace Lubega

Matthew 13:8-9(KJV); But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Even in good ground, the yield differs.

Our theme scripture reveals this truth, that when some seeds fell in good ground, some brought forth a hundredfold, some sixtyfold and some thirtyfold.

Listening to the same teacher and attending the same church does not mean that people grow at the same pace.

Growth is a personal choice. However, there are a number of things that determine the level of your results.

For example, what is your capacity to receive meat? In 1 Corinthians 3:2, Paul tells the Church at Corinth, ‘I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.’

Paul was an excellent teacher. He laid the foundation of the gospel and had insight into great mysteries of the kingdom of God. But there were Christians he was incapable of feeding on meat because they could not bear it.

It is not possible for a Christian who is unable to bear meat to yield a hundredfold.

How receptive is your spirit to deeper insights in God?
Are you only comfortable with hearing the things that will solve your present problems or with things that will take you deeper in God?

Are you the kind of Christian who will think that a sermon is ‘yours’ because the preacher mentioned that God is opening doors for you to go out of the country or do you think a sermon is ‘yours’ because it exposes you to deeper places in the realm of the spirit?

Your ability to bear spiritual truths will always determine your fruit.

Allow God to cultivate in you a hunger for greater insights into His person.

His name be praised.

FURTHER STUDY: Ephesians 1:16-17, Hebrews 5:11-14

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Your ability to bear spiritual insights will always determine your fruit.

PRAYER: Father, I am grateful for this Word. I know that I receive from good ground and I am good ground. I choose to yield my spirit to the things by which I grow. I hunger for deeper knowledge, wisdom and understanding. I seek after greater insights in the realm of the spirit. The hundredfold blessing is mine. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

To Win Christ

Apostle Grace Lubega

Philippians 3:8(KJV); Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.

Paul counted all things as loss that he may win Christ. What does it mean to win Christ?

Winning Christ is not merely giving your life to Christ such that He dwells in your heart by faith. That is Him winning you to Him.

Winning Christ is not the demonstration of the power of God and the performing of miracles. Miracles merely follow the believer.

There are people who have been won to Christ but have not won Christ.

Christ is the prize of the high calling of God. He is the reward of the race run, the good fight fought, the course finished and the faith kept (2 Timothy 4:7).

To win Christ is to see Him as the end of all things.
Many people see Him as the beginning but not many people see Him as the end.

He is the author of their success and so they seek Him as the one who must start them off on a journey of success but they do not behold Him at the end of that journey.

He is the alpha of their ministries, the one who gives them the grace to grow but they do not behold Him as the omega of their ministries.

If Christ is your end, you count ALL (not some) things as loss. It is the place of total detachment from the things of this life and absolute attachment to Christ.

What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? (Matthew 16:26).

Sacrificial living is a pattern of the men who win Christ.

FURTHER STUDY: Colossians 3:1-4, 2 Timothy 4:7

GOLDEN NUGGET:

To win Christ is to see Him as the end of all things.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this Word. I thank you for the things that I must follow as a believer. Like Paul, I choose to forget all the things that are behind and press forward towards the mark of the prize of the high calling. I set my eyes on things above where Christ is seated. At the end of my life, Christ shall be the testimony of my life. To the glory of your name, Amen.

The Things We Follow

Apostle Grace Lubega

Mark 16:17-18(KJV); And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

In the life of the spirit, there are such things as confirmations and affirmations. Affirmations are the things that are defined in the nature of all things spiritual. They are what has been established in the spirit.

Confirmations on the other hand are the things that manifest as a result of the nature. They are what the scriptures have called the vindications of the spirit.

Christ is the son of God. That is an affirmation. He performed miracles wherever he went. That was a confirmation.

You are a child of God. You have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. You have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. You are a partaker of the divine nature. These are affirmations.

Because you are all these things, you cast out devils, speak with new tongues, take up serpents, lay hands on the sick and they will recover. These are confirmations.

There are those who seek confirmations without affirmations. They want to manifest what they have not beheld or understood in the spirit.

God does not expect the Christian to seek for confirmations. He expects you to seek for the affirmation because when you do, the confirmations will follow.

He does not expect you to follow the things that must follow you.  As a child of God, your primary goal must be to have a full understanding of who you are because when you do, the things that follow you will come easily.

You heal because you know who you are. You demonstrate power because you know who is in you.
Glory to God.

FURTHER STUDY: 1 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 6:9

GOLDEN NUGGET:

God does not expect you to follow the things that must follow you.  As a child of God, your primary goal must be to have a full understanding of who you are because when you do, the things that follow you will come easily.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this Word. I thank you for who I am in the realm of the spirit. In you I live, move and have my very being. The greater one lives inside of me. Creation groans for my manifestation and I respond to it with distinction because I am a child of God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Price Of The Excellence Of Knowledge

Apostle Grace Lubega

Philippians3:7-8(KJV); But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.

The excellence of knowledge has a price.

In Ecclesiastes 7:12, the Bible says, ‘For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.’

Knowledge excels when life is given to those that already have it. Knowledge excels when the ordinary is infused with the extraordinary.

Paul defines this price as counting as loss all things that were gain to him.
What things were gain to him? These were the things in the flesh from which he drew his confidence, ‘Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.’(Philippians 3:5-6).

The excellence of knowledge begins when we lay down anything that defines us in the flesh. It works in us when we start to depend entirely on God for justification and not on the things that we can do through our own efforts.

God must take you to the end of yourself; the end of anything that you know; the end of anything that you can do.

At this place, you realise that the true excellence of the spirit starts where the man’s ability ends and God’s ability starts.

You cannot have the kind of life that wisdom gives to those that already have life through your own efforts. You cannot stand out amongst the great by your own ability.

Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: Ecclesiastes 7:12, Philippians 3:5-6

GOLDEN NUGGET:

The excellence of knowledge has a price. God must take you to the end of yourself; the end of anything that you know; the end of anything that you can do.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this Word. Thank you for the places you are taking me in the spirit. Thank you for a life above the ordinary. Thank you for the supernatural that manifests through me. I know that it is not by power nor by might but by the spirit of God. I yield to your working in me that you will and do according to your good pleasure. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Teaching Of The Master

Apostle Grace Lubega

Luke 9:49-50(KJV); And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.

The ways in which God teaches are manifold. He doesn’t only teach you when you show up for a Sunday service. He does not only teach those that attend certain Bible schools. He not only teaches through specific ministers.

In our theme scripture, the critical question that the disciples should have asked themselves and also asked Christ is, ‘How did you teach this man?’

The man that the disciples were forbidding was succeeding where the disciples had sometimes failed. He was casting out devils yet the scriptures reveal an instance when the disciples tried to cast out a demon and failed.

If this man followed not with them, how did he learn?

When you understand the manifold ways in which God teaches, you will not restrict your learning to a sermon on a Sunday, to a teaching on a CD or on television, to notes from a theological school, to the words of your favourite preacher.

He can teach you anywhere regardless of who is around you. His teaching will find you in a car on your way to work, it will find you at your desk while you prepare that report, it will find you in the middle of a meeting and minister instruction, it will find you anywhere!

You do not need special occasions for God to teach you.

Your heart and spirit must be continually open to receive His instruction, convictions and inspirations.

His name be praised!

FURTHER STUDY: John 14:26, Isaiah 50:4

GOLDEN NUGGET:

You do not need special occasions for God to teach you. Your heart and spirit must be continually open to receive His instruction, convictions and inspirations.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this wisdom. Thank you for the clarity of your voice to my spirit. I hear you more than ever before. I see the things you want me to see in the way I should see them. Today, I open my heart to receive your instruction regardless of where I am and what I am doing. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
 

Of The Privilege Of Access

Apostle Grace Lubega

Romans5:2(KJV); By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Liberty in the Spirit is defined, not by how much you have but how much you can access.

For example there is a man who has a million dollars but that is all he has and can access no more. That man is limited in his liberty.

However, there is another man who has five dollars but can access any amount of money he wishes. This man is free.

The greatest essence of the liberty of the Spirit is to keep us in the constant flow of the things we can access in God.

This is the wisdom that allows Paul to be full and also to be abased because he has been instructed in access.

Such a one can never worry about loss. Even if he lost all that is in his hands, he would never lose sleep because he knows how to get it all back.

This Christian does not worry about any doors closing because what he has are keys to so many other doors.

Our focus as children of God should be on understanding the rules of access as opposed to the comforts of physical possession.

The first and fundamental rule of access is faith. Like our theme scripture reveals, we have access by faith.

Glory to God!

FURTHER STUDY: Ephesians 1:3, 2 Peter 1:3

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Liberty in the Spirit is defined, not by how much you have but how much you can access.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this Word. I thank you because I have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places and given all things that pertain to life and godliness. This is the liberty with which I live my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Unfeigned Faith

Apostle Grace Lubega

1 Timothy 1:5(KJV); Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.

Our theme scripture speaks of unfeigned faith, thereby implying that faith can be feigned.

Feigned faith is the faith that lies to self. In lying to self, it misleads and stumbles others.

For example, there are two different Christians, who though both have zero money on their account, will each commit that by tomorrow morning at 10.00am, they will deposit ten thousand dollars on each of their Client’s account.

They both will have spoken in faith yet one will have told a lie and the other will have told the truth.

The difference is that at 10.00am tomorrow morning, there will be ten thousand dollars on a Client’s account as said by one Christian.

Another client will have received nothing despite the promise.

One lied to himself in faith and consequently lied to another man. One was expressing unfeigned faith.

Feigned faith is of the Christian who is convinced only in mind but not in heart.

That is why the Word of God should not only be received with the mind but with the spirit. Unfeigned faith is activated when the Word does not merely inform you about truth but makes truth one with your very nature.

Glory to God!

FURTHER STUDY: Hebrews 11:6, 2 Corinthians 4:13

GOLDEN NUGGET:

The Word of God should not only be received with the mind but with the spirit. Unfeigned faith is activated when the Word does not merely inform you about truth but makes truth one with your very nature.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this knowledge. This day, I am increased and stirred up in faith. I manifest the things I speak because my faith is unfeigned. Whatever I decree is established, to the glory of your name, Amen.

The Place Of All Things

Apostle Grace Lubega

1 John 2:27(KJV); But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

God and everything pertaining to Him is bottomless. There is no end to who and what He is.

What then does the scripture mean by the anointing teaching us all things?

‘All things’ is a place in God. It is the highest place of the liberty of the Spirit.

When the Spirit says that He will teach you all things, it means that He will take you to the place of all things.

The place of all things opens the Word to you in the deepest dimensions. This is a place of abundance and overflow where God opens your eyes to the full picture of the ministry of His Word.

In this place, you understand God, not like other people understand Him or in your own understanding but how He wants you to understand Him.

In the place of all things, the scriptures come alive every time you open them.

This starts from the place of faith. It is how much you believe you know that whenever you open your mouth, He fills it with good things.

FURTHER STUDY: Psalms 119:96, 1 John 2:20

GOLDEN NUGGET:

All things’ is a place in God. It is the highest place of the liberty of the Spirit.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this Word. Thank you for your instruction that not only teaches me but it shows me the places in you. My spirit is open and yielded to this experience of all things. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Greatness Of A Ministry

Apostle Grace Lubega

2 Chronicles 16:9(KJV); For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

The way men define greatness is not how God defines greatness.

By the standards of men, the greatness of a ministry is the size of the congregation, the impressiveness of the building or the gift of the minister. That is not how God weighs greatness.

The greatness of any ministry is defined by the heart of its ministers.

The church of the Laodiceans in the Book of Revelation was considered as rich in its own eyes and in the eyes of men but to God, they were wretched and poor (Revelation 3:17).

The material wealth of a ministry is deceptive but the heart can never lie.

The church at Corinth were enriched in all knowledge and came behind in no gift yet they were babes in the spirit. Gifts can be deceptive but the heart will never lie.

Before God truly uses anyone, He first looks at their heart and He seeks to deal with you from the inside before it manifests on the outside.

If you understand how God defines greatness, you will attract it His way.

There is a man who wants a great ministry and the end he envisions is a big congregation but not a heart dealt with by God.

If you must be great, allow God to deal with your heart first. If you must be an influence in this generation, lay your heart on the altar.

FURTHER STUDY: 1 Samuel 16:7, Proverbs 23:26

GOLDEN NUGGET:
The greatness of any ministry is defined by the heart of its ministers. . If you must be an influence in this generation, lay your heart on the altar.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this Word. You know my heart and are intimately acquainted with my coming and going. I yield my spirit that you deal with me like you desire; that you uproot what must be uprooted and plant what must be planted; that you kill what must die and bring to life what must live; that if men ever define me as great, it will be because I carried your heart, all the days of my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

New Wine Skins

Apostle Grace Lubega

Matthew 9:17(NIV); Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved

Wine skins were not old because of their age. What made them old was because it had been a long time since they had last been washed in oil. Therefore, to make them new, old wineskins were soaked in oil to enable them hold new wine.

I have heard some young Christians disregard the elderly folk as ‘old wineskins’ in the understanding that this has anything to do with age. Not so, child of God.

A wine skin may have been made thirty years ago but was washed in oil yesterday. That makes it new.

There is a wine skin that was made last year but has never been washed in oil since then. That is an old wine skin.

There are new wineskins in sixty year old bodies and there are old wineskins in twenty two year old bodies.

The difference is this; when was the last time you were washed in oil? When did you last hear God? When did you last soak in His presence? When did you last yield to His power and His touch?

It doesn’t matter your age or how long you have been in the gospel.

The principle is clear; those that are planted in the house of the Lord flourish in His courts. Even in their old age, they bear fruit (Psalm 92:13-14).

God wants you to grow in the anointing and also grow the anointing upon your life.

He wants you to age in the anointing that by the time you leave this earth, you are not merely anointed but the anointing is the only thing that truly defines you.

Glory to God!

FURTHER STUDY: Psalms 92:13-14, Psalms 27:4

GOLDEN NUGGET:

God wants you to grow in the anointing and also grow the anointing upon your life. He wants you to age in the anointing that by the time you leave this earth, you are not merely anointed but the anointing is the only thing that truly defines you.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this Word. I thank you for the freshness of revelation, knowledge and understanding. The Bible says that every day, you load me with benefits, that there is new bread and oil for each day. What I had yesterday was great but my heart is open for that of today. What I had last week was wonderful but I am ready for today’s too. For as long as I live, my testimony will be of the new things you are pouring out. That in all things, both the ancient oil and the new oil will flow out of my spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Things That Make Ministers: Open Doors

Apostle Grace Lubega

Acts 16:6(KJV); Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia

As a minister of the gospel, you will receive countless opportunities to preach the Word of God. As you grow in the things of the spirit and the circumference of your influence increases, the invitations to minister will increase and so will the places you will have to go.

You must appreciate the responsibility that comes with preaching because all these opportunities are altars, these altars define covenants and these covenants define destinies.

When I understood this reality, I realised that I could not go EVERYWHERE I was called but I could go ANYWHERE I was called.

As a man or woman of God, you do not go to a place because of the numbers of the people you are going to preach to, the impressiveness of the building in which you will preach, the name of the ministry to which you have been invited. You minister in a place because God has sent you there.

There are places the Spirit will forbid you to go yet everything seems to suggest that you should be there instead. You might think that the more people, the more reasonable it is that you appear before them because your heart cries for souls. God loves them more than you do, never forget that.

If God has instructed you to minister to a fifty people congregation yet there is an opportunity to minister to a ten thousand people congregation, you must always ensure to go where the voice of God has led.

That is what demonstrates respect for the altar. That is the maturity that distinguishes a mere preacher of the gospel from the minister of the gospel.

This same wisdom extends to the businessman, not every deal is yours to take no matter how lucrative it sounds.

It applies to the career person, not every job opportunity is yours even if you may qualify and the pay is wonderful.

It works in your relationships too because many will seek to associate with you as you grow in influence but not everyone qualifies to be within your circles.

Let God’s voice define the doors through which you walk.

God’s name be praised!

FURTHER STUDY: Acts 16:7-10, 1 Corinthians 16:9

GOLDEN NUGGET:

You must appreciate the responsibility that comes with preaching because all these opportunities are altars, these altars define covenants and these covenants define destinies.

PRAYER: My Lord, I thank you for this Word. Thank you for the doors that you continually open before me. I know that not every door is mine to walk through and this very wisdom preserves me in the assignment upon my life. My heart is open to heed to your instruction in the places that I must go and the choices I must make. In Jesus’ name, Amen.