FAITH CAPSULE: True trust will see you through as an overcomer.

Psalm 125

Those who trust God will know to wait on Him. Bible describes those that wait on God, “…those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) Do you trust Him enough to wait on Him for your breakthrough miracle? Job, during his days of unimaginable challenges declared, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15) If Job can trust God during his challenges, what is preventing you from trusting Him? Are your challenges more than what Job experienced?
Psalmist, by virtue of his experience testifies, “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” (Psalm 125:1) What is it about Mount Zion that those who trust in God can be compared to Mount Zion? Obadiah 1:17, “But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” With the word of Obadiah, it is safe to conclude that anyone who puts their trust in God would be assuredly delivered and possessing the possession as promised by God is certain.
To trust in the Lord is easier said than done. To trust in the Lord is to rest in the Lord; not to trust in the Lord is to rust in the world of challenges. Trusting God is crucial to cruise through the challenges of this world without compromise. Isaiah 57:13, states that “…he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain.” God is true to His word only if we can live truthfully in His word. Daniel is an evidence of possessing the land and holy mountain of God. When he knew that a sentence was on the way to persecute him for trusting in the Lord his God, he persisted further by calling on His God. He overcame and promotion became his possession in the land (Daniel 6).How do we trust in Him? Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Trusting God with all our heart will make us to operate the wisdom and understanding of God. Can you truly trust Him for your breakthrough miracle without any doubt? True trust will see you through as an overcomer.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to trust in Him fully without any iota of doubt.

FAITH CAPSULE: Be conscious of the world you are living and leave no ground for entanglement.

Genesis 39, Judges 16

The world today is a battle field. The main enemy is constantly on a killer mode. His name is the wicked one and is here to devour by seeking to steal, to kill and to destroy. Without becoming an army of God it is failure to engage the battles of this world. Are you an army of God? If you are an army of God; an acclaimed believer the Word of God warns, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” (2Timothy 2:4) God called you for a purpose and qualified you for a divine assignment. Samson is a considerable soldier for God. Samson was enticed and he entangled with Delilah. Samson’s entanglement with Delilah’s enticement exposed him to eventual termination from life. It is written, “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.” So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.”(Judges 16:5-6) The lords of the Philistines used Delilah to entice Samson for the revelation of his God’s secret for his divine assignment.
Joseph purposely refused to entangle with the world. The Bible recorded how his master’s wife operated as an agent for the wicked in her attempt to terminate Joseph from living to fulfill his divine assignment. It is written, “So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.” (Genesis 39:10) Enticement failed to work for his master’s wife when Joseph refused to become entangled with the affairs of this life. Without doubt, persistency is also the enemy’s weapon and that is meant to bring man down. With Samson, after three failed attempts, Delilah “…pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” (Judges 16:16-17) Unlike Joseph, Samson succumbs to enemy’s persistence for his entanglement. Be conscious of the world you are living and leave no ground for entanglement.
Prayer for today: Ask God that those who seek to destroy you should go into the lower parts of the earth.

FAITH CAPSULE: The hand of God is more than capable to relocate you ahead of your adversaries.

Exodus 3:13-22

Psalmist describes the hand of God, “For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also.The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.” (Psalm 95:3-5) What do you desire in this month of the “miracle of the third day”? If there is anything to desire, it should be for the hand of God. The hand of God is mighty in deliverance and restoration. It takes only the hand of God for the Israelites to come out the bondage of over four hundred years. It does not matter what has kept you grounded for years if you will desire for God’s hand intervention, breakthrough miracle will answer for you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. God that knows the end from the beginning knew that words would not be enough for Moses to get Pharaoh committed to the deliverance of over four hundred years.  It is written in Exodus 3:19-20, “But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.” Deliverance was manifested through the hand of God. Without the hand of God in operation, it would have been a no go for the children of Israel.
Elijah needed the hand of God to run ahead his adversary. The book of 1Kings 18:46 documented, “Then the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.” Elijah did not have to be behind but ahead. As a result of the Lord’s hand, Elijah moved from behind to being ahead of the king Ahab who was riding on the chariot. Whatever challenge has been put in place to keep you behind, the hand of God is more than capable to relocate you ahead of your adversaries.
Discouragement will fail where the hand of God is place. Ezra needed to overcome discouragement when he stated, “…so I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me; and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me” (Ezra 7:28) Ask for the hand of God constantly in every area of living life. It is the same hand of God that Nehemiah testified as the reason for getting the project of reconstruction through in Jerusalem. It is written in Nehemiah 2:18, “And I told them of the hand of my God which had been upon me…” Allow His hand to be your desire.
 
Pray for today: Ask God to cause His hand to reign and rule in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: When waiting longer period becomes painful, praising and giving thanks should be the antidote. 

Psalm 69

Waiting on God is timeless. It can take longer than expected or shorter than expected when we are waiting to hear from God. The waiting that takes “Mr. A” a short time before getting an answer can take “Mr. B” a longer time to get his answer from God. One thing is certain, where there is waiting before God, none can wait and become wasted. God never fails because time is in His hand and He can answer at the first hour or at the eleventh hour. God is God and no one controls the timing of God.
King David, once at a time of waiting for God’s salvation, testified his experience by stating, “Save me, O God! for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.” (Psalm 69:1-3)
King David encountered a grave challenge that stretches from being in deep mire where he could not stand to deep waters where the floods overflow him. In the face of his challenge, however, he waited on God. For him, there was no sign of any answer coming forth for his deliverance but yet he had no back-up plan but to wait. Indeed, faith does not have a back-up plan but to wait without ceasing.
King David, in his waiting, kept on praying when he stated, “But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the truth of Your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink…” (Psalm 69:13-14) Prayer and expectation is the anchor of waiting and David demonstrated it. In time of waiting on God where there is no expectation for getting an answer from God, when the answer comes from God one might not recognize the answer for the purpose of waiting. Waiting demands persistency and expectation for manifestation.
When waiting longer period becomes painful, praising and giving thanks should be the antidote. King David testifies, “But I am poor and sorrowful; let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high. I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” (Psalm 69:29-30) David did not stop expecting despite his challenge but he rather kept on praising and magnifying God with thanksgiving.
God is good and He will never allow our waiting to become wasted in His sight without acting on our behalf.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be able to wait with expectation and not be moved when challenges calls for waiting on Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Do not hold back your love from God.

Deuteronomy 6, Numbers 25


To fear of God is the reason of God’s commandment. Deuteronomy 6:1-3, “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the LORD your God…” Fearing God is to love Him. Encased in loving God is obedience to all His commands. Failure to obey God is a failure to fear Him and not to love Him. God expects us to love Him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) God is the Master creator and He does not demand from us what cannot be done in all of His word.
The book of 1Timothy also points it out that love (fear of God) is the purpose of the command. It is written, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” (1Timothy 1:5) God’s standard is set in His word which does not return back to Him void and we are to live in compliance to His standard. Ones that keep their heart with all diligence will no doubt love with pure heart. Loving with pure heart is the only access to His presence just as stated by Jesus, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
An acclaimed faithful without good conscience is fault-full and falls short as expected by God’s standard. Paul the apostle acknowledges the importance of faith with good conscience when he testified before the council, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” (Acts 23:1) As an acclaimed faithful, one must avoid becoming fault-full by consciously engaging faithfulness with good conscience.
Loving from sincere faith is to be living with passion for the name of God like Phinehas the son of Eleazar who turned back the wrath of God from the children of Israel. The Israelites, while under God’s judgment for their harlotry in Moab, one of the children of Israel came with a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the entire congregation who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Phinehas reacted when he rose from among the congregation; he took a javelin and went after the man of Israel and killed him and the woman. God acknowledge Phineas’ zeal (Passion) and the plague stopped among the Israelites. (Numbers 25:6-11) Love is sincere; sincere faith is without reservation for God’s glory. True love for God is to fear God Know the purpose of God’s command; do not hold back your love from God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to enable your heart to retain His words; that you may keep His commands and live.