FAITH CAPSULE: Rebellion has its root in rejecting the word of God.

1 Samuel 15
 
When there was a great need for water for the Israelites, God commanded Moses, saying, “…speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water…” (Numbers 20:8) God’s command is His word, which should not be violated. Moses went to the rock as commanded by God.At the rock, “Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock…” (Numbers 20:11) Moses struck instead of speaking to the rock. God responded, “…Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them” (Numbers 20:12). Every action upon the word of God counts before God.
God also commanded King Saul to go and attack the Amalekites with a specific command that stated, “…utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill bothman and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, and camel and donkey.” (1 Samuel 15:3) God’s command is God’s instruction and it cannot be diluted. God knows better than the one who delivers the message. King Saul went and destroy all but sparred the best sheep and oxen. Saul committed an act of incomplete obedience. Incomplete obedience is also a failure to obey God. In response to King Saul’s act of disobedience, the word of God came for him through Samuel, “…has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 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” (1 Samuel 15:22-23) Incomplete obedience is rejecting the word of God. Rebellion has its root in rejecting the word of God. Is it possible, in any way that you are having a trace of rebellion in your approach to the word of God? There is a way out of rebellion and that way is in hearing the voice of God that is, hearing what the word has to say or what the word of God is saying. “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 trialin the wilderness.” (Psalm 95:7-8)
Despite all that the Lord God did in bringing them out of the bondage in Egypt, the children of Israel entered into rebellion and became lost in the ways of God. To be lost in His ways is to gain an exit out of His rest.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you not to be a vessel of dishonor; not to work the works of a rebellious one.

FAITH CAPSULE: On your journey, it could be that you are yet to face challenges or you are already facing challenges.

Exodus 13:17-22
 
To those that went on the journey of the wilderness, it must have been as if the journey would never come to an end. Are you feeling the same on your journey of life? Do you question when all the confronting challenges will be over? On the journey of life, challenges will not be over, neither shall they go away, but the grace that is available is more than enough to make you grow over challenges. The issue of challenges cannotbe spelled out better than inPsalm 34:19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” God always honors His word and He will not fail to perform it. Interestingly enough for the children of Israel, the Lord led them through the safest route. It was a route that avoided war with the forces of the enemy when they were not yet ready; a route that would prevent them from becoming captive at the hands of enemy. It was a route that took them from going back for the worst. Does that speak of your present route? Above all, God led them through a route where there would have been no reason for them to go back into the captivity of Egypt. Exodus 13:17-18, “Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt. So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.” In their deliverance from entering a war route, they turned on to the war of complaint and disobedience against the One that led them from bondage. The children of Israel could have taken the worst route, but they did not recognize it. As a result, they were unable to acknowledge what God had done as they turned to complaining and disobedience.
On your journey, your situation could be much worse right now, consider yourself blessed and keep on trusting God. On your journey, it could be that you are yet to face challenges or you are already facing challenges. The truth is that challenges will come to make you up and not to break you up if you do not complain. Turn your face to the grace and mercy of God that will carry you through.Today, encourage yourself in the Lord; let it be clear to you that God will get you to where He is taking you if you do not step out of His command.

Prayer for today: Ask for deliverance from every agent of distraction in the journey of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Testimonies of God are the fuel of transportation through the wilderness journey.

Numbers 14
 
Jesus went through the wilderness because He knew that we would have to go through it. Jesus’ going through the wilderness was to leave behind a foot step for each and every one that has answered His call to follow through. The same wild beasts are still there, but the good news is that the ministering angels that saw Jesus through are also available to see us through.
Testimonies of God are the fuel of transportation through the wilderness journey. A believer that constantly engages testimonies of God by constantly meditating on them shall not be denied from getting through to the expected end. Psalm 119:2 states, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,who seek Him with the whole heart!”Testimonies of God are the words of God and it is impossible for anyone that meditates on it not to keep it. Also, one that keeps His testimonies will serve Him indeed and in truth. The children of Israel were to travel through the wilderness to their Promised Land for eleven days, but the journey went on for forty years. At times it is good to have a wilderness journey, but it is not good to live in the wilderness. The generation that came out of Egypt did not only journey in the wilderness, but they wandered around until the wilderness passed them unto death and they were unable to see or step on the Promised Land. The children of Israel did not just become wanderers in the wilderness by accident, but their acts of complaining against God trapped them in the wilderness.
During their journey, complementing God for His awesome work instead of complaining could have done them good. The act of complaining is the act of rebellion that often leads to termination. Due to their incessant complaining against what God was doing in their life, God responded in Numbers 14:22-23, “Because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.”God promised to take them to the Promised Land. He showed them great and mighty signs in Egypt, and on their way out of Egypt. The signs and wonders of God are His testimonies. God’s testimonies are more than enough to transport believers to the Promised Land. Are you constantly meditating on His testimonies? The testimonies of God are the evidence of what He can do and they also provoke our faith in Him.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the understanding of God’s statutes and the way of His precepts, that enables meditating on His wonderful works.

FAITH CAPSULE: A journey through the wilderness is a process where character is built up to maintain life in the Promised Land.

Mark 1:1-15
 
The wilderness is a place where the enemy has planted all kinds of mines to derail the transportation that will bring man to the ground of transformation. Also, it is a journey that cannot be avoided if one desires transformation in life. The children of Israel passed through it to get to their Promised Land. The fact that the Lord led them through the wilderness was evidence that it was the best available route. It is written, “Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 13:17-18). The wilderness was the best available route and yet it appeared the worst and the most challenging to the children of Israel. The journey through the wilderness is the route that takes God’s children through to where God has purposed for them in life.
Luke 4: 1-2 documents that, “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.” The next experience in Jesus’ life after having been filled with the Holy Spirit was on a journey to the center of His divine assignment. The journey of Jesus calls for a passage through the wilderness. This experience in Jesus’ journey was same as that of the children of Israel. The Israelites, after having been freed, moved on to their next experience, which was going through the wilderness. Jesus our Lord and Savior went through the wilderness and for us, taking the same path should not be an exception. A journey through the wilderness is a process where character is built up to maintain life in the Promised Land. Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith could not enter into His full assignment on earth until He was led into the wilderness. The Bible makes us realize what exists in the wilderness journey of Jesus stating, “And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the beasts; and the angel ministered to Him.” (Mark1:13)Does it feel you are in a wilderness journey? The same ministration that Jesus received will also answer for you. It is a season that must past if you will remain focus on God.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to remain focus and be strengthened.

FAITH CAPSULE: Declare God in your way and be decorated by God.

Daniel 3
 
To declare the work of God is to be obedient to God and disobey the gods of this world. The three friends of Daniel (Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego) demonstrated what it means to declare the works of God and be decorated by God. The three friends of Daniel disobeyed King Nebuchadnezzar by not worshiping a gold image. Whoever does not fall down to worship gold image was to be casted into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Attempts to get them worship did not work and the king questioned:Who is the god who will deliver the three friends from his hands?
The three friends of Daniel, in the face of untimely death declare the wonder-working God stating, “…O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18) It is impossible to declare the wonder-working God in the face of a challenging confrontation like that of the three friends and not have God decorate the declarer of His wonder-working name.
God decorated the three friends immediately in an uncommon way in the history of creation when He came down to deliver them in the fiery burning furnace. They were highly decorated and the king could not resist from announcing the awesomeness of God.
It happened while they are in the burning furnace that God Himself came down instead of sending an angel for their deliverance. When the king saw the God whom he did not know before, he was astonished and he stated, “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”(Daniel 3:25)
The three friends of Daniel, while in captivity, despite their challenging situation consciously took to the way of life by remaining close to the God of their fathers and they were not far from God. The wicked was not a challenge to them as they remained focused on their God. The three friends of Daniel trusted in God and their hope could not become rusted.
The Bible is written for our learning because God did not speak to waste His word. The same God of yesterday is the same today and forever. Draw nearer to God, ignore the wicked, focus and hold onto God in these days of rising challenges and you will ride above all.
 
Prayer for today:Ask God for the grace to stand a ground for Him when a challenge demands it.