FAITH CAPSULE: The sin of Jonah swallowed him.

Jonah 1, 2

To obey the word of God is to gain the presence of God.
Obedience to the word of God is doing according to the word of God.
The word of God is God.
Doing according to the word of God is doing what God wants all to do. 
Doing what God wants all to do is walking with Him. 
The character of one who looks up to God continually is obedience to God.
It is easy to claim walking with God when you are not.
One not walking with God is being far from God.
Jonah, a prophet of God, looked away from the word of God; he disobeyed God and walked away from God. 
Jonah walked away from the presence of God.
To walk away from God (to be disobedient to His word) is stepping into self-destruction.
Jonah 1:1-3 records, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
Jonah, because of his sin of disobedience and his distance from God, positioned him to settle in an undesired life.
Jonah disobeyed God. It was a sin before God, and his sin made him become a tenant inside a GREAT FISH. The sin of Jonah SWALLOWED him.
The bible identifies the prayer for deliverance by Jonah.
HE CRIED OUT TO GOD BECAUSE OF HIS AFFLICTION (and God answered him)
HE REPENTED AND PROMISED TO LOOK BACK TO GOD (to turn to God as he was asked to do)  
HE MADE A VOW TO SACRIFICE TO GOD.(JONAH 2:9, “But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”) He vowed to give a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
Giving thanks before the manifestation of expectation is a sacrificial thanks.
Psalm 50:14-15 records,“Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
It is wise to pray for the mercy of God to enable one not to be far from Him.
Prayer for today:
Ask that God will give heed to the cries of your heart (God gave heed to the cries of Jonah for salvation from destruction.
Ask that God will enable you to be looking up to Him continually and not look away from His word.
Ask that whatever makes a man look away from His word of deliverance and preservation shall not have a place in your life.
Ask by thanking God for His deliverance from the consequence of your disobedience.