Faith Capsule: The combination of worrying and being troubled will elevate man to the state of fear.

Exodus 14

To become worried and troubled in the face of challenge is the evidence of not looking up to God’s help. Any time man keeps eyes on confronting challenge man is set to misplace focus on God. Are you beholding your challenge or you are looking up to God? Exodus 14:10-12 documented, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.  Then they said 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.” Does that sound like you? The Israelites knowing fully well that God is able gave into fear when they failed to lift up their eyes unto God for help. The Israelites were worried and troubled as a result they gave to negative confession.
Solution to challenges demands focusing on God and the word of His promise. Despite all the powerful teachings of Jesus against fear and worrying, the disciples went ahead and locked themselves up in fear of the Jews. “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19) While they were being locked up in the state of fear, Jesus showed up and declared peace. Jesus the Word of God is the Prince of peace. If you will look up to Jesus as Lord and savior He is always around to uphold you.
Faith in Jesus will cause peace to reign.  After Jesus had spoken peace into His disciple’s life, the eyes of their mind were opened to see the mark of crucifixion. “When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” (John 20:20) Seeing the mark opened up the disciples to come out of fear. If you will begin to see the marks of crucifixion and believe that the marks were registered on Jesus for us to be able to have life abundantly, the fear about all that is going on around the world will not have its place in your life.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of boldness and character and not be a victim of fear in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Ignore your concern by responding to His command fully. 

1Samuel 16
It is written, “He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless of his ways will die.” (Proverbs 19:16)
Are you keeping His commands that sound in your direction?
Are you keeping to your ways instead of His ways?
The book of Jonah 1:1-3 stated, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”” Jonah was careless when he responded to his ways. When God calls and sends one out, He will back the called up. In His calling, He makes available what it takes to get to the expected end. Often times, man stumbles and takes a position of self-destruction. Jonah’s business was to only obey as commanded by God regardless of what seemed right to him or not.
It was God Himself who called Moses out to go and lead the children of Israel out of the bondage that lasted over four hundred years. Moses, out of his concern for God reacted to the rebellious act of the children of Israel towards God. Moses took it upon himself to strike the rock instead of speak to the rock for water. God responded to Moses, “Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12)
The same God sent Samuel to go and anoint David as king while Saul was still living as the King. Samuel was concerned about God’s command when he asked, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” (1 Samuel 16:2) Out of concern, Samuel could have responded by going his own way but gave himself to God’s command. God responded to Samuel’s question, “…Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.”1 Samuel 16:2-3) Samuel’s concern could not corrupt his obedience to God’s command. God alone knows the end from the beginning, He knew us before we were born. Disallow your concern by allowing His command to be established.

Prayer for today: Ask God for grace to only concern for His word and not to your personal concern.

FAITH CAPSULE: It is iniquity not to regard His work or consider the operation of His hands.

Psalm 106:13-33

The word declared in Psalm 103:2, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” Blessing His name all the time and in all things is the evidence that one remembers Him. Forgetting what God has done or what He can do is enough to lead man into taking a route of sin. The children of Israel, after coming out of the bondage of Egypt, forgot what the Lord did for them and the word of God stated, “They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert.” (Psalm 106:13-14) The Israelites, overlooked; failed to recall; unable to remember; unable to call to mind what the Lord did for their salvation from the bondage of over four hundred years. When there is a failure for man not to remember where man is coming from, man is set to become lost and not get to where man is going.
As a result of the truth that the Israelites could not remember the works of God, failure not to wait for the wonderful counsel of God took charge over their life. By virtue of their testimony, it is evident that a failure not to wait is a passage to become wasted in the journey of life. The Israelites did not only wasted but got lost exceedingly.
Are you one that claims not to have forgotten the works of God or you are disregarding the works of His hand?
It is written, “The harp and the strings, the tambourine and the flute, and wine are in their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the LORD, nor consider the operation of His hands. Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.” (Isaiah 5:12-13) When there is no regard to do the work of God as commanded by God, there will be no regret in doing what does not glorify His Name. Also, not to have attention for what God has done will deny one from responding to what God is doing or what He can do.
It is iniquity not to regard His work or consider the operation of His hands because He is a Jealous God. As regard to the works that God have done and the ones that He is doing, giving Him all the attention will keep us in Him and not hide us away from Him. Job made us to realize it that, there is no hiding place for iniquity. (Job 34:22)  It is impossible to hide from God when man engages iniquity.
Take a step forward in regarding His work and considering the operation of His hand.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace that constantly set mind to remember and not disregard the works of God.

ERROR

FAITH CAPSULE: Doing what is good wrongly in the name of God is an error.

2 Samuel 6

Error is a deviation from accuracy as in mistake, as in action or speech. Error is the condition of believing what is not true. Error is a moral offense; wrongdoing; sin. It is an error to violate the word of God and it can be a conscious or unconscious error before God. Error happened in 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? (Pray that the grace of God will open your eyes to avoid or come out of conscious or unconscious error.)
Before God, there is no excuse for error.
Before God, Adam and Eve committed error by believing the serpent enough to eat against God’s command not to eat from 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) Adam and Eve’s excuses were not enough before God as they received their judged by God. The error committed by Adam and Eve is the root of today’s pains  for man.
Doing what is good wrongly (that is engaging the heart with a wrong act) before God will not excuse destruction consequence. Uzzah engaged wrong doing with good heart. He was wrong; it was act not reasonably acceptable by God according to the word of God. It happened that during the transfer of the Ark of God from the house of Abinadab, Uzzah and Ahio drove the cart. In the process of moving the ark, Uzzah touched when he should not. The 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) Uzzah’s act of good heart was an error before God.
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.” Uzzah touched holy thing which was the ark of God.
Despising the word of God is positioning self for destruction.

Prayer point: Ask for grace not to engage a life terminating error.

FAITH CAPSULE: Consider setting mind to be seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Colossians 3:1-17

Believing God is not only in the confession with the mouth.
What is it that is worthy more than seeking after God?
Jesus admonished all of us stating, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”  (Matthew 6:33) Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness should be the ultimate for man in this world of today. Seeking outside of God is taking to the outside of God that is away from the presence of God. Accepting the truth of the word of God is to believe by behaving the word of God. Jesus identified why believing is challenging when He stated, “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.” (John 8:45) Are you taking to the truth of God to stand as a believer? Believe the truth of God; seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and He will not fail but He will add to you the blessings of seeking Him with all heart.
When man seeks Him, it should be with all diligence. God did not ask from us what we cannot offer when He asked for seeking Him. God knows what we are capable of believing Him if we receive His truth. Have you given your life to the truth of God? Seek Him with all diligence and He will bring to pass all His promise. Jesus is the truth of God as stated in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Believing God is behaving the word of God.
In this world of challenges, seeking God will set man’s word as stated, “with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) Among the ways of word-behaving believers should be engaging seeking and setting minds on things that are above. Paul pointed out, “If then you were raised with Christ; seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2)  As a believer, what you seek and set your mind on in the truth of God is what will make man up in the journey of life.
The standard of seeking and setting mind on things of above is identified in Deuteronomy 4:29, “…seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Consider setting mind to be seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. With commitment to be seeking God will position man before God that all things are possible.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of God to be seeking and setting self on God.