Good-life Daily Devotional

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Mark 8:30-33, "...But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men."         This is proof that good advice does not always translate into being the right advice.  Peter's good advice  was Satan -inspired. This scenario  is a parallel of the serpent's statements  to Eve in the garden of Eden (Gen. 3:15) with God rebuking the devil in both cases : Peter and the serpent were mediums through which Satan expressed his wishes. He still does same through false teachers who use the witchcraft art of clairvoyance to foretell events and many have fallen victims with families fragmented and polarized through the activities of these so-called seers. Satan also works through some of our friends who oppose the truth of the gospel.          God - inspired visions or revelations always align with the scr

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Isaiah 1:23-25 NIV  Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them.  Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah, I will get relief from my foes and avenge myself on my enemies.   I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.”  Prophet Isaiah gave this prophesy in the era of King Uzziah  of Isreal who started well with the lord then soon became arrogant by reason of his success and later deviated from God’s commands . He trusted in  his riches more than in the lord . He placed the Ammonites on tributes   -sacrificial offerings  (2Chron26:8) and became so influential that he had no regards for spiritual authority, he thought he could bribe God with offerings and was afflicted with leprosy . The same arrogance is disp

     Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Job 15:34 NIV For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. Ex 23:8  "Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth."       A bribe is any gift item (money, sex, power and valuable property )  given with the sole intent of influencing the course of justice in one’s favour . It is Satan’s attempt to duplicate the anointing of God’s favour . He once offered to bribe Jesus with political influence if Jesus would bow down and worship him ( Matt4:8).  Satan often uses the same tools in Mathew 4 to enslave his victims.         The average church congregation  is a mixture of true worshipers and agents of Satan , there are person who’s hearts are not completely sold to the lord , who are ready tools in the hands of Satan whose aim is to kill , steal and destroy . Through these persons a culture of bribery

     By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi “A fool utters all his mind; but a wise man keeps it in till afterwards; Prov. 29:11. “He that is soon angry deals foolishly” Prov. 14:17            The “Near Success Syndrome” is mostly due to uncontrolled temper. Moses was a victim of the “Near success syndrome” which is a pattern of  reoccurring failure at the edge of breakthroughs .He did not enter the promised land due to his uncontrollable anger. Anger hinders the anointing for breakthroughs (James 1:20). Deep-seated anger and bitterness destroys a person's finishing power and the will to live.          Habitually angry persons  are prone to making terrible business ,relational and marital decisions. They are fearful ,without faith, double-minded ,unstable and uncommitted in their relationships (James1:8). Anger is learned and can be unlearned .We are admonished to avoid being emotionally involved with persons with deep-seated anger and unforgiveness.              It is difficult

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi     “Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.”  James 1:20. “Don’t be in a hurry to go to court you might go down before your neighbours in shameful defeat.” Prov. 25:8 LB.        The near success syndrome is the habit of failing at the edge of breakthrough and this is often as a result of the absence of finishing power born of out of deep-seated anger.  Anger could be described as a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of opposition toward someone or something.It is often brought about by real or imagined injury, rage, fury, wrath. Anger is a broad term that applies to various levels of emotion that may or may not be shown and if not controlled ,it results in temper, which is ‘the tendency to be easily angered.      God warns us against yielding to anger and wrath. The inability to control the temper has placed many persons in very embarrassing situations. Spouses have abandoned marriages only to regret such actions beca

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi. 1 Cor 9:18-21 NLT “Under this circumstance, what is my pay? It is the special joy I get from preaching the Good News without expense to anyone, never demanding my rights. And this has a real advantage: I am not bound to obey anyone just because he pays my salary; yet I have freely and happily become a servant of any and all so that I can win them to Christ. When I am with the Jews I seem as one of them so that they will listen to the Gospel and I can win them to Christ. When I am with Gentiles who follow Jewish customs and ceremonies I don't argue, even though I don't agree, because I want to help them.  When with the heathen I agree with them as much as I can, except of course that I must always do what is right as a Christian. And so, by agreeing, I can win their confidence and help them too.”       Here the Apostle Paul shows what it takes to be an effective disciple of Christ: adaptation and respect for individual rights and liberties

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi.  1 Cor 3:3-4 KJV “… for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?        Tolerance is a willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own : the ability to accept, experience, or survive something harmful or unpleasant. In the Bible patience, long-suffering, forbearance are closely linked to tolerance with others.         There are over a hundred thousand tribes and cultures around the world ; each struggling for survival and seeking prominence , therefore, it is no wonder that there seem to be divisions among God’s people as a result of the variance  in traditional values. It is for that reason that Jesus instituted the law of sacrificial love for one’s neighbor even as He loved us: it is the only law to be followed by all believers of Jesus Christ.  Customs and tradi

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi 2 Chronicles 18:4-5 AMP "And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire first, I pray you, for the word of the Lord today. So King [Ahab] of Israel gathered together the prophets, 400 men, and said to them, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hand."         Ahab, the king of Israel ,was at war with Samaria and he sought to make an alliance with Jehoshaphat  ;king of  Judah whom the lord had shown extraordinary favour by given him victory over his enemies.  Jehoshaphat had a tradition of always seeking God’s counsel before embarking on major projects as commanded by the Lord ( Matthew 6:33).              Ahab on the other hand  had no passion for God's word and no personal relationship with God,  he was rich , arrogant, presumptuous and was willing to buy his way through any situation.  He only sought God through intermediaries only when he w

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi John 10:2-3 "But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them John 10:1-21                  The safety of the sheep is linked to its ability to hear and recognize the voice of the shepherd. God speaks to every human being everyday .He is speaking to you this very moment. Many persons doubt the truth of this statement based on their personal experiences and do not believe they can hear God's voice.         God  's word is proven and true : He is presently engaged in a dialogue with you with regards to your opinion on what you are reading this very moment. His voice is the still ,authoritative, stable, small peaceful voice in your subconscious speaking with authority without contradiction .         The challenge is being able to recognize His voice  from the four voices that we hear namely :1

 By Rev Michael Benson Ajayi Luke 15:18 ‘ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’          True repentance requires a person not claiming any goodness of one’s own or trying to justify one’s  actions, but being  humble to appeal  to God’s  mercy.The fellow in Luke15 became a victim of his presumptuous disposition, he hated correction , criticism  and suffered losses,he was in great despair until he came to his senses and made a u-turn in repentance.God does not bless sin.He frustrates the ways of the transgressor (Prov.22:12) He says in Prov 13:15KJV "Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard."       God should not be approached in self-righteousness, but with a humble heart. We are to put all of our faith in a Saviour, and turn  from our wicked ways ( Acts 3:19,2 Chr. 7:14). Repentance is an indispensable part of salvation. It requires godly sorrow and a change

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Matt 6:22 KJV “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” Matt 6:19-24        The word ‘single’ is the Greek word ‘ Haplous’ which means: folded together , clear . It is used figuratively to mean a healthy eye which by the context of the narrative means to be generous. The text centers on the risk of materialism (seeking possessions). Unfortunately, it has always been used by preachers to mean being focused on a task, Christians were discouraged from developing multitask capabilities for fear of being labeled as not being focused . Before you would have finished reading this message you must have changed focus several times from one item to another.       The theology of being focused has caused more harm than good among God’s people. Preachers who are gifted in certain areas of life (business, arts etc.) have to abandon these potentially rewarding ventures in a bid to appear f

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi   Matthew 12:37, "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."      The heavens and the earth came into existence  by the spoken word of God (Heb. 11:3) and Jesus Christ is the personification of God's word (John1:1-3,14) .All of creation was made by spoken words and can be altered by same.  When we speak words in faith,we activate either life or death (Prov. 18:21) and what we say affects people, things, and circumstances.Good words make us feel good and sad words makes one sad. You choose your mood by the kind of words you expose yourself to. Happiness and sadness is by choice.The gospel is full of good news and when spoken in faith can turn a sad situation into a good one.           We can release the power of  faith for the miraculous by our words. Every word counts. There is no such things as an "idle" or 'ordinary' word which will not work for us or against us. Our

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Luke 7:33-34 KJV  "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!        Matt 22:19-21Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius,  and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"  "Caesar's," they replied.Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."          The religious extremists of Jesus’ time thought of many ways by which they could truncate His ministry and in one instance they hatched the idea of setting a cultural trap by asking this very dishonest question . The inscription on the coin was Ceaser’s  claim to divinity and as emperor. Ceaser desired to be worshiped.On the contrary , Jews are God’s chosen people and

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi . John 5:16-27, ".....And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the sabbath day."         When the Israelites left Egypt in a process known as the exodus, there were approximately  six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children (Exodus 12:37).  They had been slaves to the Egyptians for 430 years (Exodus 12:40).  God miraculously fed  the Isrealites with manna during their journey in the wilderness to the promised land .         They gathered manna everyday except on the seventh (Exodus 16) this was compensated by the fact that they gathered  twice as much manna on the sixth day . This event was a prelude to the observance of the seventh day as a  Sabbath day in the ten commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai on the two tablets of stone (Ex. 20:8-11).          The Sabbath day was a memorial of the day of rest on the seventh day of creation. No physical work

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi "...Jesus said to him, Go your way; your son lives. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went his way......" John 4:46-54       There was no physical contact between Jesus Christ and the child. Neither was any of His disciples sent with the boy's father to affect the cure where the boy was. Verse 53 says  all He did was speak and the son was instantly healed, hallelujah.      Notice , Jesus did not say money (miracle seed) be given to the disciples to travel to the village to uproot a charm or destroy a shrine or pray a special all-night prayer or bathe in a river or eat a special food or any of those religious rituals that tends to glorify Satan and diminish the power of God that are often displayed in religious places of worship.  God is all powerful and is present everywhere and can affect a change anytime and anyhow He so desires.         The boy's father had traveled

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi . "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound"; Isa 61:1 NKJV"             Children learn by cognitive recognition, and are very impressionable; it for this reason that the period of a person's childhood remains the best time to give the direction God wants them to follow . Children raised in an abusive environment grow up to become men or women with a lot of distrust and fears as a result of the unhealed past emotional scars .       It is a known fact that  hurting people hurt others in response to pain.A wife could take revenge against a husband for a crime done against her by her dad during her childhood, likewise a man could transfer the aggression from an abusive mum against his wife. Ironically, some wife's