Heralds Digest

  ““ Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” Proverbs 27 : 6 - 7 NKJV In a season of economic recession, extreme difficulties, and unpleasant circumstances, people often learn, relearn, and unlearn the thin line between friends and fellows. Since everyone is naturally motioned to focus on his own personal needs, friend’s frenzies are usually very painful. Notwithstanding, while the closeness of friends make their frenzies readily appalling, the fulfillment of life’s purposes and agenda are sincerely engineered by the actions and inaction of friends. As family members, workplace associates,  neighbours, society members, and project partners, friends are intrinsically close to everyone’s life engagements, dreams, and goals. Therefore, it is always the best admonition from the preacher for anyone to learn, relearn, and unlearn how to accommodate the...

  “ In my distress I cried to the Lord, And He heard me. My soul has dwelt too long With one who hates peace. I am for peace; But when I speak, they are for war. ” Psalms 120 : 1 , 6 - 7 NKJV Peacemaking is no doubt an undesirable lifestyle of lousy people. Lousy people often prefer their association with lying lips, deception, and unrighteousness. To them, to be funny is cool. Whereas, peacemakers must be obsessively satisfied by their fellowship with God. Little wonder the scriptures posited that “ Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God ( Matthew 5 : 9 )”. Invariably, peacemakers are often lonely people. When the psalmist said “ In my distress I cried to the Lord “, he meant in his loneliness, apparently inspired by haters of his righteous lifestyle and dogged adherence to the truth. Notwithstanding, the lovely experience of the psalmist and all peacemakers is riveted by the testimony “ And He heard me”.  Therefore, loneliness around lousy peo...

  “ Let Your hand become my help, For I have chosen Your precepts. ” Psalms 119 : 173 NKJV In reference to the psalmist’s conviction about the Lord’s precepts ‘For I have chosen your precepts’, it is evident that there are numerous compelling precepts with persisting pressure to walk away or against the revealed presents from the Lord. And in our days of astronomical increase in knowledge and advanced AI-driven social media contents, anyone can understand the challenges with believers’ scriptural conviction on almost all matters of life. We are no longer dealing with miserable counsellors and advisers, but intelligent machine buddies. Little wonder, we struggle in the secret place of prayer and fellowship; leaving on the life-support system with overwhelming dosage of perverse precepts. Notwithstanding, the secret place is still the safe haven for the perfect precepts today. Therefore, wayfaring pilgrims can be intentional like the psalmist by surfing through the web and using ...

  “ Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble. ” Psalms 119 : 165 NKJV The world is fashioned and surrounded by two phenomena, summarized as either settled or stumbled . Unfortunately,  apart from a lifestyle built upon the statutes of God, everything or everyone else is designed to travel on the stumbling highways. For example, stumbled substances, states, seasons, sons, and servants are common denominators that demand the responsibility of those who delight in the relevance ratings of the world around them: “ Get the system settled, or get stumbled!“ Notwithstanding, the scriptures posited that settled statuses are only anchored on settled statutes of the Lord. Before the psalmist realized the reality of “ Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven ( Psalms 119 : 89 )”, he had a fair share of the roughness of stumbled seasons in the wilderness. Even when we do stumble to settle on the statutes of the Lord, the pathway will always...

  “ For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” Hebrews 6 : 10 NKJV The uniqueness of motherhood in the theatre of love is in her being the custodian of the labour pain. Arising from the labour room, even the scriptures can attest to the incontestable excellence of love towards both child-bearing and child upbringing. Except by the special grace of God alone, wise men don’t compete with women’s labour love over their children, but rather compliment it. Notwithstanding, and in comparison with God’s labour love, love without pain is always a fraud. “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life ( John 3 : 16 )”. The pain in the quoted love is in the giving away, and the “ you have ministered to the saints, and do minister ” in the current scriptural reflection. Without prejudi...

  “ Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your judgments. Many are my persecutors and my enemies, Yet I do not turn from Your testimonies. ” Psalms 119 : 156 - 157 NKJV Revival and rebellion are responses to the same coinage - the word of God. Fortunately,  one of the major dividends of the real rest is real revival.  Therefore, it is pretty easy to play religion with both responses. And when the psalmist prayed “ Revive me according to Your judgments ”, he suggested the prospect of revival on the basis of sensuality, stigmatization, and substances, if a gracious response to the scriptures is forfeited. For example, the psalmist had the prospect of a horrible experience of rebellious responses to the activities of his persecutors and enemies. Unfortunately, whenever the righteous is crippled by FEAR or feeling exaggerated above reality, he becomes intoxicated with fake revival or rebellion against the commandments of the Lord. In spite of the te...

  “ For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world .” Hebrews 4 : 3 NKJV One of the dignity of labour is its access to rest and reward for services. Unfortunately, the insatiable variability of reward makes earthly rest a fluke. Whereas, God promises a real rest from worry and anxiety with absolute peace and satisfaction, which rides upon the believer's faith and confidence in the words of the Lord. But because real rest does not often come with feathers, people usually respond with unbelief and fear by mistreatment and mismanagement of laudable projects. Even in these days of economic uncertainties, social injustices and financial instability, God’s promises of real rest remain tenable before principalities and powers throughout the seasons of life. Its power is unconquerable, pleasure is unending, and presence is unquenchable. Jesus Christ i...