FAITH CAPSULE: The Word of God is instruction that demands a close attention for enviable results when properly applied.

Psalm 96

Psalm 69:30, “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” The word of the Psalmist says, I will praise the name of God; not I will praise God. He is not a God to be compared with any of the fake gods. His name is what distinct Him and the difference has to be made clear. In praising Him, identify Him with His name. The name of God is with distinction. When He was sending Moses, He clearly gave His name. “And God said to Moses, ’I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ’Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’‘ Moreover God said to Moses, ’Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’” (Exodus 3:14-15) The name of God is what makes the difference especially when it comes to a jealous God. God alone shares none of His name with any other god. Have you considered the fact that in every name that God answers to in the Bible none is shared with any other god? Indeed, it is an evidence of understanding to know to call or praise the name of God. The Psalmist commanded, “Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding.” (Psalm 47:6-7) Praising God has to be with understanding and when there is no understanding, there is no evidence of knowledge. Praise the name of God with songs and magnify Him with thanksgiving. Praising Him and thanking Him goes together. Praising without thanking or thanking without praising can be incomplete and this is evident in songs and psalms. A song says, “My soul magnifies the Lord…my spirit praise His name. Also Psalm 100:4, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.” It will be unimaginable to see anyone that wants to see a king settle himself at the gate and not take time to move from the gate to the court. This to say after you have entered into the gate with thanksgiving, it is worth it to go further into the court with praise and make the service worth the while. The Word of God is instruction that demands a close attention for enviable results when properly applied. Do not just read through the Word of God, but study the word of God to allow it to come through in you.

Prayer for today: Ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

FAITH CAPSULE: Nothing goes without its reward and every act of man will activate a man’s reward.

Esther 5, 6, 7

God is good. Doing good when a situation calls for it glorifies God. When you know to do good, do not stop nor relent from doing good. Also, when doing evil becomes part of your doing, it is good to seek God for help and reverse from doing evil to doing good. Have you been doing good and it appears to you there is no reward for doing good? If God does not oversee sin, He definitely would not oversee doing good. Nothing goes without its reward and every act of man will activate a man’s reward. The few Scriptural verses below cannot emphasize enough about good: Proverbs 15:3, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” Isaiah 1:17 “Learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Doing good or bad does have its reward. Whatever a man sows, he will reap. It is not possible to sow oranges and reap mangos. Are you ignoring doing good because there is no one to acknowledge your doing? God sees it all and He will not relent from rewarding you for your deed. Mordecai spotted evil and did not relent from reporting it. It is written, “In those days, while Mordecai sat within the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name.” (Esther 2:21-22) Mordecai’s good deed was not instantly rewarded, but was nevertheless recorded in his name. As time went by, a certain evil man named Haman, who had sought to destroy Mordecai, gained promotion to be the right hand man of king Ahasuerus. The night before Haman could carry out his attempt to destroy Mordecai and his people, “…the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.  And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. Then the king said, ’What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this…?’” (Esther 6:1-3) The honor and dignity that was bestowed to Mordecai gave deliverance to Mordecai and set Haman into destruction. Indeed and in truth, “A good man obtains favor from the LORD, but a man of wicked intentions He will condemn.”(Proverbs 12:2) Meditate on the Word of God, “…to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace that enables man to do good constantly in the daily journey.

FAITH CAPSULE: The Word of God is not without power to those who know to walk and to stand in the Word of God.

1 Kings 17:1-6

Psalm 119:103 declared, “How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth! Jeremiah confessed, “Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart…” (Jeremiah 15:16) Are you finding out that the Word of God is sweet to consume? “But the Word is very near in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.” (Deuteronomy 30:14) Anyone who is having the Word in their mouth and in their heart will do the Word. The ones who know to do the Word will undoubtedly know how to call on the Word for use whenever challenges are demanding. Psalm 107:20, He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” The same Word of God that was sent is the same that is near our mouths and we are to use it as a weapon for defense against all that the enemy brings in our direction. “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) The Word of God is God.The Word has never stopped coming to us since the beginning. The Word that has been made available will only be available if our hearts have been available for the Word to reign and rule. The Word of God is true and is power. The Word will work for those who walk in it while living in this world of wickedness. This is the same Word that Elijah operated with a consciousness when he called on rain to cease for three and half years. The Word of God is not without power to those who know to walk and to stand in the Word of God. When Elijah encountered Ahab, the king of Israel, all that was in his power was the living Word of God. 1 Kings 17:1, “And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, ’As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.’” What you eat is what you will become. Allow the Word of God become your daily bread. Meditate on it day and night and the Word will become of you and you will also be able to stand in declaring it when challenges demand it. Be a carrier of God’s Word and His Word will not fail in carrying you.

Prayer for today: Father I ask that You cause Your Word to have its place in my life.

FAITH CAPSULE: The god-father will not carry farther as the Father God will carry. Look up to the Father God.

Esther 2

Providence, a manifestation of divine care or divine direction, is all that it takes to navigate the journey of life. Whenever the providence of God is at work in the life of a man, such man will live heaven on earth. With providence, challenges may loom but navigation through the journey of life will always triumph. In the story of Esther, we see the providence of God at work. Esther found favor with everyone she encountered. The Bible recorded that Hadassah, that is Esther, had no father and was brought up by Mordecai who had been carried away from Jerusalem. It is written, “Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.” (Esther 2:7) Esther, despite the fact that her biological father and mother were not there, believed that the providence of God could not be denied to work for her. God is a creative God who knows how to turn a gateman to a great man. The greatness and magnitude of His operation is unsearchable. Any position, situation or location is not enough to reduce the hand of God from taking us to where He destined for us to be. Mordecai was destined to rise but rising was not written anywhere on him because he was a gateman. It was at the gate, where there was no sign or evidence of rising up, that he averted a plot against King Ahasuerus. Mordecai’s disruption of the plot against the king got his name in the chronicles of the king. Mordecai eventually became the second in command to King Ahasuerus. Queen Vashti’s disobedience to King Ahasuerus called for a search for a new queen. After the dethronement of Queen Vashti, a way was made for Esther’s enthronement. It was recorded about Esther, “…And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her. So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.”(Esther 2:15-17) The point here is if God did not reduce you; never reduce yourself no matter what situation or position you are currently in. Mordecai and Esther had no god-father, but they had the providence of Father God at work as they found favor. The god-father will not carry farther as the Father God will carry. Look up to the Father God.

Prayer for today: O Lord my God, I ask that You activate Your providence to go to work in my life.

FAITH CAPSULE: When fear compels, complication prevails.

1 Samuel 13

Whenever the compelling force in your life is positively in line with the Word of God, the end result will be nothing but a positive and blessed result. However, when a compelling force in your life is negative and not in line with the Word of God, you are set for a negative and complicating result. Have you ever thought about what is compelling you in making your daily decisions? Among the most active and frequent compelling forces that often complicates the life of man is that of fear. The story of King Saul depicts exactly what it is to allow a negative compelling force, such as fear, to have a place in our life. King Saul was the first king of the children of Israel. He was a king anointed by God for God’s people. He had God on his side along with Samuel constantly in place for him as God’s mouthpiece. What else could a man need to fully rest and trust on God? Despite King Saul’s position, he could not function effectively without fear. At a time of war with the prominent enemy of the children of Israel, he allowed fear to take over as a compelling force that led him to his complicating decision. King Saul was commanded by Samuel to wait for seven days until Samuel arrived to offer the burnt offering before his battle with the Philistines. “Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, ’Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.’ And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came…” (1 Samuel 13:8-10) Saul made the wrong move because he could not travail in waiting. Samuel came as promised the same day, but not at Saul’s timing. When Samuel asked why King Saul took such a decision, Saul’s response was that, “…when I saw that the people were scattered from me…” (1 Samuel 13:11) Who are you looking up to? Do you look up to God or the people and situation around you? Saul went further in his testimony and stated, “…I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” Saul succumbed to fear when his people scattered and was compelled to make an unlawful sacrifice. Samuel made it clear that he violated God’s command. Violating God could be termination from God. Samuel made it known to Saul, “…the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever but now your kingdom shall not continue…” (1 Samuel 13:13-14) When fear compels, complication prevails.

Prayer for today: O Lord my God, I ask that You cause me to trust in You with all my heart.