FAITH CAPSULE: Be awake and know that you are to gain the presence of God.

Luke 22:1-46

After the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the disciples contend about Greatness (attempting to know which of them should be considered the greatest).
Jesus predicted the denial of Him by Peter.
The disciples followed Jesus to the Mount of Olives. 
Luke 22:40 records, “When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”  
By the disciples’ experiences with Jesus, one would have expected a vigorous prayer from the disciples, but they fell asleep instead of praying. 
Luke 22:45 records, “When He rose up from prayer and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.”  
In the face of the wickedness of this world, a believer that replaces prayer time for sleeping is sleeping for sorrow. 
Does that sound like you?
To be locked up is not the time for sleeping but for praying.
Paul the apostle and Silas did not go to sleep but were praying at the time of being locked up.
Paul and Silas could not be quiet while awake but prayed and sang hymns to God. 
They did not sleep from sorrow, and heaven attended to them for their deliverance. 
As a believer, when praying becomes the custom, sleeping from sorrow sleep shall have no place. 
Peter had a sorrowful sleep.
Having a death sentence carried out by the enemy is not the time for sleeping. 
Peter slumbered and slept when he was supposed to be praying. 
Thank God he had people praying for Peter.
Peter could not afford to sleep,
It is not good to be sleeping while you are still in battle. 
How long have you been sleeping? 
Now that you are awake before the trumpet sounds, do you know where you are going or how to move? 
There is a need to be awake, not sleeping in the wicked world.
Acts 12:11 records, “And when Peter had come to himself, he said, ‘now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectations of the Jewish people.’ So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.” 
Life is not a place of sleeping off from God but awake spiritually.
Be awake and know that you are to gain the presence of God.
Peter knew where to go after his sorrowful sleep. 
He went to a house of prayer before he could think of any other place to go. 
It is after sleep for you. 
Do not go back to the sleeping ground again. 
After sleeping, Peter went to a place of prayer to retain and gain an escape route.

Prayer for today: Ask that you will live by staying awake and not to miss the place of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Do not allow failure to have its way. 

Acts 9:1-22

The Bible records how Saul (before he became Apostle Paul) was breathing threats and murder attempts against the disciples of the Lord Jesus before he encountered his calling.
Saul was to go for his destructive act against the disciples at the synagogues of Damascus, with permission from the high priest (Acts 9:1-2). 
Acts 9:3-6 records, “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.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”  
Paul the apostle received his calling trembling and astonished. 
Jesus gave him direction for his calling, which changed his story forever.
When God calls you, He will back you up. 
God called Saul.
God is always looking for someone whose heart is ready to receive His calling. 
Are you looking forward to the calling of God over your life? 
Wait on the Lord. 
God will call you at His appointed time.
In the calling, there is a preparation by Him for His process time. 
Every growing process is the time of training for where His calling will send you. 
When God calls, and there is the answer, He will establish you. 
Before He establishes you, stay focused and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. 
In your training, give Him all the attention; do not force anything that He did not deposit in you. 
Do not fake it, and do not fight a war that is not yours. 
You have been doing the work of the Lord for quite a while, and He will establish you. 
Remain focused on the Lord, and His hand to establish you shall not fail.
The focus of Samuel enabled him not to miss the calling of God. 
1 Samuel 3:20 states, “And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD.” 
The establishment of Samuel was the process time of God, a divine schedule, not his world that announced him. 
Anyone that God established does not have to campaign. Introduction by having a business card or advertisement shall not be relevant. 
Be patient in the Lord, and let Him see you through with preparation that answers to the process time.
So many could not wait and fell before they went very far in where they were going. 
Do not allow failure to have its way.

Prayer for today: Over your life, ask that your faith to answer will not fail.

FAITH CAPSULE: Shiloh is a ground to remain persistent.  

1 Samuel 1

Despite opposition, obstacles, discouragement, and mockery, you continue to have hope in God for your breakthrough. 
Despite the delay and abandonment from the loved ones, your trust does not waver. 
Does any of the above describe your situation? 
If yes, you are not alone but know God is with you. 
It seems so very long that you have been waiting with no answer. 
Know that as long as you remain persistent, you insist on the visitation of God by waiting.
God promised in 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.” 
A believer of the word should trust and hope that God acts for those waiting on Him.
Keep the testimony of Hannah, seek God, and you shall see His act manifested in your favor. 
Elkanah, Hannah, Peninnah, and her sons and daughters attended Shiloh yearly to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of hosts. 
Every year they went, nothing changed in the story of Hannah. 
She was barren and coming. 
Hannah does not complain or fight anyone despite no answer to her barren challenge.
Hannah was the neediest and probably the quietest. 
Hannah kept on going with her family with no excuse. 
She was barren but trusted God for intervention, and she was persistent. You may be wondering what happened in your case. 
Are you questioning God?
Remain trusting and hopeful, continually wait and patiently, the character of persistence.
Keep calling on God without doubt, and be consistent.
Know that delay is not denial.
God is a good God. 
He is a God of the eleventh hour to make a way where there is no way.
Persistency demonstrates that you have faith that pleases God.
God is not pleased when there is no faith. 
The situation with Hannah was that God had closed her womb. 
Elkanah gave his best to make up for Hannah.
1 Samuel 1:5 records, “…Hannah a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the LORD had closed her womb.” 
Elkanah cannot be in the place of God.
Persistency often provokes the hand of God to open a closed door. 
The Lord God remembered Hannah, “So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:20) 
The time of preparation is the process of time.
The Lord blessed Hannah more than she expected. 
Know today that God is God. 
Let nothing seal up your open door by confessing negatively.
Go the way of persistence and understanding that God can choose to open or close the door. 
He alone is God.

Prayer for today: Ask God not to withhold His tender mercy from you. 
Ask for His loving kindness to preserve you continually.   

FAITH CAPSULE: There is more to learn in the challenge of life.

Matthew 14:22-33

Challenges come; challenges go. 
Challenges come without a warning signal, and it is not always welcome. Challenges in the life journey are like a raging storm on the sea. 
Challenges can be painful, but in the end, they can become gainful through the learning experience they deliver. 
The disciple in the middle of the storm brings forth lessons on how to react in confronting challenges.
The Bible records how Jesus made His disciples go into the middle of the sea at evening hour and not go with them. 
While in the middle of the sea, waves tossed them, for the wind was contrary. (Matthew 14:24) 
Jesus must have known what to happen to the disciples before He sent them.
Despite the challenge at sea, Jesus made His way to the disciples by walking on the boisterous wind. 
Jesus demonstrated faith in the place of fear.  
Fear will sink you while faith will raise you. 
Faith and not fear is what everyone needs to confront every area of the storm that is raging in life.
Have faith by knowing that the one who walks on the storm is the one who speaks to calm the storm. 
Peter saw Jesus walking on water amid a storm that other disciples gripped in fear. 
Matthew 14:28, “And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to You on the water.’”  
Jesus responded to Peter, asking him to come. 
Peter attempted to walk as Jesus walked on the storm. 
He had been with the Lord long enough; he saw miracles all along the way; he knew that faith, not fear, brought forth miracles. 
Despite all that Peter knew about Jesus, he failed to walk the walk and would have drowned if not for the outstretched hand of the Lord. Matthew 14:30, “But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ 
As a believer, talking the word, quoting the word, and hearing and not doing as spoken is not enough to deliver. 
Living by the word of God is the only way to walk in every storm, just like Jesus did. 
Also, leaving the word out of walk does not lead to the expected end. 
Get into the word of God, and faith will get hold of you because the word of God is the source of faith. 
Let faith build you up. Romans 10:17 informs all, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” 
One can be hearing and hearing the word of God daily.
Read to study or listen to ministers God has placed in your life. 
Get into the word, living by the word to be out of the world. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to keep you away from every agent of faith failure. 

FAITH CAPSULE: Seek God with all your heart and soul, and you will find Him.

1 Samuel 3

What kind of believer are you?
What is the state of your heart in seeking and serving God?
The word of God describes Samuel, “So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord. Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.” (1 Samuel 3: 19-21) 
The kind of one living for God is the state of his heart that describes Samuel.
He focused on God and the reason none of his words fell. 
God is not interested in how you run around or appear to your world on the ground of worship. 
The word of God points it in the pages of the Bible about how He is only interested in the state of hearts seeking and serving Him. 
Here are some Scriptural verses that buttress seeking God with all heart and not by look and appearance:  
Deuteronomy 4:29, “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.”
1 Chronicles 28:9, “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.”
2 Chronicles 15:12, “Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul.”  
Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!” 
Jeremiah 29:13, “And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
God is found able but desperate of wicked heart of all sets all far from God.
In your service unto God, are you running in the act without the heart for God? 
Know that the Lord is the God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. (1 Samuel 2:3) 
Brethren can mistake you (take you for what you are not); pastors can misrepresent you, but God is perfect to identify all. 
Are you one whose heart does not line up with God? 
Who is looking at your outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart?
Peace, joy, deliverance, victory, salvation, and breakthrough are among the blessings that identify with God. 
Let the character of God mark you as identity.
Seek God with all your heart and soul. 

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to live fully in obedience to His word.