FAITH CAPSULE: When we submit all unto God, He will subdue all on our behalf.

Exodus 20: 1-21

All that the Lord God asks from us is to be dutifully complying with His commands. God does not ask for more or less, but complete obedience. He has set His standard, and it will not be lowered or excused under no circumstances. Jesus strongly and repeatedly emphasized on hearing and obeying the word of God. Once, He was being sought by His mother and brothers but he could not be approached because of the crowd. The Bible recorded His response, “But He answered and said to them, ‘My mother and My brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.’” (Luke 8:21)  If there was any way to emphasize on obeying the word of God, Jesus has presented it above and beyond. Despite that, obeying the words of God has been reduced to the minimum, and obeying His words continue to be the least among us that confesses Christ as our Lord and savior. You have subjected yourself to the dictates of your heart–which is an act of wickedness. God is a merciful God and His sentencing against evil work is not speedily executed (Ecclesiastes 8:11). Taking the privilege of prolonged sentencing against evil is taking the risk of heading into eternal damnation. God will move and He will not fail to respond just as He did not look over the acts of disobedience of the children of Israel. God once said to the children of Israel in Jeremiah 2:19, “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. 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.” What the children of Israel did that led them into captivity is what the church today is doing today. There is only one way of serving God in deed and in truth: complete and uncompromised obedience. God gave the Ten Commandments to man and all ten–not one–is to be dutifully complied with. Every time we draw out our own way of obeying His commandment, it ends up being disobedient to the commandments of God. You can take or add to the commands of God in your own way; you can color His commands and still be in riches, bottom line is if you have fallen short in obeying it all, His timing will catch up with you. The Kingdom life is guided by God’s command, not man’s command or the dictates of our heart.

Prayer for today: Give thanks to God for Jesus Christ who is our Lord and savior, the redeemer of man.

FAITH CAPSULE: If Jesus has called you, storm will come.

Matthew 14:22-33
 
In the second encounter with storm, Jesus led His disciples go into the storm. Matthew 14:22, “Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.” Disciples had to go through the storm to get to where Jesus wanted them to be. If Jesus has called you, storm will come. If you have not been in any storm since he has called you, then you have a need to take a stand to build your faith against any raging storm. Jesus did not call any believer to be stagnant in the journey of faith. He wants you to grow, and every growth is accompanied by tests, that add up to be your catalog of testimony. The testing of your faith is always stormy enough to make you but not to unmake you when you stand on your trust in the Lord.
In the second storm encounter, Jesus did not go with the disciples in person but His presence was always with them. It was when the boat got into the middle of sea that the boat began to be tossed by the waves (Matthew 8:24). Where are you in His calling for your life? Are you in the middle of the sea or by the shoreline? It does not matter where you are if you will always remember that when the storm strikes, you look up to Him. In this encounter, Jesus, knowing the level of their faith, showed up at the right time and assured them that even when He was not expected, He will always show up to deliver and preserve us from destruction. Do not mistake Him for a ghost or any other god. It could be that you are at a point where you are about to jump out of the journey–now is not the time to give up. Remember what Jesus has done and all that He is doing. Will you take another gaze upon Him? If you have been following Him, and if He has sent you, He will not fail to show up–He will back you up. Jesus showed up walking on the stormy water towards the boat. Peter, knowing he has followed Him and clearly recognized at that point that he was sent by Jesus, wanted a confirmation from his Savior. Matthew 14:28, “And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”As a result of Jesus’ command, Peter began a walk of miracle over his storm with Jesus beside him. When Peter lost focus on Jesus, fear took over and he began to sink. Peter cried out for help and Jesus stretched out His hand.

Prayer for today: Thank God for His outstretched hand of deliverance and preservation.

FAITH CAPSULE: It does not matter when or where storm take its charge Jesus is there to discharge your storm.

Psalm 121, Matthew 8: 23-27
 
Stormy challenges often  accompany the journey of life. With Jesus on board, any storm that rises will rest and not sink man. Have you accepted Jesus into your life? Often, stormy challenges are meant to build us up for future endeavors. Jesus Christ, in all His teachings and demonstrations, prepared His disciples for all they will have to carry after His ascension to Heaven. Twice in the book of Matthew, Jesus led His disciples through storm and also directed them into the middle of storm. The Bible documented the first storm, “Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. (Matthew 8:23-24) In their first encounter with storm, the disciples followed Him into a boat. Knowing Jesus for who He is, what will happen was not hidden from Him. Surely, He must have known there was going to be storm before He went to sleep. Despite the presence of Jesus in the boat, the fear from the storm stormed the life of the disciples. The fact that the disciples witnessed several miracles performed by Jesus, they could not hold on to faith when storm struck their vessel. Matthew 8:25, “Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’” Jesus’ presence is always a salvation and He has never ceased from doing miracles. He was the same yesterday and today. When fear rises, faith sinks. The storm took over as the disciples caved in to fear. Is there any raging storm that is building fear in your life? What can you do besides to hope and trust in Him, especially if you have followed Him to where He is leading you to? When the disciples went and woke up Jesus, He responded in Matthew 8:26, “But He said to them, ’Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” It does not matter when or where storm take its charge in our journey of life, know from this encounter of the disciples that Jesus is there to discharge your storm. The experience of the storm demonstrated to us that Jesus will never sleep over when we need His delivering presence. Remember, Jesus neither sleeps nor slumbers through any storm of life. Let faith rise and the storm will eventually rest.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to stand and not fail in the face of storm.

FAITH CAPSULE:He will remember you with favor and He will visit you with salvation.

Genesis 8
 
Constantly remembering Him will bring constant joy in your heart because He is a covenant keeping God. God cannot forget to remember His own especially when His own refuses not to forget Him for all that He has done, for all that He is doing and all that He will do. He is faithful in His word and He will not fail to remember when we remind Him concerning the works of His hand.“Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God Made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.” (Genesis 8:1)God does not sleep and He will not sleep concerning His children. The fact that He remembered is not a demonstration of a forgetful mind but it is an indication that God moves at His own pace and His timing is better. God will always remember with favor and visits with salvation. God commanded Noah to build an ark of salvation before the time of the flood and when it was time for Noah to land on dry land, He remembered Noah and made a way for him on the dry land. Have you ever considered the need for you to maintain trust and know that He has not forgotten you? The children of Israel were in bondage for over four hundred years. Salvation was not activated for the children of Israel until God remembered them. What do you need for God to remember you? God is able to remember you and dry every tear of lack; He is able to remember in moving you forward from every ground of stagnation. In bareness Hannah was going to Shiloh yearly with her husband and Peninnah and she had nothing to show for it until she encountered favor when Eli the priest prayed the prayer of favor for Hannah. “So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel saying, “Because I have asked for him from the LORD.” (1 Samuel 1:20) At the process of time God remembered Hannah. If you have been waiting on God for long it will not be long for Him to remember you because He is a merciful God and no situation is hidden from God. Pray in the name of Jesus and the same God that visited Noah, the children of Israel and Hannah will not forget you; He will remember you with favor and He will visit you with salvation.
 
Prayer for today:Ask God to remember you with favor and to visit you with salvation.

FAITH CAPSULE:Remembering Him should not be limited only to the time of need.

Psalm 100
 
Remembering God is giving thanks and praises to God. Remembering God for who He is will grant one an entrance into His gate and accessing His court. In approaching God, taking a stop at the gate will not be enough and can never be satisfying without getting into His court. Entering His court requires praising Him. Praising Him should not be a mouth exercise but devotion from the heart. The Psalmist knew what it takes to pass through the gate and gain an entrance into His court.Psalm 100:4, “Enter into His gate with thinks giving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And is truth endures to all generations.”Is your praise constantly with understanding? There have to be meaning and understanding in every route of connecting with God or else it could be a race against the wind, The Psalmist talked about it when he says inPsalm 47:7, “God is the King of all earth; Sing praises with understanding.”Remembering Him should not be limited only to the time of need; it should be a consistent doing at every given place by privilege that is in place through His grace.Psalm 105, “Oh give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name: Make known His deeds among the people.”Those that know how to remember Him in thanks giving will know how to receive from Him with praise. God will respond when you pray but to remember to thank and praise will add perfection to what He gives. It is impossible to remember Him and not be lightened up with joy from inside to outside. When one remembers Him one will glory in His name because His name is glorious in holiness and fearful in praises. When one remembers God seeking and finding Him becomes undeniable. When God is remembered it is impossible to miss in the journey of life because one cannot remember Him and not meditate on His works of old that will guide in the of journey of life today. Remembering God is trusting in God and trusting in Him is what will keep one standing and not falling where tens, hundreds, and thousands are falling.Psalm 20:7-8, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. They have bowed down and fallen; but we have risen and stand upright.”
 
Prayer for today:Ask for the grace to constantly remember God for His awesome acts.