FAITH CAPSULE: With God, no excuse is excusable for disobeying the word of God. 

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.
1Samuel2: 12-17 documents how they despised the word of God 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 rooted in not knowing God by the sons of Eli (Hophni and Phinehas) also counted against the household of Eli, with no exception for Eli.
Are you paying attention if there is dishonoring God having a place in your household? 
Is your children’s dishonoring of God 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 caused by their disobedience to the word of God.
Eli warned his sons of divine judgment (1 Samul 2:25), but the sons did not respond to his warnings of Eli.
Are you engaging in serious measures more than giving mouth warning 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 house will make the household experience the consequence without exception.
Eli should have engaged more than mouth warming to correct the sin of 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 but not counted 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: The conclusion in the way of life is to fear God.

Psalm 34

The book of Ecclesiastes 12:13 documents how to live life, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandment, for this is man’s all.” 
The conclusion for living is for all to live by the fear of God.
The understanding needed to live for God is the ability to listen to the commandment of God (word of God). 
Knowing the word of God is going after the heat of God. 
For example, God identified King David as one after the heart of God.
The fear of David for God kept him and saw him through his life terminating challenges. 
King Saul chased the life of David while David gained the position to kill Saul. 
David was so fearful of God not to kill King Saul when he said, “…But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.” (1 Samuel 24:10) 
Is the fear of God your way of living life? 
David did not allow foolishness in his heart, and he did not demonstrate a lack of fear of God by killing King Saul. 
David was a man after the heart of God. 
The life experience of David qualifies to teach all the fear of God. 
In Psalm 34, David spoke out, “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” (Proverbs 34:11)
Are you a true believer that listens to hear and is one with an understanding of the fear of God?
Are you aware that the fear of God is a way to provoke the blessings of God? 
Through listening to the word of God, know God by keeping your heart diligently.
David Psalm 34 pointed out four points for all to learn and know the fear of God by stating: Keep your tongue from evil, keep your lips from speaking deceit, depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:13-14)
Digesting the four points into life will mark one as a God-fearing one. 
It is the grace of God that is giving life year after year. 
However, not knowing the fear of God is not a way to live before God.
To fear God is for self-good because it keeps such not departing from God. When one can obey fully by fearing God, He will preserve such fully.
Whatever is in line with the word of God and one with a desire for God shall be established by God.
One with a desire for God shall not live a life of waste.
David said:
Keep your tongue from evil.
Keep your lips from speaking deceit, depart from evil and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it.

Prayer for today: Ask God to redeem your heart to fear Him.

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: God creates all to serve Him by following Him steadfastly.

Luke 5:1-32

With desire is to serve God, which demands to follow Him by His word.
Jesus was teaching when He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) 
Does that speak to you? 
The will of the Father is to live life for God. 
God creates all to serve Him by following His word fully.
Is it your desire to serve God by following Jesus fully? 
To follow Him fully (to serve God) demands to be steadfast.
One that is self-full cannot be steadfast in serving God. 
Following is not a one-time or an on-and-off way of life. 
Following the word demands to be steadfast, to fix in direction, or to be firm in purpose. 
To be steadfast in following the living word of God is not a self-satisfying engagement, and one who is self-full cannot be possibly steadfast. 
King David realized the importance and the need for one to be steadfast when he called on God in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
A steadfast spirit is what caused Caleb and Joshua to follow God fully. Caleb and Joshua refused to flow with the crowd and did not confess negatively against the word of God that promised them a land that flows with milk and honey. 
Caleb and Joshua were positive to follow the word of God in the face of Moses and all the people positively. 
By their positive confession, God declared, “My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.” (Numbers 14:24) 
Following the command of God follows God fully.
When God called Elisha through Elijah, “…He left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, ‘Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.’ And he said to him, ‘Go back again, for what have I done to you?’ 
So Elisha turned back from him and, took a yoke of oxen and, slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.” (1 King 19:20-21) 
Elisha left all behind to answer the calling of God. 
In answering, Elisha demonstrates steadfastness. 
He emptied himself by getting rid of all that could have held him back. 
Elisha used the equipment of his oxen as a boiler for the slaughtered oxen. 
Elisha followed the calling of God steadfastly. 
Whatever one cannot forsake for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven will disqualify such to answer as the candidate for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Be steadfast in following fully, and God will reward you.

Prayer for today: Ask for a clean and renewed heart and steadfast spirit within you.

FAITH CAPSULE: Trust is like a character; Hope (confidence) is like boldness. 

Acts 16

The boldness and character of Paul and Silas were trust and hope in the truth of God, to live life for the glory of God.
When Paul commanded a spirit out of a girl, it affected the profit of the masters to the girl.
Paul and Silas were seized and dragged to jail. (Acts 16:19)
While at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. As they sang, a great earthquake broke the prison foundations.
Doors opened, and chains loosed. 
Paul and Silas did not flee but waited and spoke a word that gave salvation to the hearers and led a family to baptism. 
With trust comes a character, while with hope comes boldness.
Paul and Silas demonstrated knowing the truth to become free from prison.
Without a doubt, the word of God is the truth. 
Indeed, the truth, the way, and life are not separable.
Thomas, the disciple of Jesus, said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way? 
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:5-6)
Jesus is the word of God. 
Do you know the truth?
Are you abiding by the word? 
To abide in the word is to know the truth. 
Knowing the truth is the key, but knowing about completes not. 
Just like Paul and Silas, abide in the word, the evidence that you know the truth, to be free. (John 8:31-32)
In the wicked world, get to know the truth about trust and hope in the Lord and be free.
Let trust and hope in the Lord be complete in you, the position to be blessed by God.
Jeremiah 17:7 buttresses, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord.”
Are you claiming trust without hope?
Claiming trust in the Lord is not complete without having hope in Him. 
Do you trust and not hope? 
Trust is like a character hope is like confidence. 
Many trusts God (they are active in church) and could hope the boldness to stand claim to God. 
Trust is like a character; Hope (confidence) is like boldness. 
Do you have trust and hope? 
Having boldness and character is rooted in one that has trust and hope. 
Boldness and character make one free and with a mark as the winner.
Saul trusted God and waited for seven days, as commanded by Samuel. However, when all his people were scattered, he lost hope and had no confidence in the word of God by the prophet Samuel. 
Saul trusted to wait but had no hope to stand, wait through for God, and could not be free but lost. (1 Samuel 13)  
As an acclaimed believer, with trust and hope, one is bound to live life free.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to grow in trust and hope in His word.