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.