The Oscar Ajoku Blog: Daily Vitamin Devotional

 DAILY VITAMIN - Take Jesus In "Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading." (John 6:21 NIV) As long as the sails of a ship haven't been pulled up, a boat will remain directionless, because the sails use the energy of the wind to drive the vessel in a chosen direction. And that's what Jesus is to us--our sail. He keeps us moving in the right path, and anchors us firm and steady where we must harbor. The Bible says that as soon as they received Him in, they got to where they were headed. The confusion ended; the topsy-turvy approach to life ceased. Clarity set in; and purpose was fulfilled. And this happened because that's what Jesus brings. He brings the calm. A lot of us have been kicked by the circumstances of life into a state of confusion. We hardly even know where we are headed again. Though believers, but we are living as if we have no guidance. My dear, I believe it's time to let

  DAILY VITAMIN - Activate Your Priesthood "And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." (Rev 5:10) The scripture says that you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a peculiar people that have been called out of darkness into light (1 Peter 2:9). And that's practically our identity in Christ in this dispensation. We are meant to stand out as beacons as Jesus did while He lived on the earth--doing the work of God, and bringing glory to Him. Little wonder why Jesus having told us He is the Light of the world (John 8:12) went ahead to tell us we are also the light of the world. Not a light, the light just as He is, and must shine as reference points unto God for all to see and glorify His Name (Matthew 5:14-16). But how do you appropriate this identity today and in your everyday life? How do you bask in the awesomeness of your priesthood in all affairs of life? You actively walk in it. Many don't; that's

 DAILY VITAMIN - Live Above Sin "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to." (Romans 6:6 NIV) When the scripture tells us that he that is born of God cannot sin (1 John 3:9), it was revealing our original identity in Christ; however freewill isn't made a constant. What this means is that the day we became born again, we became new beings expected to walk in newness of life. God expects us to live in His will, above the seductions of the flesh; for old things are indeed passed away. However, in spite of this truth, a lot of believers still struggle with sin. many with pornography, drugs, sexual impurity and so on and so forth. But does it mean God lied? God forbid! Let God be true and all men be liars. So, if God didn't lie, what's going on? Here's what's going on: While we were born into perfection by the Spirit of Christ at New Birth, it is yet an ever

  DAILY VITAMIN - King Even In The Storm "The LORD sits enthroned above the flood! The LORD reigns as king forever!" (Psalm 29:10 NIV) Our theme scripture states "The Lord sitteth upon the flood..." It may seem like a metaphor, but literally and figuratively, it is the only reality that is. Please come with me into this frame of mind where you can just see the picture of that statement--God sitting upon a raging flood. An awesome view, isn't it?  It depicts peace and assurance in troubled times. For instance, consider Jesus sleeping in a ship turbulent by the raging sea. In spite of the fierceness of the disaster, it couldn't even disturb Him. Though His disciples were, yet He wasn't, because He is King even over the storm; and proved it by bringing calm to the sea. In other words, that statement is a proof of assurance that we who trust in Him in the storm can be sure of unscathed security. The Bible says when we trust in Him in times like this, the app

 DAILY VITAMIN - Practice Complete Obedience "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth." (Deuteronomy 28:1 NKJV) All through scripture, we learn that any path isn't God's path. He is a God that deals highly with specificity and absoluteness, and specifically demands absolute obedience as well. You see, it isn't obedience if it isn't doing exactly what you are told to do. Little wonder why Mary minced no words when she was specific in her instructions to the stewards, "Whatever He tells you to do, do it." (John 2:5); not however we interpret it to mean.  Even when the instruction seems silly, obedience to God's Word is still more effective than our highest wisdom. That's why Solomon advised us to lean completely on Him at all times, and not just our own level of underst

 DAILY VITAMIN - Never Concede To The Enemy "The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties." (Romans 8:37) I don't know why a lot of Christians choose to believe that the devil has sufficient power to hurt them beyond repair. That's not what my Bible tells me. It says in Christ we are far above principalities and powers, and that's because we have won more than a victory in Him. And that's why I know that whether in this life or in another, no devil can dictate how my life will end. And believe me, this is not me bragging, and even if it is it is in the Lord; but seriously it's not a brag, it's just scripture. Hence, God's mind concerning you as well. Do you know what it means when it is said in scripture that the LORD is judge? It means that only what He says goes. It means His Word is final; that He calls the shot here and everywhere else. It means who is he that declares a thing and it happens when God has not d

  DAILY VITAMIN - Christ In You Guarantees Perfect wholeness "Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me." (John 6:57 NIV)  Christ living inside of you is a spiritual guarantee that you can not be plagued with anything He wasn't. The opening scripture said you will live because [by, as a result] of Him. That means He becomes your life source, and your Source in general the day you ate of Him; which figuratively depicts the day you were baptized into one Spirit with Him by virtue of New Birth. So, the day you received His life into your spirit, you did because you ate of Him--the bread of heaven (John 6:51). And this life covers all aspects of your life; because eternal life is all-encompassing. It doesn't just affect only your spiritual life, it affects all of your life. For example, Paul tells us that the people of Israel ate of the spiritual meat-Christ-in the wilderness (1 Co

  DAILY VITAMIN - Peace Even In The Storm “Be still, and know that I am God; ... I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10 NIV) There are a lot of things Jesus couldn't teach His disciples while He was yet with them because they weren't prepared for it, so He let the Holy Spirit teach them with each event they experienced. he did this because truth must be fed to others in proportion to their level of preparedness. This is important because while the truth can set one free, it can also kill when received unready. And one of these secrets was the ability to be calm in the midst of chaos.  Jesus already told them He had granted them such peace (John 14:27, 16:33), but they never experienced it until they had grown to understand it. Can you imagine the boat nearly full of water and Jesus was still asleep? That's what I call peace even in the storm, and it's what He offers us. It is not a promise, it is a given; but unless you

  DAILY VITAMIN - Exercise Your Identity "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light." (Ephesians 5:8 NIV) On a certain day while speaking to the unbelieving Jews, Jesus said, "If ye were Abraham's seed, ye would do the works of Abraham" (John 8:39). Prior to that moment, He had told them that "Whosoever commits sin is a servant of sin" (John 8:34); bringing into agreement what Paul insinuated when he said that whoever you submit yourself to, its slave are you, whether of sin unto death, or of righteousness unto holiness (see Romans 6:17-19). In other words, Jesus was telling us that our disposition reveals our identity. It is not enough to believe, we are admonished to "continue in His Word" (John 8:31). We must consciously yield ourselves to bear the fruits He does. And so it becomes impossible to belong to God and look like the devil. It shouldn't be. And that's what Jesus was trying to

  DAILY VITAMIN - Don't Give Up Now "Be strong and take heart,... all you who hope in the Lord." (Psalm 31:24 NIV) We are admonished at all times to stay strong and firm, because God will surely compensate us for our faith. The scripture says He has great bouquets of goodness laid up for us who trust Him (Psalm 31:19). So, never give in to the discouragement or the depression the circumstances of life brings your way. Instead choose to trust God to prove Himself as who He is. The three Hebrew fellows were threatened with death, but rather than succumb to fear, or concede to the tactics of the devil, they chose to believe God; and He rescued them, because He always does and won't start failing with you. The same thing happened with Daniel, who was delivered from the lions because "he believed in his God" (Daniel 6:23). I don't know what you may be going through, but trusting God is how you will break through it all. And trusting becomes easy when you neve

  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,