FAITH CAPSULE: Be acknowledging God in your ways of living life.

Psalm 50

It is written, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” (Jeremiah 9:23-24) One that understands and knows God is set in the position to do great exploit to the glory of God. Daniel 11:32 buttressed, “…but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” Are you conducting or boasting on your might or riches? Under heaven nothing man possesses that is enough to surpass one that understands and knows God.
Getting to understand and knowing God matters the most in all areas of life. All things which man is doing should be propelled by understanding and knowing God. How long one has been in the church is not enough to understand and know God. In life, it is possible for a man to be in church all the days under heaven but not understand and know God. Do you understand and know God enough to be your boast?
Among ways of boasting in God is acknowledging God. To be acknowledging God is praising God. Psalm 50:23 stated, “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.” Let boasting God become your conduct by praising God in all areas of your life as recorded, “Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150)
In your boasting praise God to provoke the hand of God for His favor. Daniel did not boast his great exploit over having overnight in the den of lions without scratch. He boasted His God by saying that God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouth and could not hurt him. Acknowledging God is boasting God.
David boasted His God to convince Saul for permission to go against Goliath, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” (1 Samuel 17:36-37) David made his boast in the Lord and not in the might that he was able to kill lion and bear. Acknowledging God as your conduct praising God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of acknowledging God in every way of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you serving God the way that seems right to you?

Proverbs 16

Serving God in your way will please you but is not serving God and not pleases God. Hebrews 11:6 stated, “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.” Pleasing God in ways that pleases Him is the evidence of man’s faith. Man, that pleases God will seek Him diligently to provoke the rewarder of God.
In this coming days, desire and pray for the grace to be pleasing God instead of pleasing man. In this wicked world of deception, lying and manipulations, avoid giving self to pleasing man in the place of pleasing God. It is important to know that God cannot be deceived. Proverbs 16:2 buttress, “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes; but the Lord weighs the spirits.” God is the perfect and only creator that wants us to be pleasing Him in all His ways as commanded in His word. Pleasing Him by walking in His ways will keep man from becoming a victim in the hands of enemies. The word of God buttressed in Proverbs 16:7, “When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” God has given us His word which is our assurance to gain the blessing of pleasing Him. Take to the way (word) of God not the way that seems right to you.
Are you taking to the way of God? Begin to take to the way of God and God will take you beyond your expectation. Starting from this day, always take to the way of God. The word counsels, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 16:25) The way that seems right is outside of the way of God. No matter how far the way that seems right has taken you, today is time to turn to the way of God.
Any other way outside of the way of God is a way of self-destruction. Truly, in the written word of God, it has not been documented about anyone that has taken to the way of God and ended up in destruction. It is documented and it is evident that all who has taken to their own way ended up in destruction. It does not matter how long you have been walking outside of His way without self-destruction but it matters that you begin to take to the way of God and avoid self-destruction.
It is assured in the word of God that the way of God, “…will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For by strength no man shall prevail.” (1Samuel 2:9) When there is a will or desire to walk in His way, He will guide your feet to walk in His way.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to please God in all your ways.

FAITH CAPSULE: Praising God and giving thanks to God is engaging God.

Psalm 100, Luke 17:11-19

Giving thanks and praising God with understanding is engaging the presence of God. Psalm 100:4 is a confirmation about locating God stating, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” Man that is able to locate the gate of His presence will access His courts.  Giving thanks is the pass code that opens gate while praise ushers man to His court.
Are you one that knows (not knows about) God, giving thanks and praises to God with understanding? The Psalmist declares in Psalm 47:7, “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding” When understanding is applied to God’s Word, there will be a knowing-edge which brings forth undeniable result.
As usual, Jesus was passing through Samaria when ten men who were lepers were in place to encounter Jesus. Luke 17:12-13 recorded, “…there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Ten lepers lifted their voice and asked just as Jesus commanded in His word that we should ask and it shall be given. Despite the fact that they were far off from Jesus they did not allow distance to deny them from asking healing. Jesus answered their prayers and they were all cleansed from leprosy. He is a God that answers in prayer. Interestingly, after healing only one of the lepers went back to give thanks to Jesus for answered prayer. It is written, “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks…” (Luke 17:15-16) Out of ten lepers one demonstrated what it takes to give acceptable thanks giving. One’s leper understanding made a way to engage the presence of Jesus for his healing.
Jesus responded to one that went back to give thanks, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17: 17-18) Jesus’ response indicates that He is always waiting for us to come back and give thanks at every time He passes through where challenges exist. Perfect healing was engaging the presence of God with thanks giving.
Praising God is engaging the presence of God. Praise brings God to us and us to God. When our soul and our heart becomes the habitation of praising God day and night then we become a dweller in His presence. Praise is a language of faith. If you have praise to offer, you have God. When we praise Him with understanding not as entertainment, it becomes the way of engaging the presence of God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace that your soul and heart become a place of praising and thanking God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Allow God to fight your battle.

2 Chronicles 32:1-26

Sennacherib king of Assyria went against Israelites when he entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself. What is camping against you? What is taking a stand to win against you? Whatever is against you is a battle against you. In the case of the Israelites, Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem. Hezekiah did not take battle by himself nor allow the threat of Sennacherib subdue his people but encouraged his people stating, “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.”(2 Chronicles32:7-8) Today, take encouragement in the word of Hezekiah in the face of your battle. It is strength to know that the arm of flesh will not overcome God’s help in the face of battle.
Do you know that the Lord is your God?
We know that we have never seen or heard of God losing a battle on behalf of His children. We also know assuredly that any battle that is lost is the result of man disallowing God to arise on our behalf. When trouble comes to one’s way and one begins to lose one’s rest, it is an indication that one is taking one’s battle away from God. When you lose your rest in the face of battle you fail to stand still. When you are no longer standing still, you are not far from falling down. Many have fallen; many are falling in the face of different battles because they have not let God fight the battle. The Israelites confessed negative at the crossing of the Red Sea when they spoke 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.” (Exodus 14:11-12)
The Israelites failed to speak right and it disallowed God from rising on their behalf. Moses responded in faith, “…do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight your battle and you shall hold your peace.’” (Exodus 14:13-14) In the face of your battle, gain strength in confessing positive, rest in the power of God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the power of God on your behalf in the time of battle.

FAITH CAPSULE: Make the choice to abhor wickedness and not to sin before God.

Genesis 39

Joseph ostracized doing wickedness and sin before God. Genesis 39:9 recorded Joseph’s seeking of God, “…How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” What a man is doing before God continually will count and determine if a man seeking before God. Joseph was continually against wickedness and not sin before God. All great wickedness is not hidden from God. Wickedness does not escape in the eyes of God. Above all, great wickedness before God is having the word of God in the mouth but far from the mind. (Jeremiah 12:2) The onset of greatness wickedness towards Joseph is recorded, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.” (Genesis 37:3-4) From junction of great wickedness of hate from Joseph’s brother towards Joseph was great wickedness but God’s mercy repeatedly answered for Joseph.
Great wickedness was activated towards Joseph when:
Joseph’s dream of greatness provoked his brother’s great wickedness with attempt to kill him but later sold him to slavery which took him to Egypt. Joseph was not in position to do wicked in return to his brother’s great wickedness but he found favor before God. In Egypt, Pharaoh’s captain of the guard an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. While Joseph was with his master Potiphar, the Lord was with him, and he was a successful man; his master saw that the Lord was with him. While he was there, great wickedness located him when he refused to lie with his master’s wife. Master’s wife accused Joseph before the Potiphar saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.” (Genesis 39:17-18)
Great wickedness of Master’s wife accusation brought Joseph to prison. As he was in the prison, he interpreted dream which granted the attention to also interpret Pharaoh’s dream. Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream promoted Joseph from prison to become Prime Minister of the whole land. All through Joseph’s journey, there was no record of him responding to great wickedness with wickedness and God gave him favor. Joseph’s brothers unknowingly, sought for food at Egypt in time of famine when they located Joseph but he received them by not paying back wickedness to his brothers.  Joseph left home at age seventeen and could not reconnected with his father at age thirty plus. Joseph was delivered from great wickedness all through his journey because there was no attempt of wicked vengeance from him. Joseph despised wickedness and not sin God; he continually served God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace not to be a part of doing wicked all the days of your life.