FAITH CAPSULE: The difference between wicked and righteous are open to God.

Psalm 73

Growth is the process of increasing in amount, value, or importance. 
Expansion, multiplication, progress, development, and buildup describe growth.
Growth in life is possible in every area, but not all measured growth is pleasing before God. 
God alone sees growth differently from how all see growth.
Under heaven, wicked and righteous are both growing. 
Without a doubt, many wicked are growing while the righteous experience challenges that reduce growth.
God sees every wicked activity, and however appointed time to judge belongs to God.
The wicked shall not escape the appointed time of God.
Are you one envying the shining of wicked activities while the challenge is holding down the growth of the righteous?
Psalmist responds to wickedness: “For I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; They have more than heart could wish.” (Psalm 73:3-7)
Are you in a hurry to see the judgment of God over the wicked ones? 
A true believer should not fear or envy the wicked ones but keep the focus on God. 
God does have His appointed time to judge and reduce wickedness.
The same God yesterday, today, and tomorrow will not overlook the wickedness of today. 
Jesus states, “Let both grow together until the harvest and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:30) 
Where do you stand? 
Are you a representative of wheat or tare? 
Are you a wicked one or a righteous one? 
Just as wheat and tare receive rainfall to enhance their growth, the wicked and righteous are under the sun to be shining.
Often, there is no clear distinction to identify tares from the wheat, just as wicked ones are not glaring as evil. 
The difference between wicked and righteous cannot escape the appointed time of God.
Are you with attention to the way of the wicked ones not to be a victim of the wicked ones?  
Pay attention to the psalmist to learn to trust and hope in God. 
Psalm 73:26-28 document, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God…” God sees all, and you should look away from the wicked one, know that the appointed time of God shall come.

Prayer for today: Ask God in His faithfulness to deliver you from wicked ways.

FAITH CAPSULE: Faith-failure result is rooted in distraction. 

Matthew 16

Distraction can deny or derail anyone from arrival at the center of divine assignment. 
In your life journey, are you entertaining any agent of distraction consciously or unconsciously?
The failure of the Israelites to follow the command of God was faith-failure. 
In challenging times, the Israelites confessed negatives, not having faith in God. 
God responded to the faith failure of the Israelites through Moses: “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.” (Numbers 14:28-30)   
Failure to serve God with the whole heart is evidence of not following Him fully. 
As a result of not following God fully, every Israelite that left Egypt above the age of twenty failed to complete their journey to the Promised Land. Are you serving God fully to avoid failure, not to arrive at the promise of God? Many are committed believers as the prayer intercessors, choir leaders, ushers, Sunday school teachers, deacons, and elders do not follower Christ fully. 
Jesus responded to uncommitted believers: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24) 
Are you a committed believer, following Jesus fully with no deception to manipulate others? 
Is there any way to hear better, to understand and know that in serving Him, one must follow Him fully? 
Jesus said, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me: and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, My Father will honor.” (John 12:26) 
Give your ear to hear the word of God.
A believer with distraction shall become impossible to follow God fully.
Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus, followed Jesus but was distracted in her following Jesus. 
The Bible records the issue of the distraction of Martha: Luke 10:39-40 records, “And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord do you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me. And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” 
The case of Martha is evidence of serving God with distraction and not following God fully.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you against any agent of distraction.

FAITH CAPSULE: Samson slips into a careless sleep to become a victim of his enemies. 

Judges 16

Samson became a target for his enemy to destroy his life.
Judges 16:1-2 records, “Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went into her. When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.”  
The enemies of Samson failed could not kill him because he was hiding in the living word of God with command over his life. 
Before the birth of Samson, God sent His word through His angel that declared that Samson should be a Nazirite (not to drink wine, not to eat anything unclean, and no razor should touch his hair) from birth for the rest of his life.
Samson could not become a victim of his enemies. 
With a lion, Samson tears up the lion like a young goat (Judges14:5-6). 
The power demonstration in the life of Samson was uncommon because the word of God was intact over his life as his hiding place. 
The spirit of God constantly kept and delivered Samson from trouble. 
He was a mighty man of God that was hiding in the word of God. 
Are you hiding in the word of God for your preservation?
The living word of God that is keeping one from evil agenda must be jealously secured, and there should never be a careless sleep for one hiding in the word of God.
A careless sleep over the word of God is the avenue to slip up to fall into the hand enemy for an untimely death.
Samson later exposed himself to the wicked world as Delilah, his wife, penetrated his life.
Samson should have seen the warning signals when he engaged Delilah, whose name means lustful. 
With lust comes temptation. 
Delilah, the lustful one, brought temptation to Samson in an attempt to terminate Samson before his time. 
Samson entered a careless sleep after revealing the source of his hiding in the word of God wrongly to Delilah. 
Judges 16:20 records, “And she said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson! So he awoke from the sleep, and said, ‘I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free! But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.’” 
The slipup of Samson was a careless sleep which made him a victim of his enemy.
Samson had a careless sleep; the word of God vacated him, and he became a victim of his enemy.
Are you having a careless sleep that keeps one as a hiding place? 
A careless violation of the word of God is a violation to become a victim of an evil agenda. 

Prayer for today: Ask that you will not become a victim of not hiding in the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Enticement is a cunning device of the devil. 

2 Samuel 11

The enemy of all is the master of deception.
The enticement is a cunning device of the devil with no respect for any man under heaven. 
The devil engages in an enticement to bring his victim down into a pit of sin.
Enticement, seduction, inducement, and temptation are different names but the same.
Know and not dance to the sound of enticement but remain focused on the word of God. 
To be enticed is to be lured away from the point of focus.
The temptation is not to sin, but falling for it will cause one to sink into sin. King David did not accidentally fall for the sin of sexual immorality that he committed with Bathsheba (the wife of Uriah). 
King David saw to become entrapped into sin. 
2 Samuel 11:2 document the build up the temptation of David: “Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.” 
David was at the right place at the wrong time to become trapped in sin. 
David fell for sin when he saw a woman bathing. 
David could not resist the temptation of sin but went on to inquire about a woman belonging to another man. 
Getting carried away by enticement will lead to a deadly avenue of sinning before God. 
David was identified as a man after the heart of God but could not avoid sin. 
Are you paying attention to avoid the wrong place and not become a victim of sin against God? 
The enemy of all man is the master of deception that has been around long enough to draw one into the sin of destruction.
Jesus had the experience of enticement but could not become a failure like that Eve.
Today, be warned and wise to know that if Jesus experienced the enticement of the enemy, no one will.
What is your need for seduction or inducement that makes one a victim of temptation?
Did the word not promise that God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus? (Philippians 4:19)
Do you believe it? 
Philippians 4:6-7 encourages, “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.”  
Abstain from seeing in the wicked world; take to the Word of God. 
Today, open your mouth wide, give Him thanks for all He has done, and praise God for all He is doing and all that He will do. 
Live life by giving thanks and praise and not become a victim of the enticement of sin.

Prayer for today: Ask for your life not to become a victim of enticement.

TO FEAR GOD

FAITH CAPSULE: To fear God is to live life by His word.

Matthew 6 

God knows all before anyone is born.
However, no one is with knowledge of God until after birth. 
Jeremiah 1:5 states, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” 
God knows all before birth.
All should know and grow in the things of God to experience the move of God.
Know God to grow in Him. 
Knowing God is not the same as knowing about God. 
Knowing God demands seeking God diligently with all heart and soul to find God. 
Deuteronomy 4:29 buttresses, “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 
When Seeking God diligently is having a place before God, the fear of God shall become established in such life.
Think of it: How can one fear (awe) one that is not known? 
To fear God is to love God. 
To fear God is to live life by His word.
In your life, why not seek God diligently to know God and become fearful of God? 
God expects all to fear Him, the root of living life for His glory.
Proverbs 15:33 describes the fear of God, “The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.”
In this wicked world, it is reasonable to give yourself to gain rest in seeking God diligently. 
Fear God from seeking God diligently to experience the word in Isaiah 33:6, “Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times And the strength of salvation; The fear of the Lord is His treasure.”
Why not treasure seeking God diligently, and fear God to belong to God?  
The fear of God is His treasure! 
In this life, get to know God.
Live life, fear of God is the key to excelling for the glory of God.
The word of God encourages Seeking God diligently, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) 
What or who are you seeking diligently? 
Think and change your way of living life. 
Matthews 6:19-21 warns, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Today, come out of religion with no Christ and lack the fear of God to be far from God.
Seek God diligently from the heart and soul will fear God in the ways of life. 
Fear God, the treasure of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for His hand upon you not to be a victim of the world today.