Heralds Digest

  ” All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls .“ Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭27‬-‭29‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The primary essence of life is knowing and understanding the sovereignty of God; while the secondary essence of life is accepting and appropriating the responsibility of man. Unfortunately, it is always easier for the natural man to concentrate on the secondary essence; while the primary essence is either put on hold or completely ignored. Consequently, we chase the riotous rest with the attendant troubles and frustration in our relationship with people and interactions with work. Even when it appears a temporary rest is served by seeking the ‘other things’ ahead of ...

  ” And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force .“ Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The use of force is never strange to the kingdom of this world. It is the application of pressure on a specific target area with the aim of driving a desired movement or translation. Unlike the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of this world uses and coordinates its elements, ideas, and intentions by fistful force, including the use of human intelligence, deception, and manipulation. For example, Jacob successfully supplanted Esau by the use of his intelligence, ungodly collaboration, and deceit. And he got the desirable blessing with the fistful force because God allowed or permitted the passage. But when the scripture declared ” And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force ”, it recommends the use of faith instead of fist; but this is still on the same pri...

  ” Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord, They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies .“ Proverbs‬ ‭1‬:‭29‬-‭31‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ In defining FEAR (false evidence appearing real), someone said it is simply overestimating the danger while underestimating the ability to cope. Whereas, the scripture says this fruitless fear is simply the filling of life with personal fancies against the fear of the Lord. Fruitful fear is the fear of God and the beginning of wisdom. The flow of these personal fancies in life includes confidence in our own religion, ideology, habits, vocation, lifestyle, principle, etc, demanding good counseling sessions from the Lord. And whenever we overestimate any threat to any of these fancies, it is natural for anyone to respond with fruitless fear. But when we become open to the revelation of God’s majesty, love, holine...

  ” Then he said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. “” Genesis‬ ‭24‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ While the context of success here is marital, the principle can be generalized for all sides of success in life. Unlike the mindset of pinning the primary determinant on human perspiration, inspiration from God is revealed as the primary source of success in life. Even when Eliezer the servant of Abraham was still praying for divine intervention at the well in Nahor, Rebekah had already appeared with the perfect positioning along with the contents of the prayer. It implies that successful events in life are exactly the orchestration of divine appointments. Focussed men are merely moved in line with divine revelations to uncover divine manifestations. Little wonder the biblical reference on success to Joshua decla...

  ” Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm .“ ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭8‬:‭25‬-‭26‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The major lesson about the reality of the storms of life is that it is not enough to claim little faith in God. Our faith must be sufficient to acknowledge the presence of God in all affairs of life. When the disciples of Jesus cried out ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing! ’, they clearly ignored the fact that Jesus was present with them in the storms. Although they said ‘Lord, save us! We (inclusively) are perishing !’, they actually meant ‘save us! We (exclusively) are perishing!’ . Likewise, believers are called to daily practice the presence of Jesus, while sent on an errand or obeying His commands. Storms will arise and the challenges of life will rage; but children of God on the Master’s errand do not send the ...

  ”“ Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “ Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ If everyone knows that all that flashes are not gold, perhaps all will be careful before building their life project on the sands, composted of roughage-appearing rock (i.e., rubbles, obstinacy, carelessness, and killings). After Christ’s lengthy sermon on the mount, He divided the audiences into two categories of people: builders on the real rock and builders on roughage-appearing rock. Unfortunately, it is always easier to build on rubbles, obstinacy, carelessness, and killings. And as long as many people are on the highway of this fake building lifestyle, everyone endorses the lifestyle by saying ‘it rocks! ’. Whereas, nothing actually rocks in life’s ambition fabricated from disobed...

  ” But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble .“ Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Compared with concerns about today’s worry - wait, opportunities, revelations, riches, and youthfulness - that drive believers on their knees on a daily basis, the common worry in life is concerned about the coordination of human’s limited resources towards meeting tomorrow’s needs and challenges. This carnal worry prioritizes the seeking and establishment of the kingdom of men and the manipulation of their influences for personal gain and the service of their greediness. Unfortunately, there is no rest, contentment, and a sustaining pleasure in this worry, because of inevitable disappointment, discouragement, and depreciation in human expectation. Whereas, Jesus teaches that wise worry is focussed on seeking the kingd...