FAITH CAPSULE: It is not time to give up on your expectation from God.

Luke 11:1-13, 18:1-8

Are you thinking of giving up your expectation? Giving up expectation is not the solution for manifestation but the evidence of lack of faith. The more reason why giving up is not a solution is because there is no other one to look up to but the One and Almighty God. He declared in Isaiah 45:22, “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” In every area of need the expectation to receive from God demands for one to be persistent.

Jesus gave a parable of a widow that was asking a wicked judge for justice against her adversary. The widow, knowing that the judge was not going to give her what she wanted remained persistent in her asking. The wicked judge eventually responded to answer the widow’s request. Jesus pointed out to us in this parable that if a wicked judge could have mercy and responding to persistent demand, our God will not look away from our calling on him. The key message in the parable as stated by Jesus is, “…always ought to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1) To be thinking of giving up in the area of expectation is the evidence of punctured faith.

In another story by Jesus, it is clear that being persistent is rooted in understanding that in expectation there is manifestation. Jesus narrated a story, “And He said to them, ’Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” (Luke 11:5-8) The story of Jesus depicts to us the importance and the need to be persistent and not give up on looking up to God. Psalm 145:15 states that, “The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season.” Looking up and not giving up from looking up is persistence.
It is not time to give up on your expectation from God. Isaiah 64:4 buttress “For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.” Hope and trust God in all areas of your expectation. Do not give up.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to remain persistent in every area of your expectation from Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: When God delivers you from your past, let the past be past.

Numbers 32:8-15

While the children of Israel were in bondage of over four hundred years, they reacted in pain and hard life by lifting up their voice in crying to the Lord. As a result of their crying, the goodness and mercy of God was stirred when God responded, “And the LORD said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.” God did not plan to have them stranded in the wilderness when He delivered them out of over four hundred years of bondage. God’s plan was to lead them out of bondage through the hand of Moses to a better land — a land flowing with milk and honey. God brought them out, but they would not leave Egypt behind. The word testifies, “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.”(Psalm 106:6-7) With great wonder God brought them out of bondage. The children of Israel saw all the wondrous act of God that granted their deliverance. Evidently, the children of Israel lack understand of God’s wonders and failed to remember but rebelled.

Are you paying attention to all the wonders of God or worrying about what you see? Lack of understanding causes failure to remember. They would not follow God fully; they failed to let go of the life they lived in Egypt. When God delivers you from your past, let the past be past. As a result of their lack of understanding, it is written, “Surely, none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.”(Numbers 32:11-12)  It is possible for you to be in a rightful mind when you are among thousands of people who are not. Though a multitude may stand in wrongful agreement, and you are the only one in dissent, know that you are not alone in righteousness.  Know Him in whom you believe. Stand on His word for direction and do not compromise your faith. Ignore the dictates of your heart and you will not be surprised that you are the only one standing on His ground.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to take a rightful stand when the situation demands it.

FAITH CAPSULE: Call on God to send one more plague on the Pharaoh that will not let you go.

Exodus 11, 12:1-42

When it was time for God to bring the Israelites out of the bondage of over four hundred years, He spoke to 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)

God knew that Pharaoh will not let go the Israelites by a mighty hand but by His stretched out hand (outstretch hand) Truly Pharaoh saw mighty hand of God through nine painful plagues and he repeatedly deny the Israelites their salvation. When it was time for the outstretched hand to manifest for the salvation of the Israelites, it was through uncommon wonder, outstretched hand deliver a wonder which was above all kinds of wonders, it was a wonder that was never in place before then.
It is written, “And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.” (Exodus 11:1) The name of the outstretched hand wonder is “one more plague on Pharaoh” Is there any representative of Pharaoh in your life? It is time to call on God to send one more plague on the Pharaoh that will not let you go.

One more plague was the tenth plague which took place at the midnight hour. At the midnight hour, the Lord struck the entire first born in the land of Egypt without exception, including that of Pharaoh. The bible recorded, “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. 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) What a mighty God we serve? If what you have been calling on the forces that will not let you go is the mighty hand of God, there is a need to  also call for the outstretched hand of God. It is not a sin to ask for more. However, where asking is less, it becomes an evidence of less expectation. God is a good God ask for more and He will not fail to answer.

Prayer for today: Ask for the outstretched hand of God to answer on your behalf in every challenging area of your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: One thing is certain and that is, the wicked will not go unpunished.

Psalm 73

Doing evil is wickedness. What do you have to say about doing evil (the act of wickedness)? This is what Ecclesiastes 8:11 have to say, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” How the wicked gets away with wickedness can be tempting for those who abstain from doing evil. The psalmist testifies, “But for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” (Psalm 73:2-3) It can be challenging to ignore how the wicked one seems to be excelling while the righteous seems to be regressing. The psalmist later pointed out, “But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all your works.” (Psalm 73:28)  The best way to ignore how the wicked seems to be making a head way in life is to draw near to God and put trust in Him just as the psalmist said. One thing is certain and that is, the wicked will not go unpunished. Proverbs 11:21, “Though they join forces, the wicked will not go unpunished; But the posterity of the righteous will be delivered.”

Truly, it might not be wrong for any God fearing man to constantly think of why the wicked seems to be getting away with wickedness. Job, a man described by God as blameless and upright, and one who feared God could not hold back his thought as regard to the wicked. Job asked in Job 21:7-8, “Why do the wicked live and become old, yes become mighty in power? Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.”  
Also, King David must have been reacting to an act of the wicked when he declared in Psalm 7:9, Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end…” Curiosity over the way of the wicked did not end with King David. The Psalmist also asked in Psalm 94:3 LORD how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?”

Jeremiah, a prophet of God, was called into proclaiming God’s judgment against the people of Judah for their idolatry, unfaithfulness to the covenant, and their disobedience to the will of God. Jeremiah, at a point in time when he could not hold on to the reason why the wicked prospered he went further and asked God, “…Why does the way of the wicked prosper…” (Jeremiah 12:1). Evidently, in the curiosity of Jeremiah before God, it was clear that the wicked ones grew just like the righteous ones. As an acclaimed believer, is the word near in your mouth but far from your mind?

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be delivered and not engage wicked ways.

FAITH CAPSULE: Many are singing the song of salvation yet they are assigned agent of the wicked.

Acts 16

It is written, “This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”  And this she did for many days…” (Acts 16:17-18) The same girl was described as a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination. (Acts 16:16) The certain slave girl followed the servant of God Apostle Paul for many days despite what she carried and she was not identified. Just as there were possessed ones with all kinds of evil spirit claiming to be a follower of the Lord then so they are all over different grounds of worship today. Imagine how she followed for many days not just one day.

The certain slave girl was probably among the ones who were leading in proclaiming the gospel at the time she was following Paul because the bible makes us to realize, how she was crying out saying that Paul and his team were the servants of the Most High God. Just imagine the certain slave girl operating on a mission field with God’s general. It can be agreed upon that today we have so many of the certain slave girls in different ground of worship. They are all over pretending by proclaiming the gospel. They occupy and operate in different church activities such as usher, choir, deacons and all kinds of leadership or non-leadership positions in the church.
Have you consciously search yourself to know who you are or the kind of spirit you operate? God cannot be deceived neither can He be mocked. It only takes the power of God to identify such people in the church or among the believers.

When Paul eventually turned to the certain slave girl for her deliverance, she was delivered from the spirit of divination. After having been delivered, bigger trouble surfaced for Paul and Silas as they ended up in the prison.
The point here is that, believers should abstain or be very careful from getting self into commitment to others in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, the one whom we are to follow His examples did not commit to any man. The bible recorded, “Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men.” (John 2:24) Take to the examples of Jesus in the word of God and let there be no reason for ignorant of the devices of the wicked ones. It is ignorant that makes a destitute of believers.
Can you imagine? Many are singing the song of salvation by preaching or reaching out in other areas of ministration, yet they are assigned agent of the wicked, possessed and demonized.

Prayer for today: Ask God to open the eyes of your understanding that you will not be a victim of the wicked one.