FAITH CAPSULE: God will see you through if you are willing to go through to your final destination.

Genesis 11:31, 12:1-9

It is written, “And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.” (Genesis 11:31-32) Terah was the father of Abraham. Interestingly, the same journey he started and was not able to go through was the same which God called Abraham to go. One could wonder what caused Terah to start a journey and not get to the end of his journey. At the beginning of Terah’s journey from Ur of the Chaldeans, Canaan was his destination. Terah did not plan to dwell in Haran but to go through to Canaan. Could it have been that the comfort in Haran got Terah stagnated? Terah lived for two hundred and fifty years. With so many years on his side, there was no wake-up call to get him back on track to his original destination. What could have caused his stagnation in Haran? It was in the same Haran God called Abraham to go out from there to the land of Canaan.
In every promising journey of life, there is always a great tendency that multitude or comfort (convenience) could cause distraction or denial from getting to the expected end. When Abraham was called, he was not to take with himself the entire family (multitude) which Terah took with himself. God instructed Abraham, “Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3) Abraham left just as he was commanded by God. Have you entered into a journey where the evidence of getting stagnated and not getting through to the final destination is having its place? Are you experiencing more convenience more than the commitment which got you started on your journey? Multitude, an agent of distraction needs to be denied to avoid stagnation from getting to the expected end. Avoid frequent Stopover on your journey; disallow convenience from taking over; avoid multitude and move forward. God is a faithful God and He will see you through if you are willing to go through to your final destination.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you in getting to your expected end in the journey which you have engaged.

FAITH CAPSULE: Hearing and not able toreason and see into what God is saying leads to hardened or stubborn heart.

1 Samuel 15

Once, Jesus responded to His disciples’ wrong reasoning by speaking to, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart stillhardened,  Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? Hardened heart or stubborn heart both have root in lack of understanding.(Mark 8:17-8) Going by Jesus’ statement, it is clear that Lack of understanding is the evidence of hardness of heart or stubborn heart. Having eyes and not able to see, having ears and not able to hear are the avenue to having a hardened or stubborn heart.
A believer claiming to have heard God’s command is not enough until the command is carried out. At the time of God’s deliverance plan for the Israelites in Egypt, Pharaoh repeatedly heard from God through Moses but failed to do exactly what the Lord was saying to him through Moses. It is written, “So the LORD said to Moses: “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. And you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear!” (Exodus 7:14-16)One who hears but could not see what God is saying will not just lack understanding but will also end up having hardness or stubborn heart.Pharaoh had ear but could not reason and see into what God was saying through Moses as a result he failed to see to the entire miracle through the rod of Moses.
Many heard from Him and not able to do because of the state of their heart. Many are hearing and doing because they are seeing in what they are hearing from Him. Have you been getting command from Him and not able to do? To be hardened in the heart or stubborn is not of God. It is written in 1 Samuel 15:23, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.”
What needs to be released and disallowed in your life to allow your hearing and seeing in the word of God? It is time to begin to hear and see to avoid self-destruction.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be hearing and seeing in His word of command so there shall be no stubbornness or hardness of heart manifesting in you.

FAITH CAPSULE: God’s calling can be liken to a puzzling encounter.  

Genesis 22

Puzzling challenge is intricate enough to perplex the mindset of a man. It is sometimes a setup that is made purposely to test one’s commitment. Most of God’s calling can be liken to a puzzling encounter. Abraham had a puzzling encounter when God commanded him, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2) God’s command is puzzling enough for one to question God. However, His calling is not without His backing! The challenges and temptations which come along ones way in answering the calling over one’s life are not evidence that He has withdrawn from seeing one through. When He calls, nothing counts but to answer fully. God’s calling will come regardless of position or age of the one called. The calling of God can be likened to attempting to put pieces of puzzle together before getting a complete picture of the purpose of His calling. In the process of putting the puzzle together, any missing piece of the puzzle will deny getting a complete picture of His calling.
Joseph’s dream was validation of God’s divine agenda for his life that is a drawn out plan of God’s calling for his life. In the dream there was no indication of what and how the makeup of the picture would be. Twice he dreamt and twice he was rebuke because it was a puzzle to his family. When Joseph had the second dream, “…he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.” (Genesis 37:10-11) Joseph’s steps into the journey he dreamt started at age seventeen and were not complete until he was thirty years of age. The journey was full of challenges and temptations. Joseph’s journey was a puzzle that could not have become a complete picture if any of the pieces was misplaced. Meaning he would not have got to where Pharaoh called him for interpretation of dream if he was not locked up in the prison for a crime which he did not commit.  It is only you that knows the dream that you have had or the calling that He has placed upon your life. Focus on Him, put all puzzle pieces together. Remember, puzzle will not give a complete picture until all the pieces come together.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you and preserve you as you move in the direction of God’s calling for your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: The kind of business that transpires in you testifies to the kind of temple you are.
John 2
 
It is written, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17) Which kind of temple are you? The kind of business that transpires in you testifies to the kind of temple you are. The bible recorded when the Passover of the Jews was at hand, Jesus took time to visit Jerusalem. He does not make a careless move and He must have headed to Jerusalem to make a point clear about keeping the temple clean.  It is written, “…and He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.” (John 2:14) Jesus found businesses in the temple that were not of God. What is He going to find in you when He shows up without warning? Jesus reacted to all which He saw in the temple, “When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” (John 2:15-16) Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Jesus has not change and he will not change as a result, expect same rejection from Him if the business you conduct in your temple is not right.
As a temple of God, what transpires in your temple and what needs to be cleansed? After kicking out all that needed to be kicked out of the temple, the disciples “…Remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” (John 2:17).By virtue of the disciples’ response, it is evident that, until the zeal of God eats up a believer, then the possibility of having a clean temple is almost impossible. When there is zeal for God, He will move into our life; He will have His place in us and it becomes impossible to live without His zeal burning in us. To be zealous for the temple of God will require a non-compromising stand for God. Why not take a stand and demonstrate what you are using the Father’s temple for. It is possible for brethren to mistake you for keeping the temple clean while your temple is awful and unreasonably out of line with God’s expectation. Clean up your God given temple and not get whip of chords.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace which enables man to keep temple clean for God’s glory. 

FAITH CAPSULE: it is your choice to depart from self-imprisonment in the prison of fear.

John 20:19-30

When Jesus walked back and forth on the face of earth with His disciples, there were number of times His disciples demonstrated fear because they could not give to worship but fear in the face of confronting challenges. After the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples could not stop from demonstrating fear. It is written, “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19) Disciples of Jesus engage self-imprisonment because fear took over worship from them. Jesus knew that fear replaced faith in them when He said to them, “Peace be with you” Jesus, the living Word of God is the Prince of peace and He visited them with peace because they could not hold on to His word. Where there is fear there is worrying and it is the indication of the absence of the Word. Is there any fear or worrying as a result of your confronting challenge? Jesus, the Word of God is the one that you need to attend to your fear.
The devil is never careless but always careful and on time to take advantage when a believer slips from letting the word has its place in every confronting situation.Inregards to the disciples there was no better solution to free them from their self-imprisonment of fear but the living word of God.
The antidote of fear is faith. Faith in Jesus will cause peace to reign. After Jesus had spoken peace into His disciple’s life, the eyes of their mind were opened to see the mark of crucifixion. The bible recorded, “When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” (John 20:20) The mark on Jesus registered gladness into the life of the disciples and the spirit of fear departed. If you will begin to see the mark of crucifixion and believe that the marks were registered on Jesus for us to be able to have life abundantly, then the fear about all that is going on around the world will not have its place in your life. As a believer of the living word of God, it is your choice to depart from self-imprisonment in the prison of fear by rejoicing. Receive and believe that Jesus went to the cross for you. The disciples came out of fear and they were able to testify the visitation of Jesus.

Prayer for today: Ask in the name of Jesus that fear will no longer have you locked in any way of living life. Also ask for the word of God which terminates fear shall never cease from sounding in your direction.