Category Archives: Devotions

RISE TO OBEY?

FAITH CAPSULE: One that rises to obey shall move as directed by the word of God,

1 Samuel 15

Obedience demands commitment with no promise for convenience. 
Obedience demands agreement or submission.
Think of it and know that obedience is sacrifice.
The word of God demands to obey with no excuse or compromise. 
Rising in obedience to the word of God is not enough without moving as commanded by the word of God.
King Saul was an example of rising in obedience to the word of God but could not move forward to do according to the word of God.
For example, God sent Samuel to Saul, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” (1 Samuel 15:2-3) 
King Saul rose in obedience but failed to move according to the word of God.
Saul spared some and destroyed as decided on his own against the word of God. 
Disobedience to God will always provoke the rejection of disobedience by God.
Rising in obedience to the word of God is not enough without moving obediently to God. 
Many are failing before God, not obeying according to the word of God.
Are you one with a disobedience lifestyle before God?
Jonah, a servant of God, answered but failed to move according to the word of God. The Bible records, “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 ’Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” (Jonah 1:1-3) 
Jonah responded by hearing but followed the dictates of his heart.
The disobedience of Jonah was half-obedience.
The disobedience of Jonah led him into the belly of a fish, a dark place, on the unfamiliar ground for Jonah. 
An act of disobedience will dislocate you unfailingly.
Disobedience to the word of God is not complete obedience. 
Many answers to God obediently but do not obey in the journey of the calling by God.
Jonah, by his disobedience, entered self-affliction.
Jonah called on God, “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly. And he said: ‘I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, and He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice,” (Jonah 2:1-2) 
God answered Jonah, and his repentance to God delivered him from incomplete obedience. 
To be fully obeyed is all that counts before God. 
Excuse for disobedience failed King Saul. 
One disobedient to God despises God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you not to be a failure in His calling over your life.

GOD WAITS

FAITH CAPSULE: God waits to act for those that run from His calling. 

Exodus 3

One can run from answering the calling of God, but God will only need to wait for the runner.
Are you running from God? 
God does not need to run before catching up with His creation.
The fastest created one that is running away from answering the calling of God will be forever before hands are up to become arrested by God.
The awesome eternal God is in perfect control over all His creation. 
The word testified the extension of His hand that is unavoidable. 
For example, Moses ran away from Egypt to end at the location where he was tracked down with no more track to run on.
At Horeb, the mountain of God, Moses was with the flock when God rounded him up. Exodus 3:2 records, “…the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.” 
God waits to act for those that run from His calling. 
God may want to send one to the North Pole but run to the South Pole in an attempt to escape from the calling of God.
Moses gained the attention of the Angel of the Lord when the bush in a fire did not burn. (Exodus 3:3) 
God waited for the runner Moses to put him to arrest for his calling assignment. 
In life, pay attention that God is giving attention to your speed. 
The attention of God draws the answering of Moses. Exodus 3:4 records, “So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 
Just like Moses, Ezekiel did not run from God before the outstretched hand of God reached him and set him up for the assignment of God.
Ezekiel testifies to the hand of God, “The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and indeed they were very dry.” (Ezekiel 37:1-2) 
The hand of God came upon Ezekiel to get his attention for the intention of God. 
Are you one that is running far from God or too fast for God to put you under His arrest?
Know this day that God will wait or stretch out His hand to draw your attention to His intention. 
Ezekiel needed to receive the touch of God to know that power belongs to God.

Prayer for today: Ask not to run away from the calling of God over your life.

DISREGARD TITLE

 FAITH CAPSULE: Disregard the title not to deny the word of God. 

Numbers 20:1-13

What is holding you and not obeying God?
As simple as God commands in His word, with simple obedience, do as He command. 
Proverbs 13:13 warns, “He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.”
The word of God is not a suggestion but a command to obey.
The word of God is not a decoration for man to despise. 
Diligently, continually, give yourself to obey the word of God.
The word of God is healing, deliverance, preservation, and direction for one that obeys.
The word of God is truthful. With understanding and knowledge of the word of God, you will not disregard the word of God.
Disregard the title not to deny the word of God. 
At all times, there is no excuse to disobey as commanded by the word of God. 
A failure to disobey the word of God is a choice that comes with a consequence. 
Pray to live life by the word of God because determination is not enough to live by the word of God. 
In Numbers 20:7, God gave commands to Moses, God-ordained overseer of the Israelites, at the deliverance from the bondage of over four hundred years, “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 
The command (word) of God to Moses was not a suggestion.
Moses chose to break the word of God. 
Breaking the word of God is the choice to disobey God and not hallow God. In the life of a journey, failing to hallow God is an avenue not to get to the divine assignment of God.
Moses, a giant in the hand of God, reduced his fulfillment by not being able to enter the Promised Land that God promised the children of Israel.
Be specific as commanded by God. 
God commanded Moses to provide water for the children of Israel by speaking to the rock, but Moses responded in his way to obey the word of God. 
To fully obey God is half-obedience, just as doing right in the wrong way. 
However, water came forth, but Moses fell short of complying with the direction of God. 
Numbers 20:11-12 records the disobedience of Moses before God: “Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, ‘because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.’’
Moses was not specific to the command and could not do simply enough as commanded by God. 
Moses spoke and struck the rock when not commanded to strike the rock.

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to live obediently to the word of God.

GOD CALLS

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you called by self, by the world, not by God?

Psalm 8, 49

To answer the calling of God is to live life by the word of God. 
The calling of God is a blessing of God in the life of one that answers.
In life, no one is the caller of God but God that calls all.
Jesus called His disciples. 
Matthew 10:1 records the calling of disciples of Jesus, “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.” (Matthew 10:1)
Today, unlike the disciples of Jesus, many self-acclaimed calls themselves with the word of God in the head, not in the heart.
Romans 8:28-29 testifies, to the called, “… to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” 
Are you called by self, by the world, not by God?
The called one by God moves obediently to the direction of God.
Matthew 10:9-10 record the direction to the disciple on the journey for Jesus, “Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.” 
As a called one, does the direction of Jesus sound familiar to you?
The called one that obeys the direction of God will be connected to God not to become trapped but to arrive at the center of divine assignment in life.
However, answering the calling of God will mount with challenges, but obedience to God will deliver in it all. 
Psalm 34:19 encourages, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.” 
In the journey of answering the calling of God, mockery will mount against such to become discouraged, but the miracle of victory will answer.
Also, stagnation will delay the journey of answering to the calling of God, but with obedience to God, the motion to arrive at the divine assignment is certain.
Answering the calling of God is the identity of love for God. 
God calls out of His goodness and lovingkindness. 
God is mindful of all to crown all with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:4-5) Unfortunately, by the lack of knowledge, man does not know the blessing of the calling of God. Psalm 49:20 buttresses, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” 
The calling of God is for a glorious destiny to arrive at the center of the divine assignment. 
The journey of glorious destiny is a departure from iniquity.
Glorious destiny has its foundation in righteousness. 
In righteousness, there is the blessing of God with favor as a shield of God. (Psalm 5:12)  
Do you know what it takes to engage the delivery of glorious destiny?
Walking in righteousness is all that it takes to engage the delivery of glorious destiny.
Answer the calling of God not to live a life of waste.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable your answering to His calling.

NAVIGATOR

FAITH CAPSULE: The word of God is also a navigator not to fail. 

Proverbs 4

There is a need to hear the word of God regularly.
To become one hearing and hearing by the word of God is not to fail to observe and do according to the word of God.
One that observes will see to receive and become what one sees in the word.
Deuteronomy 12:28 records, “Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.” 
Hear to observe and obey the word of God. 
God also points it out to Joshua, “This 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.” (Joshua 1:8) 
All should be meditating on the word of God day and night, observing and doing (obeying) the word of God to experience the manifestation of the promise of God.
Psalm 33:4 admonishes, “For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth.”  
The word of God is right.
Without any doubt, no weapon forms against one that observes and obeys the truth in the word of God diligently.
What one hears to observe and obey in the word of God is what will carry one through daily life. 
The word of God is direction, deliverance, protection, and preservation. There is a need to hear the word of God regularly.
The Psalmist testifies in Psalm 143:8,” Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning. For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk for I lift up my soul to You.” The Psalmist demonstrates that hearing, observing, and obeying God in the morning is what makes the difference in the day. 
It is discipline to make provision for hearing from the word of God first in the morning, trusting with hope in God, will be activated for daily endeavors. 
Also, what man hears in the morning will be like a compass to navigate daily challenges. 
The word of God heard in the morning will be accompanying your journey. 
The word of God will show the way through the day, and it will also be in place to deliver one in the face of the enemy.
No one walks in the way of God to become a victim of the enemy. 
Those who walk in His way shall not fail the expected end. 
Give self to hearing, observing to obey, and be set in the promise of God.

Prayer for today: Ask that you be enabled to be occupied by the word of God.