Heralds Digest

  “ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ” James 1 : 3 - 4 NKJV If only perfect patience produces perfect personality, imperfect patience is deficient in the grace to let God have His way completely. Like a litmus test on the character of anyone who claims a relationship with God, the challenges of life are simply the testing of this claim. Godliness demands trust in God, endures trials around God, resist temptation against God, controls tongue for God, and administers turn of people toward God. Invariably, patience with the challenges of life is the perfect internship or school for the experiencing of God. Therefore, anyone who is genuinely enrolled in the school for perfect patience is always grateful for all the perfect works and deliverables from all the elements of imposition, impatience and imperfection in the curriculum. Godliness is always focussed on ...

  “.. knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing .” James 1 : 3 - 4 NKJV Just as the difference between a producing economy and its consuming counterpart requires patience and perseverance, a believer's faith in the promises of God requires patience as a vital ingredient. While pressure puts men and their mercenaries in action, patience in any man relies absolutely on God and relays God’s reliance in man. In the school of patience, the hearts are blessed with wisdom, faith, righteousness, and the deeper revelations on the subject matter. Unfortunately, a deceived heart often thinks that patience implies indolence and the absence of intelligence. Like Gehazi, those who have ever dropped out of the school of patience have always fallen from grace into the grave with leprosy, lukewarmness, and looseness. But with the productive patience comes the perfect work of grace, where...

  “but the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.” ‭‭James‬ ‭1:10-11‬ ‭KJV‬‬ With the exclusion of pretence, the constant denominator in all of life’s experiences is the extinction of life in the absence of the grace of God. Truly, without the living breadth of God, man is truly a walking corpse with no purpose for living. During the phase of our flower flourishing, the heart of man will consciously identify the need for God’s favour and support for growth. But in the brightness of human glory, accomplishment, and exaltation, the heart of man is easily deceived to forget God and promote self sufficiency. And, it is the reality of the flower fading phase that awakens the heart from its state of forgetfulness. Therefore, a wise man wi...

  “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James‬ ‭1:6-8‬ ‭KJV‬‬ Double focus does not bear double possessions; it is often like gambling, resulting in double jeopardy. Whereas, those who have succeeded in winning double in life are known with singular and a purpose-driven focus. In a believer's relationship with God, faith is the only focus...even when facts are pointing in different directions. “ But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering ”. Asking in faith implies the combination of asking, begging, and looking forward to something from God. And after the release by faith, the beneficiaries of faith can simply follow the leading of the Spirit to retrieve his possessions from the different channels of delivery. He who must ‘ask in faith‘ something from God does not ‘beg by fac...

  “Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.” James‬ ‭1:9-11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The pursuit of flowers (accolades, achievements, etc) in family, career, and ministry is the understandable relevance of life. And this is the basis of celebration by both the cared and uncared at every attainment of flowers. But when the scriptures say “ Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation “, it implies that heaven prefers the celebration of the pursuit of grace instead of flowers. The lowly’s exaltation lies in his successful pursuit of the godly character and virtue; while the privileged is encouraged to glory in his ability to refuse intoxication. Unfortunately, man often live life in ignoranc...

  “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James‬ ‭1:6-8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The concept of waiting is the major challenge in the subject of believers’ faith in the business of asking and receiving. Every shortcut or alternative route to waiting is always attractive. Whereas, the confusion remains how to play safe while pursuing faith and facts at the same time. For example, experiencing faith in God while waiting for the promised conception and children-bearing is difficult to align with the alternate exploring of the fact about pregnancy through intro-vitro-fertilization (IVF). While both options produce useful solutions, waiting by faith actually becomes unstable on the sea of public opinion and the myriad of alternative plans for human intervention. Notwithstanding, proper waiting prod...