FAITH CAPSULE: Can you think of any other name that is above the name of the Lord God?

Exodus 6

Power belongs to God and not to anyone. He gives power to man when He choose to. The name of God is power and the Bible buttressed by stating, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” (Proverbs 18:10) There is no any other name that delivers like the name of God.  God gave direction to Moses for the release of the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh. The power that was given to Moses was the name of God. It is written, “And God spoke to Moses and said to him: ‘I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them.’” (Exodus 6:2-3) The name worked. In the end, the children of Israel came out of the bondage of over four hundred years. Pharaoh, an agent of the devil, put up all opposition in his attempt to disapprove the effectiveness and the power that is in the name of God. However, Moses was moved by the word of God to make the name of the Lord God become approved to all generations. Can you think of any other name that is above the name of the Lord God? It has not been documented by anyone that the name of the Lord God is a failure.

The same name yesterday is still the same name today and tomorrow and it has not stop working miracles. The name of God will not fail you if you do not fail to wait for Him to move on your behalf. It can be seen across the pages of the Bible what the name of God has done. Countless miracles testified to the awesome power in the name of God. The forces of the wicked will throw all weapons at you and the Goliath in your life will come at you with every destructive weapon. Goliath meant to kill David before David’s time was up on the face of earth. Goliath threatened, “…come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” (1 Samuel 17:44) David was not ready made a choice not to be a victim in the hand of Goliath when he responded to Goliath with the greatest weapon on earth. David stated, “…you come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (1 Samuel 17:45) David fought Goliath with no any other weapon but the name of the Lord God. Are you thinking of any other weapon to engage the Goliath in your life?  Take to the name of the Lord as your shelter and deliverance and preservation shall be your portion.

 Prayer for today: Ask that the name of God shall be your covering in all going and coming.

FAITH CAPSULE: Ignore your concern by responding to His command fully.  

1Samuel 16

It is written, “He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless of his ways will die.” (Proverbs 19:16) Are you keeping His commands that sound in your direction? Are you keeping to your ways instead of His ways? The book of Jonah 1:1-3 stated, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”” Jonah was careless when he responded to his ways. When God calls and sends one out, He will back the called up. In His calling, He makes available what it takes to get to the expected end. Often times, man stumbles and takes a position of self-destruction. Jonah’s business was to only obey as commanded regardless of what seemed right to him or not.

It was God Himself who called Moses out to go and lead the children of Israel out of the bondage that lasted over four hundred years. Moses, out of his concern for God reacted to the rebellious act of the children of Israel towards God. Moses took it upon himself to strike the rock instead of speak to the rock for water. God responded to Moses, “Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12)

The same God sent Samuel to go and anoint David as king while Saul was still living as the King. Samuel was concerned about God’s command when he asked, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” (1 Samuel 16:2) Out of concern, Samuel could have responded by going his own way. God responded to Samuel’s question, “…Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.”1 Samuel 16:2-3) Samuel’s concerned could not corrupt his obedience to God’s command. God alone knows the end from the beginning, He knew us before we were born. Disallow your concern by allowing His command to be established.

Prayer for today: Ask God for grace to constantly respond to His command without concerns which caused compromise.

FAITH CAPSULE: To be concerned is from the heart, but to care is by action.

Luke 10:25-37

God is good and whatever is good is godly. Is it in you to know to do good when need calls for doing good? Jesus identified what it means to be a good one in the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable, a stranger from Samaritan saw another stranger from Jerusalem who fell among thieves; badly wounded and was stripped off his clothing. The Samaritan could not walk away like others before him did but he engaged the stranger from Jerusalem and spent his resources to make sure the stranger from Jerusalem received proper medical attention. Jesus our compassionate savior referred to the good doing of the Samaritan stating, “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.” (Luke 10:33) Doing good is having compassion. Compassion is the heart of Jesus. Evidently, it is godly to be doing good.

It is written, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17) The need and the importance for us to be doing good as we engage living life cannot be emphasized enough. Think about the statement that, if knowing to do good and not do it is a sin, knowing to do good and doing it must be a blessing. In the book of Galatians 5:22, doing good is listed among the fruit of the spirit, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.” Many scriptural passages emphasized the importance of doing good. Romans 12:9, “…Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:15, “See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.” 2 Thessalonians 3:13, “But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.” Hebrews 13:16, “But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

As an acclaimed believer, become one that consciously allows your concern for doing good to be alive. Let your caring to do what is good be activated. Show concern for doing good and be care active. To be concerned is from the heart, but to care is by action. Have you been having some concerns about doing good where doing good calls for good to be done? Go ahead and act with care, knowing fully well that what you are doing is in the name of God and for the glory of God. To be concerned for others with all care is doing good; it is heaven acknowledge-able and it is blessing provoking. Gain the understanding that doing good glorifies God.

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s grace to constantly know and not ignore when need to do good calls for it.

FAITH CAPSULE: Know to only behold positive in the place of negative challenge.

1 Samuel 13

Behold means to observe; look or see. What a man observes determines what a man sees. Whatever a man sees is what man receives and it becomes of man. When a man looks into challenges with negativity nothing will come out of such challenge but negative. One that sees and act based on the promise in the word of God will see positively in the place negativity. The children of Israel, despite the promises of God and the testimonies of God could not see positively in Gods promise to take them to Promised Land. As the Egyptians drew near them, with no way of escape, “…the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptian marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.” (Exodus 14:10) The Israelites behold their enemy, fear took over. What are you beholding or looking up to? Beholding the challenges of life will hold back man from moving forward in life. As a believer that sees in the spoken word of God which does not fail, negative challenges should be engaged positively knowing that God is abundantly able.

Daniel’s three friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego) saw in the testimony of God and their faith was energized for them to stand trusting God. When judgment was against them, they were confident; they could not look away from their God. It is written, “Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.” (Daniel 3:19) The fullness of fury in the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar and his command was not enough for the bulging of the three friends of Daniel.
Have you been looking too much into the face of your challenges which are not beyond God? What you need to be doing is to set your sight on the promises of God; look not into what your challenges are communicating but behold the promise of God over your challenge and see His salvation.

Samuel commanded King Saul to wait for seven days in the face of intimidating challenge. King Saul could not wait and Samuel came stating to Saul, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”” (1Samuel 13:11-12) Saul could not recover for beholding negative. Know to only behold positive in the place of negative challenge.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to always see in the promises of God to overcome your challenges.

FAITH CAPSULE: Jesus’ availability for us is not to force faith on us.

Matthew 14:22-33

Meditate the word of Psalmist which states, “Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; Preserve my life from fear of the enemy .Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the rebellion of the workers of iniquity,” (Psalm 64:1-2) Meditation is not memorization. Allow meditating on the word of God to be your routine and it will be your compass navigating through the journey of life. With meditation man is set to do well. Meditation worked for Moses and must have worked better for Joshua. The psalmist asked God for preservation when he prayed, “Preserve me from the fear of the enemy.” There is only one enemy for every creation of God and that enemy is the devil himself. Fear is the enemy’s weapon. In the life of a believer, when faith sinks, fear rise and takes it place. Fear does not announce itself before it invades its victims. Fear knows no discrimination.

The bible described Job as a man of integrity when God responded to Satan stating, “…that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (Job 1:8)Job had a high standard in the presence of God. After he had lost all that the Lord blessed him with, he confessed about fear, “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.” (Job 3:25)Fear did not announce himself to Job when it invaded Job. Fear is not a respecter of title. The same fear that invaded Job invaded Peter and caused him to sink where there was a need for him to walk.

Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He said, ’Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ’Lord, save me!’ (Matthew 14:28-30)In the above scriptural verse, it is evident that when faith was in place, Peter was able to walk on the storm and not sink. The moment Peter redirected his focus from savior to the storm, faith was out of place. Fear caused him to sink despite the fact that Jesus was there with him. Jesus’ availability for us is not to force faith on us. Engaging His presence constantly and continuously is an assured way of salvation from storm. Determination is not an assured way for salvation but the grace of God. Imagine Peter, the man with strong determination, almost got his termination when fear invaded him during the storm of life. Be encouraged; pray the prayer of the Psalmist and faith will not fail.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to keep you up and not sink in the storm of life.