Good-life Daily Devotional

 By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi  Num 24:10-14 “King Balak flew into a rage against Balaam. He angrily clapped his hands and shouted, "I called you to curse my enemies! Instead, you have blessed them three times.  Now get out of here! Go back home! I promised to reward you richly, but the Lord has kept you from your reward."  Balaam told Balak, "Don't you remember what I told your messengers? I said, 'Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I would be powerless to do anything against the will of the Lord.' I told you that I could say only what the Lord says! “       Prophet Balaam like every servant of the lord hard his weaknesses, there is no servant of the lord who has not erred (Ecc.7:20) it is what makes the mercy of God indispensable to our existence. But in this case Balaam had a choice to turn against God and be rich beyond his wildest dream or remain with the truth and face the consequences.  He chose  the latter  agains

Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi   Num 13:32-33 “And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. Num 14:2-4 NIV “All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!  Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?"  And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt."      Faith always places a demand on us . It comes with responsibilities and faith without responsibilities is dead. Most persons have been made to believe miracles always comes easy and as such all one needs to do is pray , fast and wait and if nothing happens increase the fasting and the prayer until you receive yo

Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Num 11:1-2 ,4, 11-15 TLB “The people were soon complaining about all their misfortunes, and the Lord heard them. His anger flared out against them because of their complaints, so the fire of the Lord began destroying those at the far end of the camp. They screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed for them the fire stopped. …the Egyptians who had come with them began to long for the good things of Egypt. Moses said to the Lord, "Why pick on me, to give me the burden of a people like this?  Are they my children? Am I their father? Is that why you have given me the job of nursing them along like babies until we get to the land you promised their ancestors? Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? For they weep to me saying, 'Give us meat!' I can't carry this nation by myself! The load is far too heavy!  If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now; it will be a kindness! Let me out of this impossible situ

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi  1 Sam 15:15,20-22, KJV “And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.  And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams”.       It is rare to attend a church meeting without experiencing the endless  'wanting' from preachers demanding for sacrifices from the congregation. Many a believer have

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi   Luke 11:21-23 NKJV  “ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. ”            The battle between Satan ’ s kingdom and the church of Christ is real and is for the souls of men as the second coming of Christ approaches. He seeks to make humanity reject the gospel of Jesus Christ and to take as many as possible to hell.            He has a subtle way of doing this: through man-made religion (salvation based on man's standards ).Jesus came to pave the way for humanity to have a relationship with the Father and he opposed man-made religion in its entirety throughout His earthly ministry (Matt23) and replaced it with the concept of son-ship (John 1:12) where we become joint-heirs with Him. Under this concept, salvation is by grace through faith and requires no inputs from ma

By Pst. Michael Benson Ajayi Luke 15:12 KJV “And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.”      The need for self determination was the driving force behind this young Christian seeking for separation from the family of believers. He taught that the world had a better deal to offer than the church did : he was convinced his skills in finance management would see him through but that wasn’t the case as a he soon became bankrupt. The scriptures says he “..wasted his substance with riotous living.” (Luke 15:13 KJV).  The word ‘riotous’ is from a Greek word ‘asotia’ which means ‘unsavedness, i.e. profligacy, he compromised  on his security as a result of  his disconnection.             This parable underscores the relevance of the importance of spiritual relationships, mentorship and our growth in faith. This young Christian’s condition degenerated to the point of eating with pigs. However,

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi      Num 9:6-10 TLB “ But as it happened, some of the men had just attended a funeral and were ceremonially defiled by having touched the dead, so they couldn't eat the Passover lamb that night. They came to Moses and Aaron and explained their problem and protested at being forbidden from offering their sacrifice to the Lord at the time he had appointed.  Moses said he would ask the Lord about it, and this was God's reply:  "If any of the people of Israel, now or in the generations to come, are defiled at Passover time because of touching a dead body, or if they are on a journey and cannot be present, they may still celebrate the Passover, but one month later,”           The Old Testament law required that those who made contact with a corpse abstained from religious duties until they were declared ceremonially clean by the priests. Therefore , it was common to see some of the Israelites avoiding contact with corpses during religious festi

By  Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi  Isaiah 60:3-4 NKJV  “ The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. "Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; ”              Jesus said we are the light of the world and salt of the earth Matt5:13-14. Light reveals the beauty and salt is a seasoner and preserver bringing out the essence of creation .The second verse of Isaiah 60 says  “ darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; ”  this darkness is the confusion and chaos in the world that ’ s as a result of the lack of unconditional  love .The world practices a conditional type of love ;this is deficient in so many ways because sometime conditions are altered beyond our control resulting in a lack of commitment in relationships.             It is the lack of commitment that is behind the increased rate of conflicts globally . It requires  God ’ s kind of faith to overcome the fear of failure wh

 Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi   Mark 3:14-16 NIV  “ He appointed twelve — designating them apostles-that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. “        The word authority is the Greek word  ‘exousia’ it means;  privilege, force, capacity, competency, freedom, mastery , magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control, delegated influence: The believer in Jesus Christ has been given delegated influence over satanic powers and just as darkness disappears at the appearance of light so does satanic powers surrender at the presence of the believer in Jesus Christ .  Authority is positional ( a function of the office a person occupies ) and ethereal  ( divine ,effective, real : though not physically visible ) God places persons into office to reward some persons and bring judgment on some others.  Even Satan has a role to play in divine justice on earth (1Cor. 5:5,1Tim1:20)        Satan is not as powerful as portra

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi       Luke 8:46-47 NKJV ”  But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me." Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. ’        This woman was suffering from hemorrhage for twelve years and had exhausted all her earnings on medical bills. Upon hearing that Jesus was in her neighborhood, she did the unthinkable: under the laws of Moses she wasn ’ t allowed to make contact with anybody. The scriptures say in Lev 15:7 NKJV  “ And he who touches the body of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ”  She was considered to be ceremonially unclean, cursed and whoever she made contact with would be deemed unclean also.           This woman must have been motivated by love and perfect l

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi  Eccl 7:16 AMP “ Be not [morbidly exacting and externally] righteous overmuch, neither strive to make yourself [pretentiously appear] overwise — why should you [get puffed up and] destroy yourself [with presumptuous self-sufficiency]? 1 Tim 1:19-20 KJV  “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”      The word ‘conscience ‘ is the Greek word  ‘suneidesis’ it means   co-perception, i.e. moral consciousness: understanding or common sense . God wants us to worship and serve Him with common sense; an example of this is seen in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church with respect to a woman’s head cover. 1 Cor 11:14-15 KJV says “ Doth not even nature itself teach you , that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is

 By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi  Num 3:10 NLT “Appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood. But any unauthorized person who goes too near the sanctuary must be put to death."       The era  of the old testament was a period characterized by a  very strict and regimented approach to worship . This was to show the Israelites the need for a savior . The rules and regulations of the old testament were not designed for anyone to fulfill but for God’s people to see the need for His mercy .         One of such rules involved the sanctity of the sanctuary , it was the most sacred place in the temple and  out of bounds to all except  Aaron and his sons who were ordained priests; anyone else entering into the inner sanctuary was to be put to death according to God’s commandment . The same rules applies in some of the world’s religions today, they have no-go areas and priests are celebrated as being next to God in honour ;but this is contrary to the laws of gra

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Matt 8:8 KJV  “ The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. ”         This soldier understood the power behind spoken words and in his line of work, word is bond and it also meant the difference between life and death. He had witnessed Jesus taking charge over situations by the spoken ‘ word ’  and was convinced that as long as he brought himself under Jesus ’  authority, he ’ s wouldn ’ t be any different. The military has specific code name for every operation. Therefore, it is not unusual to hear the same word having different meanings in tactical warfare and it will require an acquaintance with a brigade commander, for one to know the meaning of a given command. This is was why this soldier sought to establish a relationship with Jesus. Eventually, his servant was healed by the power of the spoken word.               On one occasion,

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Matt 6:7-9 "The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.  With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply…..”         Mark 5:28-34 NIV  “because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." … Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. …. “But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it….He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."    It is common belief that the anointing of God – tends to be more available and more powerful during certain church programs based on certain preparation formula and when certain preachers are present ,

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Prov 26:20 KJV “Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.” Eph 4:31 AMP  “Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind).       Gossip is idle talk or rumor, especially about other persons ,usually  in a condescending or critical manner .It also involves sharing of damaging secrets with the intent of causing a scandal . Gossip is Satan’s weapon of choice in causing wars in nations and the destruction of families .It is for that reason that God frowns strongly against gossip and tattling (Psalm15:1-3) Gossips are in danger of condemnation (Matt12:36,37,Jer 17:10)    As harmless as posting a false information on social media may appear with it going vi

By Rev Michael Benson Ajayi  Luke 8:14 NKJV  “ Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. ”            God desires that we live the good life in abundance and has made provisions for our needs. His  ability to supply our need is n o t predicated on the state of the world ’ s economy or life's circumstance. We often plan based on our limited resources and this is in contrast to God ’ s plan for our provisions which is far beyond what any man can phantom, He fed five thousand persons with two pieces of fish and five loaves of bread and nourishes birds that have no farms and grasses without a gardener. He provides partners for animals in the wild and they give birth according to their heart's desires. If this can be done for these lower class of creatures, what can't He do for His beloved children?                    God is all-benevolent,