FAITH CAPSULE: Status or title will not excuse one from experiencing cheers and jeers in the life of the journey. 

1 Samuel 18, 2 Samuel 16

The Life journey demands giving the best and letting God be the center of all.
In getting to the expected end, the cheers and jeers of life are on the way. 
Jeers and cheers shall come to be. 
However, maintaining focus on God in every engagement of life is a way to get a clear picture to navigate through without distraction or disruption. 
Regardless of status in life, experiencing cheers and jeers cannot be avoided.
David had a heart after God but could not avoid cheers and jeers from sounding in his direction.
Philistines and Goliath stood their ground in the war against the Israelites with a provoking statement, “Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine; they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” (1 Samuel 17:8-10) 
It was the statement of Goliath that provoked David and made David respond: “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26)
David engaged and killed Goliath to gain victory for the Israelites. 
The victory brought so much cheer for David. 
The Bible records the cheers David received, “…when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. So the women sang as they danced, and said: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” (1 Samuel 18:6-7) 
The same David was cheered by the Israelites and jeered by the Israelites. 
While David was still King, the heart of the men of Israel went with Absalom, and David had no choice but to vacate the throne and run for his life. 
As David flees, curses and stones were jeers thrown at him. (2 Samuel 16:5-14) 
Imagine David, a man after the heart of God, experienced cheers and jeers but remained on track and did not get distracted. 
All should maintain focus on the life journey to arrive at their destination. 

Prayer for today: Ask for the direction of God with His peace order steps of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Answer not to what the word calls you that you do not know.

Acts 9

What is your name?
A name one answers to without understanding shall possibly limit such in life not to live at the assignment of God.
Are you being called by a militating challenge before you?
God is the unchanging changer.
God is perfect to reverse every irreversible.
Regardless of any challenge, God delivers.
He alone remembers with favor and visits with salvation. 
God will remember you at His appointed time, and you will have a name change to the glory of God. 
God sent through Mary to Elizabeth:
Luke 1:36 records, “Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.”  
No one had any idea about the intervention of God for Elizabeth.
At the appointed time of her visitation by God, the mockery barren changed to the miracle of God.
Elizabeth became the mother of John the Baptist. 
After Jesus, there was none like John in the Bible days. 
Watch, God shall visit you as He visited Elizabeth and turned her story around for His glory.
Mark 10:46-47 records the walk of Jesus and His disciples: “Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  
Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was changed by his world to blind Bartimaeus.
On his day of visitation, he disregarded many from keeping him quiet. Many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out more until Jesus gave him a standstill attention.
The visitation of Jesus changed from blind Bartimaeus to one that followed Jesus.
The Bible documents, “Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:1-2) 
He was Saul, the adversary of the brethren. 
Jesus located him on his way to wicked acts against followers of Jesus.
In that encounter with Jesus, the name of Saul changed to Paul the Apostle. 
Paul changed the answer from er to an agent of deliverance. 
Whatever the world calls you without understanding, God alone knows it all.
THE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING limits understanding of what God will.
Give yourself to God, and God will reveal who you are.
Be encouraged in the Lord to live to the fulfillment of your destiny in Christ Jesus. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to remember you, that He visit you with salvation.

FAITH CAPSULE: Every disguise against the word of God is an avenue to self-destruction. 

2 Chronicles 18: 28-34, Mark 10:46-52

When Ahab, the King of Israel, invited Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, to join forces with him against Ramoth Gilead, he refused to listen to the warning of the prophet Micaiah against war.
Ahab listened to the prophecy of his chosen four hundred prophets. 
When it was time to go to war, King Ahab told Jehoshaphat, “…I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle.” (2 Chronicles 18:29) 
Despite a true prophecy not to go to the war, he decided to go by way of disguising himself. 
In life, there is no right way outside of the truth of God. 
King Ahab went on as planned, but the war was against him. 
King Jehoshaphat did not disguise but depended on God. 
As the war intensified, Jehoshaphat was on the side of God. 
2 Chronicles 18:31 records, “…when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, “It is the king of Israel!” Therefore, they surrounded him to attack, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him, and God diverted them from him.”  
Ahab chose to disguise to become destroyed in the hand of his enemy. 
There is no way unto salvation in any area of life but to call on the Savior. Who are you crying out to? 
In times of challenge, crying out to God is deliverance.  
Does your situation sound like that of a stranded one? 
Cry out to Jesus for His divine intervention. 
During the days of Bartimaeus, Jesus was passing while Bartimaeus was in the right location to encounter Jesus when he cried out loud for mercy. It could be time to identify and accept that your challenge needs a cry out loud. 
Cry in your closet or outside, and ignore the surrounding multitude, the hinderer of life, as the evil.
In your cry out, call on Him as His known for answering the calling upon Him.
Bartimaeus demonstrated that he did not just know about Jesus, but he knew Him as deliverance and healer.
The ignorance of the crowd that followed Jesus is limited to understanding, and they attempted to stop Bartimaeus from crying out to Jesus. 
Bartimaeus knew Jesus.
He cried, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 
Do you know Him enough to call Him to a standstill and have Him attend to you? 
In the calling of Bartimaeus, “…Jesus stood still and commanded Him to be called” (Mark 10:49) 
The Blind man received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. (Mark 11:52) 
Jehoshaphat did not disguise but cried out loud to gain his salvation.
Ahab disguised against the word of God to die a sudden death.

Prayer for today: Ask God to open your understanding and know to live right for His glory.  

FAITH CAPSULE: Focus on God and be steadfast not to contradict the journey to advance.

Genesis 19:12-26, Daniel 1

It is time to advance in the calling of the Lord. 
The process of advancing in the calling of the Lord demands having the trust to have a clean heart and a steadfast spirit. 
In addition to a clean heart and steadfast spirit, maintain focus and let the past be in the past by ignoring the multitude in life. 
Maintaining focus is crucial to making advance in the calling of the Lord. 
The focus will keep one from distraction. 
A failure to maintain focus will lead one to distraction. 
Distraction can lead to sudden and untimely death for its victims. 
Daniel is an example that denied distraction.
Daniel, while in captivity, maintained focus when he purposed in his heart not to defile God. 
The king appointed Daniel and his brothers with a daily provision of delicacies, wine, and three years of training.
It is possible to sound good for a young captive to accept, but to Daniel, it was considered not to focus wrongly.   
Daniel 1:8 records the response of Daniel not to defile himself, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore, he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”  
Daniel kept focus on becoming a vessel for God, and he made advancement everywhere he turned. 
Daniel engaged his journey in captivity with a purposeful heart. 
He allowed God to reign in his life when he refused to defile his body (the temple of God). 
Daniel was steadfast in not contradicting his journey to advance. 
The wife of Lot could not let the past be in the past.
She disregarded the command of God that said to her: “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” (Genesis 19:17) 
The wife of Lot did the opposite when she looked back and became a pillar of salt (Genesis19:26) 
Whatever she was looking for in her past represents a multitude (unnecessary baggage). 
The multitude in her life caused her to become a pillar of salt and not escape as ordained for her by God. 
No one goes forward by looking back. 
The wife of Lot is a testimony to the truth that no one sets sight on the past and can see what is ahead. 
The case of her is that of a shifted focus. 
Lot must have been steadfast, looking forward in obedience to the direction of the word of God.
Daniel could not allow any distraction but focused on being steadfast in his life journey.
It is time to advance in the calling of God, focusing on His word and avoiding distraction.

Prayer for today: Ask for the strength of God to focus on Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: What stops one from living life to present self as a representative of Christ? 

Luke 10:29-37

An acclaimed believer of Christ that does not represent Christ is an established deceiver. 
In the church, deceiving and manipulating is not a strange act. 
As an acclaimed believer, have you fallen into such an act? 
Going to church is not a ticket to heaven. 
Many are on the right track but remain trapped. 
Is it possible that one shall miss heaven and miss hell? 
To miss heaven is to gain hell. 
God is a good God with provision for no one to perish instead of taking to the perishable avenue. 
John 3:16 buttresses, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 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.”
Why not represent Him not to perish?
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a priest and a Levite were to present and represent Christ by their title. 
They were to present Christ in their way of living life but failed to, while sinners of a sinful nation could not pass by but present as representatives of Christ. 
Luke 10:30-33 documented, “…A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.” 
How often have you walked past on the other side instead of presenting and representing Christ? 
Christ, the compassionate One to be copied by way of life, is not one that only flourishes by answering to title.
He does not ignore the needy ones. 
No excuse counts; neither is there any excusable before the Almighty God not to represent Christ.
It is worth calling on God and asking Him for the grace to answer His calling, living life as a believer of Christ. 
Attending church can deceive the world, and answering to titles can become a way of manipulating others, but God cannot be deceived and manipulated. 
Let all run this race with a mark that glorifies the Lord and Savior. 
Look around! 
There is always a waiting list in our passing whereby there is a need for a believer to present and represent Christ. 
As an acclaimed believer, one must live life to present oneself as a representative of Christ. 

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to live life as a representative of Christ in this wicked world.