FAITH CAPSULE: What are you holding back from God?

Deuteronomy 6

All that matters in our celebration is to fear God. God treasures it when we fear Him. To fear Him is to love Him. The fear of God is the reason and the purpose of commandment. Deuteronomy 6:1-3 states it, “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess,  that you may fear the LORD your God…” God wants to be feared. Fearing a jealous God is obeying Him. Obeying God is giving God the attention which He deserves. Fearing God is to love Him. Encased in loving God is obeying all His commands. Failure to obey God is an evidence of lack of fear and the absence of loving Him. It is written, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) God’s command does not ask for what cannot be done.
The book of 1Timothy 1:5-6 also points out the purpose of commandment, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk.” God simply demands for us to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength.

Abraham is one who feared God with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength. Abraham was able to seek God by keeping the way of God. It demands loving God with all heart to rise and depart to a strange land and not hold back. Also, at age seventy five leaving behind a comfort environment, with no child, is a demonstration of not withholding self from God. Abraham, after having fully complied with God’s command by presenting Isaac for burnt offering, God testified to Abrahams fear. At the time he was to slaughter Isaac for the offering, the Angel of the Lord called on Abraham stating, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Genesis 22:12) God declared and decorated Abraham when He pointed it out that Abraham feared Him by not withholding his only son from Him. Abraham could not hold back from God when he gave it all to God. What are you holding back from God? Holding onto God’s blessing and not able to release back to God is holding to blessing instead of holding to the one who blesses.
Ecclesiastes says it all, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandment, for this is man’s all.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to keep His commands.

FAITH CAPSULE: Change your appetite and make Him your every moment feed.

John 6:22-59

Jesus is here make Him your daily feed. It is written, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:48) What you feed on is what stays with you and carries you through in your journey of life. What are you eating and drinking in these challenging days? In other words what are you feeding on? Jesus spoke in John 6:57, “… So he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” He alone is the bread of life and feeding on Him is the only way the word abides in you. The word buttress, “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.” (John 5:38)

Many went after Jesus just to eat and be filled. Today, many are still going after Him just to be filled. Also, after a number of miracles and the feeding of the five thousand, many went after Him just to look for more bread to eat. Jesus, knowing the reason for their coming, responded to multitude, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” (John 6:26-27) They are going around because of the world they want to have in the name of the Word.

Jesus’ reality is not about worldly gain, but about the Word of God gaining entrance in us. His message for you today is, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” (John 6:53-57) Loaves will only fill you and get digested but the bread of life will abide in you forever. Change your appetite, get into Jesus’ reality and begin to seek, feed on the living word of God. Taste the bread of life and see that the Word is good.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to make the Bread of Life your food at all times as long as you have the breath of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: It is true and clear that out of nothing, God will bring out surplus.

Mark 8:1-10

God’s question to man is not an evidence that God does not have an answer for man. God alone does have answer for every persisting situation in man’s life.
Moses exhausted every reasonable excuse in his attempt not to answer God’s calling upon him to lead the children of Israel out of bondage of over four hundred years. As Moses was exhausting his reasonable excuse God was investing all that it takes for him to answer to the calling upon his life. God made it clear that whatever is in our hand can connect His presence for power demonstration. God asked Moses, “…What is that in your hand?’ He said, ‘A rod.” (Exodus 4:2) When God pointed out the rod in Moses’ hand, it became a power in the hand of Moses. Despite the power demonstration of the rod in his hand, Moses responded to God stating, “And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.” (Exodus 4:17) God asked Moses a question and He backed His question with an answer that was enough to see Moses through in leading the children of Israel out of the bondage of over four hundred years.
What is it in your hand which you do not recognize that God can use for the manifestation of His glory in your life?

Just as it was in the Old Testament so it was in the New Testament when Jesus needed to make provision for thousands who followed Him for three days with nothing to eat. Jesus wanted to know what was in the hand of His disciples that could feed the multitude which followed Him. Jesus did not want to send the multitudes away in hunger. “He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ And they said ‘seven.’” (Mark 8:5) The Lord is ready to work with what is in our hand if we know to hear and understand what He is telling us. Do you know what is in your hand or what you have that is enough to carry you through in the calling of your life? Let God know your situation and He will respond to you with a struggle terminating answer which will bring the best answer to your question. Just a rod in the hand of Moses was enough to answer for him in all areas of calling. In the hands of His disciples, seven loaves was more than enough to feed four thousand. It is true and clear that out of nothing, God will bring out surplus. Answer to God faithfully and He will give answer to in-solvable question.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you fully at every junction of life journey.

Acts 3:1-9

The word of God is totally true to perform when it states, “…If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19) The word was manifested clearly when Peter and John jointly operated together. It is written, “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.” (Acts 3:1) In the going up of Peter and John to the temple there was togetherness. It is always important that going up to the temple in togetherness should always be in place, especially when it is the hour of prayer.

Today, many are going up to the temple without the spirit of togetherness. The absence of togetherness is the absence of the manifestation of power. Another power generator for Peter and John was the importance of time consistency with God. There going was at the hour of prayer and not after the hour of prayer. Today, believers walk late into temple without paying attention to the importance of promptness. Promptness with time before God is taking a position to receive, it is an evidence of preparation and where there is preparation there will be undeniable provision. All of these count before God and they are among what moves the hand of God. Promptness before God is an action which demonstrates our fear for God. Also, it points to orderliness which without it untimely death takes the place of lack of promptness. Remember, God is a God of order.

There was power in the going of Peter and John because they were together and on time with mindfulness of Kingdom’s business. At the gate of the temple, a man lame from his mother’s womb was waiting for the unexpected to happen. Peter and John, the agents of expectation for manifestation were also on time to the ground of their business. Just as Peter and John came in contact with the lame man, all that needed to get the lame out from his years of stagnation was the ability to get the lame man’s attention. The lame man seeing, “…Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.” (Acts 3:3-5)

Being  at location, at the juncture of your miracle is not enough but the combination of who you look at and what you are looking for will grant your miracle manifestation. Peter and John specifically called out the lame man’s attention.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be positioned and be prepared for your miracle breakthrough.

FAITH CAPSULE: Jabez deny assumption for changes, he went forward and asked God for changes

1 Chronicles 4:1-12

Throughout the Bible very few individuals were singled out with great identity like that of Jabez. Job was referred to as, “…blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) Samuel identifies David in 1 Samuel 13:14, “…The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart…” King David was a man after God’s heart. It is recorded in 1Chronicles 4:9, “Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” By virtue of how the bible identifies Jabez, it is clear that he had every reason to make it in life but then there was a need for a change of name. Jabez was an honorable man living a degenerated life; not living up to his potential and what the Lord had called him to be. When Jabez recognized the meaning of his name as what needed to change. The Bible recorded, “And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. ” (1 Chronicles 4:10) God is the only Unchanging changer and the only One who reverses the irreversible.

Jabez (meaning sorrow) called on God and specifically requested for what could be his blessings as one that is identified honorable by the word of God. Jabez, in his prayer, specified his need and asked rather than assume. Jabez wanted to be blessed, he did not pray “bless me Lord” but he specified the kind of blessing that he wanted. An honorable man deserves a large territory. Jabez asked for the blessing of a large territory. Above that, he prayed for the hand of God to be with him just in case the evil one attempts him. He called on God to help change him from being a vessel of pain to a vessel of gain. What area of your life needs to be changed for you to enter into what the Lord has called you to be? Jabez deny assumption for changes, he went forward and asked God for changes to manifest in his life. Jabez asked and he did not ask a miss. Jesus encouraged us in Luke 11:9, “…Ask and it will be given to you: seek, and you will find; Knock and it will be opened to you.” Is it your name that needs to be changed for changes to be able to locate you? Seek God for your change in life and you will found changes from Him.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of deliverance against the traps of stagnation in your life that you may breakthrough.