FAITH CAPSULE: Look up to God by obtaining the mercy of God.

Psalm 34

Maintain looking up to God instead of looking up to the world.
God is a merciful God. 
Who do you remember to look up to? 
Psalm 20:7 states, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”
Lifting eyes to God is evidence of having the confidence to trust in Him. 
All should have confidence in God. 
To fear God and have faith is what pleases God. 
Lifting eyes to God is giving a jealous God attention, the antidote for a jealous God.
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 on the request for mercy by the Psalmist, the evidence of being dependent on God. 
Without a doubt, constant consistency in studying the word of God, 
will live loving God.
Exodus 20:6, “…but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” 
Obtaining His mercy is in obeying His command. 
Every time one sees the face of God, such is waiting on God with the expectation that there is none to depend on but Him.
Isaiah 64:4 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.” 
God will act for one that seeks Him. 
Have you been looking for a man to act on your behalf? 
God clothed with majesty is the only worthy God.
Look up to God. 
Put confidence in God that embraces one in His palm. 
The Psalmist must have been looking up to Him with the understanding that God will look upon him when he states, “Look upon me and be merciful to me, as Your custom is toward those who love Your name.” (Psalm 119:132) 
Do you love the name of God?
Is your love set for the world?
All should set love for God to gain and retain the presence of God.
Set love for God to gain and retain His presence.
Look up to God by obtaining the mercy of God. 
Looking up to God is maintaining hope in God to gain deliverance from every form of shame. Psalm 34:5 records, “They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.”
It is never too late to turn around by looking up to God instead of looking to the world.

Prayer for today: Ask not to look away from God, and He shall not hide His face from your going and coming.

FAITH CAPSULE: A heart that is not open for the entrance of the word of God will experience darkness.

 Psalm 95

The destination of the word of God is not to the head or mouth but to the heart.
The word of God is to settle in the heart.
The word of God should occupy the heart.
Proverbs 4:4 buttresses, “He also taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words; Keep my commands, and live.” 
When word enters the heart, the activity of darkness shall become terminated. 
With understanding is to experience light when the word of God gains entrance into the heart. 
Psalm 119:130 testifies, “The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” 
Above all, the word of God in the heart terminates darkness. 
John 1:1-5 states the importance of the word of God in the darkness of this world, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
A heart that does not give entrance to the heart is bound to struggle continually to navigate in life.
Give entrance for the word of God in your heart not to become a victim of wickedness.
A hardened heart does not have a place for the word of God to rise above the wickedness and darkness of the world.
For example, the journey of the Israelites experienced disruption and derailed, as many could not arrive at the promise of God.
The hardness of the heart takes over the Israelites.
Psalm 95:7-9 states, “Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work.” 
Many ears receive the word of God but not with the heart. 
The hardness of the heart is a factor in not receiving the word of God.
The hardness of the heart gives to rebellion.
The Israelites turned rebellious and tested God. 
Despite the manifestation of the word of God, the Israelites failed to journey by the word of God and repeatedly complained before God.
For forty years, the Israelites could not live by the word of God.
Psalm 95:10 concludes, “…it is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.” 
Are you opening your heart for the word of God to gain entrance?
Many are not allowing the entrance of the word of God in the heart for direction in the world of darkness.
A failure to open a heart for the word of God will go astray.

Prayer for the day: Pray to have an open heart for the word of God to gain entrance.

FAITH CAPSULE: God is a God that is not deceivable in any way. 

1 Samuel 28

Let no one deceive you by any means. 
There should be no leader outside or inside of the church with vices of deception leading others.
Are you a leader adopting deceiving, lying, or manipulating in the name of God, taking a position as a leader?
Saul, the King of Israelites, was anointed by God but yet, adopted deception. 
When he could not hear from God at a time of the onset of war against the Philistines, Saul needed to inquire from mediums and the spiritists.
He approached a medium with deception as recorded, “So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes…” (1 Samuel 28:8)
Disguising is a deception not of God at all levels. 
The medium woman responded to the request Saul, “…Whom shall I bring up for you?” and he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” (1 Samuel 28:11-12) 
Saul disguised himself to get his answer from the medium woman.
If you are a God-positioned leader, let it be registered in your heart that disguise is a deception. 
Saul, a leader of the people by God, adopted deception and could not escape the curse from Samuel. 
1 Samuel 28:19 records the curse provoked by the deception of Saul, “Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”  
The deception that despised the word of God destroyed his sons.
Are you leading others as an agent of deception in the name of God? 
As a believer or non-believer, adopting self-deception or deceiving others is a device to mock the name of God.
God is a God that is not deceivable in any way. 
Galatians 6:7 states, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
Are you one that testifies the goodness of God by adding or taking off word to lift God in lies for His glory? 
Romans 3:7-8 identifies for understanding stating, “For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.” 
Telling lies is deception. 
Deception dilutes the word of God. 
When the word of God is lied about, it becomes evident to deceive others and will deny a manifestation of the power of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for His mercy to take over directions denying deception.

FAITH CAPSULE: A selfish-minded one is not with a mind for God. 

One that is doing good in help for others is doing good to provoke the hand of God to gain the favor of God.
One with the mind of God to do good, to help others, is doing indirect good for self.
It is good to keep others in prayer, actually praying for self indirectly.
The word of God encourages, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16)
One with a mind for God does not hold to self, not taking to mind confessing trespasses to another, giving way to pray.
One given to self does not to God to experience the goodness of God.
There is no way to describe one giving to self than calling such a selfish or self-centered one. 
Who are you before God?
Are you selfish or one-minded for others to the glory of God?
Are you mind-full of God or mind-full of yourself, living as a self-centered soul?
A selfish-minded one lacks consideration for others and looks to profit more than others. 
A selfish-minded one is not with a mind for God. 
The character of a selfish one is about self and will not give self to what benefits more to other than self.
Selfish-mindedness and self-ambition are like birds of the same feather.
The word of God speaks against self-ambition, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” (Philippians 2:3)
Think about yourself to answer if you are selfish. 
Ask God to flush out any trait of selfishness in your system.
Selfish-minded is not of God.
The character of a selfish-minded one is of sin before God.
James 4:17 identifies, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not to do it, to Him it is sin.”
A selfish-minded will hold to selfishness in place of the need to do good.
Is selfish-minded your character, your way of living life?
Who are you before God?
Search yourself, and know to live life by answering to the word of God consistently.
Make it a desire to do good for yourself favor indirectly by doing God for others.
Mordecai and Esther deny selfishness by giving themselves to their people when the Jews are about to be destroyed by the conspiracy of Hamman.
Out of selfishness, Mordecai discovered the evil plan of Hamman and sent his message to Esther in her comfortable location.
Out of selfishness, Esther responded to Mordecai for the sake of the Jews:
“Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him.”
Mordecai and Esther put themselves away to provoke the deliverance of their people, the Jews.

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to live for God, not yourself.

FAITH CAPSULE: The temptation of the devil is a deception of interaction for Adam and Eve to violate God. 

Genesis 3

Deception is dangerous. 
God has created all not to be a victim of the way of deception.
Deception encases lying and manipulation covered in pride.
Pride is the garment of the devil. 
Are you living a life of deception?
The word of God does not accept deception. 
Adopting deception is disengaging the word of God; deception is despising the word of God. 
Without a doubt, despising the word of God is the avenue of destruction as Proverbs 13:13 declares, “He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” 
The majority frequently adopts deception to deliver deceitful messages in the name of God. 
Devil is the author of liars, and the master of deception interacted deceitfully to derail all from the route journey of life through Adam and Eve. 
God gave a word of command to Adam, “…Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) 
The skill of deception, twisted the word of God, “And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5) 
The temptation of the devil is a deception of interaction for Adam and Eve to violate God. 
The devil deceitfully added and took out from the word of God to twist the word of Eve.
As a result of evil deception, “…the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:13)
Deception is of the way of the devil that many acclaimed believers and non-believers adapt to. 
Living life as a victim of deception or operating as an agent of deception is a way of getting displaced in the presence of God like Adam and Eve got displaced from the presence of God. 
Genesis 3:24 states, “…He drove out the man, and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” 

Prayer for today: Ask that the grace of God shall not enable you to become a victim or an agent of deception.