FAITH CAPSULE: What are you giving yourself to in this wicked world? 

John 1:1-18, Luke 19:1-10
John 5:38 records, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” 
John 1:1 state, “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.” 
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)
The above verses encourage all to give themselves to seeking the word of God as an unfailing source of encouragement in this wicked world of darkness. 
Jesus is the living word of God. 
Give yourself to the word of God, light for getting rid of darkness. 
John 1:4-5 encourages, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
What are you giving yourself to in this wicked world? 
Know to give self into the word of God, the truth of freedom. 
John 8:32 buttresses, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 
Jesus, the word of God is the truth, and He confirms, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6) 
Seek the truth; to know the truth and give yourself to live by the truth.
Give yourself to the word of God, and allow the word to be your motivator as you seek Him diligently because those who seek Him will find Him. 
Zacchaeus is the evidence of one that seeks God diligently and knows that God is faithful to answer.
Zacchaeus sought Jesus, and Jesus located him and ended up visiting Zacchaeus in his house. 
Zacchaeus was a tax collector.
Zacchaeus was a rich one with a crowd as a factor that could deny him because he was short in stature. 
Despite all the factors that could deny him, he was encouraged to seek Jesus as he ran ahead of the crowd. 
After running ahead of the crowd, he climbed the tree. 
Jesus, who sees saw Zacchaeus. 
Luke 19:5 records, “And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”  
Be encouraged!
Are you experiencing invincible hindrances? 
Any unexpected challenges? 
Be encouraged in the word of God. 
God has not forgotten you, He never sleeps nor slumbers, but He will gain honor in His deliverance plan for your life. 
Allow His word to gain entrance into your life for a breakthrough miracle. Above all, you shall possess your possession.  
Allow the word to be your motivator as you seek Him diligently because those who seek Him will find Him.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to know and be encouraged in the word.

FAITH CAPSULE: Prayer before God is asking from God.

James 4

Paul admonishes, “but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (Act 6:4) 
Give yourself to prayer and His word. 
God is faithful, and He will answer yes, no, or wait.
Praying before God is a key to open up a solution for challenges when not praying a miss. James 4:3 warns against praying a miss, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
Pray with understanding. Occasional praying is not praying continually.
Let praying before God become your way of life that is waiting on God continually.
God is a good God.
Anyone waiting on God shall experience that God is the unchanging changer that reverses irreversible.
God is God that waits to act for those that wait on Him. (Isaiah 64:4)
God will not ignore one that prayerfully waits for Him but will remember with favor and visits with salvation.
In this season challenging time, wait on God with prayer.
Prayer before God is asking from God.
Is there any of your way before God that is not right but wrong to be a hindrance?   
Ask from God to search you, to know your ways, to correct and lead you.
David, a man after the heart of God, knew to wait on God by asking: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)
Prayerfully, waiting on God to lead you in an unfailing direction.
The way to have the rest of God is by praying before God and not going astray. 
Going astray is rooted in the heart. 
Manifestly, any heart that goes astray will miss in the way of God. 
God is a good God, and to end in an astray way is not of God but the evidence not to wait on God.
God is a God of time and process.
Time belongs to God. In praying, wait, and remain focused on God for His timing to get an answer from Him. not by the time of the world. 
The time of God is not the same as the time of man, and the process of God is not like the process of man. 
The time of God is perfect, and His process is a preparation for where He has time for everyone to be. 
Praying before God demands to remain unmoving, inactive, or in a state of repose, as until expected manifests. 
With your prayer, it is worthy to put off further activity to remain focused on God.
God is a God that gives unfailing attention to those that call on Him. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you with continual prayer.

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you aware if you are far or close to God? 

Exodus 33

Walking far from God is walking in the avenue to experience failure, to fall to falter in life.
Are you walking in the word of God or by the world you are living in today?
It does not matter who you are or what title you answer, but to walk far away from God is the avenue to fall.
In every walk of life, walking close to God demands observing the way of God.
The way of God is the presence of God. Proverbs 23:26 informs, “My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways.” God is in His ways, and His way is His presence.
Seek God diligently the evidence of walking in His way, keeping close and not far from God.
The prayer of Moses before God and the response of God speak to what it means to walk close and not far from God records, “Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now, therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” 
And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:12-14) 
The prayer of Moses states, “Show me your way that I may know you” 
testifies that God is in His way. Moses asked right before God.
The answer of God to Moses confirms that the way of God and the rest of God is the presence of God.
One with a title or no title should not assume to be close to God and not ask for the way of God. Just like Moses, know to ask for the ways of God for your life.
Search your heart continually to know if you are far or close to God.
Give your heart to God to observe His way, the evidence of walking close to God.
Walking close to God is not to impress your world but to press on God to gain and retain the presence of God continually.
Where are you before God?
The work of the individual is the walk that counts before God.
What is your work before God that keeps you close to God?
Jesus asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
Jesus responds, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (John 6:28-29)
Do you have work before God, and God identifies your work?
It is your work, your belief in God, that draws you close or far from God.
In the challenging days, walk with God by giving yourself to the word of God continually.

Prayer for today: Ask that God enables you to walk close to Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Give earnest heed to the word of God.

Daniel 1

A failure to give earnest heed to the word of God will lead to taking a distance from God. 
Keeping distance from God is getting closer to the position of self-destruction.
Earnest implies having a purpose and being steadily and soberly eager to pursue it.
Heed means paying attention, listening to, and following the word. 
To give earnest heed is to be purposeful and give attention to the word of God.
The heart is where purpose takes place.
The heart is where listening takes place.
Be mindful that the heart is where God sees the doing of all under the heaven.
Hebrews 2:1-4 records the need to give heed to the word of God,
“Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”
Are you giving heed to the word of God?
One with earnest heed for God shall be purposeful for God.
Daniel Purposed in His heart.
Daniel was more earnest in heed for God, purposed in his heart to gain the favor of God.
Daniel 1:8-9 records: “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. Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.” 
David had a heart after the heart of God. 
God will always locate any that earnestly heed His word.
The reaction of God to the violation of Saul testifies to the heart of David for God saying: “…I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.” (Acts 13:22)
There is no compromise, but with no excuse, all must give earnest heed to the word of God.
The word of God is not to convince anyone.
The word of God demands commitment from all.
Also, the word of God is not for decoration but for declaration. 
In life, the way of all declares the word carried by all.
All should come out from RELIGION in the mouth, but give heart to the word of God. A failure to give earnest heed to the word of God will lead to distance from God but closer to self-destruction.

Prayer for today: Ask to enable giving heed to the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Stop complaining and start counting the blessings of God.

Numbers 14

Blessings of God are rooted in His faithfulness. 
Psalm 89:1 records, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.” 
Are you counting, or are you complaining? 
Counting the blessings is praising Him for what He has done to provoke more of His doing. 
Complaining will complicate the life journey.
Regardless of challenges, see it in the word of God that the Lord is more than able to see you through your challenges. 
See that God turned the rock into a pool of water and the flint into a fountain of waters (Psalm 114:8) 
God is more than able to turn around your story above and beyond your expectation.
See that God does not slumber nor sleep, but He is awake and mindful of you in your challenging situation. 
Know that complaining does not settle well before God. 
Complaining is sin, and God will not overlook sin. 
God did not overlook the complaint of the children of Israel against Him. Assuredly, your complaint against God shall get His attention. 
The complaining of the Israelites complicated their journey. 
For the Israelites, their journey of eleven days turned into a journey of forty years.
The complaint before God made the Israelites become a wanderer in the wilderness when they were supposed to be a wonder to their world.
See the wonders of God in the word of God, to become positioned to exploit for the glory of God. 
The time of the year is not evidence that the visitation of God for your breakthrough has expired. 
Have you been complaining in any way you have taken to? 
The Israelites took to the way of wilderness which was supposed to be a passage for them to pass through, but they ended up living in it.
The complaining of the generation that came out of Egypt made the wilderness become their habitation.
The complaining made the Israelites wander on their wilderness journey. 
For the Israelites, the wonder of God was to be the journey from bondage to the promised land.
However, wandering to become wasted in the wilderness answered for the Israelites. 
Have you seen or experienced the act of God in your life?
The book of Numbers 14:22-23 documents, “Because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.” 
Stop complaining and start counting the blessings of God.
See what God has done, and it will enable you to see through what He will do.  
Can you count and see the blessings of God over your life? 

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from complaining before Him.