FAITH CAPSULE: When you are able to identify with what you carry then your journey is set for God’s glory.

Exodus 4

What do you carry that is meant to set you up for your divine assignment in life? The bible makes us to realize that we are the temple of God stating, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16) As a child of God, you are a temple of God, meaning a house of God. In your house, what do you carry that is meant to set you up and establish you on your journey of life for the glory of God? Think of it, it does not matter who you are; it does not matter where you are but it is important that you know you are not empty. However, when you are able to identify with what you carry then your journey is set for God’s glory.
The bible recorded about certain widow stating, “A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves. So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”” (2Kings 4:1-2) Eventually, it was a jar of oil in the house which the widow counted as nothing that brought her out of nothing into abundance. Does your story sounds like one with challenges and does not know that your solution is within you? The widow was delivered from mockery to miracle when her challenges were resolved through a jar of oil which she mistook as nothing.
Besides what is in the house, what you have in your hand and not know about it might be your steering to the center of your divine assignment. God knew what was in Moses hand when He placed a call on Moses. Moses, by not knowing what was in his hand attempted to reject the calling of God. God called Moses, “Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”(Exodus 4:1) God identified what was in Moses’ hand by calling Moses’ attention to it with a question, “So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”(Exodus 4:3) In the hand of Moses, ordinary rod served as a vessel of transformation. God will use you for His attainment if you listen and allow Him to identify what’s in your hand.

Prayer for today: Ask God to call your attention to what you carry for Him to use you.

FAITH CAPSULE: what is turning you from maintaining your commitment to God?

2Chronicles 25

The book of 2Chronicles 25:1-2 recorded, “Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.  And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart.” The story of Amaziah sounded like that of acclaimed believers of today. Today, so many acclaimed believers are doing the right thing without a loyal heart in the sight of the Lord. Are you doing the right thing but disloyal in the sight of the Lord?
It is a right thing to know about and accept Jesus as the Lord and savior. It is a right thing to be coming out on a regular basis to worship in the church. It is a right thing to be actively engaged in church activities such as prayer and fasting. It is a right thing to be engaged in maintaining church properties. However, it is possible to be engaged in doing all that is right in the sight of God and not have a loyal heart.
Amaziah’s right doing in the sight of God was documented, “Now it happened, as soon as the kingdom was established for him, that he executed his servants who had murdered his father the king. However he did not execute their children, but did as it is written in the Law in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; but a person shall die for his own sin.”(2Chronicles 25:3-4) Amaziah carefully obeyed the Law in the book of Moses and it was counted for him as doing right in the sight of God.
Amaziah’s disloyalty in the sight of God surfaced after winning a battle against the Edomites. It was a battle he would not have been able to win but divine intervention of God gave victory to him and Judah when they defeated the Edomites. After his victory, “he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up to be his gods, and bowed down before them and burned incense to them.  Therefore the anger of the Lord was aroused against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of the people, which could not rescue their own people from your hand?”” (2Chronicles 25:14-15) Amaziah was unwilling to listen to the prophet sent by God.  Amaziah could not maintain loyal heart for God that won him battle.
As an acclaimed believer, what is turning you from maintaining your commitment to God? Are you right in the sight of God and unconsciously disloyal in His sight?

Prayer for today: Ask God to help you not to be a disloyal vessel in His hand.

FAITH CAPSULE: He that goes in the way of God always gets to his destination.

John 14

Purposing in your heart to serve God demands some responsibility and truth be told, some burden bearing. Just as there are no shortcuts to attaining several things in life for example, we all crawl before we walk, likewise, there is no short cut to serving God, there has to be sincere purposefulness and willingness to serve irrespective of the challenges that may come on the way. When in a purposeful service of the Most High, engaging in the practice of short cut will cut you short and the expected splendid end will be terminated with resultant effects. For the Israelites, coming out of the bondage of over four hundred years was not enough reason to be led through a short cut on the way to the Promised Land. The Bible records, “…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.” (Exodus 13:17-18) God surely knows the best way and it is not in our place to assume or attempt a way that is considered near (short).
Do you care to know the way? Knowing the way is what it takes to care and know not to go for a short cut. Thomas, a disciple of Jesus was curious about the way to go when he asked Jesus about the way. Jesus responded to Thomas by stating, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life. no one comes to the Father except through Me.”(John 14:6) Today, there are many distractions on the journey of life. Remain steadfast to avoid untimely termination; avoid travelling on the wrong path which at the best only leads to the wrong destination; and without compromise adhere to the signs on the way which are to instruct and guide you. There is an exit time for every man on the life’s highway, do not allow your existence to become corrupted. It is of little or no importance how long it takes to get the journey underway, but it is utmost importance to get the journey on the right path and have God as the pilot. He that goes in the way of God always gets to his destination. Make the right choice today by taking the Way. Jesus, the Word of God is the true way.

Prayer for today: Ask God to instruct, teach and direct you in the way to go in life.

FAITH CAPSULE: A clean heart will grant a believer a stand before God

Psalm 24, 51

The word of God described heart in Jeremiah 17:9-10, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart; I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” What about your heart. Psalm 24:3-4 recorded, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.” The point being made here is that, the state of man’s heart determines the kind of ground it places man before God. A heart that is desperately wicked does not have a stand before God. A heart that is pure and clean before God is the kind of heart that get God committed when it stands in prayer before God.
The book of 1Kings 17:1 recorded how Elijah got an answer to his prayer the way he wanted it, “And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.” Elijah prayed against rain in the face of Ahab by making a statement claiming his stand. Elijah committed God because he does have a stand; he knew he was having a pure and clean heart which God could not decline but cause God to incline to the prayer of Elijah. Evidently, he had all that it takes to ascend into the hill of the Lord when he declared, “…there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
What is lurking inside your heart? It is your heart that God wants to meet before He commits into your hand great feats. 2Chronicles16:9, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” The eyes of the Lord eyes look for the heart that is loyal to Him. It is important that you give your heart a procedure that will remove every thought that is not right, thoughts that is negative and not faithful to the glory of God.
The prayer of King David in Psalm 51 testified to the need for a heart that is clean and able to stand before God. He prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. A clean heart will grant a believer a stand before God and get God committed to the answering of prayer request.

Prayer for today: Ask God to help create a pure and clean heart in you.

FAITH CAPSULE: In the manual of life are all manner of prescription that works against your enemy.

2 Chronicles 20:1-21

What is staging battle against your existence in any area of life? You can be rest assured that you have a hiding place and a shield for your deliverance. If you hope in the word of God, deliverance and preservation will unfailingly answer for you against all that is battling against your existence in any area of life. Psalmist testified, “You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word”. (Psalm 119:114) “Uphold me according to Your word, that I may live; and do not let me be ashamed of my hope.” (Psalm 119:116) The psalmist would not have testified if it was not true. The word of God is power to deliver and to preserve if man will work the works of the word (which is to be living the word).
In the manual of life (the living word of God; the bible) are all manner of prescription that works against any force that has come to battle against your existence. However, if you will search and work it out, the word of God which does not discriminate will answer for you.
Once, Jehoshaphat and his people’s existence were set for disruption but Jehoshaphat prevailed. It is written, “It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” (2 Chronicles 20:1-3) In the verses above, it is clear that Jehoshaphat’s victory was rooted in setting himself apart by seeking God in praying and fasting.
Engaging praying and fasting is waiting on God. It is not possible to wait on God and waste. God is faithful to honor His word and the word testified, “For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.” (Isaiah 64:4) Clearly, going by the verse above, God is a God that acts for those who wait on Him. Jehoshaphat prayed and fasted with understanding as a result, he did not wait to waste. In Jehoshaphat’s prayer, he made his request known by reminding God (putting God to remember). He stated, “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?” (2Chronicles20:6).

Prayer for today: Ask by letting Him know that He alone is your deliverer in the face of wicked world.