FAITH CAPSULE: The amount of light one carries is what will determine one’s progress navigating the world.

John 1:1-18

The word of God is wisdom. The Bible states, “For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense, but the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.” (Ecclesiastes 7:12) Also, the word of God is light. It is written in Psalm 119:130 “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” The point here is that, wisdom is the word of God and the word of God is light. Going by the scriptural verses above, the word of God (wisdom) which is identified as a defense must have a place inside of every believer of the word of God before it can work as a defense.
Without any doubt, it is certain that the amount of light one carries is what will determine one’s progress navigating the world that is clouded with darkness and wickedness. For any man to progress navigating the world of darkness, man must be carrying a brighter light that is enough to keep man from falling. However, attempting to navigate the world of darkness with dim or no light is equal to taking an avenue to fall. How bright is the light that you carry inside? In another word, the question is how much of God’s word (wisdom) do you carry inside of you?
For every believer that desires to live to the fulfillment of God’s divine agenda, the word of God (wisdom or light) that is carried must be enough to terminate confronting darkness. Darkness must be approached, confronted and exposed because it is not supposed to be reigning over light. It is written, “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:5) How bright is the light in you? “Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’” (John 8:12) Jesus, the living Word of God is the Light that we need in order to take our journey to the next level without any delay or fear of any confrontation in this dark and wicked world.
The Word of God that was in the beginning with God (John 1:2) is the same Light of God. The Book of John 1:3-5 describes Him, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehendit.” The above verse is the reason why you have to be carrying a very reasonable amount of light inside you. Wisdom (the Word of God) isthe true defense which gives light to every man when navigating the wicked world of darkness.

Prayer for today: Ask that the word of God will have a place in you.

FAITH CAPSULE: A failure to stand is a fall from standing.

1 Kings 17:1-10, Psalm 15

As a soldier in the hand of God, are you standing when challenge calls for standing? Are you sleeping when oppositions demands to be awake? A failure not to stand is a passage to fall. There is no way to operate in the Lord when sleeping takes the place of being awake. The Bible describes Elijah as a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months (James 5:17). The testimony about Elijah is a pointer to the body of Christ to know that what Elijah did is not beyond us if we have a stand in Him by virtue of our walk in Him. Are you a believer that knows to walk uprightly, to work righteousness and to speak the truth in the heart? (Psalm 15:1-2) A yes answer to the question asked is evidently an identity of one that does have a stand before God like Elijah. Will you be willing to take your stand in His Word? In I kings 17:1, Elijah, the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years, except at my word.” The stand of Elijah before God is what provoked the hand of God to honor Elijah’s request.
As a believer, you claim to be on God’s side. Can you step out and tell rain not to fall? Can your mountains respond at the sound of your voice? We cannot deceive ourselves because if there is no standing in Him, no mountain will move at the sound of our voice. Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs shall follow those who believe: In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Despite God’s promises, the sick goes from the church to the hospital not from the hospital to the church. Nothing is wrong with the Word of God, but the ones who claim to know the Word have things wrong in them. When there is the inability to stand in the Word of God, there will be a disability to operate the Word of God. Just like Elijah, standing in the word is what makes man a commander in God’s hand. As a man engages in work to get paid, so it is to work righteous and be able to stand a ground to provoke heaven when challenge calls for it. Do you desire to be a standing army for the Lord?

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to work righteousness at all times.

FAITH CAPSULE: There is none that walks in line of Him and fall outside of Him.

Daniel 1

When adverse adversity located Job, his wife attempted to lead him to discontinue with his God by saying to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) Job could not discontinue with His God as suggested by wife but responded to his wife, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10) Can you imagine how serious Job’s adversity was? Whatever is causing you not to continue looking up to God is nothing that can be compared to Job’s adversity.
Adversity and challenges will produce faith or fear which often make or break man in the race of life. There is a need for the grace to continue trusting God in the face of adversity.
Daniel and his three friends, at a young age, held captive at foreign land, yet there were no records of complaints or any attempt to despise their God. Instead of despising or complaining they did not give up but continued trusting God. The King wanted to build Babylon in them when he ordered the best of the best for them by setting them aside with the king’s delicacies.
When Daniel was supposed to resume feeding on the king’s delicacies he refused. “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 9 Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.” (Daniel 1:8-9) Daniel did not stop looking up to God; he could not discontinue with his God. Daniel trusted his God and Job could not curse his God in the face of adversity.
The word of God promises us, “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy.” (Psalm 33:18) Continue with a purposeful heart and whatever it is that cannot touch Him, will not touch you.  God will never forsake His own children. There is none that walks in line of Him and fall outside of Him. Jesus paid the entire price that we may have life. He was persecuted, died on the cross, rose on the third day and lives as king forever. You should have no reason to be discouraged or to discontinue in the face of life challenges. Continue in Him and He will get you to where He went to prepare for us.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to continue trusting God in the face of adversity.

FAITH CAPSULE: When heroic faith is misdirected, the consequences can be destructive.

Numbers 25   

At times a believer’s zealous action provokes heroic faith. However, when heroic faith is misdirected, the consequences can be destructive. Saul’s heroic faith caused the pain of famine for his people. (Samuel 21:1-14) King Saul was zealous for the Israelites and Judah by attempting to terminate non-Israelites from the land. King Saul’s action can be considered as an act of heroic faith. This point to the truth that we must be conscious of how we act in the name of faith because when zeal is misdirected it can have a serious and painful consequence.
Also, a well-directed zeal can lead to positive consequences. Once, the children of Israel aroused the anger of the Lord when they engaged in worshipping idols. In the process of God’s anger that caused the plague in the land, it happened that, “…one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.” (Numbers 25:6) Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, by virtue of his heroic faith acted “…took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel.  And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.” (Numbers 25: 7-9)
In the case of Eleazar’s heroic faith that stopped deaths in the camp of the Israelites, God spoke to Moses stating, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’” (Numbers 25:11-13) Are your zealous actions based on religion or an understanding of God? As an acclaimed believer of the living Word of God, are you giving your word and not being able to back it up?
Note that, whatever you do not know will not work and neither shall it count for you as an excuse that delivers one from negative consequences. In all your getting, get understanding, be full with wisdom and have a knowing edge over confronting challenges.

Prayer for today: Ask that the zealous action that will deliver to you a positive consequence shall continually be your portion.

FAITH CAPSULE: Giving out words and not backing them can cause great pain.

Joshua 9

Whenever a believer engages being zealous for God it must be grounded on right principles and directed to right ends. When it is wrongly directed it brings forth a negative or painful consequence like the experience it brought to the Israelites during the reign of King David.
It is written, “Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” (2 Samuel 21:1) King Saul’s killing of the Gibeonites was a violation of the covenant that was made between the Israelites and the Gibeonites during the days of Joshua as the leader of the children of Israel.
During the days of Joshua, the Gibeonites cunningly deceived Joshua into making a covenant that guaranteed their protection. It was after Joshua had defeated their neighbor that they came to deceive Joshua that they were from far country which gave Joshua reason to enter into covenant with them. It is written, “And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath Jearim. But the children of Israel did not attack them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation complained against the rulers. Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch them. This we will do to them: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them.” (Joshua 9:16-20)
Many years after Joshua’s covenant with the Gibeonites, King Saul went ahead and killed the Gibeonites violating the covenant between the Israelites and the Gibeonites. It was the violation by Saul that caused the three years of famine in the days of David. King Saul’s action could have been unknowing when he acted in violation of Joshua’s covenant with the Gibeonites. Before God, there was no excuse for such violation.Have you been consciously or unconsciously giving words which you fail to honor? God is still the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Avoid giving words that you cannot back up. Giving out words and not backing them can cause great pain at a time or season when we do not expect. The killing of the Gibeonites by Saul was a violation of the covenant of about four hundred years from when it was violated yet there was no place to hide from the consequence.

Prayer for today: Ask for His lovingkindness and truth to continually preserve you in your entire doings for His glory.