Numbers 22

FAITH CAPSULE: Get God committed by your work and walk in Him.
Jesus stated in Matthew 7:22-23, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Getting work done in His name for His name without walking in His ways gets no one recognized by Jesus when it is going to matter the most. In the church today and among many acclaimed believers, so many miracles and wonders are being done in the name of Jesus. However, many are not walking in the way that will make Jesus declare that He knows them.
When participation in the work of God is not backed by walking in His way one would miss it. Doing the work of God is God-enabled. God can use anyone or anything to get work done but walking His way is in obeying His commandments. Evidently, man needs God for attainment but God does not need any for His own attainment He is the Creator. God once used a donkey to get his work done. God needed to get the attention of Balaam but there was no response from Balaam. As a result, God used Balaam’s donkey as documented in Numbers 22:28, “Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” Jesus once declared what He could do with stones by stating,“I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” (Luke 19:40) This statement of Jesus Indicated that stones could be made to serve in His purpose where any of His living creation is not available.
The way of God calls for more serious attention, for us not to miss heaven. Heaven is not accessible by titles. There are many title holders such as Prophets, Bishops, Apostles and Evangelists that are working wonders in the name of Jesus and probably walking outside of His ways by going astray in their hearts. Despite the wonderful works of God for the Israelites, God stated, “For forty years I was grieved with that generation and said, ‘it is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” (Psalm 95:10) Not knowing the ways of God denies them to be known by God and they could not enter His rest.
Working but not walking in His way would lead into ugliness of not being identified by Jesus.

Prayer for today: Ask God to show you His way, that you may know Him and find grace in His sight.

FAITH CAPSULE: See His word as being there to answer for your healing and deliverance.

1 Kings 18
 
Elijah, a man of great exploits, took a stand in the name of God and called for rain to cease and God granted his request. Just as requested by Elijah, rain indeed ceased for three and a half years. When it was God’s time to bring the rain back, Elijah was the one to be used by God. It is written, “And it came to pass after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, ‘Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.’” (1 Kings 18:1) This same Elijah called on God to show forth in the presence of unbelievers and false prophets on Mount Carmel where he called for fire. It is written, “The fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!’” (1 Kings 18:38-39) By virtue of God’s manifestation, Elijah seized and executed all the false prophets with sword. When the news of execution came to Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, she sent a message to Elijah stating, “…so let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” (1 Kings 19:2)
Elijah, a man of great exploits, did not inquire of the Lord when he fled in response to Jezebel’s threat. He received the word of threat and he saw the word of threat as real. It is written, “…when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.” (1 Kings 19:3) At this juncture, it shows that what we say or hear becomes manifested when we are able to see as being said. When Elijah called for rain to cease, he saw it and it was so. When Jezebel threatened him, he saw what she said as being factual and he started a race for his life.
Elijah lost his focus by seeing the word of Jezebel as being there for him instead of seeing the Word that was making provision where there was none. Whose word have you been seeing concerning all that confronts you? As a believer in the Word of God, not being able to see the same word that God spoke and saw at the time of creation as being there for you is an avenue to self-destruction.
Focus on the living Word of God. See His word as being there to answer for your healing and deliverance.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God to open your eyes of understanding.

FAITH CAPSULE:Wisdom is the instruction of God while knowledge is the application of wisdom.

1 Samuel 17
 
Salvation is work; it is inhabited in believing God. To believe God is work. Once Jesus was asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:28) In responding Jesus stated, “This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (John 6:29) Evidently, It can be concluded in the response of Jesus that believe is work
In conclusion to Jesus’ response, to complete the work of God is to believe. Philippians 2:12 buttressed the word by stating, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)
What does it take to work? In any kind of work, being of the physical or working the works of God (Believing God) strength is the source. Without strength work will cease. In physical work strength comes from food. However, to keep working the works of God and not lose our salvation, the supply of strength must be consistent.Isaiah 33:6 identifies the source of strength for salvation, “Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation…” (Isaiah 33:6) Wisdom and knowledge are the source of strength that helps in working out our salvation.
Wisdom is the command, word or the instruction of God while knowledge is the application of wisdom. Are you studying the instructions (word) of God enough to be able to apply when you face challenges?
David operated in wisdom and once was recorded of him, “…David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely…” (1 Samuel 18:5) This describes David as a man of wisdom. When the children of Israel were confronted by Goliath and the Philistines army, there was a need for salvation. Goliath declared in one of his statement, “…I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. ” (1 Samuel 17:10-11)
David needed the wisdom of God to bring forth salvation to his people. Against every form of discouragement, the young David who was not trained in army combat went further and confronted Goliath by applying his wisdom stating, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you…” (1 Samuel 17:45-46)
David, in his application of the wisdom of God, he had knowing-edge (Knowledge) that prevailed over Goliath.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you for His wisdom to have a place in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: There is no other way out to the expected end but only through trusting in God.

Numbers 14
 
The people who went to spy the land with Caleb and Joshua failed to trust from the heart. Caleb testified, “Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the LORD my God.” (Joshua 14:8) Trust will not only deliver needs, but it will also bring preservation. Because Caleb was able to trust in his heart, it became possible for him to wait and not waste in the promises of God. Word of God is perfect to perform. Proverbs 3:5-6 says it all stating, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” Joshua was kept by God based on the level of his trust in what God can do. It is written, “And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the LORD spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old.” (Joshua 14:10) Caleb was able to testify to the grace of preservation because he trusted in God. There is no other way out to the expected end but only through trusting in God. Until trusting God graduates from your mouth to the heart, you are only operating in your own understanding. “…But he who put his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain.” (Isaiah 57:13) Caleb trusted God and he was able to possess his Promised Land When it was time for Caleb to inherit and possess all that the Lord had promised him, he was as strong as he was when the promise was made mention by God. After forty years, Caleb was so sure of his strength that he testified, “As yet I am strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both going out and coming in.” (Joshua 14:11) After forty years, nothing was on ground to rob Caleb of the Lord’s promise of blessing, neither was there any reason for him to receive what the Lord had for him in pain or grief. The word of God is true and His promises always come without sorrow. Has the Lord promised, but no fruition? He is a faithful God and He will never fail to deliver unless there is a failure in your receiving department. Play your part and God will do His part. Trust in the Lord.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace not to fall apart in the journey of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Trust is easier said than done among the believers and even non-believers.

Numbers 13
 
A Journey will take a course of route and a process of time, but those that trust the Lord through it all will have no regret at the end of their journey. Everyone under heaven is in a journey from the time they take their first breath. It is a journey that can be compared to that of the children of Israel coming out of bondage of over four hundred years. It is a journey that is full of ups and downs; a journey that giants and Goliaths are set to upset every footing that is to be taken or that has been taken. God promised to take the children of Israel to the Promised Land but it will have to take a process of time. That process has to be consciously and consistently rested on trusting God. Trust is easier said than done among the believers and even non-believers. Trusting God is not to rush, but rather to rest on the promises of God that never fails. Trusting God in the absence of abundance can be challenging, and trusting God when time is absolutely not on our side can be exhausting. Trusting on God for a way where there is no pathway can be exceedingly stressful. However, in the journey of life and through the wilderness of life, the only way out to the expected end is rooted in trusting God to show up at every juncture where there is no sign for survival. Caleb and Joshua were the only survivors among the thousands of Israelites that left Egypt for God’s Promised Land. Both Caleb and Joshua were able to survive because the different spirit in them saw hope where there was no hope. They remembered what the Lord had done and that provoked in them what the Lord was and is capable of doing. As a result of their conviction, they took an odd stand among their brethren who failed to see hope in the word of God. Purpose in your heart today that it will not matter if you are the only one who takes a stand, even among thousands, on the promises of God to bring to manifestation the Word of His mouth. Caleb stated in Joshua 14:7, “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart.” In these words of Caleb, it cannot be confused that trust is heart-activated and mouth-driven. If trust is not rooted in the heart, it will not stand no matter how loud or consistent the word is voiced out.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for heart to constantly hold onto trusting God.