FAITH CAPSULE: Living by the word of God is the character of a believer.

Daniel 3

Are you living by the word of God to be in a position of knowing that God is on your side?
An acclaimed believer who often states: “The Lord is on my side” but is consistently living in fear or constantly entertaining fear in every area of confronting situations is only making a false statement or self-mockery in the face of the devil. 
With the mounting challenges of the world, are you giving to fear?
However, an acclaimed believer who can restrain oneself from fear of the world under the challenges is living with the knowledge that God is with such.
Living by the word of God is the character of a believer.
Believing God is seeing God is always at the side of such in every way of life regardless of confronting challenges.
A believer who operates at the level of knowing that God is always on the side shall truly not entertain fear of what the world can do.
The three friends of Daniel (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego) could not entertain fear due to death judgment through a burning fiery furnace over their lives. 
The three friends responded to the death sentence over their lives, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to answer you in this matter.  If that is the case, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel 3: 16-18)
The evidence of seeing God and knowing that the Lord is with one is to be bold in confronting challenges rather than sinking in fear.
The three friends of Daniel ended up in the fiery burning furnace as commanded by the king, who does not know the God of the three friends. While in the burning fiery furnace, the king saw the unusual, and he reacted, “…he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ ‘Look!’ he answered, ‘I see four men loose, walking amid the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’” (Daniel 3:24-25) 
The three friends could not be stranded in the burning fiery furnace because their God was always on their side, and the unbelieving king was privileged to see their God with them with his naked eyes. 
If one comes out of religion and begins to live by the word of God, such shall become a reality of Christ.

Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled to live by the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Glory belongs to God alone

Daniel 4:28-36, Acts 12:20-25

Arrogance is overbearing pride or haughtiness. 
Arrogance does not have a place in the presence of God.
It is an act against what God demands from every believer. 
One cannot be with the character of arrogance and be humble in the way of life.
Philipians2:8 records Jesus, “… being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”   
Everyone claiming to be Christ-like should be dressed with the spirit of humility regardless of being outside or inside the church. 
The opposite of humility is pride. 
Pride is nothing but a personal ride to self-destruction. 
Before God, are you consciously paying attention to how you dress yourself? 
It is worth not to be ignorant because ignorance only makes a destitute of a believer. 
Have you been lifting yourself before the name of God instead of humbling yourself? 
Could it be that people are lifting you to be what you are not to be in the presence of God? 
Ignorant or not, God should not and will not be limited. 
Herod, pumped up by his power and position, failed to recognize God. 
He was also an agent attempting to terminate the Body of Christ. 
The same Herod ordered the killing of James, the brother of John, and attempted to claim the life of Peter, but God moved on behalf of Peter. Whatever it is that is taking away the glory of God through you, ask for the move of divine intervention for your deliverance. 
Acts 12:21-23 record glorification of Herod, “So on a set day Herod arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.”  
Pray against a set day to rise in self-glorification against God like Herod. The set day for Herod was the last of his set of days because people placed him ahead of God. 
Nebuchadnezzar was humiliated when he began to take glory away from God when he stated in Daniel 4:30, “…Is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” 
Avoid the life of Self-glorification. 
Nebuchadnezzar moved from grace to grass for seven years. 
In Daniel 4:37, Nebuchadnezzar testified, “…And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.” 
Perfect God, gracious and merciful God, receives glory and honor.
There is none before God, and there will be none after God that creates all.
Know to avoid self-glorification! 

Prayer for today: Ask that you will live a life of glorifying God for all He has done and yet to do.

FAITH CAPSULE: A Christian soldier by mouth or by way of living for God?

1 Kings 17: 1-10, Psalm 15

As a soldier in the hand of God, are you standing when a challenge calls for standing? 
Are you sleeping when the oppositions demand to be awake? 
A failure not to stand is a passage to fall. 
There is no way to operate in the Lord when sleeping takes the place of being awake. 
The Bible describes Elijah as a man with a nature like ours, and he earnestly prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months (James 5:17). 
The testimony about Elijah is a pointer to the body of Christ to know that what Elijah did is not beyond a Christian if such have a stand in God walking in Him. 
Are you a believer who knows to walk uprightly, to work righteousness, and to speak the truth in the heart? (Psalm 15:1-2) 
A yes answer to the question asked is the identity of one who does have a stand before God, like Elijah. 
Will you be willing to take your stand in His Word? 
In 1 Kings 17:1, Elijah, the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years, except at my word.” 
Elijah stood before God to provoke the hand of God to honor Elijah’s request. 
As a believer, you claim to be on the side of God.  
Can you step out and tell the rain not to fall? 
Can your mountains respond to the sound of your voice? 
There is no deception before God, if there is no standing in God, no mountain will move at the sound of voice. 
Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs shall follow those who believe: In my name, they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 
The character of one who stands in God is those who follow Him.
It is conversant that the sick goes from the church to the hospital not from the hospital to the church. 
Nothing is wrong with the promise of God, but the ones who claim to know the word have things wrong with them. 
When there is an inability to stand in the word of God, there will be a disability to operate the word of God. 
Just like Elijah, standing in the word makes an acclaimed believer a commander in the hand of God.
As a believer engages in work to get paid, it is to work righteous and to stand his ground to provoke heaven when the challenge calls for it. 
Do you desire to be a standing army for the Lord?

Prayer for today: Ask to become enabled to work righteousness at all times. 

FAITH CAPSULE: To prepare and not pretend the evidence of knowing the truth.

Genesis 6, 7

The wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah and the days of Noah took a while, and God gave so many years waiting for the change from doing evil.
God is long-suffering and patiently waiting for the repentance of doing wicked.
Ecclesiastes 8:11 states, “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.”  
The evil days are now. 
Jesus warned, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man.” (Luke 17:26)
The truth is that Jesus came to die for the sins of the whole world, to live for God.
Jesus emphasized that the coming time of judgment is a time that no one knows but only God. 
Mark 13:32-33 records, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch, and pray; for you do not know when the time is.” 
Jesus is the truth, and the truth is threatening, and only a few want to turn around and give their lives to God. 
Have you given your life to Christ?
Are you living and abiding by the commands of God? 
The time today is very crucial.
To prepare and not pretend is what all need to do.
In December 2004, a massive earthquake created a TSUNAMI, a devastation around the rim of the Indian Ocean. 
The death toll was in the hundreds of thousands. 
Does that sound like tale-telling? 
The Rain that flooded in the time of Noah rained forty days and forty nights, but the TSUNAMI executed for perhaps a couple of minutes in duration. 
In that period, it touched down in many regions on the face of the earth. The coming back of Jesus will be at the twinkling of eye. 
Judgment is coming and time of God. 
Take your time to build your ark. 
Today is the day of salvation.
Salvation is not to experience Sodom and Gomorrah like Lot. 
Salvation is to escape Days the likes of the time of Noah.
Today, give your life and become a candidate for the Kingdom of God. Jesus affirmed by stating, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) 
It would be foolish to say build an ark in the desert against flood. 
In John 3:15-16 Jesus identifies what it means to be born again, “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
It is never too late to give life to Christ. 
If you think you have wasted too much of your life, it becomes evidence that He is waiting to raise you.

Prayer for today: Ask that you will live for God.

FAITH CAPSULE: Is your move in response to the calling of God? 

Genesis 31

The psalmist testifies, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”(Psalm 121:1-4) 
God is the helper that does not sleep nor slumber. 
With the help of God, there is none will able to deny Him from helping.
Where God backs you, the mountain shall move for your passage. 
Above all, when God returns you from nowhere to the center of your divine assignment, He will permit no man to hurt you.
Jacob did not inform nor bid farewell to Laban the Syrian when God called him to return. 
Genesis 31:3 records, “Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”  
God called for the return of Jacob, but then, the relationship between Jacob and Laban was no longer favorable. 
After Jacob had left, Laban went after him with bad intentions because Rachel stole the household idol of Laban. 
With all intention of Laban against Jacob, God appeared to him in a dream and cautioned him to be careful in his dealing with Jacob. 
As a result, when he caught up with Jacob, he stated, “It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’” (Genesis 31:29)
Whenever God calls for you to go or return, no other power under heaven can stand against you. 
All power belongs unto God, and there is no other capable power to hurt you in the journey which the Lord has called you for turnaround into His divine purpose over your life. 
God called Jacob to return, and Laban was not in a position nor with power capable of denying God. 
Laban was not in a position to stop the move of God. 
Concerning your life, man is powerless, but God is powerful. 
Have you received the calling of God? 
Is your move in response to the calling of God? 
Do not move on your understanding. 
In every calling of God, let your move be on trust in the Lord with all your heart; avoid leaning on your understanding; be conscious of His presence; let no wrong assumption take charge of your ways and know that God will permit no man to hurt you as you engage His calling. 
God is not a man that He should falter; He is faithfully capable of accomplishing His word. 
Avoid distraction to keep focus on the calling of God.

Prayer for today: Ask to be strengthened and that you will know to set on God as your deliverance.