FAITH CAPSULE: Be steadfast for God but not self-satisfying in serving God.

Matthew 7
Jesus was teaching when He stated, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)
Does that sound like you?
Are you one whose word does not line up with your walk?
Do you profess Jesus but perfects in wickedness? Jeremiah talked about the wicked in his statement before God, “Righteous are You, O LORD when I plead with you; yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously? You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their mind.” (Jeremiah 12:1-2) Clearly, the wicked ones are near to God in their mouth but far from God in their mind. Also, lying, deception, and manipulation are in their makeup. The Lord God we call is not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with Him. (Psalm 5:4)
Those who carry the identity of the wicked do not carry the cross and such does not follow Him fully. Jesus specifically requested, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:24-26) Whatever a man desires, God will deposit. Is it your desire to follow Jesus fully? Following Jesus is not flowing with the crowd. Many are flowing with the crowd, but few are actually following Jesus fully. To follow Him fully demands to be steadfast in our walk that is in line with the Word of God by forsaking all for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake.
Anyone who is self-full cannot be word-full. Following the Word of God fully is following Jesus steadfastly. Jesus is the living Word of God that was in the beginning. John 1:1-3 buttresses, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Why not steadfastly deny yourself, forsake all and settle for the living Word of God? Why not take up His cross and follow Him to cross over?
Following fully is not a one time or an on-and-off engagement. Following the word demands to be steadfast which is to be fixed in direction, firm in purpose and fixed in intensity. To be steadfast in following the living Word of God is not a self-satisfying engagement and one who is self-full cannot be possibly steadfast.

Prayer for today: Ask God for His grace not to expire over your life to serve Him steadfastly.

FAITH CAPSULE: God is in His word, to seek His word diligently will make a man to follow God.

Genesis 13

Among the evidence of looking up to God by seeing into his word will set one to be settled in the promises in the word of God.
When God makes a promise, and you are not looking up to God for His promise, you will miss out of His promise. Has He promised you something and you are looking down from His promise?
Seeking God diligently in His word is looking up and seeing in Him to live life for His glory, to be in the center of His divine assignment.
God commanded Abraham to look in the direction of nothing but to trust and hope for the manifestation of God’s word. Bible recorded:  And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your [c]descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” (Genesis 13:14-17)
In God’s word, Abraham saw to possess the land which was more than imagination. Abram was able to look in the word of God to see land for children while he was yet to have a child in his life. In Abram’s looking, he was commanded to arise and walk in the promise of God as the evidence of Abrams faithfulness in God.
Abram’s looking to God, in His word is to hold fast in faith to have children when he was past age of having a child. God spoke to Abram: “And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” (Genesis 15:4-5) Abram’s looking to God was the evidence that Abram believed and was accounted to him for righteousness.
It is written in the pages of the Bible for all to learn by looking up to God diligently for direction. Psalm 121:1-2 testifies: I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” God is in His word, to seek His word diligently will make a man to follow God.
Looking up to God is giving self to God’s word, to seek God diligently to see and become a winner in this continuous wicked world.

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s hand over your life to be looking up to God continually.

FAITH MAIL: To serve God wrongly comes with a costly consequence.

Numbers 14

A believer of God must serve and worship God continually. As an acclaimed believer, are you serving God with all your heart, with all soul, and with all strength?
To serve God wrongly comes with a costly consequence. Uzzah served God with good intention but lost his life. It was Uzzah’s attempt to keep the Ark of God from falling that took away his life.
Uzzah’s act of serving was against the Word of God that forbids anyone from touching the Ark of God. The Bible recorded, “Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.” (2 Samuel 6:7) Uzzah, in the position to serve, but failed to serve wholeheartedly; violated God’s command and was terminated.
Remember the story of the Israelites when they were coming out of Egypt – where they had been in bondage for over four hundred years – and God required them to serve Him; however, their service was incomplete. The failure of the Israelites in time of challenges was their faith failure to serve God diligently. In their challenging times, they confessed negatives by murmuring against God.
God responded to Israelites’ faith-failure through Moses as stated: “Say to them, ‘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.” (Numbers 14:28-30)
Failure to serve God with the whole heart is the evidence of not following Him fully.
As a result of not following God fully, every Israelite that left Egypt above the age of twenty failed to complete their journey to the Promised Land. Are you serving God fully to avoid a failure not to arrive at God’s promise? Many are committed believers such as the prayer intercessors, choir leaders, ushers, Sunday school teachers, deacons, and elders do not follower Christ fully. Jesus responded to uncommitted believers as stated: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24) Are you a committed believer that is following Jesus fully?
Are you a committed believer with the deception before a man but not able to deceive God?
Is there any way for you to hear it better so that you can understand and know that in serving Him, you must follow Him fully? Jesus said, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me: and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, he My Father will honor.” (John 12:26) Give your ear to hear God’s word!

Prayer for today: Ask God to order your mind not to speak negative but positive in His direction.

FAITH CAPSULE: Just a word of God that enters heart is enough to terminate struggle in one’s life.

Ezekiel 3

God spoke to Ezekiel, “Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears” (Ezekiel 3:10). Every time we hear the Word of God, our heart ought to work in tandem with our ears to receive the living Word of God. Hearing sound from within an earshot or from a distance may not be the same as listening with the ear and, ultimately, receiving into the heart.
Before God spoke to Ezekiel, He caught his attention by opening the heavens for him to see visions of God (Ezekiel 1:1). It was the visions which Ezekiel saw that enabled him to focus his ears to not just hear but listen wholeheartedly. A similar example was that of Moses when God wanted to speak to him, and he was “busy” taking care of the flock. “Busy” is a common feature of our every-day lives that makes listening and receiving God’s word practically impossible. Moses’ attention was attracted to God’s calling when he saw the bush burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. (Exodus 3:2)
The word or information that passes from one individual to the other is not the same as the word that enters and finds a place in the heart. On every occasion the Word of God enters our ears, it ought to produce like a seed that was planted on the good ground and produced fruits in multi-folds. Any word that is claimed to enter and not produce result should be deemed suspicious since the word did not enter only to arouse emotions.
The evidence of hearing with the ear and received into heart was glaring in the assignment of Ezekiel as documented on the pages of the Bible. Ezekiel testified that when the Lord spoke to him, he heard “a thunderous voice”. Hearing “a thunderous voice” was an indication of hearing with the ear and receiving into the heart. Testimony of Ezekiel is the evidence that when any man hears from God there will be no denial for hearing from God. Ezekiel testified, “…I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: “Blessed is the glory of the LORD from His place!” I also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, and a great thunderous noise.  So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days” (Ezekiel 3:12-15). In this testimony, Ezekiel was changed, and his life was not the same after he heard from God. The word that came to him lifted him up and took him away to the center of God’s assignment where he was relocated for God’s glory.

Prayer for today: Ask for the Word of God to carry you and set you for His glory.

FAITH CAPSULE: Our walk is our seed which we sow for God to reward us.

Genesis 27

In your new beginning, allow the newness of God’s grace to reign in your life.
In the past year, whatever it was that did not represent God; that did not glorify God, disallow it from having a place in your life as you engage the journey of a new beginning.
Take note that what a man sows will become what he reaps. God is a perfect Manager that perfects in managing every of His creation. You will reap from what you sow!
In life, it is impossible to sow the seed of deception and expect to reap the fruit of perfection.
Any man who sows the seed of lie will reap the fruit of deception. It is worthy to live life as one who knows God because anything short of that is living a life of a lie.
It is important to know that, God invests so much in us while we extend so little to Him. Working and not walking will not get us to where God wants us to be. Our walk is our seed which we sow for God to reward us.
What is the best way for us to keep walking in line before God?
Leviticus 18:4 stated, “You shall observe My judgment and keep my ordinances, to walk in them. I am the Lord your God” It is certain that to observe is to comprehend the word which will make walking in His word possible in the journey of life. Meditate continual on the word of God which is the way to observe and do according to God’s word.
WHAT YOU SOW YOU WILL REAP.
The son of Isaac (Esau) disobeyed his father by his violation of God’s command which stated, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. (Exodus 20:12).
Bible recorded Esau’s violation: “When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.” (Genesis 26:34-35) Esau knew well enough not to marry outside of his father’s prescribed area; yet, he went and married without Isaac’s blessings. Esau’s act of disobedience activated grief of mind to his parents. Despite Esau’s act of disobedience his father (Isaac) called on him saying to him, “Now, therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.” (Genesis 27:3-4) Isaac spoke to Esau with an assignment which was supposed to bless Esau. The disobedience of Esau denied him to receive the blessings of his father when Rebekah (mother of Esau and Jacob) re-assigned Esau’s blessing assignment to Jacob. It is certain that nothing can change what to reap right where doing wrong has been sowed.

Prayer for today: Ask to live a life of obedience to the glory of God.