FAITH CAPSULE: Fear and doubt are agents of rebellious act.

Numbers 14

“So the LORD’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone.” (Numbers 32:13) Fear and doubt are agents of rebellious act. To be rebellious does nothing good but leads man to wander and die where there is life. Thank God for the blood that was shed on the Calvary. If not the blood of Jesus, many of us would probably have been gone before birth. God was displeased with the children of Israel that saw the wondrous act of His outstretch hand which brought them out of the bondage of over four hundred years. Above all, they saw how the Red Sea gave way for a passage on a dry land. Despite all the manifestation of God’s hand which they saw, they could not see their Promised Land but died wandering in the wilderness. The bible says it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrew 11:6) God was displeased for lack of faith and trust in Him. The children of Israel entered into fear and then complaint became their make-up when they failed to see the land as promised by God. As a result the Lord declared, “They shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.”(Numbers 14:23)
An act of complaint is what gives ground to rebellious act. The children of Israel saw it all and it was for them to see it through but they faltered because they lack faith. The same fear, doubt and complain that got the children of Israel stranded is still denying blessings of God wherever there is lack of faith. The same deceiver has not changed and he is still in operation and his mission is to steal, kill, and destroy. Indeed, he stole what was in place for the children of Israel (Promised Land), he got them killed, and generations were destroyed. The act of rebellion is evil before God. Before the deceiver killed and destroyed, he caused their wandering when they should have been moving forward. The children of Israel wandered for forty years until all generations that did evil in the sight of the Lord died. Do you have a feeling or sense that you are wandering where you suppose to be a wonder to your world? Are you moving forward or are you stagnant in your journey of life? Thank God for the blood that was shed on the Calvary.

Prayer for today: Ask the Lord to draw you near if you have consciously or unconsciously withdrawn from Him. He is a merciful God and He will answer because the Blood of Jesus Christ is in place for salvation. Avoid wandering, move forward and enter into the promises of God for your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: It is your understanding in the word of God that will fuel you in the journey of life.

Genesis 2: 15-24, 3

It matters and it is very important to know and be able to apply understanding that Jesus brought to us as a free gift of salvation. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, the One that gives and can also take life, the Alpha and the Omega said in His word that He has come to give life. He is not just coming; He has already come to give life and to give it more abundantly. However, if by the way of living the ones that are to take the abundant life are not receiving what has been brought to them by not making themselves available, it becomes a sorry story. Have you positioned yourself in the place of receiving abundant life that He came to give you? One thing is to have an understanding of what has been given to you and do what it takes to receive it fully. Another scene is to lack an understanding of the life He came to give and not able to receive and live abundantly but redundantly. Adam and Eve, a sorry story, had it given to them but could not retain what was given to them because they lacked understanding that was to give them an edge over the challenge of temptation. It is written in Genesis 2:15, “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely;  “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it you shall surely die.”” Adam and Eve lacked in what it takes to respond accordingly when God gave them the command that will preserve and keep them forever.
Obeying God’s command was to give them life while disobeying God’s command was meant by the enemy to steal, kill and destroy. The serpent came and turned the word of God upside down so that Adam and Eve could fall and not receive all the provisions of God. The same serpent is the one you encounter on a daily and regular basis. How are you positioning yourself daily in the journey of life? It is only your understanding in the word of God that will be fueling you in the journey of life for protection against the one that has come to steal, kill, and destroy. With understanding, having a knowing-edge (Knowledge) over all devices of the thief will not be an issue.

Prayer for today: Ask God for His goodness and mercy and not to become a victim of the thief.

FAITH CAPSULE: The word of God that you have received but not without meditation will not serve as medication in time of need.

Psalm 64

Do you have acquaintances that are watching and waiting for your stumbling? All that have been sounding in your direction is mockery and fear is beginning to sneak into every area of your life. As a believer, hold on to your faith and you will gain heaven’s attention. Jeremiah was a man called and sent by God but yet he encountered challenges that attempted his life. During one of Jeremiah’s challenges, he was able to stand and not fall because he remembered and he spoke “But the LORD is with me as a mighty awesome One. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper. Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.” (Jeremiah 20:11) The word of God is the way out of the challenges of the wicked world. Jeremiah remembered the word that can elevate him and keep him going. The word of God that you have received but not without meditation will not serve as medication in time of need. God did not suggest to Joshua the need for meditation but He strongly emphasized it with a command when he stated to Joshua that, “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way a prosperous, and then you will have a good success.” (Joshua 1:8) What can be done in times of challenges is take to the word of God and you will not only see but also walk over all areas of trap that is meant for you to stumble. You will discover in the period of time that all mockery has been converted into miracle. The word of God will not fail to perform. Are you walking in the word of God? Walk in the word of God and the world will work for you.
The Psalmist called in Psalm 64:1-2, “Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; Preserve my life from the fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the rebellion of the workers of iniquity.” As a believer get into the word of God with a heart of expectation and the word will bring forth its manifestation. Remember, you have a role to play. Before Jesus called Lazarus back to life from the dead, he called for the people to play their role when He asked them to roll the stone away. Jesus could have commanded the stone to roll but He did not. Play your role by meditating on the word of God that is power to deliver and to preserve.

Prayer for today: Let Your mercy and salvation come to me according to your word O Lord.

FAITH CAPSULE: A failure to obey the word of God is to face self destruction.

Jonah 1

The Bible records that, “He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.” (Psalm 107:20) The same word is still healing and delivering any that will obey. The word is life and it is not letter. A failure to obey the word of God is to face self destruction. When Jonah failed to obey the word of God, he faced his own created self destruction. The word of God is God, obeying the word of God is obeying the presence of God. When God called on Jonah to go to Nineveh, God did not appear in person. The Bible recorded in Jonah 1: 1, “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” Jonah heard from God and failed to move in response to God. The Bible pointed it out that he did not obey the presence of God when it states that; “…Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” (Jonah 1:3) Evidently, fleeing from the presence of God is to be presentable for the adversary of man. As a result of Jonah’s disobedience, the vehicle of transportation encountered a mighty tempest on the sea. Jonah’s disobedience set the passengers up for destruction. Jonah was approached as a result to the trouble on the storm. Despite Jonah’s disobedience he went further and claimed in Jonah 1:9, “So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Can you imagine a man that knows the word of God disobeying God’s word and standing on the same ground claiming the fear of God in his life? At every time that you hear God’s command and you move in opposite direction of God’s command, you are heading in the direction of self-destruction.
Jonah was heading in the direction of self-destruction. When God gave His command God expects all of His commands to be obeyed and none to be disobeyed. Obeying nine out of ten is the same failure as in obeying one out of ten. Despite Jonah’s claim of the fear of God, he was still in the avenue of sin. Are you operating as another Jonah? Are you giving your all in obeying His word as documented in the Bible or as it sounds in your direction? Every word of God is life and it will not fail to deliver. Obey the word of God and avoid having to deal with the sacrifice of disobedience.

Prayer for today: Let the grace of obedience to your word reign and rule my life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Persistence and continuity is the rule of the race we are running in this world.

Luke 11:1-13

When Joseph was alive he made the relocation of the children of Israel to Egypt possible. While in Egypt, the children of Israel increased in number. After the death of Joseph, a new king that does not know the children of Israel came to power. The Bible recorded, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens…” (Exodus 1:8-11) Today, in the name of Jesus, any devise that has been put in place to deny your blessing of growth, the Almighty God will deny the enemy’s devise. Your growth will not be altered. Believe it today that the same God that sent for Jehu to be anointed and brought up from among his associates to become the King, will release this day an anointing that will remove all the burdens from your shoulder.
Every taskmaster-causing affliction in your life will be permanently terminated in Jesus name. It is written in Exodus 1:12, “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel.” Every plan to deny your growth shall lead to your increase to the glory of God. You will grow while they groan, you will increase while they decrease, and they will be in dread of you in the name of Jesus. Jesus our Lord and savior commanded us to ask, and it will be given to us; when we seek we shall find; Knock, and it will be opened to us. Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Luke 11:9-10). Are you tired of asking, seeking or knocking? Now is not the time to quit because persistence and continuity is the rule of the race we are running in this world. The word of God does not lie it will come to pass. If it is asking you will receive, if you are seeking you will find and if you are knocking it will be open to you. It is written, “But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. (Exodus 1:17)

Prayer for today: This day, any one that has been designated to destroy you will encounter the fear of God like that of the midwives that were assigned to kill every son born by the Hebrew women.