FAITH CAPSULE:  With hearing in place, learning to fear Him shall have its place in man.

1Thessalonians 4
To fear God is to love God. To love God is seek Him. To seek God is to know and understand God.

Without any compromise, the will of God for man is to fear God. Hearing and learning the word builds faith and faith in place is fear in the heart. The word of Deuteronomy 31:12-13 clearly points out hearing and learning as the way to fear God, “Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, “and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.” The word of God remains forever the same. He is the unchanging changer. Also, what He has spoken to them He has also spoken to us. The will of God is for man to fear Him. Man could not fear Him in the past and most especially today because man no longer hear and learn from the word.

It is written, “Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!” (Joshua 24:14) Where there is failure to hear and learn from the word, no one can fear Him and serve Him reasonably.

The book of 1Thessalonians 4:3-8 documents, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” Everyone who fears the Lord will take to the word of 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 as stated above. What the Old Testament is saying about the fear of God is nothing different from what the New Testament is saying. However, it is important for every believer to understand and know through hearing and learning that the fear of God is crucial to not missing their heaven. Do you fear God? With hearing in place, learning to fear Him from all of His word and work cannot be displaced in the life of a believer.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to fear Him in every area of living life.

FAITH CAPSULE: One who hates the world will love the word of God.

1 Samuel 17

Jesus was speaking to all, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) Are you consciously or unconsciously serving more than one master? There is no ‘in-between’ neither is there a neutral ground when it comes to answering who you serve.

To serve God is to love God. Loving God is serving God. Do you claim to love God and fall short in every area of serving Him? Anyone who claim to love God and not constant and consistent in serving God is not on the side of truth. One that loves the word of God will hate the world of today. It is written in the book of 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or the things in the world; if anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him.” Today among the acclaimed believers, so many claims to love the Lord while fully engaged in the things of the world compare to how they engage to the things of the Lord. Without doubt, if the love of the Father is in every acclaimed believer, loving Him with all heart, all strength and all soul should be in place. With the love God, no sacrifice will be too difficult for any acclaimed believer to render unto God. Obedient is sacrifice. Are you obedient to the word of the Lord? Are you the same when you are inside or outside a group of believers? Man can be deceived, but God cannot be deceived. Have you turned to obeying the word rather than the world of mammon? Obedience to the word of God is what makes one to be qualified as giving reasonable service or sacrifice. Giving a reasonable service identifies one as true lover of the Lord more than the world.

Goliath was of the world and he also spoke as one of the world when he defied the armies of God. David, by virtue of his love for the name of God, responded to Goliath, “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26) Goliath represented evil and David hates evil. To hate evil is to love God. Pay attention to the world around you and note it that they are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. (1 John 2:16) Serve God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to direct your heart to the true love of His holy name.

FAITH CAPSULE: Embrace the word in the race of life and you shall be victorious.

1 Kings 18

The word of God is the way of God. Psalmist buttress, “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” (Psalm 18:30) The word of God is a shield. Regardless one’s background, the word of God will not fail to extend protection to all who trust in Him. Do you trust in Him? Trust in Him and accept Him as your Lord and savior for you protection.

There are number of powerful ways the living word of God is described through the scripture. In every way that the word is described, the word has been consistent in answering to his description. The book of Psalm 119:32 states, “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” Word of God is worthy to embrace and it exposes darkness by the power of light. The word of God is enough to terminate every form of darkness in one’s life. It was word that terminated all night struggle of lack to morning time breakthrough with abundance. Jesus spoke to Peter after Peter’s all night toiling with nothing to show for, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”(Luke 5:4) Peter did as commanded by the Word of God and abundance took the place of lack for Peter. The word of God is true to give light in the place of darkness. The word of God is a lamp to feet of those who believe enough to embrace the word and a light to a believer’s path.

It is written in Acts 20:32, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” In the whole world of man, nothing builds up man like the word of God. To whom the word of God build it is becomes blessing of God which adds no sorrow.

God spoke in Jeremiah 23:29, “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Elijah proved the word to be true on Mount Carmel when he stood against the Baal worshipers and called on the Lord, to hear him against all the worshipers. The Lord heard Him and fire fell. (1 Kings 18:38)

Whenever the word sent is able to fill any vacuum in the life of a needy person, it will bring out and deliver all that represents need. The word of God is consistently power to heal and power to deliver. The word of God is power to make a way where there is no way. Embrace the word in the race of life and you shall be victorious.

Prayer for today: Ask for the healing and delivering power of the word of God to sound in your direction.

FAITH CAPSULE: The fear of God is the love of God.

1John 3

The knowledge of God is to love and know Him. Loving God cannot happen without knowing God. Spending time in the word of God is the major route to knowing Him. To love (fear) God is to constantly dwell in His presence (His presence is His word) and not depart from Him. God spoke, “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’” (Jeremiah 32:38-41) In the above word of God, it is clear that the fear of God is what qualifies man as God’s people and not what others think of us; it is not one’s title inside or outside of the church. Going by the word of God as written above, anyone that fears God undeniably takes a position to experience the goodness of God. It is also a joyous thing to God when we dwell in His fear. Without doubt, for anyone that is doing what makes God to rejoice over him/her, the strength of God shall never be a thing of lack in the life of such person. Why not do it right by fearing God and allow the joy of the Lord be your strength?

The love of God is what qualifies man to be considered as one that engages righteousness. 1John 3:10, “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” It is impossible for anyone that does not love his brother to claim love for God which he/she never met with. The word of God encourages us to truly love in how we live life because love is of God. 1 John 4:8 declares it, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is Love.” It is the will of God for us to know Him and we only know Him when His fear places us to know Him in love.

The fear of God is the love of God. To love God is to know Him and to know Him is to see Him. As mentioned earlier, the fear of God that is, loving and obeying all of His command is the conclusion of all that matters to live life. It is perfectly certain that with the fear of God dwelling in us, He is faithful to establish us and guard us from the evil one.

Prayer for today: Ask for the fear of God to take charge over your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: To purpose for God is the evidence of trust in God.

Psalm 17         

David purposed for God and God gave testimony and said, ‘I have found Davidthe son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will. (1Samuel 13:14) Like David, Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s delicacies nor with wine and God brought him into the favor and good will with the chief eunuchs. (Daniel 1:8) Both David and Daniel were recorded across the pages of the scripture for great exploits.

David purposed in his heart that his mouth would not disobey God (Psalm 17:3) and he was also moved by the word of God which he heard. (Psalm 17:4) Without doubt, man can only arrive at God’s promise for their life by the word which they speak out of their mouth and by the word they hear. It is the word that upholds our step and helps us not to slip into sin. The children of Israel could not hold onto the word of God even though it promised them the Promised Land. They spoke negative, stating, “Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” (Numbers 14:3) God responded to their negative confession in Numbers 14:28-29, “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.”  The spoken word of the Israelites terminated them in the wilderness.

To have a purpose for God is the evidence of having trust in God. God has never failed to save those who trust in Him. God is always keeping those that trust in Him as the apple of His eyes; He hides them under the shadow of His wings from the wicked who oppress them and from deadly enemies who surround them.

Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself and for God to be glorified in His life. As he rejected the king’s delicacies and wine, God brought favor into his life and he became the envy of governors and satraps. Daniel distinguished himself and was set up to die in the lion’s den. As one that was purposed for God, nothing forced against him could prosper and he excelled in his entire walk. Purpose for God, be steadfast in your walk and you shall excel to the glory of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to live for Him in all your days on earth.