FAITH CAPSULE: Letting down your guard is allowing your enemy to bring its war to your front.

2 Samuel 11, Luke 4:1-15

How we engage temptations in our direction will determine how we enter into our center of divine assignment. We must know that the devil is a stubborn animal with no respect for any of his target. He tempted Jesus and he will tempt you because there is no exception in how he his dictionary.

Once he approached the Lord Jesus Christ with temptation. Luke 4:1-2, Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.” This is to show that if Jesus could experience such, no one is immune to war of temptation. How are you upholding your guard against the advance of the enemy’s temptation? It is how you uphold your guard that will determine how you hold against his move. Jesus did not let down His guard when the enemy located Him with temptation. Jesus prevailed by reminding the evil one the written word of God. Jesus was at the right place, at the right time as a result, the evil one failed. Jesus war front was well guarded.

You have been called by God and your calling has marked and identified you as an enemy to the camp of the devil. As a result of your stand in the Lord, you can no longer take or stand on just any ground or at any period in time. Taking such a stand is letting down your guard as a soldier of God. Letting down your guard is allowing your enemy to bring its war to your front. Despite all the victories of King David, he was not able to fight a war of success when adultery brought its war to David’s front. One of the major causes of King David’s loss of battle was recorded in 2 Samuel 11:1, “It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.” King David was at the right place at the wrong time. As a prime target of the enemy, there is no room for mistakes that are life consuming. As a believer, you cannot afford to be at the right place at the wrong time nor at the wrong place at the right time.

Life terminating testimony will come but the word of God will treat with deliverance. Take to the advice of the apostle Paul which stated, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:10-11)

Prayer for today: Ask for deliverance against every plans of the evil one against your life

FAITH CAPSULE: It is possible to be on the right track and be trapped.

1 John 2

Going to church every Sunday; going from prayer meeting to prayer meeting and going from bible study to bible study is not a ticket to heaven. In living life, how have you been following Him? Think within yourself how you have been following Him. Yes you are on the right track of following Him, but being on the right track is different from following through the rules of running the track. Indeed, it is possible to be on the right track and be trapped.

Life is a journey and living life can be compared to running race on a race track. In running a race on the track of life there are rules that should never be violated. Every acclaimed believer on the race track of life who fails to follow the rules of running race on the track of life is trapped believer. 1 Corinthians 9:24 points out, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” The ones who run to receive prize are the ones who get to the expected end. Running the race of life is about knowing to follow Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2)

What does it take to follow Him? Following Him is in knowing Him. It takes knowing Him and not knowing about Him to follow Him. Knowing the Lord is not in determination or in our strength. Following Him is not in changing or running from one church to another church. Knowing to follow Him is in consistent obedience to His word. The book of 1 John 2:3-4 expressly stated what it means to follow Him, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.  He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.’” If you have been keeping His commandments you must be clean from all walks of life which do not represent Him. Ones that engage lying, deception and manipulating others are the ones with the marks of this world. It is important to run the race of life according to the rule of running the race. God is able; He is able to carry you through the race. Do you desire to run through and not miss the mark? Ask Him to make you and He will make you just as the potter makes and remakes his clay.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of redirection so that you may run the race of life and not miss getting to the expected end.

FAITH CAPSULE: Let Jesus see you in your need and not just in the crowd.

Mark 5

It is written, “…Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and appealed to Him earnestly, saying, ‘My daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.’” (Mark 5:22-23)
Synagogue is a Jewish place of worship. Synagogue services is of reciting the Shema (Shema is the basic confession of faith in Judaism) Praying, scripture readings from the Old Testament; giving sermon and benediction are typical of synagogue worship. Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue put aside his religious title that could have built an empty pride in him. Jairus’ title did not measure to the task that was at hand as he went to meet with the only King of kings and the Lord of lords. Is there a religious title that is blinding from seeing where your miracle is waiting for you? Jairus needed to have his daughter delivered from the point of death when he dismissed is title for Jesus to give him attention.
In Jairus’ attempt to get Jesus’ attention for his breakthrough miracle, he engaged three things:

First, he put aside his religious burden and met Jesus at the right location, which was the crossing point. Your crossing point could be on the ground of fellowship. Often, many have missed their crossing point because of title (pride). Jairus could not allow his title to deny his miracle but approached Jesus for his desire. How are you responding to altar call when altar call is made? It does not matter how often you have stepped out in the past, as long as the need continues to exist, you have to persist and insist on your blessing.

Secondly, Jairus saw Jesus and he took a step of faith. Jairus’ stepping out caused him to have a direct contact with Jesus. Jesus knows all things and Jairus’ need was not strange to Jesus. His stepping out and seeing Jesus was a renunciation of being a part of the multitude to being one who was on purpose and not flowing with the crowd. Let Jesus see you in your need and not just in the crowd.

Finally, Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet meaning that, He laid it all unto Jesus. Imagine Jairus begging earnestly for the life of his daughter saying, “Here I am, a poor religious leader, have mercy on my dying daughter.” While begging at the feet of the Master, he made his request without paying attention to his title and the multitude. Watch out, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs16:18)

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from every spirit of pride.

FAITH CAPSULE: As a child of the Most High God, the difference will be very clear when Jesus comes back

Exodus 8:20:32, 9:1-7

God spoke to Moses, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:12)  God repeated His message to Moses and it calls for sacrificing, “The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.” (Exodus 3:18) Serving God is a sacrifice; sacrifice is serving God. God emphasized through Moses that His reason for bringing out the Israelites was to go and serve (sacrifice) Him. Bondage, captivity are some of the agent in place for man not serve (sacrifice) God. Just like the Israelites were brought out of the house of bondage to serve Him so He brought us out of the avenue of sin to serve Him.

Living life is all about serving God. Are you serving Him? Is there any representative of Pharaoh that is set to deny your serving God? Power belongs to God and that make it impossible for the enemy to be more powerful. God sent Moses, and Pharaoh declined to let the children of Israel go. Disobedient and hardness of the heart will always provoke the hand of God. As a result of Pharaoh’s hardness of heart, God sent plagues upon the land.

It is written, “And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the land. 23 I will make a difference^] between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be.”(Exodus 8:22-23)   God does not waste word and His word shall not return to Him without performing (Isaiah 55:11) Exodus 8:24, “And the LORD did so. Thick swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh, into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies.”  All that will not serve God and that which will not allow man to serve God shall have the same experience just as the whole land of Egypt. Egypt did serve God and also disallowed the Children of Israel to go and serve God. As a child of the Most High God, the difference will be very clear when Jesus comes back to take those that are always on His side. If you are living for the Lord, be rest assured that in the wicked world you will not be touched, but separated in the time of destruction.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to continuously serve God and be a reasonable living sacrifice to God.

FAITH CAPSULE: It is the walk we walk that identifies us before God

Psalm 1

Our walk will identify us before God because it is what defines who we are.
Our walk we walk also marks us for God’s blessing.
It is written, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” (Psalm 1:1) Mark it, when a believer begins to seek counsel from an unbeliever it is an indication that something is not right with such believer.
The only way to redirect our walk before God is to continuously engage ourselves in the word of God by meditating His word. The word admonished us that there is delight in the law when meditating in the word is in place day and night. (Psalm 1:2)

Life is a journey, who you surround yourself with will determine what you get out of life. The word you meditate on in the journey of life will determine whether you get to your expected end or not. Whose word do you believe in? Do you believe the word of God or man? The word of God is a sure counsel that leads man from walking, sitting or standing for the name of God to be glorified. When the counsel of God begins to cause delight in the life of man, it becomes evident that the word of God is meaningful to one’s life. Meditate the word of God day and night. Meditating on the word of God is the avenue not to walk outside God’s way (Man is like a vehicle and mediation can be compared to a steering. Without steering, stagnation exists, there be no transportation; where there is no transportation transformation cease.) The Psalmist identifies the blessing of walking, sitting and standing in line with God stating, “He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” (Psalm 1:3) Live life for the glory of God by paying attention to how you walk, sit, and stand in His counsel and He shall attend to you to bless you.

Are you working but not walking in line with God? A worker for God whose walk (where he sits and stands) is not backed by walking in His way is bound to miss the blessing of God. Doing the work of God is God-enabled. God can use anyone or anything to get work done but walking His way is in obeying His commandments.The way of God calls for more serious attention to avoid missing heaven. Heaven is not accessible by work alone but also how we walk. There are many working wonders in the name of Jesus and probably walking outside of His ways by going astray in their hearts.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to constantly walk in line of God’s word.