FAITH CAPSULE: His word is His presence.

Exodus 33
 
As the children of the Most High God, the place for His children is up in the high and not in the low. God called Moses after having kept himself and the children of Israel in the low, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…” (Exodus 33:1) Indeed God wants to bring all of His children up and not low where there is no motion but stagnation. Moses, wanted to know the way of bringing the children of Israel up, and he called on God, “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” (Exodus 33:13) Moses, by virtue of his asking, knew that knowing God is in knowing the way of God. God responded to Moses’ request, “And He said, My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14) The point here is that, the way of God is God, the presence of God is His way, and in the presence of God there is rest. What could a man desire in the journey of life? In every area of life the presence of God is all that matters and it is power to those that knows to obey and follow His word because in His word is His presence. Throughout the pages of the Bible, so many giants in the hand of God did not make it except with the presence of God. Joseph, a young slave in Egypt in the house of Potiphar, prevailed because, “The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.” (Genesis 39:2) Success could not avoid the slave boy Joseph because the Lord was with him. It was evident and Potiphar could see that the Lord was with Joseph. As a believer, every time you are set to be elevated by God, the enemy will set to offset what the Lord wants to do in your life. In the case of Joseph, the enemy cannot be more powerful because the presence of the Lord was with Joseph and it was visible enough for all who were around him to see. Is the Lord with you in all that you are doing? Every time the phrase“The Lord was with Joseph”was mentioned, there was mercy, favor, prosperity, success and authority in place in the life of Joseph. In the journey of life, when God is with you, no man can be against you.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the word of God to reign and rule your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: He remembers with favor and visit with salvation.

Psalm 106
 
God will not overlook or miss every demonstration of our fear for His name. Speaking about and meditating on the word of God will cause God to have a book of remembrance opened on our behalf. Who on earth would not want to be remembered by God? God’s remembrance is God’s visitation. The Psalmist wanted to be remembered, and it is written in Psalm 106:4 “Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation.” When God remembered Noah in the ark of salvation, He sent His wind, and the water of destruction subsided and Noah entered into his land of deliverance. The children of Israel, having been in bondage for over four hundred years, entered their deliverance when God remembered them, “Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Exodus 2:23-24) God remembered the children of Israel and God acknowledged them. With God’s acknowledgement, nothing could stop the Israelites from coming out of bondage; neither could they have been stopped from setting out for their journey to the Promised Land. For the children of Israel, God’s acknowledgement was bondage termination. As another example, Hannah, in the book of Samuel, never excused herself from going to Shiloh despite her bareness. Hannah kept on going and she did not yield herself to the mockery of bareness. God remembered her and visited her, “…Elkhanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.” God’s remembrance of Hannah delivered her from mockery into miracle. It is clear, without any doubt, God is a good God and there is no evil in all of His doing. He is God that adds beauty and brings forth multiplication. God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. Is there any area that you want God to remember you in the coming days? Are you walking in His commands? God encourages us in Isaiah 43:26, “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted” Call on God, put Him in remembrance concerning the work of His hand and He will remember you and visit you with salvation. Walk in line with the living word of God.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to have your understanding in the word of God and be filled with the knowledge of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: To be remembered is to be consistent with the Word of God.

Genesis 8
 
At the time wickedness multiplied on the face of earth, destruction and termination of wickedness and the wicked one was inevitable before God. As an example, during the days of Noah, when wickedness became increasingly unacceptable before God, Noah was the only one in his generation set aside for salvation. The Bible recorded, “…Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Only Noah was identified for deliverance among all the people on the face of the earth. If it is settled in you that you alone are doing good before the Lord, do not be intimidated but be motivated in doing good. In the days of Noah, Noah found grace. Today Jesus, the grace of God, has already come and He is here for those that will receive and believe Him as their Lord and Savior. To receive and believe Him is like gaining entrance into the ark that delivered Noah from God’s judgment. Receiving and believing in Jesus will also deliver in the time of God’s judgment of the world. Indeed, Noah found grace, and salvation became his portion. Yet he needed God to remember him after the flood had passed in order to possess the land before him. It is written, “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) As a believer, our Grace, the Lord Jesus, is already here and we also need to be remembered by our Lord God just as Noah was remembered. How then can we be remembered? To be remembered is to be consistent with the Word of God. Malachi 3:16 laid out the way to be remembered by God, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. ” (Malachi 3:16) Evidently, the fear of God is all that needs to be in place for anyone that wants to be delivered after the destruction of the wicked. Where there is fear of God, His testimonies will always be the center of conversation and meditation. Malachi 3:16 pointed out that God will listen; He will hear every meditation. Care to be remembered by God? Care to study the word of God; to meditate on the word of God and to fear God.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for your heart to be constantly engaged with His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: When you call on Him, and not on man, He will remember, rescue and redeem.

Exodus 3
Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7) It is not enough to be fluent in His word if there is no abiding in His word. When you abide in Him you will be known in Him. The grace of God is sufficient, and it will make it possible to live the word of God. Whoever knows His name and call on His name shall be saved, and this salvation is not maybe or could-be salvation, it is certain salvation. It is impossible to know the name of God if you don’t spend adequate time in His presence. Spending time in His presence is spending time in the Word. Which of His Names do you know? Is it the name you have heard Him being called, or His Name that you have encountered in the pages of the Bible? For Moses to be able to execute the assignment he was called for, he went and inquired from Him about His name. God responded, “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 15And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” (Exodus 3: 14-15) His name has not changed. His name will not change and His name will continue to make changes because His name is for all generations. Do you know Him? Are you known in Him? Call on His Name and you shall be saved. After Pharaoh had turned down Moses’ request the first time, Moses went back to God. God insisted and repeated His name to Moses as the only weapon that will bring forth result. Pharaoh, an agent of evil, persisted and Moses persevered. Jesus’ parable of the importunate widow (Luke 18:1-8) is a demonstration of the need to persevere in calling when the answer is yet in our hand. God insisted, the devil resisted, but Moses persevered. Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Call on Him if you know Him and you are known in Him. His name will not fail you.

Prayer for today: Ask God to revive you in His righteousness.

FAITH CAPSULE: Having been made so wonderful with honor by God, and not having understanding is undoubtedly a way to perish.

Psalm 103, 139

The Psalmist testifies, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.” (Psalm 139:14) The one that knows and understands the wonder of God in His creation of man will know what it means to praise God with understanding. The Psalmist identifies how wonderful man is in the hand of God when he was exploring the glory of God in God’s creation of man: Man is a creation that God is mindful of; man is the one that God pays visit to; man is made a little lower than the angels; man is crowned with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:4-5) The Psalmist went further identifying how wonderful man is in the hand of God when he stated that: God made man to have dominion over the works of His hands; all things were made to be under the feet of man. (Psalm 8:6-7) Considering all that God has done and invested in man, it cannot be denied that God made man to be His wonderful creation. What a wonderful God we serve? What an honor bestowed upon man? Having been made so wonderful with honor by God, and not having understanding is undoubtedly a way to perish. Not having the understanding of the honor that God has bestowed in the life of man is enough to agree with the Psalmist statement, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20) God, having bestowed so much upon man is not wrong to have so much expectation from man in obedience to His command. Just as if all that He has done is not enough, He went further to put in place loads of daily benefits for man.
King David also testifies to His daily benefits in Psalm 68:19, “Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits…”  In another Psalm of King David, the understanding of what the daily benefits are points to the reason why blessing the name of God should be rooted in understanding and not just by mouth. In Psalm 103, David blessed the Lord for His daily benefits and went further to identify the benefits stating: He forgives all our iniquities; heal our diseases; redeems life from destruction; crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies and satisfy our mouth with good things. (Psalm 103:1-5) The daily benefits are evident in our life daily. The point here is that, it is important for us to know and understand how man is wonderfully made and daily loaded with benefits. At all times of your praising and blessing His Holy name, let it be rooted in understanding. Remember, “Good understanding gains favor” (Proverbs 13:15) 

Prayer for today: Let all that is within you bless and praise God for a new day and a new month.