Nation in View: Uganda
THE WATER OF THE WORD OF GOD
The revealing of the gospel of Christ by the lives of various men and women over the ages is not a performance or a show of skills and abilities. No it’s not. It’s the outward manifestation of the reality of Christ in a man whose inward parts have been surrendered under the mighty hand of God, to cause such a stirring up by the Spirit of righteousness and truth to the extent that such a man cannot contain within himself the up-springing life of God, but that he lets loose and many are saved by such acts of abandonment before God. The story has been the same even before the days of Christ. Men, who have walked this earth with just one intention, that is, to live, spend and be spent for the thoughts of God to be manifested on the earth. They didn’t live their faith lives daily just reading scriptures and trying to build a library of words in their heads. They and their lives, lived in a faith walk with God are the stories that make up the scriptures we have today. They are true witnesses of the things written about them and God is not ashamed to make them examples of true sonship in Himself.
It’s ok to preach and teach from the lives of those whose stories are told all over the bible, but when it comes to bearing true witness of Who God is, a personal story of a personal walk with God is the standard. It is a truth that may be denied, but one which will never go away. At best, most people are “false witnesses” who talk and preach the things of the bible while they themselves don’t have personal dealings with God that make them true witnesses of the things that are available in God. For the Lord said concerning this reality, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8. Obviously, a witness is one who was present personally at an event.
My heart
This article is not in any way trying to either undermine or upgrade any religious tendencies but is purely about giving voice to a simple reality that most in the Christian faith have forgotten, but which they must be reminded of either by this article or by the events that are coming to this world shortly. Certainly, Christianity has over the shortest time possible become a religion of parties in the name of church events, entertainment in the name of music concerts, copy pasting of scriptures in the name of being bible scholars without being witnesses of the working of Christ on personal levels, leaving aside the real reason why we are Christians or followers of Christ, which is to be bearers of the suffering and the cross of Christ and the nailing of our self-will on that cross. For He Himself said “if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Mathew 16:24. The church of God must be reminded of Whose body she is or else she will be blown away by the events of the coming days on earth. Yes this article is about the word of the Lord concerning Uganda, but like all others I have written before; it’s also about Afrika and the entire body of Christ.
The Uganda Martyrs Minor Basilica/Shrine
In June 2018, my wife and I took a trip to Kampala, the capital of Uganda. It was a long night’s travel by bus, so we spent no less than fifteen hours on the road. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the long journey. I always love long road trips. Anyway, we got to Namugongo area of Kampala in the afternoon of the next day and met a rather huge crowd of people milling around all over the area. We were not necessarily used to that area or what the usual human traffic looks like on a normal day, but the crowd we met on the road pouring out from a particular direction didn’t look like normal to us. The major roads around the entire area were jammed. We had no clue what was going on until the next day or so when our host told us of a yearly Catholic event that takes place at a Catholic shrine not so far from where we were staying. This Uganda Martyrs Minor Basilica/Shrine is a Catholic church dedicated to the Martyrs of Uganda who shed their blood because of their Christian faith. The shrine is well known for its beautiful interior and exterior architectural design. The story had it that there were twenty four Catholic Uganda Martyrs. Twenty two of them were killed between 1885 and 1887 by Kabaka (King) Mwanga of Buganda in the south of Uganda; thirteen of the Martyrs were burnt to death in Namugongo right where the shrine is now. The two others gave their lives later in Paimol Gulu, in 1918.
We did a tour of the Shrine a day after the event and were able to see some things of interest. The shrine is built in such a way that there is huge pool or lake of water with a pavilion right in the midst of the water. We had earlier noticed a lot of the people among the first crowd we met on the day we arrived, bearing gallons of water. We later found out that the waters of Namugongo shrine are so revered that pilgrims who come there believe the water to have healing powers and blessings. How true that is, I do not know. It was interesting for us to see such reverence for that shrine and the memories of the sacrifices it carries with it. But what became more interesting for me was what the Lord started sharing with me about the waters of Namugongo and why the waters were just an indication of the real water that should be given attention to by the people.
The water of the word of God
God is forever faithful in His dealings with man and He rewards every labor of love we show towards Him and His name. There is no seed planted in honor of God that doesn’t grow to become a blessing irrespective of the generation in which the rewards come.
When the Lord started sharing with me about Uganda, this magazine was not yet even a thought. But I could relate to the intensity of what He was saying now and how it was saddening for Him that men pay attention to things that don’t necessarily matter. Two things were clear in His conversation with me about Uganda: He wants to reward the deaths of those who died for their faith in His name and He desires to release the water of His word, which is His Spirit on Uganda like never seen before. I remember the Lord telling me that every life of believers, missionaries both local and international that were given for His name in Afrika will be rewarded. What His reward will be in this sense, as it concerns Uganda, that I do not know. We can only watch in faith.
More on the water of the word
God is Spirit and anyone who will worship or relate with Him must do so by the Spirit which comes by faith, for without faith no one can please God. There are various passages of scriptures that allude to the meaning of water, but I will just mention a few.
John 7:37-39 says “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
And also John 4:13-14 “Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The water of the word of God is His Spirit poured out. This pouring out of Spirit by God is done already in Acts chapter two; however there is a dimension of that same pouring that will manifest as outpouring on the earth in these last days. Outpouring means to pour out of that which is already given. This pouring out is spoken of in these contexts “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” and also “become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” Meaning that just as the woman at the well left her pot of natural water (religion, traditions of men, natural limitations etc.) in John 4:28, so must those who will be “out pourers” of the Spirit of God leave their pots of religion, traditions of men and every natural limitations behind and be true carriers of the word of the Spirit of God and by that make changes on the earth.
Uganda must arise for this reality even in this day and time.
The rise of Ugandan women
We stayed in Kampala for about ten days or so. Within that time we had enough time to literally go around the seven hills of Kampala praying for the nation of Uganda. There was a longing in the heart of the Father to reach out to the women of Uganda and that became one of the major prayers we made. It is the joy of the Father to visit Uganda as a nation but the women are His major target. I must say candidly that this word of the Lord concerning Uganda is specially targeting the Ugandan women. They are the ones carrying the wombs that will birth the reality of the water of the word of God over that nation. Sincerely I know next to nothing about the social status of the women in Uganda apart from the few words God gave me for them and which are written in the next section. So I may not be able to tell you that God decided to target the women of Uganda because of such and such thing that happened. But I do believe, somehow, His mind towards Uganda and the women of Uganda will make sense with time. One thing however stands out even as I write these words. I had not connected it before now. That is, when the Apostle Paul wrote about the washing by the water of the word of God in Ephesians 5:26, he was talking about that in context of Jesus the Husband of the Church loving and washing His wife with the water of the word of God, that He might present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. This certainly makes sense as it relates to the truth that the women of Uganda are God’s target at this time and season.
Uganda is a beloved nation in the hand of God just as every nation in Afrika is loved by Him. There is a great deal of both spiritual and physical oppression in that land but that chain of oppression will be broken.
I remember the first time we made a trip to Uganda in 2017 with two of our brothers. We drove from Nairobi to Kampala.
On that trip, we visited the Uganda Independence Monument in Kampala. It certainly was an unusual statue of a woman lifting up a child to the sky. I found the image quite curious because the woman who was lifting the child was wrapped in some drapes that reminded my wife of burial cloths. Yes there are quite a few different meanings to that statue you will find online. But to us, we could see that it depict a Uganda where the women, even as they fight hard to lift up the next generation to God, they themselves are wrapped with the clothes of limitations. (See photo at right.)
Right there as we took photos of that statue, we prayed over Uganda and especially the women that they will find liberation from whatever limitations are holding them. Of course at that time in 2017, we had no clue that this time would come where God would again target the women for both spiritual and physical emancipation.
Words to Ugandan women
“Let the women of Uganda drop their pots of slavery and limitations and let loose their spiritual wombs for the reality of the fountain of life to flow in their land. The beauty of Uganda is not with the men, even though they are also great, it is with the women whose lives will determine the next move of the Spirit and the emancipation of the land of Uganda. The next generation of politics will be headed by the women. The women of Uganda will arise to be shining lights of the Lord in that land. Their lives will no longer be hidden behind the traditions of men that put them down. Counsel from the Lord will find them and their voices will speak wisdom with clarity and boldness that will shut the mouths of the enemies of the Lord in Uganda. The Lord has come to bless the women of Uganda. Their wombs will give birth to the realities of God and their mouths, filled with the water of the word of God will be opened to speak forth the thoughts and the mind of God concerning Uganda. No longer shall their lights be dimmed, for the Lord has broken the chains of brass and a release has gone forth from Him upon the land of Uganda.”
God bless the people of Uganda and God bless Afrika.
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