FAITH CAPSULE: The self-centeredness builds against God.

Genesis 11:1-9, Psalm 24 

Without a doubt, creation cannot maneuver God, the Creator.
If you are surviving by telling lies to deceive or manipulate your world, know that God, the Creator, alone, sees all.
Watch it and know that telling lies can build you up for years to move you forward, but just a day is certainly enough to bring you out as a liar, a deceiver, and a manipulator to bring down all the years built up in lies.
You can maneuver your world with lies, but not the Creator, the God of all.
Isaiah 40:28 records, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.” 
The one and only Perfect God does have the world in His hand. 
Psalm 24:1 states, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.”  
Under heaven and above, no one is in place to outmaneuver God. 
Can you imagine a creature attempting to outmaneuver the Creator of all?
The God that spoke to Jeremiah is the God that created heaven and earth and all its fullness. 
He spoke to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) 
Many, by the wickedness of their heart, are destroying others to build for themselves. However, when the building is outside God, it becomes an effort to outmaneuver the only Perfect Creator.
The building of the Tower of Babel was not in line with God.
The building was evidence of an attempt to maneuver God.
Genesis 11:4 records, “And they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Self-centeredness, which seeks to take charge instead of focusing on God, wants to maneuver God. 
Are you looking away from God? 
The construction of the tower of Babel failed to consider that God was in control.
The land and its fullness belong to God. 
God does not tolerate selfishness; He is not a man who acts like a man.
Self-centeredness represents arrogance and pride.
God saw where the people were coming from and knew where they were going as regards the Tower of Babel.
The self-centeredness that builds against God will provoke the response of God. 
Genesis 11:7-8 states, “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So, the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.”   
Stop building outside of God, which is an act of maneuvering God.

Prayer for today: Ask that you be enabled to live life for the glory of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: No one should believe in God and give themselves to doubt.

Matthew 14:22-36

Whose word do you believe?
The word of God demands faith and no doubt.
Power to heal and deliver is in the hands of God.
Pray not to be a victim of doubting the word of God.
What holds one down from experiencing the hand of God is doubt.
Isiah 59:1 confirms the hand of God, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save…”
Give to the word of God.
Know that the unfailing hand of God is for healing and deliverance?
Hear from Numbers 11:23, to stay focused that God does not fail, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Has the Lord’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.”
Trust and hope in God that any hand that points against you with an evil agenda shall be permanently withered for the glory of God over your life.
With doubt, faith will drown.
Jesus encourages all, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. (John 14:1)
Faith is a key to asking and receiving from God. 
When believers operate faith like a floating balloon, doubt can deflate to become grounded. 
The word of God demands faith and no doubt. 
James 1:6 records encouragement against doubt, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”
Once, the disciples of Jesus were on a journey on the water ahead of Jesus. 
While the disciples were in the middle of the journey on the sea, the boat experienced waves. 
Jesus could not abandon His disciples when He walked on the water. 
Peter saw Jesus walking on the water and was asked if to walk.
The Bible records, “So He said, ‘Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:29-30) 
Jesus was not a stranger to miracles, but Peter became an estranged disciple of Jesus through the miracles. 
With belief, there should be no room for doubt.
No one should believe in God and give themselves to doubt.
Peter should not give in to doubt in the place of faith. 
Just as Peter was sinking instead of walking on the troubled water, Jesus reacted, “And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.” (Matthew 14:31-32)
Peter failed as fear rose, and his faith began to sink in the troubled water.

Prayer for today: Ask God for deliverance from the spirit of doubt.

FAITH CAPSULE: Living obediently to God is not to be far from God.

Genesis 3

Get to know God, not to live a life far from God.
There is always a need to be close to the presence of God.
One who does not will walk far from God by living a life of disobedience to the word of God.
The sin of Adam and Eve made them far from the presence of God. 
Genesis 3:6-10 documents how Adam and Eve took a far distance from God, “So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
God creates all with His care to keep all near Him, but the sin rooted in not knowing God keeps all far from God.
Sin kept Adam and Eve far from God, not never far from them.
Are you living obediently or disobediently before God?
Obediently, give self to the word of God, walking in His presence and not far from Him. 
God is near, always.
The disobedience of Adam and Eve led to sin, and with sin, no one can reach God.
Failure to give regard to God will lead to sin.
Knowing that God is near at all times, the majority take the position of distancing themselves from God as evidence of disobedience to God’s word.
Disobedience to God is evidence of sin before God.
One with sin, consciously or unconsciously, cannot hide from God to see but keeps a distance from God.
Romans 3:23 buttressed, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 
With sin, all will be short of the presence of God, not being in His presence that is always near.
Consciously or unconsciously, are you living in sin that keeps you far from and not near to God?
One who is disobedient will hide from the presence of God. 
The creation of God is the word of God.
The word of God is God.
Often, the choice to be far from the word of God is to be far from God.
The work of God is the evidence that God is near. (Psalm 75:1-2)
Do you know if you are near to God or far from God?

Prayer for today: Ask that the spirit of disobedience shall have no place in your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Why not ask God just as He prompts all to do?

Psalm 32, 94 

Is it the lack of faith that stops one from asking when God directs to ask, seek, and knock?
Why not ask God just as He prompts all to do?
Matthew 7:7-11 records, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”  
Asking and not receiving could be evidence of asking wrongly. 
The Bible makes all realize that it is possible to ask and ask wrongly. 
James 4:3 states, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” 
What are you asking from God? 
Turn around and ask to be enabled to seek God more. 
Asking is not evidence that God forgets.
Asking God is communicating with God, giving attention to God.
Communication is a continuation.
God is a jealous God who gives attention to being asked for.
How can one not know that a caring God is mindful of His creation?
God does not forget His children.
God is a good God.
He is God who acts for the one who waits for Him. (Isaiah 64:4)  
Those who know how to wait on God have the character of asking God.
Make asking God a way of life.
Today, uncommon challenges and evil occurrences ravaging the world demand that we ask for His promises. 
The word of God promises, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go, I will guide you with My eye.” (Psalm 32:8) 
Do you desire His eye to guide you? 
It is a blessing to be guided by the eye of God.
Psalmist buttresses, “Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach out of your law, that You may give him rest from the days of adversity…” (Psalm 94:12-13) 
There is a need for all to desire rest from His instruction and teaching. 
All should have a place in the promise of God that instructs and teaches for rest to have a place in life. 
Turn to God and ask, gain from the instruction and teaching of God, to keep you in the plans of God.
Grow in faith to ask God; it is a privilege to have a God who listens.

Prayer for today: Ask that the hand of God rest on you in all endeavors.

FAITH CAPSULE: God can change one for the better.

Acts 9

Heaven opened to intervene in the evil agenda against the disciples of God.
Saul was a celebrated murderer who became a celebrity in the glory of God.
Saul eventually changed by the doing of God to become Apostle Paul.
The Apostle Paul, a former murderer of the followers of Christ, wrote most of the New Testament. 
He passionately went after the followers of Christ to persecute them until the Spirit of God arrested him. 
The book of Acts 9:1-2 documents, “Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” 
A man that was full of threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, a man with permission from the high priest to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found anyone following Jesus, whether man or woman, he might bring them, bound to Jerusalem, lost his sight, not able to see at his entering into Damascus. 
Heaven reacted to the evil attempt of Saul towards the disciples of God.
Saul was a-minded persecutor of the followers of Christ on the way or out of the way. 
Saul would go outside his area looking for followers of Christ to persecute. 
The mission of Saul to Damascus was to carry out his business encounter with the power that converted him from a persecutor to a propagator of the disciples of God. 
By the power of God, no one under Heaven is above the redirection for His divine agenda. 
God alone reverses the irreversible. 
Saul, on his journey to carry out persecution, “… He came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.” (Acts 9:3) 
The sudden light in the direction of Saul was an encounter with Jesus.
For Saul, there was no choice but to tremble before God. 
Saul not only trembled but also requested from the Lord what to do for the Lord. 
Above all, he lost his eyesight. 
The Bible records the encounter with Saul: “Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” (Acts 9:8-9) 
Saul gained new sight and moved forward to serve God. 
Saul answered to a new name (Paul) after gaining sight to see and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. 
God is still in the business of touching life.
Ask, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”
God that answers will position you in the center of your divine assignment.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to answer fully in every area of His calling for your life.