Marching towards the Third Day – One Man’s Fervent Call to the Nations

Pastor Nekemeya Steven Mukisa is a quietly powerful prophetic voice with a heart set ablaze for revival. At 63, the founder of Jerusalem Intercessors Church in Lugazi, Uganda, carries a testimony as stirring as it is miraculous – a life transformed by divine encounter, shaped by deep trials, and fueled by a relentless passion for prayer.

Born into a humble family, Mukisa grew up with the heavy shadow of mental illness hanging over his home. His mother, sister, and he bore the burden, suffering the affliction for years. ‘I suffered a lot,’ he confides. Yet freedom came to him unexpectedly, through a deliverance prayer that brought not just healing, but a radical shift in his destiny. Today, he ministers under an unmistakable prophetic and apostolic anointing, bringing hope and restoration to the Body of Christ.

I met Mukisa during a shared visit to Israel, and his story immediately captivated me. His eyes lit up whenever he spoke of worldwide revival—a fire ignited decades ago after his own powerful conversion amidst a spiritual awakening that swept through his village.

When Mukisa was 28, he encountered the Lord in a way that would forever change his life. A man of God named Kirk Bogere – a pastor at the local Deliverance Church – held a crusade near Lugazi that drew hundreds of worshipers. Afterwards, Pastor Bogere and his team trekked through neighbouring villages, praying over the sick and spiritually oppressed. It was not long before someone told them of the suffering in Mukisa’s family.

‘They came to my village, spoke to me, and prayed in tongues,’ he remembers. ‘It was my first time to hear tongues.  I thought they were witch doctors from Congo!’ he says. But what happened next was no witchery. ‘The Spirit of God touched me. I got delivered. I was given back my life.’

Following his transformation, Mukisa shed his old names – Bugwegwe (which meant ‘cat’) and an Islamic name tied to his family’s Muslim background – and embraced a new identity inspired by the biblical prophet Nehemiah, the rebuilder of broken walls.

‘That revival swept many of us into the Kingdom of God,’ he says. Church elders encouraged him to find work and rebuild his life. He became a house worker, cleaning toilets, fetching water, and feeding cows, for just 30,000 Ugandan shillings a month (about Ksh 1,000). ‘But I was faithful and served for about four years,’ he says.

From that humble beginning, the Lord gradually elevated him. Today, he ministers from the very compound where he once worked as a servant. He and his wife, Grace, have been blessed with eleven children ranging in age from six to forty. His ministry has seen souls saved, bodies healed, and lives transformed.

A deep student of Scripture and committed intercessor, Mukisa believes we are living in a prophetically significant time in God’s calendar. He believes passionately in the promise given in Hosea chapter six – ‘on the third day He will raise us up.’

‘Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days, He will revive us; On the third day, He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.’ Hosea 6:1-2 (NKJV)

Mukisa connects the ‘third day’ with the current (third) millennium, and trusts that it is the prophesied era of powerful spiritual awakening, a time of worldwide repentance, revival, and restoration. To stand in the gap for the fulfillment of this word, Mukisa recently committed to a bold act of spiritual dedication: a 300-day fast.

Starting March 1, 2021, he began a fluids-only fast for 100 days, repeating it in 2022 and again in 2023. Each cycle ended on June 8. ‘It was a deep experience with the Lord,’ he says. ‘And I believe God heard my prayers. He told me the coming revival will spread even faster than COVID-19 did.’

Noting that praying works, Mukisa draws inspiration from Daniel, whose fervent prayer ushered in the fulfillment of Israel’s prophesied return from Babylon after 70 years of captivity. ‘This coming revival is going to be a healing revival,’ he says, of the anticipated awakening. ‘It will draw many into the Kingdom. And just as famine brought Jacob’s sons to Egypt, nations will look to Africa for spiritual nourishment.’

Africa must be prepared, he insists.

To that end, he dreams of building a 10,000-seat house of prayer in Lugazi. His church is already raising funds, and welcomes support from well-wishers drawn to this vision.

While in Israel, our group spent three days touring iconic biblical sites – the Upper Room, believed to be the site of Christ’s Last Supper, Magdala, where Mary Magdalene lived, the Western Wall, and several others. Yet, we often observed Mukisa on his knees, fervently interceding with two Ugandan colleagues, undistracted by the scenery, consumed instead by the call to pray.

‘Prayer works,’ he said, at the conclusion of the trip. ‘We are in the third decade of the third millennium, a season when God expects the church worldwide to return to Him for repentance, revival and restoration.’ Just as prophesied, he and many others believe, by the prophet Hosea.