FAITH CAPSULE: In your marriage, restore the good purpose of God.

Genesis 1, 2

It is written, “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters…”(Genesis 1:3-4) God, by His word created but when it came to the creation of man, the Bible stated, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) Man was hand made by God. Just as man was created differently so were greater light and lesser light. Genesis 1:16-17 stated, “Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.” God, our creator, knew exactly what He was doing after the creation of man.
God recognized the need for His special handmade (Adam) and He put him to sleep. It is written, “…He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman…” (Genesis 2:21-22) The purpose of making a woman out of Adam was to create a comparable helper. God meant for good but the devil meant for evil. Devil is always in the midst of doing evil with no good. God’s plan for both man and woman (comparable helper) was and is to function successfully. Transparent relationship was the key of healthy relationship. It is written, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:25) Helping each other evidently became hurting each other when Eve ate from the fruit which God had warned against eating. With transparent relationship, Eve would not have eaten against God’s command before telling Adam. Eve opened door for the violation of the command of God for comparable helper.
Is your relationship with your comparable helper transparent? When you begin to eat where your comparable helper does not know about then the enemy is enabled a position in your relationship. The absence of transparency between you and your comparable helper is the evidence that nakedness is no longer in your relationship. Adam faulted when Eve opened door for the devil. As a comparable helper, deny the evil one from sowing the seed of asunder. God knows what is good for your relationship. Be transparent with your comparable helper to restore the good purpose of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God this day for His word to have its place established in your marriage.

FAITH CAPSULE: God’s promises always go through process before manifestation.

Exodus 3

The promise of God is undeniable for man that takes His promise and sees it as true to be delivered by God. His promise belongs to any that behold, see in His word. Man is without any iota of doubt and ready to remain focus by beholding God the promises becomes one’s possession. God was not a garrulous (a talkative), He is not a garrulous; He will not become a garrulous from eternity to eternity. Awesome gracious God, a caring loving and long-suffering God that acts for His children that waits on Him. Isaiah 64:4 buttressed it, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.” (Isaiah 64:4)
God promised to deliver the Israelites from the bondage of over four hundred stating, “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.” (Exodus 3:8)
The promise of God for the Israelites was with process that demanded faith that demonstrates beholding; looking up to God regardless of challenges of the enemies. The promise of God is in the word of God that does not return void but shall accomplish what pleases God and shall prosper in the thing which God sent. (Isaiah 55:11) Unfortunately man only hears promise but ignore paying attention to challenges in the process of promise. Are you one that wants to claim the promise of God in His word but ignore the challenges in the process of promise? Challenge will come with process but man should rest in God by beholding Him. The Israelites paid attention to enemy instead of beholding God as stated, “So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid…” (Exodus 14:9-10)
Beholding enemy is an avenue to fear which encases self-destruction of man. God’s promise always remains unchanging while beholding challenges of the enemy in the promise will lead man out of God’s promise. All the Israelites that left Egypt, from twenty years old and above did not get to the promise of God by beholding challenges. Beholding enemies will lead to rebellion and complaint which is evil before God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to rest in the promises of God in His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: He is with you if you will behold Him to see you through.

Genesis 28

Jacob’s escape from his brother (Esau) from Beersheba toward Haran brought him to a certain place to sleep. In his sleep, he had a dream, “And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.  Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 28:13-14) In the dream was the promise of God for Jacob that called for his attention. Behold means to observe; to look at. God was calling Jacob’s attention to observe; to look at; to see the dream. Are you sincerely beholding Him?
Truly, the dream was loaded with great promise for Jacob as he encountered his journey of life. Just as dream sounds promising so the word that sounds in our ears are promising. However, the challenge of man with dream or word of God is: Are we observing; looking or seeing in the dream or word of God that sounds in our direction? God purposely called Jacob’s attention before delivering His promise to Jacob stating, “Behold”.
With the promising dream for Jacob, God also assured Jacob with promise of manifestation of the dream by calling is attention as stated, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” (Genesis 28:15) God used the word “Behold” to call Jacob’s attention for the promise; He also used the word “Behold” for His assurance to the manifestation of the promise for Jacob.
In the word or dream of God, He has promised you and assured you through the pages of the bible but you are not beholding Him. Are you looking or seeing in what He has spoken? A failure to behold (look or see) in the word of God is self-denial from possessing God’s assured promise. Pay attention to His promise; He shall see you through for manifestation. God’s promises always go through process before manifestation. In all process challenge is not exempted. However, beholding God for His promise is looking up to God which is the evidence of faith in God. In all the word or dream of God for your life, have faith; meditate His promise for manifestation. Jacob repeatedly engaged discouraging forces against God’s promise for his life but he beheld God through his journey. Do not become self-denial of God’s promise for your life. Deny discouragement in your life but be steadfast beholding God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be steadfast looking up to God.

FAITH CAPSULE: In life, seek God in a route that avoids multitude the agents of denials.

Luke 7:36-39, 8:41-48

Bible identified a prominent sinner woman in the city. It is written, “And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.”(Luke 7:37-38) The prominent woman, a sinner knew what to do to get what she desired of the Lord. Woman sinner of the city approached Jesus at His feet behind Him. The woman sinner took the back route to avoid the multitude. If the woman, a sinner had attempted to take step in the front, she probably would have been denied by the multitude that was before Jesus.
In life, coming out of the worst way might demand avoiding multitude. What is the challenging need for your life that demands to avoid hindrance of life? Multitude could have been a hindrance for the sinner woman in the city. A woman, who was a sinner wanted to reach out to Jesus for Jesus’ touch in her life. The woman wanted to move forward in her life. In life, taking an uncommon move is a way to receive an uncommon testimony. In your route to reach Jesus, be focus; take a route that denies multitude; avoid common route but take uncommon route. A sinner woman went from behind, at the feet of Jesus to reach Jesus.
Just like the woman with the alabaster oil (sinner woman of the city), the woman with the issue of blood also made an uncommon route to receive uncommon miracle from Jesus. The bible recorded, “Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.” (Luke 8:43-44) Disease of twelve years also took a back route to approach Jesus. The woman with the issue of blood reached Jesus from behind. The woman with the issue of blood; the woman (sinner woman of the city) with the alabaster oil, did not take common route to reach Jesus. They both came from behind to approach Jesus where there was no means for the multitude the agents of distraction. They made a move that was purposeful in order to achieve their purpose and be fulfilled. It was an uncommon approach that provoked uncommon testimony. In every area of need, seek God in a route that avoids multitude.

Prayer for today: Ask God to take charge of your ways.

FAITH CAPSULE: Trusting God without hope to wait on Him is not complete to deliver.

Numbers 14

Engaging complaint is not acceptable before God. The Israelites made themselves a victim of complaining before God as they suffered the consequences of complaining. The Israelites were coming out of bondage of Egypt by the hand of God but repeatedly complained before God. The Israelites trust the hand of God as they engaged the journey but could not hope in God to deliver through as they repeatedly complained. Trusting God demands the need to be hopeful in God. Jerimiah 17:7 buttressed the need to trust and hope stating, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord.” Do you enter into place of worshiping God and come out of worshiping God with negative confession? Trusting God without hope to wait on Him is not complete to deliver. The Israelites entered into journey of deliverance but failed to hope but complained. The children of Israel complained directly and indirectly against God. For complaining, they were exposed to stagnation as the consequence of complaining.
It is written, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.  Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.” (Numbers 14:27-28) God responded to complaint of the Israelites. God clearly heard the Israelites as they spoke negatively to Him. The Israelites confessed death when there was a need to be conscious of the choice words as they complaint against God. The word in the Bible warned against what tongues confessed as mentioned, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverb 18:21) Are you careful with the word that comes out of your mouth? In life, allow trust and hope as your constraining means of not complaining against God. He is a God that deserves from man to hold onto Him. How long will you doubt and not truly trust and hope to make through while waiting on God? As a result of lack of trust and hope, the Israelites suffered the consequences death in the wilderness. Also, the journey of eleven days lasted for forty years.
The Israelites had the knowledge of God by virtue of miracles that brought them out of bondage but they lack knowledge to carry them through of the journey to the Promised Land.

Prayer for today: Ask God for His grace not to be a victim of complaining.