FAITH CAPSULE: A change that you need is a change that will meet your need.

1 Chronicles 4:1-12

It is recorded in I Chronicles 4:9, “Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” How else can the Bible describe a man better than being referred to as honorable? Throughout the Bible very few individuals were singled out with great identification like that of Jabez. Job was referred to as, “…blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) Also, Samuel noted David in 1 Samuel 13:14, “…The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart…” King David was a man after God’s heart. Jabez had every reason to make it in life but then there was a need for a change somewhere in his life. Jabez was an honorable man living a degenerated life; not living up to his potential and what the Lord had called him to be. Jabez recognized the meaning of his name as what needed to change. The Bible recorded, “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 4:10) God is the only Unchanging changer.

Jabez (meaning sorrow) called on God and specifically requested for what could be his blessings as one that is identified honorable by the word of God. Jabez prayed a specific and direct prayer. Jabez wanted to be blessed, he did not pray “bless me Lord” but he specified the kind of blessing that he wanted. An honorable man deserves a large territory and he asked for the blessing of a large territory. Above that, he prayed for the hand of God to be with him just in case the evil one went after him. He called on God to have himself changed from being a vessel of pain to a vessel of gain. What area of your life needs to be changed for you to enter into what the Lord has called you to be? All it took for change to have its way in the life of Jabez was the ability to ask, and he did not ask a miss. Jesus encouraged us in Luke 11:9, “…Ask and it will be given to you: seek, and you will find; Knock and it will be opened to you.” Is it your name that needs to be changed for changes to be able to locate you? It is never too late and when the wind of change blows from the Lord nothing can stand against you.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace for every irreversible to be reversed in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Inability to hear by not listening can be a major denial in answering to God.

Mark 10:17-31

God has called many, but the problem of not answering is the demonstration of not being able to listen. Many times, sounds in the distance or around can be passing through and not register to the hearer. Evidently, the hearer is not listening because of lack of attention. The problem of inability to hear by not listening can be a major denial in answering to God when He calls or when He gives direction. Remember the rich young ruler? A case of not answering is encased in the story of the rich young ruler.

The rich young ruler had a lot of wealth and he wanted to follow Jesus. Having inquired from Jesus the steps that needed to be taken in order to follow Him, Jesus responded, “…One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 10:21)  The rich young man heard the calling, but could not answer. Answering God’s calling is not in following the crowd around Him. Answering God is in keeping His commands. Keeping the commands of God is not possible until a believer starts living it. The rich young ruler claimed to have kept the commandments from youth, but the commands could not make him give up all his wealth and take up the cross. It is one thing to claim to be a believer and it is another to be-living (believe) in the command of God. Jesus pointed out to him the need to do the following: sell all, give to the poor to build up treasure in heaven, taking up his cross, and following Jesus. “But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:22) The rich young man could not answer God’s calling. It takes the grace of God to answer when God calls.

Are you struggling with His calling? Man has never been in control of time but rather God is and that is why answering the command is now. In every struggle to answer, there is a need to pray for His intervention in breaking whatever is denying answering his calling.
The rich young ruler wanted to know Jesus but did not want to make Him known. Some know about Him and some know Him. It is not enough to know about Jesus until one begins to make Him known. Making Jesus known is very costly because it requires a great deal of love and sacrifice. The kind of love and sacrifice that Abraham demonstrated is the kind that makes Him known in His awesomeness. He made the faithfulness of the Lord God Almighty known when he was able to answer the call to use His one and only son for a sacrificial offering.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from whatever is denying man to answer God’s calling.

FAITH CAPSULE: Rely on God and you shall prevail.

2 Chronicles 13

Rely on God and He will not reject you. Deep in the heart of man there is nothing hidden from God. As many as there are millions of hearts, God alone sees all the hearts on earth. 2 Chronicles 16:9 testifies, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him…” On earth, there is no heart that is able to hide away from God because it is the heart by which God sees man. A loyal heart is a faithful heart and it is the heart that relies on God.

Once, Abijah the king of Judah was confronted by Jeroboam the king of Israel. In this confrontation, Jeroboam was set in battle with eight hundred thousand men of war against Abijah’s four hundred thousand men of war. Jeroboam, by number, he had no need to rely on God but self. However, Abijah had no number to fight on his behalf but the hand of God. Abijah testified to Jeroboam, “Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!” (2 Chronicles 13:12) Despite Abijah’s warning Jeroboam took to war hoping his reliance on man’s strength would prevail against Abijah’s reliance on God. “But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they cried out to the LORD, and the priests sounded the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.” (2 Chronicles 13:13-14)

Are you being ambushed by your challenge just as Abijah and Judah were ambushed? If that sounds like you, it is time to cry out to the Lord; it is time to sound a trumpet of praise which represents alarming call to heaven. God sees the heart and He will not fail to spot out the ones that rely on Him. As a result of Abijah’s reliance on God, “Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD God of their fathers.” (2 Chronicles 13:18) A heart that relies on God will be a loyal heart to God.Rely on Him and you will prevail.

Prayer for today:Ask God to take over your heart and deliver you from the spirit which causes man to rely on self.

FAITH CAPSULE: You cannot afford to continue taking counsels and dictates from evil heart.

Jeremiah 7

The way forward is in the word of God and the way backward is in the world of man. Which way are you going? Are you going by the dictates of your heart or by the living word of the living God? The way of the world is the way which seems right to man not the way of God. Proverbs 14:12 makes us to realize that, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” The way that seems right to man comes from the dictates of the evil heart. There is no forward going in the way that seems right to man. The way that seems right is a wrong way; the way that seems right will always die a premature death.

As a child of the most high God, have you thought about the reason why you have been going backward instead of forward? It is a possibility that you have been following the dictates of your heart. God was speaking to Jeremiah about the disobedience of the Israelites in Jeremiah 7:21-24, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat.  For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.  But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’  Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.”  God called it evil heart. Whatever is evil is wicked.

The word of God is true and alive. Take to the word of God and it will see you through in the journey of life. You cannot afford to continue taking counsels and dictates from evil heart as mentioned by God. Evil heart or wicked heart only leads to a wrong way. The word God says the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9) Why should a God fearing person want to keep going back to evil heart for counsels and dictates? It will lead to wrong way. Take all of your counsels to the Lord in prayer; He alone is the living God. Avoid the wrong way and take on to the right way. As you continue the journey of life, allow God to guide and lead you through.

Prayer for today: Ask God to instruct, lead and guide you in the journey of life. Ask for the grace not to fail, fall or falter.

FAITH CAPSULE: To be purposeful for the Lord is not an avenue of escape from tribulation.

Daniel 1:8-16, 6:16-21

Among definitions of purpose is, “the reason for which something exists or is done…” Going by this definition, it is worth to agree that, without purpose of heart, continuing with the Lord might be impossible for any acclaimed believer.  After the persecution of Stephen, those who scattered traveled as far as Antioch. The bible recorded that the hand of the Lord was with them and great number believed and turned to the Lord. Then the news came to the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. (Acts 11:19-22)

At Barnabas arrival he was glad with what he saw on ground. The bible documents it, “When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.  For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.” (Acts 11:23-24)

Barnabas encouraged them with purpose of heart. It takes purpose of heart to continue with the Lord. Purpose of heart, that is, it takes understanding for man to know going after (serving, seeking) God is the reason of man’s existence. Without the full understanding that our existences if for us to serve God the tendency to lose focus and become derailed in the race of life is imminent.

However, to be purposeful for the Lord is not an avenue of escape from tribulation or challenges of this world but can possibly be an invitation for the enemy to attempt the life of the purposed ones. Through the pages of the bible, it is evident that most of all that were identified in the scripture that purposed for the Lord were also purposed by the devil for destruction. In the book of Daniel 1:8, “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies nor with wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that might he not defile himself” With the kind of step taken by Daniel, tribulation could not excuse him but he lived life from one tribulation to another tribulation. Above all, he was never a victim of any tribulation but always come out victorious. Being purposeful does not deliver him from tribulation but only made a way for Daniel to prevail during the times of his tribulation. Are you having a purpose heart for the Lord while tribulation is banging on you? Be encouraged, God is on your side and He will see you through. Remember, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:19) You are His and He will never forsake any one that purposes for Him.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be purposeful to him all through life.