Heralds Digest

  “ And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. ”” Luke 9 : 61 - 62 NKJV In the three different accounts on the subject of followership, Jesus emphasized the common challenge to followership as the lack of wholesomeness or fullness. It doesn’t matter how the call to follow Jesus was initiated (i.e., whether we asked or He called), anyone who must follow the Lord must follow fully without any reservation. Full followership requires faith, understanding, loyalty and love ; and that is why every other consideration thereafter is consistently and deliberately sidelined to secure God’s approval. With faith , followers must do ‘Forsaking All, I Trust Him’ against all callers; with understanding , followers must unlearn all other realities to relearn and retain the promises of God; with loyalty , followers...

  “ And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village .” Luke 9 : 54 - 56 NKJV When Jesus responded to James and John’s emotional outburst “ You do not know what manner of spirit you are of”, it suggests life’s daily struggle in shaping our attitudes and characters. Earlier in the week, these folks had been privileged with Peter to witness the transfiguration of Jesus Christ; and had received heavenly exhortation to pay attention only to every revelation from the Lord. Unfortunately, at this point, they were definitely confused and couldn’t differentiate between the serving of the spirit inspiration from Elijah and Jesus Christ. Little wonder why many believers can quote th...

  “ But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people. ”” Luke 9 : 13 NKJV Anyone in an oppressive relationship, strained marriage, and a depressed project environment can relate with the mindsets of the disciples and the challenges of feeding the multitude in the wilderness. But then, Jesus said to them “ You give them something to eat .” It was the feeling of getting spent, wasted, and about getting tossed…’ when the day began to wear away’ , yet the system is asking for more self sacrifice. They said, “ We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people ”; and we probably would do no better, with credit cards, loans, and promissory notes. From the benefit of hindsight, we know that with Jesus, the disciples’ self sacrifice of the five loaves and two fish was sufficient for the surplus supply to feed the over five thousan...

  “ Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” Luke 9 : 1 - 2 NKJV There is no doubt that social media and advances in technologies today have made preaching out of all bloggers, online surfers, and almost all visitors. The only discouraging challenge is that those who engage the internet for the business of the kingdom of the devil are more busy than those who are enlisted for the business of the kingdom of God. Unfortunately, majority of the believers in the gospel of salvation from sin and satanic oppression are more engaged in the business of marketing hygiene, dieting, sports, cryptocurrency, stocks, and personal image profiling than the kingdom of God. And the most ugly and self-defeating lie about this distraction is the assertion that a devotion to peace preaching is irrelevant to our social, career, business, and political life pro...

  “ Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. ” Luke 8 : 22 - 23 NKJV The divine instruction “ Let us cross over to the other side of the lake ” suggests the indispensability of a lake lane over which every life’s successful project must transverse to fully engage with all resources toward implementation and completion. Unfortunately, the activities within the lake lane often present intimidating obstacles and discouraging influences that turn the lake lane into burial grounds for the fearful. For the disciples on the ride with Jesus, the lake lane was overtaken by a windstorm that threatened the lives of the disciples. Since the divine instruction equally suggests that the real assignment is at the other side of the lake...

  “ So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. And he laid his hands on him and inaugurated him, just as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses .” Numbers 27 : 22 - 23 NKJV The transition from Moses to Joshua was smooth and seamless because Joshua has been prepared by the cultivating influence of the 40 years wilderness experiences. Walking past several moments of the Israelites’ murmuring and consequences, the challenges of invasions from the enemies and how Moses responded by receiving guidance and deliverance from the Lord, and numerous manifestations of God’s provision to the needs of the people. And where many of his contemporaries had failed, Joshua had stood firm on the promises of God to get into the land filled with milk and honey. So, when Moses “ took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation ”, he was already a soft soil for God’s sowing of His heaven...

  “ Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength. By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth .” Proverbs 8 : 14 - 16 NKJV Injustices in the world’s justice system are inherited from its wobbling wisdom. That’s why only a case with either the ability to produce evidence or the ingenuity to suppress evidence wins. Fortunately, this wobbling wisdom falls like a pack of cards before the winning wisdom from the Lord for those who truly have faith in God. While the wobbling wisdom thrives on horizontal knowledge from human intelligence gathering, the winning wisdom depends on vertical knowledge or divine revelation. Little wonder the scriptural digest for today says “ Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength “. Whenever God is sincerely allowed to step into the affairs of His beloved, injustices are dealt with decisively through His gracious manoeuvring of kings, rule...