Good-life Daily Devotional

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi      Matt 25:6 NKJV "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' Matthew 25:1-13         Jesus likened the principles of divine success to ten virgins going out to meet with the bridegroom, five went with lamps with extra oil in the event that the waiting period took longer than usual and the other five had no extra oil.  The lamp is symbolic of the human spirit, while the flame from the lamp is the illumination from the word of God deposited in the human spirit . Ps 119:105 KJV says  “ Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. ”                 God's word should be consulted while making decisions on major issues such as marriage, starting a ministry, birth of children, type of job or business etc : we derive great joy from His word during the long waiting periods. Waiting isn't a pleasant process : it is likened to mourning the death of a loved one but

  By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi     Matt 15:13-14  “ And he replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. ”         The scriptures describes the exodus of the Jews from Egypt in Exodus 12:38 KJV  “ And a mixed multitude  went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. ”  The word  ‘ mixed ’  is the Hebrew word `ereb ’  which means Arabia or the mongrel race. God loved them even when they did not know him and he had no covenant with them and their influence on the Israelites marred their journey to the promise land. They were predominantly idol worshipers and Israel soon got caught up in the act of idol worshiping.               The same scenario played out on the day of Pentecost in Acts 1:6 the Apostle Peter described the crowd that were gathered as  ‘ Men ’  and  ‘ Brethren ’ . The church has persons with a personal agenda. There are those who profess Christ openly but are not  committed to Him in anyway (Matthews1

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi John 20:22-23 NKJV  “ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ”           In John 14:16 Jesus promised His followers another  ‘ comforter ’  a word which means an intercessor, consoler: advocate; He demonstrated these functions while with them bodily. The word  ‘ another ’  is often misconceived to be another person as different from the first by many but contrary to that opinion, it is derived from the Greek word  ‘ allos ’  which means  ‘ else ’  and its grammatical structure is a  singular,  masculine demonstrative adjective . To better understand this, imagine a motor boat passing through a river ; it will result in  waves at its bank in quick succession, the first and  another  and so forth   .The river remains the same however with multiple influences manifested in waves. The number of waves does not mean multiple rivers. Jesus was saying in effect that the disciples will witness anoth

By Rev.Michael Benson 1 Cor 14:18 NKJV  “  I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all;  “            Spiritual weakness  is characterized by overwhelming fear , insecurity, emotional  instability and a ready desire to quit when faced with life's challenges.Whenever truth is taught, peace is an inevitable outcome. The Word of God is truth (John17:17) and giving the Word the preeminence in our heart  results in inner peace , gladness , confidence and stability, the scriptures say in Ps 119:165 NKJV  “ Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble. ”   The absence of God ’ s word is behind family and societal instability. Money and religion cannot take the place of God ’ s Word in a marriage or family; unfortunately many think otherwise and the result is not  far-fetched.      After receiving Christ as lord and saviour , a regular balanced diet of God ’ s word is necessary for a healthy growth spiritually (1Peter 2:2)  The con

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Luke 11:13 KJV ".... how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"  The Holy Spirit is probably the least recognized in the Godhead ; he is the most misrepresented and thus misunderstood in the studies of divinity              We are three-in-one by nature: Spirit, Soul, Body (1Thess5:23) that's why we can engage in a logical conversation with our subconscious. Likewise , God exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and  functions as one person simply known as the Godhead. The divinity is a mystery               So there are three witnesses in heaven the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, “and these three are one.” (1John 5:7 Amp). An attempt to describe divinity based on functionality is analogous of water which also exists as steam and ice: different physical properties but the same chemical composition. If we can believe this , we should be able to believe God as the Father, Son and th

By Michael Benson Ajayi Matt 19:14 KJV   “ But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. ”         Under the Old Testament ,priests were untouchable and places of worship considered restricted areas (Heb12:20-22). The religious leaders of Jesus' time assumed the status of demigods demanding special treatments from their followers Matt 23:5-7 Mssg Bible  says  “ Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.' .                Therefore,the appearance of children for prayers unceremoniously was sacrilegious according to Old Testament standards. Jesus disabused their minds to these dogma by saying  ‘ such is the kingdom

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 ma

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 ca

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 obedienc

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."    The nation 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

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 unfruitfulness should be attributed to Him. God’s word gives us the key to fruitfulness: like tree branches ,we have been engrafted 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 occurrenc

   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