The Instruction To Free Men

Apostle Grace Lubega

James 2:12 (NLT); so whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free.

The gospel is not one dimensional; it is multi-dimensional.

This is why the Word of God is called the Law of Liberty.

The Living Bible (TLB) version calls it the Law of free men.

It means that our freedom in Christ is so that we function in all the dimensions of the Spirit.

For example, there is no such thing as a calling to teach about prosperity only, healing only or healthy families only.

There is more to the gospel than focusing on only one area of the scriptures.

Why so?

You may teach a man to be rich and yet he is dying with disease.

You may teach a woman to make wealth and yet her marriage is breaking.

You may heal a man and he remains poor.

This does not mean that it is wrong to teach about wealth and money. However, don’t stop there; there is more to the gospel than that.

Christ is our pattern. He was not one dimensional but multidimensional in his teachings. This ought to be reflected not merely in the lives of ministers but believers too.

He taught about money, submission to spiritual authority, power and miracles, the person of the Holy Spirit, the mysteries of the kingdom, the power of Faith, the Word and its inherent work in us.

Christ healed but He did not make healing His entire ministry.

He prophesied but He did not make prophecy His entire ministry.

He taught on finances but He did not make this the sum total of His ministry.

He operated in the broadness of the Word and so should you, child of God.

FURTHER STUDY: John 8:32, Luke 4:18, Psalm 119:96

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Christ healed but did not make healing His entire ministry. He prophesied but He did not make prophecy His entire ministry. He taught on finances but He did not make this the sum total of His ministry. He operated in the broadness of the Word and so should you, child of God.

PRAYER: My God, I thank You for this timeless truth. I carry a clear understanding of Your instruction to free men. I decree and declare that I am above limitations. You said greater works shall I do. If You taught, I teach more. If You healed, I heal more. If you prophesied, I prophecy more. To the glory of Your name. Amen.

Faith, The Tenet Of An Excellent Sacrifice

Apostle Grace Lubega

Hebrews 11:4(KJV); By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Often times, we relate with faith that raises the dead, makes the lame walk and opens blind eyes.

Today, I want to introduce you to the faith that prompts “an excellent sacrifice”.

In Genesis 4:3-5; the Bible gives an account of how Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices unto the Lord.

However, God accepted Abel’s sacrifice while that of Cain was rejected.

The Lord asked Cain, “if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?”(Genesis 4:7).

The ‘doing well’ envisaged in this context had nothing to do with the size or nature of the sacrifice; it had everything to do with FAITH.

Hebrews 11:4(MSG) says, “By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he [believed], not what he [brought], that made the difference. That’s what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.”

Beloved, it’s not in the many sacrifices you make in and for the gospel. If FAITH is never attached to them “thou doest not well” before God!

Seek God, pray, fast, spend for the Gospel and be spent for it with the mind that it all starts from faith; that is AN EXCELLENT SACRIFICE!

FURTHER STUDY: Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 11:2-4, Galatians 5:6

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Seek God, pray, fast, spend for the Gospel and be spent for it with the mind that it all starts from faith; that is AN EXCELLENT SACRIFICE!

PRAYER: Heavenly Lord, I thank You for the gift of faith that is active and operative in me! I do all that I do in the knowledge that it is firstly by faith. I respond to what you are doing in me, God; for it is not by my power not by might but by Your Spirit. I pray in Faith, I give in faith and I serve in Faith. This testimony of faith makes me a distinctive minister! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hearken To Israel

Apostle Grace Lubega

Genesis 49:2(KJV); Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

In our theme scripture, the Bible paints a deep wisdom in the pattern of submission to spiritual authority.

It says, “hear, ye sons of Jacob; and HEARKEN UNTO ISRAEL YOUR FATHER.”

Throughout the scriptures, the Bible gives the distinction between Jacob and Israel.

For example, in Genesis 48:2, the Bible says, “And one told JACOB and said, Behold thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and ISRAEL STRENGTHENED himself and sat upon the bed…”

It speaks of how the Lord sent his Word to Jacob and it lit up Israel (Isaiah 9:8).
In Genesis 45:26-28, the Bible says, “And it was told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And JACOB’S heart fainted, for he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, THE SPIRIT OF JACOB their father revived: And ISRAEL said, It is enough…”

Jacob was the man of the flesh, the physical man. Israel on the other hand was the inner man.

The wisdom in submission herein is to HEARKEN TO ISRAEL.

That is why imitating a spiritual authority should not be merely after a physical pattern but a spiritual pattern.

When your spiritual authority does something, what has Israel done?
When he gives an instruction, what has Israel said?

Child of God, learn to hearken to spiritual authority not merely as one hearing ‘Jacob’ but as one hearkening to ‘Israel.’ Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: 1 Corinthians 11:1, 1 Thessalonians 2:13

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Learn to hearken to spiritual authority not merely as one hearing ‘Jacob’ but as one hearkening to Israel.

PRAYER: My loving God, I am grateful for this great and priceless wisdom. I choose to walk in this pattern every day. I receive spiritual instruction not merely as one listening to the words of a man or woman but to the words of God. In this understanding, I grow and mature in the things of the spirit; I receive impartation beyond what is spoken by the mouth but that which is transferred by the spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Understanding Spiritual Death

Apostle Grace Lubega

Colossians 3:3 (KJV); For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

As a regenerated being in Christ, you are dead to the flesh and the world. Your real life is in Christ.

This death is both by faith and consequently also by experience.

But what really is this spiritual death?

On one part, it is death to the riches of this world, the treasures of this life and the pleasures of the body.

The other part of this death is when God kills your lust.

For example, one might consider it a noble thing to desire the anointing, depth of revelation of God’s Word and a deeper manifestation of His presence.

God wants you to have all these but He does not wish to give them to you because you lusted for them.

This lust is when one desires and craves for spiritual things without divine purpose along with the desire.

In its way, it points to the fact that a man is still alive in the flesh although he desires something spiritual.

The danger of such a man is that when he receives these spiritual graces out of lust, he will use them for fleshly and carnal purposes because he is not truly dead in the flesh.

Beloved saint, allow the Spirit and the Word of God to work in you until you are dead to the flesh and no lust for the spiritual things can be found in you.

May you yield to these death experiences because it is in them that you truly live unto God.

FURTHER STUDY: John 3:30, Galatians 6:14

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Allow the Spirit and the Word of God to work in you until you are dead to the flesh and no lust for the spiritual things can be found in you. May you yield to these death experiences because it is in them that you truly live unto God.

PRAYER: My Lord, I thank You for this Word. What a blessed truth, that I can only die to the flesh so that I may live in You. I yield my spirit to You every day that I may decrease and You may increase. Consume me Lord until I am no more. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

God Is Personal

Apostle Grace Lubega

Daniel 11:32(KJV); …They that know their God shall do mighty exploits.

As a believer, you can only function in the things of the spirit to the extent of your knowledge of God.

The reason why some Christians jump from church to church and from ministry to ministry, hunting for miracles is because they do not KNOW God.

The reason why people perpetually skip from one man or woman of God is because they do not know God.

Stop thinking that someone has to be available to seek God for you; you cannot depend on another man’s relationship with God.

God must become personal to you.

Awake to this understanding child of God.

He is not only your Pastor’s God or your prayer partner’s God.

He is your God and you ought to know Him like He knows you. Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: 2 Timothy 1:12, Philippians 3:10

GOLDEN NUGGET:

You can only function in the things of the spirit to the extent of your knowledge of God. Stop thinking that someone has to be available to seek God for you; you cannot depend on another man’s relationship with God.

PRAYER: My God, I thank You for the opportunity to know You. It is eternal life to launch into the depths of the knowledge of who You are. I choose to yield my spirit to a deeper knowledge of You. My God You are personal to me and You are in every detail of my life. You are my Friend, Counsellor, Comforter, Strength and Guide. Every day You reveal Yourself to me and I grow deeper in this intimacy. To the glory of Your name. Amen.

The Folly In Anger

Apostle Grace Lubega

Numbers 20:10-12(KJV); And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

The distance between some people and their success is anger.

Some cling to their temper like it is some sort of virtue.

I have heard Christians boast about what a great temper they have. No one should dare to cross them because they will “change colour.”

Beloved saint, what other colour do you have that is not the colour of love?

It was out of anger that Moses killed an Egyptian man and buried him in the sand (Exodus 2:11).

The result?

For forty years, he never heard the voice of God again. Forty years!

It was out of anger that Moses broke the stone tablets(Exodus 32:19).

The result?

He had to rewrite them yet what was done before had been written by the very finger of God.

In our theme scripture, it is out of anger that Moses struck the rock twice.

The result?

God refused him to enter the Promised Land.

What a sad thing!

The Bible says, never let the sun go down on your anger (Ephesians 4:26).

This means you should never allow it to eat up your spirit.

It is ungodly to keep anger.

Let go. Allow God through His grace to heal your heart. He is our balm; there is no hurt He cannot soothe.

His name be praised.

FURTHER STUDY: Colossians 3:8, Ephesians 4:26

GOLDEN NUGGET:

The distance between some people and their success is anger. It is ungodly to keep anger. Let go. Allow God through His grace to heal your heart.

PRAYER: My God, I am grateful for Your Word. I refuse to keep anger in my spirit because it is not Your nature and neither is it mine. You are not a God of wrath but of mercy. I know the colour of love and it lives inside of me. Your love has been shed abroad in my heart and it is by this love that I function every day: to forgive, let go and to turn the other cheek. To the glory of Your name. Amen.

Of Spiritual Maturity

Apostle Grace Lubega

Mark 4:17(AMP); And they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become displeased, indignant, resentful) and they stumble and fall away.

Every Word of God that you hear seeks to mature you.

That is why our theme scripture explains that there are troubles and persecutions that arise on ACCOUNT OF THE WORD: they do not seek to destroy you but merely to test your strength in that very Word.

Sadly, some Christians fail in this requirement of maturity when the things that attack them seek to only test how mature they are.

How do you respond when you lack? How do you respond when things are not working the way you feel they should? How do you respond when everything seems to be against you yet you are truly a man or woman of God?

Maturity is when everything in you is ready to give in to what is not godly and you choose to do the good that the Word requires of you.

Spiritual babies fall for anything.

However, when you continue to grow, you get to the point where you always choose the path of the Word of God.

It is saying ‘I believe’, when the winds of life are contrary to your faith.

It is loving when you are hated.

It is choosing to forgive when you are ill-treated especially by fellow brethren.

It is refusing to observe lying vanities when they seem to speak louder than the truth you know.

That is maturity and God finds it honourable!

FURTHER STUDY: 2 Timothy 2:3, 1 Peter 5:8-9

GOLDEN NUGGET:

Maturity is when everything in you is ready to give in to what is not godly and you choose to do the good that the Word of God requires of you. It is saying ‘I believe’, when the winds of life are contrary to your faith. It is loving when you are hated. It is choosing to forgive when you are ill-treated especially by fellow brethren. It is refusing to observe lying vanities when they seem to speak louder than the truth you know.

PRAYER: My loving God, thank You for Your Word. It grows me every day! I am yielded to it. I refuse to be a leaking vessel. My reflex responses are Word responses. In every place and circumstance, I look to it because it is my strength, shield and buckler. I choose to walk the way of the Word in all that I do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

A Generation That Seeks His Face

Apostle Grace Lubega

Psalms 24:6(KJV); This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

We are a generation that seeks the face of God.

We do not seek God as those that have never been found by Him; we seek as those who know that He sought for us and found us.

He says, knock and the door shall be opened (Matthew 7:7).

We are knocking that the door be opened but we do not forget that the door is Christ. He is the access to everything that we need.

We are not seeking God because we have not seen Him; we seek God because we have seen Him.

It is the glory we behold that sends us back to the closet because nothing on the earth can match it.

It is the treasures of wisdom that we receive in our spirits that cause us to tarry in His presence.

It is the answers that we find to the questions we never asked that keep us in His presence.

Child of God, we are a generation that prays but you must have this understanding of how we seek Him.

Seek Him with a vision of the FINISHED WORK.

Seek Him with a vision of the end of the very things we seek.

His name be praised!

FURTHER STUDY: Matthew 7:7-8, Psalms 27:4

GOLDEN NUGGET:

We are a generation that seeks the face of God. We do not seek God as those that have never been found by Him; we seek as those who know that He sought us and found us.

PRAYER: My Lord, I thank You for this great wisdom. I seek Your face in this understanding. I know that I am found. I go to Your presence as one responding to an invitation. You have not called Jacob to seek You in vain. I bask in the endless treasures and pleasures of abiding in You. To the glory of Your name. Amen.

The Net On The Right Side

Apostle Grace Lubega

John 21:5-6(KJV); Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

The first question Jesus asked the disciples the morning He met them was, “Children, have you any meat?”

The disciples had been at sea toiling the whole night with no single catch of fish and the reason was because they had no MEAT.

“MEAT” is an allegory of “doing the will of God.”

Our Lord once told them, “My meat is to do the will of my Father.”(John 4:34).

The Christ had told these men that He would make them fishers of men. This was the will of the father for their lives.

Child of God, it does not matter how hard you toil, if you are labouring outside God’s divine assignment for your life, you will never catch “fish”.

When you labour outside the will of God, you can never produce the fruit God desires from you.

The blessed news is that He has made known unto us the mystery of His will (Ephesians 1:9).

We are not like them that labour without fruit. Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY: John 4:34, Hebrews 5:14

GOLDEN NUGGET:

When you labour outside the will of God, you can never produce the fruit God desires from you.

PRAYER: My God, I thank You for this truth. I have a great understanding of Your will and it is the starting place of all my labours in the gospel. I am not merely in the permissible will but the perfect will You have for my life. That is why whatsoever I touch prospers; that is why I am increasing on every side; that is why I abound in blessings. To the glory of Your name. Amen

Keilah The Fortress

Apostle Grace Lubega

1 Samuel 23:12(KJV); Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver [thee] up.

In the days of David, Keilah was a city found in the lowlands of Judah.

The name Keilah means Fortress, a garrison for military purposes to defend cities and towns.

In 1Samuel 23:1-5; David and his men went to Keilah and helped it smite the Philistines that had attacked its inhabitants.

In 1Samuel 23:7-8; King Saul planned an attack on David who had taken refuge at Keilah.

When David inquired from the Lord about what he should do, God clearly told him that the people of Keilah would deliver him up to King Saul from whom he was fleeing.

It was human wisdom that the men of Keilah extend the same gesture toward David and his men in case King Saul attacked but this was not so.

David would have relied on Keilah-the fortress for defence and protection, but the mind of God proved otherwise.

This is the folly of relying on the arm of flesh.

Sometimes, the arm of flesh seems like the most obvious choice; it spells strength and protection yet in fact it is a snare.

It is wisdom to seek the mind of God when life offers you colourful options.

It is God that knows the secrets of the hearts of men.

Child of God; amidst any attacks and threats on your life, marriage or ministry before looking to men as the most appealing choice, look to God.

He must always be the first option.

FURTHER STUDY: Jeremiah 17:5(AMP), Proverbs 24:10

GOLDEN NUGGET:
It is wisdom to seek the mind of God when life offers you colourful options. It is God that knows the secrets of the hearts of men. Amidst any attacks and threats on your life, marriage or ministry before looking to men as the most appealing choice, look to God.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord for Your Word. I listen for Your voice every time and in every place. You are not just an option, You are my only option. I am instructed by You in all that I do. Your Word lights my path and paves my way. In Jesus name! Amen

Things That Make Ministers: The Travails Of Gesthemene

Apostle Grace Lubega

Luke 22:41-44(KJV); And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Success in ministry is not by mistake; no one automatically becomes a great man of God.

Sometimes, people admire the manifestations of the anointing, the increase in numbers of congregants, the opportunities to stand before thousands and minister Christ but they never ask how the man or woman of God got to that place in the first place.

There are tests child of God.

Christ is our true pattern in all of this.

His travails in Gethsemane point to the groans, travails and the bleeding that makes men true ministers of the gospel.

Our Lord and master cried unto God, “if thou be willing, take this cup from me….”

It means that there are times when you will be pushed to give up. Things may come against you that will make you want to throw in the towel but God will always strengthen you like he sent the angels to strengthen the Christ.

In Gethsemane, our Lord bled. This is the bleeding of the minister that aligns him or her to divine assignment.

There are men who merely sweat; they labour greatly for the sake of the gospel; they are faithful servants in the Kingdom of God and have given their all for the furtherance of the gospel.

However, it is one thing to merely sweat but it is another thing when a man does not merely sweat but he bleeds in his sweating.

The man who bleeds in his sweating has laid his very life at the altar of ministry and service to God.

This bleeding shows us that the price of ministry is not just sweat; it is blood.

The transition from merely a believer to being a minister requires that you understand this experience.

His name be praised!

FURTHER STUDY: 2 Corinthians 6:3-10, 2 Timothy 2:3

GOLDEN NUGGET:

The price of ministry is not just sweat; it is blood. The man who bleeds in his sweating has laid his very life at the altar of ministry and service to God. The transition from merely a believer to being a minister requires that you understand this experience.

PRAYER: Father, I thank You for this Word. God, I am available as one You have equipped and trained for ministry. If there be tests, trials and travails, I choose to yield my spirit to Your will and not mine. I understand the cup and the blood of the minister and like Paul, I choose to endure hardness like a good soldier with my eyes set on the prize of heaven. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

A Personal Journey

Apostle Grace Lubega

Genesis 32:24(KJV); And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day

There are battles you cannot fight with the crowd.

In such instances, even those who love you deeply are limited in how far they can go in fighting for and with you.

It is a good thing to have prayer partners, people you meet with to share your pain and to have them stand with you in prayer; this is scriptural. The Bible says that when two or three agree concerning anything they ask, the same shall be granted them (Matthew 18:19).

Corporate prayer has its place but it also has its limits when it comes to the things of warfare and to the places you as an individual must go with God.

In our theme scripture, Jacob, could only walk this part of his journey alone. The scriptures speak of a time when our Lord Jesus took Peter, James and John to join Him in His time of great travail.

The events of that day revealed how personal some journeys are.

Regardless of how much Christ asked the disciples to watch and pray, they were overtaken by the demands of the body for physical rest (Matthew 26:37-46).

Blessed saint, there is a price of prayer that can only be paid for individually.

As a Christian, you must know that in certain places in God, you can only journey alone. At specific points in your life, you must be able to identify the fact that you can only fight that part alone with your God.

FURTHER STUDY: Mark 14:32-42, Luke 21:36

GOLDEN NUGGET:

There is a price of prayer that can only be paid for individually.

PRAYER: Father, I thank You for this wisdom. I understand the place of personal prayer as a necessity for growth in the things of the Spirit. Today I make the choice to take this journey in the knowledge that it is not by power not by might but by Your Spirit. I yield to the grace that causes me to pray and the spirit that enables me to tarry in these places of solitude. To the glory of Your name. Amen.