Daily Devotional With Murphy Eyenike

We begin reading a new book today; the book of Hebrews and hope to conclude this in the next 7 days. Fisrt off, Hebrews was likely not written by the apostle Paul or any of the apostles, the writer likely heard Jesus and the other apostles directly (Hebrews 2:3). The book was also likely written during the period when the emperor Nero persecuted and killed Christians for games and sport. He favour...

The book of Philemon is one of those books you are wondering how come they are part of the Bible. However, the book, though short has loads to teach us. If there is one lesson I take from reading Philemon, it is the kind of person a Christian should be and the kind of relationship they should have with those they consider their subordinates. Talking about Philemon Paul said; " I always thank my Go...

Devoting oneself to doing good will be the focus of our discussion today. Paul wrote; "this is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone." Titus 3:8. The trustworthy saying Paul was referring to can be seen by reading from verses 3 thriugh to 7 where Paul...

Titus was one of the most exceptionally gifted and dedicated persons that worked with Paul. He was Paul's go to man to go start or finish a work and in especially difficult situations. As he leads the church in Crete, Paul gives him a few advise; "everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are...

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work." 2Tim 3:16-17. Paul tells Timothy the purpose of the Word of God, the scriptures and what they should do in our lives. But first of all, he...

Paul uses the illustration of a soldier, an athlete and a farmer to help Timothy understand his call. First, he says that every child of God must know who they've put their hope and trust in; "that is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return." 2T...

"Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses." 1Tim 6:12. In the kingdom, there are good fights and there are not so good or outrightly bad ones. Every fight outside fighting to uphold your faith is not a good fight. Fighting for selfish ends, fighting so no one takes you for granted or tha...

"Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them. Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you. Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your task so that everyone will see your progress. Keep a close watch on how you...

Paul left Timothy, a young man at this time, to pastor the church in Ephesus on his way to Macedonia. If I had to put them in chronological order, I would put the Ephesian church ahead of the church in Thessalonica in the order of difficulty to handle. A riot once broke out in this city after Paul preached and taught in there for two years and people began to burn their magic spell books, destroye...

In last chapter of second Thessalonians, Paul focuses on prayer so let's use today's devotional to pray for one another. "Finally dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord's message will spread rapidly and be honoured wherever it goes, just as when it came to you." 2Thess 3:1. We pray this morning for one another and that the gospel of Jesus Christ will be honoured i...

In 2Thessalonians, the apostle Paul addresses some of the questions preceding the events of the second coming of Jesus, the other events that must occur before Jesus' return; the one holding the man of lawlessness is taking out of the way (the rapture of the Church), the rise of the man of lawlessness (the antichrist), his display of miraculous powers, signs and wonders, and finally his eventual f...

"For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don't belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armour of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation." 1Thess 5:5-8....

"We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then together with them, we who are still alive and remain o...

In the face of strong and sever opposition, Paul, Silas and Timothy continued to preach the gospel. In Thessalonica, you will find the account of this period in the book of Acts of the Apostles chapter 17, a riot ensued to the point they had to leave for Berea. And even there, the persecution continued. They had a choice, they could compromise a bit or add some flattery or trickery into their prea...

"And say to Archippus, "Be sure to carry out the ministry the LORD gave you."" Colossians 4:17. Paul did not mention why Archippus needed to be encouraged to fulfill his ministry and calling. However, we know from this verse and from Paul's letter to his friend Philemon that Archippus was a fellow minister and soldier of God. My guess, he had become discouraged and was no longer excited at doing t...

How should a Christian live and behave towards others? While we do not live every single moment trying to follow some set of rules like they did in the old testament, we live each moment with the understanding that our lives are now hidden in Christ. With this understanding intact, Paul says; "since you have been raised to a new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where C...

What is the solution for dealing with and checkmating the sinful nature; rules, self denial, severe bodily discipline, etc? As interesting as those methods may be and they sound promising, mankind has found out after thousands of years experimenting that they do not work. Will power has never been able to curb the sinful, neither does good intentions and rules. Paul presents the solution, Christ s...

There is a single theme that rings throughout the book of Colossians, it is the sovereignty and supremacy of Christ. As we read this book in the next four days, I pray you will know Christ better and better everyday. And that will help you understand God better and better. Let's see a few thoughts together on the sovereignty Paul shares in chapter one. Why is this important? Well, as someone once...

Paul's final words of encouragement to the Philippians are worth simply quoting out and commenting on. He encouraged them to; "always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again - rejoice." Philippians 4:4. Joy is contagious. Joy is also a choice, it is not the product of anything that has happened physically outside us. Joy comes from the inside, from the one who is in us. Joy shapes your attitude...

Back in my school days, I was an all-round athlete representing my house both in the short and mid-distance races; 100m, 200m, 400m, 4×100m and 4x400m. There were many races where some athletes made it to the end, even in first place but were then disqualified. It mainly happened to those who didn't stay in lane. In one race, the team who made it to the end first had dropped their baton but contin...

Paul teaches us in chapter two about the power of submission. We have been told a lie that submission makes you inferior to the one you are submitting to and that submission makes you weak. The result, we always seems to want to prove a point that we are better than others. In the society, we have to prove that we are not small. Husbands and wives that should be working together, submitting to one...

We begin reading a new book today, it's the epistle Paul wrote to the Philippians. One thing stands out throughout this letter, Paul's joy at connecting with them again. Even though Paul is writing at a time he was in prison, his joy for them was unmistakable. Let's also say the prayer Paul prayed for them today, Paul prayed; "I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will ke...

Spiritual battles are real and Paul acknowledges it here. The enemy that wants nothing but for us to fail are not physical, they might use people as vessel but ultimately, our fight is against them, not the vessels they are using. We do not fight spiritual battles with physical weapons, no, our weapons are spiritual, they are mighty in God for pulling down stronghold. Our spiritual weapons include...

There are those who think Paul hated women and that was why he did not get married, what an error! There are also those who say that Paul, asking the woman to submit to her husband was intended to continue the culture of putting women under. That is so far from the truth. In today's devotional, I make an attempt at clarifying Paul's intentions. In the end, Paul, speaking in the context of marriage...

There are three important lessons I pick from Ephesians chapter four; first, those whom we often call the five fold ministries of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastors and teachers, are not the only ministers in the New testament. Their duty is to actually prepare believers to do the work of ministry. Secondly, every believer, every church, every institution that declares God as Father, Jesus...