FAITH CAPSULE: Loving God with all our being is what makes one to become pure in the heart.

2 Chronicles 26:1-23
 
God is not a slave master but a Saving Master. His word commanded, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) Is He your God (not by force)? If He is your God, know that you shall love the Lord ‘your’ God. Evidently, the command is not by force it is for any one that accepts Him as Lord God. The standard requirement for loving Him is, loving Him with all our being. The Word requires all of us, not half; no compromise or reservation. It is a command to love Him if you have received Him as your God. To love God is to fear God; to fear God is to seek God. Loving God with all our being is what makes one to become pure in the heart. Ones that love with all heart, with all soul, and with all strength is all that it takes to see God (Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matthew 5:8) Ones that seek God with all heart, with all soul, and with all strength, will heed Him. It is not fitting for an acclaimed believer that is seeking God, to be filled with all kinds of bitterness, empty pride, unforgiving spirit and all kinds of worldly identities which do not glorify God. Are you harboring any of the above worldly identities in your life? For any acclaimed believer with any of the worldly identities, there is a need for self-evaluation. God does not lower the standard of expectation if man falls short of His command. It makes no difference how many days a week you are in fellowship or attend church. When one is not right with man you cannot be right with God. In seeking God, there is so much to gain.
The story of Uzziah is one of the gainful testimonies about seeking God. It is written in 2 Chronicles 26:5, “He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.” In seeking Him, Uzziah gained prosperity and was established. When he departed from seeking God, he entered into affliction. He became out of tune with God, started to violate sacrifices and ended up his life with leprosy. Have you been seeking Him, but beginning to fall out from the standard required for seeking Him it? Disappoint the adversary of man and hold on to God’s appointment for your life. Let not your story become like that of King Uzziah. Seek the Lord God with all your being.
 
Prayer for today:Get back to God and ask for the grace to seek Him diligently regardless of the situation in which you are dealing.

FAITH CAPSULE:Are you finding comfort in going for what the Lord did not give or promise you?

Numbers 32
 
The case of the children of Israel being called out of bondage of over four hundred years to a land that flows with milk and honey is a lesson of what it is to replace commitment with convenience. God repeatedly gave His word of commitment to the children of Israel stating, “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…” (Exodus 3:8) God never violates His word. Often times when we violate His word then the world violates us. God that promised the land that flows with milk and honey gave His word with expectation for the children of Israel to live by it. However, the story changed when the children of Israel, the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Reuben settled for convenience and could not commit to the word that God had committed Himself to perform.    
The Bible recorded that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a great multitude of livestock (source of milk), and when they saw that the land of Jazaer and the Land of Gilead was a place for livestock, their going further becomes less relevant. Why would they want to continue where the Lord had committed to give when they have entered into a place of convenience? Land for their livestock (source of milk) was in place but God promised the land for milk and honey. The Lord was taking them to cross over Jordan but the children of Gad and the children of Reuben approached Moses and said,“…If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.” (Numbers 32:5) Are you finding comfort in going for what the Lord did not give or promise you? God did not promise a land that flows with only milk but the land that flows with milk and honey. In the attempt of not to cross over when God has planned for cross over is the evidence of avoidance of war or challenges that will come across in our way of life journey. Also, the attempt of not to cross over when God has planned for cross over is operating as agent of discouragement to others. Above, it is a demonstration of lack of trust for God’s word but listening to one’s heart. Watch out, convenience always takes an opposite side of commitment and it will cause one to miss out of God’s best for one in the journey of life.
Listen to God’s promise for you; do not harden your heart. Harden heart is testing God; testing God leads to going astray.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God to hold you by your right hand and guide you with His counsel
 

FAITH CAPSULE:One will settle for less when God has made so much available.

Genesis 11: 10-32
 
Convenience, not commitment is one of the cheapest and silent avenues that can lead to the termination of a breakthrough in life. Terah, the father of Abraham was set for a journey to Canaan land ever before God called on Abraham to Canaan Land. “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) Obviously, Terah the father of Abraham was set to go to Canaan Land but became stranded in Haran and did not get to Canaan Land. The desire of Terah was set for CanaanLand but he dwelt in Haran. Despite the fact that he lived long enough for two hundred and five years, he could not get to his desired destination. Could it have been that Terah got to Haran and convenience set in place while commitment to get to Canaan was misplaced? There was no exact documentation for the reason why Terah could not further his desire for going to CanaanLand. However, it is not impossible that life in Haran was convenience enough for him to abandon his commitment of setting his family on a journey to the Land of Canaan. The same CanaanLand became the place of call for Terah’s son Abraham. How much are you giving to convenience in every area of your endeavor in life?
Here are some possible consequences of choosing convenience over commitment:
One will settle for less when God has made so much available.
One will become short sighted and forgo his or her possession which the Lord has in place.
Convenience over commitment is turning back from God to self.
Convenience over commitment will make man to wander instead of being a wonder to one’s world.
Settling for convenience over commitment is a self-created stagnation instead of gaining motion.
Are you settling for convenience instead commitment?
Silent convenience robs the blessing of God from a believer that engages in silent convenience. For example, silent convenience is to know the committed hour of service commencement and dishonor it because of lack of convenience getting to the service. To God there is no excuse that is reasonable. It is written,“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 10:12) Serving God is a sacrifice. Sacrifice demands commitment. As a believer, hallow the name of God and serve Him with your commitment.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to serve God with all your heart.

FAITH CAPSULE:To one who has received and believes in Jesus, Christ’s undeniable power to deliver is available.

John 12: 37-49
 
King David stated, “God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God. Also to You, O Lord belongs mercy; for You render to each one according to his work.” (Psalm 62:11-12) The point here is that David is talking with a strong conviction; he was talking in certainty with regard to the power and the mercy of God.
Power belongs to God because He is power and also His name is power. The Bible cannot emphasize enough the power of God when it stated, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” (Proverbs 18:10) The covenant-keeping God whose name never fails will answer the righteous who know to run to His name and not any other name or man. The Bible makes us realize that Jesus is our righteousness, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”(2 Corinthians 5:21) Without doubt, by virtue of the words of this verse, to one who has received and believes in Jesus, Christ’s undeniable power to deliver is available. However, knowing about Jesus as our righteousness is not enough to grant access to the power in His name. Being awake and alive by living a righteous life is a must. This is clear in the word of God, “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:34) All who have received and believe in Jesus are awake and alive in Him. It can be agreed that not all who receive actually believe in Him. The word states, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12) If you have received Him, do you believe in Him? The verse points out that it is possible to receive Him and not believe in Jesus our righteousness in God. Jesus states, “For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.” (John 17:8) Receiving and believing is what makes one a believer. The word states, “Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.” (John 12:42) Among the Pharisees are examples of receiving (accepting) Jesus and not believing Him. Having received and believed in the name of God, we now have undeniable access to the stronger tower.
 
Prayer for today:Ask for the grace to be living fully by the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Living satisfied with the world around you is to have eliminated a sacrificial life.

Romans 12
 
Satisfaction has taken place over your sacrificial living for God. Being conformed to the world around you has taken over your commitment unto God. What is your destination in the journey of life? Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, have you really considered that serving God is why you are alive? Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
The scriptural passage did not say, ‘Present your bodies a living satisfied.’ You know exactly what it says. Living satisfied is to have eliminated a sacrificial living for God. In the name of God, and by designed interpretation of the word of God, some believers have found a way out to justify a satisfied living that suits them. Many are being carried away by their way of life rather than by the ways of God. Psalm 145:17, “The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.” God does have a required and specified standard that we are to be living for Him. The standard is to serve Him, and to serve God is to love God. Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Agreed, you know about this word, but it is not enough if you know but do not do. Living satisfied with the world around you is to have eliminated a sacrificial life. Until one begins to live a sacrificial life for God, one cannot live a holy life. Living a sacrificial life will take one out of the world of sin because all that is considered as fun and free cannot add up for you. Living a sacrificial life is living in the fear of God. Psalm 97:10 makes us to realize that, “You who love the LORD, hate evil…!” Also, the book of Proverbs 8:13 buttress it that, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” Are you one that loves the evil world while claiming to be living in the fear of the Lord? There is none that can claim living a sacrificial life and yet be in love with the wicked and evil world. Living a sacrificial life is the only acceptable way before God and there is no lowering of standards. What God sees is reasonable service, not seasonal service. Make the choice and give unto God a reasonable service becoming a living sacrifice, which is holy, acceptable to God.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to live for God