Good-life Daily Devotional

Rev. Michael Benson  Ajayi Acts 19:2. “He said unto them, have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.”       The Holy Spirit is the most prominent personality to believers in the church- age unlike in the Old Testament where the Father was the most prominent . God introduced the concept of  sonship through Jesus Christ as a reflection of His desire for a family for which reason the Church was created .The church is a living mystical organism empowered by the Holy Spirit.         He is the author of the scripture and the interpreter of God’s wisdom, the scriptures says in 1 Cor 2:9-10 NKJV But as it is written:".. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” He was behind the writing of the holy scriptures through holy men and women (2 Pet.1:20-21) KJV says “ ... holy me...

  By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi              Acts 19:2. “ He said unto them, have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?  And they said unto him we have not so much as heard whether there be Holy Ghost.”    There are two kinds of Holy Spirits, the regenerated (Born again) human spirit and the Spirit of God.  From the bible definition, the word holy (gk ‘hagiasmos”) means ‘separated for God’ and the word’ spirit’ (gk “pneuma”) as seen in Jn 3:8 and Rev. 11:11 means “the wind”, “the breath” and also “the immaterial, invisible part of man”. Very often when people say the spirit of God is speaking , they are actually the ones speaking and not the Holy Ghost. The apostle Paul was careful to make the distinction in his writing to the church at Corinth (1Co 7:12) The word of the lord is logical , emotional , volitional and intellectual , it makes common sense. .God is not obligated to...

 Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi " Ecclesiastes 8:11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."       The teaching of the message of grace which suggests that we shall be exempted from the consequences of our wrong actions is harmful and gives Satan the advantage. If that was the case, all prisoners should be released from prison and the police and military disbanded for working against God's grace. This is why some churches have become what Jesus describes as a 'den of thieves' where criminals find safety under the cover of well connected preachers who use them to build their religious empires .Thousands of lives are lost daily as a result of this evil through failed public infrastructure and increased crime rates.This type of doctrine is contrary to the scriptures in 1 Thess 4:4-7AMP "That each one of you should know how to possess (control, manage) his own body i...

By Rev Michael Benson Ajayi   Matt 27:52-53 KJV “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”         The is one of the most extraordinary event that took place after the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after His gruesome murder by the religious cartel of His time. The scriptures records that the curtain of the sacred temple was torn from top to bottom (Matt27:51) , something that would require so much strength to do , given the dimension of the veil ( 20 m high, 10 m wide and 10 cm thick ) as thick as the length of your pen. .         Nobody was authorized to look beyond the veil except the great high priest who only had access after much oblations were made on his behalf and the worshipers. This destruction of the veil  marked the be...

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi  John 2:19 kJV “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”.      The religious folks of Jesus’ time sought for a sign to justify His claim to divinity and His reply was "Destroy this temple , and in three days I will raise it up" . It was three days after His resurrection that His disciples realized the true meaning of this profound statement which forms the bedrock of the Christian faith.         The question Christians face in line with the claim of the divinity of Jesus Christ is: how can God die ? To answer this question , it is important we defined death within the parenthesis of its true meaning in scripture. Rom 5:6 KJV says “ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”       The word ‘died’ as used here is not just a state of limbo that is synonymous with a...

By Rev Michael Benson Ajayi Psalm 40:5-7 KJV “ Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. (Heb 10:5-7)    The  Council  of  Chalcedon  was a church council  held from October 8 to November 1, AD  451  concluded that  , Christ is one person with two distinct natures, human and divine , in one person . The biblical doctrine of incarnation demands that the natures of God are not fragmented but treated as a whole in one person.This is best appreciated when we take an in-depth study of psalm 40:6-8 . The phrase  ‘thou prepared me’ is the Hebrew word  ‘Katartizo’ and it means: to complete thoroughly , repair , adjust . This word is derived from two words ...

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi             One of the problems a Christian faces in theological debates is being able to logically explain  the birth and death of Jesus Christ who is considered in the Christian faith as God in human flesh (John1:14, Phil2:6-7) .If Jesus Christ is God who is above death and creator of the universe ,how can it be said that He was born as celebrated on Christmas day, died and resurrected like a human being as we claim during Passover (Easter)?          The Christian testimony declares that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.He was truly God as well as man and conceived and delivered by the virgin Mary through a supernatural conception but a biologically natural birth.   Mary was therefore referred to as  “the Mother of God,” or God-carrier.”  Consequently, God came into the human race through Mary and by this sh...

By Rev.Michael Benson      "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” 1st Timothy 3:16         Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, meaning God Himself ,He is the substantial and express image of God's person . It is like a man making a video recording of himself while singing or an Android robot containing every information about him. The information in the video or robot  is same as the man himself. 1Timothy 3:16 says Jesus Christ is Almighty God!           Hebrew 1:8,10 says "But unto the son he saith, ‘Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom’…And, ‘Thou,Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the wo...

        By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi 1 Cor 5:7 KJV ” Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us”      The Passover lamb was an offering dedicated to God as a memorial of the night the Israelites were delivered from the angel of death while in the land of their captivity (Exodus 12:1-20) The lord prescribed  that on the night of their exit from Egypt ,each family should kill a lamb for an atonement sacrifice. They had four days to prepare the lamb and that afternoon they were to kill it as a sacrifice not upon an altar, but as a religious ceremony, acknowledging God's mercy in delivering them from the plagues inflicted upon the oppressive Egyptians.        The lamb so slain was to be to eaten, roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and eaten in a haste and there were...

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi  “But when Peter came to   Antioch, I had to oppose him publicly, speaking strongly against what he was doing, for it was very wrong.  When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who don’t bother with circumcision. But afterward, when some Jewish friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore because he was afraid of what these legalists would say” Galatians 2: 11-12 TLB            Peter was invited to a party hosted by Gentiles, which  involved participating in religiously unclean foods (by the old testament) including pork , and lots of alcohol , and as soon as some religious legalist and so-called ‘super Christians’ appeared, he was thrown in to self condemnation and withdrawal . Satan often attacks God’s precious people with guilt and self condemnation resulting in withdrawal and isolation .You cannot give your best under such condit...

 By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Psalm 32:2 "Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile."       The word 'imputeth'  used in this scripture is the Hebrew word 'Chashab ' and it means; to plait or interpenetrate ,to weave or fabricate, to make account of,esteem, count,conceive.  These words explains the process through which a person is made right with God outside the dictate of the laws of Moses or any other religious laws and status.         The scriptures speaks of Abraham who is credited to be the spiritual father of the three main religions in the world namely Islam,Christianity and Judaism, it says in Genesis 15:6 "And he believed in the Lord; and he  counted it to him for righteousness." These religions acknowledge Abraham as  being righteous before God, Jesus also spoke of him in a parable about heaven and hell in Luke 16:22-28,  ...

 By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi       Isaiah 64:6 KJV " But we are  all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses  are as filthy  rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind,  have taken us away."      Attempting to achieve righteousness through self effort does more harm than good : it requires denying the need for God's saving power which works through  love . Self righteousness is the driving force behind the hatred, intolerance in society and religious extremism through terrorism the world over , it promotes selfishness .The scriptures compares self righteousness to filthy rags. The word 'filthy' is the Hebrew word 'ed' which means 'menstrual flux' and the word 'rag' is the word 'beged' which means :a covering, i.e. clothing; very (treacherously), a wardrobe, self -righteousness makes a person appear as having menstrual flux with a wardrobe malfunction.     Reli...

Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Psalms 51:5 NLT "For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me."  This scripture teaches that the human sperm cell : the seed that grows into a human being in the womb of a woman is tainted  with the sin virus. This virus induces an inclination to rebel against God's laws . Humanity got infected by the virus when our first parents (Adam and Eve ) ate the forbidden fruit (symbol of God's authority) thus  paving the way for idol worship or animism : man-made  religion. They turned a tree into their god.       Ever since that unfortunate incidence, the human gene pool became corrupted. Nobody learns how to sin, we sin by default. The first lie we ever told as children and the selfish tendencies are the effects of the sin nature. It is for this reason that the scriptures says in Ecclesiastes 7:20 NLT "Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins." The so-called...

Rev Michael Benson Ajayi John 6:37 AMP "All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me]."       The price for the salvation of mankind was paid through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and all that is needed to be saved from the eternal damnation of the sinner is that we receive the free of gift of salvation through  faith.        The lord will never turn a sinner seeking for salvation away, the scriptures says in Romans 10:13 AMP "For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord [invoking Him as Lord] will be saved. [Joel 2:32.]" Therefore,  today, if you hear His voice,  don't harden your heart against Him. He speaks to us everyday through the media,  dreams, .visions and our subconscious . The Holy Spirit always speaks to the sinner, the scriptures says in Hebrews 3:...