FAITH CAPSULE: Patience is what it takes to wait on God.

Isaiah 64                                                                      

The Psalmist described God, “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.” (Psalm 86:5) He is a covenant keeping God. He is God that never fails in responding to those who seek Him, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.” (Psalm 9:10) Waiting on God is patience; waiting on God is painful but overall it is gainful. Without knowing God one cannot trust in Him. It is those that put their trust in Him that waits on Him. It is written, “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) The word of God is true to perform when one attend to His word.
Is there any area of life where you are trusting God for a miracle? If not, there will be a time coming when you will have a need to wait on Him with patience. Patience is what it takes to wait on God. It is one thing to know there is a need for patience in waiting, it is another to actually experience waiting on God for a remedy. You that have a need for waiting, trust God and He will deliver; He is also the God of the eleventh hour. That is, He will show up when it seems that there is no way out so that you can appreciate Him enough to elevate His Holy name at the top of your heart. God knows you have a need to bring before Him, and He will wait for you to take it to Him.
Submitting your need to Him is demonstrating that you recognize you serve a living God. Isaiah 30:18, “Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are those who wait for Him.” What do you expect of a jealous God? The answer is, give Him unfailing attention. He gets your attention in your waiting because where there is jealousy, there will be love. He is a loving God. Wait on Him, do not give up. Have patience and He will attend to your need at the best possible hour. The Prophet Isaiah testifies, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him.” (Isaiah 64:4) Wait on Him.

Prayer for today: Ask like the Psalmist: “Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.” (Psalm 86:6)

FAITH CAPSULE: Your frequent falling into temptation is directly rooted in too much sleep.

Luke 22:39-46

Sleeping and prayer does not correlate. Every believer that is not consistent in prayer should be considered as a sleeper. When a believer, who is at a place and time of prayer, cannot stay awake to pray, it can be regarded as “sorrowful sleeping.” Jesus demanded from His disciples at the Garden of Gethsemane, to stay up and pray. What He said to them still speaks now to us as believers. Luke 22: 39-40, “Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’” Are you a prayer-less or prayer-full believer? If you are indeed a prayer-less believer, you have allowed temptation to become your constant companion. Jesus wants to know why you sleep in place of prayer. While He was busy in prayer, His disciples were busy in sleeping. Jesus responded to the disciples by saying to them, “…Why do you sleep? Rise and pray lest you enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:46) There is a place for prayer and it is not a place to sleep. One of the places of prayer, as Jesus has said, is where two or three gather together in His name. Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Watch out for sorrow sleeping, because it can terminate a miracle.
Sorrow sleeping will substitute the blessings of the sleeper with temptation. Your frequent falling into temptation is directly rooted in too much sleep. That is, your time is limited in the Word, and a limited time in the word will result in powerless prayer. Luke 22:45, “When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found then sleeping from sorrow.” So many activities in the church and among believers but achieving for the Lord are what counts. With prayer, much is achievable but with sleep nothing is achievable. Prayer not sleeping is all that makes the difference and all that prevails in a Christian journey. It is possible for one to be awake and active but sleeping in sorrow because one’s prayer life is not where it should be. Paying attention to the world around us is enough to tell the time we are living. Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. Awake, you who sleep and know that the days are evil challenges and trouble cover every ground. The first book of Thessalonians talks about sleep when it stated, “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.” (1 Thessalonians 5:6)

Prayer for today: Ask God to keep you that your faith will not fail.

FAITH CAPSULE: There is nothing better than His will in every given situation.

Daniel 3

It is written, “When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Matthew 8:1-2) Absolutely, nothing is better than to be in the will of God. It does not matter how ugly confronting situation could be in life, if it is the will of God, no other situation could be better. The leper brought his request to Jesus in worship. When he came to worship, he acknowledged that being in God’s will is the best place to be. Despite his leprosy and regardless of his healing desire, he called for the Lord’s will to be done. The leper was not ignorant of the fact that Jesus could make him clean when he called for the will of God to be done. Truly the Bible is written for our learning. Learning from the leper’s approach is a way to undeniable entrance to the throne of grace. Whatever is representing leprosy must go for God to be glorified in the life of a believer that knows to consider the will of God. Are you one that all your prayers have centered on the changes that you want to see in regard to your situation? Now it is time to begin to redirect your prayer point like that of the man with leprosy. Let the healing Healer know that He is more than capable to intervene in your situation and that His will is what you want for your life. When the leper prayed a prayer of worship, Jesus was provoked and He moved His hand. The Bible records in Matthew 8:3, “Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” His hand is healing, deliverance and preservation. Concerning your need, worship Him in prayer and provoke His hand for your blessing.
Jesus, before going to the cross, could not settle for any solution than His request for the will of God. “…Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”(Mark 14:36) Jesus taught us how to pray when He stated, “Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) Asking for God’s will to be done does not eliminate our desire before God but activates our desire. Above all, it is important for us to know that there is nothing better than His will in every given situation.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego indirectly requested for God’s will over King Nebuchadnezzar’s will when they refused to bow and worship a golden image. (Daniel 3:16-19) The three friends of Daniel provoked the hand of God to move on their behalf and God was glorified.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of to enable His strength in your life.      

FAITH CAPSULE: Disallow worry but only worship Him.

Job 1-2

Thank God for God. Forever, God shall be God. The Bible described Job as a blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. (Job1:1) Job was blessed with seven sons and three daughters. His blessings were also extended to material possessions. Job at his time possessed, “…seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.” (Job 1:3) In one day, without warning, a man that feared God and shunned evil, the greatest man of all the people of the east lost all of his material possessions and his children. Job plunged from the height of prosperity to the pit of poverty. Four rapid disasters struck him alternatively from earth and heaven. From earth, his livestock and servants were raided and killed by the Sabeans. On the same day heaven went against him when fire of heaven fell and burned up the sheep and servants. Again the earth forced against him when the Chaldeans raided the camels and killed the servants. The fourth disaster was climatic blow from heaven. It was a great wind that destroyed his house and killed his children…all disaster in one day. Job must have felt that all heaven and earth pitched against him to destroy him. Despite all, there was no iota of complain or blaming God for his tragedies.

How are we to react in the face of confronting challenges?
In Job’s case, as if the lost of property and children was not enough his health became a victim of unexpected attack. Job was struck, “…with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.” (Job 2:7-8) In the midst of it all, Job did not despise his God. Job’s wife was the first to spite him when she reacted, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:9-10) Your challenges have taken a new twist; it is going deeper than earlier thought. In the midst of it all you still have the breath of life and it is worth praising God for. Without the Bible documentation of the cause of Job’s affliction it is easy to conclude that Job must have sinned. In your light affliction (compare to Job’s) are you being judge as sinner? Leave it all for God; worry not but worship Him.

Prayer for today: Ask God for strength to persevere in every area of challenge.

FAITH CAPSULE: God is beautiful in showing on deliverance.

2Samuel 9:1-13

The Psalmist identifies God as God that only do wondrous things. (Psalm 72:18) Among the identities of God is, “beautiful for situation”. He is beautiful for situation because of the way He often reverses irreversible situation. God is the only God that makes a perfect way out of no way. Are you experiencing a road block where there should be a breakthrough? It does not matter how long you have been experiencing it. When God visit your situation at His appointed time, it shall be like dream and your mouth will no longer be filled with tears but laughter. Also, your tongue will definitely have songs of praise to offer God.
The case of Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the grandson of King Saul can be encouraging. Mephibosheth was lame and that calls for a limited mobility. He was five years when his father, Jonathan died. As a lame, the hope of moving forward in all areas of life must have been out of place. Mephibosheth’s title as the grandson of the former king of Israel was history and could not get Mephibosheth anywhere. As God would have it for Mephibosheth, favor located him when King David woke up one day and requested in 2Samuel 9:1, “Now David said, ‘Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’ ” The favor that located him was kindness from King David who was a soul mate and the best of friend to Jonathan, the father of Mephibosheth. Are you thinking or are you experiencing any sign that there is no way out of your current miry clay of life?
Take time and find out the story of Mephibosheth and then you will understand that God has not finished with you. Regardless of your present predicament, God will not sleep over your situation. He will bring you out in His own way at His own time. God brought out Mephibosheth from stagnation, shame, crawling and hopelessness. Also, he received more than he could imagine when King David commanded in 2 Samuel 9:9, “And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house.” Mephibosheth received allocation of all that belonged to his grandfather. King David did not stop at the allocation of all King Saul’s property, but he went even further and added more to Mephibosheth in 2Samuel 9:13, “So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.” Behold, it is not over yet. You will overcome in Jesus name.

Prayer for today: Concerning your situation, ask for God’s visitation in beautiful.