FAITH CAPSULE: Prayer is the key to opening heaven.  

1 Kings 17:1-7, 1 Kings 18:41-46, James 5:13-18

An acclaimed believer does not have a substitute for prayer.
God is a prayer-answering God if His children will take the time to call Him in prayer, just as demonstrated by Jesus. 
How is your prayer life? 
At times, prayer demands simplicity, while at other times, persistency and intensity are what prayers demand. 
However, prayers always need to be effective and consistent. 
The book of James 5:16 encourages all to pray with the hope of getting an answer by declaring, “…the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
Prayer is like a battleground, a place of violent confrontation against spiritual wickedness. 
Jesus said in Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” 
Prayer can be the violent weapon in the hand of any believer who desires to take the kingdom of heaven by force. 
Prayer is the delivery room for every believer who wants to receive undeniable proof by the hand of God. 
In these days of spiritual wickedness, as a true acclaimed believer, constant prayer, as in meditating day and night, is the sustenance not to become a victim of evil occurrence.
God has always been in the business of answering prayer just as He was in the beginning. 
He promised in Isaiah 58:9,  “Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am …’” 
God cares and will not look away from His children when they cry unto Him. 
Exodus 3:7-8 testifies, “And the LORD said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them…” 
God heard their cry, and He moved for their deliverance. 
Can you think of any situation where you have been in bondage as the Israelites were under the Egyptians? 
It is time to cry unto the Lord for your deliverance. 
David said in Psalm 109:4, “…But I give myself to prayer.” 
The disciples stated in Acts 6:2, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 
As a believer, how is your prayer life? 
A prayer-less believer is like a vehicle driving in the dark without the headlights turned on. 
It will only take a moment before a disaster happens.  
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.
Elijah prayed (earnestly) that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. (James 5:17-18) 
Can you imagine that of Elijah? 
Be encouraged in prayer. 
A church that prays will prevail, while a prayerless church will remain in vain. 

Prayer for today: Ask for the strength that prayer before God becomes your portion.

FAITH CAPSULE: Prayer is the key to opening heaven. 

John 3:1-22

If there is anything that will certainly open the windows of heaven, it is prayer. 
Prayer is the key to opening heaven.
Prayer before God is the rod of believers.
Among the different ways can be described is talking and listening to God. 
Prayer is an act of petitioning God in combination with having faith. 
Prayer demands faith and being in the right relationship with God. 
Without faith or a right relationship with God, praying will be like attempting to wash a dirty cloth in dirty water. 
God will not pleased when there is no faith. 
The right relationship starts with asking for forgiveness.
Among the different ways of praying before God are interceding, thanking God, praising God, and confessing before God. 
Above all, prayer will open the windows of heaven. 
Luke 3:21 states, “When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.”  
Prayer is a heaven-opener. 
Jesus, in His entire earthly ministry, repeatedly showed what is all about prayer.
When Jesus went for baptism, He took His time to pray, and heaven opened. 
Jesus demonstrated that prayer is the key that opens up the doors of heaven. 
Prayer opens heaven at all times, not only at the point of baptism but also at every juncture of life. 
When Jesus prayed, heaven opened, “And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ’You are My beloved Son; in You, I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:22) The prayer by Jesus is a testimony to the fact that when a prayer finds the door to heaven, the Holy Spirit, which represents the presence of God, will come down and descend on the one praying. 
With the Holy Spirit descending, the voice of God will then sound in the direction of the one praying. 
With the heavens opened, the voice of God will speak direction if the one praying has the ear to hear the voice of God.
The experience of Jesus at baptism is evidence of what happens to one praying before God.
God is not partial. (Romans 2:11) 
There is a need for the grace of God to hear His voice when it sounds in the direction of one praying.  
When the heavens opened, Jesus heard the voice from heaven saying to Him, “You are my beloved Son: in You I am well pleased.”  
Remember, it takes faith to please God.  
Hebrews 11:6 buttresses, “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” 
The voice that sounded as a result of prayer demonstrates that prayer rooted in faith is what pleases God. 
For without faith, God is not pleased. 

Prayer for today: Ask to be receptive when God responds to your petition. 

FAITH CAPSULE: The time of separation from every form of distraction and delay is a time of encounter with the move of God. 

Genesis 32, Acts 9:1-22

Having an encounter with God is to gain His presence.
Numbers of documentation in the Bible prove that separation of self from all will prompt the chance to have an encounter with God.
Regardless of the reason for separation, an encounter with God is a very high possibility during separation. 
When Jacob was about to come in the way of Esau after years of deceiving Esau, he attempted to avoid trouble for all his possessions by separating from all. 
The Bible records about Jacob, “And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. Then Jacob was left alone, and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.” (Genesis 32:22-24)
At the time of separation from all of his possessions, he was not planning for an encounter with God until encountering. 
For Jacob, it was a life-changing encounter. 
Jacob had his name changed from Jacob to Israel. 
His encounter was a demonstration of a new chapter in the course of his life journey. 
The time of separation from every form of distraction and delay is a time of encounter with the move of God. 
Do you consciously desire a life-changing encounter with God? 
An encounter that turns man into the center of divine assignment demands a complete separation from every distracting agent.
Among many other encounters in the Bible was that of Saul on his way to Damascus in his attempt to persecute disciples. 
Acts 9:3-5 documents, “As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.  Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 
At the time Saul encountered with Jesus, he was not alone.
All the people around him were separated from them by the light of God. Saul alone had a light shone around him. 
Saul alone fell on the ground, and Jesus spoke with him. 
Saul received directions on where to go from the ground of his encounter. Saul’s encounter was the one that led to the change in name from Saul to Paul the Apostle. 
Just like Jacob, the encounter with Paul eventually placed him in the center of his divine assignment. 
Be separated unto God indeed and in truth to have an encounter with God. 
Also, if God is to use you, He will separate you for Himself because He alone is God. 

Prayer for today: Ask for the visitation of God to separate you for His glory.

FAITH CAPSULE: Have the desire to live for God. 

Psalm 27, Ecclesiastes 12

Is it your desire to live for God?
To fear God will live for God to excel for His glory.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 states, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.”
Are you serving God in fear?
Is it a lack of understanding that denies you not to fear God? 
Understand and know to be serving God with fear. 
Psalm 2:11 admonishes, “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” 
The evidence of a believer that claims the promise of God lives life to fear God.
Why not allow the fear of God to become your priority? 
In your life journey, let the fear of God become your compass to arrive at the center of divine assignment.
Pray that the fear of God becomes established in your heart not to depart from God.
What kind of a believer are you?
Are you a believer not studying the word of God but only reading the Bible?
Are you one with quotes or claims to know the word but walks outside of the word of God?  
What kind of a believer are you?
Are you with a title but no task to gain and retain the presence of God?
Seek God, not man.
Those who seek God with all their heart and soul seek God diligently to find Him and to live for Him.
To find God will live for God. 
Deuteronomy 4:29 reports, “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Always strive to be a believer that prevails.
Pray to live life by the word of God.
For you, know God to fear and obey God. 
The majority fear God by the mouth, not by the depth of the heart, and living by the way of the world.
One with the title in the name of God, quoting the word of God, or making the place of worshipping God their home is not evidence of the fear of God.
Ask God to enable you to fear Him. 
Jesus commanded all to ask, and God said, “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever.” (Jeremiah 32:39)
God is not partial.
God will give to those who ask.
To fear God is evidence of obedience to the word of God.
Joseph testifies the reason to fear God, “…Do this and live, for I fear God.” (Genesis 42:18) 
Pray for the desire to fear God.
King David, a man after the heart of God, states, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

Prayer for Today: You have asked God to give you a desire. Now ask that desire for Him be established in you, to seek Him and live for Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: To be dwelling and abiding in Him. 

Psalm 15

Dwelling and abiding in Him demands more than quoting the word.
The word of God declares, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). Knowing this scriptural verse and quoting it is not evidence that one is dwelling in the secret place of God or abiding under His shadow. 
To be dwelling and abiding in Him demands more than quoting the word of God but to be constantly living the word of God.
Living the word of God is behaving His word. 
The word of God demands that all be holy 1 Peter 1:15 “…He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 
If living holy is not possible, the word of God would not have demand from all to live holy. 
Are you living the word of God or constantly quoting the word from the head, not from the heart? 
One that quotes from the heart, not by the mouth, shall live by the word of God.
One that quotes: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty,” is not the same as dwelling in the secret place of the Most High and abiding under His shadow. 
Do you live by the word, or do you live to quote the word? 
Many received the word as a story, not as a revealed secret that makes one dwell and abide in God.  
WHERE IS THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH? 
Psalm 25:14 – “The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant.” 
The commands of God and all that it takes to fear God are across the pages of the Bible. 
However, the lifestyles of most people who claim to be readers of the word do not complement the commands and all that it takes to fear God. 
Isaiah 45:19 states, “God have not spoken in secret…” 
God has not spoken in secret, but most do not study to engage His secret and do not dwell in His secret by how they walk, stand, and sit. 
How one walks, stands, or sits testifies to dwelling and abiding in Him.
Psalm 15 identifies the character of those who may dwell in the secret place of the Lord.
He who walks uprightly; he who works righteousness; he who speaks the truth in the heart; he who does not backbite with his tongue; and he who hates what God hates.
Do you desire to dwell and abide in the secret place of God? 
Devote to your desire, and God will commit Himself by depositing in you your desire for Him. 

Prayer for today: Ask for His word to have a place in your life.