FAITH CAPSULE: Wilderness route is supposedly the distance from promise to the Promised Land.

Exodus 13

It is written, “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…” (Exodus 13:17-18). After the bondage of over four hundred the children of Israel were lead through the wilderness. Behind all of God’s direction to lead there shall be no failing. However, challenges cannot be eliminated but God will show for one that fully trusts in God leading. Wilderness route is supposedly the distance from promise to the promise land. Meaning, it is a process to possess God’s promise. Wilderness route is not without frustrating challenges. The children of Israel were led by God through wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. A journey through the wilderness is a process where character is built up to maintain life at the Promised Land. Does your route to breakthrough looks like the wilderness route? Trust that God is able to carry you through. It is not the time to worry but to worship. The fact that the Lord led them through the wilderness was evident that it was the best available route.

The bible recorded, “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” (Exodus 13:17-18). The wilderness was the best available route and yet it appeared the worst and the most challenging to the children of Israel. The journey of eleven days turned out to be forty years. Be encouraged even regardless of challenges. Do not complain; lift your eyes up to God for help in every step of the journey through the wilderness.

Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith proved to us that wilderness route is not a death trap when He went through the wilderness route without any delay. For us to go through the same path should not be an exception for us. The book of Mark 1:12 documented, “Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the beasts; and the angel ministered to Him.” Jesus’ going through the wilderness was to leave behind a footstep for each and every one who answers His call to follow through. He will see you through.

Prayer for today: Ask God to take over the leadership of your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you missing by not turning aside?

Exodus 3

Moses lived in the great palace for forty years and could not encounter the great sight from God until he left the palace unwillingly. When Moses accidentally killed an Egyptian that was beating a Hebrew, he had no choice but to run away from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the Land of Midian. (Exodus 2:11-15) Moses became empty for God to fill him for divine assignment in life. Until a man is emptied of self, there will be no space in man for God occupy in man. It was a move that could not be denied for him to encounter the great sight from God. It was at the back of the desert that Moses came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The bible recorded, “…the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”(Exodus 3:2-3) God ordained Moses for greatness.

For Moses’ greatness to come to manifestation there was a need for him to see a great sight for his turning aside. For Moses to become what God called him to be and to see the great sight, he fled from the palace. Moses not knowing what was to become of him he graciously lived life outside of the place away in the desert with contentment. (Exodus 2:21) Moses changed from prince to shepherd. Consider your current situation and meditate to see if God is in it. Hold on to trusting God and He will give you a peace which surpass all understanding. When he lead the flock to where there was no distraction, he saw a great sight (the flame of fire from the midst of the bush while the bush was not consumed) As stated in the verse above, Moses looked and behold; he turned aside to see the great sight. Indeed many are looking, many are beholding but many are not turning aside to see the great sight that sets man up to fulfill the calling to greatness for the glory of God. Have you missed your great sight by refusing to turn aside?  Moses was on time at the right ground with the right training. It is written, “So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, Here I am.”” (Exodus 3:4) Answer to your calling from God by pay attention to where you need to turn aside.

Prayer for today: Help me to see and know to turn aside to your calling upon me.

FAITH CAPSULE: To be questioning Authority (Jesus) where He gets His authority is an absolute lack of knowledge.

Matthew 8:1-13, Matthew 21:1-17

Jesus is Lord! Honor belongs to Him, glory belongs to Him. Above all, POWER belongs to Him.
It is written, “God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God.” (Psalm 62:11) It is safe to say that to whom power belongs to is the one with undeniable authority. All authority has been given to Jesus. Jesus confirmed that all authority has been given to Him. Matthew 28:18, After His resurrection, He appeared to His disciples and made known to them stating, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”  Authority is power. The power that belongs to Jesus is the power over all creation; it is the power to heal and to deliver; it is the power in His word and the authority which no man can deny.

The authority to cleanse all that is due for cleaning so that God may reign and rule in our life belongs to Jesus. The bible recorded how He went to clean the temple at a point in His ministry. Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers and He drove those that were buying and selling out. Jesus was able to clean the temple by driving out all the irrelevancies and He left. Matthew 21:23 stated, “Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and  said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?’”  The priests and the elders realized there was authority in place which could not be denied from delivering His agenda.
Jesus Christ is the Authority. However, to be questioning Authority (Jesus) where He gets His authority from is an absolute lack of knowledge.

Are you questioning His authority too? While Jesus was here on earth the chief priests constantly questioned His authority. The Bible testified that, “He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:29) Despite the fact that His teachings were with authority they could not recognize Jesus as the Authority. Today so many are still questioning His authority. Inside and outside of the Church, His authority is being constantly questioned. Are you questioning His authority too?
The word of God says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) Are you seeking God at your convenience or are you seeking with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength? A failure not to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength is an evidence of questioning His authority.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace that His authority will reign and rule your life all the days of your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Daniel’s purpose in the heart set him for great exploits in life.

Daniel 1

Here are some scriptural verses of what the bible has to say about the heart:
Psalm 44:21, “…God knows the secret of the heart.”
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
“The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart.” (Proverbs 20:27)
Ecclesiastes 8:11 stated, “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.”
The bible identifies the fool, in Psalm 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God…”

What is it about your heart?
The bible recorded, “As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man.”(Proverbs 27:19) It was heart that revealed Nehemiah to God as God’s eye travels. (2 Chronicle 16:9)

One thing was clear about Nehemiah: he had the concern for Jerusalem’s welfare and its inhabitants at heart. Nehemiah, a cup bearer with big heart desired a better life for his brethren. If a cup bearer could provoke great change, all of us that are having life should be able to do the same. God saw Nehemiah’s heart and He acknowledged him. God in His awesomeness invested in him as a vessel for reconstructing the broken wall of Jerusalem. The report of what was going on in Jerusalem caused a burden in Nehemiah’s heart and he began to intercede on behalf of the land and his people. The bible recorded in Nehemiah 1:3-4, “And they said to me, ‘The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.’ So it was, when I heard these words that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” Nehemiah poured out his heart in prayer on behalf of his people and his homeland. He asked for nothing that had to do with himself, but rather petitioned for things that had to do with a better life for his people. God is a God whose eyes are always traveling to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong. (2 Chronicle 16:9) Nehemiah’s heart was in line with what God was looking for. Is your heart self-centered?
Bible recorded about Daniel in Daniel 1:8, “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” He was able to purpose in his heart for God’s sake and he lived to do great exploit (Daniel 11:32) because of his heart activity. Daniel’s heart set him for great exploits in life.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to set your heart right before God all the days of your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: He is the God that remembers to favor and God that visits with salvation.

1 Samuel 3

A psalm of David stated, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? (Psalm 8:3-4) Are you consciously seeking Him with the knowledge that He is God that is mindful of you? Do you know Him as a God that visit? The psalmist requested in Psalm 104:6 “Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation.” The verse above testifies to the truth that God is indeed a caring God that remembers and visits His own. Are you consciously expecting His visitation when need calls for it? Any believer that is not consciously waiting to hear from God does not recognized God as a caring father who visits His children.

At a point in time in Shiloh when Eli was the priest, we are made to understand that, “…the word of Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” (1 Samuel 3:1) The word of God is His presence; God’s communication is His revelation and where there is no revelation, transformation ceases. The journey of life without transformation will lead to termination.

It is only the one who has the understanding for the need of God’s revelation that will consciously seek after His revelation. How is your revelation experience? Revelation from God will bring forth deliverance and salvation will reign. The situation of no revelation in Shiloh called for the return of God. The Lord’s return is His appearance and it took the coming to life of Samuel for revelation to come back to Shiloh. It is written, “Then the LORD appeared again in Shiloh.For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD (1 Samuel 3:21). God, who appeared again in Shiloh, will also appear again to visit you if you have lost contact with Him. He is the same yesterday and today. Obviously, where His word becomes rare, widespread revelation will cease. He is a faithful God! Call on Him and state your request to Him. The Psalmist wanted Him to remember and to visit him because when God remembers or visits, one will be enabled to see the benefit of His chosen ones. When God remembers or visit one will be able to rejoice in the gladness of His nation and will be able to glory with His inheritance. (Psalm 106:5) God is forever consistent. He is God that returns to reveal. He is the God that remembers to favor and God that visits with salvation.

Prayer for today: Ask God to remember you and to visit you in all your going and coming.