MONDAY - 20TH JANUARY, 2025
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO
THE LIFE OF ANNA TEACHES A LESSON - Fitted For A Manner Of Life Series 007
Luke 2:36-37, NLT
"36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshipping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem."
What would you use your left over time to do? We ought to ask. Or else, wastefulness might result.
There are those who are stopped and handicapped by accidents and unforseen circumstances of life. However, it liberates some other men and women into their calling or substantial life. A good example of the latter is Anna. She had only tasted seven years of marital life (or sex) that every single covet before her husband passed away. I don't know what informed her not remarrying. I can't say if it was brought about by devotion to her husband or just a personal decision to be married to the Lord. However, after the loss of her husband, she leveraged this unfortunate event to give herself wholly to the Lord. She entered into celibacy. She becomes an eunuch for the kingdom of heaven.
No wonder, Paul advises the singles and the widows to stay as he is. Only that he reconsiders that they could remarry if they don't have the gift to stand and live in celibacy (I Cor.7:8-9). Anna's life is what God is using to teach us a great lesson that, "man shall not live by bread alone..."(Matt.4:4). Yet, this is still how far some people have gone with their lives. Their lives are not beyond living only for the ephemeral and the inconsequential. They're scrambling only for material things, seeking for wherewithal to live when the word from God's mouth has been jettisoned. Anna's story tells us that "living by bread alone" which is so exalted and prioritized by the Gentiles (Matt.6:31-33) could be reordered . Anna lived as a widow until eighty four years old. The Bible records that she starts to live that way just seven years after her husband passed away. We don't know Anna's age as at when the husband died but Anna could have lived at least 50 years as a celibate and a widow after her husband died. Widows or widowers can be very useful in God's vineyard if they decide not to remarry.
However, remaining unmarried is not even the most important but why she didn't marry or what she converted that time that she could have shared with a partner to do. The Bible points out that she does something seemingly impossible. She doesn't depart from the temple but stays there day and night worshipping God in fasting and prayer. Don't think Anna lives in the temple so that she might feed off on the people. No! She's not a foodie. She does eat occasionally but we just read that she had a ministry of fasting and prayer.
This dedication of hers to fasting and prayer before the Lord has so much cultivated her sensitivity and created an intimacy between herself and God so much more that God Almighty couldn't bypass her on the disclosure of who baby Jesus is. As a matter of fact, heaven knows her very much even if she doesn't preach a sermon on Saturday or Sunday.
Looking at her challenging life, we learnt that we can do and live without what men are in a rush for. If we have food and clothing, we shall be contented. Life is not basically to spend on acquiring things. She didn't marry again and that meant she forgone sex also. What men are dying for and which they have utmostly esteemed as the reason for life or why they're created is actually what she jettisoned when it came upon her to live as a celibate and a constant worshipper before God. Due to that call and life she heeded, she couldn't even reproduce herself in some children. She yielded it all up. A real eunuch for the kingdom she is! The Bible calls her a prophetess. I have no doubt that she is because she speaks accurately of Baby Jesus and reveals Him to all that are present.
Don't be deceived, you can actually live above, "bread alone." When God authors life, He didn't intend we'll only spend it on the ephemeral but on the substantial which involves "the word of His mouth". That is, hearing what the Lord has to say about our individuals on daily basis, being guided by that to live as a shepherded sheep. It is from living and abiding by the word of His mouth that you'll get to live the life God ordained for you as your destiny before your conception. We're ordained, authored to live by "every word that comes from His mouth" and not live by "bread or physical things alone". It is that revealed will of God that'll prosper, satisfy and lead us to fulfilment. It is not by being in constant rush and pursuit of "bread alone" or the good things of life. Man according to creation or the ordainment of God must not live by bread alone. If he does, he can sustain the physical man but the spiritual man will be dead and his eternity with Christ could be lost.
Anna let go of continuing to live only for bread alone and rather surrenders to living by every word from God's mouth. Her life of celibacy is calling us to the possibility that we can exercise discipline over our desires, gratification and ourselves; turn away from sin or what spoils us and be consecrated to the Lord. Like a called man or woman, she becomes dedicated to only one thing. Fasting and praying to worship God in the temple. Herein is the word of the psalmist fulfilled that says, "one thing have I desired 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 behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple" (Psalms 27:4, KJV).
PRAYER: My life worth more than bread alone. Teach me the real value and exchange for my life. I submit to leadership from your daily utterances.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN
Matthew 13:44-14:1-22 & Genesis 46-48
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