FAITH CAPSULE: With contentment, Moses was in place — not out of place — for receiving the calling for his life.

Exodus 2:1-22

It is written, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.” (Exodus 1:8-9) The new king made life difficult for the children of Israel. All forms affliction were put in place to reduce the children of Israel until the king eventually gave a command stating, “…if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” (Exodus 1: 16) According to the king, it was his time to terminate the Hebrew male. In God’s timing, it was the right time to send a male son who would bring deliverance to thousands of His people. What a mighty God! Moses escaped death as an infant, but later turned out to be a murderer that had to run from the palace where he was raised. He ran from Pharaoh’s reach after killing an Egyptian, and ended up in Midian. Nothing happens by accident. In the life of Moses, all that happened prepared him for where he was going. In order for Moses to become a shepherd in the hand of God, he had to be trained as a shepherd. You do not know where you will wind up; you only know where you are now. Are you paying attention to Him? While Moses was living in the palace, he could not have imagined becoming a shepherd. Nevertheless, he ended up becoming a shepherd in the hand of God. To be used by God is a great achievement that cannot be compared to or traded for anything. You know in whom you believe, and that enough is an encouragement for you to stand firm in whatever condition or situation you may encounter. If Moses had missed his training, he probably would have been out of place to be called by God, thus he would have missed his divine schedule for his life. When he was received by the priest of Midian, he did not let pride or anger get in the way of what God planned for Him. Character was in place in the life of Moses, Exodus 2:21, “Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.” Contentment is what made the difference in the life of Moses. For Moses, living in a palace was replaced with living in a tent. Life could never have been an easy transition, but Moses was content. Do you have God in your life? What about contentment? The word of God says, ““Now godliness and contentment is great gain.” (1Timothy 6:6) With godliness add contentment for your gain. With contentment, Moses was in place-not out of place- for receiving the calling for his life.

Prayer for today: Ask God to endue you with the spirit of contentment.

FAITH CAPSULE: Without understanding, a knowing edge (knowledge) over confronting situations will not be in place.

1Samuel 3:1-11

In the journey of life, nothing matters like having knowledge. With knowledge perishing in the journey of life becomes impossible. It is written, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge…” (Hosea 4:6)The book of Isaiah 5:13 buttress Hosea 4:6 when it states, “Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.” (Isaiah 5:13) Truly, there is no way getting to expected end as expected, without knowledge. The challenges in life journey are numerable and it demands constant walk in knowledge.  It is the knowing that you have in the Lord that will determine the edge you will have over every confronting situations in the journey of life. It does not matter who you are or what you do in the house of the Lord; if the required knowledge is not in place in your life, it is possible for you to miss His direction or His call of assignment. I Samuel 3:1, “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” Age or number has never been a limitation in regard to whom God wants to use in furthering His purpose on the face of the earth. Man, however, can be limited if there is a lack of understanding in activating knowledge of Him. As young as Samuel was, he was the one to hear from God in the days when revelation was rare. Samuel was in the right location at the right time of his life. God located him for an assignment because age and number is not a determinant for God to move whenever or wherever He chooses to move. The point is Samuel was a minister and did not have the knowing that it takes to hear from God. Are you a minister that is not hearing from Him? Is knowledge a factor that denies inability to be hearing from Him? 1Samuel 3:7, “Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD. Nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to Him.” It was not that Samuel was too young; it was that despite his ministering to the Lord, despite being in the right location to be connected to heaven, he did not yet know the Lord.

Prayer for today: Ask God for an understanding to know how to hear Him in every calling that is placed in your life. Without understanding, a knowing edge (knowledge) over confronting situations will not be in place. He is a merciful God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Dwelling in the house of God is taking a shelter against the time of trouble.

Psalm 27

What the heart desires often come forth in life. King David stated, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4) What do you desire? Dwelling in the house of God is taking a shelter against the time of trouble. David went further to identify what is inhabited in dwelling in the house (presence) of God stating, “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5) Manifestly, dwelling in the presence of God will hide one and set one high away from trouble. As one that believes in the name of the Almighty God, it is important to consider if you have only been entering into His presence and not dwelling? It is written, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, “Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!’” Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.” (Jeremiah 7:1-3)It is not enough to be coming and going to the presence of God but to dwell. He who comes to God must believe that He is. Have you been coming long enough and nothing has changed in your spiritual life? There is a need to begin to come and seek Him diligently and make His presence become your dwelling place. Your level of belief is what will determine how you seek Him. Seek Him diligently and He will reward you because He is a faithful God. It is possible to come to Him and not believe. In the days of Jesus Christ, many came to see Him; some came to ridicule Him. Some did not go to Him because they did not believe. So many go to church on Sunday or on any given day, but are not able to identify in themselves if they actually believe in Him. Likewise in Jesus’ time, many went to Him, but did not seek Him. When you come with belief, you will not doubt Him but seek Him diligently. It is not enough to come to Him but to come and seek Him. Seeking Him is settling and dwelling in His presence. Just like David, desirer dwelling and God will deposit all that it takes to dwell in His presence.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to seek Him and continually and to dwell in His presence.

FAITH CAPSULE: Inhabited in the ways of God is life and not death.

1 Kings 9:1-16

It is written concerning Moses and the children of Israel. “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” (Psalm 103:7) The ways of God and the acts of God are His direction and His testimonies. Inhabited in the ways of God is life and not death, for those that meditate on it day and night. Whenever one takes out of the ways of God to one’s own ways it leads to death. The bible recoded, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) In God’s calling His ways are made known. When the Lord calls you, it does not matter who you are, where you are, what you have done, or what you are doing in the Lord. He does not call you to hide and if you do, you will end up in a back slide. He does not call you to run, and if you do, you will be replaced. Elijah, a man who was great in the hand of God, spoke to the rain and it ceased for three and a half years. God commanded him to go into hiding where provision is least expected. He obeyed and he lacked nothing because it is God’s way for him. In the name of God, he delivered a great blow to four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal by bringing them to open shame and by executing them all. After executing the prophets of Baal, Elijah got a message from Jezebel, 1 Kings 19:2, “Then Jezebel sent a message to Elijah, saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them tomorrow about this time.’” After having received the message, Elijah ran without hearing from God, he took to his own way. 1 Kings 19:3, “And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.” Elijah was constantly moved by God’s direction, but in this situation he was moved by the message of Jezebel. He ran away though God did not speak to him to run. He could run, but not hide from God. When the voice of God came to ask Him what he was doing where he was, he gave a reasonable excuse. He was commanded by God to return to the Wilderness of Damascus. Inside of God’s command was a new way for Elijah stating, “Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Mehola you shall anoint as prophet in your place.” (1Kings19:16) Eventually, Elisha took the place of Elijah.

Prayer for today: Ask that the placement of God for your life shall not be taken away from you in Jesus name.

FAITH CAPSULE: You may have the clock in your hand but God only moves by His time.

Luke 1

There will always be reason to be afraid but reacting in fear results in reducing our faith.  Every time faith is reduced, fear will increase and God will withdraw. The appearance of Pharaoh and his army charging at the Israelites at the Red Sea called for enough reason to be afraid but not to react by giving in to fear. With fear they confessed negatives saying, “…Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (Numbers 14:11-12) The Israelites waited for their miracle breakthrough but they could not celebrate it and died in the wilderness except for Caleb and Joshua. God is not pleased when faith ceases. God remains the same yesterday, today and forever. Zacharias a priest whose wife Elizabeth, was trusting God for the fruit of the womb, did not believe when at the appointed time for manifestation of his prayer an angel of the Lord appeared to him. At the appearance of the angel, he was afraid. The Bible recorded, “And When Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.” (Luke 1:12) Indeed, there was reason to be afraid, but allowing fear to trouble him reduced his faith. Despite his fear, the angel encouraged him, “…Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John…”(Luke 1:13-14) Zacharias prayed and God answered, but failed to celebrate when he began to question the angel, “…How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” (Luke 1:18) Just as his reaction was displeasing to God, so it was displeasing to the angel and he was prompted to pronounce the spirit of muteness and inability to speak upon him until the time of the birth of his son John. Are you holding on to your expectation from your prayer? You may have the clock in your hand but God only moves by His time. When manifestation is delayed by days, weeks, months or years, today is not the time to give up. God is also a God of the eleventh hour. Take to the word of God because it works. Present your request through prayer, position yourself by meditating and you will celebrate and not be mute and speechless when your miracle shows forth.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to keep you from giving up hope.