FAITH CAPSULE: Bondage in man’s life is a bundle of pain.
Exodus 5

To be living in the state of being subjected to some external power or control is same as to be in slavery or involuntary servitude. It is called bondage. Bondage is what the Israelites lived in when they were in Egypt. Among other kinds of bondage are spiritual bondage, financial bondage, and emotional bondage. Are you experiencing any kind of bondage? Are you in any situation you do not like and it seems to be having dominion over your life? Bondage in man’s life is a bundle of pain. It is not a pleasant condition but a condition that wants to remain permanent in the life of its victim. The Israelites were in bondage for over four hundred years.
When it was close to the time of freedom, it then seemed like they had just started in bondage. When it was close for them to begin to move to where God had planned for them, affliction was intensified. After the Lord God had given the mandate to Moses for the deliverance of the Israelites, it was then that the situation became more painful with no gain in sight. Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh as the Lord directed, Exodus 5:3, “So they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.’”  The message of God did not settle well with Pharaoh because Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. Pharaoh responded to Moses, “Then the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.’” (Exodus 5:4)

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and the eye of his heart was blind. He failed to recognize God and the moves of God. Pharaoh intensified the pain of labor on the Israelites stating in Exodus 5:9, “Let more work be laid on the men that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.” The message of deliverance through Moses provoked more labor. It is written, “And the taskmasters forced them to hurry, saying, ‘Fulfill your work, your daily quota, as when there was straw.’” (Exodus 5:13) Taskmasters in your life are not excluded from bringing more pain, but they are a process to your gain. Your long awaited breakthrough is at hand but the enemy has intensified a way to break you down before it arrives. Is it getting tougher or more challenging where you expect your breakthrough? Be encouraged; do not allow a break down in your daily journey. Confess your breakthrough always and be rest assured that your miracle is at hand in Jesus name.

Prayer for today: Give thanks for victory and breakthrough that you are set to receive by His grace.

FAITH CAPSULE: Give regard to the testimonies of the Lord.

1 Samuel 17

God is not evil and there is no iota of wickedness in Him. He is a loving and merciful God; His thoughts and plans toward His children are good. God confirms His good thoughts for us when he said, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) Therefore, whatever is good comes from God. Knowing that God is good to His children, one would wonder why then His children often end up in captivity. God is not the author of evil but, His children often authorize evil to have his place by the kind of choice His children engage in living life. The word of God points out what could be the reason why the evil of captivity of destruction usually strikes by stating, “…But they do not regard the work of the LORD, Nor consider the operation of His hands. Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge.” (Isaiah 5:12-13)The work of God’s hand is His testimony. His testimony is His word. By His word He created all that is and all that will be. Disregarding the work of His hand can be compared to clay not regarding its porter. Also, to disregard the works of His hand is to ignore His testimonies.

King David was able to engage the testimonies of God when he stood to challenge Goliath. The Bible documents David’s testimonies, “But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.  Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.”  Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1Samuel 17:34-37) How often do you give regard to the testimonies of God when forces of captivity show up on you? David gave regard to the testimonies of God to provoke the hand of God for deliverance of the whole land from captivity.
God is a good God, attend to God by giving Him regards and He will not fail to identify you for your deliverance from captivity.

Prayer for today: Ask God to put His fear in you so that you will not depart from Him all the days of your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: What you are seeing is not what God is seeing.

1 Samuel 16

The same God yesterday, today and tomorrow will not overlook the wickedness of today. The bottom line of it all is what Jesus talked about in Matthew 13:30: “Let both grow together until the harvest and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
All are growing together; all will not stop to grow together until the appointed time for separating ones that need to be separated. What do you represent in the life of growth? Are you wheat or tare? Both wheat and tare are benefiting from God’s supplies (rain, sunshine) which are the source for growth. However, the growth of those who represent wheat and tares is not the evidence of their righteousness before God. Oftentimes, there is no clear distinction identifying tares from wheat. Also, it cannot and it should never be a surprise to see tares growing better than wheat. In life, growth is possible in every area but not all growth can be measured as God’s blessing.
As an acclaimed believer, which one do you represent wheat or tares? It does not matter how man sees you but it matters how God sees you. Brethren can be deceived; your pastor can be made to embrace lies; but God cannot be fooled.

God sent Samuel to go and anoint David as king. While Samuel was about to make a choice among the sons of Jesse, in the absence of David, God warned Samuel against making a choice from what he saw, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) What you are seeing is not what God is seeing. If Samuel a prophet of God narrowly escapes making wrong choice by seeing wrongly, it is worthy to ask God to open our eyes of understanding.
Going by what is seen is what makes man to become vulnerable of becoming a victim of deception. Both inside and outside of the church, man must not go by what they see but by what God is showing. By virtue of what you see, do not commit yourself unto man. Jesus, our Lord and savior could not commit Himself to any man because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. (John 2:24) There is no distinction identifying tares from wheat and it makes it important we do not go by what we see.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of understanding and to know to see right in the journey of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Prayer is the rod of navigating the wicked world.

Daniel 6

It is written, “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days” (Daniel 6:10). Daniel’s custom since early days must have been dated far back to or before the Bible testifies of Daniel stating, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself…” (Daniel 1:8) Daniel is a man of purposeful heart for God. It takes a man with heart that is purposed for God to have a customized prayer life style before God.
Why not engage the lifestyle of one that makes prayer a custom? Truly, “whatever things were written before was written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4).
To be prayerful is to be watchful. Praying and watching cannot be separated. One that is watchful is constantly awake. Once, His disciples slept off at prayer session and He responded, “…What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” (Matthew 26:40-41) Going by the word of God, it is the combination of watching and praying that delivers from temptation. It is possible to sleep spiritually or physically and not engage effective prayer. Sleeping in place of praying will is an avenue for a believer not to prevail in the face of world’s challenge.

Watching and praying is engaging fasting and praying. When Jesus’ disciples failed to deliver a boy with epileptic, the father approached Jesus for deliverance. After having delivered the boy with epileptic, the disciples asked Jesus about the reason why they could not deliver the boy. Jesus answered, “…Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:20-21) Watching and praying is driven by fasting to deliver undeniable breakthrough miracle. Praying and fasting is not a choice it is a must for every acclaimed believer to adopt as a way of living life. If fasting and praying are engagement of choice, Jesus would not have stated, “…and when you pray… (Matthew 6:5) “…when you fast…” (Matthew 6:16) Engaging prayer and fasting is not a conditional request that states “If” you fast. Jesus says when you fast, when you pray. Live by the word of His command and be a commander of your world. Without doubt, for every sincere believer, prayer is the rod of navigating the wicked world.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of strength on the prayer altar.

FAITH CAPSULE: The more the knowledge of God the more the increase of His grace and peace.

2 Peter 1

The first time God pronounced blessing, it was the blessing of multiplication. The Bible records it that after God had created sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind, “…God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”” (Genesis 1:22-23) Distinctly, God is a God of multiplication. Also, increase in multiple must be part of His character. It is safe to say that He is God who loves to see multiplication in all that is having a part in Him. Simon Peter, one of the apostles stated in his second letter, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” (2 Peter1:2) Could it be that Peter was praying with understanding which is rooted in the truth that multiplication is part of God? The prayer of Peter points to the truth that multiplied grace and peace is essential in the life of man. However, with the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord and savior, there will be multiplication of grace and peace. Without the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord and savior man is bound to be stagnant and not increase in grace and peace.

Have you thought about gaining or finding the Knowledge of God? Would you not want to increase in grace and peace in these days of challenges where wickedness reigns? The word of God simply points out in Proverbs, the source of gaining or finding the knowledge of God in Proverbs 2:5, “Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” Knowledge of the Lord is not inherited from parents but it becomes inhabited in man when there is understanding of the fear of God. Gaining the wisdom of God and finding His knowledge will become of any man who is able to understand the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 9:10 buttress, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” The word of God is wisdom and it demands hearing and hearing for more understanding of the fear and knowledge of God to have a place in man.

From the time Abraham was called out of his family, through the time he got to the mount of “God shall provide” he did not demonstrate listening disability to the word of God. As a result, Abraham gained wisdom and understanding of God which added uncommon grace and peace of God in every step to obtaining the promise of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver and preserve you from the forces which denies man from gaining understand in the word of God.