FAITH CAPSULE: The inability to deny self is to deny Jesus.

Numbers 14

Jesus repeatedly tells His disciples and the multitudes, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:38) “When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)
Following Jesus is self-denial. The inability to deny self leads to the impossibility to follow Him fully. Coming to Christ is carrying the cross. Carrying the cross is following Him fully and it is a daily activity, not only a Sunday activity.

In following Him
In following there is no excuse; there is no distraction. When one follows Him, there has to be consistency. Consistency will build up to commitment, and then continuity will have its place. When one follows Him, there should be no reason to walk how others walk; one does not have to see like others see; one does not have to hear what they hear. Indeed, following Him fully by carrying the cross is not convenient but it is a commitment that calls for keeping one’s focus on the leading Master.
In following Him fully, there is a route of escape that delivers from dying a cheap death. When the general population is dying a cheap death, one will definitely be driving away from cheap death. It is amazing how He led some through the Red Sea in the face of their enemy. He led them through but they could not get through to their promised land because they failed to follow Him fully. Obedience should be in full compliance. Whenever obedience is short of full compliance, it becomes disobedience and hinders one from following fully. Thousands of the children of Israel followed Him but only two (Caleb and Joshua) were able to follow Him fully. Half-obedience is worse than no obedience. Half-obedience makes correction difficult. Half-obedience makes hypocrites out of those who come to the Lord, and do not follow him fully. The children of Israel, because they were not following Him fully, became trapped and died in the wilderness. God declared in Numbers14:24, “But my servant Caleb, because he has a different sprit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.”

Prayer for today: Ask God to deposit in your life the spirit that makes man to follow Him fully.

FAITH CAPSULE: Avoid route not to wait and become wasted.

Luke 15:11-32

As a child of the Most High God, lack is not meant to be your portion. To be in lack where provision is available is a direct result of the inability to wait for God’s hand to move. The Apostle Paul testified to the provision of God when he stated, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19). Why not wait? In the parable of the lost son, it was clearly demonstrated that the prodigal son entered into a state of want because he could not wait for his appointed time. The prodigal son interrupted God’s timing for his life by turning the clock forward. A Clock is not registered in heaven; God operates not by man’s clock but by His appointed time. The parable mentioned that the prodigal son was the younger of two sons who could not wait for the portion of goods that falls to Him. Why the rush where there is so much to receive in the place of waiting? Have you entered into self-designed rush lately? The inability not to wait is a direct route to become wasted. The prodigal son got his portion of goods (his inheritance) from his father and journeyed to a far country where he wasted his inheritance. Jesus’ parable is not a play write-up; it is in place for our learning and correction. The word of God is to serve as instruction and to guide in every walk of life for those that receive it.
Evidently in life, any type of abundance set for man and received at a wrong time will lavishly be exhausted and could not be appreciated as compared to the ones received while going through the pain of waiting. The prodigal son did not wait. As a result, he was bound to end up wasted. The prodigal son ended up where he was not called to be because his timing in the journey of life was interrupted by his inability to wait for God’s time. Jesus went further stating in the parable, “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want.” ((Luke 15: 13-14)
At every time one walks out of God’s timing, one ends up in wrong timing. Wait on God and you will never step into mistakes. It is absolutely true that none ever complained of falling or stepping into grievous mistake while waiting on God. At what point should we stop waiting on the Lord? At no point and there is no point to ever stop waiting on Him.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of waiting on for God’s time.

FAITH CAPSULE: Waiting on God for help is not a sign of weakness or a loser.

Psalm 121

It is written, “But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men.” (John 2:24) The word of God is enough for one not to commit on to no man for help. God alone is the helping helper. The Helper of man that never fail and the only One we are to commit our life to. You have been looking for help from the wrong sources for a long time. Your thinking has been limited. Your help will not come from where you are looking, nor will it come from your own thinking. Saul was confirmed by God as King of the children of Israel. Having been confirmed, he began to think and look for help from the people that were around him. Saul was to fight the Philistines, but he could not wait for Samuel’s role to carry out the burnt offering. Saul took the law of God into his own hands by presenting the offering. This act was only to be carried out by the priesthood. Are you planning to take the law into your hands? This is not from God.
The fact that you cannot see what is right ahead of you, does not mean that your Samuel is not nearby. When Samuel arrived, he confronted Saul about the presentation of the offering. Samuel said to Saul, “…What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”(1 Samuel 13:11-12) Meditating on what God can do, what He has done and what He is doing is enough for one to look up to Him for help. Waiting on God for help does not count as a sign of weakness or a loser. God is faithful and His word cannot be broken. We have no excuse that will stand before Him. Think of it; He alone has brought you this far, and He will not leave you nor forsake you. Trust in Him. Do not turn from His ways. Are you wondering where your help will come from? The Psalmist stated, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”(Psalm121:1-2) God’s help is certain and it will surely come. God’s help is never too late or too early at the time it comes. Saul could not wait for God’s help and he lost all sight of God’s calling.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace not to fail waiting for His help.

FAITH CAPSULE: Those who walk in His way will arrive at expected end.

Psalm 33

It is written, “For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth.” The word of God is true and right. We are to hear and hold on to the truth. Without any doubt, no weapons formed against those who hold on to the truth in the word of God shall get hurt neither shall the word fail them. The word of God is fire and it cannot be played with neither should it be disregarded. God declared in Jeremiah 23:29, “Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”” Indeed, His word is like fire, but how you have received it is how it will work for you. He has put all in place to work for us but because of how we have replaced it or how we are replacing His word, the power in it cannot be activated.
What one have heard in the Word of God and what one is hearing in His Word is what will carry one through in daily walk or the journey of life. The Word of God is direction, deliverance, protection and preservation. When one hears Him right, it will be right for one. A failure to hear from the word of God is the evidence of hearing Him wrongly. In these days of confronting challenges, there is a need to hear Him on a daily and regular basis. The Psalmist testifies in Psalm 143:8,”Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning. For in You do I trust; cause me to know the way in which I should walk for I lift up my soul to You.” The Psalmist demonstrates here that hearing Him in the morning is what makes the difference for the day. When one begin to make provision to hear from Him first in the morning, trusting Him will be activated in one’s daily endeavors and what one hears in the morning will always become one’s compass to navigate through daily challenges.
Word heard from Him first in the morning will become God accompanying one in journey. The word of God will show one the way to walk through the day and it will also be one’s weapon of deliverance from the enemy. There is no one who has walked in His way and fallen. Moreover, those who walk in His way will arrive at their expected end. Also, those that are still hearing Him and walking in His way are set to end up in His divine schedule and rest. As a child of God, what are you hearing early in the day? In all that you hear, hear Him right and that will have a direct impact on how you move your feet. He is the faithful God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of understanding of His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: Who do you really trust?

Esther 5, 6

The Lord spoke in Jeremiah 17:6-7, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.” Who do you trust? Have you been placing your trust in a man? Trusting God is not just the word of the mouth. Many claim their trust in God but goes after man for help because they could not trust with all their heart. Some claims to trust in God but constantly lean on their understanding by not acknowledging Him in their ways. Who do you really trust? Just as God declared what happens to those who fail not to trust, God also declared the blessings in place for those that trusts in Him, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:8) God is true to His word and He does not waste word. Do you really trust God deep down in your heart?
The same God yesterday, today and tomorrow is still in the business of attending to those who trust in Him. No matter how blocked the way is, God will not fail making a way out of no way. It is written in Isaiah 51:10, “Are You not the One who dried up the sea, The waters of the great deep; That made the depths of the sea a road For the redeemed to cross over? (Isaiah 51:10)
Mordecai was marked and set for death by Harman, after King Ahasuerus agreed with Harman’s plot. A night before the execution of Mordecai, the same King Ahasuerus could not sleep but wanted to read through the book of the records of the chronicles. While the King was reading, “…it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. Then the king said, ‘What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this…?” (Esther 6:2-3) God, in His kindness, never slept nor slumbered and could not have allowed King Ahasuerus to sleep over a plan of wickedness against His own.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of waiting on Him with trust.