FAITH CAPSULE: Obeying God’s word is a sacrifice.

Genesis 22

Giving God a reasonable sacrifice will provoke unexpected blessing from God.
In Genesis 22:2, God spoke to Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” God’s word for Abraham was costly. Sacrifice can be challenging and can be emotionally exhausting. Obedience sacrifice is to honor God which shall surely elevate man in every area of life to the glory of God.
Are you obeying to God as the Lord leads? Are you taking a self-step to obediently sacrifice to God?
Abraham did not questioned God when his one and only son Isaac was asked by God for burnt offering. Imagine, Abraham rose early in the morning to God’s word; he did not consult any man but moved in direction of God’s word. At the ground of his burnt offering of his only son Isaac, it was certain in the heart of Abraham to obey fully to God. Abraham received another call as stated in Genesis 22:11-13, “But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.”
What are you giving up to God? What are you holding from God? What is it you cannot give to God which is in position to give beyond expectation? Think from the depth of heart and know that all that you have, all that you are and all that you can be is in the hand of God. It is clear in the pages of the Bible that every reasonable obedience sacrifice will provoke God’s attention in every area of life. Will you consider the kind of sacrifice that you are rendering unto God? If your sacrifice is reasonable He will give unexpected reasonable visitation.
Abraham’s sacrificial obedience provoked God’s blessing as stated, “…By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”  Obeying God’s word is a sacrifice which provoked unexpected blessing of God for Abraham.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of obedience to His word in all areas of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you on course to deliver assignment which does not glorify God?

Exodus 15

Who should man fear?
Do you fear God or do you fear the orchestration of your challenge?
The wise thing is to gain understanding and to only know to fear God. Power belongs only to God, power does not belong to no man or force under heaven. God alone is the creator and Him alone in the position to do and undo as it pleases Him. Psalm 56:4 stated, “In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” Having trust in God is the evidence to fear God and not to fear man with any form of evil agenda.
Balak does not fear God but feared the presence of the children of Israel. It is written, Then the children of Israel moved, and camped in the plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan across from Jericho. Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel. So Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this company will lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.  Then he sent messengers to Balaam…” (Numbers 22:1-5)
Balak’s fear about the presence of the children of Israel prompted him to seek for Balaam as the agent to curse the children of Israel. Despite all the promises in place for Balaam; despite all Balaam’s attempt to execute the assignment of Balak, God in His power intervened and the assignment for Balaam failed.
Are you on course to deliver assignment which does not glorify God? It does not matter who sent you or what your reward will be but allow the fear of God take charge. Balaam was on evil errand assignment against the children of Israel. Man should never become a part or to attempt curse against another without cause. Proverbs 26:2 says it clear, “Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight.”
When you conform to the fear of God before delivering an evil message, God will not ignore your move, but will acknowledge you beyond and above whatever reward that is set for you. It does not matter where you are today or what position you are holding. Established the fear of God in your heart from today to become abstained from delivering any message that is meant to hurt others, or that does not glorify God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of His to be your garment.

FAITH CAPSULE: Faith is a spiritual force that produce living proofs.

Hebrews 11
What is faith and why is faith important?
Faith is a spiritual force that is alive. Faith is not a religious force but it is rooted in the living Word of God. Faith is a spiritual force that produce living proofs because Jesus is the living Word of God. John 6:63 stated, “…The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” Faith is a spiritual force that is rooted in the living word of God as it is written in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Faith is not philosophy nor ideology but a spiritual force. Man, that is truly faithful shall be in possession of key for dominion on the face of earth. Having faith is to believe as Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23)
Faith is spiritual living force that will provoke God to respond. It was faith with spiritual force that made God to respond for the three friend of Daniel’s deliverance in burning fiery furnace of King Nebuchadnezzar. (Daniel 3)
Hebrews 11:1 described faith, “…the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:2-3 identified the importance of faith asserting that, “…the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God…”
WHY FAITH IS IMPORTANT
As spiritual force faith, it gives victory over great multitude for any man with faith. By hearing and hearing faith becomes important not as talk-faith but for tapping into power of God. Evidently, faith drew power from Jesus when a woman made a choice not engage talkative faith but tapped power from Jesus. Bible recorded, “Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.” (Mark 5:25-29)
Great multitude, thronging after Jesus was not enough to stop the woman’s faith to touch and tapped power from Jesus which healed the woman from affliction. Jesus responded to the woman’s touch, “And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”” (Mark 5:30)
Faith is important to deliver power for one that makes the Word of God a responsible way of life.

Prayer for today: As for the grace for faith to become your garment.

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.