FAITH CAPSULE: Living life this long is the mercy of God.

Psalm 150

This time of the year is the time of expressing appreciation to God!
Living life this long should not only be about what you expect from the merciful God.  
Expressing appreciation to God for the grace of life should be considered to be engaged constantly with consistency.
It is not your knowledge of living life that has brought you this far.
Psalm 150:6 said it all, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” 
By grace, the hand of the Lord God has been keeping you thus far. 
The hand of God upon you is not because of merit but His mercy. 
Living life is not a right but a privilege bestowed upon you by God. 
In this time of the year, appreciate God with heartful appreciation, stop from thinking thanks but be giving Him thanks with understanding. 
Word of God admonishes to be praising Him with understanding. (Psalm 47:7)
Are you consciously aware that God expects appreciation? 
Lack of expressing appreciation to God is evidence of foolishness. Foolishness is not only in verbal communication but can be in any other way of communication, Proverbs 14:1 records, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” 
With the year running out, is your appreciation to God enough? 
Do not be foolish but give thanks to God in the place of thinking thanks to God.
To be alive in the twelfth month is not your strength as the source of your present location in life.
Do not deceive self, by thinking that your strength has kept you thus far. 
This twelfth month of the year, turn to be praising God, with the shout of hallelujah to God.
Just as God inhabits praise, the enemy evil one inhabits the complaint.
Pray that praising God shall be your portion continually. 
Give yourself to praising God for keeping you this far.
Praise Him with understanding.
Psalm 47:7 records, For God, is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding. 
Praise God with understanding.
By praising God is to gain a knowing edge, to claim in His word of promise, to gain and retain His presence.
Praise God with understanding!
Psalm 22:3 records: But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
Isaiah 42:10 states: Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise from the ends of the earth, You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, You coastlands and you inhabitants of them!
Ask that in this twelfth month, singing songs to the glory of God shall be your way of life.
Ask that praise of victory will not cease in your life this twelfth month and coming months.
Keep to praising and thanking God continually.
Also, engage the shout of hallelujah as a key assessing open door for the goodness of God.

Prayer for today: Ask that the twelfth month of the year shall unfold the goodness of God for you.

 FAITH CAPSULE: Persistently, wait on the appointed time of God.

1 Samuel 1:1-28 

Every year Elkanah, Hannah, Peninnah, and all the children of Peninnah go to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts. 
Hannah had no child, but Peninnah had children.
Every year they went, nothing changed in the story of Hannah, but she was committed with no complaint to be going to worship at Shiloh. 
On every trip to Shiloh, 1 Samuel 1:4-7 records how Elkanah did not reduce Hannah in his giving to her despite not having a child. The Bible states, “And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the LORD had closed her womb. And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the LORD had closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.” 
Trips of Hannah to Shiloh must have been emotionally challenging, but there was no record of any forcing from her against none.
Hannah was the neediest and probably the quietest. 
Hannah was barren, yet she had trust and hope for intervention, and she could not stop going to serve God.
Hannah maintained her focus on serving God to provoke the visitation of God over her life.
In your life challenges, what is it that represents barrenness?
Do not stop serving God.
Waiting on God demands persistence, but God will act, and you will experience the visitation of God.
Be persistent, call on God without a doubt. 
Persistency is a demonstration of faith to please God. Hebrews 11:6 buttresses, “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.” 
The situation with Hannah was: God closed her womb, and God opened her womb. 
The persistency of Hannah provoked the hand of God to open her womb. God responded to Hannah with blessings beyond her expectation. 
Know today that God is God. 
Seek no man, not to seal up the closed door that is already upon you. 
Seek God persistently, and God shall open your closed door.
God alone is God!
Hannah was persistent, and God at His appointed time, remembered her. 1 Samuel 1:20 records: So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked for him from the Lord.
If your expectation from God is experiencing delay, know that delay will fail to deny the manifestation of God over your life.
Hannah waits persistently before God to experience the visitation of God over her life.

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to focus on God for His appointed time.

FAITH CAPSULE: Every growth is measurable, but not all measured growth is pleasing before God.  

Psalm 73

God sees the affairs of all that exists in heaven and under heaven.
1Samuel 2:3 records, “…For the Lord is the God of knowledge; and by Him, actions are weighed.” 
God sees all things because He alone is the creator of all things. 
God alone sees growth differently from the way man sees growth. 
Every growth is measurable, but not all measured growth is pleasing before God.  
The fact is that wicked ones are growing just like the righteous ones.
It is also possible for the wicked to be growing more and better than the righteous one unpleasing before God, but shall not escape the time of judgment before God.
Indeed, God sees all growth, and He does not look away from judgment at His time. 
The merciful God has His way of overtaking the wicked at wickedness. 
Are you in a hurry to see the judgment of the wicked?
The same God yesterday, today, and tomorrow will not overlook the wickedness of today. 
Jesus said, “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) 
Is your story in life like the tares or not?
Where do you stand? 
Are you a representative of tare or the wicked?
Tares or wicked are with growth, and often there is a clear distinction identifying tares or wicked. 
One with the wicked way can hide from all, but nothing can hide from God.
Before God, there will be harvest time to separate tares from the wheat, the wicked from the good.
Today, know that God is not asleep over all His creation.
Before God, know that it does not matter how long that wickedness exists judgment of God shall not fail. 
All that will make the difference is doing the will of God, as Jesus said, “Not every man 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) 
Are you paying attention to the way of the wicked to learn to stand out of wickedness?  
Today, with desire, pray not to be a vessel of wickedness.
The psalmist could not look away from the wicked when he states, “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.” (Psalm 73:3-6) 
God is never asleep nor slumber; God will come to judge the wicked world at His appointed. 
Look away from the wicked and not be envious of their ways of life.

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled not to live life as a wicked one.

FAITH CAPSULE: Give thanks and praise to God continually. 

Psalm 95, 98, 150 

Give thanks and praise to God continually, not at self-convenience. 
It is never too much for one with the God-given breath of life to be limiting giving thanks or praise to God. 
To be alive is a privilege of God but not a right; it is mercy but not of merit. 
Continually, give thanks and praise to God!
Giving thanks to God is not about thinking thank.
Also, not knowing to think will not know to thank. 
Giving thanks is praising God, and praising God is thanking God. 
Giving thanks, praising God must be meaningful with understanding. 
Psalm 47:7 informs all: For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding.
Also, give thanks with understanding.
Before God, shouting with joy, the evidence of gladness is the thanksgiving character. 
Psalm 95:2 testifies, “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.”
Psalm 98:4, “Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.”
Praising or giving thanks to God is serving God with a glaring gladness before God as Psalm 100:2 points out, “Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.”
What is your position in the time of giving thanks to God?
No one belongs to self, but all belong to God, the creator of all.
All should seek God to gain and retain self in the presence of God.
Psalm 100:4 confirms, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”
God is good, and giving thanks and praise cannot be too much or enough for His goodness and mercy. 
CAN YOU COUNT YOUR OFFERING OF THANKS TO GOD?
How many thanks offerings have you given to God today?
Can you count the number of thanks offered to God?
One that counts the number of thanks given to God is short and not give enough thanks to God.
One that is not thanking God is not praising God enough for all He has done, all He is doing, and all He will do.
Psalm 150:6 buttress, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” 
If praising God at every breath will spare you from sudden death, will you not give thanks and praise to God at every moment?
BEFORE GOD, ARE YOU COMPLAINING OR THANKING?
Give thanks to God for all things, and all things shall work together for good.
Are you complaining before God by asking: “how long is it going be to get the answer for my prayer before you, God?” 
Be thankful to God, expressing how far God, He has brought you in life, not how long you are waiting to receive your request from Him.
Complain is the expression of dissatisfaction that can position one for a painful journey of life.
The children of Israel complained, and God responds, “The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness…” (Numbers 14:29)
One thing God cannot do is: He cannot fail!

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled with giving God thanks continually.

FAITH CAPSULE: All the year of expectation is never too late before God.

Genesis 25

All year long, searching to receive a solution or to overcome unacceptable challenges seems impossible. 
Does that sound like you? 
It is time to become languid or tired of not getting your expectation. However, it is time to become diligent, studious seeking God.
Think of it and know that God has brought you this far, and He shall see you further to gain breakthrough at His time visitation.
Remain focused on God but not focus on any other intervention. 
Without a doubt, time and the process of time belong to God. 
All should remain persistent when praying to God for His divine intervention.
Have faith and know that all year long of waiting is never too long before God. 
God is not a partial God but faithful to do above and beyond expectation. 
Persistence is the evidence of faith. 
To stop asking in the place no manifestation is as shutting down of faith.
Imagine, at the age of forty, Isaac took Rebekah as his wife. 
The bible records that at sixty years of age, Isaac had his first child. 
Isaac waited for twenty years before the barrenness Rebekah ceased. Twenty years must have been long years for Isaac. However, Isaac was not quiet before God during the season of waiting. 
The bible records, “Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.” (Genesis 25:21) 
The history, the time of the father of Isaac to wait before God was not enough to stop Isaac from asking and pleading with God. 
Have you been pleading to God for His intervention concerning any area of challenge in your life? 
Be encouraged and know that it is never too late to keep on waiting and pleading for the intervention of God.
Joseph was the apple eye of his father (Jacob).
At the age of seventeen, Joseph went to go and check the well-being of his brothers. 
It was not until after thirty-plus years that his father set eyes on him. Joseph and his father lost communication as the consistent pain of missing each other was more pain on the relationship side of the father.
Is there a loving one, the apple of your eye, that is missing? 
Waiting on the divine intervention of God to bring each other back seems like forever. 
Trust and hope in God that re-united Joseph and Jacob will also re-unite you and your missing loved ones. 
With God, impossibility is possible! God is a God of possibility.
Be encouraged, knowing that God does not sleep over your challenge. 
In the coming days, weeks, months, or years your mockery shall be converted to a miracle in the name of Jesus. 
The God who granted the plea of Isaac shall visit your expectation too. The same God that eventually brought reunion between Joseph and Jacob after the pain of over thirteen years will acknowledge your pain to favor you in the name of Jesus.

Prayer for today: Ask reminding God that He is not a partial God not to remember you.