Heralds Digest

  “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭ 16:25 ‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/mat.16.25.nkjv Life is apparently meaningless without the pursuit of things relating to self, like wealth, fame, comfort, recognition, etc. The protection these self-centred lift of interests is mostly the major consideration in all decision-making processes. Even when the disciples of Jesus had the privilege of providing counsel to Jesus on His planned submission to the Cross, they opted for the conservative interest on the basis of their continued companionship with the Saviour. ‘What is in this for me (or my loved ones)?’ is often the finality of all considerations in life, compared to ‘What is in this for God’?. Therefore, Jesus responded with a superior consideration: ‘whoever loses his life for My(selfless) sake will find it’. In pursuit of an absolute will of God or a selfless sake, there must be the willingness to...

  “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭ 14:14 ‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/mat.14.14.nkjv The major forte of ministerial outreaches is the concept of reaching out with the gospel of salvation. While there is no doubt about the need of salvation as the heartbeat of God, Jesus here taught His disciples the wholesomeness of compassion in the work of soul-winning. And [throughout the entire chapter and encounter of the Saviour with both the multitude and His disciples] when Jesus went out, He saw a great multitude. Seeing the targets in all of believers’ outreaches must come first before reaching out to them. It provides the opportunity for soul-winners to understand the major area of needs, and how best to engage the available resources towards meeting these needs. If we cannot earn the respect as a listener to people’s problems, how can we possibly earn the right to be listened to as t...

  “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭ 13:58 ‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/mat.13.58.nkjv The experience of Nazareth here is a common phenomenon: Familiarity brings contempt. For Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the contempt comes from the people’s knowledge of His biological background and family relationships. However, it is important to note that the people’s unbelief only affect their faith to receive and not God’s power to release. Likewise with all of God’s promises in life, career and ministry, the faithfulness of our nice God to His promises is easily frustrated by our nasty ‘Nazareth’. How nasty is our disobedience to simple instructions from God and His chosen leaders over us? Too familiar to respect, right? Unfortunately, we pay dearly to follow complex instructions from irrelevant mentors while the simple instructions from the assigned channels for our divine intervention are disregarded. ‘There shall be shower of blessings’...

  “At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭ 11:25 ‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/mat.11.25.nkjv Beyond the pride of diligence, discipline, and the determination of human intelligence is the discovery of true rest. Even in ministerial accomplishments, babes in Christ have a superior access to divine inspiration by the Holy Spirit, just for their coming. Unfortunately, beside the loss of the undiscerned and sinful minds, the privileges of ‘babes’ in Christ are equally lost by the wise and prudent in spiritual understanding. Whereas, if Christ can sincerely appreciate the Father for His reserved revelation to ‘babes’, there must be privileges in ‘babes’ that should be reserved by matured believers. The fact is that no matter the exposure and experience of the supposedly matured believers in the Lord, the ‘babes’ mindset keeps thei...

  “Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:37-38‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/mat.9.37-38.nkjv The experiences of labourers during the planting season often prepares the expectation of the hearts from the harvest season. In reality, the pain from planting and the stress of the seedtime do wear heaviness on the minds; and nothing related to the heaviness on the field of harvest. When Jesus told His disciples “The harvest truly is plentiful”, He quipped to remove the heaviness on the minds of potential labourers for the field of harvest. The only way the mind process its series of disappointment and discouragement on the planting field, or during the planting season of life (career development, business investment, evangelistic outreaches, child parenting, etc), is the wearing of though skin and a veil that cannot reveal any good from t...

  “For which is easier, to say, ‘ Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” —then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:5-6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/mat.9.5-6.nkjv Emerging from the rubble of despair, disappointment, and damages to life and property is a one-way line of thought. For the friends of the paralytic that was brought to Jesus, the expectation is a straightforward deliverance from his physical infirmities. Whereas, the spiritual infirmity represented a formidable barricade to divine assistance. Oftentimes, the true arise assist in our moments of great expectations is not the sudden disappearing of the challenges in our life. It is mostly the acknowledging of our mistakes and the finding of an indispensable healing process, even if the pain needs to endure for just a little moment of time. Although it is often more conv...

  ““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭ 7:21 ‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/mat.7.21.nkjv Being smart in the world requires effective management of the concept of divided loyalty. As long as a unitary loyalty at home, workplace and in the fellowship of people appears not normal, the saying of things will not always align with the doing of the same things. Likewise, because of the usual divergence between self-interest and divine interest, only self-interest is permitted to drive obedience to the will of God. Whereas, Jesus says self-will may accumulate the wealth, wisdom, and worth of this world; it does not have a place in the kingdom of heaven. Unfortunately, it is this type of will, filled with human pride and popularity syndrome, that create the public attention of reverence and responsibility in our social circles. But when it comes to the Master’s demands for self-sac...