Heralds Digest

“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith...And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3:24, 29‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.us/114/gal.3.24,29.nkjv The pursuit of an invisible promise at the expense of building on visible processes in life is a lonely path. When Abraham pursued the promises of God, the process of relationships and the operational systems of running different institutions were apparently non-existent. However, many generations after Abraham with developing operational systems and laws find it easier to relate with visible process than the invisible promises. And to the Galatians in the New Testament dispensation, Apostle Paul still struggled to establish the superiority of the promise over the process. For aliens to organized process and godly institutions, everyone knows the challenges of building sanity in an insane society. Notwithstanding, intimate relations...

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3:13-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/gal.3.13-14.nkjv One of the amazing privilege of grace is the access to the presence of the Lord. After starting the day on my knees in Schipol, one of the Airport staff approached me with a question “Are you okay?”. With the freshness of the spirit and a smile on the face, I asked “Why do you ask if I am okay?” Sensing his unpreparedness to answered straight, I added, “I guess because you saw me knelt down...I was praying”. Then, “Did you also pray?”. Those who truly pray understands the amazing opportunity to engage the King of kings and the Lord of lords on all matters of life, especially at the start of each day and when bothered by the loads and car...

“Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?..Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3:3, 7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/gal.3.3,7.nkjv Someone has rightly posited that it takes a greater faith to sustain atheism than to embrace the existence of God. Whereas, the father of faith - Abraham - walked the ladder of perfection from the constraints of the flesh to the comfort of the spirit by obeying God, through faith. Unfortunately in our contemporary times, advancement in human knowledge has attracted the comfort of the flesh with its confusion and foolishness. Apostle Paul noticed this concept of foolishness in the Galatian believers, who started their relationship with God by faith and in the spirit. The experience of salvation and the first work of grace is undoubtedly built on the faith of the comer in the Living God. Relationship with God on the basis of the evidence of touch, feel, sig...

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2:20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.us/114/gal.2.20.nkjv It is almost impossible for any successful minister in the ministry to build respect without recognition. Faith in Christ without the face of the Chaplain is almost impossible and not practice-able in any charismatic setting. Unfortunately, the ‘I’ in Christians is becoming more significant than the identity of Christ in all relationships. When Paul noticed the danger of the faith in the face of the icons against the faith in Christ, he deliberately rebuked Peter in order to spare the vulnerable converts. No doubt, faith in our public appearances and the make-belief lifestyle often rob believers of the public announcement of the character of Christ’s love and graceful relationships. Little wonder why Christ himself dec...

“But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2:6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/gal.2.6.nkjv If significance in life is truly limited to the accumulation of material wealth and an improvement in position or status, the pursuit of a life driven by corruption, conflicts and competition makes the ultimate sense in this world. But there seems to be something deeper and higher than the status-based achievements in life. To Paul the Apostle, this base achievement in life is frankly nothing, compared to the singular pursuit of the purpose in the heart of God for every human existence. Unfortunately, many homes, fellowships and associations that are built on godly heritage are easily hijacked by the status-based ‘nothing’. Those who care for godly change and the expansion of the kingdom of God through parenting, preaching, and prof...

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭1:15-16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/gal.1.15-16.nkjv If the state of believers’ pious living before the call to salvation and service has anything to do with the motivation for the call, generals in the kingdom of God would be hard to find. Apostle Paul was a general among his contemporaries, not because of his antecedents. He was a general because he distinguished himself as someone who was fully committed to pleasing God with full acknowledgement of the baggage of consequences. When it pleased God to call His chosen out of the dungeon of self-will, there is therefore no barricade to the extent that the righteous can become useful as divine vessel without the influence of self. “..when it pleased God...that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I di...

“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭1:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.us/114/gal.1.10.nkjv The gospel of Jesus Christ is simply the hearing and responding to the message of salvation from sin and dead works. Without the interference of the elements of this world, pleasing God after redemption remains freely simple. The singular assignment of the righteous on earth would be pleasing God and persuading men. A mixture of the pleasing and persuasion is unacceptable as service to either God or any man. Homes where this mixture is a standard has always been a battleground for contention, competition, and compromises. Little wonder why the Apostle simply enlightened the Galatian Christians to the accursed disposition of believers who embraces the mixture of pleasing men with the gospel of Christ. Whereas, comfort, cooperation and consolidation of the entire counsel of God are found in f...