FAITH CAPSULE: Every time there is a failure in living up to the expectation invested in us, humiliation will have its way.

Mark 9:14-29

It is not enough to follow Jesus if He does not operate in you. Many are only followers but having Jesus operate in their life is a different ball game. It will make a big difference in the world today if all who claim to be His followers actually represent Him in every area of life. The disciples followed Him a lot and yet they failed to deliver a boy who had a mute spirit. When Jesus came to the disciples, “He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.” (Mark 9:14) The issue of the dispute was a failure on the part of His disciples who failed to perform as Jesus did. Every time there is a failure in living up to the expectation invested in us, humiliation will have its way. Jesus wanted to find out the cause for the dispute, when He got the following response, “Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” (Mark 9:17-18) The disciples had failed to deliver what had already been deposited in them. They could not demonstrate the power of Jesus in their life. Jesus responded to the father of the boy when He declared, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.” (Mark 9:19) Lack of faith or inadequate faith was the culprit to the disciples at that time. It is true in The Word that faith comes by hearing and hearing The Word of God. As a result, it will be safe to say “O Word less generation” One thing is clear in this wicked world of darkness, the amount of The Word of God that you have deposited in you, will determine how you navigate through this world. Are you spending enough time in The Word to avoid being called word-less or faithless? The disciples approached Jesus in privacy in order to find out the reason for their failure in casting out the mute spirit. Mark 9:31, “He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing out prayer and fasting.” As a follower how is your prayer and fasting life? Do you have a schedule for praying and fasting in sacrifice to God? Does your prayer and fasting only come when challenges present it self? Jesus did not wait for challenges before He withdrew himself to the mountains to spend time in praying and fasting. Follow Jesus in all and you too will operate just like He did.

Prayer for today: Take my days and my moments and let it be concentrated unto you O Lord.

FAITH CAPSULE: Trust in God and you will get to your expected end.

Psalm 105

When God sends you He will see you through from the beginning to the end. In your journey you will be stretched but His strength will sustain you. When God sends you it is possible for you not to know that He is the one that is sending you. God is the Almighty one and when He chooses to send you He will move you to take actions that you can never resist. The Bible recorded, “Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people.” (2 Samuel 24:1-2) David’s move was against God yet was orchestrated by God when He moved David. God was in action while David was the vessel. God’s understanding is unsearchable and He is the One and only God that can do and undo. God’s move in David was an indirect move against the children of Israel in order to punish them. God does have  different ways of sending anyone that He decides to send. Who could have imagined that what Joseph encountered during his journey to becoming second in command to Pharaoh was God’s move? It is written in Psalm 105: 17-19, “He sent a man before them—Joseph—who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the LORD tested him.” All that happened to Joseph before he entered his journey from home to Egypt as a slave was a dream but the dream did not reveal the journey to manifestation. The Bible clearly stated it that David’s journey was God sent and yet he faced insurmountable challenges. Is your journey facing the greatest challenges of your life? Could it be that your challenges today are God sent? The Bible is written for our learning if you will read all about Joseph, there might be an understanding that your journey could be God sent. Despite all the challenges in Joseph’s journey there was no documentation of Joseph’s complaining. Joseph refused to violate any command of God. Joseph did not loose focus of His God. It was a journey that started when he was seventeen years old. At the age of thirty he became the next in command to Pharaoh. A painful journey of thirteen years; sent by God and became a gainful journey. It could be that you are in your dream journey. Trust in God and you will get to your expected end.

Prayer for today: Have mercy to me, as Your custom is toward those who love Your name.

FAITH CAPSULE: To operate just as Jesus did, fasting and praying is not an option but a must.

Mark 9:14-29

It is not enough to follow Jesus if He does not operate in your life. Every believer that claims to be following Jesus should have the power of Him in every area of their life. The disciples followed Him enough when they could not heal the boy with the mute spirit. At a point when Jesus was away from His disciples, great multitude and scribes surrounded the disciples. When Jesus came to them, He wanted to know why they were surrounded when he asked, “…What are you discussing with them.” (Mark 9:16) In response to Jesus’ question, “…one of the crowds answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” (Mark 9:17-18) The cause of the dispute between the disciples and the multitude was the inability of the disciples to represent their Master. They were following the Master healer and they could not perform as healing disciples. The disciples failed to heal the boy with the mute spirit after having been following Jesus. Evidently, Jesus could not operate through them. Are you a follower that could not have the power of Jesus to operate in your life? The same power in Jesus was left behind for us to operate as a follower of Jesus. Jesus knew the reason for the failure of the disciples’ inability to heal the boy with the mute spirit. The Bible recorded, “He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” (Mark 9:19) Following and not being able to operate in Him is the evidence of lack of faith. Wherever there is absence of faith, the ability to operate as a believer becomes null and void. Jesus also reacted and called on the father of the boy with the mute spirit, “…If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23) The mute spirit departed and the boy received his healing. Following Jesus requires faith to do what Jesus did. Following Jesus requires consistent fasting and praying. To operate just as Jesus did, fasting and praying is not an option but a must. In following Jesus, we are to be engaged in all His word and become that which will enable us to flow in Him. As regard to healing, Jesus told His disciples, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29) Follow Him fully and perform like Him.

Prayer for today: O Lord my God I ask for Your enablement to follow You fully.

FAITH CAPSULE: Obtaining His mercy is in obeying His command.

Psalm 123

Obtaining the mercy of God dwells in obeying His command. However, lifting up our eyes to Him is obeying the command of God. Lifting up our eyes to God is a demonstration of having full confidence in the One and only true God. Our confidence is our faith in God. Faith is what pleases God and not fear. Lifting up our eyes is giving a jealous God the attention that it takes for Him to attend to us. The Psalmist stated, “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the LORD our God, Until He has mercy on us.” (Psalm 123:1-2) Emphasis for the request for mercy by the Psalmist is evidence of the reason for his dependency on God. Without doubt, by virtue of the consistency in the word of God, obtaining the mercy of God is not by our merit neither is it by accident. Exodus 20:6, “…but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” It is clear that obtaining His mercy is in obeying His command. Every time we seek the face of God we are waiting on Him with the expectation that there is no any other one to depend on but Him. Isaiah 64:4, “For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.” God will act when we seek Him. Have you been looking to man to act on your behalf? God that is clothe with majesty and honor is the only God that is worthy to be looked up to. When we put our confidence in God it is saying that He is embracing us in the palm of His hands. The Psalmist must have been looking up to Him with understanding that God will look upon him when he stated, “Look upon me and be merciful to me, as Your custom is toward those who love Your name.” (Psalm 119:132) With our understanding of the above scriptural verses, it is safe to conclude that obtaining the mercy of God is maintaining our deliverance from every form of shame. Psalm 34:5, “They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.”It is never too late to start looking up to Him with understanding.

Prayer for today: Hear my Prayer, O Lord. Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble.

FAITH CAPSULE: To trust in the Lord is to rest in the Lord; not to trust in the Lord is to rust in the world of challenges.

Psalm 125

To trust in the Lord is easier said than done. We have to trust in the Lord in our journey through life. To trust in the Lord is to rest in the Lord; not to trust in the Lord is to rust in the world of challenges. It is written in 2Samuel 22:3, “The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, My stronghold and my refuge; My Savior, You save me from violence.” 2 Samuel 22:31 also stated, “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” Who else can give a covering of protection under heaven like the Most High God? Manifestly, He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Job, in his days of unimaginable challenges declared, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15) If Job can trust God during his challenges, what is preventing you from trusting Him? Are your challenges more than what Job experienced? Psalmist, by virtue of his experience testifies, “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” (Psalm 125:1) What is it about Mount Zion that those who trust in God can be compared to Mount Zion? Obadiah 1:17, “But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” With the word of Obadiah, it is safe to conclude that anyone who puts their trust in God would be assuredly delivered and possessing the possession as promised by God is certain. Trusting God is ultimate and cannot be compromised. Isaiah 57:13, “But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain.” God is true to His word only if we can live truthfully in His word. Daniel is an evidence of possessing the land and holy mountain of God. When he knew that a sentence was on the way to persecute him for trusting in the Lord his God, he persisted further by calling on His God. He overcame and promotion became his possession in the land (Daniel 6). How then can we trust in Him? Proverbs 3:5-6, “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.” Trusting God with all our heart will make us not to operate with our own understanding..

Prayer for today: The grace to trust in you fully let it be my portion in Jesus name.