FAITH CAPSULE: The devil is with devices to entice all into sin.

2 Samuel 11

The enticement of the devil is a cunning device with no respect to excuse any man under heaven to become a victim of the devil. 
The devil is with devices to entice with an attempt to bring all down into a pit of sin. 
The enticement is the deadliest weapon of the devil. 
The enticement is always what the devil will use to attract a man for the temptation to become a sinner before God.
To be enticed is to be lured away from the point of focus. 
Know and not fall for the devices of enticement but remain focus on the word of God. 
The temptation is not to sin, but it is for man to fall and sink in sin. 
King David did not accidentally fell for the sin of sexual immorality that he committed with Bathsheba (the wife of Uriah). It was through seeing (which is the anchor of enticement) that King David entrapped himself into sin. The Bible records the route that David took to fall for sin: “Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.” (2 Samuel 11:2)
David was at the right place but at the wrong time to become trapped in sin. David fell for sin when he saw a woman bathing. 
David could not resist the temptation of sin but went on to inquire about a woman belonging to another man. 
Getting carried away by enticement will lead to a deadly avenue of sinning before God.
Are you positioning yourself to be carried away by enticement, the avenue that leads to sin and sinning before God? 
Imagine David, a man identified by God, as a man after the heart of God but carried away into sin and sinning before God?
David failed in the depth of his heart, not to avoid sin and sinning.
Are you paying attention to avoid the wrong place not to become a victim of sin against God? 
Eve could not give attention to avoid the enticement of the devil when she eats from the tree of knowledge against the warning of God not to eat it.
Eve lost focus when she saw that the tree was good for food; that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate with Adam. (Genesis 3:6) 
Without seeing in the word of God, enticement will come to lead one that is unfocused 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.
Live life to the glory of God, stay tuned, and not be turned off by the devices of enticement by the devil.
Abstain from seeing in the wicked world; begin to see in the Word of God for your deliverance and preservation. 

Prayer for today: Ask that you will not become a victim of the enticement by the devil.

FAITH CAPSULE: Fear shatters trust and hope not to attain promise.

Numbers 13

During the wilderness journey, the children of Israel could not trust and hope to see in the word of God to take them to the Promised Land. 
The Israelites were at the Wilderness of Paran, waiting to move into the Canaan when God spoke to Moses to send men to spy out the land of Canaan. (Numbers 13)
Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan to spy out the land. The spies returned with a report and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 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. 29 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, their report was lack of hope because of the fear for the people of the land b saying, “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.” (Numbers 13:31-33)
The report of the spy lacks trust and hope in the deliverance of God.
In the plans and the promises of God through the pages of the Bible, trust, and hope in God, He is faithful to deliver.
The lack of trust and hope in the Israelites prompted fear that is not acceptable before God. Except for Joshua and Caleb, the Israelites complained, confessed negative 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 says, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:7)
Give full attention to God in His word.

Prayer for today: Ask God to fear Him alone, not to fall fear wicked world.

 FAITH CAPSULE: Full attention before God is trust and hope to receive fully from God.

Exodus 16

Without having trust and hope in God is not complete to arrive at the plans and promise of God.
Jeremiah 17:7 records, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord.”  Trusting God without having hope in God shall result in no blessing. Trusting God and having hope in God makes man rest on God and not be rebellious.   
Many times, the Israelites trust in God but no hope in God. 
The Israelites trust God to bring them out of bondage but could not hope in God meeting their needs.
Are you troubling to seek after want rather than after needs?
The Psalmist confessed, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). Having faith is to trust and hope for what He has for all. 
During the wilderness journey, the children of Israel wanted what they left behind in Egypt instead of trusting and hoping in God to meet their needs. For the Israelites, without trust and hope in God, they resulted in a complaint. The children of Israel’s remembrance of what they were eating in Egypt (fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic – Numbers 11:5) was a clear demonstration of the fact that their wants were overriding the Lord’s provision of their need for the journey. 
Are you placing more focus on what you want more than how the Lord has been providing for your needs?
The children of Israel’s lack of want at hand turned them to a vessel of the complaint before God.
Complaining instead of complementing God for His provision is a very act of rebellion. 
Complaining is a destiny terminator, and it will deny all to receive in the promised and plans of God that are in place for all.
Are you a conversant complainer before God, or you are one with the character of complimenting God at every breath of life He is giving you?
The Israelites craved for a pot of meat and bread instead of accepting the provision of God that was enough to meet their needs. Exodus 16:16 records the plan of God to meet the needs of the Israelites “…Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.”  Despite God’s direction, that was enough for meeting needs, some went above and beyond the word of God, by taking more than needed. As a result of not following the direction of God, all the children who took more eventually lost all. (Exodus 16:18-21). 
The children of Israel lost in their desire for wants, and they could not recognize the needs provided by God. 
Trusting and hoping in God is enough to meet your needs. 
Be patient, look up to God, and know that God’s provision is always on time to meet needs. Paul confirmed, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled trusting and hoping to wait on God.

FAITH CAPSULE: In the near to God is the protection of God.

2 Kings 6

Once, while Elisha and his servant were in the face of challenge, Elisha knew they were near to God, but his servant does not know the nearness of God.
The servant of Elisha was not aware of the presence of God for their deliverance because he does not know the near of God.
Elisha knows the nearness of God and was able to see, to command for the forces of God that supported him and his servant with a victory.
A believer of God that is living life by the word of God will know that God is near at all time knowing His intervention will not fail. The bible records, “So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:18)
Living in the consciousness of the care of God is the evidence of faith, the expression of expectation for the divine protection of God. 
Do you know that God is near for you while you are living life as one exposed to the world without God? The Psalmist expresses, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20) 
God made all, but many are living life outside of God, not as a child of God, not keeping to His command and far from God. 
In the near to God is the protection of God for one that draws near to God. Elisha walks in line with God, knows his nearness to God, and could see it that the forces are waiting for his command before they could act on his behalf. Elisha and his servant were protected and could not become a victim of his enemies.
Maintaining life with God is the evidence in the case of Elisha.
What does it take to gain and maintain being in the near of God? 
The pages of the Bible identify what it takes to gain and maintain self in the near of God.
Acts 6:4, “but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Acts 20:32, “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.”
Jude 20, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
According to the word of God, seek God diligently by: 
Giving self continually not casually to the word of God.
Give self to be build up and be able to claim the blessings of God.
Give yourself to be a prayerful believer.
Give self to the word of God to become a faithful believer.
Be near to God that is always near for all that will walk in His word.

Prayer for today: Ask God with a desire to live life in the consciousness of His care for your life. 

FAITH CAPSULE: Your stop-over should not replace you from stepping forward.

Genesis 11

God is not a God of stagnation.
Are you experiencing stagnation in any area of your life that you know? 
What is causing you not to move forward?
Have you been staying so long and not recognize the fact that you are not moving forward?
God wants His creation to move forward in life.
Terah, the father of Abram, decided to move forward, but he settled for stagnation in his journey. 
The word records, “And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.” (Genesis 11:31-32) Terah’s destination was Canaan, but when he came to Haran, he became stagnated to spend two hundred and five years before he died.
Haran could have been stopping over for Terah not to replace him from stepping forward.
Terah’s stepping forward from Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan ended at Haran as his dwelling place. 
God, calling you out of bondage, did not design a place for you not to move forward as a dwelling place. God is a good God. It is time for you to search the heart and step forward in God’s design for your life. 
Trust in God that the enemy is a failure.
God spoke to the concerning stagnation of the Israelites from the bondage of four hundred years in Deuteronomy 1:6, “The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.’” Are you experiencing self-created stagnation while God is moving you in plans of going forward? 
God said to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 1:7-8, “Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.” God told them to turn and take their journey forward. He also asked them to see what was in place for them. Faith demands from the children of Israel to move from the comfort to where God committed taking them to.
Faith demands from the Israelites not to make a dwelling place as a stop-over.
Faith also demands from all, see the promise of God and not submit to comfort in the place of commitment.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to see in His word, to receive His blessing.