Heralds Digest

  “ Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. ” Mark‬ ‭1:35‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ When a fellowship or convocation of parties with delightful people is sweet, it is sometimes difficult for anyone to know the appropriate time to take a break or leave. Whereas, taking a delightful departure from a flow of current is mostly recommended against a detestable distraction from the original design. Like all electronic equipment and system automation are equipped with reset buttons for freshness, all active fellowship and services in life without the provision for retreat or refreshments are bound to embrace a derailment from the original purpose of God. In modelling the necessity of the desirable quiet time for all His disciples, Jesus embarked on a delightful departure into a solitary place to pray to God. It is instructive for all to note that this departure was embarked upon even when everyone was looking for Him...

  “ But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted .” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭23:11-12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Although everyone seems to readily believe in the concept of exemplary leadership, the context of exemplary exaltation is often strange to many people or systems. When leadership is status driven, the struggle for position of authority will always result in a corrupt rat race, filled with unrighteous manipulation and strategic self imposition. Little wonder why these status-driven leaders occupy the position of authority mainly for self-service, rather than the promotion of justice, protection of the vulnerable, and the preservation of integrity. Whereas, when Jesus said “ But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant ”, He was referencing true servant-leaders, who are patient to be exalted by God with the right platform for a guaranteed service delivery. Take it or leave it, any other types of e...

  “ So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. ” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭21:21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Anyone who possesses a good sense of beauty would appreciate the appearance of fig trees around homes, offices, and flower gardens. But when it comes to the appearance of the fig trees along the paths of Christ’s prophetic fulfillment of His earthly ministry, and especially when Christ was ready to be served with fruits as the singular purpose of its existence, the appearance of this fig tree becomes meaningless without the service of fruits. And in dealing with all meaningless mountains in believers’ lives, Jesus admonished His disciples to have a faultless faith in the plan and purpose of God for their existence. Life is always surrounded by meaningless mountains, strategically positioned to create despair, ...

  “ Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave ” Matthew‬ ‭20:26-27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Without an unbiased assessment of excellence and greatness in all of human systems, human potentials, skills, and capabilities will be greatly under-utilized. People are reasonably motivated to serve honestly in a self-rewarding system; and with individual faithfulness, the system is better for all contributions of human efforts. Notwithstanding, God’s service system requires the higher stakes and loftier motivation for engagement or service rendering. Since all resources in His services are completely supplied; and the purpose for our engagement is entirely divine, God prefers self-surrendering services to self-rewarding services. God is able to do more amazing things will every life that is completely surrendered into His mighty hands, if greatness can be measured on the basis o...

  “ But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first .” Matthew‬ ‭19:30‬ ‭KJV‬‬ Everyone knows that relationships feed on fondness, fellowship, and affection for the parties involved, and not necessarily the property or materials carried by and derived through the parties. When the waters run dry in relationships with fondness on the flow, it is easy to understand why excuses become one of the familiar recipes. Likewise, relationship with God requires fondness with God, and serving Him consistently with gladness of heart. No one can develop fondness with any other things besides God at the Centre always; and not equally discover reasons to deliver excuses in his relationship with God. Therefore, when Jesus said “ But many that are first shall be last ”, He was referring to those whose relationship with God has been allowed to feed on familiarity, instead of the seasoned sweetness in fellowship. There is freshness in every fellowship opportunity with God, for those...

  “ At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven ”. Matthew‬ ‭18:1-4‬ ‭KJV‬‬ Rights and privileges grow with positions in life. Therefore, human aspiration for positions are driven by the ease of passage with greater rights and privileges. But in Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ’, it is evident that the abuse of rights and privileges is not acceptable in the kingdom of heaven. While the world standard encourages the pursuit of status and position, only those who are converted from being a mighty man to being a meek minion can enter into the kingdom of hea...

  “ 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 The prudent expense of treasure, talent, and time has different known scales of rewarding excellence, like the highest net worth of economic value, the first class of academic value, the most influential of social value, etc. People who pursue these scales will reasonably pay attention to the principle of saving than spending, especially when there is no proven evidence of a worthwhile investment in the spending. Therefore, beyond treasure, talent, and time, we seem to spend our lives on projects and people with guaranteed returns of investment. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as guaranteed return of investment for any life spent outside the Will of God. Only the life spent pursuing the purpose of God for its existence is guaranteed to receive the prize of achievement at the end of time. The desires to save our lives encourage children of Go...