FAITH CAPSULE: One with trust and hope in the Lord shall be blessed regardless of challenging situation.

Exodus 15

With Thanksgiving, having trust is not enough but have trust and hope in God. Jeremiah 17:7 stated the importance of trusting and hoping, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.” Calling on God for His intervention is trust; waiting and no doubt is the evidence of having hope in God. When man calls on God for intervention but not able to avoid complaint will experience untimely termination and not arrive at the expected end of  a journey. Counting how far the year has gone and yet the expectation is not manifested, get to understand that God is in place for your expectation. God’s time counts but man’s attention to clock will count wrong for man’s manifestation for expectation.
Complaining must be completely disallowed!
Complaining begets rebellion. Giving to complaining will complicate the journey of life.
When the Israelites were set for the journey out of bondage of over four hundred years to God’s Promised Land, complaint was their pattern of life. When negativity becomes a pattern in any journey of life, man is set to complicate journey. It is certain that God is true to perform and perfect His word but worry, doubt, anxious will lead to complain to complicate the journey of life.
Avoiding compliant before God is to be discipline trusting and hoping on God. One that knows to trust and hope in the Lord shall be blessed regardless of any challenging situation.
Avoiding complaint before God is the discipline to wait, knowing that God waits to act for those who waits on Him. Isaiah 64:4, encouraged us to wait stating, “For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.” Through the journey of the Israelites to the Promised Land, complaint was their pattern of life. Complaint terminated the Israelites and not get to their Promised Land. Our challenges in every journey is to avoid complaint but engage with trusting and hoping; waiting and not worry but worshiping before God. Israelites could not wait but complaint which is indiscipline before God. Exodus 15:23-25 recorded indiscipline of inability to wait but complain, “Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”  So, he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.” Are you at the experience of Marah in your journey? With no experience of Marah in your journey at this appointed time, gain an understanding not be a victim of complaining in your journey. Marah in journey can represents bitter junction in journey. Avoid complaint, God shall deliver.

Prayer for today: Ask by speaking to your life before God, “I shall not be a victim of complaint in Jesus name.

FAITH CAPSULE: Thinking thanks before God is not same as giving thanks to God.

Psalm 104

Giving thanks to God is not thinking thank. Giving thanks is praising God and praising God is thanking God. Understanding must be in giving thanks or praising God. Psalm 47:7 buttressed, “For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding.” Thinking thanks in the place of giving thanks is the evidence of limited or lack of understanding to be GIVING-THANKS to God at every breath. It is written, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD! (Psalm 150:6) Evidently, praising God or giving thanks to God at every breath (not once a year) is never too much for a man with God given breath of life. To be alive is a privilege it is not a right; to be alive is of mercy and it is not a thing of merit. This day give self to giving thanks and praise to God. What is it that is keeping you down and not open your mouth wide to giving glorious praise and thanks to God? Are you denying or reducing your praise and thanksgiving to God? Thinking thanks before God is not the same as giving thanks but give thanks to God with understanding. God is worthy of thanksgiving and praise worship from every man with His given breath.
The psalmist praised, “O Lord my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind, Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.” (Psalm 104:1-4) It is a wise move for man to take just a line out of the above scriptural verses and meditate on it all day long. He alone is worthy of thanksgiving and praise.
God alone is worthy of our praise and thanks. He is the God of miracle. God deserves a boastful praise and thanksgiving not only a contemplative (thoughtful or reflective) praise. The word of God states, “I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” (Psalm 81:10) Open your mouth wide, give praise and thanksgiving which is able to provoke God to raise you beyond your expectation. Today and henceforth, give thanks and praise to God as long as there is breathe in you.  Today and henceforth, give thanks and praise to God as long as there is breathe in you. Do you not know that miracle is a blessing, or do you not realize it fully that it is blessing to have a miracle? Whichever way it is twisted, make it a top priority of your day to carry Him along in your meditation that He blesses and add no sorrow. (Proverbs 10:22) By that virtue, know it that you shall not know evil, but the goodness of the Lord God shall continually be your portion. Praising Him before all that is before you will invite Him to all that is set before you. He is a miracle working God.

Prayer for today: Give thanks to God for the grace of salvation.

FAITH CAPSULE: Ignorance should not be an excuse live life foolish.

1 Samuel 13

Fool is foolishness; fool is a fall guy and a fool-full one is not God-full. Psalm 14:1 identified fool, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.” It is foolishness to be saying, “there is no God”. Also, disobeying God’s word identifies man as fool.
It is foolishness to be living life as fool by despising God’s word. Despising the word of God is disobeying and dishonoring God. Proverbs 13:13 warned, “He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” Despising the Word of God is also a demonstration of lack of fear for His commands. Obeying God leads to obtaining the blessing of obedience from God while disobeying God is engaging the curses of disobedience. The word clearly warns, “He who despises the word will be destroyed…” God is forever consistent and will never lower the standard of His word to violate His word that does not return to Him void. All that God says He will do is a done deal.
King Saul despised the Word of God by his act of disobedience and the consequence of his disobedience was fully executed in his life. When the Philistines gathered to fight against Israel, Saul could not wait for Samuel’s instruction to wait seven days for Samuel to carry out the burnt offering. Saul went ahead to carry out the burnt offerings which was a violation of God’s command.  As a king, he was not in the place to offer burnt offering which was a priest’s assignment as commanded by God. As simple as Saul’s violation appeared to be, Samuel responded to Saul’s disobedience stating, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” (1 Samuel 13:13-14) Saul despised God’s command and his lineage was forever terminated from becoming king. Before God, a sin is a sin and there is no minor sin or major sin. Plan to live life abundantly by abstaining from despising God’s command and you shall not be destroyed.
To disregard the works of God is another way of dishonoring God. Dishonoring God is despising His word. Are you one who is disregarding God consciously or unconsciously? It is a sin to disregard God; before God there is no excuse for sin but only repentance.
One of King David’s psalms testified, “Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them and not build them up.” (Psalm 28:5) With no excuse before God, it is foolish for man that is living consciously or unconsciously despising the works of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you not to live foolishness before Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Living for God is the way to the expected end.

Exodus 13

It is written, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) The only way that seems right is to live by His word. Jesus is the word of God. He wants to take man to an expected end which is a Promised Land that was purchased by His blood shed on Calvary. Living for God is the way to the expected end. It is better to be lost and found than to be found and then get lost. Jesus did not find man for untimely death or failure. The God that found and brought the children of Israel out of bondage did not mean for them not to get to the Promised Land. For one to be free from bondage is incomplete until one’s arrival to the Promised Land is realized. Many ways lead to the Promised Land, but the only way that will enable one to get there is the way of the wilderness.
The way that leads to Promised Land is the choice of the One who called all. Just as the Israelites went through the wilderness to the Promised Land, all shall go through the wilderness. Any other way outside of wilderness is the way back to Egypt.
The way of the wilderness is a way of no return. Exodus 13:17 recorded, “Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.’”
The way that seems right to man is a short distance. However, it is important to realize that a short–cut will always cut man short from getting to God’s Promised Land. The purpose of the wilderness way is for one not to return, but to keep one going. It is the way that God has put everything in place for one to travel within a reasonable amount of time. It is a way where one is going to be equipped on how to live and inherit where He is taking one to.
Are you living life for God to keep on the way to God’s Promised Land?
Getting to the Promised Land is the reason why Jesus came and went on the Calvary. On the way to the Promised Land, one will bump heads with the enemy because the enemy does not want to see anyone prevail. However, if the way you have taken for yourself is smooth, with no ups and downs, no head-on collision with the enemy, it may become a way that seems right to you, but you may also be in the same direction as the enemy. You are no threat to the enemy because you are heading in the same direction. Living for God marks man to be threat because the truth of God is threatening to the enemy. Man, with focus on God shall overcome in all.

Prayer for today: Ask from God to teach and lead you in all your going from today.

FAITH CAPSULE: Confronting challenge is meant to distract man from maintaining focus on God.

Exodus 14

King Pharaoh, out of the abundance of his atrocious evil heart, refused to let go of the Israelites. God intervened using Moses as a vessel, but Pharaoh remained determined in pursuing the Israelites beyond his border. After the let go of Israelites from Egypt after over four hundred years of bondage, Pharaoh and his subjects could not let go but went after the Israelites. When the Israelites saw that they were being chased to where there was no way to escape, they took their eyes off their Sustainer; they resolved to negative confession and could not count on God’s leadership through Moses. It is written, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:10-12)
Is there any representative of Pharaoh and his cohorts that will not let you go or give up on chasing your life?
Take to Moses’ word of encouragement to the Israelites: Do not be afraid; stand still; see it (even when is not yet there) that the salvation of the Lord is in place to terminate and never to see the Pharaohs of your life no more. (Exodus 14:13) The most striking point in Moses’ word to the Israelites is, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14-14)
Wickedness is rooted in the lack of fear of God, the evidence of not believing God.
Do you believe God?
In Moses’ Word of God, there is a condition to have God fight for a believer against wicked ones. The condition is to hold on to peace knowing that God never lose a battle for man that is committed to Him. Every confronting challenge is always a designated wicked agenda against man. Confronting challenge is meant to distract man from maintaining focus on God and to deny the plans of God from becoming established over man’s life. God is not a man that He should lie neither shall His word go back to Him void. The key in all is to truly believe. With privileged of God to face the coming days; weeks; months; and years know that no man is immune to challenges, but man can possibly become an over-comer of confronting challenges. Kick out fear; Keep faith by meditating the testimonies of God’s awesome ways of deliverance; preservation and you shall be established. Remember, the Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace by believing (behaving) His word to be established for the glory of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable your focusing only on Him.