FAITH CAPSULE: God is consistent with restoration when there is genuine repentance.

2 Samuel 11, 12

God is a good God. There is no sin that is terrible enough to keep man away from God where there is genuine repentance before Him. Psalm 86:5 testifies, “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.” Are you asking for forgiveness from man or God? God alone is waiting and ready to forgive us. It does not matter how unimaginable you consider you sin to be, God is ready to forgive. Give no room to excuse, turn to God and ask for forgiveness. Regardless of whom you are or what title you answer to in the church, a failure to go before God and ask for forgiveness is a passage to eternal termination. Adam attempted to excuse his sin before God after him and Eve ate from the forbidden tree. God asked Adam why he ate against His command and the best excuse was, “…the woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12) Adam gave a true excuse before God. However, there is no excuse that is true enough for sin to reign over one’s life.
David sinned against God by taking Uriah’s wife after she had conceived and for engineering the death of Uriah. God sent Nathan to David to unfold the gravity of his sin. David did not debate or excuse his sin, he repented immediately. 2 Samuel 12:13 states, “So David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.’” God in His goodness and mercy does not overlook sin but will always put away sin before Him to allow for the continuation of a relationship with His children who repent. Repentance does not eliminate the consequences, but it restores relationships back to their proper place with God. David, by virtue of his knowing God, committed an unimaginable sin before God, and he received an inexcusable consequence of his sin before God. He gave a great occasion to the enemy. It is written, “However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely died.” (2 Samuel 12:14) As destructive as sin is, God is consistent with restoration when there is repentance. Is there any way that your deed is giving occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme? Have you considered going before God for genuine repentance? A born again Christian lacking integrity needs to understand his error either by self-evaluation or by a “Nathan” before it builds up to an untimely death.

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s mercy upon you according to His loving-kindness; according to the multitude of His mercy.

FAITH CAPSULE: To be spiritually blinded is to become physically blinded.

Psalm 23, Mark 8:22-26

If physical blindness is enough to cause stagnation in the life of man, imagine what the case will be when spiritual darkness reigns in the life of man. Physical or spiritual blindness is enough to reduce man from getting to the center of divine assignment in life. The blind man of Bethsaida has the light of God in his presence, but he does not have sight. Many acclaimed believers are having the Light of God (Word of God) in their presence, many are carrying the Light of God back and forth in their hand from church to church but they are blinded. To be spiritually blinded is to become physically blinded. Jesus, the living Word of God declared, “…I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Many acclaimed believers are having the Light of God and remains blinded. Does that sound like you?  Are you actually following Jesus?  
Mark 8:22, testifies “Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him.” Without sight there will be no motion, only stagnation. The blind man was before Jesus and could not move because he did not have what it takes to move out of stagnation; out of darkness. You have the light of God in front of you when you go to church, or to fellowship and when you read the Bible, yet your story remains the same. Your story has not changed and your struggle continues to be the same. If you will do what it takes to gain your sight, then, you will not be in stagnation. Do you wonder what the blind man did to gain his sight? It is written, “So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.” (Mark 8:23) The blind man did exactly what Jesus required in John 8:12, “…he who follows me”. The blind man followed Jesus. Bringing the blind man to His presence gave the blind man the access to beg Jesus and allowed Him to take leadership. Jesus brought him out of his place of stagnation into a new ground. As a result the blind man received a touch from Him and his sight was restored. With light, he gained sight. How have you been following Him? Spending time on His word is making attempt to switch on light and gain sight. Step up your prayer life and follow wherever the Word is leading you. Jesus wants to touch you—He will no doubt touch you. The blind man let Jesus touch him, and he gained his sight.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from every route of spiritual blindness.

FAITH CAPSULE: A heart that is set for God will settle for nothing but to seek.

1 Chronicles 22

Living life is also about growing up and moving forward. Seeking and serving God is also about growing in the things of the Lord. Believer is not exempted from growing and increasing to the glory of God. In Acts 20:32, Apostle Paul was speaking, “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.”Growth is crucial to become established in accessing what God has made available for everyone that believes. Are you a believer that is not growing but stagnated?
Are you like a building under construction but stagnated?Whenever a building construction is halted, it suffers stagnation. You are a temple of God that is constantly under construction. Are you rising or stagnated? David was charging his son Solomon, and the leaders, to begin construction of the Temple, 1 Chronicles 22:19, “Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy articles of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the LORD.” David’s statement can thoroughly be applied to the life of a believer who desires to grow in the Lord. As a living temple of God, it is absolutely evident that to lack growth in the things of the Lord is to remain stagnant. Have you examined yourself lately and determined if you can honestly and sincerely identify growth in your life as a believer? Knowing and quoting scriptural verses is not an evidence of growth; going to church on a regular basis is not enough to keep one from becoming stagnated. Acting impressively in the church is not a growth determinant. Growth is not determined by how long you have been going to church; growth is not only when one is constantly in the church with active and noticeable work. Growth is when His presence in your life is active by powerful demonstrations. Take David’s charge as your own for your growth. Begin to set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God. A heart that is set for God will settle for nothing but to seek God in deed and in truth. The grace to set and seek Him will bring a rise in you as a building, a living temple of the Lord.

Prayer for today: Ask God to give you a heart to seek after Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: In time of expectation, ignore the delay; focus on the deliverer.

Matthew 25:1-13, John11:1-7

Walking in the way of God is also waiting on God. Waiting on God is obeying the word of God. Without listening there can never be obedience in place. Assuredly, listening to the word of God is the key to obeying the word of God. However, not listening to the word of God is a choice; not a curse. It is the choice of not listening that brings one under a curse. Whenever a dog chooses its way by not listening to the owner, that dog will be lost and death is the dead end of lost. Just as it is for a dog to get lost for not listening to his owner, so it is for a man that fails not to listen to his creator. A failure not to listen is making a choice to get out of the way. Jesus said in John14:6, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through Me.
As an acclaimed believer, have you ever considered the way you are going? It is act of wickedness when disobedience becomes evident in man’s life. It is worthy to take time out and sincerely identify the way you have chosen. The way of the wicked is death and the way of death is wicked.
It is demonstrating obedience to be taking time to wait on God in every area of life.
In the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus mentions that during the course of their waiting, they all went to sleep. Matthew25:5, “But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.” Both the wise ones and the foolish ones slumbered and slept, without exception. Sleeping was inevitable for them because they had waited so long. Many have ridiculed the fact that Jesus is coming back. It has been over two thousand years of waiting, yet the Lord hasn’t returned. Are you becoming weary waiting or expecting? Commit your expectation into God’s hand. He will deliver it back into your hand at His appointed time. Do you believe that Jesus is coming back again? If the answer is yes, do not allow doubt to cloud your hope. Lazarus was sick when Jesus first heard the news. John 11:6, “So, when Jesus heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.” Jesus purposely delayed Lazarus’ miracle. He wanted God to be glorified. In time of expectation, ignore the delay; focus on the deliverer. He will do it at His own appointed time in order for His name to be glorified. God’s delay is not a denial. Jesus said it all. It is written, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the son of Man is coming.” (Matthew 25:13) He is coming back; ignore delay focus on the deliverer.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace that keeps man to remain focus waiting on the Lord.

FAITH CAPSULE: The grace of God does not expire but will cause man to excel to the glory of God.

Genesis 6

In the days of Noah sin was the order of the day. Just like today, ungodly acts prevailed beyond imagination. Genesis 6:5, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” It does not take an astrologer or seer to look around and see that only by the grace of God can one live in this world as a sojourner and not become a part of it. God was not pleased with man then, and He cannot be pleased with man today. Genesis 6:7, “So the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and the beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’” The world may choose to live life walking in the wrong direction while you alone maintain walking the right direction. Caleb and Joshua were alone among thousands when they stood their ground. It all happened when men that went to spy the Promised Land came with negative report which contradicted God’s promise to take the Israelites to the Promised Land. Men who had gone to spy the land came back and gave a bad report stating that, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:32-33) The report caused the Israelites to doubt God and confessed negative. Caleb and Joshua alone among thousands confessed positive because they know their God. If you know the One whom you serve and not just know about Him – then, He will make a way out for you so you will not have to bow before Baal.
It is written, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:8) Noah’s salvation was not of determination, but of divine grace. The grace of God is abundantly available but sin and sinning makes it inaccessible for any sinner. The grace of God does not expire but will cause man to excel to the glory of God. No one is excluded from that kind of grace if one is serving Him truly and with all heart, soul and strength. Go forward from this day and invest in the life He has given you by His name, and that same grace that Noah received from Almighty God will become yours as well.

Prayer for today: Ask God today to give you the kind of grace that worked out salvation for Noah and prevented him from becoming a part of a fallen generation.