FAITH CAPSULE: The knowledge to fear God comes from learning in the word of God.

2 Kings 23

In the world today, man is full of himself while God is empty in man. The empty of God in man is the evidence of lack of fear of God. Man no longer fears God with their heart but with the mouth.
The lack of fear of God is the evidence of misplacement of the word (command, law) of God and it is the automatic route into path of eternal damnation.
Without any compromise, the will of God for man is to fear God. There is no one that is born on earth with the knowledge to fear God. The knowledge to fear God comes from learning in the word of God. Just as the children of Israel were commanded to learn the fear of God, so it is meant for all man to learn the fear of God. Deuteronomy 31:12-13 buttressed the need to learn and fear God, “Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, “and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.” In truth, where the book of law is lost learning will be abandoned and the people will forsake God. To Judah that was lost from the book of law, God promised to bring calamity on the land. Josiah was delivered from the consequence of being without the book of law because, his heart was tender, and he humbled himself before the Lord when he heard what was spoken against the land by God. (2 Kings 22:19)
The Law of God will cause tenderness of heart. With a tender heart there is a place for humility. Without humility obedience is not possible. The word recorded about Jesus, “…humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8) Josiah was obedient to the word of God because of his tender heart.
The will of God is for man to fear Him.
Do you fear God indeed and in truth? Are you lost from the word of God? When the Israelites were lost from the Book of the Law they missed out of teaching to learn and fear God.
Man can be deceived but God cannot be deceived.
Fear God, “…seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul seek Him and you will found Him” (Deuteronomy 24:29)

Prayer for today: Ask for the hand of God to impact you with fear of His name.

FAITH CAPSULE: Locate rest in the promise of God.

Hebrews 3

Our rest is in the promise of God not in the world’s solution.
Make the choice by engaging your rest solution in the presence of God. The presence of God is in the word of God. For example, the Israelites through their journey, in the wilderness, were led constantly by the presence of God. God’s presence was giving them direction and leadership through Moses which always resulted in rest when they obeyed and not disobeyed. All God did to lead was send His word through Moses and bible testified, “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” (Psalm 103:7)
Without doubt, the presence of God is the word of God.
The word of God delivers. Wherever deliverance reigns, rest resides. Our days should be in the promise rest solution of the word not the wicked world solution.
Jesus alone is the rest solution for any one that will accept and allow the word to have its place in his/her life. Having rest is engaging the heart in the word of God by not engaging and maintaining a harden heart (turning against the word of God). The Psalmist talked about harden heart and Hebrews 3 also stated, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter my rest. (Hebrews 3:7-11)
Harden heart to the word of God is a rebellious way.
Harden heart in times of wilderness situation often turn man from God
Harden heart is a way of testing and trying a proven God instead of taking a rest in God.
Hardness of heart is what leads man astray (way of destruction).
Hardened heart leads and place man in the wrath of God.
In the journey of life, hearing the word; having a receptive heart and not having a hardened heart gives promise rest of God to man.
Having rest in the promise of God is profitable if heart gives no room for hardness.
Hebrew 4:1-3 states, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.  For we who have believed do enter that rest…”
God cannot void His promise of rest for man that obeys instead of disobeying the word of God. As a believer, avoid all that makes man to become short of God’s promise of rest.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of heart that centered diligently on His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: Honoring God will no doubt bring honor’s God to you.

Genesis 39, Daniel 6

Worshiping God is giving honor to God. Honoring God is not in quoting the word of God but living and behaving the word of God. God does not move by just the words of our mouth but by the actions behind His word in our mouth. Bible described God, “…For the LORD is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed.” (1 Samuel 2:3) Worshiping God is our action that measures before God.
God is a faithful God and His word cannot be broken. God confirmed the validity of His word when He spoke, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
Do you know that honoring God will no doubt bring honor’s God to you?
Know that when you make a life style of honoring God is what will no doubt bring honor of God to you. Consciously or unconsciously, are you taking steps to honor God? Through the pages of scripture we are to learn and identify what it means to be honoring (be worshiping) God. Some men took deliberate steps to honor God in all ways of living life. God responded to men that honored Him with honor beyond their imagination. Among men that honored God and were highly lifted up by Gods honor were Daniel and Joseph.
Daniel knew the gravity of denying other gods to honor his God. Daniel was set by his enemies for not honoring gods but God as a result he went to his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem. Daniel knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. (Daniel 6:10) Daniel honored God and God honored him by shutting up the mouth of lion not to hurt Daniel.
Joseph had a good reason to despise God but he honored God. Joseph was in position to become the master of the house when his master’s wife persistently attempted to lie with him. The Bible recorded, “But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.” (Genesis 39:11-12) Joseph dishonored the wife of his master to honor his God.
Make honoring God your life style like Joseph and Daniel and He will honor you.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of God upon your life and be a vessel of honor.

FAITH CAPSULE: Joy and rejoicing maintains the presence of God.

Psalm 16

Living life for the glory of God is the key to retain the presence of God. Living for the glory of God demands knowing and understanding God by His word. Will you engage or increase studying the word and not be skimming through the word.
Apostle Paul repeatedly used the word rejoice in his speech because he knew the effectiveness of the word as a source of revelation to living life to the glory of God. It is indeed to get the revelation of rejoice. The book of Philippians 4:4 stated, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”
Rejoice can also be defined as joy activated. Are you a man that possesses reason to be in joy but remains dormant? For example, one that accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior accepts the reason to having joy into one’s heart. The joy accepted is not written over the forehead of the one that accepts Jesus. The only way the joy can be evident in the life of one that accepted Jesus is when joy is constantly activated by rejoicing. Again, the joy that is not activated by rejoicing is same as one lacking joy. When Angel Gabriel was sent by God to deliver the favorable news to Mary, the only way for Angel Gabriel to deliver the favorable news of joy was to first of all command Mary to rejoice. Luke 1:28, “And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” The news of joy will only settle when there is a place for rejoicing.
Think of it: when there is no water tank there will be no place to retain water for storage. This is same that Angel Gabriel made sure to deliver favorable news of joy where there was a place for rejoicing.
Very important, joy and rejoicing maintains the presence of God.
Psalmist buttressed, “…In Your presence is fullness of joy…” (Psalm 16:11) “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.” (Proverbs 8:30) God cannot be found in a joyless environment. Revelation about joy and rejoicing maintains a believer in the presence of God.
God attributes is visible around anyone that chooses to acknowledge His attributes. Psalmist described Him, “Good and upright is the Lord…” (Psalm 25:8) God is truly a good God that does no evil but good. With the understanding that He is a good God, living life should always be with rejoicing. Living life by rejoicing is demonstrating trust in God, knowing that He does no evil but good. Psalm 33:21 testifies, “For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name.” Without doubt there is no way to gaining His presence without rejoicing.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to continually rejoice by praising God; by magnifying Him with thanks giving.

FAITH CAPSULE: What a wonderful God we serve?

Psalm 103, Psalm 139

The one that knows and understands the wonder of God in His creation of man will know what it means to praise God with understanding.
The Psalmist testified, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.” (Psalm 139:14) The Psalmist declared that his praising of God is rooted in his fear. He declared the wondrous hand of God. Psalmist testified the glory of God in God’s creation of man and stated: God is mindful of man; man is the one that God pays visit to; man is made a little lower than the angels; man is crowned with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:4-5) The Psalmist went further stating: God made man to have dominion over the works of His hands; all things were made to be under the feet of man. (Psalm 8:6-7) Consider that all God has done and invested into man demands from man to agree that God made man to be His wonderful creation.
What a wonderful God we serve? Man, having been made so wonderful with honor by God and not get to know and understand God is undoubtedly set to perish. Psalmist buttressed, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20) God, having bestowed so much upon man is not wrong to have so much expectation from man in obedience to His command.
Just as if all God has done for man is not enough, He went further to put in place loads of daily benefits for man. King David testified God’s daily benefits, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!” (Psalm 68:19) King David agreed that blessing the name of God should be rooted in understanding and not just by mouth. David went further in Psalm 103 to identify the daily benefits of God for man: He forgives all our iniquities; heal our diseases; redeems life from destruction; crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies and satisfy our mouth with good things. (Psalm 103:1-5) The daily benefits are evident in our life daily.
The point here is that, it is important for us to know and understand how man is wonderfully made and daily loaded with benefits. At all times of your praising and blessing His Holy name, let it be rooted in understanding. Think by remembering what else can provoke God in your praising and blessing with understanding. Proverbs 13:15 says, “Good understanding gains favor” Become a good understanding vessel in God’s hand.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace that  within you, blessing and praising God for a new day and a new month shall always be your portion.