Heralds Digest

  “ and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear .” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/php.1.14.nkjv The reason why most of us are skeptics of the game of buying God’s recommendation, mostly in the matters of life, is understandable. God’s goods are often packaged with uncommon wraps. When pain, persecution and peril follow the paths at the centre of God’s will, it is always difficult for many to see beyond the chains, confusions, and the crisis of faith. But seeing beyond the battered wrap of his personal convenience, Paul saw the resulting wrap of confidence to preach the gospel with boldness in the lives of the brethren in the Lord. Even today, God’s wrap delivers different goods to people, depending on the focus of their faith. Those whose faith is absolutely in God, and not necessarily in the packaged goods, are always confident to share the power of the gospel. Unfortunately,...

  “ being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1:6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/php.1.6.nkjv While it is not right for anyone to underestimate the devices of the Devil, it is equally wrong for believers to disown or ignore the goodness of God in action at anytime. The Devil is undisturbed by believers’ attraction to the slogan ‘God is good, all the time ’, as long as the use of the slogan do not remove their focus on his evil work, wickedness, and the activities of the enemies. Whereas, Paul had to remind the suffering Church in Macedonia that focus on God’s works is more profitable. The riches of God’s grace and the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit are mostly profound in believer’s moments of difficulty, disappointment, and disaster. Therefore, wise children of God would rather ignore the temporary pain in suffering in order to embrace the fellowship with God and the man...

“ always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy ,” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/php.1.4.nkjv Just as human needs in life are insatiable, request for assistance from an abundantly rich source for supply is expected to be inexhaustible. Knowing fully well that God is abundantly rich to supply all our needs, it becomes difficult for anyone to prioritize the order and the coverage for desirable needs in anyone’s personal life. However, when Paul presented the concept of “ always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy ”, anyone would be curious to know what constituted this exhaustive request. Obviously, it was nothing material; but rather more grace to abide in the fellowship of suffering with joy. In every thought of the suffering Church and the similarities of his gracious fellowship in the ministry, believers’ prayer for more grace to live for Christ daily is always the only rich request in life. A request for more grac...

  “... praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— ” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/eph.6.18.nkjv The rhetoric for the putting on of the whole armour of God (i.e., the shield of faith, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit) is merely common and circular in a world fully captivated by the perilous influence of social media, liberalism, and wicked manipulation. Unfortunately, these rhetoric have succeeded in inflicting more harm than good through preferences for the practice of religion instead of the preference for relationship, based on righteousness. The knowledge of the things of the Spirit without the practice of His presence is lukewarm, lethargic and loosely evil in the sight of God. Whether we are engaged in the fellowship with members of the family at home, partners in the professional practice at the workplac...

“not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:6-8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/eph.6.6-8.nkjv There is no doubt that loving God and the people in our world is the perfect Will of God. The only confusion is the challenge with the difference between knowing the Will of God and practicing the known Will acceptably to both. Whether in regards of family or business partnership, parenting, or professionalism, the pursuit of the will of God with a mind sets on men-pleasing is bound to invite compromises. Notwithstanding, it is the Will of God for believers to serve humanity with sincerity, loyalty and humility. In addressing this real life confusion, the scriptures provide the solemn secret of perfect pleasing as “ doing the will of God fro...

  “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭ 5:18-19 ‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/eph.5.18-19.nkjv Dissipation in the engineering parlance connotes exergy destruction or simply the destruction of usefulness in a system. In the context of human being as a system, consistency in the productive coordination of the system’s usefulness requires the keeping of a tap on self-control. Unfortunately, excess excitements (either positive or negative) lead to the suspension of purpose and a careless coordination of human usefulness. While drunkenness with wine is here used symbolically, everyone knows that life is often bereft of temporary or permanent focus, with both positive excitements (like the celebrations of life’s achievements in career, family, business, etc) and negative excitements (like the expressi...

  ““Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:26-27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/eph.4.26-27.nkjv The struggle with how not to give place to the devil while indulging the limit of an acceptable anger in ‘ Be angry, and do not sin ’ is clear. What is mostly unclear is the difference between being angry for personal offences and being strong-willed against the temptation to sin. When next there is a call for anger, the right question should be ‘ what is the caller’s offence? ’. Anger is only permitted if the offence is against God and absolutely nothing personal. Otherwise, the anger cannot be expressed without sinning against God or indulging the devil and his manipulations. Actually, acceptable anger of a strong-willed saint is expressed always in a clear atmosphere of love, humility and grace. Once the fruit of the Spirit is violated in believers’ expression of disaffection or anger, it is apparent that...