FAITH CAPSULE: The key for the move of God’s outstretched hand total obedience.

Exodus 12

The midnight is an hour of taking battle to the front of the enemy. Midnight hour is an hour of great deliverance when uncommon miracle by the outstretched of God is manifested. When God promised deliverance for the Israelites out of the bondage of over four hundred years, He told Moses, “But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. 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.” (Exodus 3:19-20) Indeed and in truth, the outstretch hand of God moved, “And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.  So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.” (Exodus 12:29-30) Through the pages of the bible, there is no other wonder such as God’s outstretch hand against Pharaoh and his people at a midnight hour. Is there any area where you are experiencing bondage or stagnation?

Pharaoh reacted to the move of God’s outstretch hand of the midnight hour, “Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go; serve the Lord as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.” (Exodus 12:31-32) In addition to the Israelites freedom from the bondage at the midnight hour, by the outstretch hand of God they were also rewarded for their years of slave work. It is written, “And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.” (Exodus 12:36) At your midnight hour, deliverance will answer at full scale. God will cause you to plunder your enemy by virtue of recovering all that has been stolen from you.

The key for the move of God’s outstretched hand on behalf of the Israelites was their obedience to God’s command through Moses. The word testifies, “Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.” (Exodus 12:28) Is there any act of obedience to be engaged before experiencing your midnight miracle of the outstretch hand of God? Obedience to God’s command is key to the manifestation of the midnight outstretch hand of God miracle.

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s mercy for your all round deliverance.

FAITH CAPSULE: It could be that it is time to cry out for His divine intervention.

2 Chronicles 18: 28-34, Mark 10:46-52

When Ahab the King of Israel invited Jehoshaphat the King of Judah to join forces with him against  Ramoth Gilead, he refused to listen to the warning of true prophesy of Micaiah not to go to war but listened to the prophesy of his chosen four hundred prophets. When it was time to go war, Ahab the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “…I will disguise myself and go into battle; but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle.” (2 Chronicles 18:29) Despite true prophesy not to go into the battle, he decided to go by way of disguising himself. In life there is no way to violate the truth of God. King Ahab went on as planned but the battle turned out against his plan. King Jehoshaphat did not disguise but depended on God. As the battle intensified Jehoshaphat was surrounded. The bible recorded, “…when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, “It is the king of Israel!” Therefore they surrounded him to attack; but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him, and God diverted them from him.” (2Chronicles 18:31) Ahab made the choice to disguise yet he was destroyed in the hand of his enemy. There is no way unto salvation in any area of life but to call on the savior. Who are you crying out to? Regardless of the nature of our challenge, we only need to know and cry out to God.

Does your situation sound like that of a stranded one? It could be that it is time for you to call on Jesus for His divine intervention. During the days of Bartimaeus, Jesus was moving from one location to another location and Bartimaeus was in the right location to encounter Jesus when he cried out loud for mercy. It could be that it is time for you to identify and accept that your challenge needs a loud cry. When you cry, ignore the multitude that surround you and cry out loud to Jesus for divine intervention. When you cry, call Him like you know Him not like you know about Him. Bartimaeus demonstrated that he did not just know about Jesus when he called out as one that knew all about Him. The ignorance of the crowd that followed Jesus limited there understanding and they attempted to stop Bartimaeus from calling. Bartimaeus knew Jesus’ identity that was not common and he cried out and called, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Do you know Him enough to call Him to a standstill and have Him attend to you? In the calling of Bartimaeus, “…Jesus stood still and commanded Him to be called” (Mark 10:49) The Blind man received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. (Mark 11:52) Jehoshaphat did not disguise but cried out loud and was saved.

Prayer for today: Ask God to open your understand and know to live right for His glory.

FAITH CAPSULE: Be steadfast not to contradict the journey to advance.

Genesis 19:12-26, Daniel 1

It is time to advance in the calling of the Lord. In the process of making advance in the Lord’s calling upon your life, trust God for a clean heart and a steadfast spirit. In addition to a clean heart and steadfast spirit, maintain focus and let the past be in the past by ignoring the multitude in your life. Maintaining focus is crucial to making advance in the calling of the Lord.  Focus will keep man from distraction. A failure to maintain focus will pass man to distraction. Distraction comes along with sudden and untimely death for its victims.

Daniel, young in captivity maintained focus when he purposed in his heart not to defile God. It happened that the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them. It sounds good for a young captive to accept provision of the king. To Daniel it was considered as anti-focus when he made the choice to maintain focus. It is written, “But 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.” (Daniel 1:8) Daniel kept himself to become a vessel for God and he made advancement everywhere he turned to. Daniel engaged his journey in captivity with a purposeful heart. He allowed God to reign in his life when he refused to defile his body (the temple of God). Daniel was steadfast not to contradict his journey to advance.

Lot’s wife could not let the past be in the past she disregarded the command of God which states, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” (Genesis 19:17) Lot’s wife did the opposite when she looked back and became a pillar of salt (Genesis19:26) Whatever Lot’s wife was looking for in her past represents a multitude (unnecessary baggage). The multitude in her life caused her to become a pillar of salt and not escape as ordained for her by God. There is no one that goes forward by looking back. This also testifies that we cannot set sight on the past and be able to see what is ahead. The case of Lot’s wife is that of a shifted focus. Lot must have been steadfast looking forward to where the Lord was taking him and his family. Daniel could not allow any distraction because he was focus. It is time to advance in your calling and allow God’s name to be glorified over your life.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be steadfastly focused in every area of your calling.

FAITH CAPSULE: Fear and faith does not complement each other.

Job1, 2:1-10

The word of God described Job, “…blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.” (Job 1:1-3) Job had it all. Above all, he was indeed a man of God. He was straight with God but he was not sure of his children’s walk with God. As a result of him not sure about his children’s walks with God, he sanctifies them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all making and making a statement, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” (Job 1:4-5)

After Satan was allowed by God to attack Job, he lost his properties, he lost all his children and his health was attacked. By virtue of all his adversities, he deplores his birth by cursing the day of his birth. On top of it all, Job gave a testimony, “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.” (Job 3:25-26) What could have been the fear of Job which eventually came upon him? Was it the fear of not having destruction of properties? Could it have been the fear of not to have all his children die all together? The bottom line of it is that, Job was nursing fear and what he feared eventually found him.

Fear is not of God; fear is the initiation of the Satan. Whenever fear rises in the life of man faith will sink. Fear and faith does not complement each other. What could have happened to Job to be exercising great fear? Not knowing the extent of God’s protective covering over the affairs of our life or over the areas of our concern will possibly expose us to fear and not faith. Clearly, God is not pleased without faith. Unfortunately, Satan knew the extent of God’s covering over Job when he mentioned that God has made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side. (Job 1:10). When God makes you to be impenetrable but you make yourself penetrable the Satan will have no choice to attempt dressing you up. Psalmist states, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20)  It is important to know that God is mindful of us, He visits us, and He crowns us with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:4-5) Know who you are and disallow the forces which cause great fear in man.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace not to make your faith fail.

FAITH CAPSULE: The condition not to be afraid is encased in holding on in confidence.

Exodus 14

It is written, “Do not be afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes;  For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.” (Proverbs 3:25-26) It is easy to confess our hope and trust in the Lord but when trouble or sudden terror comes like a wave, our faith becomes tested. The condition not to be afraid is encased in holding on in confidence. A confidence that God has never fail; a confidence that He is a mighty warrior; a confidence that there is nothing impossible for God to do and a confidence that God alone is a winner. However, the more we hear and hear about how different troubles and sudden terrors were overcome by the presence of the Lord, our faith supposedly will rise. The hearing and the hearing of His testimonies is the source of our faith. (Romans 10:17)

Without faith God is not pleased. (Hebrews 11:6) Pleasing God is declaring that He is a living God. What is it that you are afraid of? The Israelites saw great miracles which brought them out of the bondage of over four hundred years but yet fear over took them at a point of their great deliverance. The word testifies, “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.  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?  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: 10-12) As stated in the word, the source of their fear was, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them…” At every moment in the journey of life, we cannot afford to shift focus from God. The moment the Israelites lifted their eyes and behold (look at, watch, view, observe) their confidence became punctured and negative confession enraptured them.

Moses spoke live into them 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. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:13-14) Condition to regain confidence is to stand still and see victory in place even when victory is yet in place. Always remember that you serve a winning God who never fails.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of boldness and character to make you a winner.