FAITH CAPSULE: When there is no failure in hearing, faith will pass you on to fearing God.

Deuteronomy 23:20-33

God spoke to the children of Israel in Exodus 23:27-28, “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.” With the fear of God ahead on every journey of life, confidence will be in place to keep our feet from being caught. (Proverb 3:26) “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”(Deuteronomy 10:12) When the fear of God goes before you, you will know to walk in all His ways. Walking in the way of God is to love the Lord God. To love the Lord God is to serve Him. It is evident through the pages of scripture that, you cannot love God if you do not fear Him. Also, if you do not love God, it is not possible to serve Him. To fear God is to love God; to love God is to serve God. By this it is apparent that a believer will be in a position to please God. Jesus said in John 8:29, “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” What is holding you down from having the Father always with you? Is it the inability to fear Him? The more you grow in faith the more you know to fear Him and have His fear go before you in every step of life. We are made to understand in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” If without faith it is impossible to please Him, with faith it is absolutely possible to please Him. Faith is not what anyone is born with but faith is what you have to seek for and you know that it will come. Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” What the Word is saying is about hearing, hearing, hearing and hearing. It is not for a time or two, but it is of consistence and continuity. When there is no failure in hearing, faith will pass you on to fearing God and having His fear go before you.

Prayer for today: Lord put your fear in me so that I will not depart from You.

FAITH CAPSULE: The way out of your challenges is to see God in your challenges and He will see you out of your challenges.  

Psalm 3, Mark 5:25-34

King David stated, “LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, “There is no help for him in God.” (Psalm 3:1-2) Like King David, the challenges that persist in your life are evidence of increased trouble. The closest one that has keep distance at the time of your challenges is also an evidence of increased trouble and your challenges are asking where your God is. Your challenges that persist and closest ones that disappear did not see any help in sight for you. David took it to God when he stated, “But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head.”(Psalm 3:3) The only way out of your challenges is to see God in your challenges and He will see you out of your challenges. It does not matter how long your challenges persist but it matters that you stay on Him. The woman with the issue of blood was not identified by her real name but by her challenging situation because they saw no help for her in God. For twelve years there was no sign of help for her but going about with the issue of blood. Despite the persistency of her disease, she could not be held back from receiving her healing. She acted not by accident, but by act of faith. Physicians, rather than help her, put her through suffering, spent all she had, and made her sickness worse. God is the healing physician. In your helplessness, what have you been hearing? Which name are they calling you? What is being communicated to you in your challenges? The woman with the issue of blood heard rightly and acted rightly for her to be healed. Mark 5:27, “When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.” All she needed was to hear about Jesus. She did not question the power of God, nor did she wait to seek Jesus. She broke through the crowd and touched His garment from behind. Mark 5:28-29, “For she said, ‘If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well. Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.’” Be careful what you hear or who you listen to. There is hope for you if you will begin to listen to Jesus. Today, you can break through the crowd and move in to touch Him. He will heal your sickness. David in his own case, cried to the LORD with his voice, and God heard him from His holy hill.

Prayer for today: Ask God for His divine intervention in every area of your challenge.

FAITH CAPSULE: Obey the word of God, sound His word out and the world will dance to your tune.

John 8:28-43

There is no blessing that can be compared to having the Almighty Creator watching over His creation every moment of the day. As a believer of the word of God, it is good to know about the truth that God will never leave His children nor forsake them. However, it is not good enough when the understanding of what it takes to be in the promise of His blessing of watching over is not in place in a believer’s life. The issue here is that the blessings of God come with condition. Quoting the blessings of God without living by the conditions of His blessings delivers empty result. Many times you must have heard a believer quoting the Word of God that states “He will never leave me nor forsake me.” You probably have used the same quotation a number of times. Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith once made a statement, “And He who sent Me is with Me. The father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” (John 8:29) After you have quoted it, have you ever found yourself in a situation of being left alone? Jesus meant what He said because indeed He was never left alone all throughout His ministry on the face of this earth. This is evident in all that He did. Whenever Jesus spoke, His words were backed with power because the Father was always with Him. Is your story the same after your confession that He will never leave you nor forsake you? You have missed it if your words are always empty. You have not been paying the price that will cause Him not to leave you nor forsake you. Jesus always pays the price and that is an example for us to follow if we desire for the Father not to leave us. The price for Him not to leave us nor forsake us is to always do what pleases Him. All that it takes in pleasing God is not a secret. It is written, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrew 11:6) Today, consider the need to live the word of God so that you will begin to avoid empty quotations that are not backed with power. The word of God was, is, and will always be true if you will pay the price that is behind every word. Obey the word of God, sound His word out and the world will dance to your tune.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to keep His Word.

FAITH CAPSULE: Whatever a man believes he behaves and what he behave is the evidence of what is inside of him.

1 John 2

The difference between a believing believer and unbelieving believer cannot be cloudy enough to disguise who is real with in their relationship with God. A believing believer is the one that confess the word and behave the word. Unbelieving believer confess the word but behave the world. Inside of a believing believer the word of God abides while inside of unbelieving believer the world abides. Whatever a man believes he behaves and what he behaves is the evidence of what is inside of him. Everyone can claim to be a believer but when the word does not abide in the claimer, behaving the word becomes impossible. Jesus said, “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.” (John 5:38) An acclaimed believer that does not behave the word is an unbelieving believer. Many do have religion but they are not real with God by virtue of their behavior. How do you act when you are around a fellow believer? What about when you are around non-believers? Can you identify the differences in your action? Have you heard people say to you that you are the Bible that they are reading? Christianity is not acting; it is a way of life. Whatever your conduct is behind the closed doors, it should not be an embarrassing issue when it is conducted in the open. Years after years, months after months, days after days, you have only been playing religion. Your playing or acting religion will only last for a while before the truth prevails. Do not be overtaken by sin because God will not over look sin. It is about time for self examination and sincerity before God. When your behavior is outside of His word your conduct will reveal you. Paul said in Philippians 1:27, “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent , I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” Your conduct is the testimony of how you stand in the Lord. If your conduct is worthy of Christ, you will be steadfast in Him. Your conduct is your evangelism to the unbelievers around you that are yet to receive Him as their Lord and Savior. “Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” (1 John 2:24)

Prayer for today: Seek and ask God to work in you both to do His will and to do for His glory.

FAITH CAPSULE: Trusting God will result to promotion in the presence of our enemy.

Daniel 3

There is a song that goes, “Everywhere He went He was doing good.” He was, and is the Almighty deliverer. If you will let Him go through you today, you will not be left the same way. Will you let Him go through you? His going through will never leave you empty, but it will endue you with what it takes to be connected to heaven. Allowing Jesus to go through us is rooted in trusting Him. Trust in God will frustrate every move of the enemy in our life. Trusting God will result to promotion in the presence of our enemy. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego refused to serve or worship king Nebuchadnezzar’s gold image, they were sentenced to harsh penalty which was death by furnace fire. They were determined to stand their ground for God because they trust in God’s deliverance and preservation. King Nebuchadnezzar went further to question them about who would deliver them. They were so sure of their trust in God when they responded, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.’” (Daniel 3:16) Is there any matter that is demanding you to compromise your faith? Is the matter threatening to you? You can be rest assured that you have no need to answer the matter’s question, just like those men of faith. Trust in God and serve Him. They trusted God and 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.” (Daniel 3:17) The three friends of Daniel were bounded and delivered into the burning fiery furnace. While in the furnace, “Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” (Daniel 3:24-25) The One that goes everywhere, the One that you need to trust will join you in time of burning fiery furnace. He joined the three friends to keep their company in the burning furnace. Having been delivered from the furnace of fire, king Nebuchadnezzar spoke in Daniel 3:28, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!”

Prayer for today: Ask God to endue you with the grace that causes man to stand in trust regardless of confronting matter.