FAITH CAPSULE: Demonstrating love for God can possibly be to engage a very unpopular stand.

Daniel 3

Claiming love for God is easier said than done. Claiming love for God and not having identity of His love makes one to be a sounding brass. Love for God is commitment it is not convenience. Deuteronomy 6:5 demands, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” To love God is to fear God. The fear of God is encased in the knowledge of God. How can one who hardly spends time in the word understand and gain the knowledge of God? Ones who do not know God cannot possibly love God. Loving, serving, or worshiping God goes way beyond Sunday gatherings, memorization of Bible verses, answering to titles, and being active in the church. Loving God can sometimes be provocative. Demonstrating love for God can possibly be to engage a very unpopular stand in any area of life. The three friends of Daniel’s love for God was provocation to the highest authority. Their love for God provoked Nebuchadnezzar when they refused to serve his god as a result, “…Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.” (Daniel 3:19)
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego loved the Lord God with all their hearts, with all their souls, and with all their strength. The love for God in them caused them to bluntly refuse to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s gold image. As a result of their love for God, they were threatened with death, by a burning fiery furnace. In response to the threat, “…Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.””(Daniel 3:16-18) In your love for the Lord, can you determine if you have stepped on the enemy’s toe or crossed a line that could generate a burning furnace for your destruction? Friends of Daniel’s provocation called for a fiery furnace, “Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.” (Daniel 3:22) God did not leave Daniel’s three friends alone in the furnace of fire. He was with them to deliver and preserve them for His glory.

Prayer for today: Whatever is set to offset God’s plan in your life, God in His goodness, and mercy, will turn it against the set-up agent.

FAITH CAPSULE: Disobedience to the word can be compared to sleeping on duty.

Jonah 1

Responding to the calling of God by rising up and going in direction of His calling is obedience to God. However, rising and not going in the direction of His calling is an act of rebellion. Rebellion is going against God’s direction and it going in the wrong direction. Rebellion is refusal to submit to authority in the word of God. Rebellion is the most common act among believers because to disobey one of His commands is to have disobeyed all. There is no minor disobedience or serious disobedience; disobedience is flat-out sin. Jonah, a reluctant missionary at the time of God’s calling for him to be a missionary.
Jonah received the word of God but chose rather to move into his own world. It is written, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” (Jonah 1:2-3) Jonah responded to the calling when he arose as commanded by God but he went in the way which seems right to him. Job’s disobedience was a conscious and deliberate one. He heard God unmistakably and he unmistakably downgraded the command of God. Many have been called but very few are responding.

A believer who receives the call of salvation but yet turns away from the word of God is no different from Jonah’s act of disobedience. Disobedience to the word can be compared to sleeping on duty. Jesus talked about the issue of sleeping in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. In the parable, the five who could afford to sleep and the five who could not afford to sleep, fell asleep. During Jesus’ transfiguration on the mount, sleeping took over the life of Peter, John and James. When Jesus went to the Mount of Olives with His disciples following, He gave a command: “…Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:40) The disciples could not stay awake but fell asleep. The call of duty was neglected and sleeping had its way. They slept through until Jesus came over, “Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”” (Luke 22:46) Rising up and not moving in direction of His command is same as sleeping in the place of watching and waiting for Jesus. There is a reason for each and every one of His callings but to disobey any of His calling is an attempt of falling in line with Jonah’s disobedience.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from every spirit of disobedience.

FAITH CAPSULE: Begin to see in the word of God as it sounds in your direction.

Joshua 6

It is written, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10) Do you actually know God or do you know about Him? It does not matter what title one answers to in the church; it does not matter how long one has been in the church or how much one is involved in the church that will determine one’s knowledge of God. Many actually know about God but few know God.  Knowing God is rooted in the understanding of the word of God. The Bible makes us to realize that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:1-3) The Word of God is God and the more understanding gained in the word determines the more knowledge of God. Evidently, believers who hardly spend time studying the word are in no place to claim knowing God. As a believer, how often do you spend time studying the word of God?

Believers who see in the word which sounds in their direction will have the knowledge and understand of God. Seeing in the word is the power to breakthrough or power to overcome challenges. Joshua and the Israelites needed to pass through Jericho in their journey to the Promised Land but Jericho was securely shut in attempt to deny the Israelite passage. God showed up to Joshua and gave him a word of direction to break through the wall of Jericho. God spoke to Joshua, “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.”(Joshua 1:2) God did not waste words when He commanded Joshua to see. In the word of God, one must see his/her deliverance when the word sounds in one’s direction. In the word of God, it is what you see and receive that will become yours. The word of God is not just words but spirit which gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6) Job, a man described as a blameless man and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil confessed a lack of understanding. He stated in the last chapter of his tribulation, “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. (Job 42:5)

It took Job a long time to see in the word despite all that was spoken in his direction. Begin to see in the word of God as it sounds in your direction; gain understanding and have a knowing-edge over your confronting challenges just as Joshua was able to hear, saw and had a knowing edge over the wall of Jericho.

Prayer for today: Ask God to open the eyes of your heart.

FAITH CAPSULE: At this time of the year, it’s still never too late to wait on God.

Luke 15:11-32

Psalm 27:14 declares, “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” In time of challenging need, how do you wait? The psalmist is saying, in our waiting on the Lord we have to be of good courage. It is possible to claim waiting on God and not be of good courage but of worrying. Any time worrying is in place, worship is out of place. Are you one that cannot wait without worrying? It was a time of war against the Philistines when King Saul failed to wait as commanded by Samuel. Saul assumed priestly entitlements by offering a burnt offering. In his act, he violated the command of God. Saul’s excuse for failing to wait was, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” (1 Samuel 13:11-12) Saul could not exercise good courage as a result; his heart was not strengthen but weakened. He was worried and he violated worshiping God correctly.

The prodigal son could not wait when he requested his portion of the inheritance from his father and took a journey to a far country where he wasted his inheritance.  The prodigal son went where he was not called to go because his timing in the journey of life had been interrupted by his inability to wait for God’s time. Luke 15: 13-14, “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want.”  Every failure to wait on God’s timing will lead out of God’s planning for a life of abundance and it becomes evidence of disobedience. Obedience brings forth blessing, while disobedience brings forth cursing. The word of God is true when it says, “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.” (Isaiah 64:4)  Wait on God, and you will never step into mistakes. It is never too late to wait on God also it is absolutely true that no one ever complained of falling, or stepping, into grievous mistakes while waiting on God. Waiting on God is a source of God’s grace for anyone that takes to waiting on Him.  It is never too late to wait on God!

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of enablement to be steadfast in waiting on Him in every area of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: It is not enough to know about His name but to actually understand and know His name.

Luke 18

After the calling upon the life of Moses to go and deliver the children of Israel, God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.” (Exodus 3:15) Moses, by gaining understanding and knowing the name of the Lord God, Pharaoh the King of Egypt let loose the bondage of over four hundred years. At the time of the Israelites’ deliverance, Pharaoh called on Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people…” (Exodus 12:31) The Egyptians allowed the Israelites to depart from bondage of over four hundred years with uncommon favor. The same God is still in the business of working wonder at the calling on His name with understanding and knowledge.

God is not a partial God but a God of purpose and never fail to perform and perfect according to His word. What is your confronting challenge which seems there is no way out? With knowledge and the understanding of His name, call on Him without ceasing. Calling on Him like no one ever did will get Him to attend to you like He has never done for anyone before.

Jesus was near to Jericho when blind Bartimaeus called out on Him without ceasing. In his crying out, he was not making noise, but he was calling for Jesus’ attention like no one ever did. He cried out Jesus’ name as one who understands and knows Jesus, and Jesus answered him like He has never answered anyone before. It is written, “And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:38)  Hardly there was that many in the Bible that called or cry on Him in desperate situation like Bartimaeus did when he cried out “Jesus, Son of David”. Despite the attempt of the multitude to stop him for crying out, when Jesus heard His name being called with all familiarity, “…Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him…” (Luke 18:40) Interestingly, the multitude that attempted to keep Bartimaeus’ mouth shut, were commanded by Jesus to bring Bartimaeus near to Jesus. Understanding and knowing Him by His name, being at a right place at the right time is an evidence of understanding and knowing the way to receiving an undeniable miracle. Psalm 91:14, “…I will set him high, because he has known my name. He shall call on Me and I will answer him.” With understanding and the knowledge of His name Bartimaeus called on His name and he got an answer that set him high above his affliction.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of understanding and the knowledge of His name indeed and in truth.