MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 08/01/2024

MONDAY - 8TH JANUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

YOU ARE CALLED TO OBSERVATION

Genesis 25:27, KJV

"And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents."

Parents are called to observation of their wards. This observation should be strategically practiced fishing for what flair, inclination, passion, talent and graces their children carry. Children are awesome wonders that can wow us and if you pay attention enough, you can discern what notable inclination and towards what field your child is exercising same. 

Today's verse says, "And the boys grew..." The two boys in question here are Esau and Jacob. They grew. As they grew, it becomes more easier and clear discerning what they were made for. As kids, they had their obsession. That might have availed the parents to see into their traits and observe what their ways of life could likely be. However, that observation didn't end there. As they continue to grow, they persisted in the inclination and gifts they had shown previously and by this they were marked in relation to what they might become. At day's end, they went in the direction of those early signs they had shown. You don't force vocation on your children. You let their calling get clear to them and persuade you as well.

What your child should do will spark at the beginning but as he or she goes, it won't wear out though it might be diversified into a nearby or related obsession. As your child grows, that inclination, gift and ability will become more pronounced and intense. It'll be so intense and strong for it to lead them to their calling or life's task.

Looking at the Wright brothers for instance. They started with just a fascination towards the incredible toys their father brought home for them. They'll pieces these toys and often reassemble them with a little modification at times. They just have a knack towards exercise of mechanical intelligence. Their father who happened to be a cleric needed to print something and from there, they invented their own printing machine from scraps which could print over 1,000 copies just in an hour. After these, they would begin to pieces and reassemble the reigning bicycle of their times. After a month apprentice to the entire body parts of the bicycle, they had mastery of it and began by creating their own bicycles which allows for better aerodynamics. However, it didn't end here. It went on until they invented their own glider or better still plane that stayed in air for 59 seconds when it was flown. It broke the records and maximum time a glider or aircraft had stayed in air.  Though they were not professional engineers, they became the first to create the invention that'll become a model for future planes. Yet, all started from one simple mechanical intelligence which they followed still until they were led into their bigger day and put on world map. 

As the boys grew, they chose their professions. Esau became a cunning hunter, a man of the field and Jacob, a plain man dwelling in tents. However, it began with just an inclination or a sparking of an ability. It began with a love for the outdoor in Esau and a love for the indoor in Jacob. You know, just a tendency towards a subject or the like of a thing. 

The Bible records something concerning Jesus. 

Luke 2:40, KJV

"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him."

Did you see, "and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit..." Why did Jesus have to wax strong in spirit if not in anticipation and preparation towards His calling and the ministry He'll one day do? Constant and consistent growth, gravitation and obsession is noticeable towards a calling, lifestyle or vocation one is destined for. If it involves mastery of the vocabulary of that field, one will see himself learning more and more and tilting towards that side in size, knowledge and aspiration. 

I pray for you, may you find rest like the Wright brothers. May you find expression and be poured out like a drink offering for the world to be exhorted and edified by. When you're poured out, something of you or from you meets needs. What you'll produce, write, sing, manifest is the satisfaction we await. 

PRAYER: Lord, give me attention to guide my children in the path of their callings.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 18:16-19:38, Matthew 6:25-7:14, Psalm 8:1-9, Proverbs 2:6-15

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 07/01/2023

SUNDAY - 7TH JANUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

CALLED TO BE WHO HE IS

Genesis 25:27, KJV

"And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents."

Who we are or should rather be should not be what we want to be but what we are called to be. Everything is by placement. If you were not first placed there, I don't believe you should be there. Calling is what sites people and locates them in a profession or way of life they ought to follow and calling is God's doing (Jer.1:5). God knows the way and to lead you in that way, He might inspire you towards a particular path in life. So, you may need to watch what kind of breathing goes on inside you or your child even as they grow. 

The Bible calls Esau, "a cunning hunter, a man of the field..." What makes Esau a cunning hunter is the fact that he's a man of the field first of all. He has potency, inclination and natural giftedness for that profession because he's an outdoor kind of person. That's the dominant trait or aptitude that clearly summarizes where and in what he could function. A man of the field is an outdoorsman, an extrovert or an outgoing person. 

Esau didn't choose his field by himself. The field chose him. He was called into it. How? He discovered himself by the measuring of the traits, aptitudes, inclination, passion and talents he has put inside him by God meant to place him in a trade, vocation, profession or a particular calling. All these God placed qualities witness to his uniqueness as a person. Cumulatively, they are what placed him in a field he should be. Those are the things that directed him to a profession he was most suited for. 

I've said that before that if Esau had despised his outdoor grace and had gone to be a cook for instance, he wouldn't have excelled. Cookery is more of an indoor and inside thing. What should you therefore be looking for in your children? Observe where they are placed? Observe what category and divide God placed them? Observe their temperaments and differences in aptitude and behaviour. It is what can place them in their chosen fields or callings. Esau became a cunning hunter because he was a man of the field. The inspiration to becoming such professional he became is because he was most suitably made for that. Hunting is an outdoor sport or career. An introvert doesn't have the energy it takes endangering his life in the jungle, seeking to spot and gun down a game that might exhaust him at pursuing. 

Let me ask you, is your child a man of the field or a plain man dwelling in tents? The plain man is an introvert. He'll like solitude above anything. He won't like exploring, checking out or socializing. However, the man of the field would do all that.

In simple explanation, temperament influences what area, field or calling your child is mostly fitted for. If an accident won't result, a man of the tents would remain quiet amidst the tents.  NLT says it better when it says. "As the boys grew, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quite temperament, preferring to stay at home".

Mark that, "preferring to stay at home." Some other versions says, "contented to dwell amidst the tents." When you're made for something, it naturally comes to you living that life. I'm an introvert and I don't struggle to stay at home. I've not stepped out of my house's gate for a week before. I was just inside reading, studying and cultivating intimacy with God. I don't think my wife can do same thing without a break. She's an outdoor woman. Even if she'll do same activities, she might probably have had breaks of checking out and coming in. Other way round, I don't think I can survive socializing like she does. 

That's what calling is. It is what you find, you're contented to do and you're contented to stay with for life. It will inspire you and suit your nature because it is you. You don't ever get tired of that way of life as to cross or exchange lane with another. Why? You were called differently into different fields, professions or ways of life. It is always, "while Esau is a man of the field, Jacob is a plain man, preferring to stay at home."

When you have found your calling, you'll have this forever contentment of not being mistaken. You'll be satiated to have found your life's work, what you're most suitably made and equipped for and what you can as well use your entire life to live for. You see, when you find calling, it is yourself you live out or express. You don't try to be another person or be someone else. It is rather who God makes you to the core that you expresses. If Esau should pick his bow and arrow now and check to the field, will he be living another man's dreams? No! It'll be living and fulfilling his being an "outdoor man - an extrovert". So also, Jacob's dwelling at home quietly wouldn't have come naturally on any other person because they were not made after that kind. That's the key to joy and peace or else you'll experience inner janglings and discontentment if you break that. 

I pray for you that you'll find your lane and be in your lane. All of you who are called to be men of the field, of the open, of the outdoor won't be turned by money, peer pressure, fame etc to become a man who dwells amidst the tents and vice versa. Each will stay in his lane. 

PRAYER: I stay in my lane. I don't break rank. I refuse to be disabled.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 16:1-18:15, Matthew 6:1-24, Psalm 7:1-17, Proverbs 2:1-5

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 06/01/2023

SATURDAY - 6TH JANUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

I'M SEEING MY PERFECT DAY

Proverbs 4:18, KJV

"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

I once taught on "Seeing Your Perfect Day" to our ministry members. Today, I didn't plan going in that direction but for the Holy Spirit calling me into it. This is an extension of the two days titleless series I have done.  

The Bible says, "Esau became a cunning hunter, a man of the field" (Gen.25:27). The simple truth is that Esau saw his perfect day. You may wonder and ask me when that happened to him. Then, I'll tell you that anyone who got to the peak of his career or calling is one who had seen his perfect day. Whenever God calls people into a vocation or calling to pursue, as they pursue it, they keep getting better in it. They'll begin to have better witness over what they've diligently given themselves to. That's why that verse of the Bible that talks about perfect day says, "the path of the just is as the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day." The sun is known to vary in its intensity. Its strength at 9am isn't the same with the one at 12pm. That's how it goes until it reaches the best intensity it can deliver in a day. 

There's always a perfect day in the life of any who won't give up. They might start small but if they persist, they'll reach a place of glory, excellence and widely recognized impact where many will testify of having been impacted by them.

Take for instance, an artiste or even a preacher. All of us know how many gospel artistes began. In their days of small beginning, they didn't have the kind of fame that goes ahead of them to testify of their good works now. But as they kept at it, they attained mastery of that trade and are heralded in that field by all and sundry. You might take a founding minister for another example. He might start with only a church until many branches and ministries come out of his calling to the nations. He also might have grown in grace and spirit differently from how he started so much more that he's now a cover and father to many upcoming ministers. Why are they submitting to him to be mentored if not that they recognized he has gotten into his own perfect day while they (the upcoming ministers) are still looking to be mentored and graced into theirs. 

Esau attained his perfect day. I'm sure when Esau started out in hunting, he didn't start out having mastery of that profession once and for all. However, as he persisted, he learnt the criticality and have the experiences of a hunter. These might have taken some good years but because that was his destined field - his field of aptitude, he attained mastery early as a youth. I have told people in all the continents our message on purpose, destiny and calling have gotten to that when you're in the field, vocation or calling you're created or most suited for, it is easier attaining mastery and becoming skillful than in any other. How many of you believed Esau couldn't have attained cunningness or skillfulness if he had gone into another field especially one that is not related to outdoor activities? However, his gifts, flair, inclination and aptitudes were naturally caught out for the outdoor i.e a profession in hunting or other outdoor fields. It's because he chose rightly and went after that passion in which he was naturally gifted that offered him that ahead chance of attaining mastery and reaching his perfect day on time. As at the time Esau reached his perfect day in his profession, he might be sitting at the Association of Professional Hunters with those who were far older than him. Yet, it was his having talents and gifts in that area that helped him focus with more intensity and enjoy enhanced speed to mastery. He therefore got to a place in life, in his career or vocation where there's no other citation to be read for him except than that of those who have hit it all. The citation read for him was "Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field". Kai! I also want to see better days in my calling and exercise of ministry.

You can see your perfect day too. You can start small and go on until you're reputed to have had many disciples and influenced even nations. When some started or launched their brands, they were only in a neighborhood or even a city but now they have taken the whole world by surprise. By leaps and bounds, they have spread and grown until they attained a success that they never started out with. That height of glory, that height of success that one eventually arrives which is the climax of his career or calling is what we can call the perfect day of a man. It means in that field or vocation, he has become anything anyone can become; he has won anything anyone can win and is now reputed as a father in it. Take footballers for instance. They play until they hang their boots. At hanging their boots, they have reached their perfect day. Perfect day is the height their sun could intensely have shone to. At that time, you now call them, "elderly footballers." They have come, they have seen and they have conquered. Everything the incoming footballers want to have or aspire to is now what and where they have gotten to. Now, they're leaving the posts they have for long kept. Though they're leaving however, it's not unto retrogression but progression. As such, you'll see them become coaches who'll take on another world to conquer and influence. 

The Bible described Esau as a cunning hunter. If he were a footballer, you could call him a skillful footballer. He'll probably be that one who impresses you with his skills or inventor's prowess if he were in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation. Any citation, glory and success that anybody can have is what Esau had. He reached the very climax of his chosen field. He saw his perfect day. Like the sun changes its intensity of strength as the day progresses, so also did Esau changed strength for strength until he entered into the Hall Fame of Renowned Hunters. 

If you'll start, you can see this day. However, ensure you're starting in a profession or a way of life you're naturally suited or equipped for (even if it'll be by training). At such times, one easily becomes distinguished. 

PRAYER: Lord, I have started not to collapse but to reach my perfect day. I shall attain.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 13:5-15:21, Matthew 5:27-48, Psalm 6:1-10, Proverbs 1:29-33

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 05/01/2024

FRIDAY - 5TH JANUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

DO YOU FEEL CALLED?

Genesis 25:27, KJV

"And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents."

I was once in a seminar where the topic was, "Teaching with Passion." Before the guest speaker began the seminar proper, she dotted on the truth that separated the wheat from the chaff. She said, "she was sure many are here who were not called into the Teaching Profession." They might have been here by accident or with the intention of just putting food on their tables however. That exactly is the difference between those who are called to a field, career path, vocation, way of life and those who are not. If you don't sense being called to an area, it becomes difficult for you excelling or being driven to achievement there. You won't have inner discretion to know what to do per term and what to do always. There's no one who is not being led or guided when called into a chosen profession or way of life. Either by intuition or a kind of revelation, they'll just figure things out in a manner that couldn't have been guessed by those outside that field or without a similar calling. It is only those who are called to be teachers for instance and aren't there for the wrong reasons I believe can teach with passion or behave extraordinarily. It is the sense of being called that'll drive them to mastery and excellence while assuring them of reward in that same field. One thing about calling is this. If you believe you are called to a field or a way of life, you have an evidence and a reason to give all of yourself to it. You don't therefore begin to reason to conserve or preserve yourself for another thing your hand has found doing or that you could do. Not feeling called is wanting to cheat the deployment of all your potential which can facilitate becoming the greatness that God intended for you. So, it is good to be called, felt called and be driven by same sense. When you're called, you're assured you're occupying the perfect niche. You'll have this concreting at heart that what God intended you should do is what you are doing. However, if that is not there, you'll still be thinking of some other possibilities or a better work yet to transit to. The dream of fleeting to another work ends when you're in your calling. However, the dream of expanding and becoming better in that found calling of yours is continuous. You may not transit from being a called minister of God in ministry into the academia. However, you can keep dreaming and fulfilling dreams in a better way having found you're most suited for ministry. Having found your calling - being a minister, you therefore don't take thought for the academia as what to dabble into because God didn't preferentially make you for that. 

Why did I use the word, "preferential." Each human being is suited for a number of things. However, if you'll search carefully, you're best suited for something. That's why even from childhood, we excel differently in some subjects area than the others. We all have natural affection and inclination differently. These created the many fields and professions we have today. We all couldn't have been same thing. Right from childhood, I have been linguistically intelligent. I could use words in an extraordinary manner. So, I am a poet and writer that I am today. That even made me to went as far as bagging a Master's in English Literature. I found out my area of exceptionality and I'm training it with human education suitable for it. That's why you ought not to train or get educated if not to train your calling or discovered career path. If you ask me who made me linguistically intelligent, I'll say God. The same way I've been drawn to words and the use of words isn't the same way figures and Maths come to me. I'm sore displeased and not smooth at cracking figures. My aptitude is lesser in that. So, I might be a failure going on to horn my proficiency in what I do not have natural flair for. I'll one day get disoriented and tired at such.

However, what does the Bible say concerning Esau and Jacob? It says, "Esau became a cunning [skillful] hunter, a man of the field while Jacob became a plain man, dwelling in tents." Very good!

My topic is, "Do You Feel Called?" Why would I have such topic? Because I want to prove that when you're called and you know so, that's when you have the personal motivation and drive to attain mastery in your chosen vocation. Did you read there that the two children of Rebekah who have been prophesied to be differently mannered people chose who to become differently. Esau became a hunter but a cunning one at that. There are professionals and there are otherwise. What Esau became in his calling was a hunter who has learnt his trade well. You couldn't have confused him with one thing in that field. He knows its history and he's following the trends also. Moreso in practice, he's not deficient at all. Esau is not such hunter that wastes arrows on games. To have been described as "cunning" or "skillful", it means he has mastery of hunting skills. At one shooting, he gets the game down. However, the question God desires to call you to is why did you think he attained such mastery in his lifetime? It is because he was called into what he should do. Many times, people confuse being called into a field, vocation or calling to only hearing an audible voice. No! You don't have to. In yesterday's devotional, I showed you how you could be guided or called into a field just by the passion, inclination, aptitudes, gifts and flair you naturally have for a field than any other. At times, your aptitudes could fit a number of fields. From there, you may then choose your colony field. Esau knew what career path to go for. He chose hunting because he was naturally given to the outdoor. He's a talented athlete and spotter. The Bible described him, "as a man of the field". He felt called into hunting because that's the field that all his God given gifts and nature fits the most. He has searched over time as he grew up and discovered that this is the niche to occupy. It was a moment of revelation that dawned on him before he took the bow and the arrows as his way of life. 

Who are therefore those who'll ever attain mastery or become cunning in their callings or career paths? They are those who felt called there first of all. Those are who believe they're rightly situated from the onset. They're the ones who can give their best to their fields and not yet look over the fence for another raving career or calling. If you don't feel called, you can't focus. Comparing yourself with others will never allow you settle and make discoveries in that field that would make you a proponent or scholar to remember. The goal of the calling on you is to see to your becoming all the potential deposited in you. Calling doesn't lead people to smallness but its opposite. It makes you achieve what the world would want to come and see. It is what leads you unto your perfect day until you're described as a "very anointed minister", "a skillful artist/artiste", "a legendary sportsman" etc. So, follow calling! Follow the star!

PRAYER: Lord, I follow my calling today. In my found calling/career, renew my passion and grant me new understanding.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 11:1-13:4, Matthew 5:1-26, Psalm 5:1-12, Proverbs 1:24-28

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 04/01/2024

THURSDAY - 4TH JANUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

ARE THEY DIFFERENTLY MANNERED?

Genesis 25:23, KJV

"And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger."

When Rebekah went to enquire about the struggle in her womb, the verse above was the reply she got from the Lord. That verse emphasizes that, "two nations are in her womb and then two manner of people..."

"Manner" means "kind" or "type." It means two people who won't behave the same way. It means two people who won't have the same inclination, aptitude, passion, motivation and gifts. It was two different thinkers with two different hobbies she harbours in herself. Imagine that, "two manner of people!" That hints about a major life truth. No two person is the same even when given birth to by the same parents and are even twins. They will sure turn out to be differently mannered or wired. It is these differences that lead to the choice of what each of these twins became later in the future. The Bible has this to say. 

Genesis 25:27, KJV

"And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents."

Due to their being differently mannered, each of them became who they're created to be best suited for. If we look at their temperaments as testified in that verse, we'll see that the fact that they are different in nature is what guides each of them to their calling, vocation, career path or choice in life. 

The Bible testifies of Esau becoming a cunning hunter, a man of the field. This shows Esau has a different makeup and aptitude different from Jacob. He is an extrovert and probably a Choleric. He is described in that place as, "a man of the field". It'll also mean Esau is outgoing unlike his brother who was described as "a plain man dwelling in tents." He is an introvert - a phlegmatic or melancholy. It is an introvert who don't like spending time outside or at the field. They cherish solitude above anything and if they ever get dragged into social community or activities, they'll seek to recover that energy back by cultivating solitude afterwards. That's who Jacob was contrary to who Esau was. One was a man of the field - an explorer, an adventurer, a risk taker, a big blower but the other is a quiet insider who don't want the outside's turmoil to disturb his inner peace. 

No wonder, they each became something different. That's as a result of one truth. They're two people who are differently mannered. They aren't the same at all. So, while Esau excels in field and track activities in school, Jacob could have loved sewing, cookery and other domestic and personal survival teaching subjects. A testimony that indeed these are two differently mannered people. 

Are you there wondering what you should do in/for life? Have you been ruminating on hitting it right but caught between this way or vocation and the other? You can let your natural manner, temperament and aptitude guide you. Jacob couldn't have become a cunning hunter. He wasn't destined for that because he wasn't gifted or equipped for that. If he attempted to, he wouldn't have gotten to the highest level of mastery where the Bible had to use the word, "skillful or cunning" to qualify the mastery of hunting his brother who was called into same field had. He would have been an average hunter lost in the shadow of his brother whose nature, inclination, obsession and gifts allows to be a man of the outdoor. The pursue of a career in hunting or any other outdoor pathway would have led to Jacob's frustration and even if he tries, he'll get to a place where he couldn't try further. The same applies to Esau wanting to become Jacob - an insider when God already gave a sign on who they could become by the different natures and aptitudes He created them with. 

Indeed, your calling is in your soul. It reveals itself to some people more than others also. For Jacob and Esau, they didn't struggle to discover their callings. They only sought to express themselves and become themselves (who God created them to be). That was what they lived and that's what calling is all about. Calling is not about doing the highest paid profession or competing with somebody you know. Calling is finding the pathway already created in your soul and walking in the footprints already left there for you by the Almighty. God created a path for Israel in the sea. All they did was to walk through that path. They didn't reject it. They took it. Take yours also. It's beckoning you to come. That's why you've excelled in some subjects than others. That's why you've been attracted to some fields and professions more than others. That's calling peeping out from your inside. 

I pray that you won't become an accident. You'll go the pathway your Creator intended. You'll follow what He said you should do which He left in your soul. If your passion has not been corrupted but still pure and whole, it's very worthy and trustable to follow. Let it guide you. The stars that appeared guided the magi. The kind of person you are which was left in your soul and wiring can guide you too to the right field.  

PRAYER: Lord, you have created me shock full of potentials. I'm loaded bountifully with gifts, aptitudes and inner yearnings seeking expression. I express them in Jesus' name. 

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 8:1-10:32, Matthew 4:12-25, Psalm 4:1-8, Proverbs 1:20-23

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 03/12/2023

WEDNESDAY - 3RD JANUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

DESPERATENESS LOSES THE BARGAIN - Abomination of a Husband Series 005

Genesis 25:31-32, KJV

"31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?"

Are you there saying, "what profit shall this birthright do to me?" May you not wait to find out. Esau did and it wasn't succinct for him at all. 

You have heard men say don't make decisions when you're elated, tired or depressed. I'll add one to it, don't make a decision when you're desperate.

Desperateness always loses the bargain. 

Look at the banter and bargain between Jacob and Esau. Jacob took much advantage of Esau by thousands of miles. For I will ask, "what is a birthright compared to a plate of food? Is it not like wheat to chaff?"

Esau confesses his state when he says, "I am at the point of death..." That statement confirms his desperateness. The Bible uses a particular word to describe his hunger. It is the word, "famished." It means to have an empty stomach and you know what happens when even a vehicle runs on an empty tank. Due to his being famished and emptied of strength, having gone hunting for this while, he seeks desperately to refill. That's because his appetite is now asking for it. He therefore found it very hard to delay gratification or bargain commonsensically. Esau isn't at fault for trading for food from Jacob but he was at fault for trading with the most worthy thing in his life. Imagine the conflict. Jacob put a plate of food on the table and then Esau gave away his birthright for same. Even according to the law of barter, that wasn't a fair exchange. Somebody has therefore gained and extorted the other. However, should we blame Jacob wholly for this though we have discerned him as a man of impure motive? No! Esau has his fault. He has not mastered the principles and laws of trading at all. Jacob seems better at that. He must have learnt favourable bargaining from their mother who he often stays with at home and probably accompanies to the market. 

For God's sake, does birthright equal even a pot of porridge in worth? So, why did Esau gave it for a plate of food in exchange? He was under desperateness. He's like a man with fire underneath his clothe. He'll seek to exterminate it right away at the slightest opportunity. This is why he was blinded seeing what great value he was putting on the table for one worthless meal that doesn't even worth the game he might have just arrived with from the jungle. 

When you're desperate to have something, don't buy it. You won't price well. You'll be too pressed and pressurized to have it. In this way, the seller can extort you like Jacob extorted Esau. Avoid being desperate before you acquire properties and assets. You'll be bound by the spell of that desperateness. Also, never show obvious joy or admiration at bargaining point. That'll be lack of subtilty and the intentional giving of yourself away to be cheated by cunning traders. While you may have good intention and the right spirit, the world and his people are not. They're looking for how to cunningly have more from you. 

May God teach you wisdom, subtilty, discretion and understanding. In life, you won't lose. In life, you'll come out with the best bargain. Things will favour you. While today's teaching advocates you guarding against being cheated, ensure you don't take undue advantage of any in trade as well. If you do, remember God who's the Judge between you both. Ensure you do to others what you'll like them do to you. 

A word also to couples. Those of you spouses leveraging the desperateness of your partners to have sex to control or get the better of them are simply manipulators. If your husband for instance is desperate for sex and it's at that gate you issue your bargain, then you're not being just but rather practicing using what you have to get what you want. I want to believe all husbands are responsible as not to push any wife to this state also. May the Holy Spirit continue to teach us fairness and justness in our homes.

PRAYER: Lord, I receive the wisdom that comes from above. I receive justness and fairness. I excel in the use of money this year. 

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 5:1-7:24, Matthew 3:7-4:11, Psalm 3:1-8, Proverbs 1:10-19

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 02/01/2024

TUESDAY - 2ND JANUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

THE POTENTIAL IN THE RIGHT OF A MAN - Abomination of a Husband Series 004

Genesis 25:34, KJV

"Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright."

Just like a birthright avails the first born certain privileges, being the husband at the home setting gives you some rights as well. You're actually privileged.

The birthright of Esau places him over and ahead of Jacob. So, Esau has preeminence. He's like an older brother to Jacob. If you're in a good cultural system, you'll understand that the elder exercises seniority over the younger and can even give instructions or be accorded watching over his younger ones. Because he's also older, he may be more benefited and treated as an adult and given adults' assets compared to his younger ones. He's also most likely the heir or the one the father wants to pass the family business or lineage blessing to. In the case of Esau, Isaac wanted to pass the blessing to him to continue the line with him but for the turning around of things suddenly when Jacob came in to supplant his brother. That desire of Isaac to bless Esau is occasioned because he was the first born and not the second. 

This is also the truth with Joseph's children. Joseph refused Jacob, his father from blessing Ephraim over Manasseh (who is the first born). He removed his father's right hand from Ephraim's head to place it on Manasseh's and even told the father that Manasseh is the first (Gen.48:13-17). However, the flow didn't also flow that way also. So, it turned to another - the younger. 

All these instances prove that there's a blessing in the birthright of the first born or any type of right given to anyone. In series one, I talked of the blessings as well as the responsibilities. A husband for instance enjoys certain rights. He leads the family and exercises authority and leadership over all in the family. You see, these are rights that are occasioned by his position or office as the husband and father. However, he has his responsibilities. He provides, loves, protects and teaches the family. He might need to work unrelentlessly to make ends meet for his family but that's the just obligation that goes with the privileges and says he has or exercises. 

Paul once warned that he who won't work shouldn't eat (II Thes. 3:10). Same fits this illustration. A man should not be respected if he only enjoys exercising of rights and not performance of duties and obligations. 

Being the man means being the head. The head gives dictates to every other parts of the body. That's who you are and that's what you enjoy. However, with it goes some responsibilities. It is the balance of these two when maintained that won't make you abuse authority or your rights. I once said it somewhere that, "responsibility can humble you." Responsibilities that are sitting on you pedals you to soft tread and not become a tyrant. It also makes you not to eat the food of idleness or laziness. You only eat what you pay for and seek to compensate for anything given you which you haven't afore paid for. A man doesn't abscond from obligations. If you like free things, you'll abuse the purpose of gift or grace somewhere.

Your right as the husband or the man should therefore be protected. It's a privileged position which should be ever beautiful to you. Don't sign it off to your wife. By nature and make up, God didn't make her to be the headman though she could be forced into this role. You have seen how uninteresting that is when a woman is a widow seeking to do it all. Even when she's financially buoyant, the voice, strangth and harnessing of a father is usually missed. The children would need that and herself might look up to being held together by a man's arms. That's why the Bible clearly calls her, "a helpmeet or helper". Helpmeet is found for someone or something that's in operation before the arrival of the help the helpmeet or giver is bringing. And when something helps, we know it is there to assist. So, it's not wrong for your wife to assist you but her call is not to be the header. And how do men make their wives the header? By simply absconding responsibility and forcing women and their wives into men's and husbands' roles. If you do this, you have fallen and have lost your rights. You'll have lost your grip especially what makes you exercise authority and godly influence at home. Once that's undone, you've given your wife the fat ground to contest and challenge to a large extent what you'll say or do. And that's because you gave your rights away - making your wife the husband. 

PRAYER: Teach me the flow at the home setting. I receive properness of structure and how not to break the rank.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 3:1-4:26, Matthew 2:13-3:6, Psalm 2:1-12, Proverbs 1:7-9

Powered by Morning Wings Ministries. Share with others in English, French, Arabic, Swahili and Chinese. Enquire or counsel through +234 80 77 63 85 50 or +234 8137 04 68 12 II morningwingministry@gmail.com & Blog @ http://morningwingsministry.blogspot.com