Faith Capsule: God is faithful to deliver what He promised if you will zealously desire His promise.

Psalm 34

Nothing can be better than having the fear of God reign in our life. When the fear of God takes its rightful place, walking fully in the righteousness of God will make us to live heaven on earth. The Psalmist pointed out, “The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.” (Psalm 34:7) This statement came from King David who had been there and been through. In this world of wickedness, what could be better than having the untouchable force surrounding us every second of our life? He did not stop at the first statement but went further and made another statement, “Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! there is no want to those who fear Him.” (Psalm 34:9) David was talking from real life experience not from what he had not tasted. Indeed God is good and true to His Word. Do you have the kind of fear that it takes for man to be living heaven on earth? There is no one who is born with having the fear of God. Having the fear of God comes when there is hearing and learning to fear Him. It is written, ““Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 31:12-13) Living to fear God is not limited to a certain group but to all people. Also, it is not limited to a certain time in the history of creation. As an acclaimed believer in the Word of God, do you have to constantly introduce yourself as one who fears God or does your approach to life always introduce you as one who fears God? Honestly, the fear of God cannot be hidden and it should be written all over us in our approach to life. Do you desire the fear of God to take over your life? This is what it takes: give yourself to studying and gaining more understanding of the Lord God from the words of His mouth. Determination to know His fear is good but it is not enough. Desire to fear God and He will deposit His fear in you. He promised in Jeremiah 32:40, “…I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.” He is faithful to deliver what He promised if you will zealously desire it. God is good.

Prayer for today: O Lord I ask for Your fear to reign and rule my life in Jesus name.

Faith Capsule:Praying without watching is not enough; watching without praying will not prevail.

Nehemiah 4

At the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus responded to His disciples that could not stay up in praying and watching, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) In this world of wickedness, it will take watching and praying to overcome. Praying without watching is not enough and watching without praying will not prevail. Temptation is everywhere and ready to kill, steal and destroy. Thank God that the One that came to give life abundantly has come and He gave us His Word to overcome temptation. The Word to overcome temptation for anyone who cares to assimilate it is: “WATCH and PRAY” If there was any other Word against temptation; Jesus would have given it to us. When temptation comes, it is meant to discourage, disrupt, confuse and take the place to terminate its victim. Through the pages of Bible that is written for our learning, there are situations where watching and praying has denied temptation from discouraging children of God and they could not be destroyed. Nehemiah had the hand of God to go and rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Despite God being in the move to rebuild through Nehemiah, agents of the evil one, Sanballat, Tobiah and others, took a stand against the attempt to rebuild. Just as the work of rebuilding was to be rounded up, the agents of the evil one re-intensified their effort to terminate the project. They came up with different conspiracies to create confusion. Notwithstanding, Nehemiah responded when he claimed, “Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.”(Nehemiah 4:9) Evidently, Nehemiah’s approach was in line with the Word that calls to “WATCH and PRAY”. How did they watch and pray? Prayer is always non-stop and a continuous process. Watching demands carefully applied actions which were clear in Nehemiah’s move. Nehemiah positioned men at strategic places, he set people up in order, he looked into what called for attention by discouraging every reason to be afraid, he remembered the great works of God and he put the trumpet in place (a resounding weapon that calls for back up). (Nehemiah 4: 13-18) Are you one who prays constantly without watching? With your prayer life, begin to watch as you maintain right positioning before God and set your house in order. Be constantly encouraged in His word to deny fear. Always remember the Lord by considering the work of His hand. Above speak out (blow your trumpet) where you need to and do not compromise. With Nehemiah’s style of watching applied to your prayer life, you are set for victory just like Nehemiah was.

Prayer for today: O Lord my God I ask for Your deliverance from the evil one that I may not be a reproach of the foolish one.

TIME OUT FROM CAPTIVITY

FAITH CAPSULE: “when the time of God is at hand; His hand will bring forth deliverance through any of the creation of His hand.”

Ezra 1

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom…” (Ezra 1:1) When the heart is stirred, the ear will hear and obeying God will reign in the life of him whose heart is stirred. Someone’s heart has the need to be stirred for your captivity to come to an end. The heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, who was not a worshipper of the God of children of Israel, became a vessel that God used when it was time for their captivity to end. God is awesomely gracious and what He wants to do is always a done deal. When God opens a door, no man can shut it. This was the case for the children of Israel in captivity. Cyrus, the king of Persia, after a stirred heart made a proclamation, “Thus says Cyrus the King of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. 3 Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’” (Ezra 1:2-4) Who else can deliver like God? When He defends, He will deliver and when He passes, He will preserve. Without any announcement or prior notice, captivity ended when God stirred the heart of a non-believer. It does not matter how long you have been grounded because when the time of God is at hand; His hand will bring forth deliverance through any of the creation of His hand. Cyrus, the king of Persia, did not just make a way out for the children of Israel; he also made provision for their need and restored back what was taken away by Nebuchadnezzar. Indeed, when the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, they were like those who dream. (Psalm 126:1) God will bring to your way one that represents Cyrus, king of Persia, and you will return and be restored. Through Cyrus, God was accomplishing His own will when He graciously delivered His people. Are you His people? God is never too late to deliver and He is also a God of the eleventh hour.

Prayer for today: Ask Him to bring back your captivity as the streams in the south.

LOOK, SEE AND TURN
FAITH CAPSULE: Without turning to God, the journey to the center of divine assignment for your life will not be turned on.

1 Samuel 17
Every man’s turning point is different from the next man’s. All that Isaiah needed to do was to see and be fully turned from what he was and become a prophet of God. The Bible records, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple…” (Isaiah 6:1) After Isaiah’s seeing, the attention switched from what he used to be and he made himself available for God. Isaiah looked; he beheld and then turned himself unto God for the calling upon his life. Are you positioning yourself well enough where the Lord is able to get your attention? King David’s turning around to the center of divine assignment did not manifest until he killed Goliath. As a shepherd boy, the youngest of his family and with no reputation, David held up the name of God reputably high before the giant Goliath of the Philistines. David was responding to his father’s command to go and see his brothers who were among the armies of Israel at the battle camp against Goliath and the Philistines. David’s response was a turning that led to not returning as a shepherd boy but rather as a giant killer and next in line as king for the people of God. The giant Goliath, as strong as he was, caused fear to hold down the armies of Israel from taking any serious charge against their enemy. The armies of Israel were under incessant insult from Goliath for forty days; morning and evening. Goliath went as far as stating, “’I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.’ When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine; they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” (I Samuel 17:10-11) Goliath’s claim caused David to look and behold before turning around to face Goliath. David rejected every persuasion from his brother and King Saul to not fight Goliath. David’s turning aside was ignited when he responded, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you…” (1 Samuel 17:45-46) David did exactly what he said and Goliath was history. It was after the fall of Goliath that David turned completely from what he had become to what God wanted him to be. Are you looking and beholding what is at sight? Without turning to God, the journey to the center of His divine assignment for your life will not be turned on.

Prayer for today: Help me Lord and let me not miss where You are calling me to see and turn to my divine assignment.

THE HAND OF GOD
Ezra 8

Just as the eye of God will make you unstoppable in every area of your build up, so the hand of God will keep you going with favor in your journey. The testimony of the psalmist points out that it is the fear of God that provokes His eye to be upon His children. (Psalm 33:18) Ezra testifies, “…The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.”(Ezra 8:22) It is clear that provoking the hand of God to be upon is for those who seek His good. We seek God to serve God and God wants nothing from His creation but to serve Him. Without any doubt, God will always make good every possible way for any of creation that desires to serve Him. The children of Israel, in bondage of over four hundred years, needed to serve their God, but the condition of the house of bondage (Egypt) did not permit. Manifestly, it took the hand of God for the children of Israel to come out of bondage and set them up in the journey to their expected end. When it was time for God to bring to bring them out of bondage, God said to Moses, “But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed.” (Exodus 3:19-21) When God brought them out with His hand upon them, they did not go empty handed. By favor of the hand of God, they plundered the Egyptians. (Exodus 3:22) The same hand that brought Ezra and the children of Israel out of captivity favored them with all they needed in their journey as it is documented in the word of King Artaxerxes, “…whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, may require of you, let it be done diligently.” (Ezra 7:21) Ezra and his people came out of captivity with all they needed to progress and not regress in their journey. The hand of God is an outstretch one that will not fail in moving for His children. Also in His hand, all the favor to move forward is inhabited. The same hand yesterday is the same today. God does not change, but He does have His own way of changing our situations for His glory. If you will consciously walk His Word, the Word will work for you.

Prayer for today: I ask for the same hand that answered for Ezra to answer on my behalf O Lord my God and my Father.