Good-life Daily Devotional

Rev Michael Benson Ajayi    Matt 20:12 KJV ” Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day”.         Many persons are of the notion that God has favorites among His children upon whom He has bequeathed special gifting or grace than others, thus making these persons the standard for the measurement of success.This theology opens the door for the systematic indoctrination and manipulation of God’s people by so-called “super apostles" ( 2Cor.11:5) like the apostle Peter: the first general overseer of the church of Christ ;he was for a moment friendly with the non- Jewish Christians who were traditionally considered as unclean and outcasts by the religious Jews. In the absence of his fellow Jews, Peter ate freely with these non -Jews but whenever he was amongst his tribesmen he treated these non- Jews as outcasts and inferior to the chagrin of apostle Paul who was quick to reprimand

Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi   . Mark 10:25 NIV “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."           This scripture has been quoted out of context by many to mean there is no place for the rich in heaven. Some have embraced a life of depravity and abject poverty for the fear that material riches could hinder a person's salvation and that the rich cannot be faithful in a marriage relationship.  Sin or righteousness are spiritual conditions which can not be measured by the statement of one's bank account.          This theology is contrary to God’s will for His people. The scriptures says the blessings of the lord makes a person rich spiritually and materially (Prov10:22) .  An example of this is Abraham who in obedience to God’s instructions left his kindred, journeying through desert regions with his entire family .He was declared blessed( empowered to be fruitful ) of God and this blessing made h

By Rev Michael Benson Ajayi    Matt 19:7-10 NIV..”The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry."         Under the Old Testament women were considered as spoils of war. They were seen as objects of pleasure, the scriptures says in Deut 21:11-14 “ And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her…. ” But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her” Based on this, women are considered inferior to their male counterparts by human traditional religion.         Every male child was conceived by a female just like a mango tree produces fruits; therefore, it is illogical to say that the fruit is superior to the tree . In the beginning, God cloned a woman out of a man’s body part therefore none is inferior to the other.  Societies that encourage women

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Matt 19:20 NIV  "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"                               There are two types of Christianity, (1) the born-again Christianity where a person’s salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and (2) religious Christianity characterized by external display of man-made religious  standards: religious Christianity is devoid of the substance  and the virtues of a saved life namely righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom14:17). Religious Christians lack a sense of self worth before God and always need a human mediator to access God's provision. A typical testimony of a religious Christians always says "after i did that God did this" while grace says "I am grateful that God did this all by Himself from the beginning to the end"          Religious Christianity deprives a person of the one-of-a-kind relationship with God and is

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi  Josh 14:11 KJV “As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.”         Caleb was promised a portion of land as a forty-five year old soldier and it took forty years for this to materialize .At age eighty-five, he was willing and ready to engage the enemy in a battle to claim the promised land. What optimism! How long have you been waiting for the fulfillment of a promise in your life ?          Following Jesus Christ requires walking by faith and this requires being optimistic . An optimist is a person with a positive outlook on life. He or she always looks out for the good in a situation no matter how bad it may seem; the opposite is a pessimist.  Optimism is a mental attitude or perspective . A common idiom used to illustrate optimism against pessimism is a glass with water at the halfway point, where the optimist is said

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi Prov 12:25 NKJV “ Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.”             Encouragement is the act of giving someone support, confidence or hope , it is the persuasion to do or to continue something it is also the act of trying to stimulate the development of an activity , state or belief    . The opposite of this is discouragement , the world is full of discouragers and that makes the ministry of encouragement of necessity in the body of Christ.        God does not give an assignment he has not empowered us to carry out but it is usually the activities of discouragers that seem to make such tasks often seem too difficult or impossible. This was what the exiled Jews felt when they began to rebuild the broken walls under the leadership of prophet Nehemiah in Neh 4:1-5 “Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews,    saying in front of his

Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi John 3:29-30 NKJV “ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. “       Happiness is a state of being fortunate, convenient and contented. It is a state of wellbeing. Joy is a gift from the Lord , it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit that has to be nurtured for it to flourish .             The above scripture paints a picture of the church of Christ in a wedding : an event that is full of happiness and overflowing joy . The scriptures describes us as friends with God but unfortunately ,not many understand the privilege    of being friends    with the bridegroom (Jesus Christ ) The fellow who was close to the bridegroom was filled with joy . His source of joy was the word of God.    The word of God is a seed which when planted in the heart gives peace , joy and righteousness .The sower sows the

  By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi  2 Kings 7:1-2 NIV Elisha said, "Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?"       There was economic recession in Samaria  and it was so severe that citizens resorted to cannibalism for survival (2Kings 6:28). Like this crisis ,every evil on the face of the earth is caused by selfishness. Despite this, God’s love for humanity remains the same however; His blessings are conditioned on our submitting to His authority .Rebellion against spiritual authority leads to poverty.     As in the case of the Samarians , a prophet (Hebrew: nabiy’ meaning an inspired man) would be sent to us and our response to his instructions would determine t

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi Acts 1:17-18 KJV“For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.”       This is the account of the life and death of Judas Iscariot: one of the leaders of the early church. He was close to Jesus and considered the most trustworthy given that he was in charge of the treasury (John13:29).Judas had built his security around money and social status therefore, whenever his finances were threatened his love for God , missionary work and will to live diminished. There are many of such persons in the church who have put the pursuit of money above love and fellowship with God's people.        These persons like Judas are often cynical and hypercritical of divinely constituted authority (Matt.26:6-8) This is the breeding ground for suicidal tendencies and when he eventually

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi       Gen 3:10 KJV “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”       Adam's fall in the garden of Eden was the worst event to ever occur in the history of humanity . It marked the beginning of the decay of the human character.  Gen 3:10 highlights the consequences of this fall, firstly, it brought about fear instead of faith and secondly, nakedness : a sense of vulnerability. Nakedness is the product of low self-esteem, emotional and physical insecurity.     An overwhelming sense of vulnerability and fear results in buried potentials with many persons living below God’s standard for their lives. The setting in  Eden was for God to have a one-of-a-kind relationship with Adam founded on unconditional love , discipline and wisdom .Adam misunderstood this through arrogance and presumptuousness : Satan gave a twisted version of God’s charac

Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi 1 Cor 12:31 KJV "But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way."    The scriptures speaks of God’s love for mankind demonstrated in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins.    No greater love has any man than he should lay down his life for another man. It was God’s desire for fellowship and family bonding in an atmosphere of unconditional love that necessitated the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.         Jesus Christ did not come to condemn but to save the world by reconciling us back to God . The process of reconciliation can only be attained when we value a relationship. You want to be as far as possible from someone you detest. Sometimes this could be as a result of not knowing the person enough to gain their trust and vice versa. Ironically, the average person tends to hate persons that we know little or nothing about. It would amaze you to know how loving some of the persons

Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi James 3:10-11 “ And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! “ Rom 3:14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."    Cursing is the act of using vulgar , profane or vulgar language , it is a characteristics of the fallen human nature and counterproductive to the new creation in Jesus Christ .    Foul language and cursing is often manifested when we are angry    or impatient . Ecclesiastes 5:2 says “ Do not be rash with your mouth..”       It is difficult manifesting the Christ-like   nature with foul language and cursing   James 1:19-21“ ..understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. “ the words we speak have power and they affect the lives of hearers negatively or positively . Using foul language and cursing while seeking for b

By Rev. Michael Benson Ajayi  Hebrews 7:4-10 “Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle.    Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham.    But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God.    And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed. The priests who collect tithes are men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on.    In addition, we might even say that these Levites—the ones who collect the tithe—paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him. For although Levi wasn