FAITH CAPSULE:The way for the journey of life is to follow Him.

Matthew 8: 18-26
 
So many want to be near Jesus but they do not want to stand for Him.
So many want to see Him but they do not want to seek Him.
So many want to come to Him but they do not want to take what He offers.
Numerous times, multitudes followed; many claims to be following Him but most ended not following through with Him.
Despite all, He remains faithful. What a good God we serve!
The Lord is the God and is consistent despite our inconsistency.
God remains faithful despite our failure.
He alone is the merciful God and never runs out of mercy.
The grace of life is not by merit but by mercy.
He alone is the mighty God and He never runs out of mercy or might.
The way for the journey of life is to follow Him. It is very crucial to follow Him because no one knows the way except the ones that follow Jesus.
Our final destination is to get to our Father who art in heaven. Jesus Himself emphasized in John14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Absolutely no one gets to the Father except through Jesus, the Son.
No one has been identified to have followed Him at loss.
When all ways are blockedthere is a way to follow if you will deny all for Jesus. Isaiah 43:16 recorded that He made a way through the sea. When we follow He that makes a way through the sea, we can be rest assured that our case is settled and our ways are set for His glory.
When He called His disciples, He called them to follow. He knew what He would do. He did not at anywhere or anytime called any to serve without following Him. Has He called you to follow?
It is wonderful to serve God but not enough without following Him. Are you following Him wherever He goes or are you following Him wherever you want or choose? He is calling you today to re-identify how you have been following Him. Following Jesus is a costly adventure with no excuse that is reasonable not to follow. At one time a disciple gave a reasonable excuse to delay or deny following Jesus, “Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” (Matthew 8:21) Jesus’ responded to the disciples excuse by stating, “…follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8: 22) Clearly, in answering to His call there is no ground for delay. Are you one that is considering following Him truly? Following Jesus should not be only by the word of mouth. Let the dead bury dead; you are a child of the living God. Follow Him and no just flow with the crowd!
 
Prayer for today:Ask for the grace to live for God fully.

FAITH CAPSULE:A failure to build on the word of God will cause any other building to fail.

Joshua 1 
 
The word of God that’s released is what will build every believer who cares to hear and obey. Believers that want to be built up have to be continual and unfailing in obeying the word of God. Meditation is what makes obeying and doing what the word commands. Joshua 1:8, “This book of law shall not depart your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”With meditation, one will be in position to be able to observe and do according to the word. A failure to build on the word of God will cause any other building to fail. When Noah received the commanding word of God, he moved forward to build up on the word and was able to stand against the flood of destruction. What are you doing with the word of His grace that is sounding in your direction? What are you doing with word of God which is able to build you? Are you entering into the word of God by letting the word into your life? If you will allow the word to gain entrance in your life, it will give you your inheritance among those that are sanctified. Being among the sanctified is to be among those that are separated to the Commanding commander; the only One that reverses the irreversible. The process of building can be challenging and sometimes intimidating. It’s unimaginable the type of mockery that Noah endured when building an ark in a region where there’s hardly any rainfall. As a believer that has entered into the word of God, behaving the word of God will not have its way without mockery, intimidation or persecution by the world that does not know God. During the process of building, Noah was calling attention to the people to build up, but they were busy in attending to build up in the world. Just as it was in the time of Noah so it is today. Regardless of any kind of mockery, intimidation or persecution, you should not be ashamed of the gospel. Apostle Paul, having been through all kinds of trials, knew what it would be involved when he declared in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” The Word of God is God and His word is life. If you will receive the word you will have the right to become the children of God (John 1:12). It is absolutely impossible to hear the word of His grace and continue to doubt Him.
 
Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of obedience to reign and rule your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Despising the word of God destroys in the world.

Genesis 6
 
An act of complaint is an act to rebel. When there is rebellion in place it becomes a rejection of the word of God. To reject the word of God is also an act of disobedience, and this can be compared to setting a date with death. The anointed first king of Israel, King Saul, rejected the command of God, and God rejected him. The act of King Saul was accounted to him as rebellion. It is an act of rebellion to hear from God and not do as commanded. Rebellion does have its root in complaint. The children of Israel, during the journey through the wilderness, were constantly complaining before it was accounted to them as rebellion. During the investigation of the Promised Land, the spy came back with a negative report. Based on the report given, the children of Israel lifted up their voice of complaint against Moses and Aaron. At that juncture, Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb identified rebellion in the complaint of the Israelites. The rebellious act prompted their response with a positive report and they both attempted to disregard the negative report by saying “Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us.” (Numbers 14:9) Do you believe that the Lord is with you? Why then allow fear? Whenever fear is allowed, one is set in the way of destruction. Noah received a command from God to build an ark that was to serve as a vehicle against flood of destruction. Noah moved without doubt or question. Noah built an ark in the most unlikely area — he built an ark where it hardly rains in a period of a year. In his obedience, the word testified, “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.” (Genesis 6:22) Are you as a believer finding it difficult to obey according to all and not according to your convenience? In the Old Testament time, Noah received the command to build against destruction that was eminent. Also in the New Testament a command to build has been released through the mouth of the Apostle Paul. In Acts 20:32, “So now brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and give your inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Believers are to be built up by the word of God against destruction just as Noah built for himself and his household an ark by the command of the word of God.
 
Prayer for today:Ask God to deliver you from the spirit that causes disobedient in man’s life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Keeping distance from the Word of God increases your closeness to Satan.

Luke 22:31-62
 
Living in denying God is evidence of faith-failure. Jesus spoke to Peter, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail.” (Luke 22:31-32) By speaking to Peter about faith-failure, Jesus knew exactly what was ahead. Peter had the warning how his faith was going to fail when Jesus told him, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.” (Luke 22:34) Just as spoken by Jesus, Peter’s denial of Jesus was his faith-failure. The Word of God that sounded for Peter came to pass after the arrest of Jesus. It is written, “Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed at a distance. Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, ‘This man was also with Him.’ But he denied Him,saying, ‘Woman, I do not know Him.’” (Luke 22:54-57) The failure of Peter is clear to every believer of the Word that cares to study. Peter denied Jesus, the living Word of God, at the time when he began to keep distance from Jesus. Peter had a great desire and determination not to deny Jesus, but he fell short of his desire and determination when the distance between him and the Word of God increased. 
Peter keeping distance was because of challenges surrounding the arrest of Jesus. The arrest of Jesus was not convenient and it was painful. Peter was not ready to undergo such pain. In Peter’s following at distance, the Bible records in Luke 22:55-56 how Peter went and joined those that kindled fire in the midst of the courtyard. Peter wanted warmth and comfort while his master had been arrested in the middle of a cold night. Peter sought and gained a place of comfort in place of commitment. Evidently, seeking comfort in the place of commitment will keep a believer at distance from the living Word of God. While he was in his comfort zone, Peter was repeatedly confronted in regard to his relationship with Jesus. With the consistent requests to know of Peter’s relationship in relation to Jesus, Peter graduated from denying Jesus to rejecting Him by responding, “Man, I do not know what you are saying!” (Luke 22:60) Peter, after his third denial of Jesus as predicted by Jesus, he then remembered the word of Jesus that stated, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” (Luke 22:61) A believer that keeps distance from the Word of God narrows their distance from the Satan and becomes closer to the deceiver of man. Determination will fail, but prayer will prevail.
 
Prayer for today:Ask for the grace for your faith not to fail.

FAITH CAPSULE: Pride is a personal ride to self-destruction.

Philippians 2
 
Jesus’ humility was testified of in Philippians 2:5-8, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
The mind of Christ is that of a little child; that of a humble one. The effect of being humble:
The scriptural verse above points it out that, Jesus “humbled Himself and became obedient…” Clearly, without humility, it can be impossible to be obedient to the commands of God. Meaning, humility and obedience cannot be separated. Pride, the opposite of humility, is not of God; it is of the evil one and if it is in place in one’s life, humility will be out of place in that person’s life. As a result, where pride reigns, disobedience is active and death looms.
Pride is a personal ride to self-destruction. It is an indirect or sometimes direct way of rejecting God’s command. For example, pride is what terminated the destiny of the Israelites from getting to their Promised Land. The Israelites complained in response to the report of those that went to spy the land, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt” (Numbers 14:2-4). God regarded the response as a way of rejecting Him when He spoke to Moses: “…How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me…” (Numbers 14:11) Evidently, rejecting God is same as not believing God. Not believing God is disobeying God. Not obeying God is pride, the opposite of humility. God cannot overlook sin when there is no repentance. God declared what He was going to do to all that rejected Him when He stated, “They certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it” (Numbers 14:23-24). All the ones that rejected God by act of disobedience did not see the land except for Joshua and Caleb. Following God fully is only possible when there is mind of Christ in place in one’s life.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God for a heart that serves Him fully.