MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 10/02/2024

SATURDAY - 10TH FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

SIN THRIVES IN SECRECY/IN SECRET!

Genesis 39:11, KJV

"And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within."

I think you probably want to have a rethink on reading today's devotional topic. "Sin thrives in secrecy" and if you despise that, you'll see yourself caught up in many sinful practices. By then, you'll have learnt by experience, being able to bear witness. 

The boss' wife of Joseph who made advances to him didn't do so in public and when it came to execution time, she also didn't go public while seeking to force Joseph to it. Though Joseph truncated the execution of her plan, it was successfully initiated when she caught him by his garment, making forceful demand that he lies with her.

I said earlier that Mrs. Potiphar didn't appear in public to say, "come, lie with me". She did at a convenient place and time. It was when Joseph went into the house to do his business; when no other person was in the house. Sin, especially the sin of fornication or adultery thrives very well in secrecy. Secrecy is the ground on which it flowers. That's why that old counsel keeps coming to us, "don't be caught with the opposite sex all alone behind a closed door". You might think that's a waste of information and that grace covers you or that you have a special anointing. No! No! You're still human. You're made of the components: flesh and blood. If so, it means you have tendency in you to awaken, crave human passions while being susceptible to human failures. Even the Bible says, "Elias was a man subject to likewise passions as we are..." (James 5:17). That was despite his having called down fire and brought down mighty revival (I Kings 18). Yet, the Bible notes that Elijah is a human like anyone of us and is fretted with our human weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

The devil has a foothold to drag you to sin when you give him such secrecy to thrive in. Either secrecy for the act to happen first time or secrecy by keeping the act to yourself when it happened. The devil usually capitalizes on the latter to make you a slave to such sin by continuing you in it.

No room for the devil in the open. A church usher won't steal when counting the money in the full glare of other ushers. Even if the temptation arises, he'll exercise control. The temptation mounts when he's really all alone. The very need for faithfulness when no one is around. That's real faithfulness!

When Mrs Potiphar couldn't see anyone around, what did she do?

Genesis 39:12, KJV

"And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me..."

Could she have caught Joseph with that same intention and spoken confession in the full glare of all other slaves? You're answering with a no right? Yes, it's a no! That's why I said earlier that sin thrives in secrecy. Thank God for the wisdom of escaping for one's life that Joseph practiced. That's the way out when you're suddenly caught in secrecy to commit fornication or adultery. Flee! Also, when you flee away from the theatre of secrecy, it is believed you would be resisting that temptation more strongly and endorsing your desire to pursue after righteousness. Wanting a change yet continuing where you're easily tempted to sin isn't the solution. Secrecy is darkness. Flee into light and the deed of darkness shall be staunched by light. You expose darkness and cut off its work from thriving when you also expose it. You might want to confide in somebody right away on that sin you have committed or on the thoughts/plans of your heart to commit one. Don't be tempted!

James 1:14 - 15, KJV

"14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

May you not die!

PRAYER: Lord, I refuse to be led away by Satan leveraging on my lusts. It is holiness within and without.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Exodus 30:11-31:18, Matthew 26:47-68, Psalm 32:1-11, Proverbs 8:27-32

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 9/02/2024

FRIDAY - 9TH FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

PERSISTENCE WEARS DOWN THE WALL OF RESISTANCE

Genesis 39:7, KJV

"And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me."

If you don't know, do today. Persistence can wear down the wall of resistance. Yesterday, I showed you the persistence of Satan in getting a saint to sin or bringing him down. Did you observe that Jesus was not tempted once. He once tempted thrice (Matt.4:1-11). The devil has learnt the power of persistence and that's because trying and keeping at it might eventually yield result. 

In today's teaching, God wants to take us further. I want to roam on what I started to hint you yesterday. Potiphar's wife casted her eyes on Joseph. "To cast your eyes" on something means to make it your next target/conquest. When you cast your eyes on something, there's a sort of determination and pursuit you give towards having or possessing that thing. So, when the Bible says, "she casted her eyes on Joseph", it means we ought to begin to intercede for Joseph from that point on Mrs. Potiphar saw potential enough in him to cast her eyes on. She casted her eyes on Joseph and would go any length to have him. It means Brother Joseph is in a big trouble and has to be watchful lest the Satan that has marked him for a prey has him eventually. That's because the devil has gotten on his case and has come to face him squarely to bring him down through Potiphar's wife - madam. 

Do you know that Satan casts his eyes on us all occasionally? He once did to Job and went after him to wreck him. Whenever Satan focuses on you and makes you his subject matter, he does that to frustrate you so that you might let him in out of fear, disappointment or frustration. When you click and he blocks your way, he's seeking to achieve a purpose. When all your attempts end in a dead end and in a lockjam, making you a lesser worker than others who are succeeding, that's Satan already trailing you. He wants you to begin to ask, "why are things not working for me?"

Meanwhile, let me show you how through the story of Potiphar's wife and Joseph, persistence that wears down the wall of resistance is illustrated. I had noted yesterday that Potiphar's wife didn't make advances to Joseph once. If not, we wouldn't have had a verse like this written. 

Genesis 39:10, KJV

"And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her."

That place says, "she spoke to Joseph day by day." That might also be "often." Irrespective of what it means: daily or often, what is observable is that Mrs. Potiphar persisted in her approach and request. She persisted having learnt something about human nature - that humans tend to have their breaking point. What she does as she makes often advances to Joseph is to lay embarkment against the walls of Joseph. That act is to lay siege on Joseph and see to bringing him down. However, we thank God that Joseph's mountain stands still as well. It doesn't melt or move. He also applied persistence in resisting her. 

You must know that persistence wears down the wall of resistance. Moses' hand begins to grow weary because he persists bearing it up (Exo.17:11-12). That unjust judge eventually vindicated that widowed woman because she refuses to get tired of tendering her request (Lk.18:1-6). Brethren, persistence wears down the wall of resistance. If you attack a thing enough, it might open up to you. The Bible is enclosed. What you see on paper and read are the letters. However, it can break loose just through persistence of study. By the time you persist to travel deeper, you could dig out the treasure in God's Word. Madam wouldn't have continued to pursue Joseph if she doesn't believe that a man who says, "I won't do today" could change his stand tomorrow. She knows rightly that if you persist, you can have whatsoever even if you've been denied many times before. The solution to not being besieged or tempted this way is to flee. That is, not to be available to be worked on at all. However, if you are, you might eventually cave in and let go. Persistence can wear anyone or anything off. 

I pray for you that where you need to persist to achieve a certain goal, you'll not be weary or grow tired. However, where you need to resist firm in your faith, your bow will abide in strength. 

PRAYER: I resist all temptations firm in the faith. I pursue with persistence my goals. 

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Exodus 28:1-43, Matthew 25:31-26:13, Psalm 31:9-18, Proverbs 8:12-13

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 8/02/2024

THURSDAY - 8TH FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

LOOKING FOR AN OPPORTUNE TIME

Read Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:13, KJV

"And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season."

There's a Christian hymn that reads:

"Christian, seek not yet repose,

Hear thy gracious Savior say;

Thou art in the midst of foes:

Watch and pray.

Principalities and powers,

Mustering their unseen array,

Wait for thy unguarded hours:

Watch and pray."

That hymn reminds us of our enemy, Satan who seeks whom to devour. Without seeking to instill in us any fear of him, it also tells us not to seek rest, becoming too comfortable or sluggish as to be careless to give Him the upper hand. 

"Christian, seek not yet repose,

Hear thy gracious Savior say..."

In today's reading, the devil keeps coming to Jesus in order to compromise Him. In three times symbolic temptations, Jesus was tempted but refuted sin. After Jesus' victory however, the Bible notes of the devil to have departed from Jesus just for a season. A "season" passes for awhile there. It means that one victory of Jesus won't always keep the devil at bay. He'll still look for moments, opportune times when he could come back again. 

The devil might leave you to yourself for a season. He might allow you have a victory over him after much struggle. However, his thought are still of evil and not of good towards you. This one time surrendering of his is not an all time surrendering. He's still in pursuit of one thing - bringing you down. Many a times, once in a while personal victory over Satan and his temptations do cool Christians down and instills them with a sense of arrival or achievement that they have made it, and are now immuned to temptation or falling away. On this note, they just go to sleep. However, the title of Daniel Everett's book, the linguist and once a time missionary to the Amazon, "Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes..." ought come alive to them.

If you're in a reptile invested area, knowing how dangerous that is, I don't think you'd allow dizziness to descend on you once. The reason is simple. You want to watch out for your life by yourself. You're not waiting for someone to tell you, "watch out, that's a snake or a crocodile!" You want to have eyes that sees, senses that sense and mind that'll be prompt to take action. You want to keep awake to stay sharp and be able to beat the danger posed by those wild beasts. That's how sharp we ought be in spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is ongoing. Those of you who have once survived Satan because you once had food at home and could afford to live comfortably might be broken at a season of economic downturn if you'll give in to the pressure of the devil. The devil is like a football team that wants to equalize and so would begin to mount pressure on the opponent. What he's looking for is just a little mistake, an opening or inroad he can take to cause damage or wreck serious havoc. He's in need of an occasion; a foothold that you must not for once grant him. Because of that, the devil has mastered persistence. He goes to and fro to always come back. If he departs from you for a season, please don't mistaken it for an eternity. He's at the corner watching your steps and filing information on how to trip you down. Look at how persistent and constant madam persuaded Joseph on sleeping with her.

Genesis 39:7, 10, KJV

"7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her."

That's pressure. Satan will give you pressure. If your mind and your spirit can't withstand that pressure, you'll simply fall in that day of adversity. It's God's will that you triumph and beat the devil now and then and everyday he comes to you. The repeated triumph of Jesus over the devil in the wilderness provides a classical example of how Christians must always return in beating the devil when he blows or keeps it hot. 

However, we're called to an observation. Satan only departed away for a season. He'll soon be checking in. Madam once spoke to Joseph and she seemed to have quiten down but she soon reoccur on Joseph's page making same old request, "come, lie with me". We are not commanded to befriend the devil who lurks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom to devour. We are rather told to rebuke or resist him firm in the faith.

I Peter 5:8-9, KJV

"8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith..."

I pray for you that you won't have a price. The devil won't be able to buy you. He came dangling pleasure and reward of being promoted before Joseph; dangled the world and its glory before Jesus too. However, they didn't fall for it. They resisted the devil still. May God grant you grace to resist still. No matter the intensity and repetition of the temptation, may you not succumb. May you keep waxing valiant in battle against the devil instead. May you always find succour and Word with which to resist the devil. I am praying for you just like Jesus, our intercessor is. Go, go against the devil. Keep holding the fort. 

PRAYER: Lord, give me perseverance to resist the fierce and repeated temptations of the devil.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Exodus 23:14-25:40, Matthew 24:29-51, Psalm 30:1-12, Proverbs 7:24-27

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 4/02/2024

SUNDAY - 4TH FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

NO MORE DILLY DALLY

READ John 4:25-35

John 4:35, KJV

"Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields: for they are white already to harvest."

You may be expectant of a season but still be oblivious of it when it comes. That may be because you're not actually as expectant as you seem to be. It may also come upon you without any change in action because you've become complacent or weary having waited for long. 

There's a saying that, "four months and there comes the harvest". Four months to the minds of Jesus' disciples is a very long time. They were living in that illusion of "it's not now. We still have time. We could therefore indulge in other businesses of eating/drinking and taking our ease." As at the time Jesus speaks to them, none of them perceives that the time has neared for the harvest of souls to be done. As a matter of fact, they were trying to persuade and win Jesus to their side. They began by asking him to eat. When he didn't and  he told them He has meat/food to eat that they don't know, they were all amazed asking if any had brought Him food to eat. However, what meat was Jesus talking about if not to rank the Father's work above any other thing including earthly or personal pleasure? For that reason, Jesus told them, "say ye not that there are four months then comes the harvest? Behold, look now, the fields are already white for harvest". 

May God bring you and I into rightful understanding. May we have a grab of what season we are in or we have entered. If not, we can stand in hope for the season of harvest to come and we may lack discernment when it does. It'll just pass by quietly. It was passing the disciples by quietly until Jesus sensitized them to the time that has come upon them. That's why we need the prophetic in our midst to sensitize us to the times and seasons we are in. Or else, you can't take advantage of times and seasons. Jesus is the sensitizer of the disciples here. He's awakening them to what as well is their expectation. However, they are lost in the now - having spoiled themselves with physical food. They therefore failed to see what is the urgent consuming business that a man should plunge himself into at the time. No wonder, they debated Jesus! When Jesus talks of doing God's will and pine after that, they talk of mere food which they'll like Him to give attention to. Yet, they don't know that there's a pleasure that comes from having done the Father's will and eaten it all. Jesus focuses on that and calls them to that. 

Wake up you sleeper. The dawn is here and darkness is becoming light. We can no longer wait. No more dilly-dally. It's time for action. The Gentile nations are ready for harvest. Jesus could perceive that as He spoke with this Samaritan woman in John 4. Like He said of the field being white and ready for harvest, so we see a corresponding act because an entire city came to believe in Him later (John 4:39). What are you expecting but which you're thinking is still far away? Wake up! Here's it at your door. Are you a student anticipating an exam? Stop saying it's four months between planting and harvest. That saying will cool you down if not outrightly blind you to sensing the time. See! See that it is closer to you than when you first anticipated. This is the season of harvest. Jesus is as well telling us we'll be prosperous if we cast our net or hook into the water. He only knows when the timing is right. He told Peter, "launch out into the deep and let down your nets for draught" (Lk.5:4). This was after Peter had toiled and had caught nothing. However, He saw the harvest and He predicted it. Peter didn't have anything different from that prediction. By saying, the fields are ripe also, it means we have an opportunity to take. It means we have been availed an open door. It means we won't have to stress ourselves very much before conversion of souls are done. It'll happen beyond our expectation and that's because it's the season of harvest. Souls await to be saved. There's a longing in their own souls already. They are wishing and willing for salvation. That's why that woman herself said, "I know the Messiah comes. When He comes, He'll teach us all things" (John 4:25). Those Gentiles are not totally void of God's knowledge you know. We're being expected. However, they need a preacher to preach the gospel which they'll believe to them. What are you doing therefore? Or are you still deceived to say, "it's still four months between the planting and the harvest". Be warned! The Spirit of the church is saying, "now is the time. The field is ripe'.

PRAYER: Father, sensitize me to the current work you're working on the earth. I am a soul winner and I shall not be drunk with wine or debauchery when the field is already ripe.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Exodus 13:17-15:18, Matthew 21:23-46, Psalm 26:1-12, Proverbs 6:16-19

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 3/02/2024

SATURDAY - 3RD FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

EACH MAN, HIS DREAM

Genesis 40:5, KJV

"And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison."

Say, "it is each man his dream". Yes, exactly that! Our dreams will differ. So will its interpretation and so will its fulfillment or ending. 

It is always, "each man, his dream". God has not left each and everyone of us without witnesses of what to do or become. Our prophesied future is written all over us if we let the inner voice guide us and reveal itself to us. God at our Creation has written in us who we should be or become. This may manifest in our motivation, talents and what we just love doing. I've proven this with many proofs hinting at the two brothers - Esau and Jacob and how their temperaments, talents and natural inclination  put them in the fields they colonized (Gen.25:27). This may turn into an aspiration. It may become a dream. However, how it's doing you may not be how it is doing me. What is pushing you may not be what is stirring and seeking to direct me. We can both have dreams but... You can have a dream - not necessarily of images of the subconscious while asleep in the night but of who to become and what life's endeavour to pursue. However, these dreams would always be different from one another.

We may want to start looking at this from the life of the butler and baker of Pharaoh. They both had a dream the same night but the Bible has this to say concerning them. "And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream..." They not only dreamt differently but interpretation as influenced by their dreams and as echoed by Joseph also differs. We all know that a dream would differ in interpretation from another if in storyline and plot it is different. God has not given to us equally. The Bible even wrote, "and He gave some, apostles; and some prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers". I hope you know with these different offices goes different gifts and abilities. It's those that'll make men of different callings. He has not dealt to us the same dreams even if we all have a call. He might have given to us marks in our souls of who to become and pursue but we are motivated differently by different motivations. I've argued it over the years. I couldn't have become a Mathematician though my father was good at that and taught me a great deal - helping me with assignments. Why didn't I aspire or got obsessed after Mathematics? That's because I have no natural or God given inclination towards it. No special love for it. It is that special love for a subject, field or life's endeavour that eventually could transform into a dream and life that a man can pursue. 

It is each man according to his dream and each man according to the interpretation of his dream. Our call which differs is what tells us what to do. We won't all have the same ending as it concerns which field or life's endeavour we pursue. The destiny of the baker is different from the butler's and they weren't the ones who decided it. Guess what did? The dreams they had. Their dreams sent one back to the palace and hung the other. Joseph while interpreting their dreams said, "yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place; and thou shall deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler...(Gen.40:13). However, things didn't answer for the baker this same way. Yet in three days, his own head was lifted up from him (Gen. 40:19). While our own end is good and not evil, for we have read that God's thoughts towards us are of good and not of evil and to do one thing to us - to give us an expected end (Jer. 29:11), yet our dreams and where they'll lead each of us in order to become who we should become are different. 

What is my prayer? It's that each of us won't break rank. We'll stay where we should stay. You and I must stay within the dictate of our dream. May that Bible verse that says, "each man his dream" come to pass in our lives. May your dream not convert me to itself and may mine not be able to convert you to its pursuance. May we rather stay true to our dreams and to its interpretation/fulfillment - where it'll lead when fully subscribed to. However, I can bear witness. It'll lead to an expected end because God's thoughts are good towards us. Hold unto that. "We dream differently and so we become differently". It'll forever be, "each man his dream; each man according to the interpretation of his dream". God has not given all of us to go one way. He has spread us all around. But what decides that is our passion, talents, obsession which are never the same. That's why someone may want to colonize the space by going there and another may be interested in only writing about space in an imaginary way. This is why it is calling that chooses us and not we choosing calling. Look, it is "each man his dream and each man according to the interpretation of his dream".

PRAYER: Lord, I submit to the dream breathing inside me. I shall not be persuaded to take another's lane. I follow and I have its intent done unto me. I see the glorious day.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Exodus 13:17-15:18, Matthew 21:23-46, Psalm 26:1-12, Proverbs 6:16-19

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 2/02/2024

FRIDAY - 2ND FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

IS LIFE NOT MORE THAN MEAT AND THE BODY THAN RAIMENT?

READ Matthew 6

Matthew 6:25, KJV "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"

What is the purpose of life? For what reason was life given? We should ask that question in order to better ourselves and have an inkling which may then become a firm resolution on why we were created (given life or God's breath) and how then we ought live our lives. 

The Bible says, "is not the life more than meat" and "the body than raiment?" So, what's the purpose for which you were given life and currently lives? For what purpose and to what end did God gave the human body to you with which to relate and contact in this world? Is it to pursue food, clothing and shelter solely? Is the very purpose of life (that invaluable resource) only meant for meat and its pursuit? Or what else should we account our lives to be useful for?

God wants you to see that you're too valuable to waste the endowment of life and being made flesh on mundane things that pass away. You're rather being called to a higher life and purpose. Many people have not found a value or fair exchange for the life God gave to them. Some just existed in the human body to gulp up food and to have a wardrobe of clothes. No dream, vision or purpose to attack and live for. However, that place says, "life worths more than condescending it and spending it on such mundane things". Those ones are too petty. How could you use your life (as precious as it is) only to acquire properties and goods of this life without using it to fulfill the higher calling for which you were sent here? Look, life is more than meat now! When Christ says, "is life not more than meat and the body than raiment", He's trying to protect and preserve you for purpose. God wants purpose and the pursuit of it be the only and worthy thing you'll commitedly spend your life for. As for clothes, materials or properties,  they'll diminish. Therefore, they ought not to be your life's priority. While you need them to live life, you must ensure they don't take the first place in your life. If wealth becomes your pursuit instead of purpose, you're not wealthy. Moth and rust even corrupt and even robbers could break in to cart away (Matt.6:19-20). However, when you live for purpose, it transcends your life here on earth and goes into the eternal or the everlasting. 

Life is more than meat. Life is more than raiment. No one could have received the human body without first having been given life. It means, "life and body" in that usage are working as synonyms and so could replace each other. Tell yourself that life is more than the pursuit of bread or raiment. All these fine fine things you see on display as  attractions are actually distractions from purpose if you can't master it. That's what the thought and lives of some people revolve around. He keeps aspiring and living for the repeated purchase of man's goods thinking in them there is fulfilment and value for his life. This kind of life brings no glory to God in any way. Why constantly look for what to wear, what next car to buy, what next party to go flaunt your money, what next pride of girls to go out with, what next tourism and adventure to explore etc. Imagine! Look at the debris they are living for. Nothing more than these? Life is more than these. It's more than sex. It is more than any pleasure or pleasurable thing that's outside purpose of a man in this life. 

Brethren, God wants to ask you a question. On what would you spend your life? On meat and raiments or on the pursuit of the higher life? Higher life is your calling and the pursuit of why God gave you life and put you in a human body. You have that choice to make. The choice of what to live or give your life for.  May you not be F.F.O. (For Food Only) on the surface of the earth. May you not be an earth roamer but an intentional living being who doesn't depreciate the essence and value of the life and body given him by God. While God intends he'll use his life (his time) in the body given him to fulfill a part of His will and gain rulership over the earth in Science, Technology, Ministry, Music, Education, Agriculture etc by bringing discovery, innovation and advancement, this man has condescended and played down the value of life to the pursuit of bread only. May you be redeemed from such lowly life of yours. May you see the essence of life that it is more than meat and more than raiment. I ask you, "what is meat or raiment to life?" Could God have sent each of us to the earth only to earn millions, dine and wine, sleep with our spouses, buy all the goods and then die? That's not God. Satan or your personal self may have been involved - redirecting the essence of life. God knows the significance of life. He did not give it for us to squander it on what is inconsequential. May you see indeed that, "life (which you already have) is more than meat and the body (in which you dwell) is more than raiment that has become your goal, life's vision and pursuit now." Once you see you're created for value and to live for a high ranking value, you won't be enslaved by these petty deceptions and human worries again. Something in me resist such living. No significance is attached to it. It's too common. Don't live such too. Abhor it and let your life worth more than meat and raiments.

PRAYER: I understand that life is more than meat and the body than raiment. Help me keep my eyes on the higher call of my existence. May I not be distracted by meat and raiments and brought to low living.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Exodus 13:17-15:18, Matthew 21:23-46, Psalm 26:1-12, Proverbs 6:16-19

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 @ www.morningwingsministry.blogspot.com

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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