Faith Capsule: Man can be deceived, but God cannot.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

The book of Ecclesiastes 8:11 declared, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Doing evil is wickedness. Wickedness is to know the word of God and not do what the word says. The question of Jeremiah before God clearly identifies it that wicked ones are the ones with the word near in the mouth but far from the mind. Jeremiah questioned, “You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their mind.” (Jeremiah 12:1-2) Wickedness (evil act) is to know to do good and not do it. James 4:17 buttressed, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” The word of God is true and all we come to pass, it will catch up with all in every way, on every path that every man under heaven is passing through. Jesus said, “Let them grow together until the harvest time.” He did not separate them or stop them from growing. Indeed your growth in all areas that you have turned to is not the measure of your stand in the Lord. Man can be deceived, but God cannot.  Where are you in the hand of God?  Are you walking in the word of God or are you sleeping?
Many are calling, many are coming, many are claiming the name of the Lord but so many are far from Him. Jesus mentioned in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.” (Matthew 25:1-2) The point here is that they all went out to meet the bridegroom that is the wicked ones the evil ones and the foolish one were not exempted. Are you conscious of the time we are living? Getting away with all kind of wickedness is getting closer to live eternity outside of God’s presence. Sentence against evil work will surely come to pass no matter how long it takes for it to come.
Jesus talked about the wheat and tare growing together. Matthew 13:30, “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” The God that knows in the beginning, what the end is holding has the power to execute sentence against evil work at His appointed time.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to bring you out of every act that is evil.

Faith Capsule: When there is no peace anxiousness will take charge.

1 Kings 1

Getting to where God wants for one to be is a done deal if one knows that God is in control of one’s life. One that does not know whom he/she is in the hand of God takes a position of self termination. The Psalmist buttressed it, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, Is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20) One that does not know who one is in the hand of God will not have rest and lack of rest is the evidence of no peace in one’s life. When there is no peace anxiousness will take charge. Apostle Paul admonished, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7) Are you having challenge concerning a position of your desire? If you will rest in the Lord based on the promise in the word of God and not man’s promise, God Himself will put people in position who you do not know and they will offset every set up of the enemy that is meant against you in life.
When David promised to put Solomon in place as king, it was confirmed in heaven and on earth at God’s timing. Adonijah, however, set up a plot because he realized that David was old and advanced in years and could go to sleep at anytime. It is written, “Then he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they followed and helped Adonijah. But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David were not with Adonijah.” (1 Kings 1:7-8) Adonijah conferred with people who counted, but not with people that counted and mattered. He was set up for failure because of his attempt to answer what God did not call him to be. Solomon, who was to be king, was somewhere with rest, with peace and no struggle when Prophet Nathan made a move that eventually terminated every plot of Adonijah.
Take note of the fact that Solomon did not know that there was any plan in process for him to get to the place where God wanted him to get to. There was no struggle for Solomon, but there were people in position and in time who God had planted for him to get into his divine schedule of God for his life. As God will have His way for Solomon, Solomon eventually became the king. Do not force or fret God will have His way in your life if you will rest on the promise of His peace which surpasses all understanding.

Prayer for today: Ask God to raise someone who will go on your behalf to activate all God has in plan for your life and for His glory.

FAITH CAPSULE: Make a purposeful move to provoke your purpose and be fulfilled.

Luke 7:36-39, Luke 8:41-48

It really does not matter how sinful man is but when man turns to Jesus, there will always be a place with Him. A woman who was a sinner in the city knew what to do to get what she desired of the Lord. It is written, “And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil,  and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.”(Luke 7:37-38)
She wanted to deliver unusual service to Jesus. In approaching Jesus, she took an unusual avenue; it was an avenue that perplexed all agents of denial and she could not be denied. The woman who was a sinner approached Jesus from the back to avoid the multitude. The Bible recorded, “she stood at Jesus’ feet behind Him.” If this woman had attempted to stand before Jesus in her attempt to deliver her service, she probably would have been denied from getting to Jesus’ feet. The woman who was a sinner engaged a move that provoked an unusual testimony. The woman’s service became a bible documented testimony. In your service to Him, make an unusual move and deny every force of distraction that denies man from experiencing unusual testimony.

Just like the woman with the alabaster oil, the woman with the issue of blood also made an unusual move when she provoked an unusual miracle that became an unusual testimony. The bible stated, “Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any,  came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.” (Luke 8:43-44) Many were throng Jesus but the woman with the flow of blood reached out to touch Jesus from the back and her disease of twelve years took a back way to become a thing of the past. The woman with the flow of blood did not approached Jesus shouting to cause a scene and gain everyone’s attention. The woman with the flow of blood and the woman with the alabaster oil did not take to everyone’s avenue when they received their breakthrough. They both came from behind and approached Jesus where there was no distraction or frustration and where there was no way for attention seeking. They made a move that was purposeful in order for their purpose to be fulfilled.

Prayer for today: Teach me and instruct me; cause your eye to guide me O Lord.

ASK for God’s Hand

Faith Capsule: There is nothing He cannot do if man shall be consistently consistent in asking, seeking and knocking.

Exodus 3:13-22, Exodus 12:31-42,

At the time God was set to bring the Israelites out of the bondage of over four hundred years, He assured Moses stating, “So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed.” (Genesis 3:20-21) In His hand there is deliverance and favor. God is consistent to deliver according to His word. Indeed favor answered for the Israelites at the time of departure from bondage of over four hundred years. It is written, “…they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.” (Exodus 12:35-36)
Ask God to do a new thing which every representative of enemy in your life will hear about. The bible recorded, “So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.” (Joshua 5:1) When the agent of hindrance in the way of the children of Israel heard about the new thing (that the Lord had dried water to make a way for the children of Israel) their hearts were melted. Ask that the same shall be of your hinderer. A melted heart is a heart that is bound to fail, and that shall be the portion of the wicked ones that have taken a position to hinder you in life.
1 Kings 18:46 recorded, “Then the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.”  The hand of God is not shortened. The hand of God upon Elijah is still the same hand forever. Ask that the same hand that answered for Elijah, and made him to go ahead of Ahab, will locate you this day and every agent of opposition will fail to catch up with you. In your asking, be energized knowing that the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. (Isaiah 59:1) Power belongs to God. In His hand there is all the power and there is nothing He cannot do if man shall be consistently consistent in asking, seeking and knocking.

Prayer for today: Ask for the hand of God that is favor, to move in your direction.

Faith Capsule: The final say over your life belongs to God.

Genesis 39, Genesis 41:37-57

The bible recorded, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors.  But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. ” (Genesis 37:3-4) The love of Israel for Joseph set him up against is brothers. As if the love of his father was not provoking enough, he had a dream to fuel brother’s hatred for him. It is written, “Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more.  So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.” (Genesis 37:5-7) Joseph’s dream and his father’s love set him up for a route that was not in his dream. When his father sent him to check his brothers on the field he entered into the route of his dream. He started his journey inside an empty pit where there was no water. As if the pit was not enough, the brothers sold him as a slave. The bible recorded, “Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.” (Genesis 37:28) The story of Joseph continued as he passed through from slave to prison; from prison to Prime Minister. The bottom line of Joseph’s story is the truth that God will always have the final say in the journey of man’s life if man stands upright or stand in awe of Him that holds the whole word in His hand.

Who could have thought that David, a man after God’s own heart, a man that delivered the whole nation from the embarrassment of Goliath would run from his country like a fugitive? Despite David status as a celebrity, when King Saul turned against him there was none among the well and able population that could back him up or rendered support. It is written in 1 Samuel 22:2, “And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him. ” David the celebrated champion of the whole nation only had the backings of the relegated ones. Above all, he became king after Saul. Whatever has moved you from your ground of celebration and seems to contradict the promise of God for your life shall not have the final say over your life. The final say over your life belongs to God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to remain focus on God in all paths of life.