FAITH CAPSULE: What matters does not matter, and will not deny the doing of God.

John 6:1-14

The combination of obeying the word of God and giving thanks to God delivers abundance and phases out lack in any area of life. 
It does not matter where you are or who you are, and it does not matter how lack is causing pain; it does not matter what the challenge is about having a place, but obedience and thanksgiving are engaged shall experience the promise of God.
There was a need for Jesus to feed the multitudes that followed Him. 
The number on the ground for Him to feed was five thousand. 
No provision from any store at the hour of meeting the needs of five thousand could have been abundantly enough.
At the feeding of five thousand, Jesus took the place of provider, one that delivers, that makes a way where there is no way.
Jesus was in place to do the miracle that cancels lack. 
At a place of lack, Jesus commanded His disciples not to let the people go away with empty stomachs. 
It was a deserted area, a place that could never produce enough supply for the demand that was at hand. 
John 6:5 records, “Jesus asked Philip, where shall we buy bread that these may eat?” 
The disciples informed Him that a lad had five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many? 
Are you wondering how lacks shall be met?
What you have on hand can never make up for what you need without Jesus. 
You have found yourself on a challenge posed as a represented deserted ground for you, not having what to meet your needs.
With Jesus, there is a way because nothing is impossible for the maker of all things. 
Jesus turned lack into abundance. 
John 6:10-11 records, “Then Jesus said, make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.” 
The people were obedient, and there was a thanksgiving offering unto the Lord for the little (five barley loaves and two small fish) that became much. 
Are you with the character of giving thanks and being obedient to God to experience abundance in the place of lack?
John 6:12 states, “So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” 
Engage in genuine thanksgiving and obedience according to His direction. 
On the life journey, nothing can substitute for obedience and giving thanks to God. 
God that answers prayer sees all obedience to Him and sacrifice of thanksgiving. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from any spirit that hinders man from obeying and giving thanks to God.   

FAITH CAPSULE: Know to be waiting on God.

1 Samuel 1

Praying is a way of life.
God answers prayer with yes, no, or wait.
One thing God cannot do: God cannot fail!
Are you praying or sleeping before God?
Luke 22:46 records, “…why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”  
Is your prayer at the back seat while temptation drives you into sin to become far from God? 
Jesus, in His Parable of Persistent Widow, pointed out praying before God and not losing heart.
Praying to God with persistence despite experiencing the manifestation is waiting on God. 
The barrenness challenge of Hannah did not stop her from going to Shiloh yearly to worship and sacrifice to God. 
Hannah was persistent until God opened her womb. 
Waiting on God can usually entail staying for either a short or long period. God answers individuals in different ways at His times. 
God will not answer prayer outside of His appointed time.
The Psalmist identified some different lengths of time for waiting: 
Psalm 25:5: “…On you, I will wait all day.” 
Psalm 62:1, “Truly my soul silently waits for God…” 
Psalm 37:7, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” 
Hosea 12:6, “…wait on your God continually.” 
Philippians 3:20, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” 
The time to wait on God has to be patiently, continually, silently, and eagerly. 
Waiting on God can take longer than expected, but God will always manifest Himself when we patiently wait for Him.
IN TIME OF WAITING
In your waiting, acknowledge God, remind Him, and always make your request known to Him.
Acknowledge God: He is a jealous God, and the antidote to jealousy is attention. 
God enjoys our attention. Proverbs 3:6, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” 
Get to know God in your waiting to be encouraged.
Psalm 25:8 encourages, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way.” (Psalm 25:8) 
Waiting without acknowledging the Lord is waiting in anguish.
Reminding God: Reminding God is not because God has forgotten you. The word of God encourages, “…and concerning the works of my hands, you command me.” (Isaiah 45:11) 
Anyone who remembers the works of His hands will know how to command Him as stated in His word. 
The Psalmist reminded Him in Psalm 25:6, “Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses…” God is a good and great God. 
Request from God: He wants all to ask. 
Jesus encourages us in Luke 11:9, “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”  
Psalm 25:16 encourages all to ask, “Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted.” 
He is the God of salvation and not a slave master, and He responds to requests to demonstrate His love for all. 

Prayer for today: Ask for the strength to be waiting on God.

FAITH CAPSULE: God is a good and caring God.

John 3

Maintain what His word says to attain His promises.
In the word of Moses to the children of Israel, there is a testimony of the loving care for His children.
The loving care for His children states, “The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Yet, for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God, who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.” (Deuteronomy 1:30-33) 
God, the unchanging changer, remains consistent with His love for His creation. 
The same way God cares in the Bible days is still the same today. 
The book of John 3:16 also testifies to His love, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 
Indeed, there is nothing a father needs to do for the salvation of his children that God has yet to do. 
God is a good and caring God.
When was the last time you acknowledged the consistent love of God for you? 
Are you serving and walking in the word of God inconsistently? 
Despite the inconsistency before God, God continues to be consistent in His mercy. 
If you will take a moment, ask for His forgiveness; thank Him for His unswerving patience in listening and forgiving all your shortcomings and wicked ways. 
God is worthy of all honor and adoration. 
Seeking God at a convenient time is not seeking Him consistently. 
Ask God for intervention in every area of your life that does not glorify His name. 
It is never too late to turn to God for forgiveness. 
God will not overlook sin, and the word also confirms in Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” 
Take to the word of God with commitment because He will bring His word to perform it. The Bible recorded in Acts13:18, “Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness” 
Despite His putting up with the Israelites, the Israelites could not maintain the word of God but repeatedly failed. 
God faithfully endures inconsistency of all. 
It is up to one to give to the word of God and not be a victim of the wicked world. 
Maintain what His word says to attain His promises. 

Prayer for today: Ask for the mercy of God not to miss out on His promise for your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: It is a great grace that the good of God has brought you this far.

Psalm 145 

From the first month of this year to this moment is the grace of God.
God owes no one, but all owe the perfect God.
He is a caring Creator.
Psalm 150:6 admonishes all, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”
Indeed, everyone standing and not falling from the beginning of the year should praise God at every moment, not just at the breath of life.
Praising and thanking God shall cause a favorable lifting from God.
What He says to one speaks to all. 
God deserves praising and thanking Him.
God is a jealous God whose attention is the antidote to jealousy.
God wants all to seek Him diligently.
One who seeks God diligently will find God.
One who does not seek God diligently will not find God.
Proverbs 7:15 encourages, “So I came out to meet you, Diligently to seek your face, And I have found you.”
It is the love that you are alive at this time of the year.
John 3:16-17 testifies to the love of God for all, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” 
The point is that God invested so much in all while all extends so little to Him. 
All year long to the moment standing, the Lord God bestows upon you, how much have you extended to Him?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 records, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted.”  
At this time of the year, think of living a life to glorify God. 
Allow your expectations to change from material gain to walking in the ways of God. 
Deuteronomy 5:33 states, “You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.” 
Walk more in the ways of God, seeking God first. 
Seeking God will no doubt fulfill every one of your desires as the year runs into the coming year.
Live to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:33-34) 
A better way to seek God is by praising and thanking God.
Make the moment to be of praising and thanking God.

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to praise and thank God every moment.

FAITH CAPSULE: In life, giving is sowing, sowing is serving God. 

John 10

In life, giving is sowing. 
What is it that you are giving back to God?
What have you done for Jesus lately? 
All owe God, but God does not owe anyone.
The main reason the Lord God gave Jesus was for all to inherit eternal life. 
Every step taken to inherit eternal life is for all to live life for God.
The acclaimed believer should walk in His righteousness, positioning receiving from God.
In life, giving is sowing, sowing is serving God. 
What are you giving?
Are you serving Him diligently?
When there is no understanding in place to give, there will be no understanding to receive from God.
It is true that what one sows, such will not reap. 
God is a perfect Manager, and He perfects in managing every one of His creations by allowing His creation to reap from what they sow. 
Living life as one that sows the seed of deception and expecting to reap the fruit of perfection is an error. 
Any man who sows the seed of a lie will reap the fruit of being deceived. 
It is to live life as one who knows God, and anything short of living life as one who knows Him is living life as a liar, a life of waste. 
1 John 2:4- 6 records, “He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this, we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
God invests so much in all while all extend so little to Him. 
Nothing passes outside of God that He does not see.
All is bound to reap from whatever one sows. 
What kind of seeds are you sowing?
When it is reaping time, prayer time might have expired, too late to avoid the consequences of failure to sow.
John 10:10-11 states, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep”  
Celebrating the season of events in the life of Jesus is not evidence of sowing any good that glorifies God for all He has done. 
Also, It is not a license to heaven. 
However, living life to the glory of God is what provokes the hand of God in the life of a believer. 
Allow the heart of serving God to be your way of life.
Serving God is like sowing with expectation for the fruit sown.

Prayer for today: Ask for the hand of God to begin to move and lead you to live life for His glory.