FAITH CAPSULE: Loving and forgiving is the central focus of His coming.

John 1:1-13, 3:1-21
 
It is written, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) Jesus is the grace of our Lord God for every man that chooses to believe and receive Him. John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12)  Knowing about Him is different from knowing Him. Those that know Him know Him enough to receive and believe Him as their Lord and Savior. Have you received and believed in Him? It is possible to believe Him and not receive Him. Many saw and many heard about the work He did; they know about Him but they choose not to receive Him as their Lord and Savior. It is written,“…Among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.”(John 12:42) Inability to confess Him is a demonstration of not having received Him. To confess Christ is living a life that demonstrates the confession that is made about Him. Confession without belief, or belief without confession, is incomplete. Jesus is the unconditional love of God, the grace of God that came to give life abundantly to those that care to receive and believe in Him. Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,” Clearly, Jesus is the unconditional love of God and the grace that came for all. However, to enter into the unconditional love of God, there is a need for us to condition ourselves by taking the right position. Whenever there is inability to take the right position, there will be disability to enter the abundance of His grace.
The position that needs to be taken is to love and forgive. Many times in the pages of the Bible, the command to love is constantly and repeatedly emphasized. We are to love our neighbors and to know how to forgive.Clearly, loving and forgiving cannot be separated; neither can the love for God be compromised. Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” There is no any other way to enter into the fullness of His abundant grace without being fully obedient to the command to love and to forgive. Jesus taught His disciples how to pray when he stated, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12)Loving and forgiving is the central focus of His coming. He wanted us to know that without forgiving, salvation will be stagnated. How much one knows, and how long one have known Him will not count except one knows Him.

Prayer for today:Ask that the spirit that causes man not to love and forgive shall not have a place in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: For us to live, we are to live by every word of God.

Genesis 1, John 10:1-10
 
The will of God is for us to live, and He does have a guideline on how to live. His guideline is not by force but by choice. God is not an authoritarian nor a dictator but a creator. He is a creator whose word is perfect. He is the Commanding commander, Healing healer, Unchanging changer. God is referred to and He has demonstrated many times that He is a longsuffering God, and that testifies that the Almighty Creator is neither an authoritarian nor a dictator because no dictator can be identified as longsuffering. The Bible declares in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God is concerned for us having life, but if one cannot concur with His concern one is condemned unto losing life. He wants us to have life and to have it more abundantly. Jesus clearly stated, “…I have come that they many have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Are you living in such a way to have the life that He has come to give? It matters that we live according to the will of our God, the Ancient of days, the only God that inhabits eternity. To live according to His will is to fear Him, and fearing God is living by His word.
In response to Satan’s temptation, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”(Matthew 4:4) For us to live, we are to live by every word, not the word that is most convenient nor the word that we chose to live, but by every word that comes from God.
The word of God is the power of God, and that power is enough to navigate the journey of life. The power in the word of God is the power that created the world, Jeremiah 51:15, “He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the heaven by His understanding.” Remember, there was no record of Him using a bulldozer or caterpillar or hiring any contractor in creating the earth as recorded in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Why not take the word and embrace it with consistency? The word is true to perform.Isaiah 55:11 testifies, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” The word of God has to be constantly operated.
 
Prayer for today:Ask God for the grace to live by His word consistently.

FAITH CAPSULE: Allowing the word of God to be fulfilled in our life is fitting and it is also our heaven-opener.Matthew 3

Matthew 3
 
Fulfilling all righteousness is doing the will of God. In doing His will, there is no exception or compromise but to fulfill all that is required as commanded by the Lord. At John’s reluctance to baptize Jesus, Jesus responded to John, “But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. ’” (Matthew 3:15) Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, fulfilled all the commands of God. Fulfilling the word or command of God will always bring fulfillment into the life of a believer. However, not fulfilling the word is what will hunt and hurt any of His creation. Failing to fulfill the command of God is a passage unto sin, and with sin come consequences. What is the will of God? The will of God is to fear God. It is written,“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandment, for this is man’s all.”(Ecclesiastes 12:13)Is your life centered in the fear of God? Jesus’ demonstration of obedience is evidence that there is nothingto lose but more to gain by obeying God’s word. After Jesus told John to fulfill God’s command during Jesus’ baptism, and after John obeyed, heaven was opened in response to full obedience. Matthew 3:16, “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and Hesaw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.” Allowing the word of God to be fulfilled in our life is fitting and it is also our heaven-opener. Heaven was opened as a result of Jesus’ obedience. Obedience that provoked open heaven also prompted the voice of God to sound. It was a sound of confirmation and a sound of love. “And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) God demonstrated that when obedience is in place, He will open heaven as a blessing. Could it be that there are some unfulfilled requirements that continue to keep your heaven shut? God has never compromised His word and He will not compromise His word. In obeying God, there is blessing; in disobeying, there is curse. God was pleased with Jesus when Jesus told John not to violate the word of God. If God could be pleased with faith, it is also true that without faith God is not pleased. Please God and provoke your open heaven. Without the fear of God, walking in His commands will be impossible.
 
Prayer for today:Ask for the grace to be consistent in obedience to the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE:Are you attempting or not wanting to move in the direction of God’s word?

Genesis 19:1-26, Luke 1:1-38
 
Linger is defined as: To remain or stay on in a place longer than is usual or expected, as if from reluctance to leave; to dwell in contemplation. Going by the definition, it is safe to consider lingering as lack of faith.
A certain priest named Zacharias subjected himself to lingering because he did not believe. His wife, Elizabeth was barren and they were both well advanced in age. When it was time for God to answer his prayer, an angel of the Lord appeared to him. At the visitation of the angel, Zacharias was troubled, and fear fell upon him. (Luke 1:120) The angel spoke to Zacharias, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.” (Luke 1:13) Despite the good news, Zacharias, questioned the validity of angel’s message. The angel responded, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” (Luke 1:19-20) Zacharias could have received the message and move on waiting for its manifestation rather than questioning in doubt. Evidently, his lack of faith kept him to linger in the temple while people waited for him outside.
The same angel that visited the priest Zacharias also visited Mary with the revelation of the birth of Jesus Christ. Mary, a virgin, had a reason not to believe but she responded with question stating, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34) The angel answered Mary’s question by letting her know that the Holy Spirit was going to come upon her. Unlike Zacharias’ lingering reaction to the revelation, Mary reacted with haste. The Bible recorded that she arose and went to into the hill with haste, to where Elizabeth was. (Luke 1:39)
The point here is that lingering is attempting or not wanting to move in the direction of God’s word. It is a demonstration of lack of faiththat leads to self-destruction. The Bible makes us to realize that God is not pleased without faith.
When God revealed His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah to Lot, Lot and is wife had trouble moving in direction of their escape. It is written, “And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.” (Genesis 19:16) Could have been that the lingering spirit eventually prompted the wife to look back against the command and became a pillar of salt.
 
Prayer for today:Pray against lingering in every area of your life.

FAITH CAPSULE:In these days of spiritual wickedness, for every acclaimed believer, there is no substitute for prayer.

Psalm 109
 
God is a prayer answering God if His children will take the time to call unto Him in prayer as Jesus demonstrated. How is your prayer life? At times prayer requires simplicity; other times, persistency, intensity and fervency. However, prayers always need to be effective and consistent. James 5:16 encourages prayer with hope of getting answer by stating that,effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Prayer is like a battleground a place of violent confrontation against the spiritual wickedness. Jesus said in Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” Prayer can be the violent weapon in the hand of any believer that wants to take the kingdom of heaven by force. Prayer is the delivery room for every believer that wants to receive undeniable proof of God’s hand. In these days of spiritual wickedness, for every acclaimed believer, there is no substitute for prayer. God is very much in the business of answering prayer just as He was in the beginning. He promised in Isaiah 58:9,  “Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am …’”God is caring; He will not look away from His children when they cry unto Him. Exodus 3:7-8, “And the LORD said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them…” God heard their cry and He moved for their deliverance. Can you think of any situation where you have been in bondage as the Israelites under the Egyptians? It is time to cry unto the Lord for your own deliverance. David said in Psalm 109:4, “…But I give myself to prayer.” The disciples stated in Acts 6:2, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” As a believer, how is your prayer life? A prayer-less believer is like a vehicle driving in the dark without the headlights turned on. It will only take a moment before disaster happens. “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” (James 5:17-18) Can you imagine that of Elijah? Be encouraged in engaging prayer. A church that prays will prevail while a prayer less church will remain in vain.

Prayer for today:Ask for the mercy of God to hold you up in all areas of serving Him.