FAITH CAPSULE: Are you hallowing God or deceiving your world?

Numbers 20:1-13

Are you hallowing His name?
Jesus taught prayer: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” (Matthew 6:9) 
Hallowing God is blessing, respecting, sanctifying, and revering the name of God. 
God deserves the honor.
Proverbs 18:10 identifies God, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” What is limiting the understanding of the name of God in your life? 
Moses wanted to know what to call God before delivering the message of God to Pharaoh as God identified His name. 
Exodus 3:13-14 records, “Then Moses said to God, “Indeed when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
All should know and always remember that the word of God is not a waste when He states He is a jealous God. 
A jealous God demands attention in every means to call on Him or to answer His calling.
Are you hallowing His name?
As great as Moses was in the hand of God, the sin that deprived him of stepping on the Promised Land was his failure to hallow the name of God. 
When God commanded Moses to speak to the rock for water to quench the thirst of the Israelites, Moses went and struck the rock. (Numbers 20:7-9) 
The act of Moses dishallowed God, and it counted against Moses as disobedient before God. 
God responds to Moses, “…Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12)
A failure to hallow God is evidence of a lack of belief; it is also rebellious to God. Numbers 27:14 records, “For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes…”
Trespassing against God also counted as dishallowing God, as Moses did, “because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel.” (Deuteronomy 32:51)
As a result of the truth that Moses did not hallow God, the word counted unbelief, rebellion, and trespassing against Moses. 
Know to hallow God in all seeking Him.
“The Lord of Hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear.” (Isaiah 8:13) 
In your walk, let God know your fear; praying before Him demands hallow Him.

Prayer for today: Ask that you enable yourself not to be a failure before God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Recognize your sin before God to gain His forgiveness.  

Luke 7:36-50

To experience the forgiveness of sin before God comes with a condition.
The Bible records some conditions that provoke the forgiveness of God for sin.
Listed conditions for forgiveness are: confessing, repenting, having faith, and love demonstration.
Confession provokes forgiveness:
Confession of sin before God will gain the forgiveness of God.
1 John 1:9 records, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Psalm 32:5 testifies that confession is a way of receiving forgiveness before God stating, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” 
Recognize your sin before God to gain His forgiveness. 
Repentance provokes forgiveness:
Repentance must come from the depth of the heart. 
To repent and not repeat sin is a choice not to be held down as a sinner but to gain forgiveness from God.
Repentance of sin that provokes forgiveness states:
“Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 5:31)
“Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.” (Acts 8:22)
Repent, and God will forgive!
Having faith provokes forgiveness:
God alone sees faith that is genuinely rooted in the heart and acts. 
With faith demonstrated in the sight of God, the forgiveness of God shall answer for the sinner.
The healing of the story of the roof-tearing faith by a paralyzed man was the result of his forgiveness. 
Luke 5:18-20 documents, “Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 
Jesus saw his faith, the Forgiveness of Jesus for the sinner, provoked healing.
Love demonstration provokes forgiveness: 
A sinful woman gains forgiveness from Jesus. 
With love, she approached Jesus with an alabaster flask of fragrant oil; she wept; washed His feet with her tears; wiped them with the hair of her head; she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 
She loved the Lord, but she was the sinful woman of the city. 
The forgiveness of the woman by Jesus provoked questions from the people. 
Jesus talked to Simon, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 7:47-48) 
The conversation between Jesus with Simon confirms that love demonstrated before God provokes forgiveness. 
Let us have a heart of receiving forgiveness from God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace not to be a victim of unforgiving.

FAITH CAPSULE: In the place to do right, are you engaging wrongdoing?

2Samuel 11

Always do right to disengage wrongdoing.
In every assignment, that right is to engage in right doing, not wrongdoing. 
King David engaged in assignment right when he sent Joab, his servants, and all of Israel to battle.
However, he got the wrong result for himself as he stayed back by not leading to the war. 
The Bible records in 2 Samuel 11:1, “It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.”(2 Samuel 11:1)
David was to be at the battlefront when he remained at home.
King David used his rightful power when he unrightfully took possession of the wife of Uriah. 
Uriah the Hittite was at the battleground when David made his move for his wife. 
2 Samuel 11:4-5 records, “Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.” 
David chose to be at the right place at the wrong time. 
David was supposed to be at the battlefront but chose to be home at the wrong time. 
The absence of David from the battlefront provoked devices outside of God. 
He committed adultery and also extended it to murder. 
Sin is like a disease that does not stop itself when there is no choice in place to stop sinning. 
Wickedness was the sin of David. 
In the place to do right, are you about to engage in a sin wrongly? 
It is always good to go back to God before the enemies use one as a ground to expand your sin. 
David could not put away his choice of sin but took his sin to another level. 
2 Samuel 11:14-15 records, “In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.”
On that morning hour, David could have been in the presence of God seeking forgiveness when it became time for him to orchestrate the death of Uriah in the battle.
God rightfully positioned David as a king, but he took his rightful position to commit an unrightfully act. 
Regardless of your God-given position, inside or outside of the church, always remember, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3)

Prayer for today: Ask God to take your moments for you to become focused on Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: His testimonies are worthy of mediation.

Psalm 119:1-48

God is the perfect creator. 
In the beginning, God created by His word. 
Genesis 1:1-3 testifies, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” 
God created by speaking His word. 
The creation of God by the word of God is the testimony of God. 
Without a doubt, the testimony of the Lord God is sure, making wise the simple. (Psalm 19:7)
In keeping by meditating on the testimonies of God, there is a blessing, rejoicing, riches, and counseling that keeps one from shame.
Are you constantly meditating on testimonies of God? 
The Psalmist confessed testimonies:
Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies…”
Psalm 119:14, I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, As much as in all riches.” 
Psalm 119: 24, “Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.” 
Psalm 119:46, I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.” 
The testimonies of God are all His doings, all He has done, the things He is doing, and the evidence of what He can do. 
His testimonies are worthy of mediation. 
In life, keeping the testimonies of God is getting to the expected end. 
The Israelites could not keep to the promise of God by meditating on it.
The Israelites could not meditate on the testimony of God as a vessel to the Promise Land. 
Repeated complaints of the Israelites in the place of meditating denied numbers of Israelites from stepping on the Promised Land. 
God responded to the complaint of the Israelites in Numbers 14:22-23, “Because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.”
God promised to take them to the Promised Land. 
God showed them great things and mighty signs in Egypt and on their way out of Egypt. 
The signs and wonders of God are His testimonies. 
Are you constantly meditating on His testimonies?
Meditating on the testimonies of God will provoke faith in journeying to the promise of God.
Hebrew 11:6 buttresses the exploits of meditating testimonies of God, “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” 
Meditate on the testimonies of God; please God and your journey shall be pleasant.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to keep His testimony to provoke your faith in Him.