The Apostle,"War of Worship"

Okay I have been attending the Judahfire Ministries International, City of Praise located in Brooklyn Park MN for the past 2years. Currently located at 6278 Boone Ave, I have had the opportunity to witness the power of God as well as experience the power of God via the ministration and the words brought forth by the dynamic preachers of this ministry. However, none can deliver more than the energetic, eloquent,  “Jesus filled” and “ Holy Ghost filled” preacher, the Apostle Judah Praise Martin! Who is he? Who is this man of God! What possesses him to deliver the message of God in such a way that time stands still during his ministration! He is the kind of preacher who when given an hour to minister may take an additional 30 minutes truth be told, but boy you will not feel the time passing.

The Apostle Judah Praise Martin is the founder and overseer general of “City of Praise”.  If you have not heard of or been to this Ministry, it is the place to be in Christ. It is “a place called home and people called family”! ‘City of Praise is a family of believers who are lead by their charismatic preacher to understand the truths in all of our pursuit to know Jesus for ourselves. “ City of Praise” is a place where the music combines western and traditional African genres of music to all create new confections of tunes that celebrate and honor God in His entire splendor.  Finally “City of Praise” is a global, international establishment that embraces all whom will serve the Lord our Savior Jesus Christ!

Over these two years I have been a part of  “City of Praise, the Apostle Judah Praise Martin has stayed consistent in bringing forth messages of truth, the saving power of Christ, Living Righteously, How to worship God and above all else Love your fellow brethrens as Christ first loved us all. The energy he possesses is none other than the gifts of God deposited in him gushing forth like waters to fertilize grounds that have been left broken or uncared for; grounds that have been hidden due to the rubbish overshadowing them. These grounds are humans you and I who without hearing the ministration of such men or women of God we would be left to the wolves of this world and the devices that Satan has in place to keep us from fulfilling our destiny in Christ. The Apostle is a man of God who outside the pulpit he’s like “butter that can’t melt” but on the pulpit he is a soldier of the cross ready for  “ war…” He speaks with such vigoration that chills, cries for mercy, prostration, miracles accompany his ministration. Even a demon-possessed person cannot leave the same because this man of God has been given authority by God to  cast them out! He has been granted this authority because he has fully immersed himself, dedicated his time to developing our younger generation to be on fire proclaiming the word of God as is that God has blessed him to create the change required to save the souls of people as they encounter the truths of God via his lips.

The Apostle Judah Praise Martin
and his lovely wife
Pastor Edith Kota-Martin

6/3/12, the Apostle Judah Praise Martin, came to church dressed in white with a pink dotted tie alongside his wife who wore a flower dress with colors that seemed to match her husband’s attire. If planned or not they looked spanking, banking nice! Both looking dynamic and filled with love one for the other and the Love of God, their faces beamed as they stood in the space of worship. After the protocols of prayer, praise/worship and offertory…the Apostle was called to the podium to deliver the message.  He mounted the podium ready as a soldier would. He stood tall against the backdrop of the stage. In one hand was an I-pad enclosed in a red jacket. Around his left ear a beige wireless microphone laced around the contours of his outer ear reaching around  the back of his head as it touched the tip of his white collars.  This would enable him to navigate the space effortlessly as the message progressed and he engaged with the word of God, the audience and the space.  Throughout the time he preached his wife supported him in prayers as she murmured silently. I could read her lips from where I sat soaking in the spirit of the moment.

His message titled “ The War of Worship” began when he said “ After this message your entire life will not be the same” He continued to describe worship as a “warfare” “ There are people who are cursed from their generations and no matter how they worship no matter how they pray, fast or do the work of God”, their break thorough is no where nigh… It seems like they are in bondage. It may seem like they find themselves in a static place. Per the Apostle, sometimes it is not even the person you or me…perhaps it is something that our forefathers did or someone who for their own selfish gain may have sort the hand of a fetish person hence causing a trickle effect that affected their offspring’s, again you or me, for generations to come.

An example of this is Saul in the bible that was cursed for going to see the “witch of Ednor”… The story is told Saul was once the righteous king who upheld the laws of God by his sword; having fallen from God's favor due to a lack of obedience, he chose to participate in forbidden rituals. Hence he sort counsel from the witch. You see any communication with the dead is a form of magic, divination, sorcery, necromancy, and spiritualism, are all, condemned in scriptures. Since scriptures teach that the dead know not anything, Saul was not communicating with the prophet Samuel, but with Satan. The action of Saul would affect his generations to come.

The apostle would go on to state that “the demons of every believer or worshiper” is “they lack deliverance”. “ No matter how one is saved, salvation does not mean deliverance”

Obadiah 1:17

New International Version (NIV)

17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance.

Therefore, the audience was encouraged to put on the armor of worship and wrestle with God, seek God’s deliverance that He is offering to us on Mount Zion. To conclude, we must like Jacob, wrestle until we are also  blessed. We must wrestle until we break all generational curses that pursue us. We must wrestle! That we may as “ chosen ones” fulfill his promises here on this earth as He assigns us with our given tasks. 

New International Version

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.
Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Wrestling_with_the_Angel

How can all believers be an “ecclesiast “ “ a chosen one “ and have to be faced with so many adversities due to ancestral or generational curses? Curses that would hinder them from the many Blessings that God has in His infinite storehouse for them waiting for them if they are following his commands…  Because of Jacobs persistency his “life was spared”. Are you that person, am I that person.  This message was an eye opener  for me. I pondered this and knew that God was telling me that this was something I needed to pray about concerning my own generation. What a message! Other supporting scriptures on the Apostle’s message were: Genesis 12: 1, Joshua 24:22,  Exodus 20:3, Ephesians 6:4 and Luke 4:7.

 The above analogy was my personal take on the message. Some who have not heard this man of God and are residing in the Minneapolis area should find this place of worship. God is working mightily in this “place called a home” for all believer from all walks of life. Most importantly, we have a genuine  man of God who is creating change for the children of God via his ministration, conduct and  services rendered in the community. God Bless you Apostle Judah Praise Martin! God Bless all his children who read this to the end.

Catherine K.