ojaysjoel blog

 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor 12:9.  Devotion: Paul prayed severally on a certain infirmity but God's response was " My Grace is Sufficient for Thee"    I know for sure that there's nothing God cannot do Mark 10:27, but in this case for reasons best known to God, He did not remove the infirmity.  I don't know what you're going through, maybe you have prayed and probably fasted on it yet the problem persists. I just want you to know that "His Grace is Sufficient for You". You should just thank God and sing Praise and Worship songs to Him. His peace that surpasses All Human understanding will see you through, Philippians 4:7. This song is very apt in such situation: sing along... CAC Hymnal number 831 - They that trust in the Lord are secure  9.9.9.8. & Ref. My grace is s...

"Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; Deuteronomy 7:9" Devotion : A covenant is an agreement between a higher being and a lesser being with a seal of blood; in the covenant, the higher being promises the lesser being, and there is a demand of obligation from the lesser being. There are many covenants in the Bible: Adamic covenant, Abrahamic covenant, Mosaic covenant, etc. There could also be covenants between lesser beings with the invocation of a deity. An example is the covenant between David and Jonathan (1 Samuel 20:16).    The opening scripture said we should know that God is a faithful God, He does not break His covenant, He is merciful to those who love Him, and His commandments go beyond a thousand generations. It presupposes that some children of God lack detailed knowledge about God. How well you know God determines how far you ...

... give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38 ESV Devotion: Jesus here encourages us to be our brother's keeper because it's 1) the right thing to do. 2) because we also received what we have and 3) it is blessed to give. The bible says in Eccl. 11:1 "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days" ie give to who cannot repay you and you will get it back in several folds from another source. I have done several times and I was richly blessed. An example is when I shared (the total amount I had on me for the week) 2500 Naira (Nigerian money) and within the hour a friend transferred 100000 Naira to me without knowing I was in need of money.   What do you give? I read from the papers recently how people donate expired indomie noddles, biscuits and medicine to orphanages. This clearly is not accepta...

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24‭-‬25 ESV Devotion: Times and seasons, we all go through our highs and lows in different ways depending on our innate ability and social milieu. Some will easily recover while some others may or may not recover. This is where we as Christian should come out to fulfill the mandate given us to stir up one another, to show love, to meet and pray together. We are to encourage one another from the word of God and even from personal experience 2 Cor.1:4.  Dear reader what are you going through, don't stay down call on God and visit your Church leaders for counsel and you'll soon have testimonies to share in Jesus name. Hallelujah. -JO

And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. 1 John 5:14 AMPC Devotion: In idolatry images of gods are presented as object of worship and people go to kneel before it for prayers. Just like in the days of Baal (1 Kings 18:26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.) several sacrifices are made without response from their gods. But their gods have eyes but cannot see and ears but do not hear. So their prayers are not answered. But we have a listening and answering God who does not require any object of sacrifice from us. All He requires from us is our soul as a living sacrifice ie total obedience a...

"The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Psalm 34:18" Devotion : God has laid down a principle for Himself regarding whom to walk with and be close to. He said He will be close to a person who is of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  A broken heart is a heart of meekness, a life of continual humility. A contrite spirit is a heart that shows remorse for sins. These two qualities are very essential to God; therefore, a Christian who seeks to hear the voice of God or to be close to God must yearn to develop a meek heart and contrite spirit.  Dear beloved, do you have these two qualities God desires from you? Share your comments here! http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kjvstudybible.bible.kjv.bibleverses.bibleoffline   Edited 

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6 KJV Devotion: We know that the word of God ie the BIBLE is the true word of God and that Jesus cannot lie. Paul talked of it in Titus 1:2 "In hope of eternal life (given by God through His Son Jesus Christ), which God, that CANNOT LIE, promised before the world began".   Whatever Jesus says is true and evidently proofed by His life on earth. He said He will die and rise up the third day and He did. Therefore when He says He's the way I believe and I urge you to believe. If you want to know "the way, the truth and the life" come to Jesus today and you will not miss the way. Have you given your life to Christ? What's the experience like? Please share your testimony with us today. Hallelujah. Amen. -JO.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 3:17 KJV Devotion: God is love, and He has compassion for you and me even before we have knowledge of His Son Jesus Christ. God does not hate you and me but He hates Sin, not the Sinner and God does not want the Dinner to perish. In Evangelism it is amateurish to condemn a person and have nothing to do with him/her just because of his Sin. Some Christian go on to ostracize such sinners in their place of work, neighbourhood and some even stop relating with their parents because they saw them as sinners.  That is not the preaching of Christ, He preached Love. In Matthew 22:37, 39,  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself".   If you love your neighbour (who could be anybody) and you're compassionate with him...

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: James 1:19" Devotion : Apostle James, after being born again, noticed that the Holy Ghost had endowed him with special abilities that he had harnessed to accomplish much in the kingdom of God. These special abilities are to hear swiftly, speak gently, and control anger.  He therefore exhorts every Christian to harness these qualities; they are already in the born again Christian, and he or she needs to make a conscious effort to cultivate them. Swift to hear/listening attentively is an ability to fight against dullness to hear; slow to speak is an ability that ensures that the speaker thought carefully before speaking, preventing hastiness in speaking, which leads to mistakes; slow to wrath is an ability of self-control to overcome unnecessary anger that leads to sin.  It is vital for every Christian to cultivate these abilities so that he or she can grow to maturity and avoid many ...

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 KJV Devotion: What shall I say unto the LORD? All I have to say is thank you LORD ...... so goes a popular Christian worship song. Why do I have to say thank you: He loves me, wounded for my sins, maltreated because of me, healed me of my physical and spiritual illnesses. Most importantly all for free. Ah thank you LORD. How do I pay back? Accept Him as my LORD and Saviour and stop sinning. This is all he needs from me. I won't say it is too much to give someone who did all in Isaiah 53:5 for me and you. This is a gentle reminder, come to Him and make Him your LORD and Saviour or return if you had mistakenly fell back from Him. Tomorrow might be too late, this is the day, 2 Cor 6:2. The acceptable time is NOW. Hallelujah. Do you have testimony to share with us? Do please.         -JO

If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. John 13:14 KJV Devotion: Jesus gave his disciples example of how they should relate one to another. He taught them to live as equals and to respect the other person. How do you relate to your employees, people around you, members of your congregation? Do you boss it over them? Do you treat them like a trash or respectfully? With God there's no master or servant all are equal. Let's therefore treat people around us respectfully. Dear reader do you have concerns on this or other issues please share it with us.   -JO

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. James 1:2‭-‬3 KJV Devotion: Temptation means enticement, allurement or bait. The end result is to do evil meaning the father of temptation is devil. Temptation always come colourfully, fancifully and looks desirable so that to the tempted it will look good as if it was from God.   Test is the opposite of temptation because it always leads to promotion if you passed the test. It comes from God or authority and it is for our upliftment. It may be harsh or unpleasant but if we endure the end result is progress either in the physical or spiritual.  God does not tempt, this is why we must study the word of God and understand it, if Jesus did not understand the word when devil tempted Him after the 40 day and night fasting Christ would have succumbed to the enticement of devil Matt 4:1-10.  The same can happen to you and me, we can conceive the ...

Daily Reminder "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8" Devotion : It is easy to walk with the Lord when you are determined to follow His instructions. The scripture above indicates that God has shown man what is good and requires man to act accordingly. He said He has shown man how to walk with Him; therefore, it is easy for man to walk with God.    Any man who desires to walk with God must act justly with his fellow man, that is, he must act in fairness with his fellow man. He must also love mercy and, in fact, show mercy to his fellow man. Lastly, he must walk humbly with God.    It is obvious that a man who is biased and coldhearted toward his fellow man and proud before God cannot walk with God.  Dear beloved, how are you determined to walk with God? Share your comments here!

 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:3-4  Without the Germ the seed cannot grow. Devotion: A seed not properly kept will be infected by seed bus and become spoilt. If such seed is planted it does not germinate because the Germ (life) in it was eaten by bug. Such is the life of a person who lived for self rather than hide his Life (Germ in Him) with Christ. Such an one becomes rotten with sins because they failed to "Mortify therefore their members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry" Colossians 3:5. When Christ shall come back they will not rise with him. They are like rotten seed. A good, obedient born again Christian is one who lived for Christ, he is like a well preserved seed. When Christ shall come he will rise with him. The question is what I...

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Peter 5:8" Devotion : God has given us two important keys to overcome the strategy of the devil. These keys are soberness and vigilance. To be sober means to be serious or clearheaded, and to be vigilant means to be watchful or alert.  If you walk with these two keys of seriousness and watchfulness, you can easily identify the tricks of the devil. The devil avoids Christians who are serious and alert because he is cast out and defeated. On the other hand, he dines with Christians who are not serious and are sleepy; these are the ones he is seeking to devour.    Therefore, the choice is yours; either you choose to be serious and watchful and rule over the devil or be lazy and sleepy and be devoured by the devil.  Dear beloved, what is your choice? Share the word. From Bible KJV version app daily devotional.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV. Devotion: When a man loves a woman or the reverse affection is showed and gifts are exchanged. Attention is given and calls are made frequently. You don't want to offend the person you love and you do everything that pleases your lover.    It is not different, God is your lover, He gave you His only begotten Son and expects you to love Him in return (accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour), show affection and do what please Him (obey Him) and attention (study bible regularly) and give Him gifts(win souls).   Dear friends have you done that or you did but because of self you went back to the old way, there's opportunity to return to Good today, tomorrow may be too late 2Corin 6:2.    Share you testimony  you. Hallelujah.

And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible. Jeremiah 15:21 KJV Devotion: He who promised above is able to fulfill the promise so "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God"   When you have disquiet within you just turn to God and leave your worries with him. God will surely deliver you as promised in Jeremiah 15:21. Dear reader, do you have any fears? Take it to God and you will have testimonies.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1" Devotion : When a person is born again, he is delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Christ Jesus. This born again Christian is delivered from condemnation. Those who reject the gospel are condemned because they did not believe, and Jesus said the Word, which they have heard and rejected, will condemn them (John 3:18).   There is another kind of condemnation that is meted to Christians who walk in the flesh. To walk in the flesh is to walk in your own understanding; examples are talking from the senses and engaging in all manner of sins. On the other hand, the Christians who walk in the Spirit are not condemned. To walk in the Spirit is to talk faith, confess the Word of God, do the Word, and engage in godliness.     Dear beloved, what kind of Christian are you? Are you a Christian who lives by your senses or a...

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34 NIV Devotion: Love is the ultimate, where there is love there is no sin. The reason is not far fetched, love covers all sin, love forgives and over looks shortcomings.  When you love someone you will not gossip about him or her, you will not steal or covet his property or wife. You will not envy but bless God for his life. If you love someone you will not allow destruction of his/her property. The most important is that love says you first, love recognizes the fact that it is "because you are than I am" and love is ready to die for the other. Let us obey the commandment because in it all other laws are fulfilled.  Share you view with us.  -JO

..... but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:7‭-‬8 KJV Devotion: We know the story of Christ Jesus especially how he humbled himself even to shameful death on the cross like a criminal, He was not. That is where it ends for many people, just a story. To the born again Christian it is much more than that, it is a way of life that we must emulate, a life of humility. If we are genuinely Christian we must not be proud, we must be able to say You first Sir, be able to say sorry even when we are in the right.  The people around us should first recognize us as Christians by our humility, selflessness and love radiated to them. By these our work of evangelism would have been done halfway and the remaining half would just be to open our mouth and invite them to Christ.  Dear reader ...

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:22 (KJV) Devotion: The Word of God is very powerful (Hebrews 4:12). It is capable of transforming your life into what it talks about (Romans 12:2). Beloved, the only way the Word of God can bless you is if you are a doer of it. It is good to hear or read the Word of God, but when you don’t do what you have heard or read, you don’t get blessed—the blessing is in the doing.   You deceive yourself when you hear or read the Holy Scriptures and you don’t act on them. Beloved, your life will continue to be stagnant when you refuse to act on the Word of God. This should inform the Christian that the Kingdom of God is eager to bless the doers of the Word of God (James 1:25).    Doing the Word of God makes you a victor and not a victim. Keep doing the Word and teach others to do the same so that we can change the world. Hallelujah! Be an overcomer! Share your testimony.

Proverbs 24:34  So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man. Devotion: There's poverty in the land and a lot of people go to bed with empty stomach. In the midst of plenty there's hunger because they simply do not work or want to work. We all want white collar jobs which is not available. I travel frequently these past month and I see trucks of okra loaded daily in four locations. This is a crop nobody ever thought of as a genuine source of income at least in these places. The farmers are not natives they come from far distances while the natives go about hungry. They simply cannot see it because they are not ready to farm preferring to get money quickly through fetish means, fraud or prayers without work.   The bible says in Proverbs 24: 30-34 that there's no food for the lazy (simple interpretation). On the international scene Asian countries are rich simply because of hard work and good govt while in Africa it is the opposite.   There...

Psalms 121:8  The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. Devotion: In many places, life has become so cheap and nobody even knows who will be kidnapped or killed next. The highways are bad, road traffic accidents are commonplace and kidnapping is rife. The airport was taken over by terrorists while the railways was bombed with many deaths recorded and many travelers still unaccounted for. One can conclude that no means of travel is safe.  Reading all this is enough reason to move nearer to God and be prayerful. Nobody seems to know what to do next but we have a God who knows and He is ready to save his own people.  It is now apparent that we have to call on Him before stepping out of the house. He has promised to ensure that our trip will be incident free As you go out this morning just call on God for safe travels.  Have a safe trip in Jesus name, Hallelujah amen.  Share your experience with ...

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22‭-‬23 KJV Devotion: In tropical countries are many fruits some of which are very sweet, some bitter yet some others not tasteful. While many are edible some are very poisonous.  The same happens among humans; some people naturally bear good fruit while some even from womb chose to bear evil fruit Psalm 58: 2-3.  Yet all have grace to bear good fruit and the solution is simple: Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in you will begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit as in Galatians 5: 22-23. Dear reader if you have not done this before, do it today confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and repent from your Sins and you will have testimonies. Congratulations. Hallelujah Share your experience with us.     -JO

Matthew 13:15, ‘For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.’ Text: Matthew 13:14-23 The word ‘waxed’ means ‘to become gradually more intense or to increase’ and shows that this condition of the heart is not something we are born with or that strikes us suddenly. It has to be nurtured over a prolonged period of time. This is why we should not violate our conscience, even in small things. Guarding our conscience will keep us sensitive to God and will stop our hearts from becoming hardened. If we will stay faithful to God, even in the small things, then we will be faithful in the more important things also. Keeping the commandments doesn’t affect God’s willingness to love us, but it affects our awareness of how much He loves us. If we live in sin, our con...

“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:14-15 (KJV) Devotion: A shepherd is a person who tends and rears sheep. There are two kinds of shepherds—a good shepherd and a bad shepherd. The bad shepherd tends the sheep just according to how he feels; he cannot lay his life down for his sheep (John 10:13). The good shepherd, on the other hand, loves his sheep so much that he lays down his life for them. Jesus Christ is the good shepherd, and He laid down his life for the whole world.   Beloved, if we appreciate the work that He did for us, we will be willing to accept Christ as Lord and personal Savior and serve Him forever. We should also be willing to lay down our lives for one another in the Kingdom of God (1 John 3:16).   Let others see the love of Christ in you so that they can bear a good testimony about you. The love you show others, even the unsaved, ...

One thing have I asked of the Lord , that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.  Psalm 27:4 ESV Devotion :  What's is your wish, what's my wish?  To live in the house of God all the days of your life or live for your self.    Many people will believe it is impossible to live one's life in the house of the Lord all the days of one's life. Well it is very simple thing to do and easily possible. The Bible says our body is a temple of God.  1 Cor 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? The Lord does not live in the temple  built with human hands Acts 17:24c.   If we clearly understand the two verses above then it becomes easy for us to live in His temple all the days of our lives because We Are The Temple. All that is required is to turn our lives up to Jesus  by c...

"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Hebrews 4:14" Devotion : The Word of God wants us to be conscious of our great high priest and his work; Jesus Christ is our great high priest, and He is ever present to bring to pass our confessions. Our Word-based confessions are very important to Him. We should speak faith-filled words into our lives daily and in every situation we encounter and see Christ Jesus fulfill them.    The above scripture also exhorts us to press on with our confessions. There are some Christians who feel like giving up their confessions, but the scripture says they should hold fast their declarations for surely Jesus is looking on those words to do them. When you speak or declare the Word of God to your life or to a specific situation, it is similar to sowing a seed in the ground; we believe it will germinate even though we don't know how. Even so, when we ma...

Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend [to show rage or worthy purpose]. Proverbs 27:17 AMPC AMPC (Amplified bible classic) Devotion: The title is a question, reason is that I want us to re-examine our relationship with our spouses, partners, colleagues in office and our family members. Do we really assist them when we noticed something wrong or just criticize them?    A friend indeed is one who assists another no matter what. He will not betray you, nor forsake you. He will see your struggle as his/her struggle and wade through it with you. Please read the good Samaritan story in Luke 10:29-36. Many times it is better to bind a wound than blame a friend for carelessness, because many things happen that one is not able to explain.    We are still on earth and the flesh is powerful it can make us stumble but we need to girder our loins (Proverb 31:17) and rise up to the challenge. This is where we need to assist our friend/neighbour to ris...

"They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Psalm 91:12" Devotion : Angels are ministering spirits sent by God to serve the heirs of salvation, Hebrews 1:14. Our Lord Jesus Christ enjoyed the ministration of angels whilst on earth, especially during and after His forty-day fasting in the wilderness.     Even though we do not always see angels with our optical eyes they minister to us when we go to bed, in our dreams, during the day, etc. Let us be conscious of this fact and pray, commanding them to do their work, and they shall obey.   Dear reader, do you believe that angels minister to you? Share your comments here!