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.  

FAITH CAPSULE: The case of Zacchaeus with multitude as a hindrance.

Luke 19:1-9, Acts 9:36-43

Zacchaeus was a tax collector. 
He was short in stature, a physical limitation of his was in place to deny him from inviting Jesus into his home. Zacchaeus recognized that he was limited but rejected it from being an excuse not to seek Jesus diligently as desired.
Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd because he wanted to see Jesus. 
He was not attempting to join the crowd in knowing about Jesus. 
He wanted to know Jesus, to see Jesus because to see is to receive Jesus into his house. 
Zacchaeus recognized there was a need for him to do more than running to see Jesus, then he climbed a tree to see and receive Jesus. 
What are your efforts to see and able to receive Jesus? 
Your recognition by your pastor, attending church once a week, or sleeping in the church is not enough to overcome the multitude/crowd in the world of today. 
Luke 19:4-6 records the effort of Zacchaeus to deny the multitude from denying him not to see and receive Jesus into his house, “So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.” 
By running ahead with efforts to see and receive the Lord will be your mark for deliverance from the hindrance of the multitude not able to deny your answering to the calling of God.
Despite Zacchaeus running and effort to overcome the hindrance of the multitude, a complaint was lodged against him, saying, “…He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:7)
Can you imagine Zacchaeus, a man of short stature climbing a tree to see and receive Jesus into his house?
What is holding you from seeking God to see and receive Jesus into your life? 
The multitude (crowd) failed to hinder Zacchaeus from seeing and receiving Jesus into his life.
The word of God points out what it takes to put out a multitude, Know, and understand to put out any multitude in your life.
LEARN PUTTING OUT MULTITUDE
Jesus put out the crowd when He wanted to restore the life of the daughter of Jarius as Matthew 9:25 records, “But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.”  
Like Jesus, Peter also put out the crowd not to deny the miracle of Dorcas Acts 9:40 records, “But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.” 
Learn in the word of God to know that putting out the multitude/crowd will deny hindrance from having a place of your miracle.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to put out the multitude in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you mixed-up with many?

Numbers 11

The multitude is a state of many.
In life, to journey with the many is bound not to arrive at the expected end of the journey. The word admonishes, “…For many are called, but few chosen.” (Matthew 20:16)
Are you one in the company of multitude with the tendency to be crowded, not to see or rise over challenges in the journey of life?
The multitude/crowd in life, as an agent for hindrance, should be denied in life.
What role is the multitude/crowd doing in your life? 
Multitude could be a hindrance.
If a multitude is allowed in life, it will deny one from getting to where the LORD has destined for one to be. For example, the Israelites were mixed-up with multitudes and could not arrive at the destiny of God for their life.
When a mix up with the multitude is allowed in life, confusion is bound to exist, and that is certain to experience failure. 
Where there is a mix-up with the multitude, disorderliness shall predominate.
In the place of mix up with the multitude, confusion, mistake, misunderstanding will be in place.
As an acclaimed believer, are you searching for yourself to identify if you are mixed-up with the multitude?
The Israelites were about to engage the journey of freedom, to the promised of God when they mixed up with a multitude that is not of God for them. Exodus 12:38 said it, “A mixed multitude went up with them…”  
God did not call the Israelites to go with the multitude, but they went with them, and the consequence led them into destruction.
Numbers 11:4-6 records the damage of the mixed-up multitudes with the life of the Israelites, ” Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” 
With the multitudes, the Israelites were mixed-up, confused to confess negative before God, and that denied them to arrive at the promised of God. The word testifies about the complaint of the Israelites before God and the response of God to them in Numbers 14:27-29, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: 29 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.” 
What is it that is confusing you to be confessing negative in the place of positive before God? 
The Israelites were mixed-up with the multitude and could not arrive at the promise of God.

Prayer for today: Ask that you will not become a victim of the multitude.

FAITH CAPSULE: God alone is God that is Good. God alone is mercifully merciful. 

Psalm 34

With understanding, know that God alone is the only unchanging changer and able to reverse the irreversible to touch the lives of all.
God, in His mercy, has brought you this far.
Listen, it is not about how long your challenges persistently resist not to end despite your calling on God, but God alone will not ignore you, He will deliver you out in all. Understand and know to be thanking God for how far His mercy has brought you this far.
Affliction can be a challenge to discourage in waiting on God for deliverance. Psalm 34:19 encourages, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:19) Despite your challenges, do right before God, His mercy will deliver you.
What a Good God!
Good God that is consistent in His mercy will not fail in His goodness that is merciful towards those that will consistently seek for His deliverance.
Are you calling on Him?
Who do you remember to call on besides the merciful God?
Psalm 20:7 records, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”
Prayerfully, give self to calling on God by His exalted name alone (Psalm 148:13), remind Him by His magnified word that is above all His name (Psalm 138:2) 
With understanding, know that the word of God does not return to Him void (Isiah 55:11). Remind God, contend with Him faithfully as Isaiah 43:6 declares, “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.”  
Know God to call Him with the understanding gained in His word.
It is not too much but possible and worthy to call Him at every breath as a prescription to have life. Psalm 150:6 prescribes, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!”
With the desire to experience the presence of the mercy of God, it is never too much or not impossible to praise God at every breath. The word of God encourages everything with breath to praise the Lord.   
Praising God is worshipping God, worshiping God can be thanking, praying, singing, living life by the word of God.
Live life for God at every breath He is mercifully merciful.
Are you calling on Him with doubt, not knowing if He answers you?
Have faith, know that God hears you.
The word of Psalm 94:9 encourages, “He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?” 
Prayerfully, call on God without a doubt.
God is a good God, and He is merciful to call when no one calls.
God will speak when no one is hearing from Him.
God knows best and does have the reason to do as it pleases over all of His creation. God is a merciful God!
If you have been calling on God and yet no answer, keep faith to keep on calling and waiting to hear for His calling.

Prayer for today: Ask from God to enable you in looking for His mercy.