FAITH CAPSULE: What are you withholding from God to disobey His command?

GENESIS 22

Giving God a reasonable sacrifice will provoke unexpected blessings from God. 
In Genesis 22:2, God spoke to Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” The word of God for Abraham is a costly command, a sacrifice, and hard to engage.
God demands a sacrifice that is challenging and can be emotionally exhausting but with no excuse to disobey. 
Obedience sacrifice is to honor God to become elevated for good. 
Are you obeying God as the Lord leads?
God asked for Isaac as an offering, but Abraham could not question the request but respond obediently before God.
Abraham rose early in the morning to obey the request of God without consultation of no man.
At the ground of the burnt offering of his only son Isaac, the obedience of Abraham, God calls as stated in Genesis 22:11-13, “But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.”
What are you withholding from God to disobey His command?
What is it you cannot give to God that is in a position to give back to you beyond expectation?
With understanding, know that all you have, all that you are, and all that you can be is in the hand of God. Bible documents that every reasonable obedience sacrifice provokes the attention of God in every area of life. Will you consider the kind of sacrifice that you are rendering unto God?
If your sacrifice is reasonable, God will give unexpected reasonable visitation.
The sacrificial obedience of Abraham provoked the blessing of God.
 Genesis 22:16-18 record the blessing of God over Abraham, “…By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed My voice.”  
Obeying the word of God is a sacrifice that will provoke the unexpected blessing of God.
Abraham engaged the command of God to gain and retain the uncommon blessing of God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the heart of obedience to God in all your ways of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: See in the word, know not to become a victim of enticement of the devil. 

Luke 4

Without seeing in the word of God, enticement will occupy to lead into sin. The enemy of all man is the master of deception that has been around long enough to draw one into the sin of destruction.
Jesus had the experience of the enticement but could not become a failure just as Eve did.
Luke 4:1-4 documents the failure of the devil in his enticement of Jesus: “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”  The enticement of the devil failed before Jesus. Focusing on every word of God is a key to avoid sin before God.
Today, be warned and wise to know that if Jesus experienced enticement of the enemy, no man is above cunning devil with enticement activity to lure man into sin.
King David, a man after the heart of God, could not escape but fell for sin.
Samson was blessed with strength by God but could not avoid the trap of the enticement by the devil.
Samson was a miracle child born with special instructions from God but was not an excuse to escape the device of enticement. 
The Bible documents in Judges 13:5, “For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” Samson ended up his life blinded because he could not see in the instruction of God to deliver him. 
As strong as Samson was, he became a victim of the enticement of the enemy when he failed to obey according to the Word of God. 
The enticement of the enemy brought down Samson from where God placed him. The Book of Judges 16:5 records, “And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, ‘Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.’”  
Samson could not avoid himself from the cunning of the enticement of the enemy of man. 
God answers prayer today, pray and ask for the deliverance hand of God in every area of your life, not to become a victim of the enticement of the devil.

Prayer for today: Pray that you will not become a victim of evil devices.

FAITH CAPSULE: See what the Word of God speaks to you to receive what you see, to become of you.

Joshua 6

In the Word of God, there is the direction that never fails. For example, Joshua needed to behold (see) the word of God to gain boldness and character for winning over Jericho. 
Jericho posed as an enemy, with an attempt to deny the advance of the Israelites to the Promised Land. Joshua 6:1-2 records the calling of Joshua to see (to behold) in the Word of God, “Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.”  
See what the Word of God speaks to you to receive what you see, to become of you.
Joshua moved by what he saw in the word of God with direction against the enemy (the challenge of the Jericho wall). The Bible record the result of seeing and action according to the Word of God: “The wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all.” (Joshua 6:20-21)  
Joshua listened; he was able to behold (to see) direction in the word of God as he gained boldness and character to become the winner over Jericho. 
Jacob was running away from his brother (Esau), and he needed boldness and charter to succeed in his journey. God responded to the need of Jacob when He commanded him to behold (see) in His word stating, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” (Genesis 28:15) 
Always listen to see (behold) in the word of God, to obtain the boldness and character, having trust and hope in God.
To behold (see) in the Word of God, one shall replace fear with faith that is rooted in boldness and character gained in the Word of God.
In your way of life, engage the Word of God by listening with understanding and know that it gives life to the just ones. Habakkuk 2:4 buttresses, “…the just shall live by his faith.” By the word of God, live life as one with boldness and character. 
God magnifies His word above His name. (Psalm 138:2) 
The Word of God is worthy to deliver; His word is mighty and will preserve one that beholds the word of God.
Listen to the Word of God to see as sent for your healing and deliverance. Psalm 107:20 buttresses, “He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.” 
Do you listen to God?
Listen to see in the word of God, and gain boldness and character that makes one be a winner for the glory of God.
God is power; God that delivered Israelites is still in the business of deliverance and preservation if one will take a position that one sees (behold) God in His word.

Prayer for today:  Ask God to enable you to always see in His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: The word of God is a live wire.

Psalm 119:41-56

Live life by the word of God to be full of His presence. God is light (1John 1:5) and Psalm 119:130 records, “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” 
Give yourself to meditate on the word of God.
Meditate about the word of God:
FIRST
Acts 20:32 records, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up…” The word of God builds up obedient ones.
Noah received and believed the word of God to build an ark as his vehicle against a flood of destruction in a region that hardly rains. Genesis 6:22 testifies to the obedience of Noah, “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”
Do the word of God to build you up against the wickedness of the world. Ask for the word of God to be established in you.
SECOND Responsibility is the price for greatness, the life of commitment to the word of God.
One with a commitment to the word of God will have the word of God in the heart, not just in the mouth.
Seek God with all heart, with all soul, with all strength.  Deuteronomy 4:29 records the consequence for seeking God, “…you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 
Responsibility of commitment to the word God will not be discouraged by the surrounding world not to seek God diligently to find God.
Prayerfully be committed to His word.
THIRD Psalm 107:20 records, “He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”  Prayerfully engage Jeremiah 23:29 as it records the assurance of God for all, “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” Ask that whatever it is, that is not of God, clouding your destiny, as a garment to burn off by the fire of the word of God.
Ask that whatever is set in place as a hindrance against your life, that you know and not know, be broken by the hammer nature of the word of God. 
FOURTH One that is full of this WORLD cannot be hungry for the word of God. It is possible to fast from food, but fasting from the word of God will lead one far from God to become a victim of the wicked world. Feed on the word of God to build you up. 
Apostle Paul admonishes, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32)

Prayer for today: Ask that God enable you to give yourself to His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: Do you have trust but not hope?

Numbers 13

During the wilderness journey, the children of Israel could not trust and have hope to see in the word of God to take them to the Promised Land. 
They trust God to bring them out of the bondage of over four hundred years but had no hope to arrive at the plans and promise of God.
At the time to enter Canaan, God spoke to Moses to send men to spy out to the land of Canaan. (Numbers 13)
Moses sent out spies to the land of Canaan. 
The spies returned with a report stating: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.” (Numbers 13:27-29)
The spies reported with trust, mentioning the goodness of the land.
However, the report was without hope because of the fear of the people of the land. Numbers 13:31-33 states, “But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants), and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” 
The report of the spy lacks trust and hope in the deliverance of God.
Through the Bible, learn, know to trust, and have hope in God for His deliverance.
The lack of trust and hope of the Israelites prompted fear that is not acceptable before God. 
Except for Joshua and Caleb, the Israelites complained, confessed negatively before God.
God responded to the negative confession of the Israelites: Numbers 14:28-30, “As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.”
Know and understand that God is not careless to deliver in His plans and promises when there is no full attention to the conditions to receive from Him. 
Give full attention to the word of God that provokes the blessing of God for those who trust in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:7)

Prayer for today: Ask to be trusting and having hope in God.