The Oscar Ajoku Blog: Daily Vitamin Devotional

  DAILY VITAMIN - Live Your Best Life Now "Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening." (Eccl 9:10) Procrastination is simply means delaying till tomorrow what you could achieve today; and a lot of people don't just procrastinate things or chores, they even procrastinate their lives. While I'm an advocate of waiting on God, it doesn't mean that you remain passive even at a point when God expects you to be active. We have to learn to take life seriously, and to live it with a great intent of purpose to be the best we possibly can each day of our lives. That's what our opening verse depicts. This lifetime is all we have in this mortal vest to be all God says we are; so why not do the best you possibly can to be the best He says you actually are. A popular American actor in the '80s, Michael Landon, once said, "Somebody should tell us, right at t...

  DAILY VITAMIN - Illuminate! "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." (Matt 5:14) When Christ called you you the light of the world, it wasn't a blessing, because you are already blessed. He made sure of that in Himself and didn't need your permission to do so. On the contrary, it is a responsibility--a responsibility to those around you. It wasn't saying "sit still and bask in your radiance", He was saying "Release your radiance, and shine for all to be blessed by you." The essence of the sun isn't in the fact that it is a radiant ball of fire, but in that it feeds planets, plants and animals with energy in form of light and heat. So it is in its giving and contribution, and not just its nature.  In the same way, our fulfilment as lights is dependent on our contribution to those around us. It is in how much we feed them with God's love and glory. The strength of humanity is in goodwill; and as light...

 DAILY VITAMIN - God Will Take Care Of You "Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need!" (Psalm 23:1 TLB) From those words, we can tell that David wasn't praying, he was saying. He wasn't pleading or requesting it to be, he was affirming it to be. He said God is your Shepherd; and as a Shepherd who loves His sheep He will take care of you. He says God will take you to a place of abundance even in the midst of lack, enough that you'd even rest in it (v.2). He says God will be there to tend you back to health and teach you how to walk right (v.3). Have you ever wondered why sometimes your carefully designed plans to commit one atrocity or the other just gets thwarted all of a sudden? It happened to me a lot when I was growing up. It was later after learning to know God that I realized it was He all along, keeping me from destroying myself. So God gives us everything that is best for us--both those we know and those we don't. This grace in providen...

 DAILY VITAMIN - Decide To Be Better "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." (Proverbs 23:7) Ralph Waldo Emerson said that every man is an impossibility until he is born, thus revealing to us that even the best we can be will remain an unknown until we choose to become it. It doesn't matter if it seems as though you are now disadvantaged, you can be more, do more, and have more. All it takes first is a simple decision to be, coupled with the necessary steps that can lead you there. But never let your present experiences deter you; remember you are not a product of your experiences, you are a product of your interpretation of your experiences. Not what you are shown to be, but what you have accepted to be. Even Jesus never responded to situations by how they appeared, but by how He saw them. So do likewise and choose to see possibilities in your future, and decide to live them through. See the glass as half full and not half empty. Be intentionally positive, and sho...

  DAILY VITAMIN - Obey Your Way To The Next Level "His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5 NKJV) The door to your next level can only be opened by the key of obedience. Obey God and you will experience change of levels effortlessly. Job 36:11 tells us that such people will prosper and eat the good of the land. In other words, whatever He tells you to do, do it; and when you do, you will experience exponential increase. It is His promise to us and He speaks no careless words (Psalm 12:6). Learn from our theme scripture. Those men obeyed God and they got what their heart desired. Isn't that what Psalm 37:4 assures us of? Delight yourself in the Lord enough to obey Him always, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Consider Israel in the wilderness where they were no jobs or resources; as long as they obeyed God, they lacked no good thing. So what is the LORD asking of you? Do it and I can assure you your life will never remain the sa...

  DAILY VITAMIN - Help Someone In Need "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: freely ye received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8) The emphasis of those words is to instill in us the need to show empathy at all times. Jesus tells us we have received freely of Him--everything we have was given to us richly to enjoy by God (1 Tim 6:17), and thus commands us to do the same unto others. The Bible says Jesus lived His life doing good (Acts 10:38). That is, there was never a time He met a need He was capable of resolving that He didn't. Little wonder He says that when a hungry friend comes to you at night, don't tell him to return at dawn nor pray, He says give him what he seeks. And it is still exactly what He says to us this day; and anything less a displeasure to Him. In Mark 3:5, the scripture states that Jesus was deeply disturbed by the people's indifference to human need. And it is just how He feels toward it today; remember He is the sa...

 DAILY VITAMIN - Partners In The Gospel "Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth." (3 John 8 ESV) We all have a role to play in the Kingdom expansion agenda of the Lord, which is the spreading of the knowledge of God to all the world. Now, while a lot of us may not be able to get to the fields to preach the gospel, we can support those who do. That's what John writes about in our theme scripture. We can be partners in the Lord's work by supporting the affairs of those propagating it. It can be something as simple as purchasing a better sound system for that evangelical team, or fueling the vehicle of a missionary group, or simply offering prayers in their behalf. All we have to do is support the agenda. The Bible spoke of women who supported Jesus' ministry while He was on earth. We also see Lydia who greatly supported the church in Philippi. And there are yet many others. Everyday people donate to the Bible Soc...

 DAILY VITAMIN - Influencing Situations "But they could think of nothing, for he was a hero to the people—they hung on every word he said." (Luke 19:48 TLB) Our theme scripture tells Jesus was the people's hero, and that they clung to every word He spoke-- and how we thank God those words led to their salvation. That's power; and it is exactly what God wants of us. It is why we are called light and salt- influencing everything and everyone around us to the glory of His Name. However, even today there are people with such level of influence, but most of these people aren't doing it in a positive way; and that's why the difference between a good society and a bad one is the difference in the number of people who influence situations positively and those who do so negatively. But nonetheless God has called you to be a positive influencer. That's why He calls you a light- to disperse the darkness in your society and making known the light of God. And by studyi...

  DAILY VITAMIN - Put Your Confidence In The Lord "The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? ... The Lord is with me; he is my helper." (Psalm 118:6-7 NIV) The scripture says it is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in men (Psalm 118:8 TLB). It doesn't matter how many men they are, it is better to stick with God. And we are told why. In Psalm 18, it says "The Lord is my fort where I can enter and be safe; no one can follow me in and slay me..." (v.2 TLB). Now you understand why it is said that woe to the man who trusts men and not God (Jeremiah 17:5), right? Paul writing tells us to boast ourselves only in the Lord, and in all He will do for us (1 Cor 1:31), and not in what we assume we can or anyone else (see Jeremiah 9:23-24). Remember the rich fool Jesus spoke of? He had a name, but Jesus gave us only the reference of a fool for him because his confidence was in everything but God. Only fools don't believe eno...

  DAILY VITAMIN - Remind God Of His Promise "Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified." (Isaiah 43:26) We are told to put God to remembrance. In fact, another translation used the sentence "Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated " to describe the intensity of the matter before the Lord. But my question to you is 'do you think God ever forgets?'  The Bible says He doesn't sleep nor slumber, and all the worlds are in His hand. Furthermore, we know He is all-knowing, and that makes forgetting impossible. Then why are we told to do that in our theme scripture? In Exodus 6. the Bible says "...now I have heard the groanings of the people of Israel, in slavery now to the Egyptians, and I remember my promise." (v.5 TLB); but sincerely was it their cries that made God remember? Maybe it didn't make God remember, but it did move Him to act. Remember,...

 DAILY VITAMIN - God's Word Proves True "What a God he is! How perfect in every way! All his promises prove true. He is a shield for everyone who hides behind him." (Psalm 18:30 TLB) Reading Moses' story sort of reminds me of myself, and I'm very sure if you look deeply you'd realize that it does also of yourself. God had appeared to Moses on the fields of Horeb, and told him about how He would use him to deliver Israel out of Egypt through multiple signs.  Fortunately, when Moses marched into Egypt and met the Hebrew council of elders, he performed signs among them that convinced them his words were true, and much more convinced him that all God had said was happening already. However, unfortunately when he presented his case to Pharaoh, the king mocked him, kicked him out and increased his severity against Israel. Moses was shocked, and questioned God's Word; but God assured him of the unfailing pedigree of His Word and in time it proved true.  Also, whe...

  DAILY VITAMIN - God Gives Up On No One "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) Yeah, that's right! God hasn't given up on you, or on that relative of yours that strayed away. In fact, the scripture says He's always around such to rescue them again. It doesn't matter what their past may have been, God's forgiveness is endless. What He focuses on is today--your decision today; and that is clearly emphasized. The scripture says "Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts" (Hebrews 3:15). So today-the present-is what is essential to God. You may have been a prostitute yesterday, or a drug dealer, a thief, or an assassin, if you will decide to turn to Jesus today, you will become as new as newborn child to God. He says, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, all ...

  DAILY VITAMIN - What Faith Is (3) "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5 NIV) Faith is an action. Not a thought nor some magical response; it simply means acting on the premise of God's personality and the authenticity of His Word. In other words, being an action, what it then means is that faith can be noticed. It can be seen. Jesus asked the people if He would find faith on the earth on His return (Luke 18:8). As such, it then means that faith can't be hidden. In our theme scripture, we see four men showing what faith truly is. The Bible says they tried reaching Jesus but when they couldn't due to the crowd, they climbed the house where He was, and dug right into where He sat. And this they did because they believed...  Jesus must have noticed the dust peeling off from the roof as it collapsed to reveal these four men carrying the sick fellow on a stretcher. And I can just imagine Jesus smiling as they ca...

  DAILY VITAMIN - Your Future Is Bright "But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day." (Proverbs 4:18) The Bible says the path of the righteous shines brighter and brighter till his very last day. That's wonderful! But it's not too much of a surprise because we know why it is so. The scripture says the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord (Psalm 18:24). In other words, you can't be led by God and end in confusion, because He is no author of confusion. It must end in celebrations. It may not look as such now, but trust God. Trust the process. The present appearances may stand contrary to this truth, but believe God it will not fail. David was in a similar situation where the appearance of his condition berated the very idea of an upliftment from God, but encouraged himself, saying "Why are you so discouraged O my soul? Trust in God!" (Psalm 43:15). Another place said "...Don't...