Living Above The Opinions Of Men

Apostle Grace Lubega

Luke 6:26 (AMP); Woe to (alas for) you when everyone speaks fairly and handsomely of you and praises you, for even so their forefathers did to the false prophets.

A great man of God once narrated a story of how he walked down a street and met a man who judged him for being a false minister of the gospel. This man ridiculed him for manipulating the people of God and called him all sorts of things.

A little further down the same street, he found another man who was extremely grateful to see him and explained how blessed he was by this man of God’s ministry.

After this experience, the man of God had this to say, ” same street, different opinions but none of them moved me.”

What an attitude!

Some people are so fixated on what others say about them. They rise and fall by the opinions of other men. As a result, they live almost entirely to please men.

But like our theme scripture says, woe to you if all men speak well of you.

Understand that in this gospel, it is impossible not to offend at some point; not every one will agree with you and you have got to accept that.

In fact, if you never want to be criticised, say nothing, do nothing and be nothing.

God is your vindication. His opinion of you must precede anything that anyone may ever say about you.

Walk with your head high in the confidence of what the Master thinks about you because that is the true testimony of who you are. Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: Proverbs 29:25, 2 Timothy 2:15

GOLDEN NUGGET:
God is your vindication. His opinion of you must precede anything that anyone may ever say about you.

PRAYER: My loving father, I thank you for who I am in you. I am wise, an eternal excellence and a pattern of great things. I look and heed to what you have called me. I am not moved by the words and slander of other men. I am moved by what you say I am. I walk with the confidence of a victorious child of God. To the glory of your name. Amen.

The Greatest Service

Apostle Grace Lubega

Psalms 27:4 (KJV); One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.

It is a good thing to desire to be used by God.

However, today I want to cast light on a deeper place in God beyond simply wanting to be used by Him.

Firstly, child of God, you ought to understand that every time you are in the presence of God, it is service to Him.

This is why, when referring to how the priests of old went into the tabernacle, the scriptures use the word “service.”(Hebrews 9:9).
This is God’s mind!
He considered their practice of going into His presence as service to Him.

I assure you that there is no greater service to God than to simply dwell in His presence.

When you say, “Lord use me”, God wants you to know that by communing with Him, you are already serving Him.

It is a noble thing to want to be used by God. However, when people ask Him to use them, sometimes, it is because they desire a place outside Him and not with Him.

No! Your greatest desire in the things of God ought to be with Him and not with people. I don’t mean to disqualify the need to be there for people but rather to emphasize that being with God should always be preferred to seeking to minister to them.

Never love the pulpit more than the secret place.

When you desire solitude with God more than the spot light, you will surely see Him.

He will always create opportunities for you to minister to people, that every time you stand before them, you will stir in them the desire to be with God too.

Oh, what a blessing!

FURTHER STUDY: Psalms 84:10, Psalms 27:4

GOLDEN NUGGET:

When you say, “Lord use me”, God wants you to know that by communing with Him, you are already serving Him.

PRAYER: My God, I know that there is nothing more precious than the opportunity to behold your beauty and to inquire in your courts. Thank you for drawing me into the experiences of your presence and causing me to see great and wondrous things. Thank you Lord for always making me feel that there is no place I would rather be than in your presence. This day I choose to plunge deeper in it even as you draw me by your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

One With God

Apostle Grace Lubega

John 17:22 (KJV); And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.

When the scripture speaks of being one with Christ, it means that God has elevated the believer in oneness with Christ in every way or degree.

Christ is one with God. There is no schism in this union. Christ is God and God is Christ. The Father wants us to understand that we are one with Him in the same way that Christ is one with Him. Oh what a truth!

Most of these things are merely arrayed in many people’s minds but they have not settled in their spirits. That’s why the most important thing for us as ministers is to continue to bring you to remembrance of these things.

But imagine! Think about it for a moment! You are one with God like Christ is one with Him.

Never see yourself as separate from Him, never pray as one separate from Him.

Our Lord and master said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”(John 14:23)

God resides inside you by faith; that is why Paul prayed for you that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith (Ephesians 3:17a).

Child of God, when you got born again Jesus Christ did not just associate with you, He became one with you, and the true testimony of being one with Christ is when you realize like Paul and know “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

It is not you living anymore, but Christ in you is alive. When men look at you, they see Christ; no one can tell the difference between you and the Master any more because He is very much alive in the inside of you. It is with this very confidence that Christ says, “if you have seen me, you have seen the father” (John 14:9).

So it is with you. If they have seen you, they have seen the Father. If they have seen you, they have seen Christ! Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: 1 Corinthians 6:17, Ecclesiastes 3:11, John 11:20

GOLDEN NUGGET:

The true testimony of being one with Christ is when you realize like Paul that it is not you living any more, but Christ in you is alive. And when men look at you and Christ, no man can tell the difference between you and the Master because He is very much alive in the inside of you.

PRAYER: Father God, I thank you for today. In the name of Jesus, I decrease that you my LORD may increase in me. I acknowledge my oneness with Christ for in Him I live, move and have my being. Like Paul said, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. And as I mature in this oneness, I radiate with the very glory of the LORD. Hallelujah!

Beholding Doctrine

Apostle Grace Lubega

Acts 18:24‭-‬26 (KJV); And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

In scripture, Paul makes a prayer for the church, that the eyes of your heart may be flooded with light, so that you would know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints [His set-apart ones] (Ephesians 1:18 AMPC).

This means a light is always cast on one’s eyes of understanding, so as to BEHOLD revelation in the things of God.

DOCTRINE IS BEHELD in the spirit. And since it is beheld, whichever picture is revealed to a man’s spirit is what he ministers.

In Apollos’ case, though he was eloquent and powerful in word, he only beheld the doctrine of John the Baptist and as a result, this is all that he ministered.

Aquila and Priscilla on the other hand, were able to put Apollos aside and expound the way of the Lord to him more perfectly because they beheld the fullness of the truth of the Gospel.

This all means that revelation is what defines a man’s maturity in the doctrine.

Revelation can not be crammed, it can not be recited over and over again for you to imitate how a man sounds when he ministers by it. You can only minister to the extent that the eyes of your understanding have been enlightened.

Therefore, the soundness of the doctrine that any man ministers depends on how much light has flooded the eyes of their understanding to create the accuracy of what they behold in the Spirit.

FURTHER STUDY: Luke 1:4, Titus 2:1 (AMPC)

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Revelation is what defines a man’s maturity in the doctrine.

PRAYER: LORD, I thank for this revelation. I behold the doctrine of Christ in its fullness. I carry a perfect understanding of these things and I know beyond any shadow of doubt the reliability of all that I have been instructed of Him. Because of what you always pour into my spirit, I gladly execute my duty to minister the things that are in agreement with sound doctrine which produces men and women of good character whose lifestyle identifies them as true Christians. In Jesus’ name. Amen

The Washing Of Feet

Apostle Grace Lubega

John 13:4-5 (KJV); He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

Tradition has taught men to periodically wash the feet of the brethren but without understanding what it truly means to wash feet.

Today, I want to take you past the physical washing of feet to the mind of the spirit pertaining this sacred act that the Christ did.

The feet represent the gospel, which is why the Bible speaks of having our feet shod with the readiness to preach the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15).

When we stand before men to preach to them, we are washing their feet and preparing them to be ministers of the gospel in their various capacities. When you wash another’s feet, he will in turn wash the feet of another and thus the gospel continues.

It is the lowest yet highest place of service and ministry. That is why Paul says that this service puts you in a place of one who seems sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things (2 Corinthians 6:10).

Christ told Simon Peter that if his feet are not washed then he has no part with Him (John 13:8). He did not need to wash Peter’s hands, that is, to give you material needs or to wash his head, that is to convince his mind about the working power of God, he only needed to wash the feet, which is to give you His Word. All you need is the Word, the Message, the Gospel of Peace!

Every time you share the Word, you draw men to partake in the blessing of who Christ is and what He has done. Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: John 13:8, 2 Corinthians 6:10

GOLDEN NUGGET:

When we stand before men to preach to them, we are washing their feet and preparing them to be ministers of the gospel in their various capacities.

PRAYER: My Lord, I thank you for this revelation. What an honour to preach this gospel. To speak of you is the highest place of humility. Today I embrace the preaching of the gospel with a new zeal knowing that by it, we partake of who you are and what you have done. To the glory of your name. Amen.

The Battlefield Of The Mind

Apostle Grace Lubega

2 Corinthians 10:4-5(KJV); (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Strongholds are in the mind.

If you study the language of our theme scripture carefully, you will realise that everything is in the mind.

It speaks of casting down IMAGINATIONS, every high thing that exalts itself against the KNOWLEDGE of God and bringing into captivity every THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ.

This is not about fighting the “power” of demons, rulers or principalities. It is not about taking a forty day dry fast against the witchcraft from your in-law, auntie or they that wish you evil.

True warfare is convincing your mind about what God has done and the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary.

It is looking at your circumstances and considering them as past regardless of their present continuous nature.

It is a good thing to have mastery of words and to tame your tongue but you ought to also tame your thoughts, to have an automatic delete key for negative thought in your mind.

The moment the enemy plants a negative thought in your mind, weed it out! Speak the Word in response because it is the sword of the Spirit! Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: Ephesians 6:17, John 19:30

GOLDEN NUGGET:

True warfare is convincing your mind about what God has done and the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary.

PRAYER: Father, I thank you for your Word, this wisdom on how to war. My mind is renewed by your Word and sanctified by your truth. The Word dwells richly in me, it is the substance of my meditations and out if this overflow, I continuously speak. In Jesus’ name.Amen.

As He Is, So Are We

Apostle Grace Lubega

1 John 4:17 (KJV); Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

As Born Again Christians, it is an infallible truth that we are pilgrims on the earth but God did not save us merely to take us to heaven.

Salvation is not just the ticket to an eternity spent with God.

The Bible says, “AS HE IS, SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD (1 John 4:17). This scripture points is to the high calling in God.

What a privilege! To not only walk as Christ did while on the earth but minister in the measure of the glory he presently carries in the heavenlies.

Many Christians are willing to believe that they are going to heaven but not many are willing to believe that they are spiritually identical to Christ.

Like Paul says, this knowledge is not in many. They look to the physical identity and thus cannot identify with the spiritual identity.

God has not called you to look like it; He has called you to be it.

You ought to walk worthy of this call. There are divine laws that are ready to bend to you once you embrace this reality.

You exist in a consistent realm of eternal glory; you do not only heal but disease cannot abide in the circumference of your presence!

You live in a realm of perpetual victory over the principalities of this world; you don’t only cast out devils, demons leave before you utter a word.

FURTHER STUDY: Romans 1:16, 2 Corinthians 6:2

GOLDEN NUGGET:
You exist in a consistent realm of eternal glory; you do not only heal but disease cannot abide in the circumference of your presence! You live in a realm of perpetual victory over the principalities of this world; you don’t only cast out devils, demons leave before you utter a word.

PRAYER: Almighty God, I thank you for the gift of salvation. I understand that you did not merely save me to enjoy life but be a channel for the world to experience your mighty power!! I refuse to settle for less and walk in the boldness of one who is above and not beneath, more than a conqueror and a Victor in Christ. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In The Revelation Of His Name

Apostle Grace Lubega

Psalms 138:2 (KJV); I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

I have heard people claim that if you do not call Christ by a certain name, then you cannot walk in the manifestation of His power.

As such, His ability to work in their lives has been limited to names; He has to be called “Yezu” or “Yeshua”

For some, God can only be called “Jehovah” or “Yahweh.” Anything other than that disqualifies them.

That is not true. God cannot be limited by language. God is bigger than the name you call him in your local dialect.

He has exalted His Word above all His name.

This means that the revelation of who He is supersedes what you call Him. You may call Him Jehovah Nisi, or jireh, but do you know what it means?

He is Elohim by name, but what is the revelation of Elohim?

Child of God, it is your understanding of what the Word has revealed about the name that matters.

Purpose to understand who He truly is because the Spirit world is moved by revelation. Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: Philippians 2:9-10, 2 Timothy 1:12

GOLDEN NUGGET:
The revelation of who God is supersedes what you call Him.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this day. Thank you for this knowledge that you have shown me. I walk in the revelation of who you are. To me it’s not just a name, it is the person behind the name, the God in whom I have believed. It is in this understanding that I do all things. To the glory of your name. Amen.

To Hear And Live

Apostle Grace Lubega

John 5:25 (KJV); Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

The voice of God is our life.

Like our theme scripture says, “they that hear the voice of the son of God shall live.”

Often, things around us start to die when we cease to hear the voice of God. You are as alive [in the Spirit] as you hear.

Moreover, the voice of God is not something we seek for only when we are stuck and feeling stranded by dire circumstances.

In Proverbs 3:5-6 (MSG), the Good Book tells us, “Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.”

God’s voice ought to be clear to you in EVERYTHING YOU DO AND EVERYWHERE YOU GO.

You ought to cultivate a life of hearing God every day.

I assure you beloved saint, it will save you from many costly mistakes and will set you apart as a fountain of wisdom.

Set the Lord before you always. Let His voice be your guiding light in all your endeavors. His name be praised.

FURTHER STUDY: John 10:27, Isaiah 30:21

GOLDEN NUGGET:
The voice of God is our life.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for this precious Word. Your Word has assured me that I will hear a voice behind me telling me, “this is the way, walk ye in it.” Your voice is my consolation Lord and by it I know that I cannot make mistakes. Even as I soar higher in the things of the Spirit, I hear it with increasing clarity every single day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The God In Secret

Apostle Grace Lubega

Matthew 6:6 (KJV); But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Anyone who desires to walk in the true patterns of prayer should understand the God that is in secret.

Often times, we speak of the secrecy of our closets but not the fact that the God we approach in this secrecy is also “in secret.”This is why our theme scripture speaks of praying to the father who is in secret.

God too has a secret place, as such, the scriptures speak of the secret place of the Most High.

The God in secret seeks to narrow your world to Him alone; this is a place of nakedness, where insights into the mystery of His person are firstly understood as intimacy before they are seen as knowledge for the edification of self and others.

This means that what He reveals is a shared intimacy between you and Him before it is depth to be shared with others.

I have known men who have perfected the art of “entering in the closet.” They understand the places of private prayer and solitude but have not understood that place in private prayer that ought to open them to the secret place of God.

It is from this secret place that men drink from eternal brooks.

In Psalms 91:1, He says, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

This secret place is a dwelling; a place where one consistently remains and abides.

Child of God, closets are dwelling places. However, when you understand this secret place of God, your personal closet becomes a dwelling place and not the occasional moments of prayer.

FURTHER STUDY: 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Psalms 27:4

GOLDEN NUGGET:
Closets are dwelling places.
However, when you understand this secret place of God, your personal closet becomes a dwelling place and not the occasional moments of prayer.

PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for your presence in my life. Thank you for who you are to me Lord and for the places that you are constantly drawing me. This day, I walk in the understanding of this secret place, of intimacy, of depth and of revelation. It is where I dwell and from where I drink. Because I drink from this bottomless brook, I will never run out. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

By Nature

Apostle Grace Lubega

2 Peter 1:4 (AMP); By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.

There are things that work inherently in us by reason of the nature we carry. The Bible says that we are partakers of the divine nature. Divinity is in your blood, your DNA is of the God gene. Hallelujah!

In this understanding, we no longer believe for the things that are natural to us.

For example,I cannot believe to walk when I have two properly functioning legs and can walk. I cannot believe to breathe because breathing comes naturally to me. I cannot believe to blink because it is automatic in my nature that I do so.

Like there are things that are natural to the physical man, there are also things that are natural to the Spirit man created in Christ Jesus.

A man who has understood the functioning of nature is above belief, it becomes knowledge.

For you child of God, it is by your nature that you heal; by your nature that you demonstrate power, it is by your nature that you cast out demons.

When you understand this, you don’t need to lay hands on people to heal them or for deliverance to manifest; your presence in a place is enough.

What a glory!

FURTHER STUDY: Ephesians 2:10, 2 Corinthians 3:6

GOLDEN NUGGET:

It is by your nature that you heal; by your nature that you demonstrate power, it is by your nature that you cast out demons.

PRAYER: My loving father, I thank you for this Word. Thank you for who you have made me to be. For I am not begotten by the will of man or of flesh and blood but I am begotten of God. I live my life in the glory of a child of the Most High. It is natural for me to demonstrate power! It is natural for me to be wise! It is natural for me to forgive! I walk in the fullness of this life. To the glory of your name. Amen!

The Humility In Revelation

Apostle Grace Lubega

Galatians 2:2 (KJV); And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.

Church history is full of accounts of the wide spread of doctrines that were never submitted to men of reputation.

All it took was for someone to be excited by a false light and unsound teaching would sometimes spread like a wildfire.

This birthed extremes in the times of revival.

Our theme scripture points us to the wisdom that creates the much needed balance.

It is important to submit some of these things to men of reputation, that is, men grounded in the faith and have gone ahead of you in the things of the Spirit.

The Bible says Paul “went up by revelation.”

The Amplified version expounds it this way; “I went because it was specially and divinely revealed to me that I should go, and I put before them the Gospel [declaring to them that] which I preach among the Gentiles. However, [I presented the matter] privately before those of repute, [for I wanted to make certain, by thus at first confining my communication to this private conference] that I was not running or had not run in vain [guarding against being discredited either in what I was planning to do or had already done].”

It is maturity to submit what you carry to men of reputation, lest you run in vain.

This wisdom will protect you from casting pearls to swine. It will preserve you from “the rending” by “swine” when what you share is trampled upon; it will teach you to weigh the spirits of the men to whom you minister and know what they can take or cannot take in any particular time. Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: Matthew 7:6, Acts 15:2

GOLDEN NUGGET:

It is maturity to submit what you carry to men of reputation, lest you run in vain. This wisdom will protect you from casting pearls to swine. It will preserve you from “the rending” by “swine” when what you share is trampled upon; it will teach you to weigh the spirits of the men to whom you minister and know what they can take or cannot take in any particular time.

PRAYER: My loving father, I thank you for your Word for this day. I thank you for this wisdom by which we minister. I walk by this pattern because it is not just divine instruction but it is after the true spirit of revelation. In this wisdom, I can never run in vain. To the glory of your name. Amen.