FAITH CAPSULE: Acknowledging God for the present is important for the future.

Jeremiah 2
 
A failure not to acknowledge God for who He is, for what He has done and all that is He is doing testifies to not remembering God. God spoke through Jeremiah to the children of Israel, “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, have followed idols, and have become idolaters? Neither did they say, ‘Where is the Lord, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt?’” (Jeremiah 2:4-6)
Knowing God to be a jealous God, giving Him unwavering attention testifies to identifying Him as He who saw one through in the past. Acknowledging God for the present is important for the future. At the time He was speaking through Jeremiah, the children of Israel had failed to do what is right by not identifying Him for the past and not acknowledging Him for the present. Are you in a new position that calls for identifying Him for what He has done and what He is doing in your life? The children of Israel at that time failed to serve God but turned to gods. It is written, “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13) God is the God that does not overlook sin and He did not overlook the failure of the children of Israel. Are you in any way taking the kind of steps that were taken by the children of Israel as mentioned above? As a believer, it is required to constantly acknowledge God for what He has done, what He is doing and what He will do. When there is a failure to acknowledge Him, there will be knowledge of turning away to another god. Some turn to money or profession as their god. God responded to the children of Israel’s act as “two evils.” Children of Israel committed two evils and God lay down the consequences of their evil deed. The word went further for the children of Israel, “… Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and the fear of Me is not in you says the Lord of hosts.” (Jeremiah 2:19) It is never too late to stand up where there is evidence of falling short. However, not to rise and stand but to remain on the ground is self-destruction.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God to redirect you from every wrong step that you are taking before Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Compromise will terminate man in the journey of life.

Romans 12
 
Conformity to this world will take away man’s commitment. If being committed to the things and work of God becomes inconvenient, then convenience will take over your commitment to God. Romans 12:2, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Questions: Have you been acting in accordance with current customs and modes of the world around you? Do any of your values correspond in form or character with the world around you? Are you complying or in constant agreement, or accord, with the world around you? The word of God encourages watching and praying. Are you watching for all the signs that can line you up in conformity with the world around you? For example, compromising with the world is a way of complicating one’s life. Compromise will terminate man in the journey of life. Eli’s sin before God was because he compromised. God revealed unto Samuel the sin of Eli, “Then the Lord said to Samuel: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them.” (1 Samuel 13:11-13) Eli’s sin was the iniquity which he knows and not the iniquity which he committed. He compromised by knowing and not doing anything to stop his children from their sin. When you conform to wicked ones it becomes a compromise. God will not lower His standard and requirement for salvation. Can you imagine a computer? There will be no amount of effort for one to log into a file or folder if one lack the right password. There is a password to heaven and that password is to live the ways of God without any compromise, and one will end up in the will of God. Your battle ground is your mind. The mind is where the enemy targets. The enemy knows that when the mind is taken, you are a done deal. It is evident in the word of God that the mind is the prime target of the enemy. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” This clarifies why one should be allowing a constant renewing of one’s mind, being active by constantly spending time on the word out of one’s convenience time.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the Spirit of God to take charge and rule your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Until you begin to live a sacrificial life for God, you cannot live a holy life.

Deuteronomy 6
 
Satisfaction has taken place over your sacrificial living for God. Being conformed to the world around you has taken over your commitment unto God. What is your destination in the journey of life? Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, have you really considered that serving God is why you are alive? Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
The scriptural passage did not say, ‘Present your bodies a living satisfied.’ You know exactly what it says. Living satisfied is to have eliminated a sacrificial living for God. In the name of God, and by designed interpretation of the word of God, some believers have found a way out to justify a satisfied living that suits them. Many are being carried away by their way of life rather than by the ways of God. Psalm 145:17, “The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.” God does have a required and specified standard in living for Him. The standard is to serve Him, and to serve God is to love God. Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Agreed, you know about this word, but it is not enough if you know but do not do. Living satisfied with the world around you is to have eliminated a sacrificial life. Until you begin to live a sacrificial life for God, you cannot live a holy life. Living a sacrificial life will take you out of the world of sin because all that is considered as fun and free cannot add up for you. Living a sacrificial life is living in the fear of God. Psalm 97:10 makes us to realize that, “You who love the LORD, hateevil…!” Also, the book of Proverbs 8:13 buttress it that, “The fear of the LORD is to hateevil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” Are you one that loves the evil world while claiming to be living in the fear of the Lord? There is none that can claim living a sacrificial life and yet be in love with the wicked and evil world. Living a sacrificial life is the only acceptable way before God and there is no lowering of standards. What God sees is reasonable service, not seasonal service. Make the choice and give unto God a reasonable service becoming a living sacrifice, which is holy, acceptable to God.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace that makes man to live wholly unto Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Challenges in the journey of life are the make up for growth in man’s life.

Deuteronomy 8
 
In life journey, nothing that happens to man is accidental before God. God alone sees all that man goes through in life journey. Going in the way of wilderness, is not a habitation, it is a passage.
The children of Israel, by virtue of disobedience, inability to wait on God, inability to let the past be in the past so the future could emerge in their life, and inability to focus on God for direction, lost track in the wilderness. The journey was to take them eleven days, but they journeyed for forty years. All that started the journey above the age of twenty did not get to the expected end except for Joshua and Caleb.
The way of wilderness that you are in is not to kill you, it is to heal you and get you to where you are going. Are you one that has been experiencing many challenges in your wilderness journey? If you will only let God take control, it shall come to light that the challenges are your make up for growth. Nothing is accidental for you as a child of God. Deuteronomy 8:2, “And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you will keep His commandments or not.” Today, trust God as the only God that will always remember with favor and always visit with salvation. You are not alone in your journey to the promise land, to the place where He wants to place you for His glory.
In the way of wilderness, one that lose focus, will gain the spirit of complain and giving attention to the life in the past will easily contaminate one’s present. Complaining is what leads to rebellion against the people whom God has put in place in your life as a shepherd just like when Korah led rebellion against Moses and Aaron. (Numbers 16:1-35) God has positioned help for all in the wilderness journey; abstain from looking back like Lot’s wife. Lots wife looked back violating the God’s command for her deliverance and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19) Allow God to be in charge, pay attention to the word of God in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Focus on where you are going. Where you are now is your building process. Believe that God is with you and He shall see you through if you are focused on Him.

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s light and truth to lead you and bring you to God’s Promised Land for Your life.