Faithful Capsule: Disallow comfort from clouding your commitment to God’s command.

Numbers 32

Engaging the journey of life comfortably should never be a sin. However, when man comfortably place comfort ahead of commitment to God’s direction in the journey of life, one is set not to arrive at the center of God’s divine agenda. God, in His goodness and mercy brought the children of Israel out of the bondage of over four hundred years with plan to settle them in the Promised Land. It is written, “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.” (Exodus 3:8) God wanted to place them from bondage to abundance when he promised them a land that flows with milk and honey. God promised to bring them up but for the children of Gad and of Reuben engaging comfort in the place of commitment took charge. The children of Gad and of Reuben decided to settle at the East of Jordan.

The Bible recorded that they had a very great multitude of livestock and that prompted a request for a settlement in the region which was a place for livestock; a place that was more comfortable by their own understanding instead of God’s promise. Despite their understanding of God’s plan, they attempted a choice to wander from the way of God’s understanding. Are you attempting to wander from the way of understanding gained from the word of God? Proverbs 21:16 admonished, “A man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.”

The children of Gad and the children of Reuben approached Moses and stated their desire, “…the country which the LORD defeated before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.’ Therefore they said, ‘If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.’” (Numbers 32:4-5) It is clear that where there is livestock milk will flow, but not honey. God promised a land flowing with milk and honey, but they attempted to settle for their own comfort land. The land which flowed with milk was comfortably enough for them. It is good to be comfortable but not at the expense of God’s command or plan for us. Placing our comfort above God’s command is a direct avenue to becoming insensitive to the move of the Spirit of God. Spiritual insensitivity will reduce and not increase a believer. Are you operating the mind of the children of Gad and Reuben as you engage your journey to the Promised Land? Disallow comfort from clouding your commitment to God’s command.

Prayer for today: Ask God to restore unto you whatever you have lost to spiritual insensitivity.

FAITH CAPSULE: Meditate on His testimonies to provoke your faith in Him.

How do we describe testimony?Testimony is evidence in support of the wonders God. Testimony is an open declaration or profession, as of faith.
The testimonies of God will transport a believer to a ground of transformation. All that the children of Israel needed for their transportation through their wilderness journey was the testimonies of God which was to keep them from complaining against God. The children of Israel were to travel through the wilderness to their Promised Land for eleven days, but the journey went on for forty years.

Are you experiencing a time of wandering where you are to be a wonder to your world?
The generation that came out of Egypt did not only journey in the wilderness, but they wandered around until the wilderness passed them unto death and they were unable to step on the Promised Land. The children of Israel did not just become wanders in the wilderness by accident, but by their acts of complaints against God trapped them in the wilderness. The act of complaining is the evidence of not keeping God’s testimony. Due to their never-ending complaining against what God was doing in their life, God responded in Numbers 14:22-23, “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.” God promised to take them to the Promised Land. He showed them great and mighty signs in Egypt, and they could not meditate to keep His testimony.

Are you constantly meditating on His testimonies? The Psalmist knew and confessed about testimonies of God in Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!” Keeping His testimonies is setting self-up to serve Him and not rebel by complaining. Psalm 119: 24, “Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.” Psalm 119:46, “I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.” The testimonies of God are all the things that He has done, the things that He is doing, and the evidence of what He can do. His testimonies are worthy of mediation.
Testimony of God is what we need to plead our case before God. Isaiah 45:26 stated, “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.” Do you have any testimony to remind God when presenting your case?  State your case by referring to what He has done and what He can do. He is faithful to honor His word.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to help in keeping His testimony constantly.

Faith Capsule: The hand of God is not shortened that it cannot save those who desire His hand.

Psalm 31

Wisdom of God is all that it takes for us to excel living challenging days. However, when there is lack of understanding of God’s wisdom there will be no knowledge. Isaiah 5:13 is true when it states, “Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge.” It is knowledge to gain understanding in the word that there are two different kinds of hands that operate in the life of man: the hand of God and the hand of evil one. Which of the two hands do you strongly desire? The hand of God, of course, should be the one that is strongly desire. One that truly desire manifestation of God’s hand will back up desire with action. It is wisdom to know and back one’s desire with action.  Also, it is not enough reading and knowing about the hand of God until there is a consistent meditation about what His hand can do.

The hand of God delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of over four hundred years and it added favor. Exodus 3:19-21 stated, “So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians…” The hand of God was also in place for Ezra to complete his journey. It is written, “On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. (Ezra 7:9) The hand of God is a source of encouragement for those who set their mind for His hand to answer on their behalf. Ezra 7:28 testified, “…So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me”

It is possible to rise and not able to build. However, to rise and able to complete is also in the hand of God. Nehemiah testified, “And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, ‘Let us rise up and build.’ Then they set their hands to this good work.” (Nehemiah 2:18). Do you consciously desire the hand of God upon your life? There is no deep place one cannot reach, neither is there any height one cannot climb because, “In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also.” (Psalm 95:4) God is a complete God with outstretch hand. The hand of God is not shortened that it cannot save those who desire His hand to work on their behalf.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to constantly desire the hand upon your life in these challenging days.

FAITH CAPSULE: Offering delivered without hesitation is the evidence of a cheerful giving to God.

Genesis 22

The God that called Abraham is the same God who calls you. He did not fail Abraham because Abraham did not fail to hear Him. Adam and Eve failed to hear Him and they failed themselves from remaining in the garden. Being encased in His calling is the grace to do what He calls for whenever the ability to hear Him is in place.
God called Abraham to deliver a sacrificial offering, “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:1-2) Abraham heard clearly and without hesitation, he delivered his offering to God. Abraham’s obedience allowed Abraham to have an open door of communication from above.

Offering delivered without hesitation is the evidence of a cheerful giving to God. The same word in the pages of the Bible introduced testimonies of God from the time of creation to man also declared, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! but you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:8-10) How you respond to the command of God will define your journey to the expected end in life. In all your giving, give back to God cheerfully.

Is it true that you only give what you can afford to get rid and what is costly to you? Think of it, can a door be open with a finger? When you are giving an offering to God with one finger instead of a whole hand (whole heart) the chances to an open door are limited. Giving with a finger is like giving without the whole heart. God is the giver of all and He alone can take all away. It is more than worthy to always give back to God with all our heart. Man must understand and know to always give to God in His name and not in any man’s name.  Are you with Him in mouth or in the heart? The answer to this question will no doubt determine the believer’s journey on earth. Abraham’s gave to God with his whole heart which is the evidence of his love for God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of giving cheerfully in all of your giving.

FAITH CAPSULE: God is true to perform and He performs to perfection.

Psalm 3

There is none like God. He is the only God that makes a way where there is no way. He alone reverses the irreversible. He alone shares His name with no any other God. He is the King of kings; the Lord of lords. King David testified, “The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, and the Lord sits as King forever.” (Psalm 29:10)

Jehoiachin had been in captivity for thirty-seven years when God raised his head and brought him out of captivity. “Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.” (Jeremiah 52:31) God used Evil-Merodach, the king of Babylon and son of Nebuchadnezzar, to lift up the head of Jehoiachin. God will use anyone to lift you from every challenge that is keeping your head down. God alone is more than capable to cause you to begin to preside over your persecutors. Evil-Merodach was in the hand of God to lift the head of Jehoiachin. When God remembers, He also rescues. Having used Evil-Merodach to rescue Jehoiachin, God also made him to change the garment of Jehoiachin from that of a prisoner to that of one who eats regularly before the king all the days of his life. God is true to perform and He performs to perfection.
There is nothing which God is incapable of doing and His capability has no measure. It is the same God that visited Daniel in the den of hungry lions. He caused the lions not to have appetite for fresh meat even though the lions were starving to have meat. Are you waiting on Him in prayer concerning a challenge that seems unmovable? Continue to trust and hope in God by waiting on Him. Concerning your challenge it is not time to stop waiting in prayer but to top up your waiting in prayer. God is a prayer-answering God. Know it and make it a note in your heart, get the understanding that the one that was capable of bringing out the Israelites out of the bondage of over four hundred years is more than able to convert your challenge to a glorious change. God alone is Jehovah Sharma and He will live to answer His Name.

Stand in faith so that our faithful God will show on your behalf. With faith God is pleased, without faith God is not pleased. Proverbs 16:7 buttressed, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Have faith that God is more than capable to see you through.

Prayer for today: Ask God to send forth His help and lift up your head from every challenge.