FAITH CAPSULE: Provoke the hand of God against all that is provocative to you as a child of God.

1 Samuel 1
 
Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, was barren. Hannah’s challenge was not enough to discourage her from going to worship God. Hannah kept going to the ground of worship with her husband and her husband’s second wife (Peninnah). In her going to the place of worship, provocation, mockery, aggravation for not having a child did not cease from flowing from Peninnah. Despite the Bible’s documentation of Peninnah aggravating approach to Hannah for not having a child, Hannah gave no reason or excuse not to go and worship God. Hannah did not make any excuses not to go worship and offer sacrifices to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. What is your excuse when it is time for fellowship? Going to church only on Sundays is not enough to carry you through yet you do have piles of unreasonable excuse not to go worship.
The Bible recorded Hannah’s situation, “…her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.”(1 Samuel 1:6-7)It is important for a believer to know and understand that when provocation follows one to the house of God,it becomes evidence that it is time to provoke the hand of God against one that is provoking us. Hannah sought the hand of God to divert provocation from her life. It is written, “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”(1 Samuel 1:10-11)Hannah could not be silent in her seeking God but revealed her countenance as she prayed.She made a strong vow, calling on God to look on her situation she asked God to remember her and not forget her. God is a precise God. Hannah was precise in her request. She made it clear to Him that she desperately wanted a male child. Year after year, she went back and forth to Shiloh. Finally, God granted her request and gave her a son, Samuel. It could be that God is waiting for you to provoke His hand for your request. Take a lesson from Hannah’s approach, insist and persist on having your mockery converted to miracle. God is a faithful God.

Prayer for today:Ask God to deal with you according to His mercy.

FAITH CAPSULE: What exactly is stopping you from lifting your voice in asking Him?  

Lk.17:11-19
 
Jesus was speaking in John 14:12-14, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.  And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” We serve a God that is not only true to His name but also magnifies His word above all His name. (Psalm 138:2) What else does a father need to give to his son that God has not given to us that we may live life abundantly? Jesus said, “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Indeed, by virtue of Jesus’ testimony, He already brought all that it takes to live life more abundantly, and not that He is yet to bring it. What a mighty God we serve! He said in John14:14, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”  He has never failed in His Word. He said that His Word will not come back to Him void.
Do you believe Him and His Word? So, what exactly is stopping you from lifting your voice in asking Him? Is it your distance, or your condition? The ten lepers had everything against them in asking for their miracle. In Luke 17:12, “Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers who stood afar off.” They stood afar off because they were supposed to be isolated by virtue of their disease. In that part of the world, they were regarded as unclean. Despite their dilemma, keeping quiet was not their portion. Luke 17:13, “And they lifted up their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’’’ The lepers could not keep quiet when they spotted the Word of God. Almost every moment the word is in your face yet you have remained silent on that particular challenge that is facing you. You just cannot identify the reason why you have not been taking that concern to the Lord as you have been doing with other difficulties. The enemy is hard at work trying to steal from you and deny you. There is no problem that is too difficult for God. Perhaps you are wary of dealing with challenges. However, when you begin to take on your challenges–by ignoring every hindrance and constantly lifting your voice — He will answer you. Have you been asking for God’s help as much as you should be? If you truly believe in His word, be persistent, resist the enemy and insist on your miracle.
 
Prayer for today: Pray as the Psalmist: Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; Incline Your ear to me, and save me.(Psalm 71:2)

FAITH CAPSULE: God called Moses to attention for His intention.

Exodus 3
 
God is purposeful in all of His operations. It was not an accident that Moses was born at a time when Pharaoh made a law that all Hebrew male sons should be killed at birth. Moses did not only escape death but was also raised on the ground where the law was made (Pharaoh’s palace) When it was time for Moses to engage the route of destiny, a situation that was beyond his capability caused him to flee to the center of his divine assignment. It is written, “Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” (Exodus 2:11-12) The killing committed by Moses caused him to flee to his center of divine assignment (ground of escape).
While Moses was at his ground of escape God called Moses to attention for His intention. Before his calling he became a shepherd. As a shepherd, he needed an exposure to know how to use a rod. A man who was not exposed to a rod for forty years became a rod-specialist. For forty years, the rod was his number one companion at work. He would not go to work as a shepherd without the rod in his hand. God wants to use you and what you have closest to you. What is in your hand? Consider what is in your hand as God’s weapon or tool of service. A failure to consider what is in our hand for serving God can possibly cause one to miss the entire journey of life? Moses, after training for eighty years (forty in the palace, forty as a shepherd), needed to give attention to what was in his hand on order to serve the intention of God. Moses’ attention began to turn around when he turned aside to the burning bush. The Bible recorded in Exodus 3:4, “So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!” And he said, ‘Here I am.’” After hearing and answering God, he later found out that what was in his hand was to be used for God’s intention. “So the Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand? He said, a rod.’” (Exodus 4:2) Moses had a rod for his journey for the Lord. Do you ever wonder what is in your hand? Maybe He has called and you did not pay attention to His intention.
 
Prayer for today:Ask Him for mercy to be able to identify what He has deposited in your life that is meant for the fulfillment of your destiny.

FAITH CAPSULE: Those agents that do not represent God in your life need to be permanently terminated.

1 Kings 18: 20-40
 
Elijah needed to draw a line between the Lord God and the Baal god,“And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lordis God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” (1 Kings 18:21-24)Just like Elijah we can also draw a line against our enemy.
Indeed God answered by fire. After it had been clarified between the God of Elijah and the prophets of Baal that the God of Elijah is the Lord God, and there is none to worship but Him, Elijah declared war against the prophets of Baal. 1 Kings 18:40, “And Elijah said to them, ‘seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!’ So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.” Where are you? Where is your location on the ground of God? Have you accepted Him as the only God that is God, the Lord of Lords, the Eternal Creator, and the One who was, who is and who will always be? If you have been able to accept Him on that ground, you are in tune with heaven and you are on your Mount Carmel. Just like Elijah did, take your stand and call on God today that all agents of confusion, disturbance, and wickedness be seized just as were the Baal prophets at the Brook of Kishon. Pray that they will not escape the hand that seizes them. Those agents that do not represent God in your life need to be permanently and eternally executed so they will have no life in them to work against you ever. Do not spare them. Go ahead with your weapon (the Word of God) to invade them, raid them, disable them, unmake them; do not spare them. Pray a standing prayer and let God work on your behalf and victory is certain in Jesus’ name. Amen.
 
Prayer for today: Pray the prayer of the Psalm 129:5-6, “Let all those who hate Zionbe put to shame and turned back.Let them be as the grass on the housetops,which withers before it grows up.

FAITH CAPSULE: Whenever one’s hearing becomes seeing, the awareness of being led by God will begin to reign and rule in one’s life.

Psalm 119:1-16
 
Proverbs 4: 20-22 declares, “My son, give attention to my words;Incline your ear to my sayings.Do not let them depart from your eyes;keep them in the midst of your heart;for they are life to those who find them,and health to all their flesh.” In this verse, it is clear that just as the word demands our ear’s attention it also demands our eye’s attention. We give ear’s attention to the word so that we may hear His sayings and we give eye’s attention to see in the word and have word to stay in our heart. To hear and see in the word will enable us to keep and seek God with the whole heart. It is written, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!” (Psalm 119:1-2) When you begin to see that God is near, that He is a living God, the manner in which you believe in Him will take you beyond human understanding.
It is the will of God for His children to grow and growing is in how we see, seek and keep His word. John 6:40, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Can you envision Him being there for you and alive? What you see you will seek, what you seek you will keep and what you keep you will heed. When you heed what you have seen in His Word, you will be deep in Him. A failure not to see in His word will definitely deny one from seeking Him. With no seeking their will be nothing to keep. One that does not keep the word will have no word to keep him/her. Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17) Also, faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Whenever one’s hearing becomes seeing, the awareness of being led by God will begin to reign and rule in one’s life. The level of our walk with God is not limited. It is also not achieved by determination; it is by the grace of God. When we personalize God as ours (just like David did) then, we begin to see Him as being there for us always. God will always instruct and teach us in the way we should go; He will guide us with His eye (Psalm 32:8). It is all about God directingus.

Prayer for today:Ask God to open your ears and eyes to begin to hear and see in the word of direction.