The Oscar Ajoku Blog: Daily Vitamin Devotional

  DAILY VITAMIN - The Word Blesses Doers "...blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." (Luke 11:28) The Bible says that we should be doers of the word, and not hearers alone (James 1:22). Do you know why? Because as our theme scripture says, the blessing of the word comes only from abiding in it. James tells us that when we don't abide by it, but only hear, we can be likened to a fellow who stares at a reflection of his smudged face in a mirror but does nothing about cleaning himself up (v. 23-24). He sees the stain but retains it, leaving the same way he came.  The thing is, the Word shows you where you lack, but if you let it, it can help you fill up the void. And that comes from doing what it says. It's like a manual. A manual is useless to you unless you practice what's written in it. For instance, you may have an appliance work on a lower capacity except you are doing exactly what the manufacturer says is needed to raise a notch higher. In the

DAILY VITAMIN - Love Yourself "...I am fearfully and wonderfully made..." (Psalm 139:14) Why do we think loving oneself is wrong? Why do we act like it's a sin? Self-love isn't wrong; what's wrong is if you are all you love. Infact, God expects us to love ourselves. Jesus tells us the greatest commandments are to love God and to love your neighbours as you love yourself. Not more than you love yourself, but as much as you love yourself. The truth is if you don't love yourself, you can't love anyone else. Love is reflective. You can only give what you have within. This is evidential in how God can love us unconditionally; and that is because He is love personified. So, He doesn't struggle to give it because He is it. In the same way, if you don't see yourself as worth much, you'd never think anyone is worth anything too. Thus, we are urged to love ourselves. To see ourselves how God sees us--as fearfully and wonderfully made. You might not be mo

  DAILY VITAMIN - Spare A Penny "Every man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9:7) Two truths are certain in life: 1. Not everyone will be rich. 2. Regardless of how bad your present state may be, there are those who are in much more far worse. So, in other words, there will always be poor people in this world, or in some cases poorer people. Jesus assured us of that; and your testimonies are actually someone else's prayer requests. For this reason, we are told that God blesses us with some level of wealth for two things: to enjoy, and also to help others (1 Timothy 6:17-18). Paul describes it better in his letter to the church in Corinth. "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always have all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work...For the administration of this service not only supplies the want of the saints, but is abun

  DAILY VITAMIN - Only A Call Away "As many as call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13) God is never far away from us. The Bible says His eyes are always watching us (2 Chronicles 16:9). So even in your deepest lows, God is still very near to you. You may feel alone, depressed, dejected, abandoned, but believe me you're not. God feels everything you are feeling at this moment. He knows where it hurts; and at all times His desire is to see that burden broken from off you. His desire is to see you smile again.  So please you're not alone. Remember that. When in need, do well to ask the Lord for help. Listen to what HE says regarding that: "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them." (Isaiah 41:17). Then He went ahead and said He will cause rivers to open in high places and fountains in low places (v. 18); that's favour

  DAILY VITAMIN - Your Joy Cometh "...in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:5) After every storm comes the peace. It doesn't matter how long it may have lasted, after its final display of fury, peace is ushered in from the horizon. Let's take a case study of Noah's ark. The rains lasted for forty days, the flood for almost a hundred and fifty days; but at the end the sun shone bright again. This is why I can tell you that your sun will shine again. The opening scripture tells us that your weeping may have lasted for days, nights, years, but when your time comes that weeping will cease. Your marriage may have been heading downhill, your finances may have been downtrodden, but in His favour life will breathed into them again. The dying marriage will receive life, and the dying earning power will be revived. You will find joy again. God will make sure of that. All you need to do is delight yourself in Him. The

  DAILY VITAMIN - A Change of Story Is Possible "And at that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, says the Lord." (Zephaniah 3:20) In Christ, we all get a clean slate. Not just in terms of our sins, but regarding our entire life. When the scripture said all things are new (2 Corinthians 5:17), it meant all things. A total transformation. As such, if you were an outcast, now you are chosen; special. And you have to believe it, because that's God's Word concerning you. The theme scripture says God will do it. It might not look like such now, but believe Him He will. Didn't He do the same in the lives of David, Moses, Joseph, Jabez, Daniel, Gideon, the apostles? Taking men who were considered as not good enough and making them the pillars of a great cause. Then who is Oscar(replace with your name) that He cannot do it wi

  DAILY VITAMIN - Be Assured, God Will Do It "The LORD your God in the midst of you is mighty; He will save..." (Zephaniah 3:17) The first thing I need you to understand today is that you have a God who has the power to do everything He wills to--even those we count as too impossible. And that is good news, for us. The scripture above shows that.  In other words, it depicts that as far as God abides in and with us, there is nothing that He cannot do for us in line with His will, because that power is always extant. Which as a result means that if He has promised to do a thing for you, He will do it; and nothing and no one would stop it. Consider the story of Nehemiah. A man whom God constantly placed the burden of the restoration of Jerusalem in his heart. He had no natural influence over the possibility and eventual achievement of that; a mere steward in the palace of a Gentile king. But because God does all He proposes to, Nehemiah found favour before Xerxes and received al

  DAILY VITAMIN - God Will Make A Way “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19) The song says God is a Waymaker. A simple word that shows that there’s nothing He can’t do. Jeremiah 32:27 says nothing is too difficult for Him. Matthew 19:26 says nothing shall be impossible for Him to do. And both are true. But unless you believe this, you might never experience its reality. That’s what was said to King Ahaz in Isaiah 7:9.  Every establishment is set in place by beliefs; in the same vein, to see a side of God, you’ve got to believe that that side of His is ever extant. Notice what was said to Mary: “Blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45). So if you want performance, you got to pay with faith. And even a mustard seed kind of faith can move great mountains. So have a little faith to

  DAILY VITAMIN - Be Patient With God “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way…” (Psalm 37:7) Many times we believe we should be rewarded big time, now, for all we do in and for the Kingdom, but that’s where we fail to understand how the Kingdom works. Which is exactly what the prodigal son’s brother also failed to understand. In Mark 10:29-30, Jesus said that such a fellow shall receive a hundred fold of all he deserves even in this world. However, 1 Peter 5:10 says after he may have suffered a while. The term suffering is relative; but God’s promise is the same. What He has prepared for you, both in this world and the next, is too stupendous for you to comprehend (Jeremiah 29:11). It might not seem as such right now, considering all you’d had to go through, but trust Him HE will come through for you. It might take some while, but He won’t be late. He will show up at the appointed time. The prodigal son’s brother watched h

  DAILY VITAMIN - What The Holy Spirit Does For You: Fellowship “And I will pray the Father, and HE shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever.” (John 14:16) We are not alone. As much as the Spirit lives in and dwells upon us, He also dwells with us. The Bible calls Him a Standby—a support system at our weakest moments; a most reliable friend; a teacher (1 John 2:27, John 14:26). An advocate who defends you when everyone abandons you. A comforter. A buddy.  When we are in pain, He’s in pain with us. He grieves when we grieve and rejoices when we rejoice. And in doing so helps us to be able to do the same with others when the need arises (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). You see, when we got saved, our spirits got reborn, fused with God’s Spirit; and so we have a Spirit-covered human spirit. In this way, we have access to the Father directly through one Spirit. We don’t need a tabernacle anymore, because God in His fullness now dwells in us. So we can’t get rid of Him. W

  DAILY VITAMIN -  What The Holy Spirit Does For You: Identification “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him; for He dwells with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:17) All through scripture, God separated men by marking them. He marked Cain to keep men from slaying him (Genesis 4:15). He marked His people in captivity to keep them from the plague of death (Ezekiel 9:4). And now through the redemption many are being tagged with the marks of Jesus Christ. But how? By the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). The Holy Spirit in us identifies us as sons (and daughters) of God (Romans 8:14-16). He is the seal of the promise. He brings in the attributes of the Lamb, shedding His fruit upon us. Gentleness, love, faith and all these godly virtues are exuded through the resident presence of Christ’s Spirit in us. You see, when Adam fell in the garden, he lost two things: his authority and his identity. But in Noah, God r

  DAILY VITAMIN - What The Holy Spirit Does For You: Demonstration “But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Having been born again, having received the Spirit within us, we must also go ahead to receive the infilling of the Spirit, or what most Charismatics call the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. This phenomenon ensures we receive the gifts of the Spirit as seen in 1 Corinthians 12.  That was what we saw happen in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit came on them and they exuded the gifts of God. With this, we can demonstrate the power of God through our mortal vessels. Now, as a result, our words go forth with power, encouraging lost souls. Our intercessions carry prevailing effects, saving the broken. Now we heal the sick, emulating the works of Christ. This way we are armed to do the Lord’s will on the earth. In the old days, the S

  DAILY VITAMIN - Open Your Heart To Receive "According to your faith be it to you." (Matthew 9:29) The Bible tells us that a man born lame from his mother's womb received his healing because he had faith to be healed. A faith so strong it could be perceived (Acts 14:9). And instantly he leapt and never returned to being a cripple again. Sometimes I think the reason why many of us haven't received is because we haven't truly believed for it even though we've been doing every other thing God wants us doing. Many of us have an attitude of 'if He does it, good; if he doesn't, still good', but God doesn't deal with double-minded fellows. If we must receive from Him, we must come without doubt (James 1:5-7). With a heart that says this or this, and nothing else. That's why Jesus couldn't do much when Bartimaeus first said that He should have mercy on him. Mercy? That's too ambiguous. Jesus could have spared him some charge and marched on

  DAILY VITAMIN - Stay Strong, Making A Difference "...be you steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 15:58) Most times, the trials we face bring out a new part of ourselves we never knew. Sometimes good, other times horrible. Oftentimes, a lot of times we find ourselves doing strange things we never thought we were capable of just to keep up. Things we are mostly ashamed of. I have seen more poor people end up doing terrible things than good. So yes, hardship more times than not bring out the worst in us. That's why the sage wrote "...less I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." (Proverbs 30:9).  And believe me, this isn't just about you, it's about all of us. Even the best of us. I've been there, so miserable in faith because of what I was going through, and so was David. So much that he wrote, "For the rod of the wick

  DAILY VITAMIN - Walk In The Light “Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying. I am the Light of the world: he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12) The day we became born again, we took up a new way of life. We adopted a new culture, a new origin, a new nationality. We stopped being American, Nigerian, Russian, German, Belizean etc. At least as it pertains to the spirit, and became children of God; residents of the Kingdom. In other words, we stopped being of this world; though in this world, our lifestyle and disposition drastically cease to be influenced by it. Little wonder we are told not to be conformed to the ways of this world, but to be transformed by the precepts of God’s Word (Rom 12:1). Because we are not from down here.  In our theme verse, it is said we have the light of life in us. Many live in gross darkness as Isaiah prophesied, but we are of those who have arisen through the light of Christ and therefore must shine (I

  DAILY VITAMIN - God Answers Prayers "Call to Me, and I will answer you..." (Jeremiah 33:3) It's October 20, 2011, the day the University of Benin's list of admitted students came out. Unsurprising, I made it. I was going to be studying Biochemistry come November. But then trouble arose. We were broke; so it was almost impossible to get the tuition. Unlike in the U.S, there is no access to student loans or any form of financial aid here in the country, except you want to test the waters with the banks, in which most times than not you get drowned eventually. So there I was, with an offer to get into college in a month and no money. My parents didn't have enough, and neither did I, nor my sister who had been really supportive financially all the while. Of course I had a job, working in a local church as a personal assistant to the head pastor, for free. So all I could was pray; some days cry, but inarguably hope that something would come up.  A month went by; scho

  DAILY VITAMIN - The Lion And The Gazelle “See you a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men.” (Proverbs 22:29) Every morning the lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve; in the same light the gazelle knows it must outrun the fastest lion if it must survive. It doesn’t matter which we are in this world, but by daybreak we better be running. Running here depicts the act of improving oneself. And as such if we aren’t improving at the same pace the world is, we’ll be left behind. The world is changing rapidly and only those who can keep up with the changes by adopting the capabilities to adapt can thrive. Be it in business or what have you. Staying static has never helped anyone. We must be kinetic; actively and readily willing to enhance our know-how. So whether you are a boss or an employee, be keen to get better daily. Just so you know, God is an advocate of innovation. In the days of Uzziah, the

  DAILY VITAMIN - All Eyes On You “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1) When you sneak into a supposedly hidden place or in the best of your craftiness commit a sin believing no one saw you, you’re wrong. Totally wrong. No man may have seen you, but many in the audience of the other realm see you. Nothing is hidden under the sun, the scripture says, and that’s just how it is.  The Bible calls us spectacles to angels. Do you know what that means? They watch us like a movie all the time. And then there’s God whose eyes are stayed on us (2 Chronicles 16:9). So we can’t hide. God sees everything. Everything we do. There’s no avoiding Him. No “don’t let Him see”. He sees it all. Little wonder He says through Paul, “Don’t be deceived, God cannot be mocked. Whatsoever a man sows so shall he reap.” (G

  DAILY VITAMIN - Don’t Be Deceived, God Is Real “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 53:1) God exists whether you believe it or not. Ignorance doesn’t override truth. It’s like saying hunger doesn’t exist because you’ve never gone starving all your life. Well, just take a trip down the block and you’d find out just how wrong you are. The same goes with our belief about the existence of God.  We judge things sometimes on the basis of perception; which is fair by all standards, but could also be a faux pas, seeing how limited human perception can be. The fact that we don’t see a thing doesn’t mean it isn’t there. The fact that we don’t know a thing doesn’t make it unreal. Forget what they say about how what we don’t know can’t kill us because it will kill us and then bury us for free. So please wake up, don’t confuse your lack of comprehension to mean a lack of presence. God is real. He says He is I AM, and whether you accept that or not, He still remains I AM. All t

  DAILY VITAMIN - You Don't Have To Do It Alone "I know that [the determination of] the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man [even in a strong man or in a man at his best] to direct his [own] steps." (Jeremiah 10:23 AMP) The Bible tells us that man plans, but the end result of that plan still lies in God's hand. With this we can easily appreciate the sovereignty of God. Hannah understood this, thus she said of him: He raise one up and brings another down. So even when a man shines so bright, it is not enturely of his doing, for by strength shall no man prevail (1 Samuel 2:9). Everything we are and can be is largely dependent on God's making. The theme verse tells us that, therefore even those brilliant ideas we think we cook up are a product of God's doing. In Biblical times, those who understood this fully always succeeded. Because through this knowing, they clung fast to the giver and not just the gift, realizing that he who has the giver has the