FAITH PRESCRIPTION: You cannot seek God in His word and not have encounter with Him.

Judges 2:6-23

It is impossible to love God and not be obedient to His word. You can claim that you love God, but in reality you don’t really love Him. Knowing to love God that is, having a personal relationship with God goes beyond the knowledge gained through a preacher. Preaching to people is not an indication of reaching the people. A believer can be preached to and not be reached. To know and love God personally goes beyond going to church service. To read The Bible one or two times per week is not enough. When we read the Word of God, we will find out how close Jesus is to us. If you a have a child in school and you ask someone to pick the child up without informing the school authorities, they will not release the child until they get a written word or consent from the parents. Just as how your word speaks for you, so does God’s Word speak for Him. God’s Word is alive and active. Look at what happened to the children of Israel after Joshua had died: “Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died when he was one hundred and ten years old. And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:8-10) How can we know the Lord if we do not spend time in His written word? The Bible mentions that the later generation of the children of Israel did not know God or the work of His hand. They failed to seek and know the word that would have given them life. As a result, “…the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals.” (Judges 2:11)They did not just serve the Baals or other false gods; they were lost in evil deeds because they had neglected the word of God. You cannot seek God and not have an encounter with Him. Also, it is the amount of time that you spend in His word that will determine how much you desire God to carry you in your daily walks. Sunday service alone is not enough to feed or satisfy your soul. Whatever it is that is preventing you from spending time in the word of God, ask God to deliver you from it for His glory and He will do it. He is a faithful God and He will give you the desires of your heart. When you know Him, you will love and be obedient to Him.

Prayer for today: Deliver me O Lord from every agent of distraction.

FAITH CAPUSLE:God’s way will prevail and His plan will not be terminated.

Number 22, Judges 14

There is only one true God. He is undeniable, purposeful and powerful. God will use His creation to accomplish His purpose or address any situation under heaven. Only God alone can manifest himself as the true and living God. When Samson made his choice of marriage, it was outside of God’s will. Samson’s choice provoked his parent’s response, “Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”(Judges 14:3) Between the time Samson made his decision of who to marry and his parent’s response, no one had the idea of God’s involvement in the whole situation. The Bible makes it clear to us, “But his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah.”(Judges 14:4-5) What a mighty God we serve! He alone is the most high God, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Who could have identified that Samson’s move was the plan of God to inflict destruction on the enemies of His children. God used the defiant wisdom of Samson to defeat the Philistines. It was a defeat that gave His children their much needed relief. The same God preferred to speak through a donkey in His attempt of averting enemies’ secret plan to destroy the children of God. During the journey of the children of Israel to their promise land, Balak the king of Moabites was overwhelmed by the fear of loosing his land to the children of Israel. As a result of his fear, he hired Balaam to help destroy the children of Israel by spiritual means. Balaam’s attempt was not of God and therefore he could not have succeeded. While Balaam was on his mission to destroy, “The LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” (Numbers 22:28) It was the donkey’s voice that caught the attention of Balaam to see the angel in his way. After witnessing the move of God, Balaam clearly got the message that God was not attempting to help Balak attain his mission. The same God is still in the business of moving in His awesome power. God’s way will prevail and His plan will not be terminated.

Prayer for today: Deliver me from my enemies O my God; defend me from those who rise up against me.

FAITH CAPSULE: Whenever fear hits the target, faith will sink in the life of its target for failure to reign.

Psalm 34
King David declared, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4) It was made known that Psalm 34 was a psalm that was written to celebrate his escape from Abimelech the King of Gath. Evidently, King David had fear at the time he was facing the challenges of Abimelech but he overcame when he sought the Lord. Are you facing any challenge that commands fear from you? One can look into how David sought the Lord to overcome his challenge. Psalm 34:1-3, “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.”Clearly, David took four steps that delivered him from the fear of his enemy. Firstly, David was blessing the Lord at all times. Blessing the name of God with all our soul and all that is within us is a fear terminator. Bless the Lord referring and testifying to all He has done is a way of deliverance from the fear of the enemy. David blesses the name of the Lord at all times. Secondly, praising God was not an occasionally engagement for him. David continually praised God and praising God continually is praising Him with understanding. The third approach of David was making boast of the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24 declared what it means to boast in the Lord, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.”” Boasting in the Lord was among David’s avenue into his deliverance from the fear of his enemies. The fourth approach of King David was, magnifying the name of the Lord. King David mentioned about what it takes to magnify the name of the Lord in Psalm 69:30 when he stated, “…I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.”By virtue of all his testimonies, he was delivered from the fear of Abimelech the King of Gath. The Bible is written for our learning if we would take to the word for our use. In every confronting challenge, fear always represents the enemies first shot at his target. Whenever fear hits the target, faith will sink in the life of its target for failure to reign. Learn from David’s approach and overcome fear.

Prayer for today: Hear my voice O Lord; preserve my life from the fear of the enemy.

FAITH CAPSULE: In your learning, become an over-comer; not an over-concerned believer.

Exodus 14

Whenever God is in your journey, every dead end is always an open door to a new pulsating beginning. The children of Israel were coming out of bondage of over four hundred years and had not yet covered enough distance to forget the land of bondage when they suddenly ran into a dead end. To the children of Israel, it was indeed a dead end. In the physical realm, it was indeed a dead end. However, for God, it was an open door to a new beginning. God spoke to Moses, “…Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zemphon; you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.’ And they did so.” (Exodus 14:1-4)Whatever has bewildered you, whatever has closed you up; consider it to be a representative of the Pharaoh. For the children of Israel, Pharaoh was terminated. The same God of the children of Israel will not allow your Pharaoh to escape a permanent termination. Can you see how God delivered the children of Israel? What you see in the word believe to have received it and it shall become yours. Only God will take glory for all that is about to open up on your behalf. The Bible is written for our learning. Take some time to hear and learn from Him through the pages of Bible. In your learning, become an over-comer; not an over-concerned believer. Let Him fight your battle because He will fight it to finish. He is the Mighty Warrior! Trust in the word of His mouth at your present ground where you have been bewildered and He will see you through. Remember that God hears every uttered word negative or positive. Avoid complaining and confessing negativity like the children of Israel did in their journey.“Then they said to Moses, ‘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.’” (Exodus 14:11-12)God does not run out of mercy if you do not run out of His mercy. God will make a way for you.

Prayer for today: Delver me O Lord; let me not be a reproach of the foolish one.

FAITH CAPSULE: It should not always be about self alone, but rather it should be about those who we encounter along our way.

Nehemiah 1

When it is time for God to promote you, every remote control of the enemy over your life would be rendered redundant. Nehemiah was a non-entity. He was neither a prophet nor was he the son of a prophet. He was an ordinary cupbearer to the king in the Persian palace. He got to where he was because he was a captive. One thing was clear about Nehemiah: he had the concern for Jerusalem’s welfare and its inhabitants at heart. Nehemiah, a cupbearer with big heart desired a better life for his brethren. If a cupbearer could effect great change, all of us with that are having life should be able to do the same. God saw Nehemiah’s heart and He acknowledged him. God in His awesomeness invested in him as a vessel for reconstructing the broken wall of Jerusalem. The report of what was going on in Jerusalem caused a burden in Nehemiah’s heart and he began to intercede on behalf of the land and his people. Nehemiah 1:3-4, “And they said to me, ‘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 poured out his heart in prayer on behalf of his people and his homeland. He asked for nothing that had to do with himself, but rather petitioned for things that had to do with a better life for his people. God is a God whose eyes are always traveling to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong. (2 Chronicle 16:9) Nehemiah’s heart was in line with what God was looking for. Is your heart self centered? Jeremiah 17:9 confirmed that, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?”God alone knows every heart and He will not overlook both good and evil heart. It becomes a serious issue when a believer begins to seek for self only. Bible encourages, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) If you will begin to center your heart on all that will glorify God, He will not limit your exploit on the face of heart. Nehemiah desired for his people and God deposited in him what it takes to bring glory to the name of God. A cupbearer turned the issue of his nation around. It should not always be about self alone, but rather it should be about all who comes our way.

Prayer for today: The grace to seek You first in every step, let it become of me O Lord.