FAITH CAPSULE: Is there any enticement that is meant to derail you in your calling?

Proverbs 18:10 recorded, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Psalm 18:30, “As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” The name of the Lord, the Word of God is an assurance place for safety for any man that will run to the name of God; that will call on His name. Ones that runs to His name; that knows God; that walk in His name are set for unfailing security. God is not a talkative but always honor His word over the life of man that do right according to His word.
In the name of God there is always a hiding place. The word of God will always back the name of God. Are you taking a position to hide in the word of God by calling on the name of God? Psalm 107:20 recorded the word of God, “He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” In your world, are you looking for a place for deliverance that is certain? Why not take a place of hiding in the name of God, from the agents of the forces of wicked one?
Enticement is a device of the devil to bring man out of God’s safety.
Enticement is a “make look good” weapon of the devil to ensnare man to come out of God’s word. At any moment man steps out of God’s word the evil of the world steps in to man. It was the same enticement the serpent engaged to lure Eve out of the command in the word of God. It is written, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6) Eve the wife of Adam, had conversation and listened to the serpent’s direction which made Eve to give attention to the fruit of the tree. Eve yielded and ate the fruit.
In the case of Samson, Delilah was the agent of the wicked one who caused Samson to lose the presence of the Lord through the vice of enticement. Enticement will lead to pestering; pestering will develop to being pressed in every side to the point of giving self to the wicked one’s agenda. Samson yielded to Delilah by stepping out of the Word of God which was his safety. The bible recorded in Judges 16:16, “And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death.” Avoid listening to any word of enticement; ignore and pay no attention by maintain the name and the word of God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of God to keep you invulnerable to any agent of the enemy.

FAITH CAPSULE: On a serious note, who are you?

Psalm 1

Who are you?
Are you one that cannot identify or define who you are?
Jesus, our Lord and savior sought answer in His question from His disciples stating, “who do men say that I am” (Mark 8:27) Jesus was not attempting to evaluate Himself but it is a lesson for we to be aware of who we are.
On a serious note, who are you? Are you truly a believer or are you an acclaimed believer? Are you a man that is mouth full of the word of God with empty heart of the word of God?  Does your life reflect Christ? Are you a bible which people can read or an acclaimed bible which is not read-able?
Man can be deceived but God cannot be deceived. It is possible for man to be well decorated with title inside and out side of the church. It is possible for man to be self promoted with title before man but not promoted by God. There are self acclaimed with titles such as prophet, apostles but cannot answer who they are. Today, forget about your titles, it is how you engage God’s task for you that matters before God.
We should be able to answer to the question as stated: “Who are you” We should know who we are before God. Our neighbor can be deceived, our family can be deceived, our world can accept our deception but God cannot be deceived. Without doubt, man’s walk, man’s stand and where man sits are pointer of who man is about. Psalm 1:1 recorded, “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.” (Psalm 1:1) When the word of God declares blessing, it is established in heaven and on earth. A man who walks, sits and stands in accordance with Gods’ standard is blessed just as declared by the word of God.
Life is a journey, who you surround yourself with will determine what you get out of life. On a serious note, who are you? Whose word do you believe? Do you believe the word of God or the word of this world? The word of God is assurance to lead man to be walking, sitting or standing for the name of God if man will turn back to the wicked world. Assurance and reliance on God is certain to bring delight in the life of man.
Meditating on the law (word of God) is the avenue not to walk outside God’s way. The Psalmist identified the blessing of walking, sitting and standing in line with God, “He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” (Psalm 1:3)
Get to know who you are.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be in line with God.

FAITH CAPSULE: To find God, pursue faith and love.

Today make the choice to responsibly pursue all that draws man to God. 1 Timothy 6:11 rightly stated it, “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.” Having identified pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith and love is identified in this write-up.
Faith: The pages of the Bible mentioned about men of God who through the Word of God had faith. Are the acclaimed men of God today with faith? The men of God were great to the glory of God. Unwavering faith was the responsibility in their life before God. It was faith that made it possible for the great men of God to obtain good testimony. (Hebrews 11:2) In life, there is no man who is born with faith. According to the Word of God, “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Man’s responsibility to seek the Word of God will make man become faithful. Indeed, it is faithfulness that will make man to live for the glory of God. Irresponsibility is the identity of man to be mouthful of the Word of God and not heart-full of the Word of God. We are to responsibly engage faith all the days of our lives if we are to obtain a good testimony. Revelation 2:10 encourage us stating, “…Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  Living by faith demands responsibility as it is noted through the Bible. Habakkuk 2:4 buttress, “…the just shall live by his faith.” Responsibility is living by the Word of God (living by faith). The Word stated it, we walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7); we watch, stand by faith (1 Corinthians 16:13); faith purifies the heart (Acts 15:9); we are saved by faith through grace (Ephesians 2:8)
Jesus said by faith (which is with responsibility) we can move mountain. Notice the distinction; it is by faith and not by mouth. (Matthew 17:20) Without faith, man is set for self-destruction in this wicked world.
Love: Love or loving is not by man’s design under heaven. Love is God’s design; love is God’s expectation and is not by force. To love or loving is God’s command for man. Love demands responsibility for man to be great for the glory of God. The Word of God in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 declared the importance of love, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” It is clear in the Word of God that without responsibility to love will deny man to find God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to live before God with responsibility.  

FAITH CAPSULE: Responsibility builds up relationship with God.

Genesis 3

God made man and He gave commands to man. God’s commandment is His word. The Word of God is for man’s responsibility before God. Man should be responsible before God by obeying the word of God to build up for greatness. Paul the apostle buttressed, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Responsibility before God leads to relationship with God. Responsibility to be living righteous will be accounted for man before God just like Abraham. James 2:23, “…Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.” Abraham was responsible as a result, he had relationship with God.
God gave Adam word for his responsibility when He said, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
Adam was not responsible in the word of God when he moved by Eve’s irresponsible conversation with serpent (devil). Genesis 3:1-3 recorded the conversation between serpent and Eve, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
Irresponsible is having conversation with serpent instead of communicating the word of God. Eve’s conversation with serpent (devil) was lack of responsibility which broke up Adam and Eve’s relationship with God. With no longer relationship with God Adam and Eve were sent out of the Garden of Eden.
Jesus demonstrated the need for man to be responsible before God by communicating the word of God with devil. Just as serpent approached Eve with conversation, devil also approached Jesus with conversation. Jesus responded to devil by communicating the word of God instead of conversation with devil. Matthew 4:1-4 recorded, “ Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
With Jesus’ responsibility before God, He responded to devil with written word of God not in conversation. Eve responded to serpent in conversation. Devil is cunning we are to engage the word of God instead of conversation when devil comes with temptation.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be living by the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: It is wrong for negativity in the place of positive.

Numbers 13

What are you thinking in your heart? Are you positive about the promise in the word of God or you are negative about the promise in the word of God? The Israelites received the promise of God but could not receive the word of God to heart with positive but negative. God spoke to Moses, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, everyone a leader among them.” (Numbers 13:2-3) In God’s message the only condition for the Israelites to claim the promise of God was to go and spy out the land. There was no need for doubt; there was no need to be afraid but to rest in the promise of God that never fail.
A living word of God is direction, deliverance and preservation for any man with simple heart of reception. In life, a simple direction with a stony heart of reception will bring forth failure and self-destruction.
Have you received promise in the word of direction from God? All His directions are simple because He that gives direction is the One who will also see you through by His grace. Spies went and checked out the land and they brought back a negative report. Giving a negative report of His promise was a demonstration of lack of faith. Spies reported negative against the promise of God stating, “…The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are great men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we are like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we are in their sight.’” (Numbers 13:32-33) All the people who received and believed negative report despised the promise of God. In every word of God apply understanding not to receive or confess negativity. In every step of life, regardless of challenges it is worthy to speak life instead of death. Possess and gain entrance into God’s by seeing through His word and not through the word of man. What God promised to do is a done deal.
What man thinks about negatively transfer to the mouth for negative confession. Jesus warned, “…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34) Apparently, it is not possible to perceive good in the heart and profess evil with the mouth. In the face of any situation, take the word of God positively, confess positive and not be a victim of negatively. Watch what is being communicated through the mouth. The book of proverbs cautioned, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 8:21) Take the word of God as life.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be constantly confessing positive.