FAITH CAPSULE: Serving God reasonably is living a life of commitment to God.

Exodus 3:13-22

God called on Moses, assigned him as agent of God for the deliverance of the Israelites. The command to bring them out is for them to come out of bondage and serve God. God spoke to Moses in Exodus 3:18, “Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’” Evidently, serving God is a sacrifice. Engaging sacrifice is serving serve God. All through the encounters of Moses with Pharaoh was a striking message of letting the people go and serve (sacrifice) God. By the hand of God through Moses the children of Israel were brought out of bondage of over four hundred years. Coming out of the Israelites from the bondage of over four hundred years is their deliverance. Like the Israelites, deliverance of believers today is coming out of the bondage of sin and iniquities by the blood of Jesus Christ. Each and every believer is to live a life of serving God must be a reasonable service (sacrifice) to God.
The grace of salvation is to enable believers to be consistent in walking with God.
God is a God with good plans for His children who will serve Him in all of their walks.
As a believer, you have not been redeemed to serve or sacrifice to the god of this world. The children of Israel eventually gained freedom from the house of bondage (Egypt), but they entered into self-bondage in their journey. They failed in their service and could not pass unto the promise of God. How are you living a life of sacrifice? It is not enough that you have come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. You also need to begin to live a life of sacrifice, serving the Lord God reasonably. Serving God reasonably is living a life of commitment to God not serving to God at convenience.
In serving God, a high standard of a reasonable service should be in place. Those who serve Him reasonably seek Him diligently because seeking Him diligently is the evidence of a faithful believer not serving God as unbelieving believer. God attends to those who seek Him diligently with reward. Hebrews 11:6 buttressed, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” As a believer, commit to God with reasonable sacrifice that cost you and He will return unto you with a priceless blessing.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace that enables man to be serving God reasonably.

FAITH CAPSULE: Before God there is no excuse for error.

2 Samuel 6

Doing what is good in a wrong manner will have no excuse before God. Uzzah, with good heart, wrongly sin and ended up in destruction. For Uzzah, during the transfer of the Ark of God from the house of Abinadab, Uzzah and Ahio drove the cart. In the process of driving the cart Uzzah, out of a good heart committed an act for his life terminating wrongdoing. Bible recorded his error, “And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 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.’ (Genesis 6:6-7)
The bible recorded Uzzah’s act of a good heart to be an error.
Uzzah despised the word of God as stated in Numbers 4:15, “And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die.”  Despising the word of God is positioning self for destruction.
With every indication as recorded in the bible, every error before God is wrongdoing.
Wrongdoing is a deviation from accuracy as in mistake, as in action or speech. Wrongdoing is the condition of believing what is not true. Wrongdoing is a moral offense; wrongdoing can be sin. It is wrongdoing to violate the word of God and it can be a conscious or unconscious error before God. Wrongdoing is despising the word of God. The bible makes us to realize it that, “He who despises the word will be destroyed…” (Proverbs 13:13)
Have you in any way violated or currently violating the word of God? (I pray that the grace of God will open your eyes to avoid or come out of conscious or unconscious wrongdoing.
Before God, no excuse for wrongdoing which violates God’s word.
Before God, Adam and Eve committed error by believing the serpent enough to eat against God’s command not to eat from a particular tree in the Garden of Eden. They both violated the word of God by their error (a wrongdoing).
When God showed up (just as He will show up on all man) both Adam and Eve attempted to justified their action before God by stating, “Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12-13) Their excuses were not enough as they were judged by God. Wrongdoing committed by Adam and Eve eposes man to numerous pains today.

Prayer point: Ask for grace not to a waste in the effort of doing good from the heart.

FAITH CAPSULE: God also mentioned that “while we speak, He will hear us”

Isaiah 65

What a mighty, gracious and merciful God we serve! God was speaking in the book of Isaiah, “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24) God is true to His word. King David testified to the trueness of God when he stated, “I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.” (2 Samuel 22:4) David’s kind of praise is a celebrated praise; a boastful full praise. By his kind of praise, he was sure that his call had been answered by God who answers before we call on Him. David’s approach is evidence to the truth that God is not only worthy of our contemplative praise (thoughtful or meditative praise). David was rendering a boastful praise knowing that God had done it before asking. A boastful praise is rooted in understanding of God’s character to be answering prayer before we call; boastful praise is celebrating what God has done or what He will do.
God also mentioned that “while we speak, He will hear us”. Indeed, God heard the children of Israel speaking (not praying) in the face of challenging needs during their journey through the wilderness. It was rebellious speeches rooted in complaints. God responded by stating, “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you.” (Numbers 14:28) Unfortunately for the Israelites it was negative speech; it was rebellious speech whereby they were rejecting God for His mercy that brought them out of bondage of over four hundred years.
It is very important to always know that God hears what we are asking for before opening our mouth or our heart in prayer and speech. There is no safer place in speaking than speaking positive always regardless of the negative before us. The same word of God declared to us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21) Often time we have no idea who is before us whenever we speak out positive or negative. Word of God also warned against speaking, confessing negative stating, “Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?” (Ecclesiastes 5:6) Are you speaking or confessing negative before God expecting excuse will count before God? It is worth not to be speaking negative than saying it and claiming mistake for excuse. Before God there is no excuse that counts.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace not to be communicating negative always.

FAITH CAPSULE: Serving God is not in title but engaging task for God.

Exodus 3

God created man to serve Him. God is the One and only creator of man, He is a jealous God and the antidote for jealous is attention. Man should give attention to God by serving God diligently. God wants man to serve Him but not to stay away from Him continually.
God said in Exodus 7:16, “And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear!” Exodus 8:1, “And the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” Serving God is to be seeking God. To be seeking God is to be seeing Him (seeing God is not by physical eyes but to receive from Him) Among ways of serving God are: Living life to please Him; to be separated from sin; to be praying to God continually.
Serving Him is to be living life to please Him but not pleasing the world around man. Enoch pleased God as Hebrews 11:5-6 recorded, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Serving God is seeking God.” Please God and reap the reward of pleasing God as it is written, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. (Proverbs 16:7)
Serving God demands man’s separation from sin because with sin man cannot see God. 3 John 1:11, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.” Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Sin is not of God, sin is not serving God.
Serving God is seeking God in prayer continually and it is to maintain constant communication with God. Daniel was praying and giving thanks to God three times a day as his custom since his early days. (Daniel 6:10) While Daniel’s life was attempted by being placed in the den of lions overnight, King that does not know God called out to Daniel as stated in Daniel 6:20, “And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Daniel served God praying continually before God and no evil could touch his life. Serve God to live life to the glory of God.

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

FAITH CAPSULE: Lack of understanding is not to remember God; to rebel against God and not fear God.

1 Samuel 1

God does not forget but remembers all and nothing passes God without His attention. Man’s failure not to remember the goodness of God is forgetting what God can do. An example of forgetting God is identified in Psalm 106:7, “Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders, they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.” One that does not understand the mercies of God will lose the focus on what He has done; what He is doing and not remembers to fear God. The Israelites did not remember the multitude of God’s mercies but rebelled. Deliverance of man out of bondage of over four hundred years but not remember His mercies will not fear God. Rebellious  is the evidence of lack of understanding to fear God.
Man does not live life to fear God anymore. Unfortunately for man, God cannot forget to remember His own when His own does not to forget Him but live life in the fear of God. He is faithful in and He will not fail to remember when we remind Him concerning the works of His hand.
God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark and God Made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. (Genesis 8:1) God does not sleep and He will not sleep concerning His children. The fact that God remembered Noah is not a demonstration of a forgetful God but it is an indication that God moves at His own pace and His timing is better. God will always remember with favor and visits with salvation. God commanded Noah to build an ark of salvation before the time of the flood and when it was time for Noah to land on dry land, He remembered Noah and made a way for him on the dry land. Have you ever considered the need for you to maintain trust and hope that He has not forgotten you?
The children of Israel were in bondage for over four hundred years. Salvation was not activated for the children of Israel until God remembered them. Do you have a need for God to remember you? God alone is able to remember man and dry tears of lack; He is able to remember and move man from stagnation into motion; He remembers to turn mockery into miracle. Hannah, in the hopelessness of her bareness, God remembered her. Eli the priest prayed for her at Shiloh and she returned. It is written, “Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.” (1 Samuel 1:19) Remember that God will remember you, do not rebel but fear Him.

 Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to live life of remembering Him.