Faith Capsule: A committed Christ soldier cannot escape hardship in this world of wickedness.

2 Timothy 2

A soldier is defined as a person who serves in an army or anenlistedmanorwoman. Going by definition of soldier, a soldier for Christ can be described as one who serves Christ. To be Serving God demands serving Him diligently. Serving God is seeking God. Seeking God diligently is packed with rewards from God to those who seek Him diligently. Hebrews 11:6 buttressed, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligentlyseek Him.” Are you an acclaimed soldier of Jesus Christ? Do you seek Him first in all that you are seeking? Many seek Him by the word of the mouth but how do you seek Him? It is written, “But seekfirst the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
Serving (seeking) Him is not a funfair because it comes with pain and challenges. However, with endurance the pain shall yield to unending gain.
An eligible and qualified soldier for Christ has to be a sold out soul for the cause of the cross. Paul, the apostle, admonished Timothy, “You therefore must endurehardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” (2 Timothy 2:3-4) The first notable statement in Paul’s illustration for faithfulness is that a soldier (follower of Christ) must endure hardship. Unfortunately, Christian soldiers today do not want to endure hardship, but rather want to engage funfair and worldly pleasures. Endurance can be painful and can possibly generate unwanted suffering. However, enduring hardship is what qualifies a Christian soldier as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Every Christian soldier will have to know how to endure because a committed one cannot escape hardship in this world of wickedness.
Clearly, Christian soldiers who will not have to endure or face any of the challenges of this world are the ones that often entangle themselves with the affairs of this life. The apostle Paul emphasized that no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life because it is not possible to serve two masters. Are you a Christian soldier by mouth or by act? A Christian soldier need not to be introduced as a soldier because his warlike disposition will always point him out as one who is operating as a sold-out soul for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you a soldier who will always need constant introduction as a soldier? It is worthy to live life as good soldier of Jesus Christ that needs no introduction.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be protected from fleshly lust that you may please One that enlisted you.

Faith Capsule: One that does not know to give will not know to receive.

Genesis 24:1-51

“…He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7) Three kinds of giver are identified. Grudge givers, those who give by necessity and cheerful givers.
Grudge givers:
Those who give grudgingly are the ones that display or reflect reluctance or unwillingness in their giving life styles.
Those who give by necessity:
Let your giving be based on love and not always because of law. This describes the people that will calculate giving to the last penny; their giving is always same for years it never changes (why not try God by increasing your giving or reaching out even when you are yet to receive increase in your income) It is always good to receive back when one gives but it is not necessary that one’s giving should be based on when others give first.
Cheerful giver:
Cheerful giver gives with happy disposition. Cheerful givers are ones that gives in good spirits. Cheerful givers give as if they have more than they actually have. The Good Samaritan could not stop giving even after he left and bible recorded, “ On the next day, when he departed,he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.” (Luke 10:35)
Rebekah fulfilled the description of a cheerful giver. She responded to Abraham’s servant who came in contact with her when he was looking for wife for Isaac. Genesis 24:45-46 recorded, “But before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah, coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels a drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels a drink also.” A cheerful giver does not stop giving halfway they give in full. The giving by Rebekah turned the story of her life around and it was never the same because her giving placed her in the center of her life fulfillment. Rebekah’s story sounds like a fiction but it is a story with secret of turnaround in life to fulfill a great destiny. God does not and will never look away from a cheerful giver. The more you give silently the louder you receive from Him. Cheerful giver engages giving steadfastly not only when it is convenient. In life, you will only reap from the way you sow/what you sow. One that does not know to give will not know to receive.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of giving.

Faith Capsule: It is only a thief that wants to reap from where he did not sow.

Luke 10:25-37

Giving involves giving our time to help others or giving out ones belongings voluntarily to reach out others that are in need. For now, let us talk about giving without thinking of money as a gift. (That will keep most to open up and hear) Giving should be a matter of generosity but not a grudging obligation; Giving is engaging doing good to experience the goodness of God
A way to describe giving:
Giving is to present voluntarily and without expecting compensation.
When we look at giving as a voluntary engagement without expecting compensation it becomes kindness.
It is safe to say giving is kind, giving is love. Giving that is extended to others is a giving that connects the giver God. With God there is always a reward for every giving. I perceive that you will agree with me that in giving there will always be receiving! It is important to know and always keep in mind that God alone is the one that measures and matches one’s giving to others.
Evidently, whatever a man gives is what a man gets in return and that describes giving as sowing and reaping. The quality of your sowing is the evidence of your reaping. It is only a thief that wants to reap from where he did not sow. Also, it is not possible to sow an orange and expect to reap a tangerine. As close as they both look alike, it is impossible to reap what is not sown. When we give ourselves to engage doing good where there is a need for doing good, it becomes a chance to experience the goodness of God.
The parable of the Good Samaritan also testifies to engaging doing good as chance to experience the goodness of God. The parable was about a lawyer asking Jesus about what to do to enter the Kingdom of God. Knowing that loving God is what it takes to enter, he pressed further wanting to know who his neighbor is. Jesus narrated the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable Jesus pointed out what it means to do good as chance when he stated, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.” (Luke 10:30-31) The chance to do good came for the Levite and the priest but they failed to engage it. It was the Good Samaritan that engaged the chance to connect to God. A connection to God by engaging doing good is a connection to the goodness and mercy.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to know to see and do what is good.

Faith Capsule: Speaking, seeing and every other provoking agent of blessings should be rooted in faith.

Exodus 2

Habakkuk 2:4 stated, “…the just shall live by his faith.” All that pertains to living life is encased in living by the word of God (living by faith). Ones that live by faith must also see by faith. The word states it, we walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7); we watch, stand by faith (1 Corinthians 16:13); faith purifies the heart (Acts 15:9); we are saved by faith through grace (Ephesians 2:8). Ones that do not live by faith shall live in fear.  Exodus 2:1-2 documented, “And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.” The child was born at a time when every other parent could not see by faith but in fear because of the killing of the Hebrew sons. As a believer, it is important to know that out of the abundance of the heart not only does the mouth speak but the eyes see. Speaking, seeing and every other provoking agent of blessings should be rooted in faith. Whatever is seen with the eye is processed in the heart and the heart is where God holds us responsible.
At the time Moses was born, Pharaoh had commanded the killing of every male born by a Hebrew family in Egypt. Despite the death sentence by Pharaoh, by faith, the mother of Moses saw that her son was a beautiful child. By faith she saw him as unqualified for death and found it unacceptable for him to be killed. The mother had faith in what she saw and hid him from untimely death. Unlike every other woman that must have lost their child because they could not see by faith Moses’ mother refused to give up her beautiful child. At the point when she could no longer hold on to him in hiding her faith prevailed. Without any fear for him drowning, she set him up in an ark. It was in the ark that the daughters of Pharaoh picked him up. Moses’ identity as a child under death sentence was not hidden but then Pharaoh’s daughter saw him; she had compassion on the baby. “And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” (Exodus 2:6) Moses that was supposed to be killed was raised and cared for by the house of Pharaoh because the mother saw beauty in the place of death sentence.

Prayer for today: Ask that whatever is bringing down tens and hundreds around you shall not locate you in Jesus’ name.

FAITH CAPSULE: The challenges of the world today are not enough to tag life as difficult.

1 John 5

It is written, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” (1 John 5:4) The world does not have anything better to offer but pain in every area of life. As an acclaimed believer, how do you see the challenges of the world? Are you of those who call it difficult? It is important to stop calling and seeing the challenges of the word as difficult. Are you born of God? Ones that claim to have been born of God but yet continue to call it difficult are actually seeking difficulties. As one that is been born of God, 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) As a believer it is worthy to begin to see life as not difficult. 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 have to 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? 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.” It is time to take a moment and begin to re-trace one’s steps to see if one is born of God. Anyone that is born of God 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.