FAITH CAPSULE: Time belongs to God, but the clock belongs to man to turn forward or backward.

1 Samuel 13

The appointed time of God is the fullness of His time.
Galatians 4:4 points out, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman…”
God has made everything beautiful in its time, not a clock made by man.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 records, “He has made everything beautiful in its time…”
Time of God is the reason to trust and hope in Him as Psalm 62:8 admonishes all, “Trust in Him at all times…” 
Do not count on the time of man.
Pray to know and be resting in the time of God.
NOT CLOCK BUT TIME BELONG TO GOD
The clock is the invention of man that will tempt the intervention of the timing of God for self-ambitions. 
Time belongs to God for man to be mindful of God but not possible to interrupt the timing of the doing of God.
Any attempt to interrupt the time of God will set one for self-destruction.
Wait on the time of God, watching and praying to arrive at the appointed time of God. 
Mark 13:33 warns, “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.”
The timing of God is perfect it comes with a schedule that no man can change.
The time of God is beautiful.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 records some of the characters of the time:
“To everything, there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up.”
The ability not to miss out on the plan of God is to know waiting on God at all times for all things.
At the time of the war of the Israelites with the Philistines, Prophet Samuel directed King Saul to wait for seven days for a burnt offering, but King Saul violated the timing as commanded.
1 Samuel 13:5-8 documents the violation of Saul:
“Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven. 6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits. 7 And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.
As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. 8Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him.
Time matters to walk in line with the direction of God.  

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to wait for the time of God.

Faith Capsule: Do not misplace focus on God to deny fear of the confronting challenges.

Exodus 14

One that cannot see deliverance in the word of God denies self from gaining the intervention of God.
To become worried and troubled in the face of challenge is the evidence of not looking up to the help of God. 
When keeping eyes on confronting challenges, one will misplace focus on God. 
Are you beholding your challenge or looking up to God?
The looking away from God by the Israelites challenges records in  
Exodus 14:10-12, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? 
For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” 
Does that sound like you? 
The Israelites knew fully well that God would not fail to deliver them, but they gave themselves into fear.
The Israelites could not lift their eyes to God for help but gave themselves to negative confession.
The solution to challenges demands focusing on God by keeping His proven word, His word that is perfect to perform. 
Despite all the powerful teachings of Jesus against fear and worrying, the disciples locked themselves up in fear of the Jews.
John 20:19 records, “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  While the disciples were locked up in a state of fear, Jesus showed up and declared peace.
Jesus, the Word of God, is the Prince of peace. 
One that will look up to Jesus as Lord and Savior, Jesus is always around to uphold such.     
Faith in Jesus will cause peace to reign.  
Jesus spoke peace into the life of His disciple to see the mark of crucifixion. 
John 20:20 states, “When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”  Seeing the mark opened up the disciples to come out of fear. 
Begin to see the marks of crucifixion and believe that marks were registered on Jesus for all to have life abundantly. 
When faith is activated, fear will not have a place.
The challenges of the word will not have a place in one with faith in God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be bold and have a character in His word in the face of world challenges. 

FAITH CAPSULE: The focus will keep one from being distracted.

Genesis 19:12-26, Daniel 1

Having a clean heart and a steadfast spirit is walking in the Lord. 
A clean heart and steadfast spirit are evidence of maintaining focus on the things of God. 
Maintaining focus is crucial to making an advance and answering the calling of God. 
The focus will keep one from being distracted.
A failure to maintain focus shall experience derail not to arrive at the assignment of God.
Distraction can be a lane for destruction. 
In this wicked world, maintain focus and not be distracted to experience destruction.
When the young Daniel was in captivity maintaining focus on God as he purposed for his heart not to defile God. 
The king ordered a daily provision of his delicacies and wine with three years of training for Daniel and his friends. 
All sounds good for a young captive but declined all to give to God.
To Daniel, King’s provision was considered anti-focus. 
Daniel refused anti-focus but chose to maintain focus. Daniel 1:8 records, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore, he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”  
Daniel remained focused on God, and he made advances everywhere he turned. 
Daniel focused with a purposeful heart for God.
Daniel allowed God to reign in his life when he refused to defile his body (the temple of God). 
Above all, Daniel was steadfast not to contradict his journey but advanced to the glory of God. 
The wife of Lot focused on the past. She could not let the past be in the past but disregarded the command of God. 
Genesis 19:17 states, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”  
The wife of Lot did the opposite when she looked back and became a pillar of salt (Genesis19:26) 
Looking back against the command of God, the wife of Lot gave herself to the past.
The wife of Lot became a pillar of salt and did not escape as ordained for her by God.
No one will go forward in life by focusing on the past. 
One looking back sets sight on the past and will not be able to see what is ahead. 
The case of the wife of Lot is that of a shifted focus. 
Lot maintained focus by looking forward to where the Lord was taking him and his family. 
Daniel could not allow any distraction because he maintained focus. 
With focus, advance in your calling for God.
Allow God to become glorified in your life.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of God to gain and maintain the presence of God in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: What kind of a believer are you?

Ecclesiastes 8

Are you searching for yourself to know if you are a believer or an unbelieving believer?
An unbelieving believer is conversant in the word of God, carrying the word in the head but not in the heart.
An unbelieving believer is constant in the gathering before God but not with the character of a believer.
One telling minute lie or telling a big-time lie is not different before God.
A liar is a deceiver or a manipulator that does not have a place before God, not a believer but an unbelieving believer. 
God hears and sees all.
All can hide from man, but nothing can hide from God.
2 Chronicles 16:9 points out, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”
God sees all and will not oversee the sins of all. 
Before God, King David could not hide his sin against Uriah.
God responded to the sin of David through Prophet Nathan, “For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.” (2 Samuel 12:12)
What kind of a believer are you?
Sin and sinning consciously or unconsciously is wickedness before God.
Wickedness is evil.
Are you an unbelieving believer, claiming as a believer, with no experience of the consequence of sin and sinning before God?
God does not oversee sin and sinning.
Ecclesiastes 8:12-13 records how God reacts to evil, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.”
To be a believer is evidence of the fear of God.
Let the fear of God occupy your heart.
Anyone with one eye sets on God and a second eye on man will not see God, not gain His attention. It also means that one cannot look up to heaven with one eye and set the second eye on the world is not possible to gain from above.
Be a believer that allows the heart to become occupied by the fear of God.
With desire, not just determination, God shall deposit desire to become one.  
With the desire to fear God, ask for the word of God to be established in your life.
The word of God states, “then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.” (Jeremiah 32:39-40)

Prayer for today: Ask to be a believer that fears God.

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.