FAITH CAPSULE: God is to be greatly feared and telling lies should be strongly avoided.

Acts 15

Meditating on fearful testimonies of God makes a faithful believer. It is not all who claims to be a believer knows the fear of God. Many claims to be a believer but the words of their mouth are not valid. Believer whose words are not valid should never expect God to validate His word which comes out of such believer’s mouth. Are you the kind of believer that will say good morning when it is night time? Which word is yours? Proverb 12:6 declares, “The words of the wicked are, “Lie in wait for blood,” But the mouth of the upright will deliver them.” Your word is you and it is your word that identifies who you are. The words of God are true when it states, “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies will not escape.” (Proverbs 19:5) Telling lies is also giving a false witness and it does not settle well with God.

The Bible documents the story of Ananias and Sapphira, ““A certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?’”(Acts5:1-3) Ananias had no reason to lie, but he did. Peter responded to Ananias’ lie, “While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:4)  Evidently, there was no curse neither was there any physical approach to hurt Ananias, but the Bible records, “Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.” (Acts 5:5-6)
By virtue of Ananias’ testimony, God is to be greatly feared and telling lies should be strongly avoided. Just as if the issue of Ananias was not enough for the people to see and fear God enough, his wife also took to the way of lying and she experienced the same result like that of her husband. Among ways of identifying what it means to fear God is when a man is consumed by the overwhelming awesomeness that is encased in the testimony of what God is doing or what He can do. What kind of life are you living? Living in the fear of God’s testimony is a way no to miss it with God; it is a way of life.

Prayer for today: Ask for the fear of God to reign and rule all your areas of living life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Engage the testimony of God to terminate the confronting challenge of enemy.

1 Samuel 17

How do we know to fear God which we have not seen face to face? Without His established testimony there will be no way of knowing to fear God. It is written, “For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.” (Psalm 78:5-7) The testimony of God is the word of God. God will always honor His word; He will jealously protect the ones that give attention to His testimony. Testimony of God is the weapon David used to bring down Goliath the giant.

When Goliath repeatedly abused the Israelites at battle front none of the armies of Israel  confronted him. He went far stating, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” (1 Samuel 17:10) The Israelites could not respond to Goliath’s provocation but were reduced to fear. The Bible states, “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” (1 Samuel 17:11) Have you been reduced to fear in the face of enemy? As an acclaimed believer, what is your confronting challenge that seems to be overwhelming in every area of life? Imagine the armies of the living God being overly intimidated by an unbeliever with no strong testimony against God’s wonderful testimony of deliverance for the Israelites.

Young David with no military experience came to check the welfare of his brothers at the battle ground when he heard Goliath’s provocative statement against the armies of God. David, a man after God’s own heart could not be discouraged by Saul not to go against Goliath. David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.”(1 Samuel 17:34-36) A testimony of what God has done and what God is capable of doing is more than enough for our breakthrough deliverance. Engage the testimony of God to terminate the confronting challenge of enemy.

Prayer for today: Father, let your spirit help me cling to your testimonies so that deliverance will be my portion, in Jesus name. 

FAITH CAPSULE: Wait on God and wait patiently.

Psalm 40

It is written, “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” (Psalm 2:11) It is absolutely impossible to serve God when there is no fear of God. Also, without the fear of God, seeking God will not be in place in the life of man. Seeking God is waiting patiently on God. In every decision to wait on God there should be no backup plans. Waiting patiently on God is taking a position to receive from God; it is the evidence of faith. “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord! (Psalm 27:14) When there is knowledge of the awesomeness of God, there will always be a persistence in place to replace the failure of not to wait.

As a believer, many times you ask and miss the response because of the inability to wait for a response. Trusting in God is ignoring negativity around you while focusing on all the positives that are evident in the testimonies of God. Trust is what will enable waiting and when trust is not in place; waiting will not have its way. King David testified in Psalm 40:1, “I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, and heard my cry”. King David knew that in his waiting God had given him a response because he was brought up out of a horrible pit; out of the miry clay. His feet were set upon a rock and his steps were established (Psalm 40:2). In waiting on God, instruction and teaching will come to lead and guide the waiter into the manifestation of the waiter’s request. This is what happened to King David. His situation was turned around because he received a leading and guidance from where he was to where he wanted to be.

Have you been asking for a long time without any result or the result has been a negative one that could not turn your situation around into a new page? God is a faithful God. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The same God that did it in the life of King David will not fail in doing it for you. Ask God for the grace of waiting whenever you request or call on Him for His deliverance. Waiting on God will no doubt turn around the page that is not working in your life to a working page for His name to be glorified. Wait on Him and wait patiently. Your waiting on God will never be waste.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of enablement to know and to wait on Him when there is a need for waiting.

FAITH CAPSULE: When we fear God He will always find us out.

Proverbs 14

Fear of God is different from the fear which is: a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. Fear of God is to have an overwhelming feeling of reverence or admiration for God. It is a blessing to fear God and not the author of wickedness and his wicked agents. When we fear God He will always find us out. He who fears the wicked one will be found out by the wicked one.
The situation which one fears will find one out. Job was testified by God, “…Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (Job 1:8) Can anyone imagine a man of great stature in the hand of God being reduced by fear? After the death of his children he gave his testimonies, “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.” (Job 3:25) It is possible to be afraid but one should not be reduced by fear.
Without the fear of God there is no seeking God. Seeking God is serving God. One must know (not know about) the fear of God to serve God. Serving God is worshiping God. (Worshiping God is non-stop as long as there is breath of life) Worshiping God is sacrifice. Not every sacrifice is reasonable before God. Reasonable sacrifice is one that is rooted in the fear of God.
Do you know what it is to fear God? How do you know the one you do not study?
It is written, “The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.” (Psalm 14:2-3) Get the understanding to fear God. The wisdom to fear God rests in the heart of one who has knowledge and understanding to fear God.
King David a man identified by God as one after God’s own heart volunteered to teach the fear of the Lord when he stated, “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.” (Psalm 34:11) David knew what he was up to when he made his statement to the ones who has ear to hear. The fear of God kept him and saw him through life’s terminating challenges.
Without doubt, to know and to fear God is encased in knowing Him through His testimony, His testimony is His word. To be hearing and knowing His word is having Faith. Having faith is the evidence of knowing and having the fear of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deposit His fear in your life that you may live for His glory.

FAITH CAPSULE: Do not assume help from God but resume to asking from God.

Exodus 2, 3

When the children of Israel began to groan and to cry out for their deliverance, God responded in Exodus 3:7-9, “And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 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. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.”

Taskmasters were the agent of pain for the Israelites. Taskmasters represented horrible pit. The Horrible pit is not a pleasant place to be but a place of pain, oppression, sorrow and agony. At a point in time, the children of Israel spent time in the horrible pit while they were in bondage in Egypt. Are you experiencing a taskmaster in your life? Whatever represents taskmaster in man’s life is not enough to deny man from crying out to God neither is it enough to deny man from God’s deliverance plan.

As the children of Israel were spending time under their taskmasters in Egypt, they lifted up their voice and cried to the Lord. Are you crying out to God against your taskmaster? Are you assuming or asking? The Bible points it out, “He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? (Psalm 94:9) God hears when we ask do not assume help from God because God will not violate His word which states, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) Any time man is assuming to receive from God without opening mouth and ask is an attempt to have God violate His word. The book of Proverbs 12:6 buttress, “…But the mouth of the upright will deliver them.” Indeed and in truth, cry of the children of Israel did not find a deaf ear because the Lord responded to their cry and extended His hand of deliverance through His servant Moses. When you cry out to God, wait patiently for God to respond on your behalf. Cry out today!

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s hand of deliverance to come upon you in every challenging pain from taskmaster.