Category Archives: Devotions

AVOID EVIL HEART

FAITH CAPSULE: Wickedness is evil and non-stop but continually. 

Jeremiah 7

The wickedness under heaven is not new and is not temporary, but ongoing until the final judgment of God.
Genesis 6:5 record the response word of God about the wickedness, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Wickedness is evil and non-stop but continually.
The judgment of God against wickedness will come at His appointed time.
Is wickedness your way of life?
Are you comfortable in doing wickedness knowing that you are getting away with it?
Wickedness testifies to the lack of fear before God.
Mark it, God is not asleep over the wickedness on earth.
Ecclesiastes 8: 11-13 speaks loud to the wicked ones, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.”
How is your way before God?
The way engaged will identify wicked or not wicked before God.
The way to move forward is in the word of God, while the way backward is in the wicked world of man. 
With you, which way is yours? 
Are you going by the dictates of your heart or by the living word of the living God?
Going by the dictates of the heart of man can be of the world.
The way of the world is the way that seems right to man, not the way of God. Proverbs 14:12 makes us realize that “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” 
The way that seems right to man comes from the dictates of the evil heart.
Engaging the way that seems right is the wrong way and will not go forward but backward.  
The way that seems right is always a way of assumption with no certainty to lead right.
The possibility of going back is rooted in the dictates of the heart. 
God speaks to Jeremiah about the disobedience of the Israelites in Jeremiah 7:21-24, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 
But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ 
Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.”  
Evil heart belongs to wicked.

Prayer for today: Ask that God take charge of your way. 

TWO THINGS

FAITH CAPSULE: Seek God diligently to abide and be committed to God.

Psalm 91

TO SEEK GOD DILIGENTLY IS TO ABIDE IN HIS WORD
Understanding and knowledge will know that the word of God is not to be taking for granted.
The word of God is a shield, to abide and to dwell in, not to become a victim of the wicked world. 
The word of Jesus confirms, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7)Taking the word of God for granted will live life outside of the word of God to miss out on the power of God that will keep and deliver one. The Word of God is God, and all should give themselves to the promise of God to have an abiding place in Him.
TO SEEK GOD DILIGENTLY IS TO BE COMMITTED TO GOD 
The word of God is God to seek diligently by giving self to His command, in the way of life, continually.
For example, the word of God commanded that no razor should come upon the head of Samson to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. (Judges 13:5) Samson could not commit himself to the word of God, the source of his strength, but revealed to Delilah. Judges 16:16-17 records, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” Samson engaged in the act of taking God for granted when he could not commit to the command of God over his life.
Continually, commit to the word of God should not be taken for granted to become a victim of the wicked world.
Live life for God, seeking God diligently instead of you taking God for granted.
The three friends could not deny serving God but rejected serving gods or worship the gold image of Nebuchadnezzar.
If you have not been giving yourself to God, your creator, it is evidence that you are taking Him for granted. Today is the time for you to be giving yourself to God by seeking God diligently. 
In this wicked world, give yourself to understand that wisdom and knowledge in the word of God is a key to live life for the glory of God. Isaiah 33:6 speaks to all, “Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times and the strength of salvation; The fear of the Lord is His treasure.” 
Do not take God for granted, but seek Him diligently in His word, worship, and not worry.

Prayer for today:  Enable me, Lord, to seek you diligently.

SIN SINKS

FAITH CAPSULE: With sin, no one will gain the presence of God. 

2 Samuel 12

Come out of sin to live life by the word of God, to gain and retain the presence of God.
The Case of the sin of David and Hezekiah:
King David saw and sent for Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. The Bible records, “…and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.” (2 Samuel 11:4-5)
David was wrong by his attempt to cover up his doing with Bathsheba when he sent Uriah to the front of war for his death. It was a wicked act from David, a man identified by God as one after His own heart. (1 Samuel 13:14) 
God will not overlook the sin of anyone regardless of the past good act before God. Before God, the only way to come out clean of sin is to turn away (repent) from sin.
The sin of King David before God called for Prophet Nathan to go and rebuke David. At the approach of David by Prophet Nathan, David repented his sin. 2 Samuel 12:13 records the response of David, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.  
Repentance will bring forth redemption.
The repentance of David before God granted Him the mercy of God. 
God did not withdraw His spirit from David and not cut off His word from him. 
The word of God speaks to all, “Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.” (Proverbs 1:23) All need to learn from turning to God to gain the presence of God. David was rebuked, turned to repent and retain the hand of God over his life. 
Hezekiah was sick with the mark to die when the word of God rebuked him through Prophet Isaiah stating, “…thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’” (Isaiah 38:1) The bible records the response of repentance by Hezekiah, “Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD.” (Isaiah 1:2) Just like David, Hezekiah repented at the rebuke of Isaiah, the prophet of God, and the word of God gave life to Hezekiah in the place of death.
What is it that stops you from turning away from sin to God at His rebuke?
Follow the word of God to keep you away from the path of sin. 
One that follows the word of God does not despise God but takes a position to see God. 
Despising the word of God will set one for self-destruction. (Proverbs 13:13) 
In life, one that is despising the word of God will sink into sin. 
With sin, one is not seeking God and will not see God. 
Claiming to be seeking God diligently but telling lies to deceive and manipulate others shall not experience the manifestation of expectation.
Does that speak to you?

Prayer for today: Ask not to be silent or a blatant liar.

DO YOU KNOW?

FAITH CAPSULE: Get to know that obedience and thanks offering before God will provoke a miracle. 

John 11:17-57

With obedience and thanksgiving to God, the miracle of lack shall convert to abundance.
At the feeding of 5,000, Jesus asked His disciples not to let the people go away with an empty stomach. 
In a desert with no provision to meet the need of the people, “Jesus asked Philip, where shall we buy bread that these may eat?” (John 6:5)
His disciples informed Him that a lad is with five barley loaves and two small fish, which was not enough to feed the population in the desert.
Just like disciples, are you speculating meeting your needs? 
Are you at a juncture of life experiencing a representative of desert life in your life?
This day, gain understanding and knowledge in the word of God that there is always possibility out of impossibility. 
Jesus responded to the answer of doubt to the lack of bread for the people at the desert in John 6:10-11, “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.” 
For the miracle of provision of abundance in the desert, the people obeyed the command of Jesus for them to sit down. 
Also, Jesus gave thanks to the Lord for the provision (five barley and two small fish) for thousands of people to be fed. 
The people obeyed, and thanks offered to God provoked the miracle of abundance for the population. 
The combination of obedience and thanksgiving brought Lazarus out of the grave of life. 
John 11:41-44 documents a demonstration of obedience to the command in the word of Jesus and thanksgiving before God.
The people responded to the command to take the stone away from the tomb of dead Lazarus. 
In addition to the moving stone in obedience, Jesus lifted His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
At the tomb of Lazarus, the obedience of the people and the thanks offering replaced death with life.
Giving obedience to the word of God and giving thanks will always provoke provision and restoration, the evidence of undeniable miracle in the face of life challenges.
Give yourself to obeying the word of God and offering thanks for the miracle of God.

Prayer for today: Ask to be living a life of obedience and thanks offering to God.

LEARN

FAITH CAPSULE: Besides God, who are you boasting?

1 Samuel 17

Boasting of God can be claiming or flourishing in the name of God.
Boasting of God is the character of a believer that knows God, not just knows about God.
One boasting God does have faith to act with boldness and character as if the only one that belongs to God.
It is wise to let your strength be rooted in boasting God.
With understanding and knowledge, boasting of or about God is glorifying God.
The documentation of David testifies his strength is in his boasting of God by his word of actions.
David personalizes God as if he is the only one that God belongs to him alone. 
He repeatedly speaks as if he is the only one that owns and belongs to God.
The book of Psalms testifies to the words of David that personalize God as the father to him alone:
Psalm 4:1, “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.”
Psalm 13:3, “Consider and hear me, O Lord my God…” (David personalizes God to him alone, the evidence of his boasting of God.)
Psalm 86:1, “Bow down Your ear, O Lord, hear me; For I am poor and needy.”
The boasting of God by David is glaring in his prayer, conversation to remind God continually.
The boasting of God is the faith of calling God by His word that does not return to Him void.
Isaiah 43:26 records the word of God, “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.” David, with knowledge and understanding of the mind of God, personalizes God as His father, with the boast, to ride on the word of God to gain the undeniable attention of God.
Besides God, who are you boasting?
Are you boasting about your strength?
Knowing to boast of God is rooted in understanding that God is mindful of the created one that has a place for Him in the heart, by the ways of living life.
David knows the mind of God to boast of God for all his God-given life, and God knows the mind of David.
Once, God testifies of David as a man after His own heart. (1 Samuel 13:14)
David knows the mind of God when he approached God to ask in Psalm 8:4, “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” 
The documentation through the Bile is for learning and understanding for one that will give self to the word of God, having the patience and comfort of the documentation.
Grow out of knowing about God, get to know God, be build-up by the word of God to be boasting of God with the boldness and character of knowing God.
Continually, let your strength be rooted in boasting God. 
Boasting about God is a way of glorifying God with praise. 
To be acknowledging God is praising God. Psalm 50:23 buttress, “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.” 

Prayer for today: Ask that God enable boasting Him to become your way of life.