FAITH CAPSULE: It is not enough to be working by serving in God’s name but not walking according to His word.

Luke 6:20-49

Jesus taught about the true way into the Kingdom of heaven 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) Today, many are saying to Jesus, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but they do not walk in His word. Among acclaimed believers are quoting and speaking in His word with more eloquence, but He is not evident in way of life. What the Lord was saying here was that those that are calling on God without doing the will of the Father are bound to miss the Kingdom of heaven. How long have you been saying, ‘Lord, Lord? Can you sincerely declare that you have been doing the will of the Father? Doing the will of the Father is not only in going to church, prayer meetings or working on every function or church activities. Truly, it is not complete and not enough to be working by serving in God’s name but not walking according to His word.
It is important to do His will. It is doing the will of the father that qualifies one as a believer not by calling Him Lord. Jesus stated in Luke 6:46-47, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like.” Doing the will of God is keeping and doing the word of God to fear and obey His word.
It is written, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20) Jesus is at the door knocking, calling on man. Clearly, so many are not answering; so many came to Him; so many are still coming to Him, but so many are not doing what He asked for. Claiming to be a believer is not enough but aiming to be like Him. Aim to be living His word by working and walking for His glory. Jesus was asked “Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (John 6:28-29) The will of God is for all to work the works God. To work the works of God is to believe in whom that sent Jesus. All the acclaimed believers that have been coming without doing the words are not doing the will. However, not doing the will is not walking in line with God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for His grace to take over your days and moments living according to His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: God is a faithful God which cannot fail.

Exodus 14

The only thing God cannot do is: “God cannot fail.” God is faithful to perform and perfect in all His doing, God will never fail. Unlike God, man claims faith but perfect not to live by the word of God. A failure for man’s attempt to claim God’s promise is the evidence of man’s failure to engage God’s conditions for claiming God’s promise. God is constantly true, but man is untruthful before God continually. Are you failing before God while making God look like liar to deliver in challenges?
God promised the Israelites while in the bondage of over four hundred years, “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites…” (Exodus 3:8) Truly, the Israelites’ coming out of bondage of over four hundred years in Egypt was a great testimony of God’s doing. Such testimony was to be a constant reminder by energizing Israelites in the journey of life. Trust and hope was to be condition for Israelites not to doubt God. However, the Israelites’ doubt emerged when Pharaoh’s chariots came behind them as they were bewildered by the land, closed by the wilderness. For the children of Israel, there was nowhere to turn to, but to face the forces of Pharaoh or jump and die in the Red Sea.
Does Israelites challenge sounds like your challenge? Claiming God’s promise will only deliver for those living according to God’s requirement which is condition for His promise. After coming out of Egypt to the Red Sea, Israelites responded with fear and doubt by confessing negative which violated condition of God’s promise to deliver the Israelites. Exodus 14:10-12, recorded Israelites violating statement before God “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.” It is important to avoid from not trusting and hoping in the promise of God that never fail.
When God is for you, whatever stand against you will fall for you. Trust that when God is behind you He is also ahead of you and the enemy can never be more powerful. The Israelites could not hold on God’s testimonies about how they came out of Egypt’s bondage. God has not forgotten you, keep God’s testimony and be blessed by God’s doing in your life journey.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you and not become a victim of your faith-failure.

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you a conscious or unconscious hypocrite?

John 8:1-12

Once the scribes and Pharisees wanted to be a judge on behalf of God because a woman was caught in adultery. They approached Jesus stating, “…Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned…” (John 8:4-5) A pot calling kettle a black is same as scribes and Pharisees calling out a sinner. Scribes and Pharisees are hypocrites criticizing someone for a fault they also possess. Scribes and Pharisees in the days of Jesus are description of acclaimed believers of today. Jesus responded to the scribes and Pharisees as stated, “…He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” (John 8:7) Jesus’ response shut and turned away the scribes and Pharisees away from taking position to judge sin.
Are you one with lack of patient with quickness in pointing out other with sin or iniquity?
Today, acclaimed believers are finding it difficult to see self’s sin but easy to see other’s sin. Unfortunately, sin such as lying, deception and manipulation are written all over acclaimed believers in their way of living life. Word of God is true speaking to all as stated, “…For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Roman 3:23) All have sinned, yet all are assuming the position of a judge. Again, answers to yourself, are you quick to be judging others for their sin?  The world today is full of sin and sinning but, yet the world is always quick in passing judgment instead of being judged. The word God warned self-appointed judges, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2) Judging others is not our own assignment. Assessing how we stand in the word of God should be more of our own assignment. As a believer saved by grace, one must be concerned about the plank in his/her own eye before attempting to remove the plank in neighbor’s eye. Bible identified attempting to remove plank in other’s eye while having plank in one’s own eye as hypocrite.
Are you a conscious or unconscious hypocrite? Word of God questioned, “…why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5)
Why not pay more attention to yourself?
The scribes and Pharisees with no sin, but none was qualified as judge. Do not assume the position of a judge allow God to be God over His creation. Answer to what the Lord called you to be.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of answering obediently to the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Disguising against warning of God is not enough to make up for wrong decision.

1 Kings 22:1-40

Decision is the evidence of choice. Every conclusion should be reached after consideration. For real, action or process of deciding something demands to be awake and not be sleeping carelessly.
Sleeping instead of watching can be an indirect open invitation for the enemy to invade and sow evil in man’s lot. Among ways of sleeping which allows enemy to sow in man’s lives is: Making a wrong decision is taking a position at wrong place or engaging wrong company. Are you on the verge of making a wrong decision?
With no doubt, making wrong decision in the place of right decision will open a door for enemy to sow evil. King David made a wrong decision by not going out to battle field at the time when kings go out to battle. The bible recorded that David sent Joab and his servants to war. (2 Samuel 11:1) David’s decision not to go to war opened the door for enemy to sow in David’s lot which caused him to sin against God. David, being in the right place at the wrong time, arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. It was during his walk on the roof that he saw a Bathsheba the wife of Uriah the Hittite bathing. David in his decision sent and inquired about Bathsheba and lay with her. (2 Samuel 11:2-5) Bathsheba conceived for David while her husband, Uriah was at the battle field. Wrong David’s decision allowed seed of wickedness to grow in his lot. Wrong decision of David prompted him to set up Uriah for untimely death at war. Uriah got killed at the battle field and his death counted against David before God. Before God, repentance exists but it is not encouraging for making wrong decision that leads to sin before God. Avoid wrong decision not to make door open for enemy.
Jehoshaphat did not opened door for enemy. It was a good thing for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah to visit the king of Israel. However, it was not a good thing for Jehoshaphat to join with Ahab king of Israel in a battle against king of Syria after having been warned by God’s prophet not to go to war. Ahab decided against warning not to go to war but died at war. Jehoshaphat disregarded against the war and did not disguise himself as a way of self-protection at the war. (1 Kings 22) Jehoshaphat could have died in the war just like Ahab because it was not a war they should have engaged by God’s warning. Jehoshaphat’s and Ahab’s going to war is allowing the enemy to sow wrong in their life. It was a seed of untimely death for Ahab while Jehoshaphat escaped death. Jehoshaphat did not disguise from truth of God’s warning. Disregarding and Disguising God’s word terminated Ahab’s life untimely. Disguising against warning of God is not enough to make up for wrong decision.

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s grace to keep you from wrong decision.

FAITH CAPSULE: Sleeping often takes position in the place of watching and praying.

Acts 12

Sleeping can be a man’s passion. Possibly, sleeping can be a fellowship group’s pattern of living. Above all, followers of Jesus in His days and acclaimed believers of Jesus today has been repeatedly warned to watch and pray. Sleeping often takes position in the place of watching and praying. Among Jesus’ emphasis on issue of watch and pray are recorded, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.” (Mark 13:23) “Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass…” (Luke 21:36) Watching and praying will bring believer out of weakness into strength not to be a victim of evil. Watching and praying is certain to make believers become time conscious. Watch and pray as declared by Jesus is a way of escaping all that is set against true believers.
Think about your way of living life for a moment. Identify and stand against whatever the enemy has invested to disrupt good of God which is in place for your good.
Jesus gave a parable of wheat and tares: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” (Matthew 13:24-25) The point here is that sleeping is what gives enemy the privilege to sow its wickedness on the ground which is meant for good. On a ground where man is awake, it will be difficult for the enemy to invest by sowing evil into man’s life.
Living in this world today demands to be constantly awake. As an acclaimed believer, are you awake or are you asleep? Just as it is possible to be asleep physically, so it is also possible to be asleep spiritually. One that is spiritually asleep will be spiritually at risk. For one who is at sleep, prayer will cease and enemy gaining entrance will become inevitable. Also, sleeping is not only when eyes and mind are shut. Sleeping does not necessary mean when one goes to bed at night. Without doubt, sleeping when time or season calls for man to be awake is extending an invitation to the wicked one. What kind of sleeping that is engaging you in the place of engaging God by watching and praying with attention to God that is waiting to act for those who wait on Him? With understanding, man should know that to be watching and praying is not a fun-fair but a laborious activity with positive answer before God. Individually, watching and praying is certain for self-deliverance. To be actively watching and praying by not living life of sleeping as passion man is set for great exploit to the glory of God.
To be in prayer is to be awake and deny the enemy from sowing evil seed.
Is sleeping your passion? Be awake because the enemy is at work!

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s deliver from sleeping as passion and not become a victim of evil.