MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - 13/01/2025

MONDAY - 13TH JANUARY, 2025

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

ACCORDED HONOUR AND MADE SPACE FOR AMIDST THE GREAT AND MIGHTY - Unorthodox Daughter Series 007

Genesis 29:4-6, KJV

"4 And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we. 5 And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. 6 And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep."

The Bible portion that is coming to my mind for use is in Isaiah. Speaking of the reward of Jesus Christ after pouring His soul for sin, the Bible says. 

Isaiah 53:12, KJV

"Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

That is fulfilled in the name that's greater than any other name given to Jesus (Philip.2:9-11). Looking at Rachel, that same Bible portion succinctly describes her. She actually shares portion with the great and spoil with the mighty. What likely led Laban into making a shepherd out of Rachel had earlier been hinted at in one of my earlier series. However, irrespective of the reason(s), what matters is that there's a need and a responsible soul clung to it. When the vacancy for a shepherd's role opened in Laban's family, Rachel steps in and she goes on to share name and portion with the male syndicate in the profession. Don't cry for want of opportunities. Opportunity will always present themselves this year. Whether you'll take it therefore depends on sighting and knowing it for what it is. Our theme for Year 2025 is, "We Know Our Time" and are therefore not like fishes trapped in an evil net and like a bird caught in a snare (Eccl.9:12). 

Pay close attention. The first ever time that our curiosity is awakened to ask if Rachel is a shepherd (which she is), it was fellow shepherds and men of the same trade who identified her as one. They said, "see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep." Coming with the sheep here is notable because it involves shepherding the sheep until they all get to the well. It might even involve carrying the little, sick or injured ones. Now, these shepherding qualities would make us probe if Rachel were not a shepherd. As we would find out, she turns out to be one just like they have hinted because the Bible acknowledges her as a shepherd in verse 9. 

Genesis 29:9, ESV

"While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess."

If we were to turn it, it would mean, "shepherds are those who follow or come with sheep." Having this definition at hand, we then can boldly say that Rachel is made great space in the profession of skilled men. For them to call her a shepherd, it means she must have passed some certain tests and endured a great deal in the discharge of the shepherd's task. More importantly, she guided, led, nurtured, treated and watered the sheep. This makes her a shepherd and for this she was recognized by same trade men when they say, "see...Rachel, his daughter comes with the sheep."

If you too won't leave, if you won't turn your back against the profession or way of life you've chosen (especially if it's God ordained), you shall sooner or later be recognized. The recognition of Rachel as a shepherd breaks the stereotype in the Bible. Even the seven daughters of Jethro aren't specifically identified as shepherds but here's someone recognized as one. 

Rachel: The Shepherdess! She has become a force to be reaconwith and one of no mean status in the trade. Work at it. Stay there. You'll also be introduced with that recognized title for doing the work and living the life. You can share in the name and fame if you share in their lifestyle and sufferings. 

PRAYER: May I fully embrace my calling and stick to it through thick and thin.

1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN 

Matthew 10:1-23 & Genesis 31-33

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - 12/01/2025

SUNDAY - 12TH JANUARY, 2025

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

A DAUGHTER WITH THE SHEEP - Unorthodox Daughter Series 006

Genesis 29:6, ESV 

"He said to them, "Is it well with him? They said, "it is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!"

Though a visit to India or East Africa might avail you the experience of seeing female shepherds yet it is not a popular sight. If you conduct a world survey as to if there were female shepherds or how many there be, there'll be many more who'll refute that assertion on the singular basis that they don't believe there are female shepherds because they haven't even seen one. 

If not for this teaching, if I were to ask you to mention a female shepherd in the Bible, you yourself might say, "a female shepherd? Are you fibbing? Even in Nigeria where pastoral farming is popular especially in the North, their females stay at home or trade. 

That tells us that the idea of a female shepherd is not very popular but there are those who do contribute to livelihood and the economy of their localities just like Oumar Sesay Farouk's poem - "The Song of the Women of My Land" said of some unrecognized female farmers. 

Rachel is not a son but a daughter with the sheep. She's not the first born. Leah is but we sure have an idea why Leah didn't pasture the flock but Rachel. The Bible describes her as, "weak eyed" (Gen.29:17). That means she might have problem shepherding in intense sun or under bad weather. It also means she might easily be vulnerable to dangers in the wild since her sight is poor and not sharp. However, Rachel is compensated for in that shortcoming. She is adequate and though the second born, the sheep were committed into her care. While Laban had other male sons, yet they might have been too young to pasture then or might be monitoring other sheep. It is for all these reasons Rachel got a space amidst an all male or mostly male trade or vocation. She's a daughter not a son. Yet, she does shepherding. Does this not tell you something that your girl child can perform or achieve extraordinarily also. The Bible talking of the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:29 says, "many daughters have done wondrously but you surpass them all."

Rachel surpasses them all. We can talk of great women and though her name didn't appear in the list of heroes of faith in Hebrews 11; she's a woman of great qualities and of an uncommon path other than the ordinary. 

God might be speaking to someone who has been rejecting his daughters and is mourning for a son. A daughter can do what a son could have done for you also. Biblical and realistic life experiences have proven same to be so. Rachel (a daughter) is a shepherd. She covers her father and serves as great help to him. You'll have such benefit if you'll give the right kind of training to your daughters in order to reproduce after that great thing you're expecting. We all know the importance of education - and the right education. If you can arm your daughters with such education that'll make them highly trained and fit for their callings, why won't they perform or even outperform a male? Rachel didn't just become a shepherd. She becomes one because she takes on herself the ways, lifestyle and sufferings of shepherds. To become something means following a particular lifestyle. When Samson's parents were enquiring of the delivering angel what vocation Samson would do, they asked this way. 

Judges 13:12, KJV 

"...How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?"

"What kind of rules should govern the boy's life and work?"(NLT). 

"What is to be the child's manner of life and what is his mission?"

It is the road that makes the man. If your gold doesn't pass through the fire, I wonder how it'll turn or what it'll become. To be anything, you must embrace the ways of life of people there. You can't discharge as a man of God without our consecration! May you be willing to embrace your greatness in that manner. 

PRAYER: Lord, what ways of life, manner and lifestyle should be upon me for preparation for my manifestation? I enter into it.

1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN 

Matthew 9:18-38 & Genesis 29-30

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - 11/01/2025

SATURDAY - 11TH JANUARY, 2025

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

NEVER ACCEPTED BUT CONTENDED WITH - Unorthodox Daughter Series 005

Exodus 2:16-17, KJV

"16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock."

I made a statement yesterday which was that people are usually prejudiced against someone who wants to break the status quo or stereotype. No other persons are victims of that but these seven daughters of Jethro.

They came to water their father's flock but they were contested with, overthrown and put to flight. Beyond this literal writing, there's a meaning seething for discovery. We didn't read of Rachel being driven away from the well or once opposed by the all male shepherd squad. As a matter of fact, fellow tradesmen treated her cautiously. This is well noticed in their description and identification of Rachel as a co-professional. They said, "see...Rachel, Laban's daughter comes with the sheep (shepherding it)" (Gen.29:6). However, these seven daughters of Jethro weren't given that recognition by their colleague shepherds. It might be coming from resentment of having females in the trade or from the tyrannical rule of the male ego. Irrespective of the root cause, they were not welcomed or received as shepherds by their male counterparts. They were casted out as people who are not part of us. Another school of thought might say they were overridden because they are females who can easily be taken advantage of. 

Like I began to say yesterday, breaking stereotype will call for a kind of suffering or hardship. Imagine what the first female hunter faced when she said she would become a hunter. Imagine what the first female boxer might face when she had attraction towards boxing and confessed it. The mum could have said, "so, you want to bring shame on me." It is a debatable matter and to those of that society then, an impossibility. Even in this modern world, when females seek to poke their head somewhere, they usually meet with stiff rejection.

This would also fill us with praise and appreciation for a female like Rachel who might have fought through the thick and thing of this prejudice casted on the feminine gender by the society who defines what jobs or ways of life is best suited for the genders and should not be trespassed. Having this knowledge, we're filled with more admiration for her. Though she found acceptance with other shepherds and even male shepherds, we don't know whether she once fought their rejection, hatred, aspersions, mockery and ego. How she came to win them over so much more that they now see her as a fellow shepherd is the wisdom we don't have written in the Bible literally. However which way it is, she enjoys their fellowship and probably partnership. 

No one says the road will be easy on you as a daredevil who's trying to break a virgin land or achieve the uncommon. However, may God grant you favour, men like Moses who'll help regain your rights and a supportive community to cheer you on in your bid to do the classified.  

This morning, I'm recalling the poem of Oumar Sesay Farouk titled THE SONG OF THE WOMEN OF MY LAND. As a tribute to the labour of some women long dead and gone but uncelebrated, it occurs to me that there may be many female heroes that were never sung. However, may God help you have a breakthrough wherever there's a hedgethrough. Break barriers and be a pioneer in that field! You won't go uncelebrated. Like Rachel, you'll be inducted into the profession and rightly called by the title of your vocation. As for Rachel, she's a shepherdess. 

PRAYER: I am a pioneer female. I trail the blaze for others to follow. I am accepted and where rejected, I fight my way through. Undaunting like a lion and sweet like rose.

1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN 

Matthew 8:28-9:1-17 & Genesis 27-28

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - 10/01/25

FRIDAY - 10TH JANUARY, 2025

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

MADE FOR THE OUTDOORS - Unorthodox Daughter Series 004

Genesis 25:27, KJV 

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

New Living Translation Version (NLT) calls Esau "an outdoorsman." Describing him from the choice of his trade, he's a man of the wild. Unlike Jacob, he doesn't love staying at home or amidst the tents. The question would be, "to do what?" For that, he chose his part and what naturally suits him which is to become a hunter. His love for the outdoors is vividly manifested in the sort of vocation he chooses as his life's calling. 

I want to show you something by the help of the Holy Spirit. Being an outdoorsman is much more very strenuous than being an indoors man. As a matter of fact, when Jacob brought his mother's prepared food to Isaac under the guise of being Esau, Isaac asked, "how is it that you have found it so quickly" (Gen.27:20)? Isaac was asking because he knows that hunting for game doesn't come easily. It is an outdoors vocation. It takes a lot of effort, athletism and perseverance. You exert yourself as a hunter if you'll ever come home with a game. Such is the life of anyone whose trade is an outdoors trade. Such is the life of Rachel, the shepherdess on whom we have stayed and taught for these few days. 

The Bible describes her as coming with the sheep and being a shepherdess (Gen.29:6 & 9). Do you know that shepherding is an outdoors vocation. If you don't have love for the outdoors, you can't take a vocation as shepherding and excel in it. 

Joseph feeds the flock with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah just at the age of 17 (Gen.37:2). Though young and tender, he's recognized as a shepherd and you may not know the danger that attends to shepherds until his brothers lied that a wild animal had tore him to pieces (Gen.37:33). Why would Jacob believe this lie if it is not one of the hazards of shepherds?That's one of the realities that any shepherd faces apart from being prone to robbers. Now, take all these vulnerabilities of shepherds and stamp it on Rachel. That's all she endured. Rachel must have shepherded closely with males of her time as to be dubbed "a shepherdess." She received acceptance as a shepherd - because it's even the mouth of her fellow shepherds (who are males) who said she comes with the sheep. However, she could have been rejected and contented with earlier on. You know there's this jealousy that's usually exhibited when you see someone coming into a space that is notably for certain persons or has been held or protected for long by them. It's like having a female engineer. It's usually one amidst many. 

Anyone who'll do anything that's special or uncommon must therefore count the cost. Being a female shepherd doesn't come easily when it involves going distance often, scouting for pasture and at times water. All these are things Rachel was involved in. Unlike Rebekah, her mother in law and many other women who are steeped in domesticity, Rachel is differentiated by the male dominated profession she chooses to do. 

Destiny will choose you what your way of life should be: whether to be an outdoor man (extrovert) or an indoor man (introvert). Who God made you will choose it! It is destiny that chooses for fishes to live and swim in the water and it's same destiny that created birds to fly and explore the space. Your calling and what you're most likely best suited for will choose you. First, it's what you're made for and as you smell it, you'll one day embrace it. Let us raise a toast and a cheer to Rachel, the shepherdess and courageous outdoorsman. She has dared to pitch her tent where many would not. She deserves our applause for pushing the frontiers of jobs and demanding for a space to be made for her (in a male saturated profession) where there's usually contest. 

PRAYER: Let the call of all female children call. May they not be lost but see correctly what their calling is. Arise and fulfill your passion and calling.

1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN 

Matthew 8:1-27 & Genesis 25-26

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - 9/01/25

THURSDAY - 9TH JANUARY, 2025

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

BREAKING ORTHODOXY: THE STAFF BEHIND THE VEIL - Unorthodox Daughter Series 003

Genesis 29:9, ESV

"While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess."

Yesterday, we learnt about Rachel who comes with the sheep and who was called a shepherdess. We also contrasted her with Rebekah (who we took as a generalization for other girls, their pursuits or ways of life). While Rebekah comes to the well with a pitcher on her shoulders to fetch water - therefore continuing the legacy of the traditional woman who stays indoor all the day,  Rachel comes to the well but with a staff and identity of a shepherd who's in command and with oversight of some flock. This is a great difference. This is a reflection of how some girls, ladies or women are having in-road into male dominated or saturated professions. 

Rachel is your trail blazer and role model in this wise if you want to company with men and attain their heights, respect and greatness. You have one to pattern or take after. She's called Rachel, the shepherdess. 

I bring you today the story of great unorthodoxy and how there's a staff hidden behind the veil. Women especially in the East are known with the veil. It's a cover but also a symbol of chastity. When Rebekah sees Isaac approaching, she took her veil and cover herself (Gen. 24:65). The veil not only symbolizes chastity but is also a token for hidden beauty and sought after grace. For Rachel, at our meeting her, the Bible didn't describe her or introduce her to us using first of all feminine qualities that make men savour female and see them as toys or sex objects. Rather, she was introduced to us in the manner and guise of a male. The Bible says, "here's Rachel, Laban's daughter and she comes with the sheep." Will a woman who comes with the sheep immediately arouses the interest of anyone? You didn't meet a powdered face. The Bible didn't say, "and she's fair to behold and she's a virgin!" Nothing therefore awakened in anybody. She wasn't portrayed as a prey ready to be pounced on in the chamber or bedroom. She rather owns the narrative here for she is called a shepherdess - one in control of sheep as if she owns them. 

Rather, someone like Rebekah, her mother in-law get described in those alluring and male thirsty adornments. She was dolled and painted as "very fair to behold, a virgin whom no man had known..." (Gen.24:16). 

While Rebekah is portrayed as a bride made ready for her bridegroom, Rachel (though she eventually marries Jacob) is portrayed as a groom meeting his bride. Rachel is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber (Psalm 19:5). 

Orthodoxy is being broken. The fact that the Creator God created them male and female (equal partners for each other) is an enlightenment dawning on all now. May this be recognized by you! Catch it!

PRAYER: While I recognize leadership of the male in the home setting, yet I wake up to the reality that God created them or (us) male and female and as equal partners. I rise beyond female's pettiness of dolling the face only to the embrace of my calling and destiny.

1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN 

Matthew 7:7-29 & Genesis 23-24

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - 8/01/25

WEDNESDAY - 8TH JANUARY, 2025

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

THE GIRL WHO WON'T FELLOW WITH OTHER GIRLS - Unorthodox Daughter Series 002

Genesis 29:6, ESV 

"...see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep."

In the new series I began yesterday, God started teaching us about Rachel, a girl or female child who comes with the sheep! A sharp and contrary belief to the fact that it is a boy or male child who should come with the sheep. However, we'll be looking at how different Rachel is from another woman of the Bible. To me, Rachel is distinct and it is a verse like the one I started with yesterday that made her so. Imagine the Bible saying, "...and see, Rachel, his daughter (daughter of Laban) comes with the sheep."

Should a female come with the sheep? Is that what she should be doing? While others are busy fetching water at the well, cooking and doing one house chore or the other, the Bible indiscriminately says, "Rachel (the daughter of Laban) comes with the sheep." This is distinction in calling and profession I am seeing. It is untypical of females to follow the sheep. We might have an example like Jethro's seven daughters who seek to give drink to their father's sheep. Only that, that of Rachel is overwhelmingly pronounced over theirs. 

Exodus 2:16-17, KJV

"16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock."

You might read this and even see nothing suspicious for which to regard them as shepherds but that of Rachel is undeniable. The reason is because Rachel is specifically and later on identified and called by the professional name of a shepherd. The Bible says, "while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess" (Gen.29:9). Whether a "shepherd" or "shepherdess", it sure refers to a professional doing and discharging the same task and that's who Rachel is. 

Rachel therefore leaves the class of her mother in-law, Rebekah who knows nothing but to be lost in the girls' chores. Our society is a funny one. It has carved roles for each gender to play. Women and generally females are to take the back seats and not be involved in the great outdoors. They're to be sane and good home keepers, raising in turn another generation of house keepers. However, Rachel defies traditional gender role here. He found no where else to be pitched but in what males do. She was earlier described as coming with the sheep and later called a shepherdess. 

She left the great congregation of women who are bullied and regarded as inferior because all they do is stay at home and be at the beck and call of someone. Unlike her mother in law, Rebekah who meets heralds of her future husband by the well while coming to fulfill her chore of living the traditional girl's life - of fetching water, Rachel begs to differ. 

Genesis 24:15-16, KJV

"15 And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. 16 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up."

Rachel is rather a shepherdess and the supportive evidence is that she even comes with the sheep. While other girls or ladies of her age are bearing their pitchers on their shoulders, she bears the staff on her shoulders! What a thing! What a breaking of orthodoxy and begging to have a space amidst the great and mighty of her time who are renown for shepherding. While other girls are lost and their stories are not even told or remembered, yet Rachel's peeps out as the girl or lady who follows the sheep. May this distinction comes upon your children, especially the female children who might be discriminated against or are less wanted, esteemed as capable, gifted and talented as the male children in our society. 

PRAYER/CONFESSION: I'm a girl child. I'm strong and mighty; able and capable. I'm not a toy or just an object of sex. I function in my office and calling. I am a shepherdess.

1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN 

Matthew 6:19-7:1-6 & Genesis 20-22

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MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - 07/01/2025

TUESDAY - 7TH JANUARY, 2025

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO

HERE COMES RACHEL WITH THE SHEEP - Unorthodox Daughter Series 001

Genesis 29:6, ESV

"He said to them, "Is it well with him?" They said, "it is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!"

This verse is one of the strange verses you might see in the Bible. Strange in the sense that it says a female child comes with the sheep. You might need to check who the Bible says come with the sheep again and again. But irrespective of how long or how many times you check, the name you'll find there is that of a female child or lady, Rachel. 

Why would Rachel come with the sheep? To come with the sheep here doesn't mean ordinarily following the sheep without having a thing to do with them. It doesn't mean as the sheep are being led to the well, Rachel follows them so that she might fetch water for the evening or cooking. Rather, she follows the sheep because it is her job to follow and see to their welfare. This immediately arouses our suspicion if Rachel is ever a shepherd or shepherdess. Is she called or regarded a shepherd ever in the Bible? Would Rachel make it into the prestigious record and hall of fame of those who keep sheep or cattle in the Bible? Was she ever inducted by a specific identification as a shepherd or is this all we have as evidence to guess whether she's indeed a shepherd or one who just follows the sheep?

In days to come, you'll be seeing this with me. This is the story of the girl who comes with the sheep. I once read a story. It's the story of a boy who caught a wolf, hid it under his clothe from his commanding officer but won't cry (as not to arouse any suspicion) even as the wolf bites him. That story dubbed him, "The Boy Who Won't Cry." How should I dubb Rachel as given away by this passage if not as, "The Girl Who Comes With The Sheep." Even if there are no further biblical proves to ascertain if indeed Rachel is a shepherd, I'll be doing some good comparison of Rachel with another closely related woman of the Bible so that you might see that there's something peculiar and extraordinary about Rachel who the Bible describes as coming with the sheep. Something gives her away as a shepherd. It sets us thinking and that's the fact that, "she comes with the sheep." Looking into the Bible, that is not the testimony of many female children, girls, ladies or women. They are rarely described as "coming with the sheep" or as "shepherds." As such, let us focus the light of analysis on Rachel, the lady and daughter who comes with the sheep.

PRAYER: My girl child is distinct. She isn't inferior but loaded with gifts and armed with high calling just like any esteemed male or man.What a man can do; a woman can do also!

1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN 

Matthew 6:1-18 & Genesis 18-19

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