FAITH CAPSULE: Stop snubbing God’s instruction.

Exodus 3

Snubbing the word of God is same as rejecting the word of God. The Israelites repeatedly experienced deliverance of God but yet could not give themselves to the word of God. When the Israelites could not drink the water at Marah they could not remember the word of deliverance but complained. Word of God answered them, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26) Engaging the instructions of God is enabling healing. Also, snubbing God’s instruction for one’s life is substituting one’s glorious destiny in God.
The word of God gave a clear instruction for us to keep His Spirit alive in our life when it stated in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,  in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.”  When the Spirit of God is active in us, no activity that lines up against God can overcome us in the journey of life.
Avoid snubbing the word of God by replacing convenience with commitment which is the key to embrace the promise of God. The children of Israel were called out of bondage of over four hundred years to a land that flows with milk and honey. It was a promise but they could not avoid snubbing the word of God but repeatedly complaint. God gave His word of promise to the children of Israel stating, “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…” (Exodus 3:8) God’s promise, His command demands diligent commitment. However, the story changed when the children of Israel, the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Reuben settled for convenience and could not commit to the promise in the word of God.
We do not engage the word of God for quoting purpose but to qualify ourselves for the promises of God and not make ourselves a loser. Also, we do not engage the word of God to impress the world around us but to press further and not make ourselves vulnerable to the pressure of this wicked world. Are you one that embraces the word of God seriously by meditating on it day and night, to observe and do according to His instruction? It is important to know that the word of God is a priority for having life abundantly. God cannot be deceived.
Are you finding comfort by embracing what the Lord did not promise you?
Stop snubbing God’s instruction.

Prayer for today: Ask God not to be a vessel of disobedience.

FAITH CAPSULE: Twisting truth is blatant lie.

1 Samuel 15

Twisting truth is evil. Deuteronomy 19:19 responded to lying as evil stating “…so you shall put away the evil from among you.” Man twists truth to deceive, steal, bear witness and demonstrates inconsistency in the word of God. Twisting truth is a choice of living for the father of lies. Jesus spoke in John 8:42-47, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
Twisting truth is the evidence of not listening to truth but paying attention to lying.
Twisting truth is the evidence of accepting devil as father.
Twisting truth is doing the will of the devil.
Twisting truth does not have a stand before God. To have a stand before God positions man in the place of power of God. Elijah was in place of stand before God because there was no twisting truth in him. 1 Kings 17:1-2 recorded Elijah’s stand before God, “And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.” When the word of God does have a place in man it becomes possible for man to claim a stand just as Elijah took a stand and commanded rain to stop for three years and half. A man that does not twist truth stands in place of pleasing God. Twisting truth is the evidence of not believing God; twisting truth is not hearing God.
Twisting truth yields to spinning (turning) truth. Attempt for taking a place of self-defense makes man to spin the twisting truth. The problem is that when man spin often enough, man becomes convinced that lying is mostly true. Spinning truth also leads to too much talking and leads more to lying. Saul defended by spinning (turning) truth. He was commanded to destroy Agag but spare Agag. (1 Samuel 15) Twisting, spinning truth made Saul to incur a curse which rejected him from being king. Avoid twisting truth; do not make a place for spinning truth that terminated divine destiny.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of God not to be a vessel of lying.

FAITH CAPSULE: Is your name affecting your world positively?

1 Samuel 1

Give a positive name to child. What have you been called to answer in life? Through the bible, many lived life by what they were named to answer. For example, Shiphrah and Puah lived their name to affect their world positively. Shiphrah means “Beautiful One” and Puah mean “Splendid One”. When Pharaoh attempted to reduce the Israelites male children at birth, he commanded midwives named Shiphrah and Puah, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” (Exodus 1:16) Beautiful and Splendid woman disappointed Pharaoh and not become agent of killer of Hebrew women’s sons.
What is it about your name that is affecting your world positively?
Hannah named her son Samuel meaning, “…because I have asked for him from the Lord.” (1Samuel 1:20) After years of barrenness, God answered her and she him named Samuel. Samuel is a name answer from God. Samuel greatly affected his world positively as a prophet from God. As a child, he was in position at a time when the word of God was rare. Samuel touched his people as the bible testified, “So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord.” (1 Samuel 3:19-20) The name of Samuel answered to the glory of God.
Bible recorded in Acts 4:36-37; “And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” This report was recorded for a purpose of encouragement but not reported for the purpose of storytelling. Joses did not live as a vessel of discouragement to body of believers yesterday and tomorrow.
Have you ever asked yourself, “What does my name mean?”
Search your name to seek if there is a need to change your name. Jabez’s meaning name was pain but he prayerfully made change of his name as it is written, “Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”  And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.” (1 Chronicle 4:9-10) In life, ask to a name that will positively affect your generation to the glory of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to understand and answer to a positive name for God’s glory.

FAITH CAPSULE: Many are prophesy-lying claiming to be prophesying in the name of God.

Psalm 91

There are so many calling out; claiming Jesus but only knows about Jesus and not knows Jesus. Knowing about Jesus does not know Jesus. So many answering to self-named or man named as pastor, bishop, prophets, apostles are posturing, rising up while taking place of every corridor of church. Many are speaking from the head claiming to be speaking in tongue. Many are prophesy-lying claiming to be prophesying in the name of God. Indeed, not knowing Jesus encourages many to continue lying in the name of Jesus but Jesus warned, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23)
Boldface liars, bogus self-acclaimed man of God, wretched, despicable full of gimmick knows self and God knows them. Lying around in the name of God is nothing but evil. God is not asleep but He is seeing evil work, God’s judgement will come. Ecclesiastes 8:11-13 buttressed, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.  Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.”
Are you answering to the name of God by lying and fully engaged in bogus gimmick? Is evil your passion or way of life? Are you a vulnerable victim in the hand of self-acclaimed man of God lying around?
Making choice to become ignorant in the hand of wicked liars; self-acclaimed man of God is not an excuse for deliverance as a victim. The word of God clearly spelt out our faith prescription to be free from the evil ones stating, “…If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32) The word of Jesus speaks to all. In this wicked world, abide in the secret in the word of God as refuge. Psalm 91:1-2 is not a story but a secret for deliverance and preservation stating, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Trust and hope in God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of deliverance and preservation.

FAITH CAPSULE: God alone is in control and He shall not sleep over His purpose for His children.

1 Kings 1

God is absolutely in control. Man’s lack of knowledge of God shall not limit or deny God’s agenda in the life of man. If you know that God is in control of your life then you will know to rest in the midst of unrest. In life, regardless of the enemy’s attempt to upstage God’s plan for you, always trust and hope that the word of God shall not fail in your life.
David promised to put Solomon in place as king but Adonijah set up a plot because he realized that David was old and advanced in years and could go to sleep at any time. The bible recorded, “Then he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they followed and helped Adonijah. But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David were not with Adonijah.” (1 Kings 1:7-8) Adonijah conferred with people who counted, but not with people that counted and mattered. Adonijah was set up for failure because of his attempt to answer what God did not call him to be. Solomon did not know that there was any plan in process for him to get to the place where God wanted him to get to. God’s hand for Solomon to be king was in place but not in place for Adonijah.
At the point of God’s move against the struggle of Adonijah, Prophet Nathan made a move that eventually terminated every plot of Adonijah. Evidently, there was no struggle for Solomon, but there were people in place in time who God had planted for Solomon to get to divine schedule of God for his life. Prophet Nathan’s move required Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, to play a role of bring the plan and purpose of God to life when he asked Bathsheba to, “Go immediately to King David and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord, O king, swear to your maidservant, saying, Assuredly your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then has Adonijah become king?’” (I Kings 1:13) Bathsheba reacted by Nathan’s word; Nathan responded by playing his role before David, God showed up and moved in David. As a result, Solomon became the king as designed by God.
Today, only focus on God. God alone is in control and He shall not sleep over His purpose for His children that focus on Him. In your entire endeavor, let the peace of God that surpasses all understanding have its place in your life. God Himself will put people in places who you do not know and they will offset every set up of the enemy that is against your life.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of God that you shall live life in the center of God’s divine agenda.