Faith Capsule: No vehicle goes back and forward at the same time.

Numbers 14:1-38

Do you fear God enough to follow His command? Those that follow His command follow His word. Those who follow His word are the ones that fear Him. “He promised I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” (Psalm 32:8) It takes the one that fear Him to be able to receive instruction from Him. It takes the one that fear Him to go by His teaching. Ones that are able to receive instruction and go by His teaching will undoubtedly be under the guidance of His eyes.
With God, looking back is not an option because He is a forward going God. Looking back is not focusing on God. Looking back is an avenue to complaining. With God there is no place for complaining because it complicates and terminates journey. The Israelites could not stop looking back as a result; complaint took the center stage and terminated their journey to the Promised Land.
When Pharaoh finally released the Israelites from the bondage of over four hundred years, every step they took forward, they turned to look back on the life they were leaving. Complaining about every need was a major breakdown that denied them from getting to the Promised Land. What in your past is holding you back from going forward? Have you ever seen a vehicle that is going forward and backward at the same time? For the Israelites, the memory of passing through Red Sea was very fresh at mind yet they could not stop complaining about their situation.
The Israelites began to complain for lack of bread, Exodus 16:3, “And the children of Israel said to them, oh that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” It is unimaginable that a people who have just witnessed the Hand of God in action would turn around so soon. In getting through in the journey of life, there must be an understanding that complaining directly or indirectly will not get any to divine expectation. With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, the children of Israel, that came out of Egypt through the Red Sea failed and did not reach the Promised Land. Let yesterday be yesterday in your journey. Do not complain. Turn from complaining to praising Him with a heart of thanksgiving. Only then will God enable you in all areas of life.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from the spirit that causes man to complain.

Faith Capsule: Zealousness for God is the key to become a winner for God.

John 2

Zealousness is described as, fervent or enthusiastic devotion or being passionate about one’s own believes. Going by definition of the word Zeal, what does it mean for one to be zealous for God?
In Jesus, we see what it means to be a zealous one for God’s glory.
The bible recorded, “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” (John 2:13-17)
The action of Jesus is a demonstration of Zeal for God. Jesus would not have been able to flush out negativity in the temple if not for the zeal that was upon Him. In man, Zeal for God is the evidence of boldness and character which is a winning combination.
Are you zealous for God?
Just as zeal is needed in the life of New Testament believer, so it was for the Old Testament believer. The bible makes us to realize that we are the temple of God. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 stated, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Do you have what it takes to flush out all that does not represent God in your temple? Jesus was able to flush out the temple that was turned to a joint for buying and selling because He was zealous with God’s Zeal. Is your Zeal is God’s zeal or zeal for man’s attention? Jesus stood His ground to do what was right by flushing out negativities in the housed of God. Today, there are so much that needs to be flushed out of temples but believers do not have the zeal to engage flushing out of temples all that is not of God. Zealousness for God is the key to become a winner for God. Zealousness is source of boldness and character to live for the glory of God. Zeal for God does not come by determination. With prayer and desire for the Zeal for God, God will deposit in you all that it takes to be zealous for His glory.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the Zeal for His house to eat you up. 

Faith Capsule: Let not asking why be relevant in your journey.

Exodus 13

The truth is, the “why” in the life of a believer often lead to the way of getting to the center of divine assignment or the Promised Land. Sometimes the why avenue is the only way out of situations that are not accommodating in the life of a believer. Why you are in what you are could be the way the Lord has chosen for you get to where He is taking you. Throughout the pages of the Bible, many giants in the hand of God were in a why situations that eventually lead to their center of divine assignment for the glory of God. Moses was in a why situation when he moved from palace to desert; Joseph, just by obeying his father’s command to go and check his brothers on the field ended in a why situation when he was sold as a slave, Daniel and many others went through different avenues of “why me”.
At the time the Israelites were coming out the bondage of over four hundred years, the children of Israel went straight into their “why” avenue when they were lead into the way of wilderness instead of the way that would have been shorter for their journey to the promised land. Exodus 13:17-18, “Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’ So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.” With God as the center of your life, you never know where and how He is going to take you through. Why go through the way of wilderness; the way that does not look promising? Why? The way of the wilderness was the Lord’s leading way for the children of Israel. He is the only God that is God; He alone sees the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. Regardless of where or how is leading, there shall never be a failure if man goes by His leading.
Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” God was speaking to Jeremiah and what He says to one speaks to all. The One who made you is in control and He shall not fail to see you through. Let not asking why be relevant in your journey. The Holy One of Israel shall see you through.

Pray for today:Ask God to help you to only focus on Him.

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.