Heralds Digest

  “ Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see, And visit this vine Then we will not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved! ” Psalms 80 : 14 , 18 - 19 NKJV Although the prayer of the psalmist invited the Lord God of hosts to “ Look down from heaven and see, And visit this vine (the people of God) ”, the act of prayer in itself implies revival, restoration, and the visitation of the Lord. A praying people is a visited vine, because proud people can only plan and do not pray. So, if anything, the hedging of the vine by the vicissitudes of life, and the uproots of privileges or opportunities from God’s people are mostly the indirect visitation of God.  Therefore, the visited vine is already saved in the court of the Lord or the sacred place of prayer. And as long as we are praying, there is no longer need for “ Revive us, and we will call upon Y...

  “ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth! Restore us, O God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!”    Psalms 80 : 1 , 7 NKJV Just as a leader’s sin is a leading sin, a leader’s shine or excellence is a leading excellence. With the astonishing examples of leading many characters from the darkness of this world’s wilderness to the mountain-top of exploits and excellence, followers of Jesus can be sure they have a luminary leader as their Hero. However, everyone needs faith in Jesus to get started, trading the ruinous sin for His righteousness. Thereafter, we can safely learn how to follow Jesus by looking daily on Him for guidance and living daily like Him for godliness. Unfortunately, our world is filled with loose leaders and celebrities with shading testimonies of unrighteousness, inconsistencies, and dishonesty, sometimes with the deceptive form of godliness but lacking ...

  “ A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. ” Proverbs 16 : 9 NKJV Every purpose has a clearly defined plan, but not every plan has a clear purpose. Human plans can readily boost of being backed by purpose and focus; but in reality, our plans are subject to myriad factors behind the control of mortal men. Even the greatest of monarchs, like Pharaoh, the wisest of sages, like Solomon, and the mightiest of emperors, like Nebuchadnezzar, have got their plans easily twisted by the irrefutable counsel of God. So, when the scriptures say “ A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps” , it implies that the best of human plans are purposeless outside the divine purpose. Unfortunately, some proud men will deliberately fight or resist the purpose of God as though it is offensively in the way of their plan to better life, better marriage, better business, better ministry, better friendship, etc. Whereas, whenever any human plan is completely surrendered...

  “ And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom Their reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord. So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, Will give You thanks forever; We will show forth Your praise to all generations .” Psalms 79 : 12 - 13 NKJV One amazing concept of renewable energy is the ability to be replenished on human timescale.It bounces perpetually on its conversion technologies, without any concern about its depreciation and degradation. And as long as the conversion technologies are available, the flow of energies never ceases. Like renewable energy, there is a unique synergy between reproach and righteousness that produces renewable praise and thanksgiving unto God. When the scriptures say elsewhere that one of the products of the grace of God is righteousness in this present world, it speaks of the world of unrighteousness, wickedness, and reproach. It implies that without the meeting of reproach in the world and righteousness from the red...

  “ Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”” Acts 21 : 13 - 14 NKJV One of the major challenges of faithfulness in life and ministry is not necessarily ignorance on knowing of the will of God; but mostly negligence on the doing of the will of God. Oftentimes, we receive dreams, revelations, and inspirations about future events from God; and then begin to run without finding out the underlying instructions. That’s called knowledge without wisdom; or simply the use of human wisdom with spiritual backing. When Agabus revealed the danger ahead of Paul in Jerusalem, during the fellowship of disciples in the house of Phillip the evangelist, everyone began to persuade Paul not to go to Jerusalem on the account of applying the wise will. Unfortunately, many people of God tod...

  “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20 : 24 NKJV The major problem with rat race in life is that people often run the race to achieve what they really would not need, to impress those who are probably undesirable to them, and to celebrate an attainment possibly designed for their containment. Whereas, those who are focused on the right race do not run because people are running, go to where everyone is going, and do not necessarily desire what everyone is desiring. For example, in spite of the popular knowledge and revelation that chains await Apostle Paul in Jerusalem, he knew that the race to Jerusalem was right because God had an assignment for him there. Likewise, the race from Gilgal to Jordan with Elijah was the right race for Elisha; and he had to ignore the discouragement from his colleagu...

  “ Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established .” Proverbs 16 : 3 NKJV While it is evident that the difference between true thoughts and twisted thoughts is the thoughts that pass the establishment check, waiting to access the actual end of thoughts in life is always a challenge. Could this be the reason why Moses prayed “ So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom ( Psalms 90 : 12 )?”  Little wonder why there is a reasonable reservation in every wide celebration of birthdays, wedding anniversaries, project accomplishments, graduation ceremonies, ministerial accomplishments, etc. For example, this week marks our 20 years wedding anniversary with tremendous milestones, including the bringing up of three amazing and God-fearing kids, thriving testimonies in the journey of faith in our workplaces, ministries, family relationships, etc, in spite of the challenges of life. Notwithstanding, we have learned how to consistently di...