Heroes At The Altars Of Persecution

Apostle Grace Lubega

2 Timothy 3:12(KJV); Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Persecution was one of the defining marks of the early church. The Christians of that time wore it as a badge of honour, the hero’s medallion of victory against a fallen world.

During the age of Catholic Christianity (70 AD-312AD), it fuelled the spread of Christianity. Like Tetullian, a prolific early Christian author wrote, ‘the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

When we peer through the lens of history, we see a time when persecution against the Church seemed to disappear. This was during the age of imperial Christianity (312 AD to 590AD) after the emperor Constantine became a Christian and by edict made Christianity the empire’s religion.

The lessons from then are dire because the Church of Christ lapsed into a state of compromise from which it has never recovered.

The absence of persecution in the church at the time blinded many against the need for the sacrifice that preserves the integrity of truth; when the Church went to bed with the state and lay on the soft pillows of religious tolerance, it opened a window for the merger of pagan rituals with Christian practice.

Today, there are those who wish for a Christian utopia devoid of persecution. No. That is not the mind of God!

A certain level of persecution must never leave the Church. For if the Church ever finds itself at peace with the world then it must question who its present bedfellow is.

Child of God, count it all joy when you suffer persecution, for it is but the refining fire by which the militant Church matches triumphant. Glory to God!

FURTHER STUDY: Matthew 5:11, James 1:2

GOLDEN NUGGET: Count it all joy when you suffer persecution, for it is but the refining fire by which the militant church matches triumphant.

PRAYER: My loving God, I thank you for this Word. I stand in the confident truth that I am yours and count it such a great blessing and honour to suffer persecution for your name’s sake. I embrace it with grace knowing that I carry a crown of glory upon my life. My testimony of endurance brings many to the faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

An All Dimensional Glory

Apostle Grace Lubega

Matthew 27:50‭-‬53(KJV); Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many

The Spirit of Christ brings life to all things.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

When Christ gave up His ghost, the effect was that graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of their graves after His resurrection.

Imagine the power of such an anointing!

This is the anointing that will cause other lame men in your proximity to walk simply because you were praying for one lame man.

This is the anointing that will cause other blind eyes in your vicinity to open while you were praying for one blind man.

It is the glory that will follow you when you say, “God is healing this person” and even the ones behind and next to that person will get healed.

This is the glory that follows you when you pray for one nation and other nations receive that same blessing too.

This was the power at work in Christ.

This same Christ lives in the inside of you. You are destined to do much more child of God.

It started from Him giving up His ghost; yielding His life absolutely and totally into the hands of the Father.

Child of God, as you continue to yield to the Spirit, His power manifested through you works mightily to affect everything around you.

Praise the Lord!

FURTHER STUDY: 1 John 2:27 (AMPC), John 14:12-13

GOLDEN NUGGET: As you continue to yield to the Spirit, His power manifested through you works mightily to affect everything around you.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I thank You for this knowledge. I acknowledge the indwelling presence of Your Sweet Holy Spirit in my life. I am conscious of Your working in my life, and I yield myself wholly to His power. I walk in limitless glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Know Your God

Apostle Grace Lubega

Daniel 11:32 (KJV); …the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

One day, I went to preach at a certain school. The room had only fourteen students.

I asked God if He had sent me to preach to only fourteen students out of the thousands on that campus.

God told me, “No”. I then asked Him what I should do and He said, “Whatever you want.”

I instructed the fourteen students to go out and whichever student they touched, they were to tell them, “Follow me.”

Within minutes, the room was full to capacity, I practically had nowhere to stand.

The presence of God was so intense that day that the students were under the influence of the power of God for a long time.

Later, when I went back, I found that not only were the students flowing in the diverse gifts of the Holy Spirit, but the teaching staff was present for service because they had been reawakened to the God in their midst.

I had the choice to comfortably preach to the fourteen students; but I also had the liberty to stretch my faith in the God I knew could gather the hundreds of students outside the room.

Child of God, this testimony only serves one sole purpose: to stir your heart, and awaken you to what God is doing in our time!

Believe God for great and mighty things. He is ready and willing to perform these things on your behalf.

You will write history in your time!

The nations of this world yield to the anointing of God upon your life.

Blessed be God!

FURTHER STUDY: Matthew 19:26, Hebrews 11:6

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Believe God for great and mighty things. He is ready and willing to perform these things on your behalf.

PRAYER: My God, I thank You for this wisdom. I understand the covenant by which I have been called, and I know my God; I fulfil my purpose without hesitation. You set me up for great things, I am an eternal excellence and a joy of many generations. Great things shall be written of me. It shall be said that in my days, I saw God and His mighty working power. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Real World

Apostle Grace Lubega

Colossians 3:3(AMP); For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.

Child of God, what is reality?

Many people have restricted reality to what can be perceived by the physical senses; what they see, hear, smell, feel and taste.

But God has redefined reality for the new creature in Christ.

He says Christ is our reality.

Because Christ is our reality, He has set a pattern for us to understand what is real and what is not real.

For example, when Christ appeared to the disciples while they were locked up in a room (John 20:19), it is because He is more real than the building, the brick and mortar or the physical barricade of a door.

By the laws of eternity, what is true overrides what is fact, and thus forms the substance of reality.

When we use expressions such as “in the real world”, we are not talking about the physical world but the world in Christ.

Christ is what defines the highest degree of anything considered as real. His character and form is more distinctive than what you can see, hear, smell or feel.

There is a real economy in Christ. There is a real government in Christ. There is a real marriage in Christ. There is real health in Christ.

Child of faith, let Christ be your definition of the real world.

FURTHER STUDY: John 20:19, 2 Corinthians 4:18

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Christ is what defines the highest degree of anything considered as real. His character and form is more distinctive than what you can see, hear, smell or feel.

PRAYER: Father, I thank You for this great truth. My reality is framed by eternity and not what I see, hear, smell, feel or taste with my physical senses. I set my eyes on the things above where Christ is. I refuse to look at that which is temporary but that which is eternal. My marriage, ministry, business, career and entire life is defined by the reality of Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

To Know Jesus

Apostle Grace Lubega

1 Corinthians 2:2 (AMP); For I resolved to know nothing (to be acquainted with nothing, to make a display of the knowledge of nothing, and to be conscious of nothing) among you except Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and Him crucified.

Cornelius was the captain of the Italian regiment, a devout man of extraordinary character who worshipped God and prayed regularly, together with all his family. (Acts 10:1‭-‬2).

Cornelius had a relationship with God yet he was not a Jew.‬‬‬‬‬‬

In Luke 7:7, the Bible speaks of a Roman Centurion who told Jesus to only send a word and his servant would be healed(Luke 7:7).

This man knew Jesus could only send a word and healing is executed immediately but he was not a Jew.

The Bible speaks of the Samaritan woman who went back and told her people how she had met the Messiah, and the Samaritans believed. (John 4:5-42).

That means the Samaritans believed in the ministry of Jesus before the Jews did.

What about the disciples themselves? One day they found a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus, and they tried to stop him because he did not follow them (Mark 9:38).

This man could cast out devils yet the disciples sometimes failed to do so.

All these examples point to how those that are seemingly far from a relationship with God actually know God more than those who look like they have a relationship with Him.

Being Born Again does not mean that you know God. Attending a church where the truth of the Word is preached does not mean that you know Jesus.

You must honestly ask yourself the question, “Do I really know Him?”

In this, we learn from Paul. He was a man who was “born out of time.”(1 Corinthians 15:8). He never saw the Christ in the flesh or walked with Him like the other disciples did.

However, he made it the purpose of his life to know nothing else but Christ crucified. This was the centre of His ministry; to know God like God knew Him.

This is what makes the demons ask, “Paul we know but who are you?”( Acts 19:15).

The principalities knew Paul because he knew Jesus and God.

Child of God, like Paul, always be determined to be consumed with one thing, JESUS!

Make Him the focal point and essence of all your knowledge; this is what sets us apart.
Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: John 17:3, Philippians 3:8

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Always be determined to be consumed with one thing, JESUS; make Him the focal point and essence of all your knowledge; this is what sets us apart.

PRAYER: My heavenly Father, I thank You for this great knowledge. I purpose to only know and experience the one true God and His Son Jesus Christ. I lay hold of eternal life and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is my Life, my righteousness, sufficiency, and wisdom. He makes my life beautiful and fruitful. To the glory of Your name. Amen. ‬

Worship In Spirit And Truth

 Apostle Grace Lubega

John 4:24(KJV); God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

It is one thing to worship in spirit, another to worship in truth and another to worship both in spirit and truth.

True worship is done in SPIRIT and TRUTH.

God is deliberate in stating that it ought to be in both spirit and truth.

He is also deliberate in starting from the Spirit and not from truth because this is the true order of worship.

It begins from Spirit because God firstly seeks to establish the nature issue. You must know and understand that you are a spirit, like God is a Spirit.

This means that you do not worship as a man.

Mere men seek to distance themselves from the God; they worship because they do not understand that they are spirit.

God says, “He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Worship is the coming together of spirits; not man and spirit but spirit and spirit.

It is only when you understand worship in this order that you can worship in TRUTH.

FURTHER STUDY: 1 Corinthians 6:17, John 3:6

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Worship is the coming together of spirits; not man and spirit but spirit and spirit. It is only when you understand worship in this order that you can worship in TRUTH.

PRAYER: My Father, I thank You for this word for today. I worship in this understanding. I know the God I worship. He is the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who set the oceans on their course, who parts the seas and calms the storms. I am one with Him. In this truth, I live in the fullness of the life of the spirit, to the glory of Your Name. Amen.