FAITH CAPSULE: Keep on waiting on God and your enemy will continue to fail.

Nehemiah 1-2

Nehemiah received news about condition in Jerusalem and news concerning the Jews who had escaped and survived the captivity, “…The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” So it was, when I heard these words that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” (Nehemiah 1:3-4) Nehemiah was disturbed about the condition of his brethren and Jerusalem. His concern provoked his desire to rebuild. Nehemiah waited on God in prayer. He testifies, “So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” (Nehemiah 2:4-5) Waiting in prayer is communicating with God and it opens heaven. Rebuilding the wall was his major agenda because life‘s difficulty for the people in Jerusalem was due in large part to the wall. The point here is Nehemiah’s attempts were carefully propagated by waiting on God in prayer. Nehemiah was granted his desire by king Artaxerxes. All that was needed to rebuild the temple was in place. The project continued and God’s hand of favor did not fail to manifest. Do you have a project coming up? It is important to commit every involvement into the Lord’s hand so that His good hand will answer for you. During the construction of the wall, there were all kinds of opposition and the enemies meant to deny the construction of the wall of Jerusalem. There was opposition through ridicule, opposition through threat of attack, opposition through discouragement, and opposition through extortion. When the wall was completed, opposition did not cease. The enemy will never stop working its evil ways. The completion of your project will not discourage the enemy to stop coming after you. The completion of the wall did not stop the enemy’s continuous attacks. It is written, “So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.”(Nehemiah 6:15-16) You would think that the enemy would give up after the completion of your project, but that is not true. It was not true concerning the wall of Jerusalem. After you have completed your project, do not cease from your waiting in prayer to God. Keep on waiting and the enemy will continue to fail concerning every other project.

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s instruction and teaching in the way you should go.

FAITH CAPSULE: Commit your request into His hand and he will exclude the options that are not for you.

Daniel 3

The word of God is consistently true and it cannot be broken. Jesus meant what He said and He will do what He says when He said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receive, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?”(Matthew 7:7-9) Do not stop asking He will answer your prayer. When He answers yes it good and when He answers no it is also good because He sees the end from the beginning. Is it deliverance you want? He alone will deliver it to you. God alone is God and He alone knows the best response to your request. It does not matter how long you have been praying or what you are asking for, the will of God is always the answer, not how you think or feel the answer should be. An order was put in place for whoever fails to fall down and worship Nebuchadnezzar’s gold image, “And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning furnace.”( Daniel 3:6) Daniel’s friends (Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego) refused to fall down before the image in worship. Despite being in captivity, their hearts did not depart from their God. There was no bitterness against God who was able to have denied captivity before they were taken captive. The love that they had for God was so intact that they could not fall for any god. They were ready for the death penalty by the fiery furnace. They were serving God, and in that situation they needed to trust God. It is one thing to serve God; it is another to stand in trust for what He can do. They would not bow so they responded, “If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”(Daniel 3:17-18) They knew that only God could deliver, yet they acknowledged the fact that even if they did not get what they hoped for from God, He could not be diminished in their lives. He knows the best for you and He has the best answer. Let the will of God be done. Commit your request into His hand and he will exclude the options that are not for you.

Prayer for today: Ask Him to deliver you from the hand of the wicked and the grip of the terrible.

FAITH CAPSULE: Keeping the testimonies of God is evidently a blessing that cannot be denied.

Psalm 119:1-59

Testimony means the evidence in support of fact; a public declaration regarding an experience. It will be right to call testimony a branch of faith because it is also the evidence of things hoped for. Testimonies of God that one keep will determine one’s standing in Him. Psalmist recorded, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart.” (Psalm 119:2) Those that keep His testimonies will seek Him. Psalm 119:31 states, I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame.” Are you one that constantly hold on to what He has done by looking to what He will do? Clinging to His testimonies will no doubt keep one from being ashamed. Which way are you taking in the journey of life? Consider the ways of His testimonies and your feet will step in the right direction just like the Psalmist testifies, “I thought about my ways, and turned my feet to your testimonies.” (Psalm 119:59) Above all, considering the testimonies of God will deliver one from the hand of the wicked just as it is written, “The wicked wait for me to destroy me, but I consider Your testimonies.(Psalm 119:95) Indeed and in truth, it is only a fool will declare that there is no God (Psalm 14:1) All the work of God’s hand is everywhere to testify that the Lord is God and His word is true. He was the same yesterday and forever. It is written, “…for Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.” (Psalm 75:1) The work of His hand is enough to stop one from being a foolish one in thought and in action. Among His testimonies is declared, “But go and learn what this means; I desire mercy not sacrifice for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13)  If you are one that keeps His testimonies in your heart, seeking Him will always be your top priority. You seek Him by reaching out to sinners which all of us was once. His testimonies, which you keep, will compel you to reach out to sinners who have no hope outside of Him. Jonah’s loss from the presence of God because of his disobedience relegated him to the sinner’s camp. Jonah spent three days seeking salvation from the dark until he realized what it meant to be a sinner. Jonah’s experience outside of God energized him to go and seek after God by reaching out to lost souls for the Lord. Keeping the testimonies of God is evidently a blessing that cannot be denied. God is faithful to His word.

Prayer for today: Ask God to give you understanding, that you may know His testimonies. Ask God to endue you with the grace to be one that keeps His testimonies and seeks after Him. Be blessed by keeping His testimonies.

FAITH CAPSULE: Giving Him heartfelt thanks should not be narrowed to only a certain day or time of the year.

Psalm 106, Luke 17:11-19

Thanksgiving is not in giving out turkey. The Bible says “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150:6) Praising God is not complete without thanking Him neither is thanking Him completes without praising Him. The word of God confirms it, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” (Psalm 100:4) Giving thanks to God and praising God are not separate-able. If we are to go by the word of Psalmist as mentioned above, every breath should be backed with a word of thanks giving. Also, giving thanks to God is not what we think it is what we give by extending our heart in appreciation that is backed with action. Thinking thanks is an evidence of not having pay attention to see what God has been doing. Jesus healed ten lepers and nine of them must have been thinking thanks. However, the only one that demonstrated to have saw the need to not to think thanks reacted, “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.” (Luke 17:15-16) Have you been seeing what He is doing for you? Have you been walking away just thinking thanks in your heart? Today, if you will pattern your thanksgiving approach like that of one leper that returned, wellness will become your mark. A failure not to thank God demonstrate lack of understanding it is evidential to not remembering His awesomeness. The Psalmist recorded, “Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, But rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.” (Psalm 106:7) It is a sin and an act of wickedness not to thank God for all He is doing in our life. God constantly expects our thanks giving and Jesus demonstrated that when He said to the one leper that went back to give thanks, “Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God…” (Luke 17:18) Giving Him heartfelt thanks should not be narrowed to only a certain day or time of the year. Thanking God for who He is and what He is doing should be an everyday, every moment activity. The children of Israel did not remember the multitude of His mercies, but rebelled. To lack remembrance is an act of rebellion. Glorify His gracious and might name by giving Him shouts of thanks giving.

Prayer for today: Ask Him today to give you the grace to be consistent and constant in remembering the multitude of His mercies.