Good-life Daily Devotional

By Michael Benson Ajayi  John 5:44  “ How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? ”             Religion creates a dent on the human psyche resulting in a low self esteem and an insatiable quest for relevance often manifested in the  idolization of personalities.This is the reason behind the flurry of titles and bureaucracy in religious institutions . It was the pursuit of these  ephemeral ideals by the Pharisees that often placed them at loggerhead with Jesus whose teachings were considered as a euphemism of their objects of worship.               Jesus was the opposite of everything the religious folks of His time stood for: he was a threat to their way of life just as the teachers of the message of salvation by grace through faith are seen as a threat by religious folks the world over because it  ascribes all glory , honour and praise to God with no room for human worship . In John 5:1-44 Jesus healed a man th

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajay Gen 19:29 KJV   “ And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt ”           The word  “ remembered ”  as used in this verse of scripture is the Hebrew word  ‘ Zakar ’ , it means; to mark for the purpose of recognition. To better understand the context in which this word is used; imagine a midwife in a maternity ward taking record of women who are about to deliver , she marks each women by writing on their file with an expected delivery time and when a woman is due she requests the woman be moved to the labour room to be delivered of her baby.  In this situation, the women were not forgotten but put  into a delivery program. God is everywhere and in everything and cannot forget anything .              Scriptures are best understood when looked at from a logical and contextual perspective. God cannot

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi    Mark 6:5-6 NKJV “Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.”     The Lord Jesus commenced his earthly messianic ministry at age thirty and Mary- the surrogate mother of the ‘Holy seed’ which metamorphosed into what the scriptures describes as the ‘Word made flesh’ had other children after the birth of Christ (Mark 6:3). They had grown together and gotten acquainted with Him seeing both His high and low moments.Jesus (God in human flesh) had to learn how to be a human being and that required being under tutors not because He was no longer omniscient but to establish what He already knew in the Spirit and to highlight the importance of education and family morals.        God has never been subject to human authority  .A husband wishing to teach his children the importance of obedience,

Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi 2 Kings 7:2 NKJV “ So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, "Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be? And he said, "In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it." Samaria was going through a terrible economic recession with people resorting to cannibalism to escape hunger and when they cried to the lord He sent a prophet (a symbol of divine authority) Elisha to the rescue and by the leading of the Holy Spirit he made this declaration in 2 Kings 7:1 NKJV “… Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord:'Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.'" it meant the most expensive food item will be affordable to the poorest persons in the land within 24hours.This was an impossible task by man ’s ability but with God all thing

By Rev Michael Benson Ajayi John 15:5 KJV “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”       God wants us to live a fruitful life, it is not His will for anyone to be barren or suffer loss therefore no form of lack of fruitfulness should be attributed to Him. God’s word gives us the key to fruitfulness: like tree branches ,we have been en-grafted into Christ who is the source of life from where we draw virtue and nutrients by faith.If the tree (Christ) cannot be barren then the branches cannot be unfruitful.            The word  ‘abideth’ is the Greek word ‘meno’ which means to stay in a given place or state in expectancy .This is faith in action:it is the total reliance on God. It is a demonstration of our loyalty to Him and an acknowledgment of His trustworthiness.  This is our title- deed to whatever we desire of Him.           Jesus always attributed miraculous occurren

   By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi              John 6:53 KJV  “ Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. ” John 6:63, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."         Over 60% of Jesus' followers walked out on Him because He said that our spirit, not our flesh, is where our life comes from.This is the meaning of the holy communion. The disciples described it as hard sayings because it was contrary to what  religion teaches.             They had a carnal approach in their pursuit of  God's righteousness. It involved ritualistic animal sacrifices and cleansing which they have been practicing for forty-two generations (Matt 1:17) ;it was  over a thousand years of going through the motions. They failed to understand that longevity doesn ’ t translate to

  Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi  John 6:27 NKJV “Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."        Large crowds  followed Jesus Christ wherever He went because their needs where being met. He miraculously fed thousands on separate occasions and was viewed as a guarantee for free food by most followers. Of course there were those who followed Him for the purpose of being healed.            Jesus desired a one –of-a –kind relationship but they were only interested in their needs being met; one cannot pretend to be a true follower of Christ "… Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” (John 6:25-26 NKJV). He said  our hunger should be for the food that gives eternal satisfaction. This food is the word of God which Jesus preached (Matt4:4). You cannot fak

Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi  2 Kings 5:10Mssg  “ Elisha sent out a servant to meet him with this message: "Go to the River Jordan and immerse yourself seven times. Your skin will be healed and you'll be as good as new."       Victory comes with a price and Jesus Christ paid the price for every miracle we would ever need through His sacrifice on the cross. However, the process of receiving a miracle from God is where many have missed out on . God is not in the process of giving us the things we need for a prosperous life on earth but rather the scripture says He has already given us all that we need for life and godliness. However, there is a condition to receiving these provisions that we often overlook and miss out on our blessings.        The scriptures says in 2 Peter 1:3  that God has already given us the marriage, business, children, healing, peace, promotion, finances etc  we seek for and they are received through the knowledge of Christ; meaning that throu

Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi   Ps 37:4 NKJV   “ Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. ”           The word  ‘ delight ’  as used here is the Hebrew word  ‘ anag  ‘ which means to be soft or pliable, figuratively it means to be effeminate or luxurious. It is like the interaction between a woman and a man in love with each other. An example of this in scripture is what transpired between Jesus Christ and the woman with the precious perfume in Matt 26:7-8 NKJV   “ a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. ”  This was a luxurious experience for the lord; a Nazarene.Culture did not allow comb or razor to come near the hair of a Nazarene as a sign devotion to God (Number 6:5.) Therefore, having precious oil  poured on His hair locks was a beautiful experience considering the hot climate of the Middle East.         She did not stop at that, the scripture

B y Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Heb 11:11 KJV “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised."     Sarah had been without a child for over fifty years of marriage. It is every woman’s dream to bear children immediately after marriage. She refused to give up on her faith in God despite her frustrations.         In anxiety we pray expecting a pleasant outcome and seldom consider all the variables and governing principles of life, but sometimes despite our best efforts and righteous deposition events do turn against our expectations. We may not be able to change circumstances but we can choose how we respond to them . You can either be miserable or be happy while anticipating a desirable change.Some of the fails in our lives were God's plans to save us from a major disaster.         The scriptures says in Hab 3:17-19 TLB “Even though the

Rev Michael Benson Ajayi     Matt 16:4 NKJV “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed”  In Matt 12:38 NKJV  “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." The religious and legalistic Jews sought a sign from Jesus Christ as proof of His divinity. As simple as this may seem to the lay man , a critical look will reveal how sinister these individuals where. They are the kind of persons who discourage others from attending to sound doctrines preferring the theatrical display of spiritual gifts and ego. So many preachers have fallen prey to this trap and have embraced magic as a means of keeping their audience .Satan is raising magicians to create confusion among miracle seekers and further keep victims away from the holy scriptures.This is further fueling marital infidelity among Christians.Miracle

By Rev Michael Benson Ajayi       2 Sam 5:23 NKJV “ Therefore David inquired of the Lord, and He said, "You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. ”               In 2Sam.5:19, king David had obtained the best military strategists to draw up a battle plan against his enemies : the Philistines , he committed his plans to God for success and got the lord's approved to engage the enemy and was victorious. However, in 2 Sam 5:23. when faced with the same challenge, he consulted God and was instructed to jettison his military strategy: God had another plan. A plan which involved using trees to fight the enemy. The scriptures say in 2 Sam 5:24 NKJV  “ it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance .."  Victory is achieved as a result of responding to specific instructions and God is not  bound by any particular way of achieving a desired re

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Matt 15:34 NKJV  ” Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."               God  wants all  needs including those of your family met . His blessing is upon us to multiply our resources . God's blessing makes a man rich and it adds no sorrow (Prov 10:22).  As part of our salvation experience we are given grace for the multiplication of our resources: this is a supernatural endowment that increases whatever we place in God ’ s hands for our use and for the expansion of missionary work on earth. This is the principle behind farming.                In Matt 15:32-37 the disciples where faced with the challenge of feeding four thousand persons and were overwhelmed when they looked at little provision they had : seven loaves of bread and a few little fish however, when these were placed in the lords hands in  thanksgiving,  the power for multiplication came up