Heralds Digest

  “ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” II Peter 3 : 9 NKJV If only the heart is consistently made to understand the objective function of the divine optimization or handling of the world’s affairs, there will never be any agitation on the timing of all His promises. Unfortunately, both the righteous believers and the perishing unbelievers are often carried away by their personal or parochial will. For example, while believers are focused on personal deliverances, preservation, and prosperity for the restricted self or loved ones, God is always fixated on His ‘not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance’ until the expiration of His prerogative of mercy. On the other hand, the unbelievers and sinners are usually consumed by their arrogant pride, destructive affluence, and time-bound fame until the heavy hamme...

  “ then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment” II Peter 2 : 9 NKJV It is always disturbing that human beings are mostly ruled by the deceitful designs of fellow men rather than the delightful design of God. There are numerous people who were destroyed by the deceitful designs of Pharaoh’s invincibility in the Red Sea and the divers plagues. Needless to mention the collateral damages of Nebuchadnezzar’s deceitful designs, and many like minds. Whenever believers experience delay in either the deliverance of the righteous or the destruction of the wicked, we are often tempted to doubt the delightful design of the Most High God. The truth is simply that only “ the Lord knows how to deliver… ” because deliverance of His creations is always the Lord’s delightful design. Those who would eventually fall under the mighty hand of God’s judgment will definitely acknowledge the Lord’s delightful design...

  “ For I know that the Lord is great, And our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places. ” Psalms 135 : 5 - 6 NKJV The experiential and empirical testimony of the psalmist is the birthright of every born-again child of God. Anyone who cannot boldly declare “ For I know that the Lord is great, And our Lord is above all gods “ is sincerely pitiable. Little wonder why many so-called believers cannot confront their Goliaths, Nebuchadnezzars, and Pharaohs with the fact that God is greater than the greatest, wiser than the wisest, higher than the highest, bigger than the biggest, and mightier than the mightiest. Anyone who does not know personally more than the existence of God, and that God is above all gods, is merely cheating himself. For example, when Daniel was confronted with a threat of getting executed alongside the wise men of Babylon for the inability of these wise men to reveal secrets from Nebucha...

  “ But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” I Peter 5 : 10 - 11 NKJV In the absence of grace to subscribe to the divine perspective on sufferings and challenges in any of this world’s systems, system settling will naturally mean the breeding of compromisers, liars, and cheaters. Even as common as settling for the palace dietary system, Daniel was only able to spot compromise and idolatry because of his access to grace. Therefore, when the scriptures intercedes for saints with “ But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you” , it does calls for deeper insights into believers’ perspectives on the place of suffering for saints settling…not sinners settling. We are called from the web ...

  “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.” I Peter 4 : 14 , 16 , 19 NKJV There should be no contention about the understanding of the concept as doing good, the only clear challenge remains the fact that nature prefers receiving good to doing good. Whereas, fruitful creativity is all about the pleasing of the faithful Creator; and not the usual falling into self-service. The pursuit of glorified goodness is motivated by the claiming of all that heaven has to offer for the gain of the seekers, rather than the making of sacrifice by the seekers for the glory of God. And for God to be truly glorified in our homes, wor...

  “ He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, But he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.” Proverbs 28 : 25 - 26 NKJV The primary ignorance of self defense in life is a vain trust in the potency of personal plan and agenda. The pursuit of personal agenda at home, workplaces and social relationships creates an imaginary throne room in parenting, project management, and operational principles for the worship of self. Unfortunately, the protection of this imaginary throne room from invasion often leads the hearts into vices and crimes, ungodly associations and secret cults. Whereas, the scriptures called those who trust in castles built by their own hearts fools because they voluntarily relinquished the real throne room provided by God for imaginary throne rooms. When we absolutely trust in God, there would be no need to scheme for anything in all of life’s engagements. The secret things o...

  “ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame. ”” I Peter 2 : 5 - 6 NKJV Suffering and shame from times immemorial have been useful tools in the hands of the enemies for the destruction of homes, families and institutions. Unfortunately, careless believers often joined the agents of darkness to play politics with these tools. And in times of genocide, ethnic and religious cleansing, banditry, immorality, etc, the undiscerning will often send out the query “ Where is God? ”. Just as Jesus Christ became the Chief Cornerstone of our salvation through suffering, true believers are designed to be God’s living stones through their engagements and perseverance in seasons of suffering. Therefore, the right...