FAITH CAPSULE: Study to know God, be still and He shall be exalted in all areas of life.

Mark 4: 35-41
 
What is holding you down from having the Father always with you? Is it the inability to fear Him? The more you grow in faith the more you know to fear Him and have His fear go before you in every step of life.
GOD IS GOD: When hearing and hearing of the word becomes constant and consistent in gaining entrance into one’s life, then one is bound to be filled with the presence of God. Psalm 119:130 spells it out clearly, “The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” Jesus the living Word of God, who was in the beginning with God (John 1:1), introduced Himself, “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) It is also written, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) Is He gaining entrance into you? Understand that what is needed to navigate through in this world of darkness are in the word of God which is also the light. For those that are simple, the word will have a place in their life. The book of Proverbs 14:15 identify the simple as the ones that believe.
Do you have Him in your life? 1 John 2:9-10 says, “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.” If you have Him your life you know Him and no darkness can overcome you. Having the light in your life is through the word of God. When understanding the word of God gains its place in the life of a man, knowing God becomes undeniable. During one of Jesus’ crossovers, with the disciples, in the middle of a great windstorm Jesus was still and was also able to sleep in the boat when the disciples were moved by fear of the storm to wake him for help. The Bible records “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:39-41) In this case, Jesus commanded the disciples to be still and He questioned their faith. Evidently they lacked faith because they were yet to know Him. The disciples at that stage only knew about Jesus and it was reflected by their demonstration of lack of faith and their question“…who can this be?” Study to know God, be still and He shall be exalted in all areas of life.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for understanding to know and be still in Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: To know God is to fear God.

Psalm 46
 
It is written, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10) God will be exalted in every area of life of those who dwell in the earth. In this world of darkness, for God to be exalted in every area of your life you have to be still. For one to be still as required by the word, knowing God, not just knowing about God is a must. What Jesus says to one he says to all. Once Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.” (John 8:19) Do you know Him or you only know about Him? Being conversant and fluent in quoting the words of God is not evidence of knowing God. Being active in the activity of the church is not evidence of knowing God. Above all, one can have all the titles in the church and be far from knowing God. To know God is to fear God. With the fear of God one will know to walk in all His ways. Walking in the way of God is to love the Lord God. To love the Lord God is to serve Him in deed and in truth. It is evident through the pages of Scripture that, one cannot love God if one does not fear Him. Also, if one do not love God, it is not possible to serve Him. To fear God is to love God; to love God is to serve God. By this it is apparent that a believer will be in a position to please God. Jesus said in John 8:29, “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” When we please Him He will not leave us nor forsake us.
How does one know how to please Him? Also how does one please whom one does not know?
PLEASING GOD: We are made to understand in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” If without faith it is impossible to please Him, with faith it is absolutely possible to please Him. Faith is not what anyone is born with but faith is what you have to seek for and you know that it will come. Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” What the Word is saying is hearing is not for a time or two, but it is of consistence and continuity. When there is no failure in hearing, faith will pass you on to fearing God and having His fear go before you.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the word of God to have its place in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Most times our life in this world is affected by the words of our mouth.

Numbers 14
 
The same God yesterday, today and tomorrow stated, “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24). By virtue of this scriptural verse, it is clear why David stated in both 2 Samuel 22:4, Psalm 18:3, “I will call upon the LORD, who is worthytobepraised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.” God said He will hear before they call and David said ‘I will call’. David was sure of getting result because he demonstrated that there is answer in calling on the only One that hears before we call. Just as the Lord promised to answer before they call, He also stated that He will hear while they are speaking. This is evident with the children of Israel. During one of Israelites rebellious complaints, all they were speaking were heard by God and God responded, “…I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you” (Numbers 14:27-28). The One that gives ear does have ear to hear. It is important to know that God answers call and He also hears while we speak. What are you communicating to God or before God? Most times our life in this world is affected by the words of our mouth. The Bible is true when it states that, “Deathandlife are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21) Often times when positive is communicated, positive becomes one’s portion because the One that hears does not stop hearing at every moment that we speak. This is the reason why the book of Ecclesiastes 5:6 says, “Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error…” As much as there is nowhere to hide from God, it is true that our words cannot go by Him without Him hearing us. Why not abstain from communicating negative words but speak positive words to His hearing?
At every calling on God, do you mention His name? Know that, “…you who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent and give Him no rest till He establishes…” (Isaiah 62:6-7). Calling on His name and not keeping quiet over our expectation is what Jesus referred to when He commanded us in His Parable of the Persistent Widow stating that men always ought to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18).
Why not take God for His word and open your mouth wide for Him to fill it? (Psalm 81:10)
 
Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be waiting on Him in every area of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: A faithfully faith-full man will always be faultless and live life as an overcomer.

Daniel 6
 
Daniel was described as a faithful man. Indeed, many do proclaim to have faith but extremely few are faithfully faith-full. When one is faithfully faith-full like Daniel, one will be definitely faultless before any man just as Daniel was faultless. When the evil plan to get rid of Daniel was orchestrated by governors and satraps, it was by sending him into the hungry lion’s den. It is written, “…but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”(Daniel 6:4-6) As regard to Daniel, the above scriptural verse confession of the wicked governors and satraps is what it means to be faithful (faithfully faith-full)  
Inhabited in Daniel’s purposeful heart is his schedule of maintaining a communication line with his God. Making a journey glorious demands a consciously established communicating line with heaven and not waiting for overwhelming challenges before scrambling for prayer support. When it was time to orchestrate evil against Daniel by the governors and satraps, he elevated himself to upper room, “…with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.” (Daniel 6:10) Instead of calling around for prayer help he went by his schedule. Daniel’s custom was his schedule in meeting and connecting with his God. He did not do it in hiding because he opened his windows right in the face of his enemies. With Daniel’s custom approach to God, there shall never be a want for young or old lions when Daniel is present.
Daniel feared God, he purposed at the beginning of his captivity journey not to subject himself to the comfort of this world when he refused the kings provision.
Whatever you are in the eyes of man by virtue of your challenges is not what counts. Daniel was a captive in the eyes of man but a captain general in the eyes of the Almighty General. His purposeful heart also granted him the grace to continually serve God. King Darius, as much as he desired to deliver Daniel, could not deliver him from going into the den of hungry lions. God was to be glorified in Daniel’s deliverance. As a result, “…the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.” (Daniel 6:16) A king that does not know the God of Daniel recognized in Daniel that continuity in serving the God of Daniel is the price for greatness.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be constantly consistent lining your life up in the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: The favor obtained by Daniel’s action at the start of his journey made it impossible for any door to be shut on Daniel

Daniel 1
 
Most times the way we start our journey determines how we conclude the journey. This is to say that the end can be affected in the beginning.For example; Daniel’s deliverance from the den of hungry lions was in the beginning of his life as a captive. At the beginning of his captivity he determined not to let the comfortable position that was offered by the King dislocate him from where he was going and how he was going to get through. Imagine Daniel, a captive, appointed for the King’s provision. Daniel had the option to opt for all the goodies in the provision of the King and forget his background. Instead, Daniel rejected the King’s provision with a purposeful decision and the Bible recorded, “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. Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.” (Daniel 1:8-9)It is obvious from the above scriptural quotation that the favor of God opened doors for Daniel because he shuts his door on the king’s provision. The favor obtained by Daniel’s action made it impossible for any door to be shut on Daniel as he navigated through the journey of life in captivity.
Favor bestowed on Daniel gave him his direct line of communication to heaven every time that he encountered life terminating challenges. Evidently, God’s answering of our prayer is favor of God. Also, understanding how to pray and what to pray about gets our prayer answered because the Bible states, “Good understanding gains favor…” (Proverbs 13:15) Getting answer to prayer is the favor of God. With favor in place Daniel operated with wisdom that was not common, wisdom that rooted out all kinds of evil agenda that was set for him to fall and to fail.
Favor is an identifier and it identifies Daniel as a captive when he drew the line for himself not to violate his God despite is status as a young captive in a foreign land. Daniel had a purposeful heart and gained favor that marked him as a distinguished one with excellent spirit. Daniel was no longer an ordinary one, “…because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.” (Daniel 6:3) Are you purposeful or faithfully faith-full for God? How did you get started on your journey? Watch for its direct effect on how journey is going to be concluded.

Prayer for today:Ask for the grace of God to see you through.