FAITH CAPSULE: One’s desire will have a direct effect on the choice of one’s way of life.

Psalm 27, Mark 8:34-38

What a man desires is what he seeks after. It is not possible for any to seek after what is not his/her desire. One that desires to live heaven on heart will seek after the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Jesus declares it, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) What do you desire? Evidently desire must be in place in one’s life before one can go seeking after God. When we desire of God, God will deposit in us our desire in Him.
A desire does not come by the word of mouth but when we devote to attain our desire. Desire, devote and God will deposit desire. King David knows what is best to desire when he stated, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4)
What do you desire? There are so many choices that can make or break man by virtue of one desire. However, the things one desire will have a direct effect on the choices that one makes in life. Mark 8:34, “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 the cross, and follow Me.” It is not a forceful calling, but a calling of choice. It should be desired before it becomes deposited in one’s life. God made us and gave us freedom of choice, because He is not a slave-master but a saving-master. He said, “Whoever desires.” Have you ever thought about the calling that you claim to have answered, or are you just going with the flow of the crowd? Can anyone possibly carry a cross in one hand, and carry self in the other hand? It is impossible. It is worthy to think about it and make a determination if one considers it is important to repent and rededicate one’s life to Christ. God is not deceived and one can only walk with the crowd for so long. The time is at hand for Him to identify one. It will cost Him nothing to expose one who desires not after Him.

Prayer for today: Ask God to give you the grace of desire to live for Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Living life by rejoicing is demonstrating trust in God.

Psalm 16

It is written, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) There is no single word in the Bible that does not call for care and well guided attention. This is the reason why the word demands to be studied and not just read or skimmed through. Apostle Paul repeatedly used the word rejoice in his speech because he knew the efficacy of the word as relevant to living life to the glory of God.
Rejoice can also be defined as joy activated. It is worth it to give this analysis a thought: Whatever a man possesses and not activated (put into action) 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 him 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. Interesting enough, the Psalmist stated, “…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 survive in joyless environment. Maintaining the presence of God is to remain constantly in joy by rejoicing.
Besides all His attributes that is visible around anyone that chooses to acknowledge His attributes, the Bible also testifies Him as a good God. The Psalmist described Him stating, “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.” One that seeks God without rejoicing does have a need for understanding of what the word says in Psalm 70:4 “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You…” In truth there is no assessable way to gaining His presence without rejoicing.

Prayer for today: Today, rejoice by praising God with song and magnifying Him with thanks giving.

FAITH CAPSULE: A word of God is enough to terminate any form of challenge or struggle.

Luke 5: 1-11

The word of God is God. The Bible makes us realize that it was through the spoken word that God made all that was created (Genesis 1:1-24) Also many scriptural verses confirm the engineering attribute of the word of God. Above all, John testifies, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-4) John 1:14 could not have described Jesus better when it stated, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Without any doubt, Jesus is the living word of God. God sent His word to heal and to deliver us from  destruction. (Psalm 107:20) It is important to note that the Word of God came to give life and that we may have life abundantly. (John 10:10)
Among the notable exploits of the Word that came to give life abundantly is making available a net-crashing fish-catching where there was all night toiling with no fish to account for. The Bible narrates how four fishermen had gone all night and caught nothing. The fishermen were already washing their nets when Jesus sent His word in their direction, “…Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”(Luke 5:4) Despite not having caught fish all night, the fishermen could not resist the word of command that sounded in their direction but responded. After having responded, “…they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.” (Luke 5:6-7) The word that sounded in the direction of the fishermen was a life-giving word; a word that provides where there is no provision, a word that restores hope where there is no hope. Above all, it is a word that results in abundance. Indeed it is true that just a word is enough to terminate every form of struggle, regardless of how long the struggle has existed. The all-night struggle with nothing to show off in the life of the fishermen was terminated. Has the word been sounding in your direction with no attention from you? The same word of God yesterday is the same today.

Prayer for today: Ask for the word of God to sound in your direction.

FAITH CAPSULE: Jesus is the way to live life and to live it with challenges that will not overtake one.

John 10:1-18

The challenges of the world today are not enough to tag life as difficult. As a believer that knows Jesus as Lord and savoir, confessing that living life is difficult is a wrong and a negative confession. The word encourages us, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life.”(Proverbs 4:23) Does the word speak well to the reason why confessing negative should not be in place for a believer in Christ? As a believer it is worthy to begin to see life as not difficult and it cannot be difficult; you are the one that has been living life in a difficult way. Life can be challenging, but one can always overcome the challenges of life if one chooses to go in the right way, not the way that seems right to one. There is a way to live life and to live it abundantly; there is a way to live life and to live it with challenges that will not overtake one.
That way is for one to enter life by taking the right steps in deed and in truth. In gaining entrance into a life without difficulty, one will not be a pretender and one will stay away from religion. Jesus said in “I am the door, if anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”(John 10:9) Jesus is true to His word by stating if anyone enters by Him. There is no race requirement or color qualification. Why not try and enter through Him? Anyone with the claim of having entered through Jesus door should stop misrepresenting challenges as difficulties; ask Him to open your understanding. Also, it could be that you have allowed the thief a place in your life. Jesus warned in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy, I have come that they may have it more abundantly.” Does He answer your question? What He has said, He meant. He has never lied, and He will not lie. It is time to take a moment and begin to re-trace one’s steps to see if one did enter through the wrong door. Anyone that entered through the right door should prepare to overcome any challenge because He is fighting every challenging battle. Lift your eyes up unto Him today and ask Him for help. He is a compassionate God and He will have compassion on you. Remember, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:19)

Prayer for today: Ask for the word of God to have its place to reign and rule over your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: The way of God is the way of going up from where you are now.

Exodus 33

An adage says, “Where there is a will there is a way” The adage is true to everyone that the Lord calls to a journey of promise. For example, when God called Abraham to come out of his country, from his family and from his father’s house there was God’s will in place for Abraham. The will of God for Abraham was to make Abraham a great nation, great name and a blessing. (Genesis 12: 1-2) As a result of God’s will that was in place for Abraham, there was a way for Abraham to get to the promises. Truly, where there is a will for a child of God there will always be a way to get through to God’s will for the obedient ones. Abraham’s obedient caused him to arrive at God’s will for his life. God always place every of His children on the right track but the enemy is always at work to overthrow as much as possible from getting to the promises of God. Canaan, a land of promise demands consistent obedience because agents of the enemy do nothing but wait to derail the children of God.
On the way to Canaan, one cannot and should not just take any road because any road will not lead one to any-where. Despite God’s calling of Moses as the shepherd to lead His sheep out of bondage of over four hundred years, he could not make any move without asking God for His way. He did not assume any way as a right way. Moses always asked God for direction. Exodus 33:13, “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” With Moses’ requisite, it is evident that in the way of God, there is: Ability to know God, and also, the grace of God. The way of God is the way of going up from where you are now. He has brought you out of the house of bondage in an attempt to take you to the Promised Land for your inheritance. When He brought you out, he also put everything in place for you to get to the Promised Land. All you have to do is endure the challenges of the giants along the way. When you begin to fail in hearing Him, you have entered the way of termination. Exodus 33:14, “And He said, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’” The Word of God is God and His word is His presence. When you spend time in His word, His word will have a place in you. You will be in the right place as you begin your journey to the Promised Land.

Prayer for today: Ask God to open your ears and eyes to His directions.