All posts by Tunde Soniregun

UNDERSTAND TO KNOW

FAITH CAPSULE: It is understanding that provokes knowledge.

Hosea 4

Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
Understanding provokes a knowing edge called knowledge in all areas of life.
The majority assume understanding but are short or have limited of it.
Jesus, in John 8:43, rhetorically questioned and answered, “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.”
Why do you not understand the word of God?
Hearing the word of God is not evidence of understanding.
Understanding demands to continually, repeatedly hear the word of God.
Listening to the word of God shall prompt understanding.
Listening will enable the word of God to gain entrance into the heart.
The word of God in the heart is the character of carrying the presence of God.
Jesus is the word of God.
The place of the word of Jesus is in the heart.
In Revelation 3:20, Jesus, the word of God, wants to gain entrance and states, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him.”
What is holding you back from opening for Him?
Are you hearing from Him to open?
One not hearing the word of God cannot hear and not open for Him.
Hearing and hearing the word of God is evidence of having faith.
One that hears to open will carry the presence of God.
One that hears becomes occupied with light.
Psalm 119:130 mentions, “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.”
Are you in the position of opening for the entrance of the word of God to gain and retain the light of God in the world of darkness?
The word of God does not return void without performing it. (Isaiah 55:11)
One who meditates the word of God day and night (every moment of life) is drawn to God and not a victim of evil.
Hebrews 10:22-23 encourages, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
The word of God is the source of faith.
One with the word of God and be able to activate the word will live a life with understanding, having a knowing edge (knowledge)
Determination is not enough for anyone to understand God.
Determination failed Peter not to deny God.
However, Jesus prayed for Peter not to fail to deny God.
With desire, pray that God will enable you to give yourself to studying, not just reading the word of God.
By studying, listen, and be provoked to understand the word of God.

Prayer for today: Ask that your faith will not fail.

LIES OF YEARS

FAITH CAPSULE: A day of truth shall expose unnoticed lies of years.

2 Kings 5

Are you claiming to be a believer in the character of telling lies to deceive and manipulate your world?
Lying and deceiving is not a way of life but a route of destruction for anyone who engages in telling lies.
Acts 5:1-2 records, “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” 
Without any force, Ananias and Sapphira did sell their possessions.
The characters of Ananias and Sapphira are liars to deceive.
Why is it that Ananias and Sapphira lied?
Ananias and Sapphira were the characters of deception.
No conduct hides from God; it is accountable before God. 
Peter knew that Ananias and Sapphira lied and deceived all around them in the presence of God. The Bible records, “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?’” (Acts 5:4) 
What is worth doing for the Lord is worth doing truthfully in truth.
Ananias and his wife had a wrong intention to deceive in the gathering before God.
Peter identified Ananias and Sapphira for their lying and deception.
Acts 5:5 states, “Then Ananias hearing these words fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.” Lying and deception took the life of Ananias and Sapphira. 
Just like Ananias and Saphira, it was also lying and deception that terminated Gehazi from living life to answer the calling of his life.
After the healing of Naaman, Elisha refused to accept gifts from Naaman. Without any direction from Elisha, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, went after Naaman and said, “My master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’” (2 Kings 5:22) 
Without knowing Elisha or without permission from Elisha, Gehazi deceitfully received the gift from Naaman. 
After Elisha knew about the lying and deception of Gehazizi, he responded to Gehazi, “…was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves? Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.” (2 Kings 5:26-27
Whenever lies and deception go unnoticed for years, one day of truth shall expose lies.

Prayer for today: Ask that telling lies to deceive and manipulate others shall not have a place in your life.

KNOW THE TRUTH

FAITH CAPSULE: Knowing the truth is evidence of having faith.  

John 14

God is an awesome God to love for His goodness and mercy.
Get to know God, fear Him, and live free. 
One faith will fear God, live in truth, and be free to live life for the glory of God. 
The word of God is the source of God and documents every reason to know God with fear. 
Get to know God, fear Him, and live free. 
The word of God is God. 
John 1:1 testifies, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” 
Many claim to know about the word of God, quote the word of God, or sing the word of God but lack freedom. 
The word of Jesus to the Jews also speaks to acclaim believers today, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32) 
Are you an acclaimed believer the word speaks to?
Do you know God or know about God?
One who knows about the truth does not know the truth.
One who knows the truth is free.
One who quotes or sings the word of God with no character walking in the word of God is evidence of knowing about God but not knowing God.
The Bible states, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Jesus is the truth of God. 
John 14:6 testifies, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” 
Know the truth, the word of God, to be free in this wicked world.
Knowing the truth is evidence of having faith.
Do you have faith?
Have faith to become faithful as one rooted in knowing the word of God.
The source of having faith is hearing and hearing the Word of God. 
One who lives by the word of God is with the testimony of seeking God diligently.
Romans 10:17 declares, “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Hearing and hearing the word of God is the coming of faith, but when there is no hearing, hearing faith will depart from one.
Continually, are you hearing the word of God to know God and be faithful?
The source of faith is the living word of God.
Faith is the living power that produces a living proof in the life of one who is faithful.
Faith is a spiritual power but not a philosophy or ideology. 
Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)
Have faith by giving yourself to the word of God, fear God, and be free in this wicked world.

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to give yourself to the word of God.

THE MERCY OF GOD

FAITH CAPSULE: The mercy of God is in place for all.

Exodus 15

The mercy of God does not result in merit but in the goodness of God. 
God cannot be intimidated or manipulated by His creations to obtain His mercy.
God testifies to His mercy, “…I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So, then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” (Romans 9:14-16)
The mercy of God is in place for all, and nothing under heaven can displace or deny one to experience His mercy.
The mercy of God could not be displaced or denied of the Israelites from coming out of the bondage of over four hundred years.
The Bible records, “You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed…” (Exodus 15:13) 
In this wicked world, understand and know to live life to attain the mercy of God as the Bible records His word.
Know to plead for the mercy of God.
Know to plead for the mercy of God.
God identified Job as a blameless man who fears God and shuns evil but not with an excuse not to plead for the mercy of God. Job 9:15 records the pleads for mercy by Job in the presence of God, “For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge” (Job 9:15). 
There is no excuse for Job to receive the mercy of God without pleading for His mercy. 
Just like Job, the Psalmist pleads for the mercy of God, “Have mercy on me, O LORD! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death.” (Psalm 9:13). 
Know to plead for the mercy of God.
Plead for the mercy of God!
God is at a distance where or when sin exists and does not accommodate sin.
With sin, one is short of the presence of God, but without sin, one will gain the fullness of the presence of God. Romans 3:23 speaks to all, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 
Distance from the presence of God will provoke unwanted, unexpected painful challenges that exist in the wicked world of sin.
With repentance from sin, the mercy of God shall answer painful challenges.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, the mercy of God has been consistent.
The mercy of God brought you far and not to become a victim of the wicked world.
Just as power belongs unto God, mercy also belongs to God. 
The mercy of God means God is compassionate and kind.
His mercy is with forbearance that does not run out.
Only God is in the position to render mercy unto all without failing.

Prayer for today: Ask, and plead before God for His mercy over the challenges of your life.

WHO ARE YOU?

FAITH CAPSULE: Who you are counts before God. 

John 2:13-25

Who are you before God?
What the people see you will not influence what God knows about you. 
Besides, as an acclaimed believer, do you know who you are?
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”  
You did not know that you were the temple.
It is important to answer the kind of temple.
As a temple, the kind of business that transpires in you is evidence of you, before God.
The Bible records that when the Passover of the Jews was at hand, Jesus visited Jerusalem.
He does not make a careless move just as He divinely went to Jerusalem to correct an anomaly.
John 2:14 records, “…He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.”  
Christ found businesses in the temple that were not of God. 
As a temple, what is it that Jesus will find in you when if He shows up without you expecting His visitation?
At the visitation of the temple, Jesus reacted to wrongdoing in the temple.
John 2:15-16 records, “When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”  
Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Jesus has not changed, and he will not change. 
If you are an anomaly in your temple, you should expect a whip of chords from Jesus.
Jesus reacted with a whip of cords when he visited a temple with activities, not of God.
What transpires in your temple, and what needs to be cleaned in you?
The disciples saw the reaction of Jesus in the temple as He kicked out all not of God, and they “…remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten me up.” (John 2:17).
Until the zeal of God eats up a believer, then the possibility of having a clean temple is almost impossible.
When there is zeal for God, Jesus will move into such life. 
To be zealous for God, the temple of God must not be of anomaly, and the temple shall be full of the presence of Christ.
God is watching, and all should continually watch out by keeping his temple clean to avoid whips of cords. 
Clean up your God-given temple, and avoid a whip of chords.

Payer for today: Ask for the mercy of God to keep you as His temple that is clean from an anomaly.