FAITH CAPSULE: What kind of praise do you offer God when you come before him? 

Psalms 34, 146,

Make the right choice and do as God requests to experience His promises.
Acceptable sacrificial praise is full of joy, which glorifies God and accesses His presence where there is joy for evermore. 
God is holy, and he will not respond where there is sin.
When God sent Samuel to go and anoint David, He sent him with what to communicate with Jesse, the father of David. 
1 Samuel 16:5 records, “…I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.’ Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.” 
In this communication, it is clear that sanctification comes before sacrifice. 
Once, the children of Israel were to present themselves before God, “So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.’” (Exodus 19:14-15) 
Throughout the Bible, approaching God is without sin. 
What kind of praise do you offer God when you come before him? 
Praise is not noise-making, not a performance to draw attention, not in the choice of nice words rooted in beat. 
Praise and thank God for Jesus, who has taken away all sins. 
A believer that will confess with sincere and genuine hearts, in the name of Jesus, praising Him will bring the presence of God because He is God that inhabits the praises of His people.
When God is in your praises, enemies will go missing.
Who should praise God? 
You should sing praises to God while you have your being. 
The Psalmist states, “I will sing praises to the Lord while I have my being.” (Psalm 146:2) 
In the pages of the Bible, it states that those who fear Him should praise Him. 
Praise Him with the voice of joy, harp, and melody; praise Him among the people or in your secret closet. 
Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” 
Praising God raises one before Him.
Believers should know that God has spoken and laid down His expectations that will generate manifestation. 
God does have a standard for His expectation that He does not lower.
God has a standard for expectation.
When believers seek God diligently, the result will match His promises. 
Coloring the word of God, taking the word of God out of context, or adding to the word of God will only take a believer through emotional moments with no manifestation of expectation.
Praise God is seeking God to find God.
God is a faithful God.
Praise Him to gain and retain His presence.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deal bountifully with you so that you may live and keep His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: Watch and pray to deny the assignment of the adversaries.

Ezra 4

Every opened door is bound to engage challenges from the adversaries.
God alone opens and shuts doors.
He alone is God, who cares for His children.
Unquestionably, God is God, and there is no other God but Him. 
While the Israelites were in captivity, the Lord opened the door for them to go back and rebuild the temple when the Lord stirred the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia. 
The Bible records, “…when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the LORD God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers’ houses, and said to them, ‘Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.’” (Ezra 4:1-3) 
Know that adversaries did not present themselves as adversaries, but their intention revealed them as adversaries. 
Those adversaries wanted to join with the children of Israel in helping to build, not because they loved them, but rather to tear down their attempt to build. 
What happened was that the Lord opened a great door, but adversaries were in place to deny the open door. 
When the children of Israel denied their adversaries from joining to help them build, the adversaries turned to discourage them. 
Ezra 4:4-5 records, “…they troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.”  
The people of the land (the adversaries) had no good plan in their attempt to join with the children of Israel who were coming out of captivity. 
The point here is that every opened door is bound to engage challenges from adversaries.
Always pay attention to adversaries in all endeavors.
One who gets into prayer not to be a victim of adversaries should get to watch in addition to praying.
Paul, the apostle, testifies his experience by stating, “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” (1 Corinthians 16:9) 
In every attempt of your build-up for the glory of God, your adversaries will pretend and persist, but you will respond and resist, just like the children of Israel. Some adversaries persist for long, but all are to resist by praying. 
Luke 3:21 records, “…and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.”  Jesus prayed, and heaven opened. Any closed heaven that experiences opening through prayer is bound to prevail regardless of adversaries or not. 
Are you experiencing any agents of adversaries in your building process? Pay close attention in your building process; adversaries will pretend and persist. Be encouraged in the word of God, resist, and you shall prevail. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver and defend you from all adversaries at your open door.

FAITH CAPSULE: Praise God loudly as a trumpet to deny the enemies before you.

Numbers 10:1-10, Joshua 6

Whatever harms or opposes your well-being is an adversary that represents your enemy. 
The enemy is not only when one encounters a hostile foe.
Pain, sickness, and disease can also be an enemy. 
Leprosy was the enemy to the ten lepers until they encountered the Healing healer, the One and only God that never failed. 
One thing God cannot do is to fail.
As regards your confronting enemy, the one that you have called on God to intervene, God will not fail. 
God will deliver you and engage Him according to His word. 
The ten lepers engaged Him by asking. 
The ten lepers opened their mouths wide and made a loud voice. 
The word of God that speaks to the Israelites speaks to us as stated in Numbers 10:9, “When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.” 
As an enlisted army of God, the enemy will always come knocking with war. 
However, you are privileged in the position to intervene with victory by God.
Always understand with the knowledge that God is in place by the understanding of His word you call on.
In several places in the scripture, the use of the trumpet as a weapon is evident because the trumpet is a resounding call. 
The trumpet is to sound or proclaim loudly. 
A proclaimed loud trumpet backed with understanding will gain the attention of God. 
Praising in loudness, with understanding as in trumpet, will gain the attention of God.
It worked for the Israelites on their way to Canaan, and it will undoubtedly work for you because God still inhabits the praises of His people.
Just as a hindrance such as a closed door is an enemy to deny a breakthrough, proclaiming a loud trumpet will work for the breakthrough.
The Israelites encountered the wall of Jericho, a hindrance to them on their way to the Promised Land. 
In an attempt to break through their enemy (hindrance), God commanded them command to march. 
In addition to marching, He also commanded, “It shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.” (Joshua 6:5) 
The command of God calls the Israelites to take up their trumpets in battle. 
As a soldier enlisted by God, what battle are you facing?   
Are you fighting ignorantly? 
Apply the wisdom in the word of God.
Praise God loudly as a trumpet to deny the enemies from bringing the battle to your front.  
Fight your war at the front of the enemy as a child of God. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to give attention to your loud praise.

FAITH CAPSULE: The obedience of Abraham led him to possess all of the promises 

Genesis 22

Rising before shining is obedience before the complaint.
To shine, one must be obedient and eventually rise.
Genesis 22:1-2 records, “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham! “And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 
Abraham waited for years to have a son.
After having a child called Isaac, God called him to go and offer the only son as a burnt offering.
The calling of God can be exceedingly challenging. 
It was a call to become tested. 
Also, the lack of direction to the exact mountain, among many mountains, could have been confusing. 
The combination of tough challenges and confusion will lead to making up excuses. 
Abraham did himself a great favor when he was right with God. 
Abraham responded to God without excuse. 
The response of Abraham was an action that communicated the truth that he did not complain. 
Often, people respond with non-verbal ways of communicating against the command of God. 
The Bible describes the response of Abraham, “So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” (Genesis 22:3)     
Obediently, Abraham rose to the calling of God.
The obedience of Abraham led him to possess all of the promises of God. 
Rising and answering to the command of God is the only way to shine for the glory of God, evidence of obedience.
What is holding you back from answering the calling of God?
Are you one with complaints or excuses? 
In all your walks and work on the face of the earth, is there any area you have remained grounded? 
The lost son (Prodigal son), was lost and down after he had moved to get his portion of goods before the appointed time. 
While he was down, he decided by stating, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.” 
The prodigal son repented the key to rise and shine when the father delivered a hearty welcome and reception.
It is all about rising before shining can take place. 
Isaiah 60:1 records, “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. 

The rising of Abraham continues to generate blessings of the promise of God for Abraham that exist from generation to generation.

Prayer for today: Ask God to intervene and terminate all the forces working against you from rising to shine. 

ACKNOWLEDGE HIM CONSTANTLY

FAITH CAPSULE: Give Him constant and consistent attention. 

Jeremiah 2

When there is a failure to acknowledge God, there will be knowledge of turning away from the world.
Psalm 78:5-7 states, “For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.”  
God is a jealous God. 
He deserves all the attention. 
His word testifies that He put everything in place for all not to go far from Him but to remember and acknowledge Him for all He has done. 
Despite all, the children of Israel constantly go far from Him by following idols. Have you been going far from Him? God spoke through Jeremiah to the children of Israel, “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, Have followed idols, And have become idolaters? Neither did they say, ‘Where is the LORD, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt?’” (Jeremiah 2:4-6) 
Know God as a jealous God.
Give Him constant and consistent attention for all He has done and doing in your life.
When God spoke through Jeremiah to the children of Israel, they failed to do right by not identifying Him for the past and not acknowledging Him for the present. 
In your new position, identify Him for what He has done for you and what He is doing.
Are you serving God, seeking Him diligently? 
Serving outside of God is evidence of a lack of faith before God. 
God is the God that does not overlook sin. 
As a believer, acknowledge God for what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. 
When there is a failure to acknowledge Him, there will be knowledge of turning away to another god. 
God declared, “…Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and the fear of Me is not in you says the LORD of hosts.” (Jeremiah2:19)  
It is never too late to stand up where there is evidence of falling short. However, not to rise and stand but to remain on the ground is self-destruction.
Daniel is an example in the Bible that continually gave attention to God.
He refused to serve another God, the evidence of giving attention to God.
Daniel 11:32 records, “…but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” 
Live to acknowledge God in always.

Prayer for today: Ask God to search you and help redirect you from every wrong step you must have taken away from Him.