FAITH CAPSULE: Engage the word of God; allow faith to come into your soul.

2Kings 4:8-37

The Bible describes faith, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.” (Hebrew 11:1-2) How do you describe faith? Your description of faith is encased in how you apply faith. To effectively apply faith, one must get the full understanding of the source of faith that is where faith comes from. The bible also described the source of faith stating, “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) Engage the word of God; allow faith to come into your soul. The word of God is the answer to every pressing need in life. Do not consider this for a later adoption to your pending situation or pressing need. Now and not later, go ahead, engage word, gain and apply faith knowing that God is still in the business of honoring His Word. Faith is heart-activated and mouth-operated. Faith is a God pleaser and it will provoke God to move on your behalf. Faith will move the hand of God if indeed it is activated and operated the way it should be. God cannot be deceived when there is failure to activate and operate faith. God knows our heart and He knows when faith is activated more than we know it and that is why Hannah said in her prophetic prayer in 1 Samuel 2:3, “…For the LORD is the God of Knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed.”
What is your action concerning you pending situation? How are you going to activate faith to bring you out of your dilemma? The only and better choice is to lay it on God and watch while you wait to see how God will move in on your behalf. Also, know to only confess positive to your situation. Begin to see victory in the place of defeat; begin to see breakthrough in the face of hindrances and also begin to see life in the place of death. Allow your faith to announce your wellness; disallow your surrounding from what will determine the outcome of your situations.
The bible talked about a Shunammite woman who engaged positive confession in the face of death of her only son. With her “heart-activated and mouth-operated faith” she allowed her faith to announce her wellness when it was not well for her and she disallowed her surrounding from what will determine the outcome of her situations. Indeed her son’s life was restored back to life. The same miracles are everywhere faith is having its reign because of God’s rule and reign over all His creation.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the Spirit of faith to have its reign in your life and for His name to be glorified.

FAITH CAPSULE: At any moment man steps out of God’s word the evil of the word steps in to man.

Judges 15, 16

As long as Samson continued to work in the word of God as the source of his strength, the presence of God was constantly present in all of his moves. When Sampson decided to dwell outside of the word of God, the secret of his strength, the presence of God departed him. Judges 16:4-5, “Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, ‘Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.’” Sampson fell for enticement.
Enticement is a “make look good” weapon of the wicked one to ensnare man to come out of God’s word of command. At any moment man steps out of God’s word the evil of the word steps in to man. It was the same enticement the serpent engaged to lure Eve out of the command in the word of God. It is written, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6) The woman, after having listened to the serpent’s direction of attention to the fruit of the tree, she yielded and ate the fruit.
In the case of Samson, Delilah was the agent of the wicked one who caused Samson to lose the presence of the Lord through the vice of enticement. Is there any enticement that is meant to derail you in your calling? Enticement will lead to pestering; pestering will develop to being pressed in every side to the point of giving self to the wicked one’s agenda. The bible recorded in Judges 16:16, “And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death.” Avoid listening to any word of enticement; ignore and pay no attention by looking into any enticement. The enticement of the evil world will bring out the living word out of you and God in you will forsake you just like it happened to Samson. After having lured Samson to revealing his secret, she said to him, “…the Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” The Lord departed Samson.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace not to be vulnerable to any grave of enticement.

FAITH CAPSULE: A failure to hide when situation demands to hide is an evidence of ignorance.  

Judges 13, 14

There is a time for everything under heaven. The book of Ecclesiastes 3:1 states it better, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”  To a man who is wise, there will always be a time or season to hide or not to hide considerable secret or information which pertains to living life abundantly. A failure to hide when situation demands to hide is not an evidence of lack of spirituality but an evidence of ignorance. It is written, “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself; the simple pass on and are punished.” (Proverbs 27:12) The verse buttress the fact often times, one that knows to exercise good judgment will hide and not be exposed to evil while ones who claims to be a believer of the word exposes him/herself to unnecessary danger. Are you ignorant of the need to hide yourself where situations demands to hide?
God gave Samson an uncommon strength that no man could violate if he had not violated himself. Samson could not remain in hiding by keeping the secret of his strength and as a result, he became a victim of himself. Samson’s secret was the Word of God which was delivered to his parent before he was born. An angel of the Lord visited Samson’s parent and gave instructions in Judges 13:14, “She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.” While Samson was walking in the commandment of God that was given before his birth, he was untouchable and undefeatable. He was able to keep the word of God and God was with Him.
Keeping the word of God day and night is the evidence of meditating on the word consciously or unconsciously. God promised Joshua in the book of Joshua 1:5-8, “…as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.  Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.  This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night…” For God to be with us and not forsake us demands from us to constantly carry word of God in us day and night by obeying Him. Always remember, the word of God is God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of understanding to keep you in all ways.

FAITH CAPSULE: How are you keeping your heart from becoming a victim of Satan?

Jeremiah 17:5-18, Acts 5:1-11

Heart is described in the book of Jeremiah 17:9-10, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Without any doubt, heart seems to be the prime target for the enemy to take over. How are you keeping yours from becoming a victim of Satan? God promised to give the Israelites a heart to know Him. It is written, “Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” (Jeremiah 24:7) God’s promise to one is not limited from all, ask God for the heart that will never be accessible to Satan anymore and in anyway.
Ananias sold his possessions in the spirit of blessing fellow believers but allowed Satan to enter his heart. “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?” (Acts 5:3) Satan is always after the heart to occupy as his playground. He is the master of trick masters. It was also reported that Satan entered Judas, “Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.” (Luke 22:3-4) There is no other place that Satan could have entered in Judas that could have been more effective than the heart. Both Ananias and Judas died an untimely death because their heart became the victim of Satan.
God’s promise of giving a new heart included the fact that after giving a new heart, there shall be a return to Him with a whole heart. A whole heart is what it will take to get to His Promised Land; a whole heart is what it will take not to doubt Him, a whole heart is what it will take for man not to complain against Him, a whole heart is what it will take not to die in the wilderness journey. Whole is all that made Caleb to confess positive after spying on the Promised Land. There is no man who can follow God fully except the heart is guided against the moves of Satan. A heart that follows God fully is a whole heart and whole heart is what God has promised to give. Caleb followed Him fully because of his whole heart and God testified in Numbers 14:24, “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.”  

Prayer for today: Ask God to give you a heart to be whole in Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you finding it difficult to let go of what has been called off?

Exodus 14

God testified, “For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know my ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”(Psalm 95:10-11) Ones who do not know to constantly give thanks to God or praise God at all times will go astray in their heart. Psalmist testifies, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord…” (Psalm 34:1-2) The psalmist’s testimony is of a heart which never goes astray. 
A heart that goes astray will not see the warning signal against destruction when it comes. It will fail and not stop when there is a warning signal. Our heart needs to be focus on God as much as we have the breath of life. The psalmist buttress “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6)
Have you been holding on to bitterness, anger, and malice? Are you finding it difficult to let go of what has been called off? Could it be that you are operating a hardness of heart? Hardness of heart is a branch of a heart which goes astray. The Bible have it documented how destructive hardness of heart could be.
Being unforgiving, bitter, malevolent and not to let go when need calls for letting go can be a demonstration of hardness of heart. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, was a good example among those whose heart was hardened in the Bible. After letting go of the Israelites from the bondage of over four hundred years he decided to pursue them because of the hardness of his heart. It is written, “…And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel…” (Exodus 14:8) In this pursuit, Pharaoh lost everything that he put out to pursue the children of Israel. The Lord was responsible for the hardness of his heart. It is worthy to pray to God and ask God not to let hardness of heart be your portion just as it was Pharaoh’s portion. Pharaoh was available as a vessel of dishonor. Ask God to deny in your life whatever causes man to operate or to be available as a vessel of dishonor. God is the God who reverses the irreversible. Be encouraged to ask, seek, and knock for the grace not to become a vessel of dishonor. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he was marked for destruction to the glory of God.

Prayer for today: Pray like David did in Psalm 141:4 “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity…”