FAITH CAPSULE: The word of God is not just a story but a secret to set one up for great exploits.

Genesis 39

The word of God that one carries will drive one through the world of wickedness without falling.
Among the descriptions given to the word of God are: 
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) The word of God is a weapon, a sword with a position in the heart of a believer to navigate unfailing in the wicked world.
Those who do not open their hearts for the word of God will be far from God, that is near.
Apostle Paul admonishes all, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32) 
One with no room for the word of God does not carry the presence of God.
The word of God that one carries will drive one through the world of wickedness without falling.
Get to experience the word of God in life.
Deuteronomy 11:18 states, “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” Psalm 119:11, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”
The life of Joseph is the evidence of one that continually carries the word of God in the heart to arrive at the center of divine assignment in life. 
As he journeyed, sin presented itself to him when the wife of his master approached him with an attempt to lie with him. 
Joseph did not give himself to the sin presented to him by the wife of his master.
Joseph focused on God to ignore a shortcut in his journey as a slave.
The word in the heart of Joseph responds in Genesis 39:8-9, “But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” 
He has hidden the word of God in his heart not to be a sinner. (Psalm 119:11) 
Imagine what could have happened to the journey of Joseph if he had fallen for the wife of his master.
It does not matter how much you carry, but it does make a difference when you have the word of God in your heart. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to open your heart for the entrance of the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: How often do you give regard to the testimonies of God?

1 Samuel 17

God is not evil, and there is no iota of wickedness in Him. 
God is a loving and merciful God; His thoughts and plans toward His children are good and better for His children. 
God confirms His good thoughts for all when he says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) 
Whatever is good comes from God. 
Knowing that God is good to His children, one would wonder why His children often end up in captivity. 
God is not the author of evil, but His children often authorize evil to have its place by the kind of choice His children engage in living life. 
The word of God points out what could be the reason why the evil of captivity of destruction usually strikes by stating, “…But they do not regard the work of the LORD, Nor consider the operation of His hands. Therefore, my people have gone into captivity because they have no knowledge.” (Isaiah 5:12-13)
The work of God is His testimony. 
His testimony is His word. 
By His word, He created all that is and will be. 
Disregarding the work of His hand can be compared to clay that does not give regard to its porter. 
Also, to disregard the works of His hand is to ignore His testimonies.
As a creation of God, are you giving regard to your Creator, the eternal rock of ages?
King David was able to engage the testimonies of God when he stood to challenge Goliath. 
The Bible documents David’s testimonies, “But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.”  
Moreover, David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1Samuel 17:34-37) 
How often do you give regard to the testimonies of God when forces of captivity show up on you? 
David gave regard to the testimonies of God to provoke the hand of God for the deliverance of the whole land from captivity.
God is a good God. 
Give attention to God by giving regard, and He will not fail to identify you for your deliverance from captivity. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to put His fear in you so that you will not depart from Him all the days of your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: To despise the word of His command is an avenue to destruction. 

1 Samuel 16

The word of God is truth to perform and perfect. 
The word of God is unbreakable to those who live by the word of God in obedience to the command of God.
Isaiah 55:11 declares the word of God, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”  
Truth is the word of God. 
David, a man after the heart of God, testifies that God magnifies His word above all His name. (Psalm 138:2) 
A failure to obey the word of God is a straight passage to self-destruction. Are you living disobediently to any of the words of God, His command? Proverbs 13:13 declares, “He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” 
To despise His word of command is evidence of a lack of fear of God to obey the command of God.
To despise the word of His command is an avenue to destruction.
God appointed King Saul as the first king of His people. 
During his reign, disobedience on his part set him apart from God. 
After the second year of King Saul over the children of Israel, his disobedience to the word of God hanged on him for forty years. 
King Saul was king for a long time but had no reasonable time with God.
Sin before God kicks anyone with sin to become far from God that never far.
King Saul violated God when he despised the word of God. 
After he despised the command of God, “… the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him. 15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you.” (1 Samuel 16:14-15) 
The sin of Saul evicted him from the presence of God.
In your God-appointed position, are you lost from the presence of God? King Saul was at the seat of power, but power had left him. 
Does that sound like you? 
Anyone can lost with God and not know. 
In the case of King Saul, after he had lost the presence of God, he became exposed to acute mental suffering, affliction, and distress became his portion. 
When the presence is not in the life of anyone, there is nothing to make up for the presence of God.
David, a skillful player and a mighty man of valor, was not enough to make up for the presence of God that was absent in the life of King Saul.
David played the instrument for King Saul and answered as instrumental for a temporary solution.
God is not substitutable in any situation or under any circumstances. Despite skillful play by David, the distressed spirit over King Saul could not depart from him.

Prayer for today: Ask for deliverance from every spirit of destruction. 

FAITH CAPSULE: Give yourself continually to prayer.

2 Timothy 1

Acts 6:4 admonishes, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
Pray against wrongdoing and not be far from God.
WRONGDOING IS WRONG BEFORE GOD
Wrongdoing does not count right before God.
Any conscious or unconscious wrongdoing does not have an excuse to escape the consequence of wrongdoing before God.
The command of God is indeed the word of God. 
God cannot be wrong in His word of command.
Making a wrong decision in the word of God is evidence of moving away from God, despising the word of God. 
Proverbs 13:13 warns all, “He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.”
The wife of Lot is an example of a victim of wrong decision-making, despising the word of God. 
When God commanded Lot not to look back in the route of escape from destruction, his wife looked back to become destroyed. 
A simple despise of God can deliver one to the pain of living in this wicked world.
PRAYER
Ask God for His mercy to reverse (God reverses the irreversible) all wrong decisions you have made or made on your behalf that are hanging over your life. 
Ask that every wrong act in you that is not right before God becomes deleted for you to gain a stand before God.
Pray that you will not live a life of waste but a life that counts before God for His glory.
KNOW THAT GOD IS NEAR TO ALL
God is near at all times, but the majority are from God.
Sin rooted in wrongdoing keeps one far or walks far from God, taking the position to fall for the enemy (that shall not be our portion).
It does not matter who one is or what title one answers to, will not be evidence not to be far from God. 
One who can give heart to God is bound to see in the ways of God without failing.
Proverbs 23: 26 admonish all: My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways. 
PRAYER
Ask God to enable you to give your heart to Him and make your eyes observe His ways.
Ask that the strength from God become established in you to keep you, not to fall in all areas of life.
The strength of God is His word.
Job 4:4 testify the word of God as His strength: Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have strengthened the feeble (lack of effectiveness) knees.
Ask that the strength of God in you will begin to answer against everywhere wrongdoing has placed you wrong before God.
Ask that you shall not become a victim of stumbling but standing by the word of God, His strength.
Psalm 119:28 records: My soul melts from heaviness; Strengthen me according to Your word.
Ask that every heaviness that has a place in your heart become melted and not be your portion.
Ask that God give you the heart to walk in line with Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: God alone strictly warns against one taking a position judging others.

Job 2

God wants the heart of all to be constantly engaged in Him. 
A heart that is engaging in God must be joyful.
A joyful heart is the result of one seeking God. 
Hannah testifies, “My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in Your salvation.” (1 Samuel 2:1) 
What is your heart engaged in? 
The heart for all must engaged, not taking a position as a judge.
In your world, is your heart taking the position of a judge of every act?
Psalm 50:6 records, “Let the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is judge.” 
Psalm 75:7, “But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another.”
God alone is the judge.
The word of God strictly warns all not to judge regardless of the picture one is getting from the environment.
Matthew 7:1-3, record warning, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” 
Concluding or assuming the situation of others could be an indirect way of judging others in the heart. 
God alone knows the reason for every occurrence, and no one should be a judge over others.
Imagine Job living in the world of today.
Job was a man of great integrity and richly blessed with wealth.
The word of God described Job as “…Blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) 
Gaining an understanding of the character of Job at the beginning of the story of Job makes it easier to read through the story of Job without taking a position of judging him to be a sinner. 
In this life, it is easier to take the position of a judge when a tragedy like Job manifests in life. 
The beginning of the story of Job took away what could have granted all the sentencing of adversity of Job to be the result of sin and iniquity that he must have committed. 
The testimony of God over the life of Job is enough a testimony not to place judgment on him by anyone.
However, the kind of situation in the life of Job is not the kind of situation that any acclaimed believer wants to live or experience. 
The bottom line for every believer is to learn and know that amid painful challenges, it could be very wrong for anyone to become a judge to be judging others directly or indirectly. Are you facing any painful challenges? 
No one is qualified to judge others or judge oneself for no reason.

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to live obediently to all of His word.