FAITH CAPSULE: Today, remind yourself that Jesus is not dead; He is a living God.

Luke 24:1-35

After the resurrection of Jesus, two followers went on journey while in Frustration was their baggage. With frustration the issue of distraction, discouragement and disappointment persists. Frustration often leads to inability to see and hear from where there is a way. For the followers on journey to Emmaus, the bible recorded, “Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.” (Luke 24:13-16)
After the breaking news of Christ’s resurrection, there were two of His followers traveling to Emmaus while others were scrambling and attempting to confirm the breaking news of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The two on their journey to Emmaus were consumed by the distraction, discouragement, and disappointment because of Jesus’ death. As a result of distraction, discouragement, and disappointment in the two followers on journey to Emmaus, they failed to see and could not identify with Jesus. Also, they could not listen to hear and identify the voice of Jesus.
What is it that has come upon you on this journey of life? What is taking the driver’s seat in your vehicle of life’s journey? Luke 24:15-16 recorded, “So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.” They could see in the physical, but they had lost sight of their Savior. They knew Jesus, but they did not know Him well enough to identify with Him at the point of visitation after he had resurrected from where the devil could not hold Him captive.
The two followers must have been at the point of frustration thinking their hope was gone.
Keep up hope by trusting the promise of God. Today, remind yourself that Jesus is not dead; He is a living God. Whenever frustration sets in, distraction, discouragement, and disappointment will take you for a ride in the wrong direction. When there is no sight or where sight becomes blurry, there will be a failure to see help whenever help is in place. At the time the two regained sight, it was time for Jesus’ departure. It is written, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.” (Luke 24:31) Your story does not have to be like the two that were on the way to Emmaus because Emmanuel is what you are looking for and He has risen for us. If you will begin to put frustration in its proper place, you will begin to journey with concentration, encouragement and effective results will reign through your entire journey.

Prayer for today: Give thanks for Jesus is alive indeed.

FAITH CAPSULE: The blood of Jesus that was shed on the Calvary is not a liberty to continue in sin.

John 19

God’s goodness is the grace of Jesus. He paid price on our behalf by drinking the cup of sin, pain, grief and every other undesirable punishment. Jesus carried the cross so we would be enabled to cross over. “And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. (John 19:17-18)
The grace of God cares by being available for those who will seek Him with whole heart. Glorious name of God deserves praise and thanks. Psalm 69:30 mentioned, “I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” God is a loving God and He proved His love by His word and action. He proved His love on the cross when Christ was crucified. God proved in His word stating, “…that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:15-17) God is mindful of His children and demonstrated by His word and action which cares much for man but man cares less. God invested so much on man but man despises His word.
God is a forgiving God. Out of curiosity, Peter investigated the issue of forgiveness when he approached Jesus with question stating, “…Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18:21) Jesus responded to Peter, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:22) Surely, God made room for His children to be able to make Heaven. Imagine 7×70 (490) times of going back to ask for forgiveness with the grace to make heaven. In Jesus, “…we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7) God is definitely worthy of reasonable sacrifice of thanksgiving on a regular basis. It is evidence by His goodness that sin is not enough to separate His children who cry out to Him with a heart of repentance.
Goodness of God’s forgiveness; the grace of the blood of Jesus that was shed on the Calvary is not a liberty to continue in sin. The word of God admonished us, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Ephesians 6:1-2) Sin and sinning should not be a dwelling place. Jesus paid it all!

Prayer for today: Pray that the blood of Jesus shall not be a waste over your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Today, receive and believe that Jesus paid it all on behalf of man.

Mark 15

God alone is a perfect creator. There is none that can create, He deserves worship and honor. Revelation 4:11 recorded about God, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” A gracious merciful God is the God that does not want all to die in sin and iniquity. Out of God’s gracious and merciful made a way for man out of sin and the bible stated, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus who knew no sin was made to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Man in wickedness was the vessel that crucified Jesus.
Pilate compromised with evil’s desire of the wicked world when he released the wicked one to freedom and delivered the Deliverer One to crucifixion. It is written, “So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.” (Mark 15:15) Have you been compromising with the wicked world?  Today, are you consciously or unconsciously scourging the Lord Jesus just as Pilate did? What is it that is causing you not to stand for Jesus and let the devil be ashamed?
Thousands of years ago, Pilate compromised with the crowd to make them feel good so he decided to give the Lord Jesus up for persecution and crucifixion.
Today, there are many that are playing the role of Pilate both inside and outside of the church. Many acclaimed Christians cannot identify with the name of Jesus outside of their church building. Many that are not Christian blaspheme the name of Jesus. The bible recorded the role of Pilate’s in the crucifixion of Jesus, “Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison. And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him. And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him. (Mark 15:16-20)
Let it be your mark that Jesus came to give it all on the cross of Calvary that you may have life. Be mindful that, Jesus has paid all our sin and the curses of sin on the cross so that we will not have to pay it all over again.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of God that the blood of Jesus shall not be a waste over you and your love ones.

FAITH CAPSULE: No man can run from God to avoid divine’s assignment.

Exodus 3

Man can run from answering the calling of God but God will only need to wait for runner.
Are you running from God?
God does not need to run before catching up with man that is running away for His assignment. The awesome eternal God is in perfect control over all His creation. The word testified the extension of His hand that is unavoidable. Moses was running away from Egypt when he ended up at the priest of Midian. Moses was at the last place of where to expect answering to the calling of God’s assignment. Moses was leading the flock at the back of desert before getting to Horeb the Mountain of God.
Moses, in the business of leading flock, God rounded him up. The bible recorded, “…the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.” (Exodus 3:2) Do you have an idea where or how God is waiting for you in your running? It could be that God wants to send you to the North Pole but you are running to the South Pole.
The miracle of the appearance of the Angel of the Lord; the bush in fire that does not burn was enough to turn Moses aside wanting to see great sight, why the bush does not burn. (Exodus 3:3) God was waiting for the runner Moses. God is waiting for the speed of your running. Just like Moses’ response of turning aside, you will not only turn aside but you will also take a sit to receive your assignment. The bible recorded God’s response to Moses’ turning, “So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.””(Exodus 3:4)
Just like Moses, Ezekiel did not run from God before the outstretched hand of God reached him and set him up for God’s assignment.
Ezekiel testified to the hand of God upon him, “The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.” (Ezekiel 37:1-2) The hand of God came upon Ezekiel to call Ezekiel’s attention to God’s intention. By your own understanding, do you think you are running far from God? Know it this day that God will wait or stretch out His hand to draw your attention for His intention. Ezekiel needed to receive the touch of God’s hand to know that power belongs to God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace not to run from the calling of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: On the platform of persistent waiting on God delivers answer from God.

1 Samuel 1

Man controls clock but God takes control of time. God will not react or respond by clock but by His time.
Do you wait on Him by your time?
The Psalmist mentioned different ways of waiting in time to receive from God: Psalm 25:5 stated,”…On you I will wait all day.” Psalm 62:1, “Truly my soul silently waits for God…” Psalm 37:7, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” Hosea 12:6, “…wait on your God continually.” Philippians 3:20, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Obviously, the time to wait on God has to be engaged patiently, continually, silently and eagerly. Waiting on God can take longer than expected but God will always manifest Himself when we wait for His own time and not by our clock.
Make a choice to wait in God’s time by knowing to request according to His word of direction. In His word, He wants us to ask so we shall be given. Jesus encouraged us, “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9) The Psalmist applied his request by the understanding of word, “Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted.” (Psalm 25:16) God of salvation will respond to our request when we take to His word understanding.
Reminding God is not because God has forgotten us and that is why man needs to remind God by requesting. God encouraged us by stating, “…and concerning the works of my hands, you command me.” (Isaiah 45:11) Do you believe in His work to remind Him the works of His hands? The Psalmist reminded Him, “Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses…” (Psalm 25:6) God is a gracious God.
God enjoys our attention if when we continually acknowledge Him in our waiting on Him. Proverbs 3:6 recorded, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” What do you know about Him that needs to be activated for your breakthrough? The Psalmist’s statement acknowledges Him, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way.” (Psalm 25:8) Waiting without acknowledging the Lord shall be like waiting in anguish.
Hannah understood to request by visiting Shiloh without failure to attend with her husband; attending Shiloh is for Hannah to be reminding God that does not forget His children; Hannah understand to acknowledge God that is jealous. On the platform of her persistent waiting on God, her womb was opened.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be persistent patient waiting on God’s answer.