Good-life Daily Devotional

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Prov 8:1 KJV “Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? :Psalm 8: 22-24  “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 32 “Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.” 35-36 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.    This is a messianic scripture that speaks of the person-hood of the wisdom of God,  verse 24 says “the lord possessed me in the beginning  of His way”  the clause ‘ possessed me’  is the Hebrew word ‘qanah’ which means to erect , ordain or inaugurate . Verse 23 says “ I was set up from everlasting” the phrase   I was   set up’  is the Hebrew word ‘nacak’which

Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi        Ps 138:2 kjv “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” The clause ‘thou hast magnified ‘ is the Hebrew word ‘gadal’ which means  to twist i.e. to be causatively made large in various senses, as in body, mind, estate or honor, also in pride. Prophet David received a revelation of the preeminence of the word of God and the messianic mission of the word of God on earth.On the judgment day, it shall be God's word against others.By the above definition,in a divine twist of events God gave His word a body, mind , estate , honor and glory to operate on earth .          The scriptures in psalm 138:2 describes the word of God as the truth , John 17:17 says the same and John 1:1-4 NIV “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; wi

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Mark 11:20-21 “In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.  Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" NIV         Jesus' disciples were surprised to see how quick it took for the tree to wither. The previous day He  had sought for food from the tree but found none and He cursed  the tree and by morning it withered.  The tree began to die from the roots up. It died instantly just as Jesus said, and it was a process that was not immediately visible until the next morning.         This is typical of the process involving the manifestation of the miraculous when we pray. A similar situation was involved in the healing of the boy in Mark 9:26-27NIV” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead."  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, a

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi  Matthew 22:23 "The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,”        When a corn seed is planted, it goes into a process of complete decay and something amazing happens: out of the decayed material emerges a new crop according to its genetic code. The genetic code did not die with the other parts of the seed. If it did something else would have emerged.  This is one of the many mysteries of life on earth and it gives us a clue of what happens at death.Resurrection means "to come alive again."         Life is a continuum . Dan 12:2 TLB "And many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” . Human beings consist of three parts - a spirit, a soul, and a body (1 Th.5:23). The body is mortal while the spirit and soul are immortal. It is just like a mobile phone which consists of three parts: a hardware,

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi  "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new." 2Corinthians 5.17 Bible     The moment a person receives Jesus Christ as lord and saviour ,his or old life and identity abruptly comes to an end and now everything is new in Christ. Everything from your old life (failures,overwhelming appetite for sin , heartbreaks, curses, hopelessness, rejection, slavery etc) has ended and all things have become new. It is likened to what happens when a woman (a daughter of an abusive father) gets married and changes her surname. She undergoes a radical transformation in status in an instant. As soon as the marriage vows are exchanged and she is declared a wife and overwhelming essence takes over the woman with authority , control and freedom. Physically , she is the same but she has gone through a spiritual transformation witnessed by angels and society would no longer frown

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi   Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel .."     Believers are expected to share the gospel every opportunity they have .There are simple steps on how to sell yourself to your audience as a preacher of the gospel.           Ask questions in every discussion as a way of showing interest in your audience (Prov. 18:13.) People easily show interest in us when we are interested in them .         Learn to be a good listener , it tells your audience you have respect for them and gives you a better insight of the topic on ground (Jam 1:19) . People easily pay attention to us when they observe how much respect we've shown them by listening to their point of view.    Allow them to express themselves freely without restrictions ,when we allow people speak their heart freely it gives us an opportunity to really know their state of mind. It gives us the opportunity to identify the weaknesses in their belief system ,this is important in buil

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi  Mathew 4:19 Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men         Jesus gave “the Great Commission” to all Christians. We are called to reconcile men back to God. The scriptures says in 2 Cor 5:18-19 TLB "All these new things are from God who brought us back to himself through what Christ Jesus did. And God has given us the privilege of urging everyone to come into his favor and be reconciled to him".         We were saved on purpose to fulfill a divine purpose . Jesus said in  Mark 16:15 TLB " And then he told them, "You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.  Acts 1.8 NLT says  "But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power to testify about me with great effect, to the people in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, about my death and resurrection." The death and resurrection of Christ makes no meaning to a sinner until

By  Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Luke 16:19-31"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried....."        There is life after death as portrayed in this narrative by Jesus Christ of a real event . It is easy to logically deduce this if we consider the fact that if today is yesterday’s future then it means tomorrow is today’s future and so on through eternity. It is the activities within a time frame that defines the period of an event for example; a wedding anniversary date is defined by the wedding that took place on that date. It therefore follows that for every existing time frame there must be an event, even eternity. Based on this logic, there must be an afterlife since time has no end or else there won’t be eternity.        There is no transition period or dimension  where souls are kept frozen for a futuristic resurrection of our bodies. From the above scripture we immediately go into

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Matt 15:2KJV " Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread."      There is beauty in every human being but unfortunately persons cut up in the habit of fault- finding are usually overwhelmed with details of other peoples' shortcoming that they deprive themselves from seeing the beauty of God's grace in humanity (Matthew7:4-5) . Most marriages, business relationships would be stronger if we refuse to allow ourselves get preoccupied with our partner’s faults. More energy should be channeled towards building  better friendships and less on discovery of each other's errors. The religious folks of Jesus' time were more concerned about the eating habits of the disciples and less interested in their positive contributions to the society. We are to play a complimentary and not a competitive role in our relationships          Fault- finding is the by-product of seekin

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Acts 8:20 KJV “ But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.”      It is common practice among magicians and mystics or mediums to seek help from each other in other to achieve a goal . A medium is a person who serves as a go- between for those seeking information from the spirit-world. They are also known as magicians          “ In its modern accepted sense magic may be described as the art of bringing about results beyond man's own power by superhuman agencies. In the wide sense of this definition divination is only a species of magic, i.e. magic used as a means of securing secret knowledge, especially a knowledge of the future. Divination and magic bear a similar relation to prophecy and miracle respectively, the first and third implying special knowledge, the second and fourth special power. But divination has to do generally with omens ..” (from Internat

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi  2 Cor 12:9  " And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me". KJV           God's perspective on greatness is diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive to man's .What man considers as a demotion is God's way of promoting His servants . Moses was taken from his position as a prince in Egypt to being a shepherd boy. Likewise, despite his status among the prophets John the baptizer ended in prison Luke 3:20, "....he shut up John in prison." Much of apostle Paul's writings{ over 60% of the new testament}were written from behind prison walls. His ordeals are summarized in  2 Cor 11:27" In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness".KJV. Paul's ministry witnessed more pain than pleasu

Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down  his life for his friends."    There is a remarkable difference between what the world considers as love and what the word of God says love is. While the world defines it as compassion for self and for someone from which there is a derivable benefit, biblical love goes beyond passion: it is purposeful, necessary and sacrificial ; ironically, more persons perish as a result of love than any other reason globally .Over 5 million unborn babies are slaughtered yearly as a result of people making love .        The origin of wars are traceable to a person seeking to demonstrate affection for someone .In judges 15 , Samson declared war against the Philistines because his father in-law refused him access to his wife .Most men live their lives with a 'conquest' mentality and are driven by the desire to impress a woman. Adam ate the forbidden fruit not because he was deceived bu

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Luke 12:58" As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison". NIV     Money spent on the acquisition of weapons of warfare far exceeds that needed to feed the world, the threat of war is a major reason for the economic downturn of many nations , families with conflicts  tend to  spend more on seeking for alternative sources of recreation than they earn: they are easy prey for false prophets who take advantage of the lack of unity to extort money through fables.. Internal conflicts cripples a nation's finances.Strife opens the door to poverty , demonic oppression and manipulations. Your prosperity has a direct bearing on  the status of your relationships. Healthy relationships is a necessary condition for prosperity.           Jesus had just spoken about rela

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi   1Chronicles 29:12 'Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.      In addition to hard work and striving for excellence ,faith is an indispensable element in attaining success and a fulfilled life, it is for that reason that a commitment to work with God is indispensable in the attainment of good success . Success is incomplete without a healthy relationship with God through Jesus Christ ( Mark 8:36) The lives of those driven by the anointing of God's favour is characterized by the following virtues : #1.They hunger for God 's kingdom and His way of living through Christ .Psalm 37:4 Mathew 6.34 #2.They are committed to sharing the gospel . Mk 16.20 #3.They recognize the importance of prophetic spiritual authority and submit to it( Gen. 24.40, 2 Chronicles 20.20  #4. They dissociate from persons who dehum

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi John 5:4 KJV  “ For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.”        The pool of Bethesda was the very opposite of what it’s names means which is the ‘house of grace’ in the Greek . Imagine the scenario; a hospital that only heals the first patient that walks into the doctor’s office. The scriptures says the place was full of sick persons , all waiting to be the first to jump into the water after the angel  troubled the water.         The word angel is the Greek word ‘aggelos’ which means a messenger, pastor. These folks were at the mercy of the pastor much as it is today in many religious settings where people are made to go through harrowing experiences all in a bid to receive healing or deliverance from satanic powers because they fail to embrace the concept of the simplicity of the go

Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Mark 11:13 :20AMP And seeing in the distance a fig tree [covered] with leaves, He went to see if He could find any [fruit] on it [for in the fig tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves]. But when He came up to it, He found nothing but leaves, for the fig season had not yet come...."In the morning, when they were passing along, they noticed that the fig tree was withered [completely] away to its roots."     This incidence was a demonstration of the interplay between the humanity and divinity of Jesus  Christ, the first fruit amongst those called sons of God . He was fully God and human as it was in the beginning like the first Adam. The scriptures says in 1 Tim3:16 AMP...we confess, is the hidden truth (the mystic secret) of godliness. He [God] was made visible in human flesh, justified and vindicated in the [Holy] Spirit, was seen by angels, preached among the nations.."     It was not fig harvest season yet the tree app