FAITH CAPSULE: The combination of boldness and character results in undeniable miracle.

Acts 4:1-31

As a believer that conveys the power of God, when you operate in His name, do not expect the cooperation of the enemy. The enemy will stand against you, but you shall prevail as long as you do not compromise your stand in the Lord. Once, the enemy planned and purposed to silence Peter and John because they spoke healing into the life of a lame man. Also, Peter and John preached what the priests, the captain, and the Sadducees did not want to hear. While Peter and John were preaching, “…They saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.” (Acts 4:13-14) The boldness of Peter and John was so intimidating to the persecutors and attempts were made by the persecutors to figure out the source of Peter and John’s boldness. It was not long for the persecutors to identify in Peter and John that they had been with Jesus. The character of Jesus was written all over Peter and John because they had spent time eating, walking, sleeping, traveling and learning from the Word. Above all, the evidence (the lame man) was with them. The persecutors testified, “…For indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it…” (Acts 4:16)  Do you have the boldness or are you just a loud person? What about character? Having spent time inside and outside with ministers ministering the word, are you pretending to have character? Man can be deceived, but God cannot.

When there is a true combination of boldness and character that is rooted in Christ, testimonies will follow you everywhere, notable miracles, which are undeniable, will be traced to you through Jesus Christ. When Peter and John were eventually let go they did not wonder around, rather they went to their own companies to report their experience. Having reported their experience, they started to pray. Among their prayer points were, “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word.”(Acts4: 29) Boldness comes with character and any character without boldness is not complete. As an acclaimed believer, do you lack boldness and Christ rooted character that is enough to deny enemies from threatening you? The living word of God is the source of boldness and character and if you will begin to spend more time in the word no man will deny the move of God on your behalf.

Prayer for today: Ask God to grant you the grace of boldness and Christ rooted character.

FAITH CAPSULE: It is thought-provoking how God works out His children’s promotion.

ESTHER 5, 6

It is written, “For the Lord loves justice, and does not forsake His saints; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.” (Psalm 37:38)  Mordecai was a testimony to the truth that God does not forsake His saints. Haman plotted evil against Mordecai because he was filled with indignation when Mordecai refused to tremble before him at the palace gate. The night before Haman’s evil agenda against Mordecai was to be executed happened to be a night King Ahasuerus could not sleep. As the King read the book of the record of chronicles, he saw the recording about how Mordecai saved his life. King Ahasuerus response to how Mordecai saved his life triggered king’s decision which delivered Mordecai from the evil plan of Haman. Haman eventually became the victim of his evil agenda against Mordecai. God did not forsake Mordecai.  The king’s sleepless night was not only an avenue for Mordecai’s deliverance from Harman’s evil agenda but also an avenue for Mordecai’s promotion.

It is thought-provoking how God works out His children’s promotion. When it is time for God to promote you, every remote control of the enemy over your life would be demoted to non-existence. Evil agenda was meant to reduce Mordecai but promotion became his portion.

Nehemiah was a non-entity. He was not a prophet neither was he a son of a prophet. He was an ordinary cup-bearer to the king in the Persian palace. One thing was clear about Nehemiah: he had the concern for Jerusalem’s welfare and its inhabitants at heart. Nehemiah, a cup-bearer with big heart desired a better life for his brethren. God saw Nehemiah’s heart and He acknowledged him. God in His awesomeness invested in him as a vessel for reconstructing broken wall of Jerusalem. The report of what was going on in Jerusalem caused a burden in Nehemiah’s heart and he began to intercede on behalf of the land and his people. Nehemiah 1:3-4 stated, “And they said to me, ‘The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.’ So it was, when I heard these words that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” Nehemiah prayed on behalf of his people and his homeland. He asked for nothing that had to do with himself, but rather petitioned for things that had to do with a better life for his people. Nehemiah desired for his people and God deposited in him what it takes to bring glory to the name of God. A cupbearer turned the issue his nation around and became a part of Bible documentation.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to live life for His name to be glorified.

FAITH CAPSULE: Do you truly know who you are in the hand of God?  

Psalm 139

How are you positioning yourself for a life changing engagement with the offerings in the word of God? The offerings in His word are the avenues to His blessings that know no sorrow.
God sincerely cares for man but man is scarce in His presence. The same merciful God created man in His image when He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26) He is a good and caring God but man is reduced from turning to God for the fullness of His glory.

Whenever we pay attention to the Word of God, God will be provoked to attend fully unto us. It is worthy to pay attention to the testimonies of the psalmist in regard to the formation of man in the hand of God. The book of Psalm 139:13-18 declares, “For You formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.  My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You.” The word of God is consistent with no contradiction to all who make the choice to believe and embrace the His word.

Do you truly know who you are in the hand of God? Have you ever realized how much He cares for man? Do you ever realize that despite man’s inconsistency with His word, He remains to be mercifully consistent? Having the grace of life is truly not a merit but an evidence of mercy. The psalmist prayed in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Determination to live fully for God will fail; it failed Peter. He determined not to deny and desert Jesus when the going was smooth. Determination failed Peter and he denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed just as Jesus prophesied. Launch into the word, make prayer your priority and gain understanding to live as a man bestowed with honor by God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to enable you realize the potentials of God in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: The truth is man is made to be in honor.

Psalm 8

The word states, “He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. (Psalm 107:20) The healing word is the delivering word. God sent it and it is already here for those who make the choice to embrace It. Jesus came and declared, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Jesus, the living word of God, does not say He is coming because He is here to give life to whomever desires to have life in Him and have it abundantly. What is stopping you from embracing the word that gives life and delivers from every evil agenda?

God made every possible need to live life abundantly available in His word. God owes no man anything. God can do without man to attain His plans. He needs no man for His attainment; it is man who rather needs God for attainment. What else does man want God to do for man that is yet undone? The truth is man is made to be in honor and the sad truth is man does not know about God’s honor upon man. The psalmist identified man as one in honor but yet does not understand is like the beasts that perish. (Psalm 49:20)

Evidently, it is the lack of knowledge for man not to know who man is in the hand of God. Knowing God is the source of having knowledge. To love God is to fear God; to fear God is to gain wisdom. It is not possible to love God when the fear of God is not in one’s life. To love God is to seek God. Those who love God will give themselves to serving God. Claiming love for God is not a mouth talk but it is for action to talk.

The word of the God is proven and it is perfect. None of God’s word ever returns back to Him void without performing perfectly. He made man to be in dominion at the time of creation. He spoke in Genesis 1:28, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” David, a man after God’s own heart, could not comprehend enough about how much God had invested in man when he requested from God, “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels,And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet. (Psalm 8: 4-6) David could see it all in man but man cannot see through God’s investment in man.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to understand who you are.

FAITH CAPSULE: The hand of God is power to perform and perfect

Exodus 3

The hand of God upon man’s life represents God’s presence backing man up in every area of life. The hand of God is power to bring all kind of increase which glorifies God. After the persecution of Stephen, the men who continued preaching were not reduced but increased because of the hand of God. Acts 11:21 testifies, “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.”

Ezra needed to overcome discouragement while in the process of building the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. God who does not disappoint those appointed to build the business of God extended His hand to Ezra. It is written, “…so I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me; and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me” (Ezra 7:28) If you will ask for God’s hand with understanding, God will not deny Himself by answering and extending His hand. The hand of God answered for Nehemiah and he testified about the hand of God as the reason for getting the project of reconstruction through in Jerusalem. Nehemiah 2:18, “And I told them of the hand of my God which had been upon me, and also of the king’s word that he had spoken unto me…” The hand of God is encouraging when locates man to do good for God. Absolutely nothing answers perfect in life when the hand of God is absent.

What do you desire? Psalmist declares in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I have desired of the Lord…” Desire is a choice. Making the right choice will set a man right on the journey of life. If there is anything to desire, it should be for the hand of God. The hand of God is mighty and great in restoration. It was the hand of God that brought the children of Israel out of the bondage of over four hundred years. God knows the end from the beginning when He forewarned Moses in Exodus 3:19-20, “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.”  In the hand of God there is great deliverance. Without the hand of God in operation, it would have been impossible deliverance for the Israelites through Moses.

The hand of God is power to perform and perfect in the life of anyone that engages it for attainment to the glory of God.

Pray for today: Ask God to cause His hand to locate you; to reign and rule over your life.