Good-life Daily Devotional

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi 1 Sam 2:16-17 “The man offering the sacrifice might reply, "Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first." Then the servant would demand, "No, give it to me now, or I'll take it by force." So the sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord's sight, for they treated the Lord's offerings with contempt.”          If there is a statement most church goers do not like being mentioned is the phrase “tithes and offerings “the reason being the abuse of this very important part of Christian worship by the modern day sons of Eli. The process of giving of tithes and offerings was meant to be done by free will out of love and faith ;not by coercion or manipulation .God loves a cheerful giver whoever because of the activities of the sons of Eli giving is far from being cheerful but a source of misery to  many.           The sons of Eli were given the responsibility of assisting Eli in the day to day runn

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi  Mark 13:34 NKJV “It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.”               The word 'authority' is the Greek word ‘exousia’ and it means ability; privilege, force, capacity, competency, freedom, mastery, magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control, delegated influence. The born again Christian has been empowered to be Christ’s representative on earth. God has given us delegated influence which means we have heaven’s backing in our dealings on earth.                 To better understand the enormity of this influence, lets imagine what happens when the president of a great nation is indisposed to attend to a function , he or she by constitutional provision has the right to delegate any of his officials to represent him or her in that occasion . If there are documents to be signed, the officials’ s

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Acts 9:36-41 TLB “ In the city of Joppa there was a woman named Dorcas ("Gazelle"), a believer who was always doing kind things for others, especially for the poor.   About this time she became ill and died. Her friends prepared her for burial and laid her in an upstairs room.   But when they learned that Peter was nearby at Lydda, they sent two men to beg him to return with them to Joppa.   This he did; as soon as he arrived, they took him upstairs where Dorcas lay. The room was filled with weeping widows who were showing one another the coats and other garments Dorcas had made for them. But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, "Get up, Dorcas," and she opened her eyes! And when she saw Peter, she sat up!           The bible defines  true Christian religion in James 1:27 “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in the

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Mark 12:41-44 NLT “Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts.   Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.   Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions.   For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on."      This scripture shows Jesus’ interest in the way we give towards missionary work. He stood with His disciples before the offering box with a clear view of how much each person gave; showing us the importance of human agents in the receiving of offerings. Heb 7:8 NIV says   “… the tenth is collected by men who die;…” God's messengers are symbols of authority through which we demonstrate our love for Him.     One would expect Jesus to have told the poor widow t

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Gen 14:20 KJV “And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”   Abraham had just defeated the entire armed forces of a whole nation- Sodom and her foreign allies ;an extraordinary feat   achieved through the help of 318 house helps. It was nothing short of a miracle confirmed by the visit of Melchizedeck   the high priest of the most high God –an anti-type of Jesus Christ. He declared Abraham blessed after which in response to the prayers Abraham gave him tithes   - a custom in ancient Mesopotamia where a tenth portion of one’s goods at harvest was given to God through a priest as a demonstration of one’s love and acknowledgment of His ownership of the earth. This culture is still being practiced in certain parts of the world . It is the essence of libation by most African cultures.            It is worthy of note , that the blessing was declared upon Abraham before he gave t