FAITH CAPSULE: Heart demands a close attention.

The book of Proverbs 2:10-12, Stated, “When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you; to deliver you from the way of evil…” The heart of man demands a close attention as regard to what enters into the heart on a regular basis. Wisdom (word of God, testimonies of His hand) is good and important for heart to feed on. What are you feeding your heart on? Proverbs 4:23 admonished, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life.” One that knows to keep heart diligently will surely be in good position when it comes to dealing with the issues of life. Caleb and Joshua were the only survivors among thousands of the children of Israel that left Egypt for the Promised Land. Caleb and Joshua survived because they were able to keep their heart with all diligence. Evidently, their heart was the center for keeping the testimonies of God. Psalm 119:2 testified, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!” Without doubt, it is true that those who keep His testimonies in the heart will wholly follow Him just like Caleb and Joshua did.
In the heart, Caleb and Joshua remembered the promise of God and they trusted in what the Lord was capable of doing. Caleb testified about the operation of his heart, “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart.” (Joshua 14:7)  Evidently, trusting is not just a thing of the mouth, but it is also from the heart. However, if the promises of God were not rooted in the heart, Caleb would not have taken a stand of his testimony. When they went to spy, Caleb did not see negative like other spy but he saw positive because in his heart, he knew that God’s promise was going to be manifested. In the same spying mission, his brethren saw negative because they could not keep their heart with diligence. Caleb testified, “Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the LORD my God.” (Joshua 14:8) They all went to spy but they could not see the same thing because their heart is not kept the same way. Those who keep His testimonies seek Him with the whole heart (they wholly followed Him)
Moses responded to Caleb and Joshua’s testimony saying, “Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.” (Joshua 14:9) Keep your heart with all diligence by keeping His testimonies and you will wholly follow Him. Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to keep your heart diligently.

FAITH CAPSULE: Unforgiving is a sin and it will deny man from God.

Matthew 18:21-35

An unforgiving believer of the Word of God has taken the position of unfulfilling mission. As an acclaimed believer, you are on a mission of fulfillment. That is fulfilling the calling you answered to when the Lord came knocking on the door of your heart. The Master brought forgiveness to us and He expects us to be able to forgive and carry on with Him. Are you a forgiving believer or unforgiving believer? A failure not to release others to forgiveness is making attempt to carry on without the Master taking charge. As an acclaimed believer, there will always be a need to be constantly assessable to the Master or the journey will be prematurely and permanently terminated. Prayer is the express way of assessing the Master. When you cannot stand in prayer you will fall and not prevail. The word of God demands from us to be constant and consistent in forgiving those who fault us. When understand to forgive flows in the life of a believer, engaging prayer according to God’s standard takes it place. Mark 11:25 identified God’s standard requirement to stand in prayer, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may also forgive your trespasses.” God is true to His word why not be true to honoring the word of God?
Mark 11:26 stated what happens when there is a failure to forgive, “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Do you have challenge to forgive and move forward without looking back to the past? A failure not to forgive is a passage not to stand and gain access to God in prayer. Are you having the challenges not to forgive? If yes, it is time to begin to pray for the ones you are having challenges to forgive. Peter wanted to know how often do we forgive when he asked Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18:21) Jesus wants us to know that forgiving others is not limited to once in a while but as often as the need calls for others to be forgiven. Allow God to work on your behalf by letting unforgiving spirits bow to a forgiving spirit. Without forgiving others, the price that Jesus paid for man becomes invalid in the life of man. God is true to perform His word. The David testified to the power of His word stating, “…For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” (Psalm 138:2) Unforgiving is a sin and it will deny man from God. Be a forgiver and become assessable to God. He is Holy and with sin, no one can see Him.

Prayer for today: Ask God for His grace to be a consistent forgiver of those who offend you.

FAITH CAPSULE: Man often forgets that God will always have the final say.

Genesis 43

Joseph had a dream, “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 37:7) His dream does not settle well with his brothers because it was an indication that they were going to bow for him. While he was sent by his father Jacob to go and check the welfare of his brothers his brother took away his welfare. At Joseph’s appearance to his brother at Dothan, they said to each other, “Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!” (Genesis 37:20) The brothers thought they had a good plan to terminate his dream; they also ridicule the plan of God by stating, “We shall see what will become of his dreams!” At the appointed time they eventually bow down. When the brothers came to him at his position as the prime minister of Egypt (one next to Pharaoh) they responded to his question about their father, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves.”” (Genesis 43:28)

The dream that got Joseph to Egypt became the avenue for the manifestation of the dream. Joseph’s brothers did not only bow but they ended up in a prostrate position. You can be rest assured today, as a child of God, every challenge that supposed to bow before you shall come to look for you and bow to the glory of God over your life. Joseph’s brothers were only supposed to bow according to the dream but ended up bowing and prostrating. Joseph’s brothers did not only see what God did for Joseph but they were dumbfounded, silent and ridiculously embarrassed by their wickedness. Man often forgets that God will always have the final say. God alone started the job of creating man and by that virtue, no man has the power to terminate if God did not terminate. In the race of life, let your enemies run or walk they will not catch up with you, but they will be weary and faint in Jesus name. Concerning your situation, God will respond at his appointed time, He will not be late neither will he be too early.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to constantly and consistently remain focus on Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Is it that the challenge you need to overcome is now overwhelming you?

Joshua 7

It is clear that one that is not contented in life shall become a covetous one… (Envious, greedy and jealous) Greediness is rooted in lack of contentment. One that is greedy is not generous. Covetousness is a command with no need for interpretation. Exodus 20:17 clearly stated in the Ten Commandments: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour’s.
After having brought down the wall of Jericho in your life, you will expect victory to be your identity. However, when you fail to identify with the commandment of God, you will lose your identity as a winner.
On the way to God’s promise, challenge is a frequent engagement but full compliance with the word of God is the only way of getting to God’s promise. After bringing down the wall of Jericho, the children of Israel set for war against the people of Ai. Being a winner, they assumed victory because the people of Ai were few in number but they fell and could not stand before their enemies.

As a result of the Israelites loss to Ai, Joshua went before God “And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan!” (Joshua 7:10) He considered their past as better than their present. (Oh that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan Joshua 7:7)  Are you experiencing a situation where it feels that your past is better than your present? It could be that God has departed you just like He departed the Israelites as a result of Achan’s covetousness. Joshua pleaded before God and God told him about Achan’s sin of covetousness.
God called covetousness sin; Covetousness is transgressing God’s command and He also called it deception. (Joshua 7:10-11) Covetousness brought them down and they could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies. Are you turning your back before your enemies? Is it that the challenge you need to overcome is now overwhelming you? God does not waste His word and the bible testified that He magnified His word above all His name. (Psalm 138:2) Why not consciously engage His word? The word which you obeyed for Your Past victory will not compliment for your present battle. Every battle demands consistency with obedience to the word of God. For the Israelites, past victory could not compliment for the future victory because of the sin of covetousness. The Israelites violated God’s word and could not stand a lesser opposition in their direction. They were stricken; they were chased; the heart of the people melted.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace not to operate covetousness in every walk of your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: It is worthy to come out of religion and come into Christ reality.

1 Corinthians 3

Is the church (temple of God) for real today or only receding from what the word of God calls for the church to be? Bible identifies the church, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16) So many claims to be for Christ (believer) with titles that are high to heaven, but none are in position like Abraham to be able to see and hear when or if God was speaking.
Sin and sinning builds distance between man and God. As man continues to go and grow far from God because of sin and sinning, God whose nature does not tolerate sin withdraws Himself from man. Roman 3:23 buttresses it saying, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” The glory of God, which is His presence, is not full but short in the life of man because of sin. Despite the shortage of His glory as a result of man’s sin, God still has mercy on man. Imagine how beautiful it will be for those who are far from sin and how full the manifestation of His glory in their life will be?
It must have been hard on Jesus when He asked, “…when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” The Bible makes us realize that faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. (Romans 10:17) It is not possible to hear God and not live by the word. Not doing the word is evidence of not having heard the word. Jesus is actually asking that if he comes is there going to be a believer that is living by the word (To believe His word is to be living the word). Living the word is what makes man to be on a ground that is the same as that of Abraham, a ground where revelation is not rare but widespread.

It is worthy to come out of religion and come to a position of receiving revelation that transforms by living faithfully like Abraham. Know that to be faithful is a sacrifice and is not convenient; not cheap but costly. To be faithful is a commitment; a lifestyle to live for God and it enhances the flow of revelation from God. The Church should be making the difference allowing widespread revelation. However, the church has taken the opposite direction by turning away from God to the world. Turn away from the world and turn to God; be privileged of God, take to a faithful way of living life and revelation will flow from God to turn your world around. Remember, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint…” (Proverbs 29:18) More revelation breeds more restraints and the avoidance of evil occurrences.

Prayer for today: Ask God to direct your heart into the fear of His Holy name and into the patience of Christ.