FAITH CAPSULE:  Have you given it all to Him?

Exodus 1:15-22, 2:1-10, Psalm 95
 
God called you for a purpose. He has been guiding you since you were born. God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah.1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Evidently there is no man created outside of the knowing of the One and gracious creator of heaven and earth. God is true to all and He will never lie.Also, there is no partiality with God. Just as it was with Jeremiah so it is with all man. God alone knows the reason why He formed us. Jeremiah was formed to be a prophet. Do you have the idea of what He formed you to be? God’s word to Jeremiah is a testimony that we are all under His wings. He will lead us to where He wants us. The choice, however, is always in our hands. Born in due season, Moses, escaped from Pharaoh’s plan which was to exterminate all male babies of Hebrew women. The hand of God, which was working in Moses’ life, delivered him from the death that took so many of the lives of Hebrew children. Despite the killing at the time of Moses’ birth, he lives to the fulfillment of his destiny.
You may wonder why you are still alive today after having been abused by others as well as having abused yourself. You’ve done harmful things to your body, those same things which have taken the lives of others; you have been in places where others have not returned from alive; you have lived an existence of fast and dangerous living which has claimed the lives of many, yet you live. God has a plan for you; He formed you for a reason. Have you given it all to Him? What is holding you back from giving it all to Him? Answer God’s calling and live in line with His Word and He will see you through any difficulty. Failure to walk in line with God’s word is a passage out of His presence and His holy name. It is time to come out of a disobedient life and enter into a life of obedience. Going to church is not enough of answering to Him if disobeying His Word is one’s lifestyle. Worship is sacrifice. Give unto Him a reasonable sacrifice and listen to His voice. The Psalmist speaks to all, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness…” (Psalm 95:6-8)Answer His calling and Obey His command and He will make you commander of signs and wonders.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be consistent in seeing, hearing and obeying His voice when it sounds in your direction.

FAITH CAPSULE: The wars that you engage in on a regular basis are the challenges, afflictions and tribulation of life.

1 Samuel 4:1-10, John 16: 5-33
 
In these days of wickedness, war and rumors are always within or just outside of man’s camp. There is no one under heaven that is exempted from wars and rumors of wars except that one is living somewhere outside of this world.
The wars that you engage in on a regular basis are the challenges, afflictions and tribulation of life. As a child of God, these wars are not meant to overcome you; you are to overcome them. It is clear in the word of Jesus that tribulation is certain to come but peace that is enough to see one through as overcomer is available when He stated, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Accept Jesus and gain the peace that is made available in Him to overcome tribulations of this world.
Also, overcoming battle comes with knowing that God is in your camp. The children of Israel went to battle against the Philistines and the Israelites were defeated. The Israelites went back to get the ark of the LORD hoping to regain victory. It is written in1 Samuel 4:5-6, “And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, ‘What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?’ Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp.’” The children of Israel were happy to know that the LORD was in their camp. 1 Samuel 4:7, “So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, ‘God has come into the camp!’ And they said, ‘Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before.’” In your challenges, it is not enough to have God on your side if you are not on His side. God can still be in your camp even though you have “camped out” from Him. The Israelites had the ark, but still were defeated. God has said that He will never leave us nor forsake us. God will always honor His Word and He will not leave us unless we have left Him in our walk. He is always there for us, but are you always there for Him? The children of Israel lost the battle not because God was not in their camp, but because they had camped out from God’s Word. Are you in camp with God? Where one is standing; how one stands will have a direct effect on how war and rumors of war in the world affect us.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace not to count yourself out of His camp of deliverance and preservation.

FAITH CAPSULE: Pray without ceasing, deny the devil from coming to promote his program to you so you can eventually buy into it and fail.

2 Timothy 4:9-18, 1John 2:15-17
 
It is written, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous,but the Lord delivers him out of them all.He guards all his bones;not one of them is broken.Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.” (Psalm 34:19-21) God is forever in the business of delivering His people. God is true to His word. However, God delivering the righteous from their afflictions is rooted in knowledge as stated in Proverbs 11:9, “…but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.” Paul demonstrates the knowledge that takes to get deliverance by praying for deliverance. Imagine Paul praying for deliverance? He must have been demonstrating the knowledge that deliverance is not only in memorizing and quoting the word neither was it base in the title of man. In as much as Paul was a giant, he never underestimated the work of the enemy. His prayers are evidence of how he constantly looked up to God for his life. Apostle Paul prayed in 2Timothy 4:18, “And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!” As a believer, with title or no title, do not assume or count on your determination to stand in the face of affliction. Determination failed Peter when he promised not to deny Jesus but eventually denies Jesus three times. Determination fails but prayer prevails. Jesus’ prayer for Peter’s faith not to fail prevailed and he could not be consumed by failure. Pray for your deliverance, it is a way of inviting God to take over in all areas of your life so you can be protected from all that is in the world. All that is in the world will take man down if man fail to take his/her ground praying. It was all that is in the world that brought down Adam and Eve. It was also the same — all that is in the world — that showed up to Jesus after His forty-day fast. 1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the father but is of the world.” Is any one of the above operating in your life? This is the more reason why consistent prayer for deliverance and preservation is very important in a man’s life. It is not how important you are, or how strong, or how long you have been in the Lord. Just like Paul, praying your way out of the devil’s way is the way of deliverance and preservation. Pray without ceasing because the devil will come to promote his program to you so you can eventually buy into it and fail. He will come at an opportune time. Stay on your guard by keeping focused in prayer.
 
Prayer for today: Deliver me from every evil work and preserve me O Lord God.
 

FAITH CAPSULE: By your invitation, if you will let Him into your life, He will let all that is not of God fail in your life.

John 2:1-10
 
Jesus stated, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20) Are you paying attention to the only one that reverses the irreversible? The living Word of God stands at your door knocking. The Psalmist recorded, “Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts…” (Psalm 95:7-8) Evidently, hardness of hearts is also one thing that denies hearing His voice. Are you operating hardness of heart? Will you extend invitation to Jesus and let Him come and govern every area of your affairs?
At a certain wedding in Cana of Galilee Jesus was present. Jesus’ presence at the wedding denied mockery, embarrassment, failure and ridicule from having a place in the wedding. It was not accidental that Jesus was at this wedding. It is written, “Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.”(John2:2) Jesus was at the wedding by invitation of the celebrant. The most important fact is that, Jesus was there at the wedding when the wedding celebration was at the point of mockery. The celebration was running short of wine when the mother of Jesus spoke to Jesus the living Word of God stating, “…they have no wine.” (John 2:3) The statement made by the mother of Jesus provoked Jesus’s miracle to replace mockery. Jesus is knocking; regardless of your challenge will you consider inviting Him into to your challenge? The same way Jesus converted mockery to miracle at the wedding, so shall He answer to your challenge at your invitation. He masters converting frustration to celebration; stagnation to motion. Have you invited Him into your goings and comings today? Have you invited Him into your week, month or the remaining days of this year? He is worthy of your invitation. Jesus is always waiting on us at our door for our invitation. He is not a partial God. He will not force Himself on any man because He is not a slave master but a saving master. If you will let Him into your life, He will let all that is not of God fail in your life. At the wedding, His presence filled all the emptiness with fullness. Jesus will not turn down our invitation if we will look up and call on Him today. He will fill you up. As usual, do not rush out to where you are going without extending your invitation to Him.
 
Prayer for today:Ask God to uphold you in every step of your life and to visit you in every area of life challenges.

FAITH CAPSULE: Constant prayer for deliverance is a prevailing avenue for displeasing the enemy.

Acts 12:1-25
 
Are you experiencing a direct or indirect enemy’s celebration over any confronting challenge in your life? Is it pleasing to the enemy when you are experiencing life threatening challenge?
Whatever gives pleasure to the enemy over your life or makes the enemy rejoice concerning your life, is a close call to an untimely death. The only enemy of man is the one and only adversary of man before God. Adversary of man does have many agents that often operate through man to get to man. Despites the devices of the enemy, man is greatly privilege to counter and defeat enemies of life through prayer and ministering of the word of God. Are you spending time in prayer with the brethren, in the morning, afternoon, night time or midnight, rather than having a gossip ministry? Anyone that is lacking in prayer is definitely exposing self to becoming a victim in the hand of his/her enemy.
The case of pleasing enemy: King Herod was an ally of the Jews who were persecuting the early church. They were also enemies of the gospel, and did not have respect for the lives of the Apostles. It is written, “Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.”(Acts 12:1-4) It pleased the Jews that James was killed by the sword. That same hand that went against James went after Peter with the same agenda. The word points out Peter’s deliverance stating, “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.” (Acts 12:5)The enemy wanted to rejoice over Peter. Thank God for Peterthat prayer warrior stood in the gap for Peter. Just as the enemies were pleased about James’ death, they also wanted to be pleased about Peter’s death. Persecuting the believers of Jesus was pleasing to the Jews; constant praying for deliverance was the prevailing avenue for displeasing the enemy. Get out of unhealthy gossip and get yourself into a prayer group.

Prayer for today: Ask God that the enemy will have no ground to be pleased concerning your life.