The Oscar Ajoku Blog: Daily Vitamin Devotional

DAILY VITAMIN - Overcoming Your Ego Most times when we get an advice, that egotistic part of us always want to tell us that we are better than what that advice can ever make of us. The truth is, we act this way not because we do not know how rightly the advice shows us the way to get out of our flaws, but because we'd rather stand flawful than kneel to be changed. And with this, I believe that the greatest limit a man has is not in the gifts he doesn't possess, but in the profitless ego he won't let go. For instance, in one of this series, I centred on the fall of Rehoboam (son of the wisest earthling of his day), which happened not because the solution wasn't at his fingertip, but because he'd rather kick his life away than let himself learn at the feet of others. The same thing happened to Judas: whom despite being told his tomorrow and the consequence would still go ahead to live the error he had been told would happen; just like a child failing a test despit

DAILY VITAMIN - Greater Than Morality Most times I dare to think of what a perfect human would be like- his aura, his confessions, and his wholesome personality; yet I also know that in the mirror of God's standard, that man wouldn't be as perfect as we think he is. We are but a population with a new identity, which without we would never have escaped the punishment God delivered us from. And guess what, that identity was given to us in Christ. And so it becomes absurd when we conclude that morality is all there is to stay free from judgement, for even morality on its own could not save society from the hell they were running into. For instance, the Pharisees were moral, so moral that those from the rurals could spot the difference between the normal clique and the Pharisees'; they observed all the law they knew, yet it wasn't what the society of the then Israel needed. It wasn't what Bartimaeus or the hemorrhagic woman needed. Just as the fish doesn't need

DAILY VITAMIN - Love Must Be Proven It's funny you know when we humans live life ignorant of the real extremity of the word 'love'. You know it's easier to say it, write about it, even believe it, but all of that doesn't matter if we don't live it. Just imagine I were to actually love someone, certain things would be required from me by such a person; for instance, that I always keep that feeling a memorial in words and in deeds, and if possible give up my being for it. I would be constantly willing to spend and to be spent for its manifestation. At least that's what Jesus did. Now, on this note, we are going to place God and man on trial, and actually see who kept up to their words in this love affair. - GOD Right from Genesis up to Revelation, one thing that never stopped was God's confession of His love for man, despite our unfaithfulness. In words, He said it; in reactions, He showed it when He wouldn't condemn us in the representation of the

DAILY VITAMIN - Beating Fear The most greatest impediment to human success is fear; and ironically it goes beyond having only a physical inhibitory effect. Fear tells the man who is new in business how those risks in investment might fall apart. Fear tells the man on the road that the left route has a death hole all because only a few cars tread that path. In. fact, ultimately fear tells you only the worst that can come out of an untested and unanalyzed situation; and this it does best in particular when we choose to live in ignorance of the fact that for every worst there is also a best. Even Jesus was faced with the trembling feigned quakes of fear. First, on sea when the ship seemed as though it was going to capsize; though the disciples gave in to the reality they could perceive, but Jesus chose to believe in God, and in the best God could do even in the midst of a tidal wave. Then at Gethsemane, it brought to His mind all the horror the cross had awaiting Him that He may give u

DAILY VITAMIN - Get Alone Time With God There is a huge difference between loneliness and aloneness. While loneliness says "I have no one, and so I must be on my own'', aloneness says 'I have all there is to have, yet I must be here right now'. Your ability to be alone at particular moments helps you to retrace all you have done for a specific period of time, analyse them, correct them, and draw enough strength to practice them. In fact, it is this ability to carve a niche for yourself away from the masses once in a while that keeps you enigmatic in the eyes of others. For instance, Moses had spent so much time with the Exodus- nurturing them, teaching and counseling them, that he had been drained out, but when God called him into solitude with Himself for 80 days, on the 81st, the children of Israel could not recognize him because he had been covered with so much of God's glory. The same thing occurred with Jesus; after spending time alone with God, and wa

DAILY VITAMIN - The Elasticity Of Hope So many things occur in life that if we were left to judge, we'd rather not exist than do experience them. These occurrences oftentimes could be so frustrating and demeaning that the scripture confirmed that it makes the wise mad indeed. In our daily lives, we face so much challenges, so much that almost sometimes we begin to doubt the promises of God attached to the Christian- which we are. We even start to believe that perhaps disappointments and failure were part of God's plan for us. Well, while it's true that setbacks are sometimes a means to keep us setting forward, it is never God's agenda for it to become a permanent tag on you; and so this goes to everyone who are trembled constantly by a wave of problems that sometimes you finalize within yourself that Jesus already left your ship, hear what God has to say to that: First, 'The Lord is with you, while you are with Him' (2 Chronicles 15:2). Your being in an up-cl

DAILY VITAMIN - The Most Important Secret One of the greatest secrets to human success is your ability to surrender the helm, even after your humanly best work, to Him who flourishes every good work unto fruition. Why men may call it being religious, God calls it wisdom. In the days of Asa (2 Chronicles 13), one thing was sure, and that was that Judah prevailed against all odds because they RELIED on God. Note, it never said they didn't work, but they never fully depended on their best, but on God's ability to complement the rest. The grace of God was provided to aid our work, our responsibility, our essence; and so it would be right to say that without anything as work, there would have been no need for grace. For instance, God knew man would have to strive to remain in Him in the midst of the tempting train of worldly merchandise, despite having found Him; and because He knows that man's best ability can't completely fight off sin, grace was made available to susta

DAILY VITAMIN - CONQUERING THE ORDEALS II Every problem encountered by a man has been measured to be his size, regardless how mighty it seems, such that the moment he gets tired of it, he can easily rip it apart. Scriptures say we are tempted only as much as we can bear (1 Cor 10:13). So there you go, your problems are not so big as you thought...okay, they might actually be big, but they are not too big for God, and definitely not big enough for you. Well, that depends on the reaction you choose to impose on it when it comes. For instance, just minutes to the great battle of Ziz, the odds were beginning to disfavour Judah, seeing that the ratio of their warring ranks was 1:3, but inspite of this, Jehoshaphat would seek counsel from God. First lesson here: No problem is too big for us not to take it back to God in prayer, for in prayer unto God, we find our strength and the weakness of such ordeals before God. Next, a word from God came to His messenger, and one i believe would hav

DAILY VITAMIN - CONQUERING THE ORDEALS I Our biggest problems come and stay most especially when we believe we can handle it on our own; yet the simple truth is that not even the most critical thinker or the most effective brain-bug can handle all their problems alone. This Creator-creature alignment is in similitude to the parent-infant relationship. There are so many things the infant could do without the guardian, but there are also a vast number of things that are hinged on his parents which determine his entire welfare. Even the birds and lions show us this - for after they have starved a while, food is provided much easier than they thought it would; something we'd call nature working in their favour, but it is truly God playing the role of the Creator (guardian) to maintain the balance. Truth is, there are many situations God knows you can handle with your so much acquired skills, but despite this we tend to break when a more grievous one approaches. As to the lion and to

DAILY VITAMIN - Face Your Fears The major difference between the successful and the failed is their mindset; and that's because our perception of things determines the outcome and mode of its conception. This means that we can never be bigger than the state of our hearts and minds. While the successful believes it is possible, the failed says 'it might or might not'. The tale of the Exodus from Egypt teaches us this: when Moses sent 12 different men from 12 different tribes with a bit of genetic differences to spy out Canaan, there was indeed a difference in their reports. Now, note these men never met the inhabitants one on one, neither did they confront them in battle, but from a distance while they reaped the fruits of Canaan, they spied its cities and its people. On their return, all representatives except those from Judah and Ephraim testified of how impossible the set-target is. Though they didn't even try it out, yet they concluded it not feasible. And this is

DAILY VITAMIN - Total Surrender The greatest statement any man can ever have of himself before God is that written of Moses.....'as the Lord commanded him, so did he' (Numbers 17:11). Nothing is so appealing before God than a life of total surrender, because while self-reliance tells God how much you think you don't need Him, total surrender speaks out ''LORD, it's all You''. Many atimes we wonder how Jesus had so much dominion over all things on the earth. While some might say because He was God, it would shock you to know that He worked His way there. How? Let's not forget that on earth, despite being the perfect Word of God, Jesus was in every form human as we are, operating under the ministry of the Son of man. Yet something made Him unique; something distinguished Him from the rest, and that was His nature of absolute surrender. Though He was in the form of God, yet He didn't take advantage of that: but was in every way subject to God. Sc

DAILY VITAMIN - Obedience Is The Key One thing a man who walks with the Lord, or who wills to, must know is that with God obedience recovers losses. It is actually the key to His heart. Many atimes when we weigh the risk of giving up all our false gettings for Christ, we tend to wish we didn't have to. That's the same way it must have felt for Peter when Jesus told him to leave the ships and follow Him, still having an urge to return to it immediately after Christ's death. The same way it must have felt for Paul when he dropped his law repute only to embrace the gospel of truth with so much fervency amidst the trials and buffeting. The same way it must have felt for the well-to-do Elisha to have dropped the wealth of his home, and the flock he had bred, only to follow the poor prophet who didn't even have a home. But in all of this, God showed Himself mighty because they all had a witness that indeed all things worked together for good to those who love God enough to

DAILY VITAMIN - The Love Of Christ The Ephesian church was always in Paul's prayer; and one of such was that they would know the love of Christ (3:19). To the Christian, this is proportional to praying that they receive the grace to obey God's command just as Christ out of His love for the Father obeyed even to the cross; for the scripture says, And this is ...love...that we keep His commandments (1 John 5:3). But to the non- Christian, it is praying that they receive the Person of Jesus internally so as to live before others as He lived, imparting them as He did, and saving them as He did. No man can know the essence and extremity of love unless such a man has had Jesus in His passion deep within his heart. Not even Shakespeare who wrote so beautifully of love can live so great a love in reality; but Jesus can because He already did, and so can you, when Jesus is right there within you. "May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God"

DAILY VITAMIN - There Is Life In Every Word There is a saying that Silence is gold; yet I really do not believe that it means your not saying anything, but your not saying the irrelevancies- the abrupt and unnecessary things. Most times, our description of a fool is a talkative, one who says beyond what must be said, and that's true because while the wise listen, and think before speaking, the fool speaks before listening and thinking. He's like a truck who causes a car-crash before hitting its red lights. People are tired of listening to speeches, they want changes...life-imparting words. Jesus never spoke words unneeded at the moment by man; infact every word He spoke in scripture touched lives, and still does - Now, that's wise. Today, it is expedient we learn to use our words aright... in ways needed, and not just in ways wanted by us. Infact, I believe our orientation would change if only we knew that words are expensive. If you had only a thousand words to speak b

DAILY VITAMIN - Look Unto Jesus Let this season be the day you choose to live your life focused and entirely reliant on Jesus. Permit me to say that the mystery of the word of God is the strength of the man who relies solely on God. We will indeed realize from the Nehustan scene in scripture (Numbers 21:8-9) that the picture of how Israel got saved every time by simply focusing on the hung brasen serpent illustrates the assurance of our safety in Christ if only we'd focus our attention on Him. In that bewildered condition, regardless of how many times the serpent bit the congregation, it didn't matter as long as they kept their eyes up; in the same way, our challenges, our hardcore trials can't kill us, no matter how much they try, because with our eyes still fixed on Jesus, we are very much still in the game....with power above the serpents of the wilderness around us (Luke 10:19). And you know the good part? Our blessed Assurance isn't anywhere hung like that ser

DAILY VITAMIN - Living The Committed Life As children of the Supreme, one thing God desires of us is total commitment, just as a groom requires the same of his bride, or the boss of his workers. God is well aware of the fact that the tempter isn't going to give up on you, yet He expects you to always provide him with a straight-up No for an answer everytime he tempts you according to the grace He has provided in abundance for you. Temptations are bound to come, but God’s special interest is in the response you're going to commiserate its arrival with. That is, are you going to yield to it, or be shielded from it? Just as with Balaam, the devil would keep on coming with more and more attractive things, things that seem honourable, even a so-called human promotion until he breaks us. Well that shouldn't be new to you, seeing he did the same to Jesus from a bread, to an open glory and then to earth's dominion- things God has already given us in Christ, but out of ignora

DAILY VITAMIN - Being Better Starts With A Change In Mindset Some days back, I spoke about how the major difference between the successful and the failed is the mindset they develop; well here's another reason why: A few times out of many, the odds are that the man who grew up in the slum would surpass the level of the slums, but ironically at other times the odds are against that. Such that the conditions these individuals found around themselves force them to believe they can never be anything other than that; and so it can be said that such a problem as we find in many isn't a result of a physical attack, neither is it anything spiritual, but a mental one, keeping the individual in a subconscious mental suicidal state that tells him 'No way' whenever he dares dream above the slums. But what does God has to say about that? What solution does He proffers? Romans 12:2 says, 'Be not conformed to the world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind'. F

DAILY VITAMIN - We Are More Like Him When the government fails to provide the needed amenities, we flare up in anger, frustrated, and curse and abuse them until we feel we have gotten even. In doing this, we totally forget that our brothers and sisters make up the government; sometimes our pastors and friends, our religious companions and benefactors, yet for the reason that we are frustrated, we curse endlessly. Frustration forces us to put away. the Christ in us, to express the fallen Adam within, which always has an excuse for every wrong, and a victim to blame for every problem. we encounter. The world and the problems that come with it are bent on achieving one aim; which is to drill out the slightest bit of God out of the Christian man, keeping him frustrated until he stays more human than Christ-like. Most times, we yield not because we do not know that the eventual end- which is our being frustrated, is a gambit of the devil to make us say and do things that do not exhibit t

DAILY VITAMIN - God Is On Your Side Almost everyday of our lives, the challenges we face come using the Sennacherib approach, taunting us with the words  ''how can your God save you now?''. As humans, our initial response would be similar to that of a people under siege- in duress, which is the same way one may feel when he sees a four legged creature in the dark wilds only to realize it was a goat whilst thinking it was a lion. We normally have a shock arrest of fear, but it is appalling that many of us remain that way- in the same shocked mode way after the cause has passed away. That is, we keep carrying the effect of anxiety even when the culprit for it has been exposed. When Sennacherib thought to invade Jerusalem, all the inhabitants had that shock of fear, but on hearing Hezekiah's words concerning God's promises, they found a shock absorber to keep them in check. And how did they do that...they 'rested themselves upon the words' (2 Chronicles

DAILY VITAMIN - Words Do Matter I remember the sage wrote a verse in scripture, saying something along the line that 'kind words are medicine to the soul'(Proverbs 16:24). And they really are. For instance, have you ever had a bad day....a day so bad that it drives away your appetite for anything other than anger and fury? And even when your funny mates come around with his/her comic nature, it's only a grin without a smile you can squeeze out of yourself? Huh... I guess we all have. But even in this condition, when a passing-by fellow compliments you on an area nobody ever had done before, it feels like the whole volcano of fury erupted out to emptiness, causing you to feel so free and susceptible to joy and laughter once again. True or not? But guess what, nothing changed- just your feelings, because in the same way our thoughts and actions are affected by our environmental influences, they are also by verbal influences. And so like the sun out of the dark, kind words