FAITH CAPSULE: Do right, let understanding occupy your waiting on God

1 Samuel 13

Wait on God, deny worrying to gain from God.
Waiting on God is seeking God. 
Waiting on God demands patience. 
Waiting on God is an avenue of resting on God for the manifestation of expectation at the appointed time of God.
God, in His goodness, extends assurance of waiting for those who wait for Him. 
Isaiah 30:18 states, “Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore, He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice.” 
God does not lie. 
God, in His goodness and mercy, will not fail when waiting for Him. 
The assurance of waiting on God to gain His presence states, “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.” (Isaiah 64:4) 
God is the God who acts for the ones who wait for Him. 
Are you waiting on God for direction and deliverance? 
In this wickedness, understanding and knowledge demand waiting on God. 
What is it that will deny you from not waiting on God? Lamentation 3:25 assures the goodness of God in waiting for those who wait on Him, “The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seek Him.” 
There are many benefits to gain from waiting on God. 
Isaiah 40:31 testifies, “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) 
Journeying in this world demands strength that is obtainable in waiting on God. 
Waiting on God to gain strength will get one to the expected end. 
For one that waits on God, such will walk in the place to run. 
Also, it will be impossible to run where the journey demands walking. Have you been walking in the place to run?
A failure to meditate on the word of God is an avenue to forget His works and not wait on Him.
The Israelites failed to meditate and could not wait on God as they wasted away in the wilderness. Psalm 106:13-14, “They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert.”
King Saul could not wait but failed to get to the expected end of the journey of life. 
Samuel commanded King Saul to wait for a burnt offering. 
King Saul could not wait but wrongly engaged in sacrificial offerings. Samuel responded to the failure of King Saul, not waiting on God, “…but now your kingdom shall not continue…” (1 Samuel 13:14)
King Saul could not wait but failed in the journey of the expected end.
From this beginning, wait on God as a way of life.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the understanding and knowledge to be waiting on God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Begin to look forward to the coming days, weeks, and months.

Numbers 21: 4-9, Matthew 6:25-34

Is there any reason for discouragement and worry in your life?
The word of God is more than enough to encourage all not to dwell in discouragement.
Philippians 4:6-7 buttresses, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” 
Discouragement is not of God.
Discouragement is a maneuver of the enemy and is rooted in worrying. 
It is discouragement that will expose one and set one up for destruction. Matthew 6:25-27 records the warning of Jesus against worrying, “Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” 
Is there any reason for worrying in your life? 
Established discouragement is rooted in worrying.
The children of Israel saw the deliverance of God when He brought them out of the bondage of over four hundred. 
God gave the promise for the Israelites to take the Promised Land.
The spirit of worrying overwhelms to provoke a lack of faith to wait on the promise of the Promised Land.
Discouragent became a cloud over the Israelites.
The Bible records the cause and consequence of the discouragement of the Israelites, “Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died.”
The case of the deadly bite was due to discouragement that was rooted in worrying and complaint. 
The Israelites complained about the quality of bread provided by God.
The provision of God was not satisfactory enough for the Israelites. 
Does that sound like your case? 
The Israelites also complained about the lack of water and called the provision of God as worthless. 
Indeed, a worthless complaint caused them untimely death.
By knowing and understanding the awesomeness of God, be encouraged. Do not be discouraged; engage in worshipping God but not worry; above all, be still and know that God alone is God. 

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled against discouragement and not to become a victim of worrying.

FAITH CAPSULE: The evil sin is rooted in the lack of knowledge

1 Samuel 2:22-36

The Bible records the evil activities of Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli. 
The sons of Eli were corrupt and did not know the Lord.
1 Samuel 2:12-17 documents how sin was great in Silho because the word of God was despised in Shiloh, to all the Israelites.
1 Samuel 2:17 mentions, “…the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for the men abhorred the offering of the Lord.”
The evil sin is rooted in the lack of knowledge by the sons of Eli.
Are you paying attention to the place of God in your household? 
Is there a lack of dishonoring of God in your household that will count against you or our household? 
1 Samuel 2:30 records that God reacted to the house of Eli because of the evil sin of Hophni and Phinehas, “Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.” 
The Sons of Eli reduced Eli to the curse of disobedience to God.
Eli warned his sons of divine judgment (1 Samuel 2:25), but the sons failed to respond.
Are you engaging in serious measures more than giving mouth warnings to your children or anyone in your household to avoid the consequences of dishonoring (despising) God?
One or two sinners against the word of God in the household experience the consequences without exception.
Eli should have done more than a warning to correct his sons to avoid the consequences of violating God. 
Eli recorded everything right for God but not enough to avoid the destruction of his household. 
God spoke to Samuel about the sin of Eli: “For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.” (1 Samuel 3:13-14) 
The Sons of Eli were warned by Eli but not restrained from their evil.  
The sin against God by the sons of Eli made the household pay the consequence of their evil.
With God, no excuse is excusable when God is despised. 
Proverbs 13:13 buttresses, “He who despises the word will be destroyed, But he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” 
As one with the fear of God, spare no excuse for children to violate God by their way of life against the word of God.
The Eli warning for Hophni and Phinehas was short.
The warning does not count as an excuse for him from the consequence of sin before God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to cause you to hear and obey His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: Thank God with a heart full of joy regardless of any challenging situation.

HABAKKUK 3

Know to set your heart on God with joy regardless of the challenging situation of the wicked world.
Let meaningful praise before God become your character.
It is not enough to praise God without rejoicing. 
Is it your challenge that is denying praising God and not rejoicing? 
Do not praise Him without rejoicing or rejoice before Him with no praise directed to God.
Regardless of your challenge, do not suspend praising and rejoicing before God. 
Imagine the word of Habakkuk 3:17, “Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” 
Praising and rejoicing in times of challenges can be a painful sacrifice.
The Habakkuk 3:17 situation is like a valley where there seems to be no way out. 
The challenging situation with no end in sight can be a source of discouragement for praising and rejoicing before God.
Are you wondering when to come out of the depth of a challenging situation?
Also, no one wants to plant a tree without blossom or not harvest fruit where the vines should be bringing forth fruit as the crown of labor. 
Any hard laborer that seems to be producing a result that matches a lazy laborer will have a reason not to be praising and rejoicing before God.
Always praise and rejoice before God regardless of a challenging situation.
Habakkuk does have a word to encourage all in times of challenging situations like that of the experience of the hard laborer, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:18) 
Know that joy and rejoicing are the only ways to keep in the ways of God because it positions one in the presence of God. 
Jesus was with the family of Lazarus during mourning over Lazarus.
As they were lifting their voices in wailing, crying, and gnashing of teeth,  “… Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father I thank You that you have heard Me.” (John 11:41)  
In any challenging situation, praising God by giving thanks with a heart full of joy will prompt the goodness of God.
Knowing to praise God in a challenging situation is evidence of trust and hope in God.
Trust and hope in God for all things.
Jeremiah 17:7 encourages, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord.”
Know God with understanding, and live life to gain an edge, not a vessel of pity in a challenging situation.

Prayer for today: Ask that meaningful praising God shall be your character.

FAITH CAPSULE: Without any doubt, the antidote for jealousy is attention.

Exodus 3, Colossians 3:1:17

The introduction to all states, “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” (Exodus 20:5)
Know that God is jealous God.
“Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.” (Joshua 24:19)
that He wants nothing but for all to be free and serve Him.
What does it mean to serve God? 
To serve God demands all seek Him diligently and set their mind on things where God is above.
The book of Colossians 3:1-2 clearly states, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”
God is a jealous God.
Without any doubt, the antidote for jealousy is attention.
Giving attention to God is seeking God diligently.
God is the creator of all.
God is not a slave master but a saving God.
Why not put all aside, seeking God in His way, living for Him to find Him, the character of one that seeks Him diligently?
Seeking God will come with the challenges of this world.
Among the reasons for not seeking God diligently are:
-One that is yet to be dead in their trespasses will not rise to serve God.
-Inability to put off the body of the sins of the flesh.
-Setting the mind on worldly things more than things above will not serve God diligently.
There is no excuse to take the mind off the things of God, to avoid missing the presence of God.
Are you willing to serve God indeed and in truth?
Have you separated yourself from worldly things you once walked with as a way of life? 
The word requires all to put to death members on the earth, such as fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 
The members on earth will bring the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience. (Colossians 3:6-7)
Give regard to God constantly.
God is a caring God and does have a mind for all.
The jealousy of God is evidence of His caring for His creation.
David questioned before God, “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:4)
The word also points directly for all to put off: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of our mouth, do not lie to one another. (Colossians 3:8-10)
Be renewed in knowledge according to the word of God. 
Serve God diligently to find Him and experience the power of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to serve in seeking Him to find Him.