Category Archives: Devotions

THE PLACE

FAITH CAPSULE: A place is the place of divine encounter.

Genesis 28

Jacob stole the blessings of Esau and needed to escape from the wrath of his brother by running away for his life. 
The running away of Jacob was unplanned for him but repositioned him for a glorious ending. 
Rebekah, the mother of Jacob, directed him to flee to her brother Laban in Haran, stating, “Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away.” (Genesis 27:43-44) 
Jacob obeyed his mother to enter a journey to escape from the wrath of his brother.
It was a journey that placed Jacob in his center of divine assignment. 
It was a journey of escape that positioned Jacob at a place as recorded in Genesis 28:10-12, “Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven, and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” (Genesis 28:10-12) 
A place is the place of divine encounter, of the visitation of God for assurance.
To arrive at a place in life journey is possible to arrive at the encounter for divine assignment in life journey. 
Jacob arrived at a place of divine assignment.
Jacob sent his son, Joseph, on an errand.
An errand of hours lasted for over thirteen years for Joseph.
Jacob (Israel) called on his beloved son Joseph, “And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” So he said to him, “Here I am.” Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.” (Genesis 37:13-14) 
Joseph went on an errand at the age of seventeen.
A very long and unplanned journey can be very challenging. 
Are you on any unplanned journey? 
An engaging errand can be exceedingly painful, but it often comes to a gainful end. 
With Joseph, an unplanned journey took him to the center of his divine assignment in life. 
Joseph came to his father when he was in a position of power. 
Joseph experienced a change of story that delivered his whole family from the famine of his time, and they could not suffer.
Meditate on the story of Joseph in every journey of life.

Prayer for today: Ask to be filled with wisdom and knowledge in the word of God. 

SHAME IS ISSUE

 FAITH CAPSULE: The enemy is the orchestration of shame in life.

Genesis 3

The shame belongs to the enemy of God.
Any believer living by the word of the living God shall know no shame. Shame is the consequence of a sinful act. 
Adam and Eve became ashamed when they hid because they violated the word of God. 
With command, God gave Adam and Eve a beautiful garden stating, “…Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) 
Adam and Eve violated the command of God by eating from the tree of knowledge.
After the violation of God, Adam and Eve “…heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8) 
Hiding from the presence of God is evidence of shame. 
In life, shame will cause one to hide from the ground where one has been receiving and enjoying the blessings of God. 
The shame of Adam and Eve denied their opening to the visitation of God.
Sin, the disobedient to the command of God, closed Adam and Eve from God.
Without a doubt, sin is a consequence of shame.
As a believer, living by the word of God shall deny shame and not have a place in the life of a believer of God.
All should give to the command of God before and behind steps.
The command of God, His word, is perfect to deliver progress in life.
God is true to His word, and His word does not return void. 
Isaiah 55:11 buttressed God’s promise, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” 
Pay attention to every word of God, and God will attend to every walk of life.
Adam and Eve failed to trust and hope in God.
Failure to trust in the word of God shall lead to shame. 
The Psalmist buttresses, “In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be put to shame.” (Psalm 71:1) 
Live life by the word of God not become a vessel of shame.
According to the word of God, shame belongs to ones that do not believe and serve God but other gods. 
Psalm 97:7 declares, “Let all be put to shame who serve carved images, who boast of idols. Worship Him, all you gods.” 
As a believer, living life by the word of God shall be the portion of such not to shame. 
Romans 10:11 records, “For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 
Know to be living by the word of God!

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable your obedience to His command as a way of life.

ASK BEFORE GOD

FAITH CAPSULE: Asking from God is not evidence of being forgotten before God. 

Psalm 32, 94 

Daily, understand and know what is good to ask from God. 
What is stopping you from asking before God? 
A failure not to ask is evidence of a lack of faith.
The word of God states, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11) 
Asking and not receiving could be evidence of asking wrongly.
The Bible makes to realize that it is possible to ask and ask wrongly. 
James 4:3 states, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” 
What are you asking before God?
Is your asking centered on knowing God?
Why not ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His word and spiritual understanding?
Turn to God, and ask to live life to the glory of God.
To seek God is to be positioned before God to gain needs.
Asking from God is not evidence of being forgotten before God. 
God does not forget His children; He is God that acts for the one who waits for Him. 
Ones that know to wait on God should know to ask, and God attends to them. 
God hears from those who call on Him. 
God hears, and He is God that sees. 
The Bible pointed out that He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? (Psalm 94:9) 
It is worth asking God for instruction and his teaching over your life. 
In these days of challenges and evil occurrences, ask His promises as Psalm 32:8 records, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go, I will guide you with My eye.” 
Do you have the desire for His eye to guide you? 
It is a blessing to be guided by the eye of God.
Psalmist buttress, “Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach out of your law, that You may give him rest from the days of adversity…” (Psalm 94:12-13) 
With desire, strive to gain the instruction and teaching of God to lead you.
God has promised to instruct and teach that will add rest for all. 
Daily, understand and know what is good to ask from God. 

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to hear and respond, walking in His way.

HIS WAY

Faith Capsule: Walking the Way of God allows the Word of God to take the lead.

Exodus 33

The Word of God is the strength in place for all to engage in every step of life.
Jesus is the Living Word of God that was with God in the beginning.
John 1:1-3 records, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made.”  
The Word of God is God. 
The Word of God is also the Way of God. 
Jesus testified in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” 
The Way of God is the Word of God. 
Jesus is the Word of God for every believer.
Walking the Way of God allows the Word of God to take the lead.
God can not be deceived or mocked.
God sees the ways of everyone. 
Which way are you going? 
God has His way, and His ways are in His Word.
Any way outside the way of God is a way into self-destruction. 
Moses as the leader, could not move forward to the Promised Land without the way of God.
Moses called on God, “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.” (Exodus 33:13) The way of God is deliverance and preservation. 
Through the pages of the Bible, none engaged the Way of God and ended up in destruction.
The way of God is the presence of God.
With a desire to walk in the way of His way shall experience the guidance of feet. I Samuel 2:9 buttresses, “He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For by strength no man shall prevail.” 
Walking in His way is taking to the avenue of keeping silent the wicked ones.
The Word of God is the strength in place for all to engage in every step in life.
No one should not count on personal strength.
Are you considering your strength not of God in the life journey? 
Give yourself to the way of God, and God shall direct you to keep you beyond your expectation. 
Let God be pleased by walking in His way because, “When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” (Proverbs 16:7) 
The Lord God has given all His Word to deliver and preserve all that live life by His Word.
The life journey demands walking the way of God, not being a failure.

 Prayer for today: Ask to be seeking God to gain direction in His way.

STAY FOCUS!

FAITH CAPSULE: Disconnect self from another god, stay focused on God.  

Numbers 25

When God is not the center of the life of one, self or another god shall become the center of the life of one. 
What kind of god have you joined yourself to worship as a god? 
Today, be vigilant not to join any other god but focus on One and only God the creator of all. 
Joining any other god besides the One and true God is, renouncing the Almighty God above all.
Joining any other god is evidence of despising God for a god that does not have life. 
During the journey of Israelites to Promised Land, their stop over at Acacia Grove was the time they joined another god. 
Numbers 25:1-3 records, “Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. 
The children of Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor. 
The Israelites assigned themselves to another god; the commandment of God was no longer relevant to them; they began to go after a god rather than commit to God with deliverance and preservation.
Baal of Peor was the god worshiped in Moab that made the children of Israel committed to harlotry, sacrificing other gods and bowing down to gods outside of the God with an outstretched hand for their deliverance. 
What or who have you joined yourself? 
Consciously or unconsciously, have you entered a life that is gradually taking you outside of the way of the Only true God?
The Israelites joined to another god, a demonstration of departing away from delivering God. 
To be departed from God provoked God against the Israelites.
The Bible records, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the LORD, out in the sun that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” (Numbers 25:4) 
It is true that every step outside the word with a later return for forgiveness, but the consequence remains.
Do not join another god of the world. 
To join another god is jumping into pain because consequences will always come with long-lasting pain. 
The consequence is the reason to remain consistent in walking in the word of God.
Do not join another god outside of the living God of creation. 
Israelites joined Baal of Peor, a sin with a painful consequence that took many lives. 
Numbers 25:9 states, “And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.”  
The testimony of the Israelites for joining another god is a devastating act of sin that God does not tolerate. 
Disconnect yourself from another god and stay focused on God. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to be the focus and not join any other god.