FAITH CAPSULE: In all of His commands, there is no taking a stand in the middle ground.

2 Chronicles 17

God is still in the business of answering prayers. Ask God to give you a heart that delights in His ways. A heart that delights in the law of God is set for blessings and there will be no stumbling block in any of his walk of life. It is written Psalm 1:1-2, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and His law he meditates day and night”. What does your heart delight in? A heart that delights not in His way will not take to His way, but goes in the opposite direction of His way. In all of His commands, there is no taking a stand in the middle ground. Taking a stand the middle is standing out of the commands of God and it is a way of curses, not blessing. The evidence and the result of taking delight in the law of God can be seen in the life of King Jehoshaphat when he ruled in Judah. It was evident that he walked in the ways of God. He sought God and he did not walk according to the acts of his people. (2 Chronicles 17:3-4). The results of his walk moved the hand of God as recorded in 2 Chronicles 17:5, “Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat, and he had riches and honor in abundance”. What other blessings can substitute for the blessings that come from God? God is God that will not overlook sin. Also, He is God that will not look away from every heart which delights in His commands. With all that had a place in the life of Jehoshaphat, it is recorded that “his heart took delight in the ways of the LORD; moreover he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah” (2Chronicles 17:6). The only way to have our heart to be delighted in the law is in meditation of the word of God. The Psalmist pointed it out in his statement that, “…But his delight is in the law of the Lord and His law he meditate day and night.” Meditation is not only at a certain time of the day but it is an all day and everyday engagement before it can produce result. Have you taken your meditation serious? Take your meditation serious; delight yourself in the word of God and you shall be a light that cannot be hidden but shinning to the glory of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be constant and consistent in meditating His Word.

FAITH CAPSULE: a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness

Jonah 1-4

Who is it or what is it that you cannot forgive? If you have anyone or situation that you cannot forgive begin to ask God to help you to forgive so you can move on in claiming your possession in Christ Jesus. One of the greatest gifts of God is the grace of God. Jesus Christ is loving, tenderhearted and will forgive anyone who chooses to receive and believe Him. The Bible states that the heart of man is evil and desperately wicked. Imagine Jonah’s selfish, inconsiderate and unforgiving heart. This was a man of God that clearly heard from God and made a choice of going against God. The Bible recorded in Jonah 1-3, “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”” Jonah heard clearly and directly from God and made his own move instead of obeying God. Jonah’s behavior was deliberate and conscious disobedience. God, in His consistent character had mercy on Jonah and delivered him from a terrible storm and out of the fish belly. God had wanted him to minister repentance to the people of Nineveh when he attempted to flee. Eventually, after God’s mercy had brought him out of the storm and out of the belly of the fish, he made his way and ministered salvation to the people of Nineveh. By virtue of his ministration, the people of Nineveh repented and God turned around His wrath unto forgiveness for the people of Nineveh. One would imagine that Jonah having experienced the mercy of God in forgiveness would celebrate with the people of Nineveh for God’s mercy. Rather, Jonah became angry and contested with God’s move to forgive the people of Nineveh. After God had forgiven the people of Nineveh, the Bible recorded, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.  Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” (Jonah 4:1-3) God is a good God. Let forgiving spirit have its place in your life.

Prayer for today: Ask God to plant in you the spirit of forgiveness.

FAITH CAPSULE: God is a perfect God, whenever He speaks His word remains steadfast.

John 19:17-42

The Bible was talking about Jesus when it stated, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) By the afflictions that He went through we are made righteous when we accept Him has our Lord and savior. The word of God is true and it also testifies to the fact that, God is a great God and He will never fail us as long as we remain faithful to Him. The word also testifies in Psalm 34:19-20, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But the LORD delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken.” It is clear that the word of the Psalmist was spoken in the Old Testament, it is also clear the manifestation was in the New Testament. Jesus suffered great affliction at the hands of those who afflicted Him. During His affliction, had it not been documented that His bone was not broken, one would assume or believe that at the time of His death, all His bones must have been broken. When the soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves that were on the cross at the same time with Jesus, an attempt to break Jesus’ bones was made but called off when they saw that He was already dead. Amazingly, despite all that He went through, the word of God did not falter when His bone remained intact. God is a perfect God, whenever He speaks His word remains steadfast. Right from the time Judas gave Jesus up for affliction with a kiss, it was mockery from the lowest ranked officer to the highest ranked officer. In every way mockery can be imagined, Jesus the most gracious one, most blessed one went through without any attempt to make anyone wrong. Pilate also delivered his own mockery on Jesus. It was Pilate that wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:  JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. (John 19:19) The title was contested against by many of the Jews but failed to stop Pilate. At that time, both Pilate and the Jews thought they were all mocking Jesus but Jesus was being made for His glory. If you will believe today that you are righteous in Christ Jesus, know that many afflictions are set for you and you shall be delivered from them all. Whatever situation you are dealing with, it will make you, when it turns into a miracle. Jesus is our miracle worker; believe in Him and all the challenges that you are faced with, will eventually be converted into a miracle.

Prayer for today: Ask God that every challenge or disappointment in your life be converted into miracle.

FAITH CAPSULE: Evidently when there is no seeing, one will sit where making choices in life is limited.

Mark 10:46-52

It is written about Jesus, “…As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 1046-47) Blindness will lead to stagnation. With blindness there will be no sight that is needed to see in taking the right direction. With blindness every thing appears to be dark. Evidently when there is no seeing, one will sit where making choices in life is limited. Blind Bartimaeus had his place on the road side begging. Just as a man could be blind in the physical eyes so it is possible for a man to be blind in the spiritual eyes. Bartimaeus was popular enough that his father’s name could be identified (Timaeus) but he could not see. Road side where transportation often leads to transformation is where Bartimaeus was sitting and begging in stagnation due to his blindness. Does your situation sound like that of a stranded one? It could be that it is time for you to call on Jesus for His divine intervention. Thank God for the blood that was shed on Calvary. The shedding of the blood of Jesus is what made Jesus to be everywhere at every time and ready to answer to every call. During the days of Bartimaeus, Jesus was moving from one location to another location and Bartimaeus was in the right location to encounter Jesus when he cried out loud for mercy. It could be that it is time for you to identify and accept your condition that needs a loud cry. When you cry, ignore the multitude that surround you and cry out loud to Jesus for divine intervention. When you cry, call Him like you know Him not like you know about Him. Bartimaeus demonstrated that he did not just know about Jesus when he called out as one that knew all about Him. The ignorance of the crowd that followed Jesus limited there understanding and they attempted to stop Bartimaeus from calling. Bartimaeus knew Jesus’ identity that was not common and he cried out and called, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Do you know Him enough to call Him to a stand still and attend to you? In the calling of Bartimaeus, “…Jesus stood still and commanded Him to be called” (Mark 10:49) The Blind man received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. (Mark 11:52) Instead of being a road side beggar, he became road follower of Jesus. Stop following the crowd, know who you believe and become a true road follower.

Prayer for today: Open the eyes of my heart and let me follow You truly.

FAITH CAPSULE: God wants us to hear when He speaks to us.

Jeremiah 1:1-16

The Bible makes it clear to us that the word of God is alive. By virtue of the fact that the word of God is alive, the producer of the movie Passion of Christ was able to see clearly what Jesus went through. After he read the word, he produced the movie as if he was present at the time of Jesus. Evidently, it is not enough to hear the word when the picture of what you heard does not take root in your heart. God wants us to hear when He speaks to us. Have you been reading but not understanding the word of God? Remember the testimony of creation? During the time of creation, “…God said, “let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good…” (Genesis 1:3-4) If God can see in His spoken word, He sure expects us to see when He speaks to us. Until there is understanding in His living word one will not be able to receive what He has in place to carry out great exploits for His glory. All that Jeremiah needed to resume his divine assignment was to see; otherwise he would have missed the calling for his life. “Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the Kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:9-10) The Lord put His word in Jeremiah’s mouth but Jeremiah needed an enablement to see what was put in His mouth for him to move in God’s purpose and plan for his life. We have the Word in our hand and we have it in our heart, but seeing it as power to bring about manifestation is what the Lord God is waiting for. Moses did not move in the direction of God’s plan for His life until he was able to turn aside and see, “Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 3:3-4) After Moses had turned and saw what was in place for him to move in the direction of God’s plan, the story of His life changed forever and for the best to the glory of God.

Prayer for today: Call and ask for enablement to begin to see whenever the word of God sound in your direction.