FAITH CAPSULE: The best position to take in looking up to Jesus is at the feet of Jesus

Matthew 15:21-31

The Bible recorded, “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” The Bible mentioned here that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus while Jesus referred to the position of Mary as the good part. Where in Jesus are you positioning yourself? The best position to take in looking up to Jesus is at the feet of Jesus just like Mary did. However, coming to His feet will not be enough until all is laid down at His feet. Great multitudes came to His feet and they received healing because in addition to their coming, they were able to lay it all at His feet. It is written in Matthew 15: 30, “Then great multitudes came to Him having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them.” Before healing was possible, they came and were able to lay all that had been hibernating in them down at His feet. Also, “Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, and when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live’” (Mark 5:22-23). Those who were going to His feet were not just spectators or multitudes. When they went to His feet, they constantly demonstrated expectation for manifestation by laying it all at or falling down in worship at His feet. You have been going everywhere that is named in the Name of God and your situation remains unchanged. In your going are you laying it or bagging it to take it back with you? It is one thing to come and not to lay it down. It is another thing to come and lay it down before Him. Whenever all is laid down at His feet, it will be laid to rest and when you fall down at His feet; your concern will not rise with you again.

Prayer for today: Ask God to help in every area of your unbelief. Ask for the grace to begin to lay all your challenges at His feet.

FAITH CAPSULE: In the journey of life, disgrace often comes before the arrival of His grace.

2 Kings 5

Moses the reluctant leader of the children of Israel was awe-struck when God, in the form of a burning bush, called him to guide the Israelites out of the bondage to their Promised Land. Moses was broken when relegation came to him from palace to desert and from desert to shepherd. Moses later became a giant in God’s hand. Joseph, the dreamer, was broken from the most beloved of his father to the un-beloved of his brother. He was broken from pit to slavery and from slavery to prison. A former prime slave became a prime minister in Egypt. Naaman, a Syrian army commander, had all it takes to be received with a red carpet when he went seeking for Elisha for healing. Instead, a servant of Elisha received him. Naaman felt insulted because of the no-show of the prophet Elisha himself. He received a further blow when he was instructed by the servant of the prophet that his healing was located in the River Jordan. Naaman responded, “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.” (2 Kings 5:12)Naaman’s pride was broken when the insulted River Jordan resulted to his healing. In the journey of life, disgrace often comes before the arrival of His grace. Your being down will surely bring you up if at all time your face is fixed on God the Almighty One that inhabits eternity. So many were broken before breakthrough in the Bible and all were meant for the glory of the Almighty God. You love the Lord and your walk has been consistently relevant in the line with God’s word. Things have changed overnight; you are down, friends can no longer help, and desertions are showing faces in everywhere that you turn. You can hardly count on anyone for help and it seems you are the only Christian that is out of place. All that surrounds you is beginning to wonder how long you will go through what you are going through. Complaint, discouragement or self-destruction is not what you need. You need to know that God will see you through if you will keep seeing through with the Word of God. God has a plan for you. Isaiah 63:14, “As a beast goes down into the valley, and the spirit of the LORD causes him to rest so You lead your people, to make yourself a glorious name.” The point here is that God constantly want to be glorified and make Himself a glorious name. When your breakthrough arrives, He will be gloriously glorified concerning your life. Job is a testimony. God will see you through. You are not alone. 

Prayer for today: O Lord my God, make me and let me not be a failure, in Jesus name.

FAITH CAPSULE: Allowing faith to fight our battle is looking up to God.

2 Chronicles 20

How are you fighting your battle? The children of Israel came out of bondage by the hand of God but Pharaoh the king of Egypt could not let them go but pursued them. The children of Israel reacted, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.” (Exodus 14:10) Moses responded and said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation f the Lord which He will accomplish for you today…” (Exodus 14:13) King Jehoshaphat was faced with war against Moab and Ammon. As a result, “King Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah” (2 Chronicles 20:3). In his prayers, he reminded God concerning the works of God’s hand and God responded by sending Jahaziel. God gave His word of promise in 2 Chronicles 20:17, “You will not need to fight in this battle, position yourselves, standstill and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.” The Word of God is true to deliver only if we will hear and believe. Are you foreseeing any representative of Moab and Ammon in your life? King Jehoshaphat did not call on man nor consider what man could do before he took his case straight up to God who delivers. He reminded God concerning the works of His hands that never fail. Do you have any testimony that you can remind Him of in order to provoke another testimony? Jehoshaphat and his people positioned themselves by standing still. They were unshakeable, and they rested their case in the hand of God. They acknowledge that they would not be able to fight a successive battle in their own strength and might. They positioned themselves victorious when they began to see victory before it was yet there. Above all, they busted into praise worship. It is written that when they began to “…sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon and Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated” (2 Chronicles 20:22). How are you fighting your battle? The Word of God is true and if you will believe in His Word, you will be delivered. God is still the same as He was yesterday. Allowing faith to fight our battle is looking up to God; disallowing fear to have a place; standing still and seeing victory in the face of confronting battle. It worked for King Jehoshaphat and the children of Israel at the Red Sea.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the enablement to stand on His word of deliverance and preservation.

FAITH CAPSULE: Negative confession in the face of confronting challenge is an evidence of fear.

Exodus 14

The reaction of the children of Israel in the face of confronting challenge was negative confession. Exodus 14:10-112, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. Then they said to Moses, “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.” Negative confession in the face of confronting challenge is an evidence of fear. Fear not! Have faith and it will cause you to stand still. When there is failure in standing still, you will miss the salvation of God concerning your troubling issue. The children of Israel were under great threat having been delivered from the bondage of over 400 years. With Pharaoh’s army behind and the Red Sea before them, fear gained strength and Moses came under the sharp word and confession of negativity from the children of Israel. Moses responded in Exodus 14:13, “Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.’” It is all about trusting in the Lord. Trusting in the Lord is not having fear, but rather having faith in place. In deed and in truth no one knows what you are going through. With your confronting challenge, it does not seem like there is light at the end of the tunnel. However, the light that is for you is not just at the end of the tunnel; it is rather right with you in your tunnel of challenges. Pharaoh’s army, horses and chariots could not survive the confronting Red Sea that was before the children of Israel. The Red Sea was opened up for the salvation of the children of Israel as recorded in Exodus 14:22, “So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left.” The children of Israel did not just go through the Red Sea, but they went through it on a dry ground while Pharaoh’s army could not survive in their pursuit.

Prayer for today: All that has taken a stand to deny you will be destroyed and they will not be able to catch up with you. If you will fear not, have faith and stand still, God will see you through.

FAITH CAPSULE:The word of God is secret to those who failed to take to it.

Psalm 64

There is no language under heaven that is beyond God’s understanding.

With all the numerous ways that we have to communicate, there is none that surpasses God’s understanding. God hears and sees all that goes on back and forth among all of His creation. Psalmist states, “He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man knowledge? The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.”(Psalm 94:9-10) It does not matter how we call on God, the truth is He hears us whenever we call. You can communicate in your thoughts, you can speak loud or chose to meditate, God will hear you. Of all several means of communicating with God, meditation is one that demands more and delivers more. God did not hide the secret of meditation when He approached Joshua after the death of Moses. Joshua 1:8-9, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from 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. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Three times in the book of Joshua chapter one, God laid emphasis to Joshua the importance of meditation. It is the secret to having a good success in the journey of life. Psalm 1:3 could not lay aside the importance of meditation as the way of God’s blessings. Meditation is not a one hour a day sacrifice it is an all day and on going sacrifice. Evidently, the one that meditates will undoubtedly intimidate his world by virtue of God’s blessing in one’s life. Meditation is power to be preserved from enemy, power to overcome plots of the wicked or the rebellion of the workers of iniquity. Psalm 64:1-2, “Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the rebellion of the workers of iniquity.” As a believer of the word of God, why not consider and take with serious urgency the need for constant and consistent meditation as a part of your life? The word of God is secret to those that failed to take to it. To the ones who choose to dwell in the secret place of the most high, spending time studying and abiding in the word of God as it is written is an undeniable power that manifests.

Prayer for today: Make me O Lord, to become one that meditates on Your word day and night.