Heralds Digest

  “You shall not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you.” Deuteronomy‬ ‭7:21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Those who are terrified and intimidated by the status of the great and mighty of this world will readily fall for every offer of opportunity, either to compete or to comply. This is the natural mentality of people with limited understanding of the great God. To them, God is great when He shows and gives greatness; and great, when He gives a magic opportunity to those who believe in Him for competition. Whereas, God is not just great because of His gift of greatness; He is the great and awesome God. Therefore, God had to warn His precious people - the children of Israel - against fear; and appeared to tell them “ You shall not be terrified of them”, even when it takes time to show my greatness. Just like God is not great because of His show of greatness, believers in God are precious people because of their possession of God. “ You shall not be terrifi...

  “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!” Deuteronomy‬ ‭5:29‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ When the Israelites were privileged to have a little taste of the presence of the Lord, they expressed fear on the basis of their unworthiness, compared to God’s beauty of holiness. Although this was an appealing expression that was even acknowledged by God, a heart that fear God is always better than a frightened disposition. “ Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments “ became the heavenly admiration. Likewise today, our hearts are so shocked up with the exigencies of life’s performances, preferences, promotions, etc, mostly at the expense of the commandments of the Lord. That is why most professing believers are more comfortable with making weekly confessions than offending all promoters of worldly attractions in their lives. We ...

  “Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.” Deuteronomy‬ ‭2:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Relationships in life, whether business, social, family, and corporate, are simply a meddle mess. If everyone can know and keep his ‘No Go’ area, there would be little to no headache, worry and anxiety, and useless rivalry. Unfortunately, most people are not wired to know, and those who know are often unwilling to keep to the divine revelation or guidance for reasons best known to them. For the Israelites, their ‘No Go’ areas were Mount Seir and  Ar in Moab that have been given to the descendants of Esau and Lot respectively. Unless by any unprovoked attack from the Ammonites and Moabites, the Lord hasn’t given Israel these territories as a meddle mess; and so Israel need not negotiate a relationship that would anticipate in the future some mutual benefits. Invariably, benefits received f...

  “See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them” Deuteronomy‬ ‭1:8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The wasteful wandering of the children of Israel in the wilderness has shown how providential promises of possession can perpetually remain a potential possession. Rather than proceeding to possess the land of promise from God, the Israelites chose to size up the challenges with the dispossession of their enemies. Notwithstanding, Joshua and Caleb understood clearly the revelation of the fingers of God in all providential possessions. Since they refused to be distracted by the faces of the enemies, they were able to convert the potential possessions of God’s promises to their fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them. Every vision of God, promise of God, and revelation from God, concerning the believer's family, professional, and mi...

  “Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel” Numbers‬ ‭35:34‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The obvious reason for the reservation of cities of refuge in the land of Israel is prevention of defilement. To prevent the avenger of blood from defilement through shedding the unacceptable blood of innocent suspects, the recommended cities of refuge will be the safe havens until the death of the high priest. Whereas, God said the primary reason is divine occupation. “ Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel” . The importance of a reserved room for divine occupation to New Testament believers is that the more of God’s presence in our hearts, the less of running helter-skelter for available refuge from the storms of life. If we can just handover the keys of the rooms in our heart to the Lord, we wouldn’t bother with the raging of ...

  “So the Lord’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone.” Numbers‬ ‭32:13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ While the theology behind the wilderness experience for the children of Israel teaches volumes of lessons, including the absolute trusting in God’s words, it was equally a wasteful expenditure occasioned by their mistrust. God wasted all accountable rebels against the promises of the Lord, accounting their mistrust as evil and punishable by the disqualification of their rights to the promised land. Likewise, there are many promises of God today in the life and affairs of children of God. Either with regards to breakthroughs in marriage, business, and ministry, or the expansion/enlargement of an ongoing project, holding on to the promises of God always requires absolute trusting in the Lord for assistance. Unfortunately, with consistent changes in the nation’s economic fortun...

  “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”” ‭‭Numbers‬ ‭31:1-2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ “ Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my end be like his !” was one of those inspiring prayers of Prophet Balaam; but we all know that he died a miserable death as one of the targets of vengeance from God. The lanes of life’s engagements are not just filled with events and activities; but life’s events are polarized with people whose actions and inaction are likely to influence the end of the race. For Moses, life’s major influencers are the children of Israel. While these people represent his life’s major essence for existence, they also determine how he ended the race of his life. Likewise, every believer has got family members, social friends, work partners, and ministry fellows who are indispensable influencers in life. Notwithstanding, the experience of Moses teaches that the last lane is ...