FAITH CAPSULE: One with the spirit of contentment shall not become a covetous one.

Philippians 4

In the journey of life, every one that is called by God needs the grace of contentment to get to the center of divine assignment. Imagine Moses coming out of the Pharaoh’s palace to live in a desert? Pharaoh palace must have been a place of comfort where everything makes man not wanting to give to sacrificing for God. Moses lived for forty years on a high ground. It was not in Moses plan to move to a desert when he suddenly became a resident of a desert land. In Moses’ attempt to defend his Hebrew brother from an Egyptian, he killed the Egyptian. The killing of the Egyptian was not hidden as result; he flees to Midian (desert land) for his life. Moses unknowingly, entered his journey to the center of his divine assignment. Among the pointer to his qualification as a leader was recoded in Exodus 2:21 stating, “Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.” Imagine the kind of shift Moses must have endured.

Contentment also means satisfactory. To be set up for God’s assignment consciously or unconsciously demands high level of satisfactory spirit in man. Contentment points to the evidence of God’s fear in man’s life. Proverbs 19:23 buttresses, “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil.”  The book of 1Timothy 6: 6-10 documents it, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” The book of Philippians 4:4-7 mentioned the identities of one that is living life in satisfaction…that is one who is carrying the spirit that makes man to be content. Among identities of man with the spirit of contentment are mentioned in the book of Philippians 4:4-7. Rejoicing in the Lord always is visible in the life of one with contentment; one’s gentleness is also known to men; one becomes anxious for nothing but in everything rendering prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving to God; the peace of God which surpasses all understanding answers in the life of one who lives life with contentment. One with the spirit of contentment shall not become a covetous one and with contentment man shall serve God steadfastness.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be steadfast in serving Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Your change will only come at God’s appointed time for you.

Exodus 2

Change is the act of transformation or substituting of one situation for another. Change is what man will always look for to have a better condition in the journey of life. When the Israelites began to feel pain in the hands of Pharaoh and his men the need for change began to press on the Israelites. The bible recorded, “Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.  So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledge them.” (Exodus 2:23-25) The Israelites needed change as a result, they cried out to God who hears the cries of His children. Crying to God is not an evidence of weakness; it is an expression of expectation. God heard them and remembered them but change did not answer immediately for the Israelites.
Are you waiting on God (through prayer or crying) for a change? Know it in you that change will only come at God’s appointed time. It is true that you have been waiting for quite some time but nothing to show for your waiting. Delay is all that you are experiencing in the place of expectation for change. Be encouraged that delay is not a denial. Delay is possibly the enemy’s pointer to frustrate your expectation. Ignore delay but lay your request for change at the feet of the Master. Delay prompts discouragement, discouragement provokes complaint. Complaint is the act to rebel. In your case, disallow discouragement and complaint will not have a place in you. Without complaint in you rebellion will have to relocate itself outside of you.
Worrying is like a parasite, it will eat into man quietly when change seems to be slow in coming forth. Deal with worry by engaging worshiping God. Worship God by praising and giving Him thanks despite the fact that your change is yet manifested. It is important to know that when we thank God for all things then all things works together for good. As you wait for change be conscious that your thoughts delivers by your action. Get the understanding of the truth that Lord God is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed. (1 Samuel 2:3) Do not doubt in your heart as regard to your expectation for change. Doubts will prompt you to having a backup plan for your expectation. However, in faith there is no backup plan. Backup plan is a lack of faith and God is not pleased when there is no faith. (Hebrews 11:6) Please God while you are waiting on Him for your expected change. Your change shall come.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be patiently persistent waiting on him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Counting your blessings instead of complaining provokes more of His blessings.

Numbers 14

Are you counting or are you complaining? Counting blessings is praising Him for what He has done to provoke more of His doing. Complaining will complicate man’s journey.  Regardless of what your challenges are, it is important to see it in the word of God that the Lord is more than able to see you through. Begin to see it that the One who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters (Psalm 114:8) is more than able to turn around your story above and beyond your expectation. See it that God that does not slumber nor sleep but He is awake and mindful of you in your challenging situation. It is important to know for sure that complaining does not settle well before God. Complaining is sin and God will not overlook sin. God did not overlook the complaint of the children of Israel against Him. Assuredly, your complaint against God shall get His attention. The Israelites complaint turned the journey of eleven days to the journey of forty years. The Israelites complaint caused them to wander in the   wilderness when they supposed to be a wonder to their world.
If you will see the wonders of God in the word of God you will do exploit to God’s glory. The time of the year is not evidence that God’s visitation for your breakthrough has expired. Have you been complaining in any way which you have taken? The Israelites took to the way of wilderness which supposed to be a passage for them to pass through but they ended up living their life in the wilderness. The complaining of the generation that came out of Egypt caused them to live, to wandered and died in their wilderness journey. Have you seen any of His acts in your life? The book of Numbers 14:22-23 documented, “Because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.” It is worthy to stop complaint and start counting God’s blessing by identifying each of His blessings. See what God has done and it will enable you to see through what He will do.  Can you count and see your blessings this year?

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from complaint. Ask for the grace to constantly count His blessing.

FAITH CAPSULE: The Israelites saw fear, spoke negative, and were terminated.

Exodus 14

Undeniable manifestation of miracles brought out the Israelites out of the bondage of over four hundred years yet they could not see deliverance in their journey to the Promised Land. At a point in their journey Pharaoh approached the Israelites in attempt to return them back to where the Lord God delivered them from. It is written, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.” (Exodus 14:10) The Israelites could not see in the word of promise that was delivered to them by God, through Moses. As a result of their disability not to see in God’s promise, they saw the Egyptians that were after them. What you see is going to have a direct effect on what you think and what you say. The Israelites saw fear and spoke negative. The Bible recorded their response, “Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? ¹² Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:11-12) The Israelites saw it wrongly and said it wrong as a result they ended up wrongly.

After having been brought this far in life; after having witnessed the grace of God in many areas of your life, why is it so difficult to see that God alone is in control? Have you taken your eyes away from what God said and what He is saying to you through the pages of the Bible? Whatever a man beholds will eventually hold man down in the journey of life. Moses knew exactly the cause for the negative confession of the Israelites and he responded stating, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” When there is no clarity of sight it is certain that misjudgment will take place, confusion will bring forth complaint and rebellion will gain ground. Just as Moses lived through his journey meditating day and night, you also should meditate on the word of God day and night. Meditating will cause you to know that God is with you; He will not leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:5-6) With meditation there will be clarity of sight. See in your new season that God shall favor you.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to constantly engage in meditating the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Ability to see in what God says is a direct effect to possessing His promise.

Deuteronomy 1

It is interesting how God’s promises for His children in the pages of the bible are well laid while His children languishes and not able to see and possess those promises. To be able to see in the promises is the provoking force which will generate a move in direction of possessing the promise of God. God promised the Israelites a land that flows with milk and honey (Promised Land). At a point in time, during their journey from the bondage of over four hundred years they made the choice to dwell too long at Horeb. Dwelling too long, away from the promise of God for a man’s life is a terminating force that denies man from God’s promise.
As a result of the Israelite dwelling too long, God sent Moses to the Israelites stating, “The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.  Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land…” (Deuteronomy 1:6-8)
In the word of God, there was a need for the Israelites to see in the promise of God that the Promised Land was set for them. The Israelites should not have had any reason for doubt but to move forward and possess God’s promise. The Israelites proved short-sightedness by not moving forward but rather went forward with a spying mission. Moses testified, “Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.” (Deuteronomy 1:22) The Israelites wanted to possess the land by seeing the world around them before seeing and engaging the word of God. It was a demonstration that they wanted to make sure God knows what He was talking about when He asked them to move forward. Evidently, the Israelites could not see as commanded by God. Ability to see in what God says is a direct effect to possessing His promise. Month after months you continue to dwell at the same ground. Could it be you are not able to see in the promises of God for you? It is time to ask for clarity of sight that you may see in God’s word and be able to move and possess His promise for you.

Prayer for today: Ask God that the new month shall be your month of clarity of sight. You shall see in His word what it takes to move from mockery into miracle and possess His package for your life.