FAITH CAPSULE: The mercy of God is powerful.

Genesis 39

It is powerful because it is in the position of the only God who gives mercy perfectly as He wishes to.
His mercy is rooted in His favour.
Mercy is power above all in position and rest, as the power of God to change the unchangeable situation at the time of God.
The Bible records, “You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed…” (Exodus 15:13) 
In the given days that you have by the breath of life, understand and know to live life to attain the mercy of God, as the Bible records His word.
God alone will have mercy on whom He chooses to, but He will also have mercy on one who lives by His command.
Understand and know to gain the mercy of God:
One living life by the word of God is in a position to receive the mercy of God. 
For example, Joseph lived according to the word of God.
He ignored the temptation to violate the word of God and not to fail before God (Genesis 39:7-15). 
In one instance, he denied the offer to sleep with the wife of his master by claiming: “…How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9) 
Joseph reacted against the temptation of the wife of his master to experience the mercy of God as the Bible mentions, “But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor…” (Genesis 39:21). 
Be one that love God.
Obedience to God is evidence of love for God that will always provoke the mercy of God.
The Bible records that loving God is keeping His commandments (John 14:15).
To understand and know God is to love God and to fear God.  
The story of Joseph points out that Joseph kept the commandment of God by forbidding adultery when he fled from sleeping with the wife of his master.
Joseph obeys, loves, and fears God, and he gained the mercy of God.
One who pleads for His mercy.
God identified Job as a man with none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil.
In life, nothing qualifies anyone not to plead for the mercy of God when challenges take place.
No one is above asking God to gain His mercy. 
Despite the stand of Job before God, he knows to plead for mercy before God: “For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge” (Job 9:15). 
Job pleaded for mercy. He is with the integrity of the heart before God, which does not excuse him from pleading to attain the mercy of God.
Just like Job, the Psalmist had to plead for the mercy of God, “Have mercy on me, O LORD! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death.” (Psalm 9:13). 
Nothing qualifies anyone not to plead for mercy before God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to have mercy on you.

FAITH CAPSULE: To live life for God is to live by His word, to live the word of God as a way of life.

Psalm 28

RESPONSIBILITY IS THE CHARACTER OF LIVING FOR GODResponsibility is the price for greatness, the life of commitment to the word of God, living by the word of God.
One with a commitment to the word of God will have the word of God in the heart, not just in the mouth.
Responsibility rests on all to seek God diligently.
Seek God with all heart, with all soul, with all strength to find God, not seeking by mouth.  
Deuteronomy 4:29 records the consequence of seeking God diligently and finding God: “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.” 
Responsibility to the word of God will enable one not to be discouraged by the surrounding world, but will seek God diligently.
BE HUNGRY FOR THE WORD OF GOD TO BECOME FULL OF GOD
Hungry for the word, lives by feeding on the word of God.
One that is full of this WORLD cannot be hungry for the word of God.
It is possible to fast from food, but fasting from the word of God will lead one far from God to become a victim of the wicked world.
Feed on the word of God to build you up. 
Jesus introduced Himself, saying, “And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)
All should take on a position of feeding on the bread of life constantly and consistently, for the bread of life to become gene.
What you feed on will become your makeup.
A WAY OF LIFE FOR LIVING FOR GOD IS GIVING REGARD TO GOD
One that regards watchfulness, respect, and consideration as the way to live for God, who sees all at all times.
Giving regard to God consistently is giving attention to the God of jealousy because attention is an antidote for jealousy.
It should be a way of living life for God.
Psalm 28:5 records the consequence for not giving regard to God:“Because they do not regard the works of the Lord,
Nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them, and not build them up.”
The word of God is like a double-edged sword.
Hebrews 12:4 states, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…”
By the word of God, one who gives regard to the word of God will not be destroyed but built up.
Evidently, giving regard to the word of God will build one up.
Acts 20:32 records, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up…” 
The word of God builds up obedient ones to live for Him.

Prayer for today: Pray that God enable you to give yourself to His word, to build you up to live life by His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: To live life for God is to live by His word, to live the word of God as a way of life.

John 1:1-18, Joshua 1:1-9
The Bible teaches us to know that the word of God is God.
John 1:1 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The reason to know is to understand.
Having understanding will gain the knowledge.
Jesus asked and answered His question, stating, “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.”  (John 8:43)
Many know about (very active in the things of the church), but the majority do not know.
To understand, and know is listening to the word (THAT is LISTENING TO GOD), having FAITH, and to LIVE for God.
WHY DO WE HAVE TO LIVE FOR GOD?
Understanding and knowledge are what will drive one to live for God.
The reason to live for God is the will of God to live for Him.
Revelation 4:11 states, “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
One with no understanding of the reason to LIVE FOR GOD will not live for God.
Understanding is the power that drives one to live for God.
Without understanding, one does not know how to live for Him.
AMONG WAYS TO LIVE FOR GOD ARE:
COMMIT TO GOD ALONE, NOT TO ANY MAN.
John 2:24-25 records, “But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.”
Commitment to anyone outside of God is a distraction from living for God.
God is a jealous God who demands commitment to live for Him.
The testimony that Jesus did not commit to any man speaks to all not to commit to man.
God does not commit to man; it is not a command not to work with man.
Work with men, but do not commit to a man; do not become vulnerable to being distracted from living for God.
MEDITATING THE WORD OF GOD TO KNOW TO LIVE FOR HIM
The word of God is a live wire.
Live life by the word of God to be full of His presence.
Give yourself to meditate on the word of God as a way of life.
Meditate, not just memorize the word of God.
Joshua 1:8 records, “his Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Meditating is communicating with God day and night, giving God attention, the character of living for God.
One who meditates on the word of God will see (observe) the word of God and do as God expects for His creation to live.

Prayer for today: Pray that you to know to trust and hope in His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: Know to commit to no one but the word of God.

Numbers 13

Do you have trust but not hope?
In the journey of life, to have trust but not have hope will not gain the testimony of God.
To trust and hope is the completion to gain the blessing of God.
Jeremiah 17:7 admonishes all, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.”
Are you one who demonstrated trust but could not live with hope?
For example, the Israelites trusted the leadership of Moses to bring them out of the bondage of over a hundred years.
The Israelites saw the miracles of God before they departed from bondage.
The Israelites trusted in God to lead them out of Egypt.
The Israelites failed to demonstrate hope in God.
During the wilderness journey, the children of Israel could not trust and had hope to see in the word of God to take them to the Promised Land. 
They trusted God to bring them out of bondage, but could not demonstrate hope by repeated complaining.
The Israelites complained, confessing their negative feelings, and could not demonstrate hope in God.
Numbers 14:1-2 records the demonstration of the lack of hope of the Israelites, stating, “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.  And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!”
Having trust without hope will not experience the blessing.
Jeremiah 17:7  clearly states, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.”
Give yourself to the word of God, experience the goodness and mercy of God.
The lack of trust and hope is rooted in fear.
The Israelites were unendingly complaining.
Except for Joshua and Caleb, the Israelites complained and confessed negatively before God.
God responded to the negative confession of the Israelites: Numbers 14:28-30, “As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.”
Know and understand that God is not careless to deliver in His plans and promises when there is no full attention to the conditions to receive from Him. 
Give full attention to the word of God that provokes the blessing of God for those who trust in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:7)

Prayer for today: Ask that God enable you to live life by His word, know to trust and hope in His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: What is your position, your location from God?

2 Kings 6

Do you know if you are near or far from God?
To be close to God is a position to be near.
Never position in distance from God.
Elisha and his servant faced a challenge that demanded nearness to God for deliverance.
Elisha knew they were near to God, but not his servant.
The servant of Elisha was not aware of the presence of God for their deliverance because he did not know the nearness of God.
A believer of God, living life by the word of God, will know that God is near at all times, for His intervention never fails to deliver. 
The bible records, “So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, ‘Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:18)
A believer should live in the consciousness that God is near, the evidence of faith, the expression of expectation for the protection of God. 
Do you know that God is near to you?
Are you living life exposed to the world that is outside of God? 
The Psalmist expresses, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20) 
God made all, but many live life outside of God, not as a child of God, not keeping to His command, and far from God. 
Near to God is the protection of God.
Elisha walks before God and knows God.
He can see that the forces of God are waiting for his command before they can act on his behalf.
The life of Elisha is evident in being near God.
Near to God is the position of His presence.
What does it take to gain and maintain being in the presence of God? 
The Bible identifies what it takes to gain and maintain His presence:
Acts 6:4, “but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Acts 20:32, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Jude 20, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
According to the word of God, seek God diligently by: 
Give yourself continually, not casually, in the Word of God.
Give yourself to be built up and be able to claim the blessings of God.
Give yourself to be a prayerful believer.
Give yourself to the word of God to become a faithful believer.
With desire, ask God that you live life in the consciousness of His care all the days of life He has for you. 
Be near to God, who is always near for all who walk in His word.

Prayer for today: Pray that you know how to gain the nearness of God.