FAITH CAPSULE: Serving God continually and offering prayer constantly to God is a way of deliverance.

Acts 12:1-25

Serving God continually and offering prayer constantly to God is a way of deliverance from untimely or sudden death. Daniel 6:4-5 recorded concerning Daniel, “So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.  Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” Eventually, plot against Daniel placed him in the den of lions. Daniel spent night in the den of hungry lions with no appetite for Daniel as meat. The King that signed the plot of the wicked ones against Daniel was not in agreement with the plot against Daniel. King was first at the entrance of the den of lions to check Daniel when he stated, “And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” (Daniel 6:20) King recognized that serving God continually is an assured way against sudden death and untimely death.
Anyone that is lacking in prayer is exposing self to becoming a victim in the hand of his/her enemy.
King Herod was an ally of the Jews who were persecuting the early church. They were also enemies of the gospel, and did not have respect for the lives of the Apostles. It is written, “Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.  And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.  So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.” (Acts 12:1-4) It pleased the Jews that James was killed by the sword. That same hand that went against James went after Peter with the same agenda. The word points out Peter’s deliverance stating, “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.” (Acts 12:5) The enemy wanted to rejoice over Peter. Thank God for Peter that prayer warrior stood in the gap for Peter. Just as the enemies were pleased about James’ death, they also wanted to be pleased about Peter’s death. Persecuting the believers of Jesus was pleasing to the Jews; constant praying for deliverance was the prevailing avenue for displeasing the enemy. Get out of unhealthy gossip and get yourself into a prayer group.
Daniel served God continually and constant prayer on behalf of Peter delivered Peter from sudden death.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be seeking Him diligently.

FAITH CAPSULE: God cannot be deceived.

1Timothy1

One who is misplacing the purpose of God’s command is set to be displaced and not be full in the blessings of obedience. It is not impossible for the loudest praise worshiper to be the emptiest before God. It would also not be a surprise if the loudest prayer within the fellowship of believers is the least heard of by God. This kind of person is an idle talker. 1Timothy 1:5-6, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some , having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk.” The purpose of the commandment is not registered in an idle talker. As a result, the praise or prayer of an idle talker cannot be registered in heaven. The Word of God points to the truth that, one that strays from the purpose of the commandment have turned to becoming an idle talker. Are you are a noisemaker/idle talker? It is only the grace of God that is carrying you. However, the same word says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? (Romans 6:1-2) It is good to constantly examine and adjust ourselves in the word of God. By the word of God we are warned; by the word we obtain our reward.
Is there a pure heart in you? Most of the time, the idle talker; loud speakers claim to love brethren but they do not understand their claim. God cannot be deceived. He sees through your heart; not through your noise making. 1Peter 1:22, “Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love of brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.” Has the word of 1 Peter fallen on deaf ears for you? Do you love fervently with a pure heart? Ones that love with pure heart are the pure in the heart. It is written, “Blessed are the pure in the heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8) Can you now see that not loving with pure heart has stamped out all your loud singing and lengthy prayers, as non-legit before God? What about good conscience? Your claim for making the most noise and the lengthy prayer is based on you having faith. You have missed it and you are still missing it. As a matter of fact, you are heading for a shipwreck. 1Timothy 1:19, “Having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered a ship wreck.” You are a victim of yourself. It is not possible for you to claim faith as you do and not carry a good conscience. When you lack good conscience, you are empty and idle in operation before God. Prayer for today:

 Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of God not to be a vessel of deception.

FAITH CAPSULE: Disobedient to the word of God is opening door for the enemy of God.

Daniel 16     

When Angel of the Lord appeared to the mother of Samson he gave instructions, “…Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” (Daniel 13:3-5) Evidently, as a Nazarite, Samson was not supposed to cut off his hair. Supposedly Samson’s hair was the source of his power. He was set apart from birth for his divinely appointed mission, but his disability for full compliance with instructions is an indication of disobedience.
Samson was to be a Nazarite, but violated all stipulations of a Nazarite-among which was not to cut his hair. Samson because of what he liked, he did what God disliked when he revealed the secret of God upon his life to Delilah. The Bible recorded, “…he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.”” (Judges 16:4 -6) Samson’s infatuation with Delilah led him to his disobedience. What is leading you to disobey God’s word?
After Delilah had successfully shaved off Samson’s hair (which resulted in him losing his strength), she called the Philistines on him, “…So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.” (Judges 16:20-21) Samson failed before God. His failure that demonstrated a clear disobedient to God’s instruction was his departure from God. There are so many back doors that are available for the enemy to come into man’s life. However, none of it is open until sin takes residence in man’s lives. With sin, we become vulnerable to the enemy; our back doors become open for the enemy, thus making us vulnerable to him. The Bible makes it clear that, “Evil pursues sinners…” (Proverbs 13:21) It does not matter how diligently you seek God, do not disobey God’s instruction but close up your door always. A dislike for instruction is the evidence of hating knowledge.

 Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to keep you from opening door for the enemy of your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you obeying or disobeying the word of God?

2 Samuel 6

God is a good and gracious God that will not violate His own word and neither shall there be any excuse for anyone to violate His word. The order in place for the ark of God was without exception. God had warned His people including the Levites not touch holy objects such as the ark of God. While the ark was being transferred to Jerusalem, at a threshing floor (a place for processing grain) Uzzah reached out and touched the ark. It was unintentional of Uzzah when he touched the ark. However, it was out of order to reach out and touch the ark. Uzzah’s action was unintentional but the word of God is with intention for man to keep orderliness in the word of God. In the word of God, death penalty was in place for anyone that goes out of order and touch the holy object of the tabernacle of God (Numbers 4:15)
In the word of God there is always condition to achieve His promise.
Word of God stands to perform with perfection when there is obedience without violation. Word of God stands and not meant to return void to God. Isaiah 55:11 buttressed, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”  Disobedient to the word of God does not excuse destruction as the consequence for disobedient.
Are you obeying or disobeying the word of God?
Proverbs 13:13 warned us, “He who despises the word will be destroyed, But he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” Indeed Uzzah lived in the days of law and we are living in the days of His grace but, this is no excuse to be living a life of disobedient to the word of God. The book of Roman 6:1 asked, “…Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” God’s direction is His order. Living outside of His direction is living in disorder which is a way of death and eternal damnation.
Moses was a giant in the hand of God. Despite his status before God there was evidence that no man’s status excuses man from the consequence of going out of God’s order. Once Moses received an orderly direction from God but delivered it in disorder. It is written, “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” (Numbers 20:8) Moses went and struck instead of speak to the rock. He went further and spoke to the people by calling them rebels. Out of God’s order is out of God’s ordination.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of God to keep you from falling from His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: What is causing you to hold back a regular thanks giving and praise to God?

Psalm 136

When you acknowledge, you show or express appreciation. Dictionary describes appreciation as the act of estimating the qualities of things and giving them their proper value. Appreciation is an act of giving thanks. Giving thanks is a sacrifice. Hebrews 13:15 states, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Sacrifice is an offering to God. Jealous God desires and deserves a reasonable sacrifice in every area of worshiping God. The book of Romans 12:1 admonish us, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Sacrifice to God must be a reasonable sacrifice. To sacrifice means to give up something of value. Sacrifice is costly and it is not convenient if we are to give a reasonable one.
Giving thanks and praising God is easy when life is full of happiness with no challenges. However, when challenges shows up and manifestation in any area of living life is not what we are getting, giving thanks and praising God can be very difficult. The writer of Hebrew specifically requested from us to continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.  What is holding you or stopping you to continually give thanks and praise on a regular basis rather than to continually give thanks and praise on annual basis? Is discouragement a factor that is causing you to hold back a regular thanks giving and praise to God?
Giving thanks and praising God for the grace of God is enough reason to keep on thanking God at every breath. Psalm 150:6 do not ask for too much when it states, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” One who knows to think will know to give thanks. The ones who know to keep heart with all diligence are the ones who do not stop to regard the works of God with appreciation. However, those who 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) Regard the works of God by giving Him thanks and praise. There is no limitation giving thanks and praising the Almighty God. He can be praised in the day and in the night. Apostle Paul states, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6) Giving thanks and praising God covers a multitude of ground in our relationship with God. Giving thanks and praising God at every moment is gaining acknowledgement of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of constant appreciation to Him.