FAITH CAPSULE: Lord, what do You want me to do?

Acts 9:1-19

Do you purpose what must be done in your life for the glory of God? Is it your own purpose that is set at the depth of your heart? What must be done is the humble question from us to provoke the Lord’s direction for us. As a believer do you have your question that states, “Lord, what do You want me to do to fulfill your divine assignment?” The bible recorded about Saul of Tarsus, “Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:1-4) Saul of Tarsus purposed for self but God disposed his agenda. God purposed what must be done in Saul’s journey of life. Do you have an agenda that does not line for God’s assignment for your life? Saul was on his way to wreak havoc on the disciples of the Lord in Damascus when he encountered what must be done for him to live the fulfillment of his destiny in Christ Jesus. Saul’s agenda was of evil but light that cannot comprehend darkness shone on him and brought him down to the ground.
While Saul was on ground, he heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Saul asked who the Lord is and Jesus responded by introducing Himself. Without force, Saul responded and the Lord directed him as stated in Acts 9:6, “So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Saul received instruction about what must be done; Saul’s name was changed to Paul. Paul’s encounter with the Lord exchanged Paul’s evil agenda to God’s assignment for Paul. In journey of life, what is your purpose that stands against God’s purpose for your life? Determination will not help to answer for what must be done, but the grace of God is what will get man into God’s divine assignment. Today, rest in the promise of God because, “He will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go and He will guide you with His eye” (Psalm 32:8). Paul received instruct to engage what must be done in his life for the glory of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to locate and engage what must be done to the glory of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: God is a mindful and caring God for man but man is careless and mindless in their actions.

Genesis 18

Man that does not know the magnitude of God as a mindful of His children will not know to be mindful of God. Do you know that God is mindful of you? The Psalmist was concerned about how God is mindful of man when he declared, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.” (Psalm 8:3-8)
If the Psalmist was concerned about the mindful of God for man, have you imagined the mindful and caring of God for His children? God is mindful of man; He cares for man and not hide plan for His children that will not ignore Him by not fearing Him. At the time of the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, the bible recorded, “Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (Genesis 18:17) Imagine God’s mindful and His care for His children? God could not react to the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah without carrying Abraham along in His word as stated, “Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous  that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” (Genesis 18:20-21)
God is a mindful and caring God for man but man is careless and mindless in their actions. Man is mindful of the wicked world. What more can God do for us so that we know we have a God who truly cares for us? The birth of Jesus was not hidden when He revealed through some of His servants in the Bible. He revealed to Micah about the coming of Jesus long before Jesus was born, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2) Receive and believe in Him. God is not a slave master but a Saving Master; God does not run out of mercy but by disobedience, man runs of His mercy. If man will begin to be mindful of God, living for God will be more meaning for man in this world.

Prayer for today:  Ask God for the grace to be mindful of His awesomeness.

FAITH CAPSULE: What name you being called against your interest, do not matter but look up to God for new name.

Luke 1:1-45

Whatever name man answers determine what man becomes about in this world. Jabez meant pain but he does not want to be a pain of his world. Jabez changed the meaning of pain by praying to God for what he wanted to be for his world. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 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.” Just like Jabez, do not answered to pain; the meaning of your name shall be changed to the glory of God.
Zacharias and Elizabeth were called barren at old age. Bible recorded about Zacharias and Elizabeth in Luke 1:6-7, “…they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.” Barren was a stigma over Zacharias and Elizabeth that were serving God right.
Are you being called a name that does not sound right for you? What is the stigma upon your life that is pain for you? What name you being called against your interest, do not matter but look up to God for new name. For Zacharias and Elizabeth, at their old age, their name was separated from barren forever. It is written concerning Elizabeth, “Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.” (Luke 1:36) Besides Jesus, there is none like John in the days of Bible. Yet, his mother, Elizabeth was called barren because people did not know that God was working according to His time. What are you being called? Barren, poor…? Answer to what you want to be and not what they see in you. The Barren eventually became the mother of a giant man of God.
Hannah was barren before she became the mother of Samuel. Samuel, the son of former barren mother served God as recorded, “But Samuel ministered before the LORD, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod. Moreover his mother used to make him a little robe, and bring it to him year by year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 2:18-19) Later, people called Hannah the mother of Samuel instead of calling her barren. God alone changed barren to mother all the days of her life.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you in every area of your life to the glory of His name.

FAITH CAPSULE: Disobeying God is disengaging God’s presence.

Jonah 1

It is written, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” (Jonah 1:1-3) God called Jonah for assignment but Jonah disregard God’s calling by going in opposite direction of God’s assignment. Jonah was called to go to Nineveh but went down to Tarshish. Bible described Jonah’s redirection as “going from the presence of the Lord.” Many have been called but many disobey by taking to opposite direction. Disobedient to God is the evidence of going from the presence of the Lord.
Disobeying God is disengaging the presence of God. Disengaging God is the evidence of walking in self’s way not the way of God. Have you been called to God’s particular way? There is no other way that is right but only God’s way. Anyone that takes outside of His way will end up in the way of death. Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Why not take to the way of God?
Obeying God’s calling is certain to deliver obedient man. In God’s calling and obeying His calling, it is set and certain that God will back up the obedient man for a positive result. Have you been called by God but fear for the assignment is scary? Is your challenges to obey God’s calling is the spirit of disobedience? Listen, go and answer God obediently, retain His presence and He will not fail you. I Thessalonian 5:24 encourages answering to God’s calling, “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. Disobedience of Jonah took him away from the presence of God and placed him in the belly of fish. The bible recorded, “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” (Jonah 1:17) Disengagement from the presence of God ordered self-affliction for Jonah. Spending days and nights in the belly of fish was not a fun fair but was a falling fail. Repentance and prayer will reengage man to God. Jonah could not remain outside of God but “…prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly. And he said: I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, and He answered me.” (Jonah 2:1-2) God is merciful and He is still in the business of answering to the cry before Him. Do not disobey God to disengage His presence.

Prayer for today: Ask God for His merciful in all area of disobedient to His calling.

FAITH CAPSULE: Wickedness has been and is still increasing.

Psalm 73

Genesis 6:5-6 recorded, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” Wickedness is the evidence of lack of fear of God. The lack of fear of God is from the heart which is far from God. The psalmist poured his heart concerning wickedness, “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment.” (Psalm 73:2-6)
Are you giving attention or ignoring wickedness of this world?
In the days of Noah, wickedness provoked destruction by water through the hand of God.  In Sodom and Gomorrah during the days of Lot, wickedness sin provoked destruction by fire through the hand of God. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Without doubt, God will not ignore the wickedness of the world of today. Jesus spoke as regard to the present wickedness, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:26-30)
Today, are you paying attention or are you ignoring the wickedness of this present world?
Pay attention to the wickedness of today and not be a victim of any consequence of wickedness that is inevitable.
Jesus’ word was a threat to the wicked ones as they attempted to stone Him. Bible recorded, ^“Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” (John 8:59) Jesus demonstrated our need to hide when challenges demands hiding. Learn to be hiding in the word of God in this wicked world and not be a victim of the consequence of wickedness.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be abiding in His word.