FAITH CAPSULE: To operate just as Jesus did, fasting and praying is not an option but a must.

Mark 9:14-29

It is not enough to follow Jesus if He does not operate in your life. Every believer that claims to be following Jesus should have the power of Him in every area of their life. The disciples followed Him enough when they could not heal the boy with the mute spirit. At a point when Jesus was away from His disciples, great multitude and scribes surrounded the disciples. When Jesus came to them, He wanted to know why they were surrounded when he asked, “…What are you discussing with them.” (Mark 9:16) In response to Jesus’ question, “…one of the crowds answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” (Mark 9:17-18) The cause of the dispute between the disciples and the multitude was the inability of the disciples to represent their Master. They were following the Master healer and they could not perform as healing disciples. The disciples failed to heal the boy with the mute spirit after having been following Jesus. Evidently, Jesus could not operate through them. Are you a follower that could not have the power of Jesus to operate in your life? The same power in Jesus was left behind for us to operate as a follower of Jesus. Jesus knew the reason for the failure of the disciples’ inability to heal the boy with the mute spirit. The Bible recorded, “He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” (Mark 9:19) Following and not being able to operate in Him is the evidence of lack of faith. Wherever there is absence of faith, the ability to operate as a believer becomes null and void. Jesus also reacted and called on the father of the boy with the mute spirit, “…If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23) The mute spirit departed and the boy received his healing. Following Jesus requires faith to do what Jesus did. Following Jesus requires consistent fasting and praying. To operate just as Jesus did, fasting and praying is not an option but a must. In following Jesus, we are to be engaged in all His word and become that which will enable us to flow in Him. As regard to healing, Jesus told His disciples, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29) Follow Him fully and perform like Him.

Prayer for today: O Lord my God I ask for Your enablement to follow You fully.

FAITH CAPSULE: Obtaining His mercy is in obeying His command.

Psalm 123

Obtaining the mercy of God dwells in obeying His command. However, lifting up our eyes to Him is obeying the command of God. Lifting up our eyes to God is a demonstration of having full confidence in the One and only true God. Our confidence is our faith in God. Faith is what pleases God and not fear. Lifting up our eyes is giving a jealous God the attention that it takes for Him to attend to us. The Psalmist stated, “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the LORD our God, Until He has mercy on us.” (Psalm 123:1-2) Emphasis for the request for mercy by the Psalmist is evidence of the reason for his dependency on God. Without doubt, by virtue of the consistency in the word of God, obtaining the mercy of God is not by our merit neither is it by accident. Exodus 20:6, “…but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” It is clear that obtaining His mercy is in obeying His command. Every time we seek the face of God we are waiting on Him with the expectation that there is no any other one to depend on but Him. Isaiah 64:4, “For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.” God will act when we seek Him. Have you been looking to man to act on your behalf? God that is clothe with majesty and honor is the only God that is worthy to be looked up to. When we put our confidence in God it is saying that He is embracing us in the palm of His hands. The Psalmist must have been looking up to Him with understanding that God will look upon him when he stated, “Look upon me and be merciful to me, as Your custom is toward those who love Your name.” (Psalm 119:132) With our understanding of the above scriptural verses, it is safe to conclude that obtaining the mercy of God is maintaining our deliverance from every form of shame. Psalm 34:5, “They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.”It is never too late to start looking up to Him with understanding.

Prayer for today: Hear my Prayer, O Lord. Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble.

FAITH CAPSULE: To trust in the Lord is to rest in the Lord; not to trust in the Lord is to rust in the world of challenges.

Psalm 125

To trust in the Lord is easier said than done. We have to trust in the Lord in our journey through life. To trust in the Lord is to rest in the Lord; not to trust in the Lord is to rust in the world of challenges. It is written in 2Samuel 22:3, “The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, My stronghold and my refuge; My Savior, You save me from violence.” 2 Samuel 22:31 also stated, “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” Who else can give a covering of protection under heaven like the Most High God? Manifestly, He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Job, in his days of unimaginable challenges declared, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15) If Job can trust God during his challenges, what is preventing you from trusting Him? Are your challenges more than what Job experienced? Psalmist, by virtue of his experience testifies, “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” (Psalm 125:1) What is it about Mount Zion that those who trust in God can be compared to Mount Zion? Obadiah 1:17, “But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” With the word of Obadiah, it is safe to conclude that anyone who puts their trust in God would be assuredly delivered and possessing the possession as promised by God is certain. Trusting God is ultimate and cannot be compromised. Isaiah 57:13, “But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain.” God is true to His word only if we can live truthfully in His word. Daniel is an evidence of possessing the land and holy mountain of God. When he knew that a sentence was on the way to persecute him for trusting in the Lord his God, he persisted further by calling on His God. He overcame and promotion became his possession in the land (Daniel 6). How then can we trust in Him? Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Trusting God with all our heart will make us not to operate with our own understanding..

Prayer for today: The grace to trust in you fully let it be my portion in Jesus name.   

FAITH CAPSULE: A failure not to settle in the word of God, will cause the heart to go astray

Psalm 95

Have you heard from God lately? Could it be that you have heard but, did not realize that it was God speaking to you. Psalm 95:7-9, “Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,as in the day of trial in the wilderness, When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work.” Many are hearing Him with their ear and not with their heart. The fact that you are not hearing from Him could be a result of the hardness of heart and the act of rebellion. The children of Israel heard Him with their ear but, not with their heart and that caused them to be a rebellious generation. Evidently, not being able to hear God with the heart and becoming rebellious will lead to testing God for who He is. Despite all that the word of God accomplished the children of Israel failed to see because the word did not enter into their heart. An understanding of the relativity between the word of God and work of God will give knowledge that the Lord God is closer to us more than we think.
Word: In Genesis 1 and 2, the Bible helps us to realize that at the time of creation, God spoke and all that was created became His creation by His spoken word. The book of John states that the same Word in the beginning of creation was God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:1-3) By this testimony, it is clear that the Word of God is God.
Work: The work of God is the word of God.Based from the statements above, it is safe to conclude that the work of God is the word of God. It is also safe to say the Word of God is God.
Psalm 75:2 stated, “For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.”
Romans 10:8 quoted from Deuteronomy 30:14, “…the word is near in your mouth and in your heart…”
For forty years the Israelites could not hear and see in order to be at rest in their journey as promised by God. Psalm 95:10 concluded, “…it is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.” Just like the Israelites, many could not settle in the word because of their failure to hear and see the word. A failure not to settle, will cause the heart to go astray and a heart astray is a heart without rest. The work of God is the Word of God; hear, see and settle in Him.

Prayer for the day: Open the eyes and ears of my heart that I may see you O Lord.

FAITH CAPSULE: Accepting Christ is not an indication that sin is no longer on the way.

Leviticus 18

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.”(Leviticus 18:1-5) When God speaks He means what He says because He sees the future. God pointed out He was bringing the children of Israel out of the house of bondage (Egypt) a land of sin. He further mentioned that where he was taking them to was (Canaan) the land of opportunity. The coming out of the land of sin and going into the land where sin exists depicts the journey of every believer. Every believer that accepted Jesus as their Lord and savior came out of sin and in a journey to Canaan land where sin exists. Accepting Christ is not an indication that you are free from sin. In the journey of life, sin will not go away as long as the devil is around. However, the journey from Egypt to Canaan is the process and preparation for provision. The process of journey is what will prepare every one for God’s provision. The enemy will not stop parading sin because he looks for whom he may devour. The enemy is stubborn and will not give up in his attempt to win some for a sinful journey that will not give life. The encounter of Jesus with the devil after Jesus’ forty days fasting was evident to the fact that the devil is stubborn. By virtue of the devil’s stubbornness, he failed three times tempting Jesus. Despite his failure, the bible recorded, “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4:13) The devil will never give up but will always seek an opportune time. Take note that God will not send His people without backing them up with what it takes to get through. God gave the pass code to the Canaan land in His command when He requested for observing His word. To observe and keep His word is all that it will take to get into the Promised Land. Observing the word of God is obeying Him. With obedience, no devil will topple you from where He is taking you to. 

Prayer for today: O Lord my God and my father, circumcise my heart with Your fear so that I may live.