Category Archives: Devotions

STUDY TO KNOW GOD

FAITH CAPSULE: Study to know God and not be an ignorant believer. 

2 Samuel 6

By the word of God in place for all, there should be no ignorance for those who give themselves to the word of God.
Lack of knowledge of the word is bound to established ignorance.
Before God, there is no excuse for ignorance.
A lack of knowledge and understanding is the state of being ignorant.
In life, ignorance makes a believer become destitute.
God alone is the creator of all.
God sees heaven and earth, and no one can successfully hide from God.
Running from God is limited, for a while, to become caught up.
Before God, there is no excuse for ignorance.
The lack of knowledge and understanding is engaging in a journey of self-destruction.
Hosea 4:6 records, “My people are destroyed, for lack of knowledge.”
Ignorance is a lack of knowledge that makes a believer destitute.
Among believers, doing right in the wrong way or doing wrong instead of doing right, is rampant. 
Romans 10:3 states, “For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”
Set yourself before God:
Study to know God and not be an ignorant believer.
Always do right and know there is no excuse for ignorance before God.
Taking the doings of God for granted is not acceptable, but an act of ignorance.
Do not take God for granted.
Taking God for granted is disobedient to His word.
The word of God called Abraham for the sacrifice of his one and only child.
Abraham attempted to do as God demanded of him.
God responds to the attempt of Abraham, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now, I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Genesis 22:12) 
Abraham obeyed God from his heart.
Abraham did not withhold the word of God.
One who seeks God with all heart and soul is seeking God diligently.
Abraham could not take God for granted.
Abraham obeyed God and lived life for God by seeking God with all his heart and soul.
Are you taking God for granted?
The life of Uzzah is an example of ignorance with no excuse before God.
Uzzah made a wrong choice in an attempt to save the ark from falling.
When returning the Ark of God to Jerusalem.
The act of Uzzah is a violation and had no reasonable excuse for the consequence of sin before God.
Uzzah was ignorant of touching the Ark of God, resulting in the termination of his life.
2 Samuel 6:6-8 documents, “And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error, and he died there by the ark of God.” 
The ignorance of Uzzah was the cause of untimely death.
There is no excuse for ignorance.

Prayer for today: Ask not to become a victim of ignorance before God.

NOTHING HAS CHANGED

FAITH CAPSULE: Today, the majority of believers are still betraying Jesus.

Mark 15:1-32

Are you making noise as a believer yet living as a deceiver? 
Matthew 20:17-19 records, “Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”  
Exactly what He said happened to Him. 
Jesus knew beforehand that all His disciples would stumble and scatter at His arrest. 
Indeed, all His disciples forsook Him, as recorded in Matthew 26:56, “…Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.” 
The disciples betrayed Him.
Today, the majority of believers are still betraying Jesus.
Nothing has changed. 
As an acclaimed believer, how are you betraying Jesus?
The Bible records, “Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.” (Matthew 26:69-70) 
Peter betrayed Him by denying Him. 
Are you betraying Him by denying Him? 
Doing what He commanded not to do is evidence of denying Him. 
Peter blatantly denied Jesus three times to avoid suffering with Him. Every acclaimed believer wants to identify with Jesus, but none wants to suffer with Him or suffer just like He did. 
Are you making noise as a believer but yet living as a deceiver? 
Judas took his way of betraying Him to another level. 
Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve apostles. He was their treasurer. John 12:6 introduces the thievery of Judas by saying, “…as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.” 
Judas disclosed the whereabouts of Jesus to the chief priests and elders for 30 pieces of silver. 
Judas identified Jesus with a kiss and addressed Jesus as Master. As an acclaimed believer, how are you betraying Him? 
Is lying, deception, or manipulation your way of living life to betray Jesus? 
Do you have any openings that Satan could enter into? 
It does not matter who you are or how long you have been following Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior; Satan will attempt to gain entrance into man.
The route to becoming a betrayer is a failure to watch and pray. 
Jesus warned, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation…” (Mark 14:38) 
The Bible mentions, “Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.”(Luke 22:3) 
One who enters into temptation because of a lack of watching and praying takes a position of allowing Satan the tempter to enter. 
Are you an acclaimed believer who is watching and praying? 
Watch and pray; deny the tempter; do not end up as a betrayer.

Prayer for today: Ask God that you live shut against all that does not represent Him. 

BE A MARK!

FAITH CAPSULE: Let your godly character mark your world.

Matthew 5:1-15

Your word is you.
Your character is your identity.
Before God, the only One who sees all, with no way to escape from the knowing of such, what kind of believer are you?
Does your character communicate your claim as a believer in God?
By virtue of your way of life, are you running away from the presence of God or running to the presence of God?
Are you cold, hot, or lukewarm in answering God?
What is your work like before God, the only Creator of all?
Revelation 3:15-16 records the word of God in response to the work of all: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
By the scriptural verse above, it is clear enough that there is no middle ground in every word of God.
As an acclaimed believer, you are either one who contributes to the earth as a preserver or one who does not contribute but takes the place of a non-preserver (destroyer). 
As an acclaimed believer, are you a preserver or destroyer by your way of living life?
Before the widespread use of refrigerators for food preservation, salt was the primary method.
Jesus identifies that just as salt preserves food, so should believers be the salt of the earth, to live as preservers.
Are you a preserving believer, a lukewarm believer, or a hot or cold believer?
A believer should be the one bringing impactful changes to the world, preserving the decaying world of sin and iniquity.
The world is wicked and gets more wicked.
One living by the word of God should be a believer not to be changed by the affairs of this world. 
Why not have the desire to be like salt, as a preserver of the wicked world?
Jesus said in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men”
A kitchen with salt, producing tasteless and unacceptable food, is evidence that salt has lost its flavor. 
The salt that is not effective has lost its purpose. 
A believer living a life of waste will lose purpose and become thrown away like salt with no flavor.
According to Jesus, a thrown-away salt becomes an underfoot material. 
Be a kind of salt that preserves the world.
Quoting the word of God, claiming to be a believer, without a Godly character is empty before God.
Believers of the word are to be salt that seasons their world with godly and acceptable contributions. 
Live life as a preserving agent according to the word of God. 

Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from becoming a salt-less vessel to your world.

LOOKING UP TO GOD

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you worried and not looking up to God?

Exodus 14

The antidote for challenge is focusing on God.
Challenges provoke worry.
Worrying is the reason for not looking up to God.
Are you worried and not looking up to God?
A failure to look up to God in the face of the challenge will misplace focus on God. 
Are you beholding your challenge or looking up to God?
The Israelites looked away from God to behold the challenge before them. 
Exodus 14:10-12 documents, “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, knowing fully well that God is able, yet they gave in to fear when they failed to lift their eyes unto God for help. 
The Israelites were worried and troubled when they gave a negative confession.
The solution for challenges demands focusing on God and the word of His promise. 
Despite all the powerful teachings of Jesus against fear and worrying, the disciples went ahead and locked themselves up in fear of the Jews. “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.” (John 20:19) While the disciples of Jesus locked up themselves in the state of fear, Jesus showed up and declared peace. Jesus, the Word of God, is the Prince of peace.
Faith in Jesus will cause peace to reign.  
After Jesus had spoken peace into the lives of His disciples, their minds opened 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.”
Challenges today demand setting the whole mind on the mark of crucifixion of Jesus to remind all that He has paid the price to uphold all, not to become a victim of challenges.
What denies one from giving oneself to the word of God is the challenge of the world not to live for the glory of God.
God sent His word to heal and deliver from self-destruction. (Psalm 107:20)
Jesus is the living word of God.
He paid all on the cross for all.

Prayer for today: Ask to be bold and to have the character of looking up to God at all times.

MORAL OFFENSE

FAITH CAPSULE: Error is a moral offense; wrongdoing; sin.

2 Samuel 6

Doing what is good wrongly in the name of God is an error with no excuse before God, not to experience the consequence.
There is always a consequence for any violation of the word of God.
However, mercy belongs to God for any repentance for doing wrong before God.
With repentance, consequence will also answer with peace that surpasses understanding.
The world will see the consequence but not understand the peace in the life of one who is at peace.
Be warned, error is a deviation from accuracy, as in a mistake, as in action or speech.
Error is the condition of believing what is not true.
Error is a moral offense; wrongdoing; sin.
It is an error to violate the word of God, and it can be a conscious or unconscious error before God.
An error happened in despising the word of God.
The word states, “He who despises the word will be destroyed…” (Proverbs 13:13)
Have you in any way violated or currently violating the word of God?
Before God, there is no excuse for error.
Before God, Adam and Eve committed the error of believing the serpent. They ate where God asked them not to eat.
When God showed up (just as He will show up to all), both Adam and Eve attempted to justify their action before God by stating, “Then the man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12-13)
The excuse of Adam and Eve was not enough before God, but they received the consequence for their disobedience.
It happened that during the transfer of the Ark of God from the house of Abinadab, Uzzah and Ahio drove the cart.
In the process of moving the ark, Uzzah touched it when he should not have.
The bible recorded his error, “And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.’ (Genesis 6:6-7) The act of Uzzah, which was of a good heart, but an error before God.
Uzzah despised the word of God as stated in Numbers 4:15, “And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die.” Uzzah touched the holy thing, which was the ark of God.
To despise the word of God, taking a position of self-destruction.

Prayer point: Pray not to be a victim of violation of God consciously or unconsciously.