MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 24/01/2024

WEDNESDAY - 24TH JANUARY,  2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

PARENTS, CAN YOU SMELL THEIR OCCASIONS?

Judges 14:3, KJV

"Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well."

In the book, Fences by August Wilson, Troy refuses to allow College Recruiters have his son, Cory for football. Though the young man is very skillful in the sport and has been spotted by them yet Troy does all to frustrate this very dream of Cory as he refuses to sign up Cory as the authority figure in his life. Rose, Troy's wife and mother of Cory begs to no avail. Even Jim Bono, friend to Troy does to no end. At the end, this boy's dream gets broken and exchanged for another because a father couldn't sense that times have changed. 

Oftentime, parents don't smell the divine moments and opportunities of their wards. It is not enough to give birth to them or groom them. You must seek to maintain an active role in helping your children to discover themselves and become who God wrote them to be at heart when they were created. The parents of Samson provides us with a good example to study this morning. They both received from the Lord consequently upon each other how the Lord would visit them for a son and what manner of lifestyle the boy should cultivate to remain a Nazarite of the Lord (Judges 13:3,13). However, when the very reason for which Samson came into the world arrives and is being lowered for him to take, they were hindering him from "rising, killing and eating" it. They said, "are there no daughters among your people that you go after an uncircumcised Philistine?" The Bible only replies with, "and they know not that God was involved, seeking an occasion against the Philistines." On this note, God is calling parents to know on with the Lord as it concerns who and how their children would manifest. You can be fighting how your ward should manifest because you don't know all the details of it. 

Rebekah when in darkness went to enquire of the Lord why she is thus. Unfathomably, she gets a pleasing answer of two nations being in her womb and two people who would be divided against each other from the womb (Gen.25:22). This attempt made her know these two boys and learn from the onset something about their destinies and then expected end. When confused and at a crossroad, Christian parents have the responsibility of taking their wards' matters to the Lord in prayer for enquiry. Samson's occasion came. A time he's been waiting for eventually arrives for which the Lord would fling open to him a great and mighty door by which he would begin to deliver Israel, yet Manoah and his wife never detected or smelled it. At times, your wards are correct and they may be moved and directed by their sense of destiny into the right choices than you could fathom. They need your consent and support if their dreams and God's given task won't be jettisoned. If not for the tenacity of Samson, who knows whether it'll have to take God another occasion or chance for Samson to begin to deliver Israel. Thank God he insisted saying, "get her for me, for she pleases me well." May God's invisible hands stir your wards towards their destinies. May they be tenacious about what is life to them. That's one thing you see about those with a definite call or particular destiny to fulfill. There's a tenacity of pursuit that follows. Most times, they are hard to persuade out of their choices of calling. Doing so forcefully might result into a shattered individual who'll being disconnected from his purpose and his very life. 

Therefore, let parents be on the same page with their children. You're called to help them find expression and fulfill God's calls on their lives. It therefore becomes your responsibility to enter into them and feel like they are feeling, see like they're seeing so you'll be able to decipher their motivations and by this judge things/them rightly. God can raise further occasions but if Samson had missed this one, who knows when the Lord would bring another again? Opportunities or occasions are scarce. This fact is encrypted in the fact that the angel that troubles the water doesn't come daily. He does so once in awhile and that awhile no one can predict. If he comes today, who knows whether it'll take a year or even years before another visitation to stir the pool of Bethesda? On this note, it becomes important that having found out the placement of your ward, you help him in fulfilling his dream and destiny by helping him to leverage all the occasions that can avail him the platform for doing so - especially the God given ones. 

Mind this, if you miss the stirring angel now, you may need to wait for another while. It is the cumulative missing of divine occasions by a man by the pool that made him to have spent 38 years unhealed. May you not wait or stay for such donkey years unrealized. That won't be because God is unmerciful but because you can't sense your time and take it. Act differently. Sense the time and rise with the tides. 

PRAYER: Father, grant us a special sense of our ward's destiny and the timing of accomplishment. May we not fight what you orchestrated.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 46:1-47:31, Matthew 15:1-28, Psalm 19:1-14, Proverbs 4:14-19

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 23/01/2024

TUESDAY - 23RD JANUARY,  2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

CAN YOU SMELL THE SEASON?

Judges 14:3, KJV

"Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well."

One of the greatest forces on the earth is the destiny force. If you're destined or fated to become something or somebody, one major characteristic that you'll exhibit is a strong sense of fate or pursuit of that thing unlike others. You'll just have a revelation of your life not being ordinary; of something being ahead of you that must speak or burst forth to the world to see and be blessed with. More importantly, irrespective of your background, race, gender etc, you'll believe in the possibility of its fulfilment. In this way, you'll be unrelentless but seeking avenues and watching out for opportunities that you can latch unto for what you have implanted in you as a sense of destiny to be manifested and poured forth like a drink offering for your world. A strong sense of destiny can direct and ordain what you do per time. There would be people who having smelled what they should be are quietly waiting for a season and an opportunity to become that. They are like a pretending reptile who seems to be dead but very much awake to every passing prey. It immediately sucks and gulps it in. In like manner, some are waiting in preparation, prayer and hope that their days would come. They have long been waiting on the queue of destiny but it seems nothing is happening for them. Such people have now become desperate to fulfill their inner sense of destiny which is troubling or demanding them to burst forth. You can no longer persuade them to wait any longer. You can't smooth talk them to delay further or have them exchanged the glory of their callings or destiny which they have tasted for something ephemeral or other than that. 

On this note, they become a Samson who smells the season, smells an occasion even in seemingly unclear event and would refuse to let it go but take it. Samson is like a surfer. He sees the waves gathering and he rides on it. Many times when people hear of someone in the main stream causing waves, what they don't know is that such fellow has been in that vocation for long. He only was not revealed earlier like he is now. However, his day came when what he has been doing in the secret or preparing for has now come to everybody's notices. When has the Lord been stirring, preparing and getting Samson ready for a war and fight with the Philistines? Long time ago at camp! A long time ago from his adolescent before he ever thought of getting married. 

Judges 13:25, KJV

"And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol."

However, around what time did Samson begin to manifest his calling?  At a very much later time - at adulthood when God sought an occasion for him to pick a fight with the Philistines. 

What God is bringing to you today is the issue of DESPERATENESS. The Lord is saying, "if you have tarried longer waiting to burst forth, when you sense a leverage that would make it happen, you wouldn't let it go. You'll rather cling to it." That's the story of Samson. He saw a Philistine woman who pleases him. The parents suggested considering somebody of his tribe or of his nation. However, Samson persisted. His reply to their refusal and wanting to turn him away from the occasion that would launch him into ministry was, "get her for me, for she pleases me well." He rather became more ardent, tenacious, affirming again what he had seen. He wouldn't let that season and occasion that it took years to cook or bring to him bypass him. That's why he reinforces his speech to them again by saying "for she pleases me well." When you near what you've for your life waited for, you won't let it go. On smelling the season, you'll know this is what you've been waiting for. Do you know why people are careless and are having opportunities bypass them? One, they are not prepared or ready for manifestation. Their time is not yet at all and they know on their own insides. Also, they haven't gotten to an edge where it is important to live out what they have been pining after. I know people who are given to purpose, who have been training but with little opportunity to make their waiting become a manifestation. Such people are those you can't dissuade to back off from the opportunity that'll make them something once sighted. Imagine all those invalids at the pool who had stayed there for donkey years trusting to be healed. Do you think such are those you can dissuade not to compete for the troubled water once they sight it troubled! Obviously no! They'll never agree to take their ease. They'll rather spring up to compete to enter first and be healed by that once and for all healing virtue in the pool (John 5). 

What season are we in? A season of harvest but in which Jordan has also overflowed his banks (Joshua 3:15). You'll meet with resistance but there'll be an opportunity for you to take. Will you fight the resistance to leverage that once in a lifetime opportunity?

PRAYER: Lord, I remain tenacious in hope. I shall not waste the occasion and deride the season that you have sent to bear me up.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 46:1-47:31, Matthew 15:1-28, Psalm 19:1-14, Proverbs 4:14-19

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 22/01/2024

MONDAY - 22ND JANUARY,  2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

STEPPING INTO AND MAXIMIZING YOUR OPEN DOOR

Read Judges 15

Judges 14:4, KJV

"But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel."

We had seen how the Lord gave Samson an open door and made right an occasion or opportunity for him to start ministry - begin to deliver Israel. Prophecy had gone ahead of him even before he was birthed that he'll begin to deliver Israel and God bears witness to it (Judges 13:5). However, when the time came for this deliverance to begin to happen, God had to sovereignly look for a launch pad for Samson. He couldn't have started just like that. He couldn't have gone to pick a fight with the Philistines without a cause. It wouldn't make sense. An excuse had to be provided and indulged him. So, God organized a cause for which Samson could begin to fight the Philistines. 

This cause began with the strange desire of Samson to marry a Philistine woman. The Bible records that the parents were against it because they didn't know the Lord was involved - seeking an occasion or opportunity against the Philistines who at that time ruled Israel. This occasion or opportunity was eventually granted like I said in yesterday's devotional. When granted, Samson wasn't slack to take it all. His responses to those situations were what God was expecting. He recognized it as his open door. He sees it as his passage way to achieve an intent and he walked right into it. Do you know that God can give you an opportunity or open door to begin to do something and you may still not take that door. There are many people that their divine moments came yet have no discernment that here's that moment they have long waited for. They therefore become like a fish caught in an evil net because they know not their time (Eccl.9:12). They are therefore caught unawares by such opportunity of a lifetime that they should have been ready for. I pray for you that when the Lord is ready to grant you an occasion to do His will and fulfill the call, desire and destiny on your head, you'll as well be ready. You'll at that time be full of ears round your body and on tip toes anticipating such time. 

People rarely see any good quality in Samson or his life. However, Samson never lost sight or made nonsense of the open door God granted him. From the dubious dealing of the Philistines in deciphering his riddles to the giving away of his wife, he never allowed those events slip but to rightly cling to it as reasons to take revenge on the Philistines. And even after these first sets of events that opened the door, Samson didn't stop leveraging this wide door that was opened to him as it continues to avail him more opportunities. For instance, after he had burnt down the farms of the Philistines and they had revenged by burning his wife and wife's father to death, he also went on another rampage slaughtering the Philistines on and on. In this way, Samson not only stepped into that tiny, little and once slightly opened door or granted opportunity God made available to him that first instance, he rather maximized it to its possible fullest. Samson maximized all the yields that sprouted from that one time opportunity. He didn't let it slip or shut on him. He rather sought its enlargement and from just that one occasion God granted him against the Philistines, he took advantage of all the opportunities that stem from it in order to justly pick a fight with the Philistines and recompense them justly. 

Brethren, your life depends on your awareness and leveraging of opportunities. If the Lord grants you an occasion no matter how tiny it may be, can you smell all that it can avail you in the now and in the nearest future? Can you cultivate the Samson's tenacity and maximization of just an open door and the cultivation of it to its highest level where all the blessings of that one open door is derived and totally enjoyed. Today, may you have a heart and nose that smell opportunities. God can give you an occasion like He gave Samson and that one door may be source for many other opportunities. There's always a door that leads to other doors. I call it the master door. We do know that God lowered a sheet from heaven to Peter and in that one sheet were diverse animals - just all sorts. So, it's possible for a door to open that leads or can open to you many other doors. A door can avail you with many opportunities. You can have a sheet with many animals to "rise, kill and eat." God can give you many choices this way. This is the unlimitedness God is giving you. God is ordaining a door for you like He ordained a lamp for His anointed, David. That door is a passage way that will lead to other doors and blessings. I see a door that opens other doors. May you take it right early. 

PRAYER: Lord, I walk into all you want me to see and take. I take and maximize my master door that avails me other opportunities.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 44:1-45:28, Matthew 14:13-36, Psalm 18:37-50, Proverbs 4:11-13

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 21/01/2024

SUNDAY - 21ST JANUARY,  2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

LORD, I SEEK AN OCCASION!

Read Judges 14, 15

Judges 14:4, NLT

"But Samson told his father, "Get her for me! She looks good to me." His father and mother didn't realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time."

There are those who where they are, it is the troubling of the water they are waiting for (John 5:1-7). Once they sight the water troubled, it'll be to them a shot in the air. It will herald their take off. That'll immediately launch them into what they have been waiting or hoping to do. However, if the troubling of the water never comes, they might tarry waiting for the opportunity to launch into the water. That's because the arrival of the stirring angel and the moving of the water is the only provided occasion to launching into the healing pool. 

To do something or become something, you need the rightful leverage or opportunity. You can't manifest more than the open door God has given to you. If you're agitating inside you to manifest and be revealed to the world in your own day but you have no divinely granted opening, occasion or opportunity for that, you might remain at the backside of the desert for life. For David to leave obscurity and be revealed to Israel, the entire Israelites' army including King Saul were paralyzed for forty days. They couldn't take on the Goliath challenge. It took God to sovereignly send David to battle through the hands of Jesse, his father. The occasion God found for that was the checking on the welfare of his brothers at battle. However, that was just a front God hide the real purpose behind. Even David had to respond to Eliab saying, "is there not a cause?" (I Sam.17:29). 

How I pray today that those of you where you are who are seeking an occasion to launch into something or start something would see that door opened unto you so soon. Until then, you'll have no accommodation or granted space to manifest. You'll just remain pregnant with your vision without a platform created for you to give birth to it. If not, one might even die waiting. 

In today's reading, Samson was thought to have been frivolous. At Timnath, he saw a beautiful woman who he sought to marry. He troubles his parents over getting her for him. Knowing that a believer must not be unequally yoked with an unbeliever, the parents would not. They wanted him to make a choice of an Israelite. However, the Bible adds this side comment to vindicate Samson and his desire. 

Judges 14:4, KJV

"But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel."

So, it was the Lord roaming about - moving and vibrating on the earth seeking an occasion to give to Samson to begin to live out the calling of being a deliverer. However, that occasion - the first of it that'll open the door of ministry to Samson began by being couched in an unequally yoked marriage. Not that God seeks to work against Himself or contradicts His everlasting principles. If you follow the storyline, you'll see that Samson eventually didn't marry this Philistine woman. All that God needed was to create an incident that can avail Samson the opportunity, leverage and open door for the fulfillment of why He called him. Samson's inability to enter into his wife coupled with the fact that he was angered and outwitted by the Philistines who ploughed with his heifer started the beginning of the deliverances God started to wrought with him and give to Israel. While you may mourn the fact that Samson lost a wife to his friend, God's thought was established firmly on that advancing purpose and the bringing of Israel the predicted deliverance. 

Samson couldn't have started on his own. An occasion had to be presented him from heaven to take. That's why I believe the verse that says, "a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above" (John 3:27). I know those who'll break their backs trying to have what has not been given them from above. If you have a destiny to fulfill, while you're eager to manifest, one wisdom you must watch out for is God's divinely ordained moment coupled with an open and granted platform for that. I know those who out of eagerness to manifest soiled their garments because they took a leverage and sought to rise, kill and eat from a sheet that never descended from God. At day's end, they pollutted their callings having been joined to the uncircumcised. Samson however had to receive an open door in order to begin to manifest the stirrings he had felt in Mahaneh-dan, between the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol. God has been moving, training and coming on him for that purpose. The intent for that stirring is therefore about to be fulfilled and it couldn't have found expression until God had found the rightful occasion or opportunity for Samson to begin to manifest through. If you'll follow this storyline to chapter 15 of Judges, you'll see how this little door or occasion led to the many killings of Philistines - the beginning of deliverance for Israel. 

May God allow you too to manifest your calling. May God ordain an occasion that's ripe for you. Have you been waiting for a time or an opportunity that'll avail you swift moves? I pray, let there be orchestrations towards that. You'll see signs and you shall know that, "now is the time and today is the day."

PRAYER: Father, give me a door to avail me my heart desires. Cook for me an opportunity that'll become my launch pad into destiny.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 42:18-43:34, Matthew 13:47-14:12, Psalm 18:16-36, Proverbs 4:7-10

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 20/01/2024

SATURDAY - 20TH JANUARY,  2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

CONSCIENCE MATTERS

Read John 10

John 10:1, KJV

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."

First of all, who judges a thief and calls him who he is if not himself first and foremost? How did I come by that conclusion? Read our Bible verse for today again. It says, "...he that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." While such man as this above is labelled "a thief and a robber", the householder or shepherd earns a different reputation. 

John 10:2, KJV

"But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep."

So, we know a thief by where [which is illegal to conscience, the law and to God] which he tries to pass to do what he wants to do. A thief or robber breaks order, protocol and laid down processes. The very reason for which he doesn't enter through the door. He rather will devise a means that can accommodate his shady deed. 

That's why the title of this teaching is, "conscience matters." Have you observed that if you're the householder, you don't seek to pass through the window or some other ways into your house. You have a believe in the right to do so. That's because you're entering into what is lawfully yours and you're not afraid of being challenged. It is the knowing coming from this that leads to sureness and clear conscience that you're not wrong or in the wrong.

However, a thief or a robber who lacks that same motive is immediately judged by his or her own intention. Knowing he has the intention to steal unnoticed or even kill and destroy, he therefore gives attention not to pass through the door which is obvious and public for use. In that way, he avoids being challenged.

However, let's ask, "why would a thief or robber not enter by the door but climb in some other way?" That's because he lacks the clear conscience of the householder. It is our heart that judges us first of all. Even the hearts of thieves, robbers and sinners judge them first of all. Their hearts highlight for them what is right and wrong. Picking therefore what is wrong and frowned upon by the society, he (the thief or robber) seeks to climb in some other way in order to hide his identity, escape punishment and perpetrate his evil. 

Brother and sister, it is your heart that judges you first of all. If your conscience has not been seared, it would judge you on what is right or wrong. Being wrong in the inside can then be seen or felt in your actions and relations with men practically outside. The conscience of thieves and robbers judges them as not being the householder. Being strangers that they know, they don't take the door (though designated and meant for passage). They rather go the extra mile of climbing in some other way. Your conscience is your first judge. I don't care how free a thief is, he can't have the clear conscience of a householder. He can be bold and maintain a straight face but he also knows the need to exercise caution lest he is caught. The householder doesn't have that fear. He's free in his mind. However, if a householder in number 4 goes to another house uninvited but with intention of entering it by force, first of all, his heart becomes aware of that objective and his heart judges the rightness or wrongfulness of it. This is what would solely make him make a choice of climbing in some other way. It is the fact that he knows he has no pass or right to take the door that'll make him voluntarily make a choice of climbing in some other way. Knowing he is illegal, he can't pass through the door. That act is therefore caused first by his having an awareness of himself as a thief. 

You and I enter the bank without taking thoughts unnecessarily. That's because we are not thieves and robbers. If robbers would be robbing a bank, they can't have the clear conscience you possess when you visit the bank. While you are unconscious of the security or the cameras, they are. While you don't mind where the security are stationed, it becomes a major deal for them. Why? Intention! It is our intention that first of all separates us. If your intention is good, you believe you're accepted. If yours is bad, you begin to judge yourself. That's why God told Cain if he does well, will he not be accepted?

Genesis 4:6, KJV

"6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?.."

The fact that thieves and robbers know that they're morally wrong is seen in how they seek to escape being caught even when no one is initiating a "pursue him" warrant. If you haven't done or seek to do a thing waranteeing arrest, you shouldn't begin to run far from arrest in the first instance. That's why I said conscience matters. Conscience of wrong and evil doers judge them to be wrong. Being wrong, they judge themselves for being wrong. You see that in their actions and how they seek to separate themselves from the righteous who believe theirs is the door to take. 

The Bible says in Proverbs 28:1, "the wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion."

Did you read, "when no man pursues him?" A robber runs when no man pursues him. How? He doesn't take the door for fear of being challenged! Why? He bears being arrested in mind because he knows he is doing something worthy of arrest. So, he loses peace and inner assurance. 

Brethren, we have passed from death to life and we know. In same manner, the Spirit of God witnesses to our spirit that we are children of God (Rom.8:16). The question is, "are you?" When you are like us, you'll naturally live for clear conscience and your heart will be free always. A heart that isn't free is always guilty, afraid, doubtful, anxious and even depressed. It will occasionally sink into the depth crying for deliverance. What it has done or is doing will haunt him. However, thanks for Jesus' blood. Thanks that Jesus saves. You can come to Him now and let the testimony of a new man in Christ become yours. Old things can indeed pass away (II Cor.5:17). 

PRAYER: I shall be the man who does it right. I won't be half correct or wrong. My conscience is alive and it shall speak for my good.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 41:17-42:17, Matthew 13:24-46, Psalm 18:1-15, Proverbs 4:1-6

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 14/01/2024

SUNDAY - 14TH JANUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

THEIR DESCRIPTION 2

Psalms 105:12-15, KJV

"12 When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it.13 When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; 14 He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; 15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm."

I inferred yesterday that no man always begin big. If any man started big, "bigger" is in front that he can become. What I've found out is that there's always a new frontier to push and a city gate to still carry. We can always do more because we're really made for it. However, you'll have had a history of small beginning. That always precedes one's glory day.

Imagine the description of Israel here. He was described as a few people, very few and one who's even a stranger in the land promised to their fathers. 

That description is condescending. Though true, it reveals Israel (that big nation that has come to be) as one who once had history of smallness and nothingness. Israel started as a few people. How many of you are here who have read about different startups that have become global today? You'd here they started in one place and with a handful (of staff or adherents). When W. F. Kumuyi, the founder of Deeper Life Church started out in 1979, he started during his first year as a lecturer in the University Campus of Lagos and then with 15 people only. Now, imagine what that denomination has become! They're more than a million worldwide now. From that calling are group of schools that includes a University also. Yet, just with 15 members. At starting out, you don't always have the town with you. Persistence is what converts them to you. 

Israel started that way. The Bible summarily describes the start-up of Israel as, "when they were but a few men in number, yea, very few..."

You'll have that testimony of being few and very few. Being few or very few bears testimony to your days of small beginning. It bears testimony to a time when you've not made it. It bears testimony to the time you're still an apprentice to masters and have not gained independence let alone start or stand alone. There was a time when Israel was a few men in number, and very few. At such time, it was easy for them to be bamboozled or beaten to dust. At such time, any one could have successfully cheated them and they wouldn't have had the wherewithal to respond or seek recourse themselves. Why? They were few men in number and very few in the land. They lacked an organized army then. Two, they were strangers in that same land. And when you're a stranger in a land, you really have limits as to what extent you can go. Something internal curtails you and tells you to exercise caution because you're not like the natives or indigenes who are living in their lands. If you were at home, you can as well boast. However, you can't now in a foreign land. Other men are likely the captain while you are there seeking to rise. It was in such case Israel found himself. He was few, very few in the land he was or moved to. Two, the land he was is not his at that time. He dwelled in it as a stranger. So, he couldn't have acted or expected to be treated like its owner. Their being small therefore brought on them the reproach of he that can be robbed, beaten or cheated. They don't have the population to defend against aggression or attacks that might come. They are but a few people and when you are, you can only do little. However, God with them fought for them and even restrained the hands of kings from falling on them. I pray for you that while you're few, very few, may the Lord Himself defend you and subsequently enlarge you. When you're yet a stranger in the land (you'll one day become its major shareholder), may God protect your life to see that day. May God keep you in these days of your smallness so that you're not swallowed up by the power of the land. You'll survive and survive it all. As you move from one place to another, one job to another even as a single, God will allow no one to do you wrong. Until you've become strong and can enter into your rest, God will protect your lot and what you've committed to His hands. 

PRAYER: Father, defend me and speak for me in my smallness. I commit to you until my enlargement into a nation.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 30:1-31:16, Matthew 10:1-23, Psalm 12:1-8, Proverbs 3:13-15

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 13/01/2024

SATURDAY - 13TH JANUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

THEIR DESCRIPTION

Read Psalm 105

Psalms 105:12, KJV

"When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it."

What is the description of Israel here? Lowly, very lowly; small, very small. They're so small that they lack the power of a force and the strength of a united nation which can strike fear in the hearts of enemy nations. They're not different from a lamb that's led to the slaughter but which can't open its mouth for any form of advocacy. That's because they're like worms with no backbone. They can't talk for themselves, rebuke for themselves or advocate for themselves. They're like babes that must be bathed, carried and helped. Why? They're reputed to be few in number and very few. It means the ingredient that makes people fear large number is all that they lack. That brought us to the fact that they can easily be attacked or oppressed. Summarily, this littleness of Israel reveals its very beginning and inception as a nation. In truth, it's something that we should all learn from. Their growth from smallness to greatness is a sketch of our own personal journey. 

One speech of Jacob (Israel) to his family that reveals the smallness of Israel and how they're not in reputation or reputed for war and defence is a pointer. After Dinar had been raped by Sheckem, the son of Hamor, Simeon and Levi went with boldness to their city and murdered all the men with the edge of the sword. They have undue advantage because all the men are sore (having being circumcised) - seeking to heal. Jacob in responding to that says "Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house" (Genesis  34:30).

Did you read, "and I being few in number" there? At this time, war and conquest was typical of their lives. That's what rules their world. They always talk of physical strength and brute and if you have it in an army, your nation will be feared and protected. Number is therefore strength but Israel lacks that here. That's why he complained to all his children that other nations would find out their deed and crush them for it. Nothing encourages another to make an attempt attack on another than seeing one is weak. So, the population of Israel here reveals them as one susceptible to attacks. However, God shields them.

It even didn't happen as Jacob thought it to be. God had to do a miracle to keep all of Israel's enemies at bay as they sought to relocate. Where they'll have looked attractive to nations around them to attack and destroy, it just didn't.

Genesis 35:5, KJV

"And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob".

"and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob" means, "they could have pursued" but for the work of God that didn't make that attractive or executable to them. He only made them receive pardon in their sights. 

Did you read that? What does the Bible says was upon the cities round about them? Terror! Kai! God's terror will work for you and walk with you today. You're not of those they'll touch, suffer, kidnap or rape. They don't kidnap an abomination! You are an abomination to them. You're not their sacrifice. You're their abomination. You're fenced with thorns, who'll touch you? Imagine that, see how God rebuked kings for their sakes, saying touch not mine anointed and do my prophet no harm. Even God knows they can be touched considering their smallness and the violation of international laws which now gives them away. That makes them easy prey to any predator. However, God tithed Israel to Himself so much more that the respect of God is what nations and people around them gave to them. Today, you're this protected and secured. Terror of the Lord will be fashioned against all with evil intents towards you. Terror will keep danger and all planned attacks at bay over your life. It might be planned but it won't be executed and that'll be because God will reprove kings for your sake. More importantly, as you journey individually but as a small person today, may God preserve you until you become a nation and a great man. 

PRAYER: Lord, I enjoy your protection while I move from one nation to another. Until I find rest, I shall not be maltreated or cheated.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Genesis 28:1-29:35, Matthew 9:18-38, Psalm 11:1-7, Proverbs 3:11-12

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