Heralds Digest

  “ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”” Matthew 13 : 8 - 9 NKJV The parable of the good sower and his good seeds in relation with the different kinds of ground, including wayside, stony, thorny, and good ground, depicts the responsibility of man to the faithfulness of God. “ He who has ears to hear, let him hear! ” suggests that the responsiveness of the heart is the responsibility of the hearer. In our social media world, the dynamics of the hearer’s responsibility has grown astronomically. Everyone now has the compounded responsibility of managing the responsiveness of his heart to the activities of both good sower and bad sower, needless to mention the heart’s responsibility to the good seeds of the good sower, if adopted. For example, when Dinah took an unguarded excursion to see the daughters of the land of Shechem, and got defiled in the process, the irresponsibility of the ...

  “ Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly ;” Proverbs 2 : 5 - 7 NKJV Until the Jabbok encounter of Jacob with God, all the wits of Jacob towards appeasing Esau and his four hundred ferocious battalion fell down like pack of cards. His 20 years internship experience with Laban had enabled the upskill of intelligence, craftiness, amidst his undeniable intimacy with God. Notwithstanding, the more he deployed his wise wits towards unsettling the 20 years of Esau’s rage and ravaging for vengeance, the more he realized that the only source of winsome wit is God. Likewise, whenever we are desperate in our search for the Lord and the understanding of His revealed will, “ Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth...

  “ Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. ” Genesis 31 : 41 NKJV Through the mercy of God, the prison service system all over the world has often produced life-changing transformation stories of world-changers. And the same correctional experiences are noticeable outside the prison walls, through voluntary participation in reformation activities, internship opportunities, system disciplinary actions, etc. For Jacob’s 20 years internship with Laban, it was sincerely difficult for anyone to know the right assignment of mercy and justice between Jacob and Laban. Likewise, it was a power play of deceit and decency across the divides. Whereas, God stood out as the only merciful Master all the times: “ Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me… ( Genesis 31 : 42)”. Even when God permits believers to walk throug...

  “ 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 : 28 - 29 NKJV When Jacob lamented to Laban “ …Why then have you deceived me? ” (Genesis 29 : 25), he was beginning to feel the reward of fake rest. Fake rest is filled with unending labour, strenuous demands, and uncomfortable manipulations, until the devil (the giver of fake rest) takes the final pound of flesh. Therefore, the Giver of real rest says “ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest“. Jacob did respond to the call to come at Jabbok, and anyone today can also come. Unfortunately, those who hide under the arrogance of pride and self deception have always faced the judgement of God. But the real rest from Christ comes with grace to embrace the necessary call for courage, commitment, and consecration in the pathway of righteousne...

  “ He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10 : 39 NKJV If it takes the battle at Jabbok for a change of name from Jacob to Israel, there is no pretending on what it takes for anyone to lose his life to find the life. A pleasure-driven life is everyone’s take in our world of competition for position, prosperity and power. Rather than waiting on God for a beautifully ordained life from God, Jacob subscribed for the fast-tracked life of deceit and defrauding in collaboration with his mother. He got the stolen birthright and blessing from Isaac at the expense of peace with himself, Esau, even Rebekah the collaborator, and everyone within his sphere of influence until the Jabbok’s encounter. Whereas, God is the custodian of a purpose-driven life, and everyone who comes to Him finds rest from the shadow-chasing madness in the world. Yes, you can temporarily lose a human-arranged line of honour, dignity, and respect; but the p...

  “But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil .” Proverbs 1 : 33 NKJV Gone are those days when the television sets are treated as the devil’s box by some conservative Christians. But everyone can attest to the accrued benefit of securing a right relationship with God through the cutting off of channels to negative or wrong relationships. Today, these channels to the world of negative or wrong relationships are just at the tip of everyone’s fingers. Even the facial recognition of human presence can now serve our environment with inappropriate stuff, almost leading to the total imprisonment of our emotions and physical wellbeing. Notwithstanding, the fundamental escape route remains the maintenance of a right relationship with God. The devil is the architect of wrong relationships; and his primary purpose on earth is the instilling of negative fear that breeds separation from God, through sickness, death, and destruction. He is fond of ma...

  “ But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. ” Matthew 9 : 34 - 35 NKJV The rot in material success, political sagacity, and professional development has nothing to do with the ends, but the means. Good success as the end follows the scriptural principles, while bad success does not care about the means that lead to great fortune, glamorous fame, and gorgeous fashion. Whereas, the scriptures is littered with several examples of the signpost to marital success (Genesis 24:6-7), ministerial accomplishment (Matthew 9:34-35), political sagacity (Genesis 39:2-3), administrative skills (Joshua 1:8), and business development (Genesis 26:2-3), like Abraham, Jesus, Joshua, Joseph, and Isaac, respectively among many others. Unfortunately, Satan has always offered a distracting s...