FAITH CAPSULE: To fear God is to live life to the glory of God.

Deuteronomy 6

It is written, “Seek good and not evil, that you may live; so the Lord God of hosts will be with you, as you have spoken. Hate evil, love good; Establish justice in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” (Amos5:14-15) Do you fear God? Seeking good and not evil is the identity of man that fears God. Do you fear God or possess mouth that is full of the fear God?
The fear of God is to hate evil. Proverbs 8:13 stated, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” How much of His fear do you carry in your life? The fear of God is way of life. “In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge.” (Proverb 14:26) Confidence is the evidence of how we fear God. God is indeed our refuge; our strong and might tower. To fear God is to trust in God and to constantly demonstrate confidence in the face of challenge. Ones that trust God fears God. To fear God is to live life to the glory of God. “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death.” (Proverb 14:27) How can a creature not fear His Creator? How often have you been in a creative position, but not having the needed patience but destroyed your creation because it did not come out as expected?
God is a good God. He has put everything in place for us to have life in Jesus Christ and not die.
Have you ever considered the way that leads to life? It is written in Proverbs 19:23, “The fear of the LORD leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil.” There are different ways of living life but the way of God is to abide in satisfaction where lack is strange and the evil one is constantly being denied.  Jesus Christ made us to realize that He is the only way when He stated in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The only way is Jesus and ones that accept Him takes to the good way, truth and life. Without doubt, it can be concluded that it is wisdom to fear God and it is not enough to celebrate Him when there is no fear of Him. Just as the New Year continues, understand it today that having life is not by merit but by the mercy of God; allow the fear of God reign and rule over your life.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to fear God is all your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: God sees how man is comfortable in complete liars.

Psalm 4

When Hager the Sarai’s maid was fleeing from Sarai, she had an encounter Angel of the Lord that asked her to return back to Sarai. Angel of the Lord also mentioned to Hager that she was going to bear a child. In response to the Angel of the Lord’s word, Hager stated, “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” (Genesis 16:13) Truly, God sees; He is a God that sees. With the testimonies of man that knows God actually knows God and knows that God sees. Once, God proved seeing all when He sent Isaiah to Hezekiah saying, “…Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years.” (Isaiah 38:5) God sees. Psalm 94:9 spoke about God as God that sees, “He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?”
God sees how man is comfortable in complete liars; God sees that man prefers lies to truth; God sees how man makes the choice of committing to man in the place of God. By seeing, God reacted to man’s wrong doing as stated in Psalm 4:2, “How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood?” Man turning the glory of God to shame is loving worthless and seeks falsehood (untruth). So many falsehood is reigning among acclaimed believers that only knows about God but not actually know God. Giving self to falsehood is committing self to Prophet-liars, Apo-stealers, the self-ordained or man ordained of today.
Today, know God and be rest assured that God is seeing enough to know who is who under heaven. He is in position to take care of ones that does not love worthless and seek falsehood turning the glory of God to shame. Psalm 4:3 recorded God’s response to God that does not turn the glory of God to shame, “But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; the Lord will hear when I call to Him.”
The written word of God above points it out that God will not fail those who call on Him; God will hear those who are set apart to him. The identities of ones that are set apart to God, ones that do not seek falsehood and does not turn the glory of God to shame are stated in Psalm 4:4-5, “Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteous, and put your trust in the Lord.”
Know God, live for the glory of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to set you apart to Him and for the glory of His name.

FAITH CAPSULE: Know God to ask and seek God for unfailing answer.

Daniel 6

Knowing about God is an indication of not knowing God. Obeying God means to know God. Knowing God is receiving from God.
Jesus enlightened how to receive from God when He stated, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8) Asking, seeking and knocking before God is praying to God for answer. Knowing God to obey will receive answer from God that does not fail to answer prayer. God answers prayer with yes, no or wait.
ASKING
Jacob asked and received from God which is the evidence that God is not deaf not to answer when man asks. Genesis 32:29 recorded “Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there.” In the verse, “Jacob asked and God said.” Asking is an assurance when we know God as stated in the following verses:
1 John 3:22, “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” When we do not obey His commandment we ask amiss. (James 4:2-3) 1 John 5:14, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” Daniel is an example that demonstrated his confidence in God as he stood against the law not to pray to God. Daniel 6:10 recorded, “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.” Confidence in God will make man to have expectation with manifestation in God.
SEEK
Seeking God is finding God that is not secret to those who seek Him with all. Deuteronomy 4:29 pointed how what it takes to seek God, “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.” Preparing heart for God is a way of seeking God to get answer. Ezra 7: 10, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”
Among the ways of receiving from God is: Know God to ask and seek God for unfailing answer.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to know Him more.

FAITH CAPSULE: God is still in position to be extending hand of deliverance from destruction.

Genesis 19

At the time of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because of wickedness, two angels came to the land. Lot saw the angels and decided to host the angels overnight. As a result of hosting the angels, he struggled with the wicked ones of the land that wanted to know the angels carnally. Wicked of Sodom and Gomorrah persisted to break into Lot’s house as Lot resisted the wicked. The angels decided to pull Lot into the house from the hands of the wicked ones. The bible recorded scene between Lot, the wicked ones and the two angels, “And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.  But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.” (Genesis 19:9-11) This year, pray that the hand of God will be in position to be pulling you into safety from every land that is marked for destruction. God is still in position to be extending hand of deliverance from destruction.
As Lot was pulled to safety from destruction by the angels, he was also delivered by the angels from lingering so as not to become a victim of destruction. Genesis 19:15-16 stated, “When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.”  And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
Ask God for His mercy to be pulling you and to be bringing you out where lingering is set to hold man down for inevitable destruction. This year, plead for God’s consistent mercy to deliver you from every of your inconsistency before God. God is a living God; a merciful God and the hand of God is not too short to deliver. Ask for the same hand that delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of over four hundred years in Egypt. The agents of wickedness against the life of Lot became blinded. Blindness is what will make wicked agency become weary and unable to locate you. God’s hand answered for Lot and He will answer on your behalf. Devote to your desire and God will deposit your desire.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the hand of God to have His upon you as your director in this wicked world.

FAITH CAPSULE: This season, shut self in the word of God; shut out the world.

2 Kings 4:1-7, Psalm 107

Elisha, the prophet of God, gave word to a certain woman with debt and full of lack by stating, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” (2 Kings 4: 3-4)  By the word of God’s prophet the certain woman was to go and borrow empty vessels. Borrowing more vessels by the certain woman was to add more to her debt. Realistically, the word of God’s prophet does not sound reasonable and convincing in the ear of the woman and to the world of then and the world of today.
However, the woman obeyed the word of prophet as she went and did according to the word of God’s prophet. The certain woman did exactly by shutting her door to keep out the world. The word of God from the prophet of God will always terminate struggle when we do accordingly to the word. Applying our daily lives in the word from God by shutting out the world around us will make us victory. Indeed and in truth it is not possible for us to open up to the world while at the same time open up to the word of God.
In the face of challenges, engaging word from God to shut self in the word of God is shutting out the world around us out. In this new season, shut self in the word of God and be a living testimony of victory in every area of challenges.
The woman’s lack was turned into abundance as she shut out the world around her. This season, shut self in the word of God; shut out the world. Victory, deliverance and preservation should answer for man that shut self in the word of God. The certain woman did according to the prophet of God’s word and reported to the prophet as recorded, “Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.” (2 Kings 4:7)
Are you going to be available for the word of God in this season?
Taking to the word of God is shutting self in the word of God that is sent by God to deliver us from destruction. (Psalm 107:20) This season, come out of religion by knowing about God but get to know God.

Prayer for today: With the grace of listening and hearing, ask God to give you a word that will terminate your lack. Ask for the grace to know God and be shutting self into the word of God and shut out the world.