FAITH CAPSULE: Multitude/crowd answers as the agent of hindrance in life.

Luke 19:1-27

The multitude/crowd in one’s life, as an agent for hinderance, should be denied in one’s life.
What role is the multitude/crowd doing in your life? 
Multitude could be a hindrance.
If a multitude is allowed in one’s life, it will deny one from getting to where the LORD has destined for one to be.              
The multitude will ridicule you; it will discourage you, delay you and deny you from moving forward or rising above challenges of life.
One that fails to recognize the representative of a multitude in one’s life will become stagnated and one’s miracle will set to become a mockery.
Taking the life of Zacchaeus and Bartimaeus into consideration, much will learn from breaking hindrances of the multitude that frequently denies one.
Zacchaeus’ case with multitude as hinderance
Zacchaeus was a tax collector. He was short in stature, a physical limitation of his was in place to deny him from inviting Jesus into his home. Zacchaeus recognized his limitation but rejected it from being an excuse not to seek Jesus diligently for his desire.
Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd because he wanted to see Jesus. 
He was not attempting to join the crowd in knowing about Jesus. 
He wanted to know Jesus, to see Jesus because to see is to receive Jesus into his house. 
Zacchaeus recognized that there was a need for him to do more than running to see Jesus but to also climb a tree to see and receive Jesus. 
What are your efforts to see and able to receive Jesus? 
Your pastor knowing you and going to church once a week or sleeping in the church is not enough to overcome the crowd in the world of today. 
Luke 19:4-6 records the effort of Zacchaeus to deny the multitude’s hindrance for him not to see and receive Jesus into his house, “So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” So, he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.” 
By running ahead with efforts to see and receive, the hindrance will device other means to deny one’s victory.
Despite Zacchaeus running and effort to overcome the hindrance of the multitude, a complaint was lodged against him and Jesus saying, “…He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:7)
Can you imagine a man of short stature climbing a tree to see and receive Jesus into his house?
The multitude (crowd) could not hinder Zacchaeus from seeing and to receive Jesus into his life.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you not to become a victim of a hindrance.

FAITH CAPSULE: To love is commanded by God.

1 Corinthians 13

Paul the apostle stated the importance of love, 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” Paul’s word identifies that, demonstrating the gifts of God such: as speaking in tongues, prophesying, reaching out to the needy and making oneself available when or where there is a need but without having love is empty and nothing counts before God. 
To love is commanded by God.
Jesus meant what He was saying when He said, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”(Matthew 7:22-23) 
Are you obedient to self-selected but not obedience to all of God’s command?
Man can be deceived, one can lie to a pastor, one can manipulate brethren, but God can see the heart of all. 
The apostle Paul also describe what love is about, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”(1 Corinthians 13:4-7) 
If every believer will consider the description of what love is about as Apostle Paul identifies, there will be a need for the grace of God in the place of having the determination to love because determination will fail. 
To love as commanded by God must be in truth and deed.
To love is not impossible, it is possible to love as God expects from all.
God is a good God; He did not command for what is not possible to obey. 
One that loves as commanded by God will be count before God as one that fully obeys God as Galatians 5:14 speaks to all, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 
All should examine themselves to know if they truly love as commanded by God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of obedience to God’s word.

FAITH CAPSULE: Be upgraded; remain upgraded consistently!

Genesis 6

Living in this wicked world of today demands constant and consistent upgrading by seeking God. 
Seeking God is pleasing God. 
Pleasing God is living by the word of God. 
In a wicked world, Enoch upgraded himself by walking with God, he demonstrated a life of fellowship with obedience to God. The Bible records, “By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken, he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:5-6) In this wicked world, self-upgrading is living a life of fellowship with obedience to God. 
Just like Enoch, Noah lived a life of self-upgrading. The Bible records the result of Noah’s upgraded life: “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So, God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” (Genesis 6:9-12)
Elijah lived a life of upgrading by taking a stand for God against false religious leaders and kings. Elijah did not align himself with wicked kings and leaders. Elijah’s life of taking stand kept him upgraded in the wicked world. Elijah did not die but went up to heaven in a whirlwind. (2 Kings 2:11) 
Walking and standing in fellowship with obedience to God in this wicked world is not impossible but possible for one with a purposed heart for God. Elijah stood for God, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.” (James 5:17) Today, it is possible to be upgraded as Elijah was upgraded in his journey of life. 
Matthew 6:19-21 admonishes what it takes to remain upgraded, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 
Does the word of God speak to you in this wicked world?
In the wicked world, get upgraded today; be built up in the word of God. Apostle Paul identifies the need to be built up in Acts 20:32, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” It is worthy to commit self to the word of God and be upgraded with continual prayer and to the ministry of the word. 

Prayer for today: Ask from God that you want to be upgraded by living a life of pleasing Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Do not be intimidated to be doing wrong, but be motivated doing good.

Genesis 8

Under heaven, all should know and be discouraged from doing evil as Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
Doing evil is nothing but wickedness. 
At the time wickedness multiplied on the face of the earth, God’s judgment over the wicked one was inevitable before God.
For example, during the days of Noah, when wickedness became increasingly unacceptable before God, Noah was the only one in his generation that was kept for salvation. The Bible records, “…Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” 
In the time of Noah, all the people on the face of the earth could not escape God’s judgment. If you are the only one that is doing right in the midst of all that is doing wrong before God, do not be intimidated to be doing wrong, but be motivated doing good.
Noah could not be intimidated to stop doing right but gained attention before God for God’s grace of salvation. 
Today Jesus, the grace of God, has already come and He is here for those that will come out of wickedness, to receive and believe Him as Lord and Savior. 
To receive and believe Him is like gaining entrance into the ark that delivered Noah from God’s judgment. 
Receiving and believing in Jesus will also deliver in the time of God’s judgment of the world. 
Noah found grace, and salvation was his portion. 
Also, God’s salvation is to be remembered by God.
Noah gained the grace of salvation with the need to be remembered by God, Genesis 8:1 records, “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.” (Genesis 8:1) 
The Grace of God, the Lord Jesus, is already here and all should walk with God, to be remembered by Lord God just as Noah was remembered. 
How then can all be remembered? 
Among ways to be remembered is to be consistent with the Word of God. 
Malachi 3:16 testifies, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So, a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name.” (Malachi 3:16) 
Living life in the fear of God will grant access to the ark of salvation, not to become a victim that is set for the wicked ones.
Allow the fear of God, His testimonies to always be the center of your conversation and meditation. Malachi 3:16 points out that God will listen; He will hear every meditation. 
Care to be remembered by God, study the word of God by meditating on the word of God. Fear God! 

Prayer for today: Ask for your heart to be constantly engaged with the word of God.