FAITH CAPSULE: Is doubt or procrastination playing any role in your life?

John 5:1-15

Doubt, procrastination are agent of delay and they are both rooted in pride. Both doubt and procrastination are not pattern which can be found in the life of those who heard and responded to the command of God by rising onto obedience immediately. Abraham at his very old age, with only Isaac as the promised child responded to God’s command with immediate effect. God commanded Abraham, “…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) It was a difficult command and Abraham could have reminded God that Isaac was the promise child. Abraham the faith practitioner asked no question neither does he doubt but responded, “So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” (Genesis 22:3) Abraham responded early in the morning without any delay. It was a faith in for Abraham.
In the healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda, faith in action prevailed. The sick man has been at the right track of his healing but remained trapped because he was waiting for someone to put him in the pool when the water is stirred up. As recorded in the Bible for thirty eight years there was no mobility because of infirmity. Infirmity allowed stagnation to reign in the life of the sick man. Are you experiencing stagnation in any area of life? No man is going to put you through but Jesus. He is here to give life and to give it more abundantly and you are here to receive the life He brought if you will rise. The sick man at the Pool of Bethesda had an encounter with Jesus. It is written, “Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.” (John 5:8-9) The sick man at the Pool of Bethesda heard the command, without procrastination or doubt he rose. The Bible made it clear that he rose immediately. An immediate response is the driving force that made his rising to be considered as faith in action. What sound of deliverance has been sounding in direction of your stagnation? Is doubt or procrastination playing any role in your life? If you will not delay your deliverance unto breakthrough you will have to rise in faith immediately.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from whatever is clouding your faith.

FAITH CAPSULE: To be one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High is not only by the word of the mouth but living the word of His command.

Psalm 91

It is written, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1) To be one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High is not only by the word of the mouth but living the word of His command. Among what it takes to be dwelling in the secret place the Most High God are:
To be one that works righteousness: Our salvation is through righteousness of Jesus, which He paid for on the cross. It is written in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Truly, Jesus paid it all but the word of Apostle Paul confirms that righteousness demands work when he stated, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). The work in righteousness is to constantly live in the fear of God. Fearing God is work. Fearing God is engaging and it is a nonstop way to be living life. Working righteousness is engaging every work that is opposite from the world of evil and wickedness. It cannot be better stated than Proverbs 8:13, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil…” Working is also in behaving the word and it is a continuous process because continuity is the rule of the race of life.
To be one that speaks the truth in the heart: Living a life that characterizes one as dwelling in the secret place of the Lord is purely encased in the heart because the heart is where God sees man. A heart that speaks truth is reflected in how one walks in this wicked world. In John’s letter to Gaius he stated, “I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth” (1 John 3:3). Our walk cannot be hidden from man if it is in truth; it becomes a testimony to the glory of God. It was evident that Gaius was walking according to the word of God rather than the ways of the world. To be one that speaks the truth in the heart is the evidence of abiding in Christ. Jesus was speaking, “…if you abide in my word, you are My disciple indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” To any that is free by Jesus’ standard, nothing formed against such shall prosper.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to live by His word of command.

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.