FAITH CAPSULE: A heart that is set for God will settle for nothing but to seek.

1 Chronicles 22

Living life is also about growing up and moving forward. Seeking and serving God is also about growing in the things of the Lord. Believer is not exempted from growing and increasing to the glory of God. In Acts 20:32, Apostle Paul was speaking, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”Growth is crucial to become established in accessing what God has made available for everyone that believes. Are you a believer that is not growing but stagnated?
Are you like a building under construction but stagnated?Whenever a building construction is halted, it suffers stagnation. You are a temple of God that is constantly under construction. Are you rising or stagnated? David was charging his son Solomon, and the leaders, to begin construction of the Temple, 1 Chronicles 22:19, “Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy articles of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the LORD.” David’s statement can thoroughly be applied to the life of a believer who desires to grow in the Lord. As a living temple of God, it is absolutely evident that to lack growth in the things of the Lord is to remain stagnant. Have you examined yourself lately and determined if you can honestly and sincerely identify growth in your life as a believer? Knowing and quoting scriptural verses is not an evidence of growth; going to church on a regular basis is not enough to keep one from becoming stagnated. Acting impressively in the church is not a growth determinant. Growth is not determined by how long you have been going to church; growth is not only when one is constantly in the church with active and noticeable work. Growth is when His presence in your life is active by powerful demonstrations. Take David’s charge as your own for your growth. Begin to set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God. A heart that is set for God will settle for nothing but to seek God in deed and in truth. The grace to set and seek Him will bring a rise in you as a building, a living temple of the Lord.

Prayer for today: Ask God to give you a heart to seek after Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: In time of expectation, ignore the delay; focus on the deliverer.

Matthew 25:1-13, John11:1-7

Walking in the way of God is also waiting on God. Waiting on God is obeying the word of God. Without listening there can never be obedience in place. Assuredly, listening to the word of God is the key to obeying the word of God. However, not listening to the word of God is a choice; not a curse. It is the choice of not listening that brings one under a curse. Whenever a dog chooses its way by not listening to the owner, that dog will be lost and death is the dead end of lost. Just as it is for a dog to get lost for not listening to his owner, so it is for a man that fails not to listen to his creator. A failure not to listen is making a choice to get out of the way. Jesus said in John14:6, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through Me.
As an acclaimed believer, have you ever considered the way you are going? It is act of wickedness when disobedience becomes evident in man’s life. It is worthy to take time out and sincerely identify the way you have chosen. The way of the wicked is death and the way of death is wicked.
It is demonstrating obedience to be taking time to wait on God in every area of life.
In the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus mentions that during the course of their waiting, they all went to sleep. Matthew25:5, “But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.” Both the wise ones and the foolish ones slumbered and slept, without exception. Sleeping was inevitable for them because they had waited so long. Many have ridiculed the fact that Jesus is coming back. It has been over two thousand years of waiting, yet the Lord hasn’t returned. Are you becoming weary waiting or expecting? Commit your expectation into God’s hand. He will deliver it back into your hand at His appointed time. Do you believe that Jesus is coming back again? If the answer is yes, do not allow doubt to cloud your hope. Lazarus was sick when Jesus first heard the news. John 11:6, “So, when Jesus heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.” Jesus purposely delayed Lazarus’ miracle. He wanted God to be glorified. In time of expectation, ignore the delay; focus on the deliverer. He will do it at His own appointed time in order for His name to be glorified. God’s delay is not a denial. Jesus said it all. It is written, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the son of Man is coming.” (Matthew 25:13) He is coming back; ignore delay focus on the deliverer.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace that keeps man to remain focus waiting on the Lord.

FAITH CAPSULE: The grace of God does not expire but will cause man to excel to the glory of God.

Genesis 6

In the days of Noah sin was the order of the day. Just like today, ungodly acts prevailed beyond imagination. Genesis 6:5, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” It does not take an astrologer or seer to look around and see that only by the grace of God can one live in this world as a sojourner and not become a part of it. God was not pleased with man then, and He cannot be pleased with man today. Genesis 6:7, “So the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and the beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’” The world may choose to live life walking in the wrong direction while you alone maintain walking the right direction. Caleb and Joshua were alone among thousands when they stood their ground. It all happened when men that went to spy the Promised Land came with negative report which contradicted God’s promise to take the Israelites to the Promised Land. Men who had gone to spy the land came back and gave a bad report stating that, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:32-33) The report caused the Israelites to doubt God and confessed negative. Caleb and Joshua alone among thousands confessed positive because they know their God. If you know the One whom you serve and not just know about Him – then, He will make a way out for you so you will not have to bow before Baal.
It is written, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:8) Noah’s salvation was not of determination, but of divine grace. The grace of God is abundantly available but sin and sinning makes it inaccessible for any sinner. The grace of God does not expire but will cause man to excel to the glory of God. No one is excluded from that kind of grace if one is serving Him truly and with all heart, soul and strength. Go forward from this day and invest in the life He has given you by His name, and that same grace that Noah received from Almighty God will become yours as well.

Prayer for today: Ask God today to give you the kind of grace that worked out salvation for Noah and prevented him from becoming a part of a fallen generation.

FAITH CAPSULE: It will only take one day for the truth to expose lying of thousand years.

Acts 5:1-11

Lying and deceiving others branches out of pride. Pride is a personal ride to self-destruction. Evidently, lying and deception is an avenue that leads to self-destruction. In the life of many today, lying and deceiving others is a garment and it must be daily exercised. Are you one that cannot do without lying or deceiving others in a single? At every time you open your mouth do you have lying flying out? Lying and deceiving may go unnoticed for years, but it will only take one day for the truth to expose the lying of thousand years. Lying is not of God but evil. Have you been getting away with lying and deceiving for so long that there are no bounds as to when or where you lie? Lying and deceiving are terrible and silent diseases.
As much as it reigns outside the church, so it is rampant inside the church. The Bible records in Acts 5:1-2, “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” There was no indication that Ananias and Sapphira had to sell their possessions, and it can be assumed that it was a voluntary move. So why would they lie? The dangerous part of lying and deceiving is that anyone that compromise with lying and deceiving also takes a position of self-destruction. All that got Sapphira (wife of Ananias) into self-destruction was that she was aware of Ananias’ engagement with the evil of lying and deceiving.  
Are you a believer who will lie or deceive to get attention or to impress fellow believers? All conduct is accountable before God who sees both inside and out of your being. Peter knew that Ananias and Sapphira were lying and deceiving them when he responded in Acts 5:4, “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?’” Lying and deceiving are the evidence of being filled by the Satan. Why not engage your heart to be filled by the living Word of God that you may refrain from lying and deceiving?  What is worth doing for the Lord is worth doing well. Both, Ananias and his wife, might have had good intentions were it not for lying which had become a garment in their life. Peter spoke to Ananias, in Acts 5:4-5, “…You have not lied to man but God. Then Ananias hearing these words fell down and breathed his last…” Lying and deceiving sent Ananias and Sapphira to an untimely death.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from every trace of lying and deceiving others.

FAITH CAPSULE: There is healing and deliverance in hearing and responding.

Genesis 19

What we hear and how we react to what is heard testifies to our faith as regard to who we are hearing from. Whenever the word of direction that sounds in one’s direction is received with no response the hearer becomes a candidate for self-destruction. The word of God is power to deliver and to overcome when it is received and backed with action. Lot once received word of direction to be delivered from eminent destruction. “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place!For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” (Genesis 19:12-13) The word of deliverance came for Lot. Despite the truth that he heard the word of deliverance, he could not act in response to the word. It is written, “And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.” (Genesis 19: 16)  
The woman with the issue of blood had been to see many physicians. She spent all that she had but only got worse. Doctors failed her, medication did not work and no amount of money could save her. Mark 5:27 states, “When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.” Having exhausted every avenue of help, it was her hearing about Jesus (the Word of God) that set her up for her healing.
Blind Bartimaeus had his place on the road. As a beggar, the road was where he made a living. Just like the woman with the issue of blood it was through hearing that healing became his portion. Mark 10:47 documents it that, “When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’” You wonder why you have been hearing Him and your situation remains the same. It could be that in your hearing, there is no response to provoke your healing or deliverance. Both the woman with the issue of blood and blind Bartimaeus did the unusual. They forced their way through the crowd and could not be kept quiet. You have heard Him but you have been kept quiet by the crowd and could not reach out to Jesus. Begin to reach out to Him. Hearing Him and keeping silent will not get you your healing. All that you have heard about Him is true, reach out to Him and He will get to you with healing.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to constantly respond when His word sound in your direction.