Heralds Digest

  “But Jesus said to him, “ No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God .”” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭9:62‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The adage that says “ Winners don’t quit; and quitters don’t win ” is quite true for any prospective project in life. Whereas, only those who stick with their laudable plans get celebrated at the final completion of the project, irrespective of the level of participation and the scale of challenges before the end of the project. Unfortunately, there are many laudable projects of life that get bought over at the crucial stage before completion and commissioning, just because the players have yielded to the looking back and fallow field strategies. Waiting for the best time to strike, watching for the nice weather, seeking the support and encouragement of everyone, and anticipating the cooperation or collaboration of everyone are some of the well-known fallow field strategies that have left laudable dreams in comatose. Even with respect to th...

  “ Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “ Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side . ”” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭9:49-50‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Celebrities are reasonably marked by different well-known metrics of their follower-ship. Unlike in our social media days with ‘followers’ metric on different social media handles, the disciples of Jesus in the Bible days could readily count attendances at meetings, street crusades, and house fellowship. When John brought up such reports of a faithful follower scorecard before Jesus, he was apparently disappointed to discover that heaven has a different metric for assessing believers’ faithfulness. But Jesus said to him, “ Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side. ” The question is “ How can one recognize those who are not against Jesus by counting physical attendances, congregational participation, ...

  “and said to them, “ Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great .”” Luke‬ ‭9:48‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Responsibility and recognition  are the two major concerns of adults. Their activities and engagement are motivated by status recognition. This motivation is always welcomed as long as the two concerns are given due attention by every aspiring adult. Unfortunately, many people are more interested in the demand for respect or recognition with little or no interest in taking responsibility. Whenever the drive for recognition is promoted at home, workplace, and social gatherings, the primary aims and objectives towards the implementation of laudable projects are often sidelined. And when the disciples of Jesus became distracted by the pursuits of status stands, Jesus had to provide the best illustration of the request concern in little children. In believer’s relationship with ...

  “ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? ” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭9:24-25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Following is synonymous to trusting. Those who follow or trust in bodily exercises and good dieting have trust in the gym programme for its guaranteed extension of life expectancy and good healthy living. Similar trust has been proven to work for human investment in quality education, career discipline, and social relationships. But since life is composed of the body, soul, and spirit, all these human efforts at saving life are simply targeted at the body care. Most times, the soul and the spirit of man are uncatered for; while the priority is focussed on material prosperity, position, and privileges. Therefore, Jesus says that anyone who desires to save his own life by excluding the care for the soul and the spirit has got an unwise wellness programme. Wh...

  “ But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty. ”” Luke‬ ‭9:13-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ People respond differently to the challenges of personal needs, particularly when demands outweigh supply. And when the challenging situation is complicated with a burden of responsibility for a large size of dependant, abnormalities often set into the needs norm. But when Jesus introduced a normal call to the disciples’ set “ You give them something to eat ”, not many people will be emotionally balanced to provide a normal and sensible response to Jesus’ call. Life’s irrational call to needs at home, workplaces and society has often led people into vices and unrighteous manipulations. Notwithstanding, the scripture has rightly admonished believers to simply make our requests kn...

  “ Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, “ Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you .” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him .” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭8:38-39‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The best way to start the New Year on a wrong note is to retain our fears of failure to get the desirable right response in the previous year. Living by facts in life breeds nothing more than fear. The people in the country of Gadarenes acted out their fear by sending Jesus out of their coast; and the man who was delivered from the legion of demons also could have been disappointed by the response of Jesus to his request to stay with Him, apparently inspired by fear. Whenever we decide to live by an absolute faith in God, we no longer care about getting the right response to our requests in life. Every response to a believer's request before the Lord is rig...

  “ Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” ” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭8:18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ As we step into a New Year, many skeptics will reasonably downplay the power of claiming new promises, anticipating new privileges, and attempting new projects. And candidly, the New Year is just a change in number with the same quantum of seconds, minutes, hours, and days. Without a change in perspective, there is no guarantee for a change in stories. Notwithstanding, God’s promises come with open opportunities; and the New Year promises believers the opportunity to operate on a new perspective of faith. When Jesus warned His disciples to “ Therefore take heed how you hear ”, He underscored their responsibilities towards accessing God’s open opportunities with faith. Skeptics can afford to waste time and opportunities for advancement on the basis of carnal comparison, weather and economic forecasti...