FAITH CAPSULE: Worshipping God is a sacrifice, costly to seeking God.

2 Samuel 24

Branches of worship are the ways of seeking God with commitment. Worshipping God demands a commitment that is costly and counts before as a reasonable sacrifice. In the bible, King David demonstrated worshiping God. In the story of David’s census which provoked the anger of God against Israel, we see what it means to give a costly sacrifice as worship to God. David conducted census against the will of God that provoked God to send plague over the Israelites which called for sacrifice before God as Araunah offered David a free-threshing floor to build an altar.
David rejected the free offer stating, “…no, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So, David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.” (2 Samuel 24:24)
Like David, is your sacrificial offering (worship) reasonable enough to be accepted by God?  Before God, give a costly sacrifice before God to receive a priceless blessing of God.
Worship is obeying God to please God by doing His will.
Be obedient to God by keeping His ways not pleasing ways that seem right to self. Proverbs 14:12 buttressed, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Walk the Lord God’s ways obediently is worshipping God that gives life.
Worshipping God is keeping heart with all diligence as commanded by God in Worship God in the spirit and truth. In your worship, know that worshipping God is not limited by time or by any location. In your worshipping abide in the word of God (His spirit) to always engage God in worship. Proverbs 4:23, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”  A heart that meditates day and night is a heart in worship day and night with all diligence to obey God and become pure before God. Matthew 5:8 buttressed, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Will you give heart to God as the center of worship to God?
Among the ways of worshipping God to keep heart with all diligence is: “…be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.” (Ephesians 5:18-21) Whatever fills one is the evidence of what flows from the heart of one to affect one’s walk, stands and sits before God. The Psalmist admonished all, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in the law, he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2) Engage your heart in worship, be able to see God and be blessed.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable your worshipping Him continually.

FAITH CAPSULE: An acclaimed believer should desire the mind of Christ.

John 13

Paul admonished in Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
What is it about the mind of Christ?
Do you have the mind of Christ?
The mind of Christ is a humble mind, a mind that is plain, simple and set before God.
At a point in time, the disciples questioned Jesus, “…Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1) Jesus’ response clearly described humility as the way out to become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom.” (Matthew 18:3-4) Jesus’ answer is a wakeup call for those with wrong assumptions of what it is to be ready to become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
To be greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is distant for all until one is converted to become one as little child.
The title of any man on earth is not evidence of humility before God. The title of a man is not a ticket to become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. One that is not filled by Christ is not full of God’s word (Jesus Christ) and is not with the Spirit of God.
Little children are with mindset humility because they have no spirit of pride with the identity of malice, deception, and un-forgiveness that cannot see God. Jesus demonstrated for His disciples then and today about the importance of humility in John 13:1, “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.” (John 13:3-5) There is no perfect way to teach and demonstrate what it means to be humble than documentation of Jesus’ way of humility.
As an acclaimed believer with a title which is esteemed high among fellowship, is the humble spirit your mindset? Among your family, friends, and co-workers, are you decorated with humility but not demonstrating what it means to be humble?
An acclaimed believer should desire the mind of Christ where humble becomes the identity of acclaimed believers.  To be humble is to be with no pride which does not parade with arrogance, malice, and self-importance. Deny mind of this world and let the mind of Christ be in you.
The position or the title of today is not an evidence of the mind of Christ with humility. Director, Pastor, Reverend, Bishop, or whatever God has called you to be, or that you have chosen for yourself should answer with the mind of Christ which is humble.

Prayer for today: Ask for the mind of Christ Jesus to become of you.

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.