FAITH CAPSULE: Dwelling in the house of God is taking a shelter against the time of trouble.

Psalm 27

What the heart desires often come forth in life. King David stated, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4) What do you desire? Dwelling in the house of God is taking a shelter against the time of trouble. David went further to identify what is inhabited in dwelling in the house (presence) of God stating, “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5) Manifestly, dwelling in the presence of God will hide one and set one high away from trouble. As one that believes in the name of the Almighty God, it is important to consider if you have only been entering into His presence and not dwelling? It is written, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, “Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!’” Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.” (Jeremiah 7:1-3)It is not enough to be coming and going to the presence of God but to dwell. He who comes to God must believe that He is. Have you been coming long enough and nothing has changed in your spiritual life? There is a need to begin to come and seek Him diligently and make His presence become your dwelling place. Your level of belief is what will determine how you seek Him. Seek Him diligently and He will reward you because He is a faithful God. It is possible to come to Him and not believe. In the days of Jesus Christ, many came to see Him; some came to ridicule Him. Some did not go to Him because they did not believe. So many go to church on Sunday or on any given day, but are not able to identify in themselves if they actually believe in Him. Likewise in Jesus’ time, many went to Him, but did not seek Him. When you come with belief, you will not doubt Him but seek Him diligently. It is not enough to come to Him but to come and seek Him. Seeking Him is settling and dwelling in His presence. Just like David, desirer dwelling and God will deposit all that it takes to dwell in His presence.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to seek Him and continually and to dwell in His presence.

FAITH CAPSULE: Inhabited in the ways of God is life and not death.

1 Kings 9:1-16

It is written concerning Moses and the children of Israel. “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” (Psalm 103:7) The ways of God and the acts of God are His direction and His testimonies. Inhabited in the ways of God is life and not death, for those that meditate on it day and night. Whenever one takes out of the ways of God to one’s own ways it leads to death. The bible recoded, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) In God’s calling His ways are made known. When the Lord calls you, it does not matter who you are, where you are, what you have done, or what you are doing in the Lord. He does not call you to hide and if you do, you will end up in a back slide. He does not call you to run, and if you do, you will be replaced. Elijah, a man who was great in the hand of God, spoke to the rain and it ceased for three and a half years. God commanded him to go into hiding where provision is least expected. He obeyed and he lacked nothing because it is God’s way for him. In the name of God, he delivered a great blow to four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal by bringing them to open shame and by executing them all. After executing the prophets of Baal, Elijah got a message from Jezebel, 1 Kings 19:2, “Then Jezebel sent a message to Elijah, saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them tomorrow about this time.’” After having received the message, Elijah ran without hearing from God, he took to his own way. 1 Kings 19:3, “And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.” Elijah was constantly moved by God’s direction, but in this situation he was moved by the message of Jezebel. He ran away though God did not speak to him to run. He could run, but not hide from God. When the voice of God came to ask Him what he was doing where he was, he gave a reasonable excuse. He was commanded by God to return to the Wilderness of Damascus. Inside of God’s command was a new way for Elijah stating, “Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Mehola you shall anoint as prophet in your place.” (1Kings19:16) Eventually, Elisha took the place of Elijah.

Prayer for today: Ask that the placement of God for your life shall not be taken away from you in Jesus name.

FAITH CAPSULE: You may have the clock in your hand but God only moves by His time.

Luke 1

There will always be reason to be afraid but reacting in fear results in reducing our faith.  Every time faith is reduced, fear will increase and God will withdraw. The appearance of Pharaoh and his army charging at the Israelites at the Red Sea called for enough reason to be afraid but not to react by giving in to fear. With fear they confessed negatives saying, “…Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (Numbers 14:11-12) The Israelites waited for their miracle breakthrough but they could not celebrate it and died in the wilderness except for Caleb and Joshua. God is not pleased when faith ceases. God remains the same yesterday, today and forever. Zacharias a priest whose wife Elizabeth, was trusting God for the fruit of the womb, did not believe when at the appointed time for manifestation of his prayer an angel of the Lord appeared to him. At the appearance of the angel, he was afraid. The Bible recorded, “And When Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.” (Luke 1:12) Indeed, there was reason to be afraid, but allowing fear to trouble him reduced his faith. Despite his fear, the angel encouraged him, “…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 1:13-14) Zacharias prayed and God answered, but failed to celebrate when he began to question the angel, “…How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” (Luke 1:18) Just as his reaction was displeasing to God, so it was displeasing to the angel and he was prompted to pronounce the spirit of muteness and inability to speak upon him until the time of the birth of his son John. Are you holding on to your expectation from your prayer? You may have the clock in your hand but God only moves by His time. When manifestation is delayed by days, weeks, months or years, today is not the time to give up. God is also a God of the eleventh hour. Take to the word of God because it works. Present your request through prayer, position yourself by meditating and you will celebrate and not be mute and speechless when your miracle shows forth.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to keep you from giving up hope.

FAITH CAPSULE: There will always be reasons to be afraid but it is not enough for one to be reduced unto fear.

John 6:15-20

By virtue of the signs today, the time in God’s calendar demands that you leave religion and begin or continue to run the race in Christ-reality. Focus your strength on getting to your expected end. The expected end is the goal of your journey that is to faithfully complete the Christian life journey. Evidently, sin and living in sin is the main terminating force that denies completing the race of life. Besides sin and living in sin, fear will stand against one with every step toward the expected end. Fear is a terminator and not a motivator in the course of race to faithfully complete the Christian life journey. David talked about fear, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His Word), in God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? (Psalm 56:3-4) It is clear in David’s word that, there will always be reasons to be afraid but it is not enough for one to be reduced unto fear. Jesus once joined His disciples in their journey to go ahead on a boat, over the sea toward Capernaum. The Bible recorded, “Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,  got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.” (John 6:16-18) On their way, a storm took over and fear showed up powerfully that they could not recognize their Savior. Does this sound like a stage in your journey or in your race of life? Storm is inevitable but God is invite-able to see one through. In all that you are facing, are you facing the Lord for intervention? In order to deny fear, Jesus knowing the state of heir condition in journey showed up in the middle of their storm, “But He said to them, it is I; do not be afraid. Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.”(John 6:20) Will you receive Him into your boat of life? When you receive Him in every situation, He will take you to the expected end. However, fear has to be terminated for faith to rise. Fear will sink you; faith will raise you. The Christian faith is not to be misconstrued as entertainment. It is gaining entrance into the Kingdom of God. Grace is available for all to enter into the Kingdom of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from every agent that causes fear in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Understand the need to stay focused in your race and also allow God to bless you.

2 Timothy 4

It is written, “Blessed are those who keep justice, and he who does righteousness at all times! Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation.” (Psalm 106:3-4) It can be concluded that, to be remembered by God and to be visited by God is undoubtedly God’s blessing. As indicated in the above scriptural quotation, keeping justice and doing righteousness at all times (not at our convenient times) will trigger the blessing to be remembered and to be visited with God’s salvation. The requirement for righteousness at all times buttress the notion that: consistency; persistency; continuity are the rule of race. The apostle Paul in his illustration of what it takes to faithfully complete the Christian life journey (which is like running a race) stated, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day…” (2 Timothy 4:7-8) To run a race and be able to get a prize (blessing) is to continue in running according to the rule and not give up. To run a race with continuity, consistency and persistency demands for one to deny every form of distraction such as sin. Often times when sin comes into play, getting back into race can be challenging. One should always keep in mind that God is a good God that He is ready to forgive. (Psalm 86:5) In His forgiveness there is the privilege to get back and continue in the race. It is always good to keep in mind that forgiveness from God is not a liberty to continue sinning and shining living in sin. Apostle Paul elaborated further on not to continue in sin despite the forgiveness in place when he stated, “…Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it…?”(Romans 6:1-2) Understand the need to stay focused in your race and also allow God to bless you when you are able to continue in keeping justice and doing righteousness at all times. Have you fallen short in your race? It is time to get back in the race by asking for forgiveness from a good God that is ready to forgive. Throughout the Bible, there are documentations of those that fell and not able to continue because of lack of understanding to ask for forgiveness. Also, there are documentations of those that fell for sin and by virtue of understanding, they regained continuity by asking for forgiveness and were able to complete the race. Run with understanding and be blessed.

Prayer for today: Ask God for grace and strengthen to run according to His rule.