FAITH CAPSULE: Maintaining life with God is evident to knowing that God is near.

2 Kings 6

What does it take to gain and maintain being near to God?
The pages of the Bible identify what it takes to gain and maintain self in the near of God.
Acts 6:4, “but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Acts 20:32, “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.”
Jude 20, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
According to the word of God, seek God diligently by: 
Giving self continually, not casually, to the word of God.
Give yourself to be built up and to be occupied by the presence of God.
Give yourself to be a prayerful believer.
Give self to the word of God to become a faithful believer.
Be near to God.
God is always near for all that will walk in His word.
Elisha knows what it means to be near God and demonstrated to his servant that God is near.
Once, while Elisha and his servant were in the face of a challenge, Elisha knew they were near to God, but his servant knew not the nearness of God.
The servant of Elisha was not aware of the presence of God for their deliverance because he knew not the nearness of God.
2Kings 6:1-18 records the praying of Elisha for his servant to see the nearness of God: 
“So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 18 So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 2Kings 6:16-18
A believer of God that is living life by the word of God will know that God is near at all times, knowing His intervention will not fail. 
Living in the consciousness of the care of God is the evidence of faith, the expression of expectation for the divine protection of God. 
Do you know that God is near for you?
In the near to God is the protection of God for one that draws near to God. 
Elisha walks in line with God to know his nearness to God and could see that the forces are waiting for his command before they could intervene on his behalf. 
Elisha and his servant were protected and could not become a victim of his enemies.
Maintaining life with God is evident in the case of Elisha.

Prayer for today: Ask God to live life in the consciousness of the nearness of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Your testimony is your confession before God. 

Numbers 14

As a believer, let your testimonies be positive to provoke an answer with positives for you as an overcome.
King David is the evidence of one with positive testimony before God to experience mighty deliverance when he overcame Goliath. In his attempt to go and fight Goliath, King Saul attempted to discourage David when he said, “…You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” (1 Samuel 17:33) David refused the word of Saul, and could not be discouraged from going to confront Goliath but responded with the testimony of his experience in the past. David said to King 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.” (1 Samuel 17:34-35) 
With the testimony of God, David went to war against Goliath against the discouragement of Saul.
David dwelt on the testimony of God over his life, “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.” (1 Samuel 17:37) 
By the word of testimony, David overcame the challenge of giant Goliath.  
As a believer, before God, avoid confessing negative testimonies to provoke a negative answer.
For the Israelites, negative confession was the testimony that provoked failure to arrive at the promise of God. 
The children of Israel experienced a great miracle when they were coming out of their bondage of over four hundred years to walk through the Red Sea on dry land. However, their negative testimonies denied them from arriving at the Promised Land. 
The negative response of the Israelites was the negative report of the spy that went to spy on the Promised Land. The negative of the Israelites states before God, “…If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? So they said to one another, ‘Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.’” (Numbers 14: 2-4) 
Are you testifying of negative confession in the face of your challenge?
The testimony of the Israelites was a negative confession, and God sent Moses, “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you.’” (Numbers 14:28) 
Negative confession terminated twenty years above from the Promised Land, except for Joshua and Caleb. 
Your testimony is your confession before God. 
Watch your word as Proverbs 18:21 warns, “Death and life are in the power of tongue…” 
God hears all. 
Let positive confession, not negative be your way of communication.

Prayer for today:  Ask for the mercy of God in the place of your negative confession.

FAITH CAPSULE: Trust and hope testify to boldness and character.

Acts 16

As an acclaimed believer, having boldness and character will carry the mark of a winning combination.
Paul and Silas demonstrated a life of boldness and character.
One with trust and hope in the truth of God shall live life for the glory of God as having boldness and character.
Paul commanded a spirit out of a girl to affect the profit of the masters. 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, a great earthquake broke the prison, with 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. 
Trust and hope demonstrated by Paul and Silas testifies to their boldness and character.
Without a doubt, the word of God is the truth. 
Jesus is the word of God. 
Do you know the truth?
Are you abiding in the word? 
To abide in the word is to know the truth. 
Knowing the truth is the key, but knowing about completes not. 
Abide in the word like Paul and Silas, the evidence that you know the truth, to be free.
In the wicked world, get to know the truth about trust and hope in the Lord and be free.
In this world, let trust and hope in the Lord be complete in you, which is 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, while hope is confidence (boldness). 
Many trusts in God, and for example, they are active in the church and lack hope for the boldness to stand and claim in God. 
Trust is like a character; Hope (confidence) is like boldness. 
Do you have trust and hope, boldness, and character? 
It is boldness and character that make one free, having the mark of a winner.
King 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, the truth of the word of God will make one a free indeed.

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

FAITH CAPSULE: In your heart, what are you thinking or asking?

Proverb 4 

It is not rocket science to know that what you are thinking or asking will match what you are experiencing or going to experience in life.
In your heart, what are you thinking or asking that is related to the issues of life?
How you take charge of your heart will lead you through the issues of life. The word of God in Proverb 4:23 warns, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
All should keep heart to experience deliverance from thinking or asking wrongly.
What is the condition of your heart to determine what you are thinking or asking?
Luke 6:45 admonishes, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.”
Give self to the word of God, not just for memorization for declaration of the word of God, but for meditation as decoration to navigate without falling into the issues of life.
What are you thinking or asking that you speak out before God?
On the journey of the Israelites to the Promised Land, their thinking and asking were negative. 
God heard the Israelites, and they became terminated not to arrive at the Promised Land. 
Numbers 14:28 records and respond to the negative confession of the Israelites, “…As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you.” 
There is no excuse to be asking for an error before God.
Ecclesiastes 5:6 warns against excuses for error, “Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?” 
As an acclaimed believer, know the truth (John 8:32) not to count on error, but to keep your heart diligent from thinking or saying what is wrong in the hearing of God.
As an acclaimed believer, get to know that the power of God that you carry will not fail to answer to your thinking or what you are asking. Ephesians 3:20 states, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”
In life, nothing is hidden from God and is the reason why thinking or asking becomes a confession that is negative or positive.
All should be thinking or asking positively, avoid negative confession, and know that God is hearing!

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable His word to abundantly occupy your heart, so that you shall not become a victim of negative confession in thinking and asking before God.

FAITH CAPSULE: God does not forget but remembers.

John 20:19-31

Psalm 106:4 records, “Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation.”
What one asks is desires, and God deposits to gain desires.
The word of God encourages asking to receive. (Matthew 7:7)
This day, ask that God remember you with favor and visit you with salvation.
God does not forget but remembers, reverses irreversible challenges, and visits with salvation.
When God remembers to open one up, He will visit to unlock such from self-locked by lack of understanding or one locked up by evil.
The disciples of Jesus walked with Him, dined with Him, sat around Him, and listened to His word to know and understand what was to happen but not understand His word. 
After His crucifixion, they locked themselves in fear of the wicked ones despite His spoken word for them before His crucifixion.
Jesus remembered them to visit them. As they assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and spoke peace to them. (John 20:19)
Jesus repeatedly remembered His disciples and visited them with salvation while they self-locked up because of fear.
Thomas, a disciple, asked for the signs of proof of the crucifixion to believe Jesus.
Jesus responded to Thomas, “Jesus said to him, “Thomas because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) 
The response of Jesus to Thomas speaks to all acclaimed believers.
The disciples, acclaimed believers, lack the understanding to be free, the evidence of a lack of faith and not knowing the truth of God.
The grace, the mercy of God, remembers with favor and visit with salvation not to be a victim of fear that terminates calling over the life of called ones.
Are you one that is self-locked up by the fear of the wicked, militating force against your life consciously or unconsciously?
Turn to God, calling for Him to remember you with favor and visit you with salvation, not become a victim of fear of the wicked world. 
Do you believe in Jesus?
Will you believe in Him with a desire for Him to remember you with favor and visit you for salvation?  
The word of God encourages, “but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:31)
The word of God is written not for decoration but as a declaration to be engaged by all. 
Romans 15:4 buttresses, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”
The word of God does not return to Him void.
With understanding, give yourself to the word of God continually, expecting Him to remember you with favor and visit you with salvation.

Prayer for today: Ask that you will live life for God to experience His presence by Him remembering you.