FAIH CAPSULE: Jonah was called by God, and he heard from God, but was hard on God.

Jonah 1, 2

God cannot be deceived neither can He be denied from having His way in the life of His creation. When one go right with God all will go right with one. And, when one go wrong with God all will go wrong with one. There is no other way that is right but God’s way. Anyone that takes outside of His way will end up in the way of death. Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Why not take the way of God? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which is the Love of God, in combination of the sweet fellowship the Holy Spirit is what a believer needs on everyday basis for not going the wrong way. Jonah was called by God, and he heard from God, but was hard on God. He was called to go to Nineveh but he fled to Tarshish. At every time a man takes onto his course instead of God’s course, man will end up cursed. Jonah did not put only himself in the line of destruction, but all the people that were on the ship were in the face of dangerous storm. Jonah was carrying the mark of disobedience. Have you been running from His presence? Jonah knew that he was the target of the violent storm; he could no longer run away from his disobedience. Have you taught of the cause of the storm in your journey? As a believer, you will know if indeed you are the cause of storm in any vessel of transportation. Jonah was requested of what could be done to bring peace and quiet in the storm. Jonah responded, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”” (Jonah 1:12)God has not called you on a journey over the water and it does not matter how far you have gone on the water, He will bring you back to a dry land. A dry land is where He wants to establish your footing. Jonah was thrown into the sea where he spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. The Bible recorded, “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly. And he said: I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, and He answered me.” (Jonah 2:1-2) God is still in the business of having mercy. Do no take to your own way. Jonah 2:10, “So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”   

Prayer for today: Ask God to roll away ever affliction in your journey of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Allow your mockers to keep on mocking you while your maker continues in making you.

1 Samuel 1

The Bible recorded about Elkanah and his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah, “…whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the LORD had closed her womb. And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the LORD had closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.” (1 Samuel 1:4-7)God does have His reason why He closed the womb of Hannah. It was not recorded of her any sin or act that prompted God to close her womb. However, Hannah’s situation was not and should not have been a license for Peninnah’s provocation of Hannah. Peninnah’s provocation of Hannah’s barrenness was an indirect provocation of God. Your own situation or challenges is not for anyone to mock you. As an acclaimed believer, if you have been experiencing mockery, provocation, be rest assured that God is not unaware of your mockery and through it all God will make you up for His glory just like He did it for Hannah. It was Hannah’s mockery that brought forth the miracle of great man of God Samuel. Samuel was one of the great ones in the hand of God in his days. As regard to the mocker (Peninnah) none of her children was recorded excelled like that of Hannah’s Samuel. God is a great and awesome God. Allow your mockers to keep on mocking while God continue to make you for His glory. God is not asleep over your situations but He is at work and your mockery will soon be converted into miracle. Have you stopped waiting on Him? Do not stop waiting on God and if you will not stop waiting on Him like Hannah, you will always have testimony like that of Hannah. Hannah, through all her challenges, did not stop travelling to Shiloh to worship God every year. Also, there was no record of her compliant against God. When Peninnah’s provoking mockery intensified, Hannah did not stop from being persistent in seeking God. In God’s hand is time for every turnaround and God will never be late or too early to answer your cry. At God’s timing, in response to Hannah’s situation, Hannah’s disgrace resulted to the grace of God. Are you looking at your clock to determine how long your situation persists? God does have His own time and plans, your timing will not move the hand of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace not to sway in time of challenges.

FAITH CAPSULE: Truth is always a threat to haters, deceivers and one that lies.

1 Kings 22:1-40

At the time when Ahab the king of Israel wanted to engage in war with Syria in order to take Ramoth Gilead, he talked to Jehoshaphat, “…Will you go with me to fight at Ramoth Gilead?” (1 Kings 22:4) Ahab’s reason was based on his claim that Ramoth Gilead belongs to Israel. Jehoshaphat the king of Judah did not refused the request of King Ahab but responded, “…I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” Also Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire for the word of the LORD today.” (1 Kings 22:4-5)Ahab gathered four hundred prophets to inquire as requested by King Jehoshaphat and all four hundred confirmed to him that God will deliver Syria into his hand. Despite the favorable prophecy of Ahab’s four hundred prophets, Jehoshaphat insisted for a further confirmation from any other available prophet in the land. Ahab’ s response to Jehoshaphat in 1 Kings 22:8 was not a good one; it was of hatred, “So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the LORD; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.’ And Jehoshaphat said, ‘Let not the king say such things!’” Ahab confessed his hatred for Micaiah a prophet of God. The reason for Ahab’s hatred was his dislike for the truth. Truth is always a threat to haters, deceivers and one that lies. As an acclaimed believer, a born-again Christian, do you hate in anyway towards anyone in your walk of life? Ahab was hibernating hatred. Do you have hatred for any of God’s message in your direction? Any believer that hates never makes headway and the longer they hold unto hatred is the closer they are to their self-destruction. Just as a believer cannot get away with hatred, un-believer will also fall when there is hatred. The prophet Micaiah prophesized, “…I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.’” (1 Kings22:17)  Prophet told Ahab not go to war in spite of what the four hundred prophets said. King Ahab’s hate towards Micaiah denied him from responding to the warning signs. Disaster was in place for Ahab because of the hatred that was in him. Ahab went to war against the advice of the prophet Micaiah. He rather went in favor of four hundred prophets who prophesied falsely concerning the matter. Hate is a silent and eventual killer, which every believer should pray against. Ahab went to war and never returned. Hatred killed him.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from everything that represents or presents hatred in the life of man.

FAITH CAPSULE: The best position to take in looking up to Jesus is at the feet of Jesus

Matthew 15:21-31

The Bible recorded, “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” The Bible mentioned here that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus while Jesus referred to the position of Mary as the good part. Where in Jesus are you positioning yourself? The best position to take in looking up to Jesus is at the feet of Jesus just like Mary did. However, coming to His feet will not be enough until all is laid down at His feet. Great multitudes came to His feet and they received healing because in addition to their coming, they were able to lay it all at His feet. It is written in Matthew 15: 30, “Then great multitudes came to Him having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them.” Before healing was possible, they came and were able to lay all that had been hibernating in them down at His feet. Also, “Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, and when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live’” (Mark 5:22-23). Those who were going to His feet were not just spectators or multitudes. When they went to His feet, they constantly demonstrated expectation for manifestation by laying it all at or falling down in worship at His feet. You have been going everywhere that is named in the Name of God and your situation remains unchanged. In your going are you laying it or bagging it to take it back with you? It is one thing to come and not to lay it down. It is another thing to come and lay it down before Him. Whenever all is laid down at His feet, it will be laid to rest and when you fall down at His feet; your concern will not rise with you again.

Prayer for today: Ask God to help in every area of your unbelief. Ask for the grace to begin to lay all your challenges at His feet.

FAITH CAPSULE: In the journey of life, disgrace often comes before the arrival of His grace.

2 Kings 5

Moses the reluctant leader of the children of Israel was awe-struck when God, in the form of a burning bush, called him to guide the Israelites out of the bondage to their Promised Land. Moses was broken when relegation came to him from palace to desert and from desert to shepherd. Moses later became a giant in God’s hand. Joseph, the dreamer, was broken from the most beloved of his father to the un-beloved of his brother. He was broken from pit to slavery and from slavery to prison. A former prime slave became a prime minister in Egypt. Naaman, a Syrian army commander, had all it takes to be received with a red carpet when he went seeking for Elisha for healing. Instead, a servant of Elisha received him. Naaman felt insulted because of the no-show of the prophet Elisha himself. He received a further blow when he was instructed by the servant of the prophet that his healing was located in the River Jordan. Naaman responded, “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.” (2 Kings 5:12)Naaman’s pride was broken when the insulted River Jordan resulted to his healing. In the journey of life, disgrace often comes before the arrival of His grace. Your being down will surely bring you up if at all time your face is fixed on God the Almighty One that inhabits eternity. So many were broken before breakthrough in the Bible and all were meant for the glory of the Almighty God. You love the Lord and your walk has been consistently relevant in the line with God’s word. Things have changed overnight; you are down, friends can no longer help, and desertions are showing faces in everywhere that you turn. You can hardly count on anyone for help and it seems you are the only Christian that is out of place. All that surrounds you is beginning to wonder how long you will go through what you are going through. Complaint, discouragement or self-destruction is not what you need. You need to know that God will see you through if you will keep seeing through with the Word of God. God has a plan for you. Isaiah 63:14, “As a beast goes down into the valley, and the spirit of the LORD causes him to rest so You lead your people, to make yourself a glorious name.” The point here is that God constantly want to be glorified and make Himself a glorious name. When your breakthrough arrives, He will be gloriously glorified concerning your life. Job is a testimony. God will see you through. You are not alone. 

Prayer for today: O Lord my God, make me and let me not be a failure, in Jesus name.