FAITH CAPSULE: A failure not to trust God for His word will cause one not to have hope in Him.

Deuteronomy 1:23-46

The Israelites have gone far enough in their journey and they wanted to map out how to move forward outside of God’s promise. For the Israelites, instead of going forward in the direction of Promise Land, they call on Moses stating, “Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come (Deuteronomy1:22).” Has He brought you far enough and now you are taking things in your own hands? It is wrong to start thinking how you will make it through the journey from where you are. Their plan pleased Moses; so he took twelve of them to go and spy the land (Deuteronomy 1:23). With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, all that went to spy came back with a negative report that was discouraging. By virtue of the negative report, the children of Israel entered into complaining and they could not confess or see anything positive. The report generated from spying had them engaged in negative confession. Despite all miracles that were witnessed at the time of their coming out of the bondage of over four hundred years, they lost faith and could not believe God for His word of promise. An act of complaint is an act of rebellion before God. God responded to their rebellious act in Deuteronomy.1:34-35, “And the LORD heard the sound of your words, and was very angry, and took oath, saying, surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers.”
A failure not to trust God for His word will cause one not to have hope in Him. Also, not looking up to God will cause man to look down and away from God’s way. For the Israelites, what should have been eleven days journey became forty years journey. At the point of entering the promise land, they entered into deep wilderness. God does not run out of mercy, but they ran out of God’s mercy. In a journey that they overcame giants and all kinds of hindrances, it was the sound of their mouth that denied them from claiming God’s Promised Land. What kind of sound are you producing in your journey of life? Are you confessing negative or positive? Can you ignore the world around you and hold firmly to the pattern of confessing positive in the place of negative? Proverbs 18:21 warned, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” The spy gave report which provoked the Israelites’ negative confession which is the evidence of doubt in the promise of God for their journey. Today, make the choice to engage the word of God that does not fail. The word of God shall surely come to manifest regardless of the magnitude of your challenge.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace that God’s lamp of God for you shall answer in your journey of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Live life to be pleasing God and He will lift you up.

John 15

We do not please self to please God but to please God to please us. Obedient to the word of God is to please God while disobedient is pleasing self in seeking God. Do you LOVE as commanded by God? Today, man does have ways of loving but not the way God wants man to love.
Jesus was speaking in Luke 6:27, “But I say to you who hear; love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” Jesus was not talking about speaking love to one another, but He was instructing and teaching on love as the only way to the fulfillment of God’s command. It is easy to talk love than actually demonstrating it, especially to a stranger or the neediest. Absolutely nothing can be done to substitute love, and that is why Jesus emphasized on His message of love so as to be heard. Undeniably, to love is to obey God and to obey God is to love. God is love. He sent His only begotten son because He loves us. Just as it is among the unbelievers, there are also believers that go around with a diary of grudges and bitterness. In entering the church, they are the ones who praise the loudest. Indeed, it is good to worship God, but worshiping God in emptiness is worthless and does not amount to power. It is written in 1 John 2:9-10, “He, who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”
God is not a fool, neither is He a God who does not hear or see. God has given His word and He has fulfilled His salvation plans for us. It is now left for man to turn unto God and obey all that He has commanded. He knows when love is not genuine and sincere. Loving has to be in God’s own way. The book of 1Timothy 1:5 stated, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” Love is what Christianity is all about. Often, believers have walked away where love needs to be demonstrated. Love can never be harmful especially when it is demonstrated with a good conscience and sincere faith. Romans 13:10 says, “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” It is clearly demonstrated that the diary of bitterness, anger, and animosity will not prevail; it will only unveil the owner of the diary to eternal damnation. Also, it will only take the grace of God to live a life of loving others. It is possible to please God by doing His word as commanded.

Prayer for today: Ask God for His grace to be pleasing God in your ways of  life He has given you.

FAITH CAPSULE: Confession without belief, or belief without confession, is incomplete.

John 1:1-13, 3:1-21

It is written, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) Jesus is the grace of our Lord God for every man that chooses to believe and receive Him. John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12)  Knowing about Him is different from knowing Him. Those that know Him know Him enough to receive and believe Him as their Lord and Savior. Have you received and believed in Him? It is possible to believe Him and not receive Him. Many saw and many heard about the work He did; they know about Him but they choose not to receive Him as their Lord and Savior. It is written, “…Among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.”(John 12:42) Inability to confess Him is a demonstration of not having received Him. To confess Christ is living a life that demonstrates the confession that is made about Him. Confession without belief, or belief without confession, is incomplete. Jesus is the unconditional love of God, the grace of God that came to give life abundantly to those that care to receive and believe in Him. Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,” Clearly, Jesus is the unconditional love of God and the grace that came for all. However, to enter into the unconditional love of God, there is a need for us to condition ourselves by taking the right position. Whenever there is inability to take the right position, there will be disability to enter the abundance of His grace.
The position that needs to be taken is to love and forgive. Many times in the pages of the Bible, the command to love is constantly and repeatedly emphasized. We are to love our neighbors and to know how to forgive. Clearly, loving and forgiving cannot be separated; neither can the love for God be compromised. Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” There is no any other way to enter into the fullness of His abundant grace without being fully obedient to the command to love and to forgive. Jesus taught His disciples how to pray when he stated, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12) Loving and forgiving is the central focus of His coming. He wanted us to know that without forgiving, salvation will be stagnated. How much one knows, and how long one have known Him will not count except one knows Him.

 Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to receive and believe Jesus.

FAITH CAPSULE: The noise of the church is not enough to deliver the church at the arrival of Jesus.

Matthew 25:1-13, Luke 22:39-46

It is time to be awake in watching. Sleeping at the time of watching is taking a position to miss the arrival of the Bridegroom. Believe it, Jesus will soon return. The ten virgins went to sleep and missed their purpose in time. It is written, “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.” (Matthew 25:1-5) The ten virgins went with right intention, but lacked the attention to meet the bridegroom. The ten virgins knew about the time to go and meet with the Bridegroom but do not know it was about time to be awake. They all slept off and slumbered. Yes, you have the intention to run and finish the race, but to lack attention will deny you in getting to the expected end. All of the ten virgins fell asleep in their waiting. They did not just sleep but they slept and slumbered because of the delay of the bridegroom. Five of the virgins could afford to sleep because they had extra oil, and the five who did not carry extra oil were regarded as foolish.
Are you staying awake in watching? If you can discern the time and season we are living, it is important to watch rather than sleep at a wrong time. How are you watching? It is impossible to sleep-watch. Is your sleeping time overriding your time to watch?
As one of His disciples, are you watching in prayer, or you are sleeping in sorrow?
One that is spiritually asleep in this age will be positioning self for destruction. Also, when the trumpet sound one will miss it just like five that went without extra oil ten virgins. Take the parable of the ten virgins to heart today. All went with the intention to attain, but they lacked the attention to prevail. The Bridegroom came without any warning because the sign of the season was all they needed to inform or warn them of His coming. They all slept and slumbered, and nothing woke them up but the noise of the bridegroom’s arrival. Without any doubt, it is clear that the church today is sleeping. Are you a church that is sleeping? The noise of the church or the noise in the church will not be able to deliver oil-less church when the Bridegroom arrives unexpectedly. Be awake and alive in the spirit!

 Prayer for today: Ask for the grace not to sleep off in the time to be awake.

FAITH CAPSULE: Ability to remember the greatness of God will deliver one from the fear of the enemy.

1 Samuel 17: 1-44

Inability to keep the greatness of God in your life will expose you to the fear of your enemy. For forty days, morning and night armies of the living God (children of Israel) suffered assault from the Philistines as they gathered for battle. The bible referred to the leader of this assault as the champion, the Philistine of Gath, named Goliath. While they wait to engage each other in battle, the Philistine said to the children of Israel, “…I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.”(1 Samuel 17:10) Goliath’s verbal abuse and emotional shots at the Israelites did not settle well with Israelites as they were overwhelmed by being afraid. 1Samuel 17:11 recorded, “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistines; they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” To be afraid and be greatly dismayed of an unbeliever is to have forgotten God’s testimonies.
Is there any reason for the fear of an unbeliever in your life?
Can you examine the situation in your life that has kept you so low in fear and being afraid that you cannot remember who your God is? For forty days!! The armies of the living God were crawling before armies that do not have a living God. So sad! Does this sound like your case? As a believer, have you failed to remember who you are serving? When a believer fails to remember, such believer will not be able to identify him/herself in God. 1Samuel 17:24 recorded, “Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.” Fleeing will not solve your case until you identify yourself in God and allow Him to fight your challenge. Yes, everything in the physical is pointing you out as looser of your challenge. All you need to do is identify yourself.
David a young man; not a listed army; saw and heard the man that was defying the armies of the living God. He decided to stand up to Goliath. David took up the challenging fear of Goliath for the people of Israelites because he remembered his testimony of God by stating, “Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” (1 Samuel 17:36) By being able to remember the greatness of his God, he was able to identify himself in God. His identity was his claim that, the same God will deliver him from the hand of Goliath. Psalmist stated, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!” Obviously, David was a keeper of God’s testimonies and he successfully sought God with the whole heart as he engaged and brought down the giant that was defying the name of God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be keeping to God’s testimonies that is able to keep you from shame in the hand of the enemy.