MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 24/02/2024

SATURDAY - 24TH FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

WHEN YOU DISCOVER YOUR CALLING; YOU HAVE A DELIGHT - Separated Unto Purpose Series 006

Luke 2:43, KJV

"And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it."

The moment you discover your calling, you immediately have something to rejoice your heart other than food and things that people holler or struggle for. 

The Psalmist while speaking says, "Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased" (Psalms 4:7, KJV). He simply talks of the joy that comes with harvest or payment of one's salary. He said he has joy more than those moments could avail because God has given him joy. One major way that I have found by which one can remain saturated with joy is through the discovery and doing of his calling. It never tires you. Even when your bones and flesh are weary and you take a nap, you come back refreshed to continue the pursuit of your calling. No confession like "this thing is beginning to become monotonous". It can't be because there is an array or layers of discoveries for you to stumble at and be attracted by daily in your calling. You can't for once see it all. You'll rather be making discoveries of interesting findings daily. Every calling though just one is multidimensional. School, church, orphanage, hospital and even NGOs may manifest from a calling - just one calling. We've seen that in the callings of many ministers of God for instance.

So, you can't be bored because the calling you have found is your delight (what you want to do and like doing) and also because it's multidimensional - offering many possibilities. What is a delight? It's what has your attention more than any other thing in the world. I'm not trying to sound uncaring or non-challant. My greatest delight is not my family. It is my calling and seeking to discharge all that it harbours and contains. One may not marry; that ain't any sin but once you're given birth to, you ought fulfill purpose. If you have a family and you aren't even fulfilling purpose, you'd be depressed, frustrated and tired. This offcourse will be contagious - burdening your family if you have any. I'm not comforted with the fact that I have a spouse or a family. No! My life is beyond making babies. I take real joy and pride in the fact that the things impressed divinely on my heart by God at creation - the reason for my coming here from heaven are being discharged and minted out. God created us for a purpose. He put and contained our spirit in a body for a purpose. It'll be the greatest disappointment coming to earth without fulfilling that one purpose. Whether you're married or not, one thing should be common to us all - fulfilment of purpose. 

That's why Jesus makes a confession saying, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (John 4:34, KJV). You're a failure on earth if you have not found the will or work of He that sent you, get engaged with it and with the ultimate aim of finishing it all. When Jesus cried, "it is finished" (John 19:30) on the cross of Calvary, indeed it was finished. That's the peak of His calling - dying to redeem humanity. He attained it. Not one was lacking. So, once you find your calling, it should become your delight and because it is a delight, it will urge you on. It will move you to move. It will move you past the tedium of discharging it. It will make you feel alive and significant. People who aren't living purposefully are dying organisms. They don't have vibrancy or robustness on the inside. They'll be lean in their souls and fatigue in spirit. 

It's only delight that becomes "meat" to anyone. Despite the pressure from the disciples that Jesus should eat and participate in the ephemeral, Jesus keeps refusing and refuting with, "my meat (aim, purpose, singular discovery and focus, calling, mandate, destiny) is to do the works of He that sent me and to finish it. In essence, he was correcting them from misplaced priority. He was saying, here's a soul to win and run after and here you are talking about physical food. Why did I come to the earth? To eat physical food and be filled or to do the works of He that sent me and to finish it? However, the disciples are more of lost souls here. They just couldn't get the message. They were so lost and of slow understanding that they were asking one another, "has anyone brought Him food, bread or meat while we were not around?" (John 4:33). You see, misplaced priority. 

Jesus found his delight at age twelve when he began to tarry with it and he ate it all until it was finished at Calvary. Oh, may you find your calling and may your calling finds you. May you locate the field the Master Groomer and Allocator wants you to give your years on earth to till. May you not cultivate the wrong garden thereby losing your rewards.

PRAYER: Today, open my understanding to locate the garden I should till. Relocate and realign me to destiny.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Leviticus 14:1-57, Mark 6:30-56, Psalm 40:1-10, Proverbs 10:11-12

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 23/02/2024

FRIDAY - 23RD FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

TIMELY PROVISION OR CONNECTION ARE IN YOUR CALLING AND ITS DISCOVERY - Separated Unto Purpose Series 005

Luke 2:46, KJV

"And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions."

Did you observe that the doctors were on ground to answer Jesus' questions and put him through? Why? Your calling when it is discovered and taken will gather the resources that it needs for its own fulfilment by itself.

If I share testimonies with you, I hope you'll be edified. To the least of the books and movies I watch, they are carefully chosen and suggested materials to me by my calling. One day, I had worn out all the books I could lay my hands on ever written on purpose. Then, I began to flip through the pages of a book I was not seriously considering to read. I was just flipping through and reading certain places for the purpose of redeeming my time. However, I had earlier prayed with utmost desire that the next book to read on fulfilment of purpose and equipping of my calling would be met. As I flipped on through this book of Pastor Sunday Adelaja, I suddenly saw where it was written that "a book by XYZ author is entirely based on purpose, its discovery and fulfilment". Shockingly and funnily enough, I've had that book downloaded on my laptop over three years ago. I once started reading it but for some reasons dropped it. 

Immediately I read that recommendation, I took it as God's answer to my prayer and immediately guided myself to the book. Believe it, I read over sixty pages of that book that night only. I read it late into the midnight to finish it the next day. God so much cares about my education to the extent that he allows me to come across the very information and materials I needed per time. One time also, I needed another King James Version of the Bible. I had a description in my mind on the kind it should be. I only have two in my house amidst other numerous versions that I own with which I do comparative study. However, those two are now in the hands of my wife and sibling. That desire for a new KJV Bible continued to burn for awhile in me until I boarded a public transport one day. The driver was a rough man - a rascal and tout. The cuts on his faces and his rough way of speaking proves that. Sitting in front by his side, I saw a large sized book right overboard. I examined it and found it to be a KJV BIBLE. I was drawn to it thinking particularly it was a book I could beg to own. I never knew it was a Bible because the hardcover was only made of glossary paper. So, I let it alone after the discovery of what it was. As we journeyed on, my mind kept going back to it. God was saying, "ask for it now. That's your request". As he stopped over at my busstop, I summoned courage to ask for it. The rest was history. Opening the Bible, I saw it was as neat as anything on the inside though the paper cover seems to have been covered in dust. Believe it, it's still that same Bible I'm using till date. It's the exact I wanted. I therefore cherishes it a lot. 

So, when you heed your calling, resources automatically comes allocated with it to you. As you desire, you'll see God gives you quick answers because He knows you're where you're serving His will and furthering His purpose. That's God's doing though it might be marvelous, shocking and surprising to you. However, that's how God works. At tarrying behind in Jerusalem, the teachers of the law that could help impact knowledge and answer Jesus' questions were automatically prepared to be on ground. All of them were not only available, they gave Jesus their time. None of them despised him for being a curious child. As such, Jesus' waiting was to an end. He reaped the benefit of having waited. If you'll leave vanity and go into your calling today or begin its operation, you'll forever witness miracles at junctures of needs. Be assured, provision will never be scarce for you. That's because even where there's none, the Lord shall provide. Yes, even on the mountain of the Lord! That's what your calling will become. For anyone who won't shrink back but operate his calling, it shall be indeed said that God is his God. They shall meet many miracles on the way proving therein is the path they should have trodden indeed. 

PRAYER: Father, give me courage to be turned away from vanity into the operation of my calling.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Leviticus 13:1-59, Mark 6:1-29, Psalm 39:1-13, Proverbs 10:10

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 22/02/24

THURSDAY - 22ND FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

DESTINY MEET - Separated Unto Purpose Series 004

Read Luke 2:41-52

Luke 2:42 - 43, KJV

"42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. 43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it."

Parents are generally advised to expose their children to varieties of activities and subjects which range from sports, music, trades or vocational studies etc. The reason is simple. By experimenting with all these, they might come to discover where their passion or calling is. It is what you have contacted or experienced that could become resounding to you. God has built or created us for one thing or the other in life. That love or desire is sparked when we hit on that life's endeavour. It doesn't matter which life's purpose it is. It comes alive and bubbles from within you at contact. It's like a digger hitting on a bag of coins. At such moment, you'll have an heightened enlightenment and sensation that you are made for this thing and this thing is made for you. This is where the deep calls unto the deep in symphony and utmost agreement. 

Jesus could be said to have discovered his calling at twelve. Why did I say that? That was the recorded first time he showed love - special obsession for an area of life. Have you not read the verse that says, "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Psalms  84:10, KJV). That's the joy of discovering what is life's essence. When you do, other things become ephemeral to you as you seek to give concentration to that one found thing that is sweeter than honey.

Samson once posed a riddle to which he got the response: "what is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?" (Judges 14:18). If I should respond to that, I'd answer saying, "purpose found and life lived out is sweeter than honey and stronger than a lion".

That Jesus had hit on his calling was revealed in his not letting it go. He had to tarry behind to indulge and rejoice in it the more even when all the familiar faces he knew had left for Nazareth. When others grow tired of what you're called to do, the mark that it is your calling is finding yourself still passionately pursuing or continuing in it. If you meet called sportsmen, their trainings don't end when the team packs up. Somewhere, they always continue. Others left when the programme officially ended (Lk. 2:43); however, Jesus stayed to enquire more in the house of the Lord. Kai! What a thing! Only calling troubles people and collect their attention like this. Only calling makes people lose track of time and esteem long hours for a short while in the discharge of the business of their callings. Three days extra that Jesus spent in Jerusalem and consequently at the temple must have been a short while to him. Why? He was enjoying what he was doing and grateful for being at the temple - his citadel of learning at that time. Also, that he was not for once bored but found in the midst of the doctors when his parents came for him (Lk. 2:46) proves this. He was both hearing and asking them questions.

Look, no one tarries behind to further an activity that doesn't obsess or give him joy. If it were not so, one or two of Jesus' kinsfolk should have thought it wise to as well stay back. However, the truth is that it is only what you are called to do that'll move you and have your respect. If your calling is not in ministry, you will not have your attention attuned to ministry like a minister will have his crested. As a matter of fact, you may flip the channel when a preacher with revelation is teaching in order to watch what your passion is. Why? You believe that value will not necessarily add up to you. You can acquire it but it may not be put to use because it is an education out of your area of calling or practices. However, if a scientist begins to explain the processes of the creation of something, you might let that stay because you're as well a called scientist who wants to listen to the latest invention or improvement in your field. 

Also, those who infatuate us, who we seek to meet or model after reveal who we're to become or what our specific calling is. I'm not seeking to be with engineers or pilots though they make good money and have the name. However, I'll any day and any time give myself away to learn and accumulate more from the fellowship of other anointed ministers of God. Jesus wasn't drawn to fishing at twelve years of age. A very pointer that his love and calling is not in fishing but in ministry - which he loved so much as to give three days extra to and sacrifice family and familiar faces for. Yet, that discovery and encounter happened by exposing Jesus to religious things and taking him to where he could have the joy of practice - the temple.

There'll be destiny meet - in that you'll walk to meet or discover your calling and what you should do for the rest of your life. It'll inspire you more than anything. It'll call you to sacrifice and you won't see it as too costly to do because that's what you were made for. That'll be because you have a strong connection and love for that life's endeavour or calling.

I pray for you, you'll discover calling and your child will as well. They won't waste away - seeking to live their lives pursuing shadows and what doesn't add up to life. Imagine doing what one doesn't feel any connection or love for. It'll soon show in how one does it. One will be careless and shabby with it. Such thing won't be a definition of quality and witty invention. That'll be because it's a undernourished soul with satisfaction that's doing it. However, may you have destiny meet, encounter and discovery of your calling. You'll go where you'll discover what you should do or become. You'll meet the right connection and the flow shall all flow for your calling to materialize.

PRAYER: Lord, guide my children to the path of destiny discovery and fulfilment. Let there be an overarching mark of what they're made for.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Leviticus 11:1-12:8, Mark 5:21-43, Psalm 38:1-22, Proverbs 10:8-9

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 21/02/2024

MORNING WINGS MINISTRY:

WEDNESDAY - 21ST FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

CROWD FREAKED! - Separated Unto Purpose Series 003

Luke 2:43-44, KJV

"43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. 44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance."

Do you know the fear of many? Loneliness! It's true that a journey becomes easier when you aren't the only wayfarer. However on calling or who you should be, there's a solitude that you'll have to embrace. No one, not even God will deliver you from it. The earlier you accept it - entering into the right frame of mind, the better. 

Many people are crowd freaked. In 2018, I was accused by some concerned colleagues at the workplace for not being ever present at the public front. It was as if they had held a meeting and talked it through before coming to chide me for embracing constant solitude. Over the years, I have also discovered people who thought I was egoistic by wanting to be by myself. Some had said I was antisocial and many had formulated mysteries round my personality. I just wondered when I became all the labels  they had put on me so far. 

When these people accused me of not socializing enough and flocking with them, they basically had been caught up with a mystery they sought to demystify. They wanted to be able to explain me and nobody knows to explain another without enough familiarity with him. What prompted their approach was that. However, I have discovered that when you are too available, you risk losing value. It's better to maintain a step away so that some details about your outworking are shrouded. Though I didn't intentionally chose to operate solitude for that purpose; however, it serves that well also. People crave to demystify what they don't know enough. They'll leave ninety-nine people who have been unravelled for one that's proving hard to judge, measure or predict. In this way, you become an object of desire and unending probes. 

Don't be crowd freaked! Why couldn't you survive without being associated with the populace? Do you need to be with them always to find your identity or realize yourself? What sort of life is that which is crowded with people and distraction always? While God wants us to build smooth relationships and network, that doesn't mean you should cultivate social life to the peril of your calling.  The truth is, "until you discover your calling, frivolities will continue to use your time and life". However, once you do, you become Lord over frivolities like Jesus was Lord over the Sabbath (Matt.12:8). People, you're a unique person who needs a ground to germinate in. You need time with yourself, your Creator, those books, those videos and lectures. You need time to press in commitment until a visible product comes out of your habit of solitude. Imagine if Jesus had followed his family, kinsfolk and acquaintances that sooner they all left for Nazareth. What will he have gained? Nothing, except for the noise and family chatter on the way. Many people can't smother their emotions to be separated from friends, family and even their devices/social media (the greatest distraction there be now) in order to give attention and sow seeds where it'll matter sooner or later. Rather, they want to be submerged, flooded and impressed by the noise making on-line and on-site. Occasionally when I check out of solitude to spend time with people, I'm always shocked on hearing what the discussion is about. Petty gossip and matters that aren't different from fables and unprofitable tales that Paul warned Timothy about (I Tim. 1:4, I Tim. 4:7). If they weren't feasting on the flaws of someone or discussing about a leadership that has gone wrong; it'll be on some exotic and ephemeral desires of the heart they wanted to fulfill which often would go unfulfilled. Yet, time waits for no one. According to Andrew Marvell, "But at my back I always hear/ time's winged chariot hurrying near."

Jesus at twelve had learnt how not to be crowd freaked. He successfully separated himself from the crowd or company of people journeying home to give attention to a more excellent find. It means he'll successfully cope with a boarding school if he were driven off to one. Nowadays, we have children under 12 who are separated to their callings in different academies and getting prepared for their days of manifestation. Meanwhile, here are adults pursuing food to the exclusion of destiny training and manifestation. Jesus separated himself at twelve! It means he's as well hinting at being independent. If he could stay focus on educating his mind for three days without going to watch a show at the market place, then I present to you a disciplined soul. That proved him to have become a man. No wonder, he knows there's something called the Father's business (higher than petty things of life that others are lost in) which he must give attention to (Lk 2:49). Indeed, he did. 

If you forever want to be around people, I can as well predict your future that you'll never be above average or achieve mastery in your calling. You need time and privacy to incubate eggs that once hatched will give the world quality and satisfaction. A mother hen stays for 21 days in solitude incubating and bringing energy on her eggs that she might be able to present to the world chicks. Do you think a bird should be more strategic than you do? No, no! A mind teeming with ideas is better and more resourcesful than a body adorned with clothes. One can invent and produce those clothes while the other will only consume them. The witty mind offcourse is a derivative from solitude. If you'll calve (bring forth), you'll need to get pregnant first. As far as all great souls have discovered, pregnancy comes about in the secret place. Find yours and frequent it. If you're a sanguine, carefully discipline yourself until you could enjoy solitude like melancholies do.  If you see one who can't endure solitude, they'll seek to even use their spouses to cure loneliness. This way, they'll put them in bondages in marriage. They'll always be there desiring their presences which proves they personally aren't whole and unique individual beings. Please, be different.

PRAYER: I accept responsibility and commit to detach from all time and energy sapping relationships. I am unique and whole.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Leviticus 9:7-10:20, Mark 4:26-5:20, Psalm 37:30-40, Proverbs 10:6-7

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 20/02/2024

TUESDAY - 20TH FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

SEPARATED UNTO SOLITUDE - Separated Unto Purpose Series 002

Luke 2:42-43, KJV

"42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. 43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it."

If you have not discovered solitude, you can't make discoveries. Those who ever drag something from the world of ideas to that of realities are those who have learnt to cultivate and embrace intentional solitude. You have heard that the animal called sloth sleeps in its entirety for 18 hours out of 24 daily. If it ever wakes up, it'll be to nimble at its food.. While the sloth wastes time and wastes away (because it does nothing significant with its solitude than sleeping), you must arise today as a reasonable man to tear from your busy schedule and hurly-burly life a time for yourself and to be with your calling.

Things develop in solitude without the viewing eyes of the public. That's why a Bible verse like this is written. 

Ecclesiastes 11:5, KJV

"As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all."

You see, the foetus grows in solitude to become a baby in a woman's womb. It's this that eventually becomes the tangibility or product that we call a child. If you'll ever give birth to tangibilties or products, you'll need to separate yourself from the crowd to begin to fellowship and relate with your calling solitarily or in a close group. Moreso, with things or people that can feed your calling. There's no one who attains mastery who doesn't thrive or leverage solitude. Many times when you read the synoptic gospels, you'll see Jesus being called master or rabbi. It just was not conferred on him. He just didn't become a master through the revelation of things he had effortlessly from God but through things he acquired and became by time through the intentionality of cultivating solitude. One of such story is still what I narrate now. 

Did you observe that it was solitude Jesus was operating when he tarried back at Jerusalem instead of going home with his family, kinsfolk and acquaintances. I wished you were there when the return to Jerusalem was being made. People were just chit-chatting, making comedy and coasting along. Much of those people looked like lost souls who don't have aim or destination. They just flooded the road, flocked together and laughed together. However, here's a twelve year old boy who not only dare to dream to become a minister but who begins to take action towards becoming that man God uses by staying with or hanging around places and people who would inspire and groom him for same. The separation from the crowd into an enclosure with doctors or teachers of the law is his own solitude. That was his time to service his calling. Also, it was his refusal to company with the general masses who have no vision of what says the time. Jesus understood time. Despite just being twelve years old, he saw the reason for a separation to train and acquire from the best of his days. No one just arrives. It's the accumulation he has gathered over the years that'll raise him up - making him distinct or known. Don't let anybody deceive you about learning and training your calling. Even Jesus trained his as we saw here. If not, he need not ask questions or listen to doctors of the law speak. Though he impressed them with his responses, he yet learnt and was impacted by what they taught. 

You need solitude - a separation from the chatter box of noise of this world. You need time face to face with your calling to groom your calling. To do that, you must be deliberate to ever seek for time and moment to let the crowd go while you tarry with your calling or what can inflame it. Solitude is where diligence is beginning to be given to make your calling and election sure. You may be called and not be known with your call or felt at all because you have refused to solitarily give attention in solitude to learn the ingredients of your calling or life's task. Dare separate yourself. Don't let the crowd freak you. If you're a scientist, begin to spend some good six hours daily in the laboratory and see if no discovery would come out of that in let's say some ten years to come. Today, tarry behind and be separated unto solitude. Let family loose, let kinsfolk go and desire not to see acquaintances around until you've daily fulfilled your obligation as your calling demands.  

PRAYER: I overcome the daily temptation of wasting time. I give priority to what matters. 

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Leviticus 7:28-9:6, Mark 3:31-4:25, Psalm 37:12-29, Proverbs 10:5

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 19/02/2024

MONDAY - 19TH FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

THE BOY WHO WON'T FELLOW WITH THE CROWD - Separated Unto Purpose Series 001

Read Luke 2:41- 52

Luke 2:42 - 43, KJV

"42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. 43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it."

Today, God wants to address the issue of calling. When you have a calling, it chooses you and chooses your life for you as well. Calling determines what sort of life each of us lives and what sorts of sacrifices we make also. While some have such time to socialize; others are tucked into solitude maybe due to their callings and its difference. Today, God wants to show us the boy who won't fellow with the crowd. Through His life, we'll learn the power of the calling, the demands the calling make on us and how important it is to heed the dictates or directives of one's calling. The truth is this, your calling will speak, seeking to direct you into the path you should take in life. All of us can't and won't end up doing or being the same thing. What assures this is the different calling which we heed and follow its directives as it seeks to turn us to choices of life's tasks, obligations and services to humanity that are most suitable to our creation/ordination. 

Having visited Jerusalem for the Passover, Jesus' family returns but without him. The Bible records, "and the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem..." Why would a twelve year old boy tarry behind in Jerusalem? Why would a child of that age decide to stay back at the temple where religious activities are being done? Why wasn't boy Jesus eager to return home so that he might have rest and indulge in funs? Why didn't he act like his age mates who returned home with their parents and didn't seek to tarry at Jerusalem? We know that because the Bible says, "they travelled in the company of their kinsfolk" (Lk. 2:44). So, there would have been children of Jesus' age who visited Jerusalem with their parents too. 

Meanwhile, I actually found answer to why Jesus tarried behind. Jesus at this time has felt the string of his calling appealing and pulling him to ministry. Though he didn't take the decision of coming to Jerusalem himself, he did took that of tarrying or staying back himself. That's because he has realized it as, "his Father's business which he must be about or be occupied with" (Lk. 2:49). "Why would he do that", you might ask? It's because he has found his delight. And your delight is what becomes your meditation, affection and even craving day and night. Psalm 1:2 puts it this way. "But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law doth he meditate day and night". What am I trying to establish? The fact that anyone who has found his calling has found a delight to spend time with, on or around. Immediately a man discovers his calling, that thing becomes his or her delight. It impresses, infatuates, delights and urges him on. It becomes what he spends his greatest time on. No wonder, Jesus didn't go home that immediately! Little wonder he forgot Nazareth in order to stay back at Jerusalem. For sure, he let the familiar faces of his parents and acquaintances vanish in order to stay with the doctors of the law who are nothing but total strangers to him. Why would a twelve year old child be this odd yet unique amidst a congregation of many wayfarers? Why would a twelve year old separate Himself so distinctly from the crowd - choosing so differently?

He has found his delight. He has found something to spend day and night with/on. This made him spent three days in the temple hearing and asking questions of the doctors. Look at how Jesus got Himself educated in his calling by relating with masters of the vocation. In like manner, you too must be commanded or attracted by your calling. In all truthfulness, we won't all share the same calling. You might have been called as a sportsman, creative artist, musician or even an inventor. As such, this calling of yours will pull you in a direction. It'll choose for you mentors and role models. 

You see, one of the creatures I like watching at play and at work are young chaps. By observing children, I begin to decipher what their likes are. Their likes and what they are specially attracted to and would like to tarry with in others absence may be a big witness to what their calling could be. I have the same experience growing up. So far, I have discovered calling, purpose and destiny by navigating these processes. I can only get better in it and take to the greatest height what I've discovered. The process is just the same. 

Mark those who find it easier to be separated, given to something or tarry with something; that thing might be their very calling. As a matter of fact, that's their calling calling them to come and stay forever with what ordainment said they should do. While others didn't see any good in staying further at the temple to savour the things of God, Jesus did. He waited behind. He spent three more days. He worried less about food or where to lay his head. Nowadays, it takes effort persuading adults to attend conferences and seminars away from home. Complaint is always on where to lay their heads and what to eat. But I tell you, if you ever find your calling, it'll rouse you, command you and drive you to responsibility You'll give your eyes no rest until you've actualized it. 

Brethren, it's time for separation unto greatness. Stop journeying with the crowd but rather be separated unto your calling. Feed what can feed you and you'll be known with that difference. I see many purposeful people rising up and tarrying with their callings. I'm seeing scientists in the laboratory, sportsmen in training and writers at their desks Such are the future. 

PRAYER: Lord, I tap my calling and its uniqueness. 

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Leviticus 6:1-7:27, Mark 3:7-30, Psalm 37:1-11, Proverbs 10:3-4

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - 18/02/2024

SUNDAY - 18TH FEBRUARY, 2024

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

HE BROUGHT YOU AN EQUIPPING BEFOREHAND

Read Luke 15:11-32

Luke 15:14, KJV

"And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want."

"What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visits him" (Psalm 8:4). Put that somewhere. God is never unjust. He'll sure visit you, as well your neighbour. What you do with His visitation is all that matters. If hundred visitations or blessings of God are not trapped or maximized, it will surely look as if God had not visited. If it rains and you do not collect the descending water, in a matter of time, you won't have evidence that it once rained. Do you know why? The ground would have dried up. That's what Joseph was telling Pharaoh. After those seven years of plenty come severe seven years of famine (Gen. 41:29-31). It'll be worst if the abundance is not trapped at all; because by then, the seven years of plenty will not be traceable?

The story of the prodigal son serves to teach us that. This young man arose and asked his father for a fair share of his estate. The father obliged him. Gathering all together, he travels into a far country. There, the Bible records he wastes his substance on riotous or wild living. In the statement of his elder brother to their father, we have more specifics on what riotous living was. It included spending on harlots and all sorts of debauchery (Luke 15:30). However, after this wastage of resources comes what the Bible calls, "a mighty famine." 

"And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land..."

Believe it, that famine didn't spare him because we have testimony that "he began to be in want." Now, we ought ask some purposeful questions. Did God plan that this young man would be in any want on the long run? Obviously no. As far as God is concerned, he has not been forlorned but visited. He was succinctly equipped by the substance his father shared with him. It was that substance God intended would be his means of survival. However, what did he do with it? He wasted it in riotous living. He went about on a spending spree as a ragamuffin. This way, he lost what could have been his potent key of survival at a hard time.

God is merciful. You are meant to leverage His mercy. Like I said, He does well by visiting man beforehand with what he needs for life and godliness. He seeks to impart to us a stay or strength before the days of adversity come on us. What matters is to be aware of your visitation so you won't be caught unawares in unpreparedness in hard times like a fish taken in an evil net. The problem of this young man is the problem of many. They aren't futuristic at all. They are sensual and ephemeral. They are people of the now - eat-it-all people. As such, they suffer when the season of life changes. God came for the prodigal son. He was equipped with wealth that could make him laugh at famine. However, it was not invested. It was wasted. So, he suffered. 

Therefore, no man should accuse God of unfairness when their poverty comes like an armed men. God will give to you. What you do with such released blessing is what that matters? Take note also, that "mighty famine" didn't arise before or when he still had empowerment or equipping to handle it. If it came before he spent it all, he could have exercised caution and be warned. Rather, it came after he had spent all, after all has been squandered and nothing is left to survive on. This goes in line with the predictive dreams of Pharaoh. There shall be seven years of abundance after which there will be seven years of staunch scarcity. The famine always follow your abundance season and God intentionally makes it so that no man may gain say over Him. He does it in order to have you equipped and ready for what will come upon the earth. Even in the temptation or test, there's always a way of escape - something to give God the glory for. 

The Bible has spoken well of us in Job 5:19 saying, "He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee." Now, one of those troubles is famine. The Bible confesses that, "At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh..." (Job 5:22, KJV). Now, if you'll laugh at famine, is it by just confessing that Bible verse or by acting upon it and putting structures on ground to contain famine at appearance? Some people have repeatedly made that mistake. They only confessed thinking manna or bread would fall from the sky on them. No! Not like that. God wants common sense to be common today. What He's advocating for is to put your susbtance to work. The prodigal boy got his own but he didn't put it to work by investing or multiplying it. Rather, he spent it all until it finished. 

God isn't unjust I repeat. He always give seeds to the sower and bread to the eater (II Cor.9:10). Once He gives you seed which you must sow, you'll be wise not to eat it at all. Not doing so is wanting to reap poverty plentifully. You might soon find yourself in the situation of this boy. At the peak of his want, the Bible comments that, "and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat but no man gave him" (Luke 15:16, KJV). 

Once you blow up your opportunity, you're literally left to yourself. You'll look at the ceiling, at the sky, at the hills and even when help comes, it'll be as an oasis in the desert. It won't appear until you have reaped some consequences for your unreasonableness. For this purpose, let us ask again, "what is the purpose of the susbtance in my hands at this time?" Should I gather it to squander or should I use it to build a system that can endure and give more yields? Do answer. 

PRAYER: Give me financial wisdom. Teach me how to build and put structures on ground. Teach my mind business and profiting.

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Leviticus 4:1-5:19, Mark 2:13-3:6, Psalm 36:1-12, Proverbs 10:1-2

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