The Oscar Ajoku Blog: Daily Vitamin

DAILY VITAMIN
- Secret Input, Open Output
"And your Father who knows all secrets will reward you" (Matthew 6:4 TLB)
      The King James Version of our theme verse says that "...thy Father which seeth in secret himself will reward you openly". That's really quite interesting, isn't it? What it means is that while men may never recognize the good things you do, while it may be hidden from men as Paul suggested in 1 Tim 5:25, God will always recognize them. Nothing is ever hidden from Him. The scripture says He will not forget or ignore our works and labours of love (Hebrews 6:10).
     But let's go further. He says that even when you do a kindness secretly such that no one else catches notice of it, He will and bless you for it. He says that even when you pray in your inner closet where no one can hear you, He will and answer you. I have seen a lot of people who give up because no one honoured them. I have seen a lot of ministers who refused to speak be…

DAILY VITAMIN
- Understanding The Word
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". (John 1:1)
       The Word of God is Christ - the wisdom and power of God; the first cause of all things; and God's personal expression of Himself to men. With this, we can say that for every time we meditate on the Word, we inundate ourselves in Christ. For every time we practise the Word, we practise Christ. For every time we understand the Word, we understand the mind and the will of Christ. With the Word actively in us, we'd be walking in the very mind of Christ. His experiences become our experiences, and His expectations become our expectations.
      Remember, the Spirit through the apostle Paul tells us to adopt the mind of Christ (Phil 2:5). He already had told us that we have this same mind (1 Corinthians 2:16). But you see, the first is said because even after being born of the incorruptible seed of God, this incorruptible mind of Chris…

DAILY VITAMIN
- Overcoming Offences
"So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and suddenly remember that a friend has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar and go and apologize and be reconciled to him, and then come and offer your sacrifice to God. Come to terms quickly with your enemy before it is too late and he drags you into court and you are thrown into a debtor's cell, for you will stay there until you have paid the last penny" (Matthew 5:23-26 TLB)
      We must be wiser than the enemy, for we are not ignorant of his devices. He is called the accuser of the brethren for a reason, and he will prosecute any offense incongruent with the standard of the Word until he can granulate the offenders to nothingness. The scripture says that offenses are inevitable but woe to the man who causes others to drown in its bitterness (Luke 17:1).
      Our opening scripture tells us that when we offend people…

DAILY VITAMIN
- No Limitations
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13)
     There is no limitation to what you can do or become as a believer. I'm not trying to get you excited. That's what the scriptures say; and that's how Jesus lived. Knowing this to be true, Paul tells us we can do all things (Note: no exceptions; no limitations); and by seeing how he also lived, we know it's true.
     It is said of Jesus that "the report of his miracles spread far beyond the borders of Galilee so that sick folk were soon coming to be healed from as far away as Syria. And whatever their illness and pain, or if they were possessed by demons, or were insane, or paralyzed - he healed them all" (Matthew 4:24 TLB). This portion of scripture gets me every time. Please highlight the words "whatever their illness" and "he healed them all". Those words are the backbone of the entire story of Jesus. They speak volume. They…

DAILY VITAMIN
- Walking After The Spirit
"Wherever their/[the] Spirit went they went, going straight forward without turning" (Ezekiel 1:12 TLB)
      Nothing gets you closer to the reality God always had planned out for you than letting yourself be guided by Him. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is a teacher that shows us the right way to go in order to be profitable before the Lord and towards men (see Isaiah 30:20-21). And Jesus said He would guide us into all truth. But it's one thing to be guided and another to follow.
      Galatians 5 cautions us not to ever be satisfied with just living in the Spirit, but to go further and walk in Him to experience a truly victorious life (v.25). Living in the Spirit is what we do naturally now that we are born again. We are born of God by the Spirit; and so our life force have moved from our blood to the Spirit. However, to walk in the Spirit is to lead our lives by His direction. And this is the only way we can actually liv…

DAILY VITAMIN
- Take Full Advantage Of Your Identity
"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High" (Psalm 82:6)
       If you were asked about yourself, you might say "I'm Kevin from Suffolk"; or "I'm John from Hawaii"; and if you're like me, you might say "I'm Oscar from Lagos". A lot of people say this and some things we don't even want to hear. Well, what you succeed in revealing to them is simply who you think you are, not who you really are.
      There is a difference between your identity and your personality. Your identity is who you are or whom you were created to be, while your personality is who you think you are or whom you appear to be. There's a big difference there. You might be a doctor, a writer, or a surgeon; but that isn't you. That's just whom you appear to be on the earth. It doesn't mean you made a mistake; but you can't just identify yourself with that alo…

DAILY VITAMIN
- Living In The Light
"Don't hide your light! Let it shine for all; let your good deeds glow for all to see, so that they will praise your heavenly Father" (Matthew 5:15-16 TLB)
      Christianity is a visible practice. People saw Jesus' everyday life and commented that He had done all things well (Mark 7:37). So, in other words, they were visible proofs of whom He said He was. And it wasn't because He rode the most decorated or sophisticated mule, but because He went about doing good.
      The Bible says that now that we are of the light, we must behave like those of the light (Ephesians 5:8). And you can't be in the light, and be a source of darkness to others. The Bible calls God the Father of Lights in whom there is no variableness. And so, we can't have God in us and be anything different from Him. God is good, and as soon as we are abiding in Him, we walk in the same light of goodness and godliness.
     More so, Philippians 1:27 tel…

DAILY VITAMIN
- Enjoying Supernatural Health
"And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity" (Isaiah 33:24)
     God will never promise a thing He cannot fulfill; He will never reveal a truth He isn't ready to enforce. And here He is affirming your natural divine right to supernatural health. Remember, He has already told us that healing is our heritage. That is, whenever we are down, we have the right to get back up stronger and better. Jeremiah 30:17 says "For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds..." So it is a confirmed truth for the believer.
     Yet now He gives us something greater. Now He says you won't be needing any healing again because you won't be getting sick again. Our theme verse was referring to the people of Zion- God's saints, and that includes you and I.
     I won't lie to you, since I fully acknowledged and accepted the truth in th…

DAILY VITAMIN
- The Power Of Humility
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." (1 Peter 5:6)
     'Humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up'. That to me sounds like the easiest way to a successful life, but history has shown that it is the most difficult for men to comply with. The unburned ego of many men keeps them in a constant and ceaseless flux of arrogance and conceit towards other men and God Himself. And we know God never associates Himself with the proud; and wherever God doesn't abide, the enemy will always have a field day.
     This constant derogatory nature of mankind is what gives the humble man the degree of respect God has for him (Psalm 138:6). It's so marvelous that He says that even when every other person fails in life, the humble man shall not (Job 22:29). However, a greater mystery is that it works perfectly the same for all men regardless of their faith.
     1 Kings…

DAILY VITAMIN
- Let God Have His Way
"This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are my thoughts the same as yours! For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts than yours." (Isaiah 55:8-9 TLB)
     When the scripture tells us that all things work together for the good of those that love God and are called according to His purpose, it doesn't mean that everything will work out as we planned every time. No! But it does mean that everything that we need to become all we need to become will happen. No matter how gloomy the situations are, He says it will always lead to that.
      As much as we love how beautiful some pearly ornaments are, if we were in their place before they were made, we wouldn't like to be made so, because while the product is magnificent, the process it took to make it so isn't always so fascinating to the eyes. God promises to bring the gold out of His people in every circ…

DAILY VITAMIN
- The Golden Rule
"Do for others what you want them to do for you..." (Matthew 7:12 TLB)
      It has been proven times without number that whatever you sow daily is what life gives back to you. It's an eternal principle that is valid both before God and man. God promised that seed time and harvest shall never cease; and whatever you sow is what you reap, however you judge is how you shall be judged, and whichever way you act is how you shall be acted upon.
     Matthew 5:7 tells us that those who are kind and merciful towards others shall receive the same kind of treatment in their time of need. This alone should gear you up to participate in living a good life that favours both divinity and humanity; because even God responds towards us in the light of how we respond to others (Psalm 18:25-26).
     Lamentations 1:3 tells us that Judah was only receiving what she had served others for years. It says "Why is Judah led away, a slave? Because of all th…

DAILY VITAMIN
- Stand On Your Past Testimonies
"I have been young, now I am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread" (Psalm 37:25)
       In our theme verse, we can see that David was using his understanding of God's unfailing power as seen in the wonderful experiences he had prior to that moment as a medium of assurance that He can still do the same and more. An act which is completely different from what Elijah, as well as a lot of us, did when his moment of trial came. 1 Kings 19 tells us about how Elijah who had just performed a set of wonders that had never be seen in the whole of Israel before, thereby demystifying the deceits of Baal, ran away at the threat of the queen. But he didn't just run, he also requested to die. This was a man who destroyed 950 men in one night, but now he was fretting because of a single woman.
      Does this remind you of yourself? A lot of us act like that every day. We shake when troubles come e…

DAILY VITAMIN
- The Believer’s Authority
"Yes, ask anything, using my name, and I will do it!" (John 14:14 TLB)
      The Christian is not just any other fellow. He is not an ordinary man. He has been recreated and reborn. He is God's ultimate prize, endowed with all of Him to operate in the power and standard of the God-kind. This is what Jesus achieved on our behalf.
      You see, in Noah God reinstated the authority Adam had lost (Genesis 9:1-2), but one thing that wasn't reinstated then was man's sonship to God. As a result of this development, man remained a slave to sin and servant to Satan, thus making his authority over the devil of no effect, because no slave can ever overpower his master. It's an eternal and scriptural principle. But in Christ Jesus, man received the most important gift of all- sonship with God, sealed by His Spirit within him. He identified with him to share in his sin, and identified him with Himself that he might share in His h…

DAILY VITAMIN
- God Still Delivers
"When he calls on me I will answer; I will be with him in trouble, and rescue him and honour him" (Psalm 91:15 TLB)
      That testimony in our theme verse is for every Christian whose hope is in God alone- which I want to believe you are. If you aren't, this will be a good time to devote your life to Him all over again. But if you are, then all I have to say to you is congratulations.
      In the old times, God showed that He has a special place for the Jews in His heart; and now through Christ we have all been declared Jews before Him. This means, He doesn't joke with us; and because of that things that trouble others to their deaths know that they can't have it so easy with us. In Jeremiah 50:33-34, "The Lord of Hosts says: The people of Israel and Judah have been wronged. Their captors hold them and refuse to let them go. But their Redeemer is strong. His name is the Lord of Hosts. He will plead for them and see that …

DAILY VITAMIN
- Indeed All Things Are Yours
"Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours...And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's" (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)
     Moses said the secret things belong to God, while those He reveals have been given to us forever (Deuteronomy 29:29). Now because Moses could only have glimpses of the fullness of God's glory, the Jews never believed that a man could access and possess all of God's glory. They never believed a man could apprehend all the hidden riches of God.
    Moses never knew all that were hidden in God, and yet his glorification was great before the eyes of men. If that is so, how much more shall it be when such a man literally dwells in the entire truth of God concerning him? The scriptures say that if the old was glorious, then that one shall exceed it beyond measure (2 Corinthians 3:10).
    While Moses may not have enjoyed this experience, the New Creation does. The scripture says that "…

DAILY VITAMIN
- You Have Limitless Knowledge Through The Spirit
"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (1 John 2:20)
     The scripture says that the spiritual man has insight into everything, and that bothers and baffles the man of the world (1 Corinthians 2:15 TLB). The natural man can't understand it, because while he's struggling with one step, the Spirit-driven man has gone ten steps further. The love for God he possesses makes the way to knowledge constantly open to me (1 Corinthians 8:3 TLB). Praise God!
      Note, it didn't say the believer. This is because in the body of Christ presently, there are two kinds of people. The first are the carnal people, who have just as much right to the heritage of Christ in God, but do nothing with this great access to unlimited wonders because they are clouded by the whims and excesses of this physical world. The next are the spiritual people. These are those who walk not after the will of …

DAILY VITAMIN
- Nothing Lacking
"I can never stop thanking God for all the wonderful gifts he has given you, now that you are Christ's: he has enriched your whole life...(1 Corinthians 1:4-5 TLB)
     Did you capture that last part? It says your whole life. Let me explain better. What he is saying is that when Christ redeemed you, He didn't start and stop with your spiritual life. He redeemed every part of your life. He redeemed your health, your finances, your societal position and what have you. As such, you are no longer an outcast. This is what the scriptures meant when it said that he that was once termed an outcast shall be called blessed of God (Isaiah 62:4).
     Thus, there's nothing lacking in your life, because everything you need that is essential for a good and godly life has been aptly provided by Christ already. And He is in you. The good health you seek, the good job you desire, the good platform for impact you're pursuing are all resident inside …

DAILY VITAMIN
- God Will Fulfill His Promise To You
"God is not like a man, who lie; He is not a human who changes his mind. Whatever He promises, he does; He speaks, and it is done" (Numbers 23:19 GNB)
    God never leaves a promise unfulfilled. The scriptures say that He will never let His word fall to the ground without fulfilling its purpose (Isaiah 55:11). As such that means that when He speaks, the entire creation conspire to bring forth a response suitable for what has been said. For example, in 1 Kings 12, the Bible says that circumstances arranged Rehoboam's mistake just so that God would accomplish His promise to Jeroboam (v.15). But we know who rules over these circumstances.
    What that shows is that it costs God nothing to bring His Word to pass in your life. No protocol can stop it, and neither can any disadvantage. It might not look like it now, but if God has promised it, then He would do it. The scripture says He always does what He says (see 1 Cor 1:…

DAILY VITAMIN
- Break Through By The Word
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out (John 1:5 GNB)
     Nothing overcomes and overturns darkness faster than the light. Light never struggles in the midst of darkness. It doesn't negotiate, it enforces. In the same way, the light of God is the key to cast out every debris of the dark world that may have entangled themselves to you.
    The light of God enhances your spiritual experience, and transforms your physical encounters, thereby facilitating your victory over the works of darkness. It made a nation out of Jacob, and as such ruined his adversaries' chances of ever overturning him. Just as the most fiercest bird can't go close to the sun despite its fiercesomeness, the light of God evidently present in a man's life keeps his enemies at bay. That unapproachable light of Christ was what brought Saul the persecutor down to His knees; and in the same way sent all manner of demons scre…