FAITH CAPSULE: More than ever before, plead for the mercy of God.

Isaiah 43

Understand that you are pleading for the mercy of God.
The world is getting wicked.
God is the perfect creator of all.
All should understand God to know God, not just know about God.
One who lacks understanding of God will not know how to provoke God to gain His attention at every point of need.
For example, to gain the mercy of God will set one to live as an overcomer in the wicked world.
With understanding, to gain the mercy of God will make one live for the glory of God.
The ways of God in place to engage the mercy of God are not to perish.
Not to perish is to have knowledge.
One who does not understand God will not have the knowledge not to perish.
Hosea 4:6 records the warning signal, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
Job understood God and knew to plead for God’s mercy.
Job did not live a life of sin before God, but understood and knew to plead with God for mercy.
With understanding, know that God is a caring God who waits to act for those who wait on Him. (Isaiah 64:4)
Waiting on God is to remind God concerning His work, to attain His mercy.
Isaiah 43:26 records the saying of God,“Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.”
God said, “And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.” (Isaiah 45:11)
Evidently, with understanding, seek God to gain His mercy.
The mercy of God is attainable when one asks or pleads for His mercy:
God identified Job as a man with none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil.
In life, nothing qualifies anyone not to plead for the mercy of God when challenges take place.No one is above asking God to gain His mercy. 
Despite the stand of Job before God, he knows to plead for mercy before God: “For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge” (Job 9:15). 
Job pleaded for mercy. He is with the integrity of the heart before God, which does not excuse him from pleading to attain the mercy of God.
Just like Job, the Psalmist had to plead for the mercy of God, “Have mercy on me, O LORD! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death.” (Psalm 9:13). 
Nothing qualifies anyone not to plead for mercy before God.
Do you understand God to be holding on Him by His word?
With faith, not doubt, understand God, know Him (not just quoting His word)
With understanding, one is bound to remind God takes the position to gain the presence of God.
God is not talkative like man; God remembers His word, not that He forgets.
Pleading for the mercy of God should be a signature tune for all, as in meditating prayerfully before God to gain His merciful non-stop in a wicked world.

Prayer for today: Prayerfully meditate asking for the mercy of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: The mercy of God has brought you far!

Genesis 39

One living life by the word of God is in a position to receive the mercy of God. 
All who have the breath of life should recognize and give regard to God for having the life gained by the mercy of God.
Understand and know God for His mercy over your life this far.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, the mercy of God has been consistent in seeing you this far, not to become a victim of the wicked world.
The mercy of God that has brought you this far is not because you know how to live life.
To be alive this moment is the mercy of God.
Mercy belongs to God!
God, having mercy on whom He has mercy on, is unquestionable.
God spoke to Moses, “For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’” (Romans 9:15)
With understanding, constantly give regard to God.
Are you giving regard to God for His mercy over your life?
Psalm 28:5identifies the importance of giving regard to God for His doing in the life of one who understands the mercy of God, “Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, Nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them And not build them up.”
The mercy of God is constantly consistent, allowing His goodness when walking against the word of God.
With understanding of God, know to give regard for His mercy.
Understand and know the mercy of God is with forbearance that does not run out.
The mercy of God is His loyal love; the conventional love of the covenant-keeping God. 
The mercy of God is His goodness.
Just as power belongs to God, mercy also belongs to God. 
God cannot be intimidated or manipulated by any of His creations to receive His mercy.
The mercy of God is not attainable by the strength of working among believers but by walking in the word of God. 
The mercy of God is in place for all, and nothing under heaven can displace or deny that God will visit with His mercy.
In the given days that you have by the breath of life, understand and know how to live life to attain the mercy of God, as the Bible records His word.
AMONG WAYS OF PROVOKING GOD TO OBTAIN HIS MERCY ARE:
The ways of God in place to engage the mercy of God are not to perish.
Not to perish is to have knowledge.
One who does not understand God will not have the knowledge not to perish.
Hosea 4:6 records the warning signal, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
Gain understanding of God and know how to engage His ways, to be exposed to His mercy.
One with understanding of God will know how to attain the mercy of God.
The mercy of God is attainable when the life one is living aligns with the word of God:

Prayer for today: Ask that the mercy of God be continually established in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Praying right is with power that never fails.

Daniel 6

To pray before God demands understanding that does not fail.
The answer to prayer before God is not rooted in forcing God to answer as one pleases.
The answer to prayer before God is: YES, WAIT, or NO
Do you know better than your creator?
God is God, the unchanging changer, and God alone reverses the irreversible.
The earnest prayer of Jesus(Luke 22:44) and Elijah’s prayer (James 5:17-18) testify that praying earnestly is labor that will provoke an answer from God.
Prayer demands understanding that recognizes open heaven, the lifestyle connecting with God.
At the location of water baptism, with people getting baptized, there was no record of baptism backed with prayer.
However, when Jesus was baptized, heaven opened. 
Luke 3:21-22 records, “When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.”
Earnestly, will you engage prayer as your way of life?
Prayer is labor that answers for deliverance and preservation in this wicked world. 
Prayer is labor with a custom approach. David testifies to laboring in prayer for his deliverance and preservation that is custom: “As for me, I will call upon God, and the LORD shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:16-17) 
Praying with labor, with a custom, will not fail to gain and retain the presence of God.
Daniel is another one with a lifestyle of praying with the labor of custom. Daniel 6:10 records the testimony of Daniel: “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.” 
Labor can be a customary way of seeking God.
Daniel lived a life of praying before God as his custom and could not die before his time.
Do you have a schedule of attending to God prayerfully? 
Study the word of God to understand the power of praying before God as a lifestyle.
Take note that “Whatever things were written before was written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4) 
With understanding, engage with the prayer of faith as demonstrated by Jesus.
Once, with faith, Jesus demonstrated prayer when He spoke to a fig tree to be withered. His disciples reacted with curiosity when they asked Jesus: “…how did the fig tree wither away so soon?” (Matthew 21:20) Jesus responds, “…Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:21-22).
With understanding, let praying laboriously be my way of life.

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled with consistent prayer.

FAITH CAPSULE: Prayer is like: a labour, not a playing ground.

Psalm 139

How is your prayer before God?
Prayer is a personal communication, a petition addressed to God. 
Communicating with God can be verbal or non-verbal.
Prayer is in the form of supplication, adoration, praise, contrition (sincere remorse), or thanksgiving. 
Prayer by meditating before God should be with understanding. 
Prayer is also a devotion that can be done either publicly or privately.
Bishop David Oyedepo of the Winners Fellowship once described prayer as: “Prayer is like a labor room where undeniable proofs are given birth to.” 
Prayer is indeed labor and, when it is actively engaged, it delivers undeniable miracles. 
Prayer with patience will answer as the antidote for suffering.
At the time of the suffering of Job, prayer with patience (communication with God) was continual. 
The Bible encourages all, “Is anyone suffering let him pray” (James 5:13).
All should give themselves to prayer as a way of life, with continual communication with God in every moment of life, the evidence of not ignoring the nearness of God to all.
Prayer always demands earnest engagement (serious intention, purpose, or effort). 
Prayer with seriousness is evident in the testimony of Elijah praying for rain. James 5:17-18 “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. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit”
Elijah prayed earnestly (with seriousness and purpose).  
Is your prayer with seriousness to gain the attention of a man or to gain the attention of God?
Once Jesus was in earnest prayer, he was on a praying ground when His betrayers came to arrest him. 
Luke 22:44 records earnest prayer, the labor of Jesus:“And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” 
Are you striving to pray laboriously or to pray lazily? 
The prayer of Jesus was in sweat like drops of blood falling, the evidence of laborious prayer. 
Are you expecting to engage in prayer differently from how Jesus prayed to get results? 
Prayer that is labor is seeking God diligently to be rewarded by God. (Hebrews 11:6). 
Prayer is labor that builds up before God with answers as hedges, like a wall for protection, gained to be inaccessible for enemies.
For example, the constant prayer of Job over his household answered as hedges to deny evil acts. 
The Bible records the complaint of Satan before God, after failure not to do evil for Job: “Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.” (Job 1:10) With the prayer of labor that is continual, build-up hedges the protection of God. 
Just like King David, let prayer be your lifestyle and be known by God for hedges of protection. (Psalm 139:5)

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to increase strength and understanding in prayer.