Understanding the will of God concerning your personal life is a very important aspect of your faith journey. For many Christians today, one of life’s biggest questions is, “What is my purpose for living on earth?”
Recently speaking to the nation during a live show on Lighthouse television, Apostle Grace Lubega of Phaneroo Ministries International pointed out that many times Christians find themselves at the crossroads of decision, regarding life, career, ministry, family and many other aspects.
Apostle Grace Lubega was in the company of Pastor Sam Muyinda, who highlighted a category of people who only want to know the will of God concerning their lives, “when it fits their comfort and convenience.”
“Sometimes we look to who we are (our abilities and our own strengths), than have confidence and trust in God. To understand the purpose of God for our lives is to yield and have confidence and trust in the absoluteness of His will,” Apostle Grace observed. “Our way of doing things sometimes deludes us from what God wants, because we don’t see the end.”
“I have seen that one decision can affect your life forever, positively or negatively. You don’t know how many people took the flight they were not supposed to take, entered a car they were not supposed to enter, or stepped into the relationship they were not supposed to. You don’t know how many people opted for a career that they were not supposed to do, and many other aspects,” he stated. “The results have been costly; some reversible, some irreversible.”
Apostle Grace Lubega then quoted Psalms 37:23 which says, ‘The steps of the righteous man are ordered by the Lord.’ He stated that this scripture has helped him understand how God works within us to fulfill His will.
“When we understand what it means for the steps of a righteous man to be ordered of the Lord, there is faith, first and foremost, to believe that before I even make a decision to walk, God is ordering my steps. The only way we can come to the full realization of our consciousness is to respond by the spirit of faith. Do you know the power that comes with a man knowing that God is going to speak to me?” Apostle Lubega explained.
“The essence of our faith is to allow the voice of God to come in precision and clarity to give direction because we’ve chosen to believe Him – They’re people praying, ‘oh God speak to me,’ but they’re not sure that God will speak to them. Listen, there is a place where it goes just beyond hope, to the knowledge, understanding and confident assurance in your spirit, that God will speak. When you position yourself in a place where you’re sure God will speak. He always speaks. He speaks, but not many people are ready to believe that actually God is going to speak,” he said.
Apostle Grace Lubega noted that in his early years, it was hard for him to draw the distinction between him thinking and God speaking. Many times, Apostle Grace revealed, God would impress things on his mind, and by the time he got to know that God was speaking, it was already too late to save whatever had to be saved.
“God says, ‘It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.’ In other words, whatever God speak to you, comes in Spirit form. The words of the Spirit are faster than the wiring of a human thought. For me, it was how quick something dropped in my spirit. There is a speed at which divine inspiration and revelation falls; So, every time thoughts came quicker than I could think, many times I could provoked myself to ask God, ‘Are you talking to me about something that is not in the physical world?'” he said.
He quoted Acts 10:19, “While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you.'”
Aside Pastor Sam Muyinda, the panel of speakers also included Pastor Zac Mutyaba who stated that God’s leading has a certain result in life that it ought to produce.
He drew attention to believers who begin to doubt the voice of God as soon as they face adversaries during their mission.
“Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 16:9 said, ‘For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.’ That means the Lord can send you somewhere, but there could be as few issues, which still, He will take you through,” Pastor Zac Mutyaba said, noting that the Word of God will confirm what the Spirit of God says.
The preachers also noted that the ultimate place where the will and purpose of God for our lives starts is with being born-again.
Apostle Grace Lubega in his submission emphasized that even when one’s steps are ordered by the Lord, the “principles of instruction” is still vital.
Ministry has principles, he said, if I frustrate the principles of the Spirit, it does not matter whether God has sent me to a place or not.
“It’s [essential] for you to ask God to give you the eyes of vision to see things the way He sees them. When Moses sent Joshua and Caleb to explore Canaan (Numbers 13), they had to make a choice; see things the way God sees them, or stay in their view, and see things the way they are seen by human beings. You can be correct and not true. It’s important to understand that truth is seeing things from God’s perspective,” he said.
Instructions and the will of God
Apostle Grace Lubega drew the audience to pages in the bible where for one to execute God’s will for his/her life, that individual had to be keen about instructions and timing.
Following Genesis chapter 6 , Apostle Lubega stated that God didn’t just tell Noah to build an ark; rather, God gave specific instructions on how the ark was to be built:
“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside. This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within 18 inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.” (Genesis 6:14-16)
Apostle Lubega said if Noah had missed one centimeter of the ark’s dimensions, all would be gone. He illustrated the same point with a man named Bezalel who was chosen by God to build the Ark of the Covenant.
“I tell people, the highest level of the presence of God is [in] getting the instructions 100%,” he said.
“The things they used during the construction were ordinary material, and they did not have the presence of God until the pattern was clear,” he said.
‘It took me too long to start a ministry’
In regard to timing, Apostle Grace Lubega revealed some misunderstandings about what it means to wait on God. He stated that God redeems time, relationships, dreams, hopes and purpose among others.
“The literal definition of ‘waiting on the Lord,’ in the Hebrew is ‘holding back as one who is confident that God is ahead of you,'” he said.
“It took me too long to start a ministry. The peers who started ministry 10-15 years before me kept provoking me saying, ‘by this time you would be this far.’ But you see, five years later, we have 10,000 members attending Thursday [prayer meetings]. We have 76 live-streaming centers across the country. Our programs air on TBN Africa, Faith World TV. India is watching us, and this is just within 5th year,” he remarked.
“I have noticed that for us who learnt to wait on God, at the end of the conversation, we seem to be ahead of those who seemed were redeeming time,” he explained. “Sometimes we think that if we miss an opportunity, another one will not come. It does not matter how much I miss, if I’ve missed it when He [God] has gone ahead of me, He is in my future, and He knows that I don’t need that. If I had needed it, He had the ability of slowing down every process for me to come in,” Apostle Lubega said.
He urged that it is only in the Christian faith that he has observed that one can lose 10 years, “and God puts them ahead of you.”
Joel 2:25 (KJV), ‘And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.’
