FAITH CAPSULE: What Peter experienced could become your experience.

Act 12

There are gates that have to move for a believer to be out of the reach of the wicked one. Until gates are open, believer could be trapped not only for stagnation but also termination. Once after Jesus had left the face of earth, Peter and James the brother of John found themselves behind a gate set up by King Herod Agrippa 1, the nephew of Herod Antipas who murdered John the Baptist. Behind this gate James, the brother of John, had already been killed by the outstretched hand of King Herod with the sword. Also, Peter was set for is own termination. The Bible mentions in Acts 12:5, “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church”. Just as Jesus Christ called Peter to follow Him so you have been called. All that Peter experienced as a follower of Jesus Christ are not elusive to you. What Peter experienced could become your experience. However, do you or can you identify any group that is in accord somewhere or in some place that can stand in gap for you? Going to church, nice and quiet on Sundays, minding your business and missing out in what can be identify, as a fellowship of brethren will not be in place when you end up in place of need. Evidently, Peter had a fellowship of believers and Peter reaped from what must have been sown when he was a having his freedom. At the time when a prayer of accord was being rendered on behalf of Peter, “And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison…” (Acts 12:6-7) The power of coming together in prayer cannot be undermine. Whenever light showed up evil agenda give way. Light did not just showed up, “When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the Iron Gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.” (Acts 12:10) Prayer moved through the angel to have Iron Gate opened on its own accord. Are you in accord with the fellowship of believers?  You cannot forsake the assembly or fellowship of believers if you desire to live an accomplished life to the glory of God. With brethren in place that are lifting you up when there is a need, gates of hindrance, stagnation, death sentence or sudden death will have no choice but to open on its own accord for your deliverance.

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from all gates of the wicked.

FAITH CAPSULE: When God promotes you, no one can demote you.

Daniel 6

Daniel a young captive maintained his believe in the God of his father despite the fact that life placed him in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar at a young age. Daniel refused all that could deny his focus on God while in captivity. At one point, “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8) As a captive, Daniel’s challenges did not set him up against his God but positioned him for promotion from level to level. It was God’s promotion. It has been long time that you have desired for promotion and it has been long that you have been praying to God for promotion to come. Have you prayed once that the promotion that will come your way will not be the one that will bring you down? The fact about promotion is that the challenges that are packed in promotion are greater than the challenges that are surrounding the desire for promotion. To be promoted is to be on a ground that is easily and more accessible to easy falling. Before Daniel was promoted from governor to the one in charge of the whole realm during the reign of King Darius (Daniel 6:3), he had challenges. The promotion for Daniel brought hell-raising confrontations that were challenging to his stand and belief in the God who was the God of his life. The fellow government officials worked out a death trap for Daniel in the den of the lions. They meant evil, bad and permanent termination. Daniel’s fellow government officials could not find any wrong against Daniel except through his God. Daniel 6:5 testifies to the move of the government officials, “Then these men said, ‘We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God’”. A very wrong way for the enemy to bring you down is in using the name of God against you if your stand is still in your God. Promotion is not bad when that promotion is rooted in God; not on any evil devices or evil deceptions. When your promotion is of God, challenges will rage like a storm, but your stand in the Name of God will prevail. Daniel ended up in the den of lion because of promotion. The lion received its promotion because he refused to touch the Lord’s promoted. Daniel came out well and the families of all the evil ones became the portion (promotion) of the lions when they received more than their regular supply of food.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace not to shake but to keep your eyes on God. When He promotes you, no one can demote you and you will not be consumed.

FAITH CAPSULE: What do you see and transfer to the heart for further implementation? 

2 Samuel 11, 12

Sinning is an act that is formed in our hearts, whether is acted upon or not. The Bible warned in the book of Proverbs, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it springs the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) The warning does not need further interpretation, other than to let us know that our hearts demand a somber protection from evil filtrations. Jesus taught that murderer begins in the heart. When thought to commit murderer is sustained in the heart it becomes a sin before it becomes an act. During the same teaching, He also mentioned that adultery becomes a sin in the heart before reality outside of the heart. Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-28, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” What are you looking at? What do you see and transfer to the heart for further implementation? David, a man after God’s own heart committed a grave sin when he saw and transferred what he saw to the heart for further implementation. It was recorded about David, “Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.” (2 Samuel 11:2-5) Evidently, what David saw was processed in his heart. He could not keep his heart from what he saw in Bathsheba but went to further action that cost him a great deal in life. The word of God cannot be broken and He means what He has commanded us not to do. It doesn’t matter what others think or say about you, because God only goes by what is in our hearts. It is written…“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…” (2 Chronicles 16:9) The verse is a confirmation of the truth that God see what the heart carries.

Prayer for today: Ask God for grace that will allow you to keep your heart diligent and true to Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: The word of God that cannot be broken broke them all in the wilderness.

Numbers 14, Joshua 5

The children of Israel’s exodus out of Egypt into the Promise Land were filled with miracles. Despite the manifestations of miracle, they did not travel far when they began to complicate their breakthrough with complains and negative confessions. The journey of eleven days was converted to be journey of forty years. Constant and consistent complaining led to acts of rebellion directed onto God through Moses. The Bible recorded that after they went to spy on the land that God promised to give them, they came back announcing “…we are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we.” (Numbers 13:31) The statement is an indirect way of calling God a liar. It was rebellious and it moved God to reject them. Complaining and rebellion is sin unto God. God did not overlook their sin but responded, “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.”(Numbers 14:28-31) The Lord reproached the children of Israel for their acts of rebellion towards His promises. The word of God that cannot be broken broke them all in the wilderness. All who left Egypt got left in the wilderness, when they died the younger generation took over. Through Joshua, God commanded circumcision for their children. After their circumcision, God sent Joshua to them saying, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.” (Joshua 5:9) Their Complaints, led to rebellious acts, which was a demonstration of rejecting God. Evidently they became reproached before God. As a vessel of reproach, promise could not be released, they were repositioned from bondage to wilderness and eventually they were replaced by their children. God in His goodness and mercy, through circumcision, rolled away their reproach and they ate from the fruit of the Promised Land. Stop complaining; take off to your Gilgal.

Prayer for today: O Lord, My creator, cause me not to miss my Gilgal. Let reproached be rolled away from me.

FAITH CAPSULE: Whatever your eyes feed on, your heart will live on.

Judges 14

Jesus was teaching the multitude when He stated, “Blessed are the pure in the heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8) By virtue of the word of God, it is safe to say that one of the highways to heaven is keeping your heart from evil. The book of Proverbs talks about how to keep heart from evil, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) A heart that is kept with diligence will be pure. To be pure in heart is to be righteous. To be righteous will identify a believer as one with integrity. A believer with Integrity is one who is undiminished in having and living the life of Christ. Living life honestly by the word of God and not living life deceitfully is turning back to God for a pure heart. The pure in the heart are not wicked and they will see God. Taking control of the things that you expose yourself to is one the ways that you can engage to keep your heart pure. Jesus called the eye the lamp of the body in Matthew 6:2, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Whatever your eyes feed on, your heart live on. For a heart to be well kept you need keep your eyes away from activities that could pollute the heart and keep it from being pure. What you see determines what your heart receives. What you receive then determines what you become. Why not take control of your eyes by constantly redirecting it to what is good? Every challenge in the life of Samson started when he saw a woman. The Bible recoded in Judges 14:1-3, “Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.” Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” In the seeing of Samson, disobedience came from his heart against the parents. When disobedience takes root in the heart, purity is erased from the heart. Position your self for blessing and not pollute your eye with bad.

Prayer for today: Ask God to keep you and enable you to hear and see good things in your ways.