FAITH CAPSULE: God is God, and no one controls the timing of God.

Psalm 69

Giving self to live life for God is not action that is rooted in the head but rooted in the heart of man. God’s word did not stop at asking from man to seek God but asked repeatedly for man to seek God diligently. Seeking God diligently is buttressed in Deuteronomy 4:29, “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Give self to God by waiting by His way.
Waiting on God is timeless. It can take longer than expected or shorter than expected when we are waiting to hear from God. The waiting which takes “Mr. A” a short time before getting an answer can take “Mr. B” a longer time to get his answer from God. One thing is certain, where there is waiting before God, none can wait and become wasted. God never fails because time is in His hand and He can answer at the first hour or at the eleventh hour. God is God, and no one controls the timing of God.
King David, once at a time of waiting for God’s salvation, testified his experience by stating, “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.” (Psalm 69:1-3)
King David encountered a grave challenge that stretched from being in deep mire where he could not stand to deep waters where the floods overflow him. In the face of his challenge, however, he waited on God. For him, there was no sign of any answer coming forth for his deliverance but, yet he had no back-up plan but to wait. Indeed, faith does not have a back-up plan but to wait without ceasing.
King David, in his waiting, kept on praying when he stated, “But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the truth of Your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink…” (Psalm 69:13-14)
Prayer and expectation are the anchor of waiting and David demonstrated it.
In time of waiting on God where there is no expectation for getting an answer from God, when the answer comes from God one might not recognize the answer for the purpose of waiting.
Waiting demands persistency and expectation for manifestation.
When waiting longer period becomes painful, praising and giving thanks should be the antidote.  King David testified, “But I am poor and sorrowful; let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high. I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” (Psalm 69:29-30) David did not stop expecting despite his challenge but he rather kept on praising and magnifying God with thanksgiving.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to wait on Him in all coming days He has given you.

FAITH CAPSULE: Is your sacrificial offering (worship) reasonable enough to be accepted by God?

2 Samuel 24

Over the Israelites, David conducted census against the will of God which provoked God to send down plague. The consequence of the census demanded a sacrifice which made Araunah to offer David a free threshing floor to build an altar for God to withdraw plague over Israelites. David rejected the free offer stating, “…no, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So, David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.” (2 Samuel 24:24)
The story about David’s censor gives the picture about what it means
David opted for a costly sacrifice in the place of free sacrifice for his worship to God. Costly sacrifice before God will always provoke a priceless response from God. Worship is costly.
Worship is obeying God by doing His will. Pleasing self in position to please God is coming out of worship. Pleasing self is disengaging the ways of God by engaging the way that seems right to self. Proverbs 14:12 buttresses, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Giving self onto God’s way is giving attention to God. God is a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24) and the antidote for jealousy God is giving Him a pleasing attention by worshipping Him.
Worshipping God is to be conscious in keeping heart with all diligence.
The Word of God demands that we keep our heart with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23). A heart that meditates day and night is a heart in worship day and night. Hearts which are kept with all diligence becomes pure. It is an understanding in the word that the pure at heart shall see God. (Matthew 5:8) Worshiping God with a diligent heart will become pure enough, accessing the presence of God.
Among the ways of keeping heart diligently as stated in Ephesians 5:18-21, “…be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,  submitting to one another in the fear of God.” Whatever fills one is the evidence of what flows from the heart. Man’s filling is what effectively affect how he walks, stands and sits. The Psalmist buttressed by stating, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in the law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2) Jesus also states, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8) Meditation keeps the heart diligent and makes it to be pure to see God. Engage your heart in worship, be able to see God and be blessed.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of God for giving self to live life for Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Obeying God’s word is the condition to claim and gain the promises of God.

Isaiah 55

Living life with the consciousness of who you are in the hand of God is rooted in studying to understand and to know God’s investment over man’s life. Understanding and knowing God is the condition for man to engage God’s required condition to provoke blessings of God over the life of man.
Jabez is an example that engaged condition which is knowing and understanding to claim and gain the blessing of God upon his life. Bible recorded, “Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”  And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.” (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)
What condition was in place of Jabez life to claim the blessing of God?
Jabez must have gained knowledge and understanding as condition in his life to claim God’s blessing. Bible stated that man is with honor as crown in Psalm 8:4, “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.” Jabez’s understanding of crown with honor upon him by God made him to prayerfully ask from God to take away pain from his life. It was a blessing from God to answer Jabez’s prayer. With understanding and knowledge Jabez also claimed and gained the promise of God when he called on God saying, “God of Israel” Evidently, claiming to gain promise of God is rooted in praying with understanding as Jabez demonstrated understanding and knowledge.
Clearly, through the pages of the Bible, claiming the promises of God comes with condition (doing according to God’s word). For example, Exodus 19:5 recorded, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.” Deuteronomy 4:29 is another example condition of God for man to do and claim the promise of God. It is written, “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 6:17 also buttressed, “You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you.”
The verses above identified the condition to claim and gain the promise of God:
Obeying God’s word is set to excel in this wicked world as God’s special treasure.
Seek God with heart and soul to disallow seeking God unpleasingly. Seeking God is a condition to see God.
Keeping God’s command is not chasing after world activities.
Keep God’s word to do as commanded in God’s word and live life for God’s glory.

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s hand to keep you not to live life outside of His word.

 FAITH MAIL: Fear God; be humble and operate the mind of Christ to live life for God.

Matthew 18:1-10

It is important to be mind-full of Jesus’ way of life to be living for God. Paul admonished in Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”  What is it about the mind of Christ?
The mind of Christ is a humble mind, a mind that is plain, simple and set before God.
At a point in time, the disciples wanted to know from Jesus who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It is written, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1) Jesus’ response clearly described humility as the way out to become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom.” (Matthew 18:3-4) What a wakeup-call for those with wrong assumptions of what it is to be ready to become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
Jesus said assuredly, meaning: without any other means; with all certainty heaven is distant until one is converted and become as little children.  It is those who are converted (that is, accept Jesus as their Lord and savior) and those who become of the Lord by virtue of living the Word of God, are those ready for the great home coming. Confessing Christ and not living by the Word of God is same as claiming to have been converted and not become as little children.
Also, one’s title on earth is not an evidence of humility in one’s life. Unfortunately, title is not a ticket to becoming the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Many are full of themselves and not filled by Christ, as a result, humility is strange to them.
Little children whose mindset operates as of a little child are true example of carrier of humble spirit. Such children do not have pride, as a result any fruit of pride such as malice; deception and un-forgiveness are not part of little children’s makeup.
Jesus emphasized the importance of humility when His hour was near (John 13:1).
Having clearly showed and taught how to be humble, He waited until His final hour to give His disciples a lasting impression which revealed the importance of humility.
It is written, “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.” (John 13:3-5) There is no perfect way to show what it means to be humble than Jesus’s demonstration.

Prayer for today: Ask God to turn your mind to be Christ like.