Of The State Of The Heart

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.

God wants to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward Him.

This means that the state of our hearts will always determine how far we can go in God.

David was a man after God’s own heart(1 Samuel 13:14). It was his desire to show the glory of God to his generation and the generations to come(Psalms 71:18).

However, David said in Psalms 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

He was humble enough to ask God to search his heart.

Yes, he was a man who wanted to declare God’s glorious wonders in his generation and the generations to come but it was important to him that his heart be examined before God.

There is a man of God believing for a big ministry but he wants the numbers in order to make a name for himself, his heart is not perfect toward God.

There is a Christian hungry for the anointing but he wants it to show people how powerful he can be, his heart is not perfect toward God.

God is ready to expose you to deeper places in Him, to elevate you in the spirit but the question is, “Is your heart perfect toward God?”

This is why in the pursuit of any thing in the name of the gospel and of Christ, we have to get to the place of deep personal reflection, to allow God to deal with us and in us, that when the things of the spirit are added to us, we can never use them for vice.

FURTHER STUDY: Psalms 26:2, Mathew 5:8

GOLDEN NUGGET:
The state of our hearts will always determine how far we can go in God.

PRAYER: My Lord, I thank you for this Word. In humility, I break before you that you will deal with me Lord. I yield to the instruction of your spirit in the true patterns of ministry and the wisdom by which we grow in the things of the spirit. To the glory of your name. Amen.

In The Realm Of God

Apostle Grace Lubega

1 Corinthians 15:50(KJV); Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

The realm of God is our dwelling place. It’s not our visiting place.

The first man had Eden for a place of dwelling. Eden in itself had been designed for a man who was corruptible by nature, that is the first Adam.

As a new creature in Christ, you are incorruptible. God has not restored you to Eden. In fact, there is no such thing as a new Eden.

What we as children of God have entered into is called the kingdom of God.

It is the realm of God; where God works and from where He functions.

Ours is more than a garden and neither are we limited by the knowledge of good and evil.

In the realm in which we have been translated, we see God the way He sees Himself and the way He sees us is the way we see ourselves.

In this realm, we stand in the assurance that we have received His fullness (John 1:16); we know all things (1 John 2:20); all things pertaining to us are of God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).

Glory!

FURTHER STUDY: 1 John 2:20, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21

GOLDEN NUGGET:

The realm of God is our dwelling place. It’s not our visiting place.

PRAYER: Father, I thank you for this truth. I have been translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. It is from that realm that I live and function; from that realm that I see and hear. I walk and live in heaven consciousness. My life and all its patterns are defined by the ream of God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Principles, Laws And Patterns

Apostle Grace Lubega

Romans 15:4 (KJV); For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

The instruction of the scriptures can be understood in three ways: principles, laws, and patterns.

The principles are the things that we are required by scripture to do; the patterns are what we imitate and the laws are the things by which we function by virtue of our nature.

The Word of God will always point you to a principle, a pattern or a law.

However, it is important to understand that all of these function by grace.

There are those who are very set on the principles and practice them diligently but their efforts are of works and have not yielded to the working of the grace of God in and through them.

There are those who are keen on the patterns laid out by the scriptures but they forget the person of grace, Christ who is the ultimate pattern.

Some understand the laws of the spirit and seek to embrace them outside the grace by which these laws must function in them.

Not so, child of God.

Every time a person seeks to practice principles, follow patterns and function by the laws of the spirit in their own ability, they short circuit the flow of the grace of God.

When you short circuit the flow of the grace of God, you limit the extent to which you can go in achieving what you ought to achieve.

You must always maintain a vulnerability before God through grace.

His name be praised!

FURTHER STUDY: Philippians 2:13, 1 Corinthians 15:10

GOLDEN NUGGET:

The instruction of the scriptures can be understood in three ways: principles, laws, and patterns. The principles are the things that we do or have been done; the patterns are what we imitate and the laws are the things by which we function by virtue of our nature.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank you for this Word. I read and study the scriptures in this understanding. I receive instruction in this knowledge, to see the principles you have laid out, the patterns you show and the laws you have established. By grace, I yield to this wisdom and grow through it every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Beyond Forms

Apostle Grace Lubega

Luke 24:14-16(MSG); They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them. But they were not able to recognize who he was.

It is impossible by human standards to be unable to recognise a person you have known for some years after merely three days of absence.

But this is what happened to the Christ in our theme scripture.

Why could they not recognise Him?

He had come in a different form.

The same is bound to happen every time believers are DEPENDENT upon FORMS to experience the Lord rather than upon true spiritual discernment.

This is the reason why some continue to miss and misunderstand HIM.

To the Israelites in the desert, He was the rock from which they drank(1 Corinthians 10:4).

Even His appearance in the flesh on the earth should be understood for what it was, a form.

After His death, Paul cautions us not to regard Him after the flesh(2 Corinthians 5:16).

Deception is not just misunderstanding doctrines or principles; deception can be the limitations you set in your mind to relate with the Lord based on the forms in which He reveals himself.

Christ is bigger and deeper than the forms through which He manifests.

When you open your mind to this understanding, you open yourself to greater experiences of Him!

FURTHER STUDY: 2 Corinthians 5:16 Amp, 1 Corinthians 10:1-4

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Christ is bigger and deeper than the forms through which He manifests. When you open your mind to this understanding, you open yourself to greater experiences of Him!

PRAYER: My heavenly Father, what a spectacular truth! Thank you for lifting the scales off my eyes never to regard you from a purely human point of view or by the many forms you reveal yourself. This knowledge causes me to dig into a more deeper relationship with the very person of Christ. I am not indifferent to you my Lord and in this understanding, I am drawn into deeper experiences. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

You Can Never Run Out

Apostle Grace Lubega

John 1:16(KJV); And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace

I once heard a man say that it is his life’s desire to go to the grave ’empty.’

The statement sounded true but when weighed against the scriptures, it was deceptive.

As a Child of God, you can never be empty, whether in life or in death.

God dwells in you and has entrusted you with stewardship of the mysteries of heaven(1 Corinthians 4:1).

What this means is that He has entrusted you with infinite things.

He says, no eye has seen, ear heard or heart imagined what the Lord has prepared for those that love Him but He has revealed them to us(1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

What is inside you cannot end simply because your earthly life has ended.

God has called you an eternal excellence(Isaiah 60:15). He is in you; you cannot run empty.

Out of you flow rivers of living water(John 7:38). These rivers do not run out simply because your life is at an end.

We leave the earth not because we are empty but because we have finished our part.

For as long as you are alive, you will always be full; revelation and divine truth will always flow out of you.

Arise to this consciousness!

FURTHER STUDY:1 Corinthians 2:9, Isaiah 60:15

GOLDEN NUGGET:
For as long as you are alive, you will always be full; revelation and divine truth will always flow out of you.

PRAYER: Father, I thank you for this truth. I stand in the confidence that I am full. The bottomless things of God are in me. What is in me is for generations to come because it will never run out. In this life and the next, I am doing things that echo through eternity because I have understood this infinite truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

To Be A Pattern

Luke 12:48(KJV); …For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

The responsibility of every child of God to whom much has been entrusted is to become a pattern to them that must come after.

Everything that is added to you, whether it is the anointing, glory or power comes with this responsibility.

Take the example of the life of Christ. He was anointed of God; He was mantled and crowned with wisdom; He was strong in power.

The testimony of His life is that whatsoever He did was a pattern to be followed.

The way He healed teaches; the way He related with His persecutors, disciples, rulers and children teaches; the way He responded to situations teaches.

There are those who look at the anointing and glory as a means to a better life for them; a way for them to have enough to feed their children and have bigger homes.

That is a narrow and shallow view of divine purpose.

You owe the world something and heaven is counting on you.

You must look at yourself as a pattern.

Your life must be that whenever someone looks at you, you are like a book that teaches them about God whenever they read it.

Glory to God!

FURTHER STUDY: 1 Corinthians 4:2, 2 Corinthians 3:2

GOLDEN NUGGET:

The responsibility of every child of God to whom much has been entrusted is to become a pattern to them that must come after.

PRAYER: Father God, I thank you for this instruction. You have invested too much in me that I can never be mediocre. Greatness is my portion and story. I am an epistle written by the spirit and read by all men. When the world looks at me, it sees the great work that you are doing in and by me. My life teaches and instructs. To the glory of your name. Amen.

Do Your Part

Apostle Grace Lubega

Luke 16:10 (KJV); He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

God rewards faithfulness above gift.

I have been approached by Christians who seek to know their destinies and what they will be in the future.

Indeed, the Lord by His grace may allow a minister to see your future and what it is you must become but that should not be the primary focus for a man or woman on a journey of purpose.

Even if it is good to know where you are going, it is important that you do your part in the small things that you have been entrusted with now.

Simply because God has called you to be a great minister who will stand before multitudes does not mean that you start to find ways of gaining access to a pulpit and the spotlight.

Some Christians who know that great destinies await them have folded their hands and are waiting for those destinies to somehow fall into their laps.

That is not how it works, child of God.

Moses’ calling was to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt and lead them into the Promised Land but he had to be faithful at the point when God put him to tend Jethro’s sheep.

Joseph was called to be a great statesman. He had a dream where he saw his family bowing to him but there was a process that required faithfulness under the hand of Potiphar.

Yes, you have a great call upon your life. Your future is bright and your destiny is great.

However, as led by God, you ought to find something to do and to be faithful in that.

If it is ministry, be part. If it is responding to instructions on the altar, do so.

As you are faithful in the little, you will be propelled toward your God-given destiny.

FURTHER STUDY: 1 Corinthians 4:2, Matthew 25:21

GOLDEN NUGGET:

God rewards faithfulness above gift.

PRAYER: Loving father, I thank you for this instruction. I receive it in humility because this is the wisdom by which I grow. What a great privilege to serve the Almighty God! I do so with the greatest joy wherever you have placed me. I choose to be both available and committed Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

God Of Faithfulness

Apostle Grace Lubega

Isaiah 66:9(KJV); Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.

God finishes what He starts.

It is not in His nature to begin and not end something because He Himself is the beginning and the end.

Like our theme scripture reveals, He is not the God who can bring a woman to the point of birth and does not cause her to bring forth.

God has not brought you this far to let you fail.

He has not brought you this far to allow what He started to be ended by the enemy.

He has invested too much in you.

That is why, regardless of the circumstance you might be facing, you will come out because God is not done yet.

No matter how bad the diagnosis is, you will not die because the Lord is not yet done!

Walk with this understanding. Face your days in this blessed assurance.

His name be praised!

FURTHER STUDY: Revelation 1:8, Hebrews 12:2

GOLDEN NUGGET:

God finishes what He starts. It is not in His nature to begin and not end something because He Himself is the beginning and the end.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank you for this Word. What truth! I stand in the knowledge that you are for me. I am yours and you are mine, you are the author and the finisher of everything pertaining to my life. Nothing is done until you say so. Nothing has ended until you say so. This is my song of victory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Principles Of The Birthright: Lessons From Reuben

Apostle Grace Lubega

Genesis 35:22(KJV); And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard it.

Reuben was Jacob’s eldest son(Genesis 35:23).

He was his father’s “might, the beginning of his strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power”(Genesis 49:3).

However, there is something that Reuben did that greatly affected his position in the spirit.

Reuben, like our theme scripture reveals, slept with his father’s concubine Billah. In Genesis 49:4, his father told him that he was “unstable as water and shall not excel because he went up to his father’s bed and defiled it.”

What was the effect?

In Matthew 1, when the Bible speaks of the genealogy of Christ, Reuben is not considered as the firstborn of Jacob. The Bible says in Matthew 1:2; “And Jacob begat Judas and his brethren.”

What does this tell us about the principles of the birth right?

What you do to your father, whether biological or spiritual can affect your birth right.

In your home, labour not to grieve the heart of your parent.

As a child in any ministry, seek peace in all things.

If you are part of a vision, let it not be that you are building your own and not associating for the sake of what you stand to benefit.

Let your actions speak of a purity of heart that is not after selfish gain.

FURTHER STUDY: Hebrews 13:17, 1 Timothy 5:17

GOLDEN NUGGET:

What you do to your father can affect your birth right. This includes both biological and spiritual fathers. As a child in any ministry, seek peace in all things.

PRAYER: Lord, I am grateful for this wisdom. I understand the patterns of submission and live by their dictates. I respect spiritual authority and give honour where honour is due. By your grace, I grow in what it means to treat those who have gone before me with the esteem they deserve. To the glory of your name. Amen.

To Believe Without Seeing

Apostle Grace Lubega

John 20:29(MSG); Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.”

It is a great liberty to see Christ as He is in the Spirit.

There is a blessing that follows this revelation and understanding. As such, the scriptures have declared that blessed are those who believe without seeing.

The reason why this is a great liberty is because to behold Christ in His spiritual form is to behold Him in all dimensions. That is where the limitlessness of the experience of the Christ is.

Christ delights in manifesting and ministering to you in the spiritual form more than in the physical. This is because the formation of all we see has its source and genesis from that which is spiritual.

We are spiritual beings with occasional human experiences, and not human beings with occasional spiritual experiences.

It is possible to see Jesus everyday and everywhere; if our focus shifts to the Christ, who now has His habitation, in the hearts of men.

Glory to God!

FURTHER STUDY: 1Peter 1:8, Luke 13:35,

GOLDEN NUGGET:

We are spiritual beings with occasional human experiences and not human beings with occasional spiritual experiences.

PRAYER: Blessed Savior, I thank you for this day. Thank you for choosing me to be your habitation and dwelling place. I am not limited to what my eyes can see . I define your manifest presence with what I experience in the spirit. I see you as I ought to see you, through the very lens of eternity and of the Word. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The God Of The House

Apostle Grace Lubega

Genesis 28:17-19; 35:7(KJV); And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel… And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

Denominations have no place in Christ.

In Him there is neither Jew nor Greek, male or female, slave nor free, Catholic or Pentecostal, Baptist or Methodist, Anglican or Protestant (Galatians 3:28).

But the sad reality is that the body of Christ is heavily denominated, majorly along doctrinal lines.

There is a tendency for men to worship affiliations above the person of Christ; Christ is no longer sacred but what the affiliation regards as truth is what is sacred.

This is attachment to “the House of God.” It is hinging your faith on your church and how it does what it does; it is what the denomination believes and not what the Bible teaches as truth.

In our theme scripture, God takes Jacob from the experience of ‘Bethel’ translated to mean the House of God to El-Bethel, translated to mean the God of the house.

God was interested in Jacob getting to know Him as God and not merely the “House.”

God expects the church of Christ to grow past attachments to religious assemblies or an association to the knowledge of Him.

He calls us to understand His nature, desires, thoughts, and purposes.

His name be praised!

FURTHER STUDY: Ephesians 4:13-15, John 17:3

GOLDEN NUGGET:

God expects the church of Christ to grow past attachments to religions of men to the knowledge of His person in the face of Jesus Christ.

PRAYER: Father, thank you for this Word. I receive it in humility and with understanding. My heart is ready and pants after a deeper experience with you. I choose to lay aside what I think I know and launch out into deeper waters of the knowledge of you. May knowing you be my daily experience. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Power Of Praise

Apostle Grace Lubega

2 Chronicles 20:21-24(KJV); And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth forever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

In our extensive weapon armoury as children of the Most High God, the Lord of Heaven’s armies and the Lord of Sabaoth, praise is a great weapon of choice.

King Jehoshaphat in our theme scripture employed it rather beautifully.

He was faced with a battle against a great multitude of the Moabites and Ammonites.

He could have chosen fear, despair or anger against God for allowing this to happen. However, he chose to praise God and see what happened!

When he chose to praise God, the battle was shifted into the capable hands of the Lord Himself.

The Bible reveals that real confusion befell the enemy camp; the Ammonites and Moabites turned against their allies, the inhabitants of Mount Seir. Having destroyed them, they turned against each other.

Imagine that!

Praise is the confirmation of your affirmed victory in God.

That is why when you come to praise, don’t spare, forget about your neighbour or the person that will weigh you on the scales of propriety, just praise!

If you are moved to dance, dance! If it is worship, forget everything else and worship the Most High God.

If you ever find yourself faced with the enemy’s advancing battle, don’t despair, simply put on your dancing shoes and praise God!

Glory to God!

FURTHER STUDY: 2 Samuel 6:14, Acts 16:25-26

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Praise is the confirmation of your affirmed victory in God.

PRAYER: Loving father, I thank you for this wisdom in the art of war. Regardless of what I am going through, I choose to praise you through the storm. You, my God, inhabit the praises of your people; you my Lord break through prison doors when we choose to praise. With my heart lifted up, I praise and worship you. In this is my victory; in this is my breakthrough. To the glory of your name. Amen.