FAITH CAPSULE: Are you experiencing a challenge overwhelming you? 

Joshua 7 

One not contented in life shall become envious, greedy, and jealous of the character of one that covets. 
Greediness is rooted in a lack of contentment. 
One who is greedy is not generous. Covetousness is a command with no need for interpretation. 
Exodus 20:17 states in the Ten Commandments: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.  
With the victory of the representative of the wall of Jericho in your life, you will expect victory to be your identity. 
However, when you fail to identify with the commandment of God, you will lose your identity as a winner. 
On the way to the promise of God, challenge is a frequent engagement, but full compliance with the word of God is the only way of getting to the promise of God. 
After bringing down the wall of Jericho, the children of Israel set for war against the people of Ai. 
Being a winner, they assumed victory because the people of Ai were few, but they fell and could not stand before their enemies.
As a result of the loss of Israelites to Ai, Joshua went before God “And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan!” (Joshua 7:10) 
He considered their past as better than their present. (Oh that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan Joshua 7:7)  
Are you experiencing a situation where it feels that your past is better than your present? 
It could be that God has departed you just like He departed the Israelites as a result of Achan’s covetousness. 
Joshua pleaded before God, and God told him about the covetous sin of Achan.
God called covetousness sin. 
Covetousness is transgressing the command of God, and He also called it deception. (Joshua 7:10-11) 
Covetousness brought them down, and they could not stand before their enemies but turned their backs on their enemies. 
Are you turning your back on your enemies? 
Is it that the challenge you need to overcome is now overwhelming you? God does not waste His word, and the Bible testifies that He magnified His word above all His name. (Psalm 138:2) 
Why not consciously engage His word? 
The word obeyed for past victory will not complement your present battle. 
Every battle demands consistency with obedience to the word of God. 
For the Israelites, past victory could not complement future victory because of the sin of covetousness. 
The Israelites violated God and could not stand a lesser opposition in their direction. 
The lesser opposition struck and chased the Israelites as the hearts of the people melted.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace not to operate covetousness in every walk of your life. 

 FAITH CAPSULE: Receiving and possessing the promises in the word of God is in having faith.  

Joshua 6

Faith is the key to further and not falter in the promise of God.
God promised the Israelites to take them to the Promised Land.
For the Israelites, when it was time to go to the Promised of God, at a point in time of the journey, the enemy stood against the promised in an attempt to deny them their passage.
All the Israelites needed to know is that claiming the promise of God demands to see God in His word that does not fail.
Joshua 6:1-2 records, “Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.”  
Without doubt or questioning, by faith, Joshua received the word of God that granted them their passing through. 
Until one begins to see the word of God, it becomes impossible to receive the promise of God. 
With the word of God is to see the word to receive and become, for one that sees in the word of God.
The faith to be able to see in the absence of nothing provokes the grace to receive from the word of God. 
For example, faith delivered strength to Sarah in her old age to conceive and give birth to Isaac. 
It is written, “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged Him faithful who had promised.” (Hebrews 11:11) 
Without a doubt, receiving and possessing the promises in the word of God is in having faith. 
At an old age, when it was impossible to have a child, Sarah did not doubt but received the promise that she would have a child. 
The word she received gave her the strength to conceive. 
The strength to do the impossible is through faith in the word of God. 
The secret behind receiving and claiming is having simplicity at heart. 
Psalm 119:130 encourages all, “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” 
With the understanding that God is light, every cloud of darkness that gives a picture of no way shall give up when the word of God, the light of God, gains entrance.
The simple at heart is none other than those who believe. 
Proverbs 14:15 reveals, “The simple believe every word…” 
Sarah settled in her heart that God would perform it. 
Sarah heard the word, strengthened, and saw to receive the promise in the word of God.
Faith is the key to further and not faltering of any challenges.

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled with the strength to remain faithful when the word of God sounds in your direction.

FAITH CAPSULE: Settling for convenience in the place of commitment is stepping away from God.

Numbers 32

The coming out of the children of Israel from the bondage of over four hundred years to a land that flows with milk and honey is a lesson for all not to replace commitment with convenience. 
God repeatedly gave His word of command to the children of Israel, “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…” (Exodus 3:8) 
The command of God demands a diligent commitment. 
However, the story changed when the children of Israel, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Reuben settled for convenience and could not commit to the word of God as commanded.
In truth, every word of God will stand without failing.
God does not violate His word, but the world is not strange to disobey the word of God. 
God decided to deliver the children of Israel from the bondage of over four hundred years.
God is God with goodness and mercy, promised a land flowing with milk and honey for the children of Israel.
Claiming the promise demands commitment over convenience to the word of God.
Are you choosing how to propagate your life journey in line with God?
The children of Gad and Reuben were convenient with the land that flows with milk only. 
God did not promise a land that flows with only milk but a land that flows with milk and honey. 
The ignorance of the children of Gad and Reuben demanded to stay back, and Moses responded to the demand, “…Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? Now why will you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them? Thus your fathers did when I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the LORD had given them.” (Numbers 32:6-9) 
Is it discouragement that is between your commitments to the command of God, His word, and His promise? 
The children of Gad and Reuben wanted not to cross to the promise of God.
In the attempt not to cross over where God has planned for anyone to, challenges will come across in the journey.
Are you settling for convenience instead of commitment?
Settling for convenience in the place of commitment is taking assuming wrong.
Proverbs 14:12 mentions the consequence for anyone who assumes with no assurance way.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) 
Let the commitment to God reign.

Prayer for today: Ask for the mercy of God to answer in your life in all your endeavors.

FAITH CAPSULE: Trusting God in His promise and not having an iota of doubt.

1 Kings 12  

What God says He will do is a done deal. 
He does not waste words or tell lies.
He does not exaggerate, not deceive, and there is no reason to doubt Him. 
Doubting God is evidence of a lack of faith in His word. 
Before Jeroboam became the king of all Israel, he had received the word of God that he would become king. 
When it was time for Jeroboam to become king, the Bible records, “…For the turn of events was from the LORD, that He might fulfill His word, which the LORD had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.” (1 Kings 12:15) 
The word of God does not lie. 
God said He was going to make Jeroboam a king, but it was left for Jeroboam to receive the word as sent by God and meditate on it to manifest it for the glory of God. 
Can you confirm if God has spoken to you about what will become of you? 
When God makes you up, He will back you up and not forsake you if you do not doubt Him. 
Just as he gave His word for making Jeroboam king, Jeroboam became the king. 
However, Jeroboam failed to remind himself that the word that sounded in his direction for him to become a king would back him up. 
Jeroboam became king but doubted if the Kingdom would return the house of David after God had given it to him. 
1 Kings 12:25-27 testifies how Jeroboam gave himself to doubt against the promise of God in his life. 1 Kings 12:25-27 records, “Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim and dwelt there. Also, he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, ‘Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.’” 
Doubt is not of God but for the devil. 
Doubt is an agent of fear, and it does not have any good to offer but to steal, kill, and destroy. 
Jeroboam saw the beginning of the manifestation of the word of God when he became the king. 
Doubt set in Jeroboam, and he could not rest in God. 
As a result of doubt, Jeroboam built idols and led the people to other gods. 
Trusting God in His promise and not through to the end of His promise is not enough. 
God has spoken to you and will manifest His word if you rest in His promises. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from every iota of doubt.

FAITH CAPSULE: Watch and pray to deny the enemy from sowing evil into your life.  

Joshua 7 

Embark on prayer to engage in confronting challenges. 
Despising the word of God is among the avenues for the enemy to gain entrance, sowing in the life of one who chose not to live by the command of God.
Despising the word of God is among the avenues for the enemy to gain entrance, sowing in the life of one who chose not to live by the command of God.
The command of God is in His word to live and not to despise it.
The word of God warns, “He who despises the word will be destroyed…” (Proverbs 13:13) 
To be destroyed is the main agenda of the enemy. 
All often despise the word of God, and there is no excuse that is enough to deliver when the word of God is despised.
Exodus 20:7 records, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”  
Achan despised the command of God when he coveted it, and he caused a shameful defeat for the Israelites in a battle against Ai. 
Joshua approached Achan, and he confessed, “I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them…” (Joshua 7:20-21) 
Achan action allowed the enemy to sow that which caused his sons and daughter to die untimely death from being stoned to death.
A believer who takes prayer more seriously than sleeping will pave the way for heaven right here on earth. 
Daniel is one of the few examples who made prayer the captain over his captivity.
While in captivity, when he could have been dead, he outlived four rulers who did not know God: Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus. He was able to prevail because prayer was his captain.
When they tried to destroy him, he depended on the power of prayer instead of sleeping a sorrowful sleep. 
When they tried to persecute him, he was persistent in prayer. 
When there was an attempt to put him down, prayer lifted him. 
When it was time for him to break through, with his prayer with his friends, he gave meaning to a dream that magicians and sorcerers failed to interpret. Daniel did not sleep but embarked on prayer to engage in confronting temptation. 
Captivity failed to hold Daniel from living a purposeful and fulfilled life. 
He purposed not to defile God, and prayer was the propeller of his purpose. 
Prayer and not sleeping is a serious matter to be considered not to be a victim of evil agenda.
To lack in prayer is sleeping and waiting for the evil one to sow where he is not permitted. 
When the enemy is privileged to sow as one sleeps, his sowing will yield to pain and sudden or untimely death. 
Be awake, watch, and pray to deny the enemy from sowing evil into your life. 

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled not to despise the word of God.