FAITH CAPSULE: From today allow Jesus to take His place in your inn.

Luke 2:1-40

With knowing the reason of the coming of Jesus is the important of Christmas celebration not giving of gift to selected ones called love. The bible recorded in John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” This scriptural verse is the key but it is the most neglected.
To be-living (believe) in Him are the ones that love Him.
To be-living in Him is to work the works of God.
The book of John 6:8-9 clearly answered to what it means to work the works of God. Jesus was asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” and He responded, “…This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Many received the story of how He was born, they embraced it and celebrate it glamorously but do not consider to work the works of God as stated by Jesus.
Do you sincerely love the gift God sent for us? To love the gift of God is to be-living in Him which God sent.
Can you imagine, “And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)
Does the Redeemer of man deserve to be wrapped in a swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger?
Can it possibly be the sign that our Redeemer was born and wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger?
Jesus was born in a manger because there was no room for Joseph and Mary the in the inn. The inn that matters to Him is our inn not the commercial inn that was filled and not has a place for Him.
It does not matter the kind of gift that occupies your inn waiting to be delivered as a gift. If you do not have a place for Him in your inn it becomes a meaning less gift. He spoke in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Jesus came to have a place in our inn so that we overcome and be granted a seat with Him on His throne.”
As you celebrated Jesus, let your inn be opened up for Him.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to open you up for Jesus.

FAITH CAPSULE: Give glory and honor and thanks to God for Jesus.

John 1

Psalmist stated, “Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation.” (Psalm 106:4) Indeed His favor toward man today was delivered when He visited salvation.
Virgin Mary received the message of favor, “Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:30-33)
God is a good God. Give glory and honor and thanks belong to Him.
In this time of year but all year round, who does your glory and honor and thanks goes to? At this time of the year, is it your gift for others is your attention or giving glory and honor and thanks to Him who gave the message of favor with salvation?
It is written, “Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” (Revelation 4:9-11)
He is a good God and He is worthy of all glory and honor and thanks.
Why not preoccupy yourself with giving glory, honor and thanks?
Allow your prayer and supplication to become rooted in giving glory and honor with giving thanks to God.
Paul knew exactly what he was saying when he stated, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, and let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6) God owes man nothing except that man owes God all the glory and honor. Out of His goodness and mercy, He gave to us love and the Bible stated, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
God sent Jesus to the world.
It is written, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12) To those who receive and believe in Jesus, everlasting life becomes their portion. It is only receiving and believing Him that makes the only way out of every trap of hell.

Prayer for today: Ask God to open your heart to receive Him and believe in His name.

FAITH CAPSULE: Do you understand the purpose of gift of God for man?

1 John 5

In this season of the year, giving gift and receiving gift does not have meaning of understanding of giving gift.
Do you understand what God’s gift for man is about?
Do you aware that knowing to do good but not doing good does not count before God. James 4:17 stated, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
In the parable of the good Samaritan, Priest and the Levite had the chance to do good but missed out. The title (Priest and Levite) was not enough to motivate them in doing what is good before God. Just like Priest and Levite, once a worship leader (minister) of a church had a life threatening sickness and went into comma. By the grace of God he came out of life threatening sickness, after he had spent days in coma. On his first week back to work, while on his way for lunch he spotted a homeless man coming in opposite direction to him. According to his testimony, he perceived that the homeless man was going to ask him for alms. The worship leader with the good gift of God for him to come out of comma attempted to cross to the other side of the road and avoid the homeless man.
Imagine a worship leader missed the chance to do good by not giving good.
The worship leader was not able to cross but he fell down flat.
Do you wonder who came to his rescue first? The homeless man that worship leader had been trying to avoid was the one who picked the worship leader minister up from the ground where he had fallen.
Are you engaging giving in the season of the year for your own self-interest?
Do you understand the purpose of gift of God for man?
1 John 1:10-11 testified, “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”
Evidently, the main reason why Jesus was given to us is for us to inherit eternal life.
Every step taken to inherit eternal life is exactly what we are doing or giving back to Jesus.
How are you giving back to God?
The minister worship leader could give homeless for God’s sake. The minister worship leader could not give good for God’s sake that brought him out of life threatening sickness.
In this season, running around stores to get gift does not count as doing good without knowing and accept God’s given of His Son.

Prayer for today: Ask for understanding of gift of God for man.

FAITH CAPSULE: Do not be far from God but draw near to God.

Daniel 3

It is good to draw near to God. One that trusts in God hopes and rests in God.
Trusting and hoping in God prompts one to declare the works of God.
Knowing to declare the works of God causes man to be decorated with presence of God.
To declare the work of God is to be obedient to God and disobey the gods of this world.
The three friends of Daniel (Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego) demonstrated what it means to declare the works of God and be decorated by God. The three friends of Daniel disobeyed King Nebuchadnezzar by not worshiping a gold image.
With King Nebuchadnezzar, whoever does not fall down to worship gold image was to be thrown into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Attempts to get them worship gold image did not work and the king questioned: Who is the god who will deliver the three friends from his hands?
The three friends of Daniel, in the face of untimely death declare the wonder-working God stating, “…O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18) It is impossible to declare the wonder-working God in the face of a challenging confrontation like that of the three friends and not have God decorate the declarer of wonder-working God.
God decorated the three friends immediately in an uncommon way in the history of creation when He came down to deliver them in the fiery burning furnace. It happened while they are in the burning furnace that God Himself came down instead of sending an angel for their deliverance. When the king saw the God whom he did not know before, he was astonished and he stated, “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” (Daniel 3:25) They were highly decorated and the king could not resist from announcing the awesomeness of God.
The three friends of Daniel could not become victim of the wicked as they remained close to God.
The three friends of Daniel trusted in God and their hope could not become hopeless.
Ignore the wicked; focus and hold onto God in these days of rising challenges and you shall remain standing.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be focus and not far away from God.

FAITH CAPSULE: In these days of spiritual wickedness, there should be no substitute for prayer.

Luke 3

God is the Lord God of heaven.
Prayer is the key that opens heaven.
Prayer as a key to open heaven must be driven by faith because without faith God is not pleased. Hebrews 11:6 confirmed stating, “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.”
Are you praying for answer?
Is faith having a place in your prayer?
Word stated right that, without faith God is not pleased. Evidently, with faith God must be pleased to reward prayer that is seeking for Him.
Jesus, the author of our faith showed to us that prayer is what opens heaven. It is written, “When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.” (Luke 3:21) Jesus prayed with faith for answer from heaven and He received an answer. The bible recorded, “And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ’You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:22)
The prayer by Jesus is a testimony to the fact that when a prayer finds door to heaven, the Holy Spirit, which represents the presence of God, will come down and descend on the one praying. With the Holy Spirit descending, the voice of God will then sound in the direction of the one praying. The voice of God is what speaks direction if the one praying has the ear to hear the voice of God. There is a need for the grace of God to hear God’s voice when it sounds in our direction. When the heaven was opened, Jesus heard the voice from heaven saying to Him, “You are my beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” Remember, it takes faith for us to please God.
God is a prayer answering God if His children will take the time to call unto Him in prayer just as demonstrated by Jesus.
How is your prayer life?
The word pointed out what it takes with prayer. Psalm 109:4 of David stated, “…But I give myself to prayer.” Just as stated by David in Psalm 109:4, the book of Acts 6:4 also stated, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
As a believer, how is your prayer life? A prayer-less believer is like a vehicle driving in the dark without the headlights turned on. It will only take a moment before disaster happens when driving in dark without light (prayer). In these days of spiritual wickedness, there should be no substitute for prayer.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of understanding the need and engaging prayer time.