FAITH CAPSULE: Doing right always ends in right.

Genesis 41

Dundeon is a dark, usually underground prison.
Anything or representative of prison is not fun nor comfortable.
An unwanted situation is crowding life.
In your life, is there any situation of a dungeon that is crowding you?
The life journey of Joseph was like a journey in a dungeon that turned out to be the avenue to the center of divine assignment.
Joseph embarked on a journey to become prime minister after spending time in the dungeon of life.
The story of Joseph changed from bad to better when the Chief Butler mentioned him before Pharaoh.

The Bible recorded, “Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed in his clothing, and came to Pharaoh.” (Genesis 41:14)
Living a life of the dungeon can change for good, to the glory of God.
What is not your fun and painful, physically, spiritually, or emotionally, crowding you?
It does not matter how you get into the dungeon or how long you have been in the dungeon of life; God shall bring you out for His glory.
In all challenges, look up to God alone.
Isaiah 45:22 buttress, “Look up to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
Just look up to God for the termination of your dungeon situation.
In obedience, Joseph went to check for his brother.
The arrival of Joseph at his brothers was a welcome surprise as
Joseph embarked on a life journey in the dungeon.
Joseph was painfully sold as a slave and ended up in prison.
Joseph did not bargain for the entire unfavorable situation that came his way while obeying his father.
In prison, Joseph interpreted favorable and unfavorable dreams for confined Chiefs (Butler and Baker).
The interpretation of the dream came through, and Joseph pleaded to the chief to remember him.
For two years, Joseph was forgotten in prison by the chief.
God will remember His children at an appointed time, but man will not remember man.
Be encouraged!
God is at work on your behalf; the plans of God for your life are intact.
His own plan for you does not exclude your time in a dungeon situation, but is to train you.
Know that such is life, and it is full of ups and downs, but God, who is up, will lift you at His appointed time.
At the appointed time of God, Joseph came out of the dungeon; there was no devil under heaven to deny the deliverance for Joseph.
The dream had by Pharaoh was interpreted by none other than Joseph.
The Chief Butler remembered Joseph before Pharaoh.
The interpretation of the dream by Joseph provokes testimony for the rest of his life.

Prayer for today: Ask God for your appointed time by God for the glory of God to become established.

FAITH CAPSULE: Are there challenges with no solution in sight?

Judges 11

In life, the story of hope is enough to encourage all, even through the most hopeless challenges.
With God is to gain a new lifting story for the glory of God.
Jephthah was illegitimate before his brothers.
Jephthah experienced rejection from his half-brothers.
Judges 11:2-3 records, “Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, ‘You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.”
Jephthah was in a challenging situation, which was not his desire.
His challenging situation was not within his control, but it was beyond his control.
Under heaven, on behalf of man, there is no challenging situation that is beyond the hand of God.
Are you experiencing any challenging situation like that of Jephthah? Today, hold on, trusting and hoping in God.
Wait on God regardless of how painful or challenging the situation is; God will not fail to intervene.
Jephthah, after being rejected by his half-brother, the children of Israel turned back to him for help.
When the people of Ammon confronted the Israelites,
Jephthah approached as a commander.
The elders of Gilead had to go and seek Jephthah for help. Judges 11:6 recorded, “Then they said to Jephthah, ‘Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.’”
Whenever man condemns, God is in a position to redeem the condemned. Jephthah was a mighty man of valor, yet he was illegitimate and not accepted, and eventually helped his people.
Jephthah responded in Judges 11:7, “So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, ‘Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”
God made it possible for Jephthah to rise above and beyond where he was.
Trust and hope to count on God to bring you up above where you were.
God can never be too late or too soon; God will show up in your situation at His appointed timing.
Jephthah accepted the assignment to bring victory for the Israelites.
Jephthah did not just end up as a commander; he became the head after gaining victory.
The story of Jephthah was uncommon and adds to the glory of God,
and changed for good.
God is the only God who is in a position to turn a hopeless situation into a hopeful and glorious situation.
Engage by trusting and being hopeful to see the glory of God concerning your challenging situation.
Wait on God. He turns challenges into celebrations.
He reverses the irreversible.

Prayer for today: Pray to God that your challenging situation will be a triumphant story to the glory of God.

Faith Capsule: Be conscious that God cares for you as a child.

Psalm 8

Have an understanding that God cares.
God is mindful of all more than His creations know.
God cares with His deliverance and preservation for all.
Do you understand how much He cares for you as His child?
Curiously, David questioned in Psalm 8:4-6, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet…”
The curiosity of David revealed the truthfulness of His care for all His creation.
The mind of God is for all the evidence that God is near to all.
God is near to all, but many are far from God in the way of life.
Testimony of Deuteronomy 4:7 is the evidence that God is near, “For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?” Jeremiah 23:23 confirms that God is near, “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord, “And not a God afar off?”
When God is near, the presence of God is evident.
However, sin will always keep a man from God who is near.
Sin keeps man from God.
Zephaniah 3:2 buttressed that sin will keep man with sin from His presence. It states, “She has not obeyed His voice, she has not received correction; She has not trusted in the Lord, she has not drawn near to her God.”
Disobedience to the word of God, a failure to receive correction, and a lack of trust set one far from God.
God is mindful of all.
God is near to us and cares for all who care to live life by His word.
God does have a position of deliverance for all who acknowledge His care, to live in His presence.
God was near to Elisha, which was evidence of His care for his deliverance.
When the servant of Elisha was not aware of the deliverance of God for their deliverance, because he was not near to God with understanding to know God as Elisha did.
Elisha was aware of God.
The servant needed to understand that God is near.
Elisha prayed, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:18) Living in the consciousness of the care of God is the evidence of faith; the expression of expectation for the divine protection of God at all times.
Having understanding is the key that will deliver one from the ignorance of the wicked world.

Prayer for today: Ask God with desire to live life in the consciousness of His care for your life.

Faith Capsule: Be a living one to God alone, answering as cleansed from inside.

Matthew 23

Understanding is living for God.
One of the main areas is that without understanding, one cannot live for God.
Understand that God sees from the inside more than the outside.
When it was time for Jesus to clean the temple from inside, the Bible records, “Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Luke 19:45-46)
To clean the temple was, and is, from the inside.
God does not look from outside, but looks from inside.
As a temple of God, how clean is your inside?
All should know that what is present on the outside is not as important to God as what is inside.
Pharisees, meaning separated ones, believed that religious rituals and separation from sinners were the way to please God.
Matters such as the laws of tithing and ritual purity were important to the Pharisees, but not what is carried inside.
Jesus referred to them as hypocrites. He said in Matthew 23:25, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.”
As a temple of God, there is a need to take a close look from the inside to know if you are a Pharisee of the modern day.
Is it your desire to shine on the outside while the inside is dull and not the Lord?
Are you a modern-day Pharisee?
Pharisees offer more for the outside, more than is requested in ways of living life.
Jesus went into the temple to clean; nothing on the outside could impress Him enough to start cleaning from the inside.
God cleaned the inside.
Today, no title carried from inside to outside shall be enough to impress Jesus.
As a believer, do not be deceived by your title.
God is only interested in how one is living life for His glory.
One who lives to the glory of God from the inside is bound to live right on the outside.
A clean temple from inside to outside answers to the expectation of God.
God is a God of knowledge.
God pays attention to the character of all.
1 Samuel states, “For the Lord is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed.”
God sees all.
He is not a pretender who acts, sees, and identifies ways of life that count before Him.
Are you a pretender or a modern Pharisee?
God is not deceived, but be a vessel that is cleansed from the inside.
Jesus cleaned the temple and was able to teach and get the attention of the people in the temple.
Make yourself available for Jesus to clean you.

Prayer for today: Ask God to cleanse you to live for Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Do not be a believer of the mouth, but live for God by His word.

1 Colossians 1

All are to live for God.
It is not by accident that God purposely creates all to live, to exist for His glory. Revelation 4:11 states, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
Without understanding, it is not possible to live for God.
The importance of having understanding is why Jesus asked and answered rhetorically in John 8:43, “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.”
Understanding is crucial to walking worth, to finding God.
Apostle Paul for all to understand.
It is the level of understanding one possesses that will determine how one walks worthy to the glory of God.
The understanding to walk worthy is not by accident, but through prayer; it is possible.
Apostle Paul prayed for all to understand praying, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (1 Colossians 1:9-10)
To pray with understanding is to prevail.
Acts 6:4 speaks to all, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
PRAYING THE WORD OF GOD:
Ask for the strength of God not to cease in prayer.
Ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
Pray that understanding to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, become established in your life.
Pray to walk worthy to be qualified as partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Claiming to live for God but lacking understanding is the character of one who is unable to see in the word of God.
Know that the word seen is received to become one who sees in the word, the character of having understanding.
The word of God is perfect for one who sees in the word.
Psalm 119:130 records “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.”
A heart that received the word is the evidence of a heart that sees in the word.
One who sees in the word of God shall live according to the word of God, the character of an understanding believer.
What is needed to gain understanding is hearing the word of God consistently (hearing the word of God repeatedly)
The consequence of hearing repeatedly is also to see the word (gain sight of what is said)
To hear consistently is to observe (see).
One who sees in the word of God is bound to be strong and courageous, the character of one who excels for the glory of God.
AMEN!