From mess- message - ministry

What God wants to do with your past is to turn it not only into a message but a ministry. He desires to make you an example what His grace can do in a life that has been restored back to Him.

Just last weekend, we had another impact session of Project25000 with a number of teenagers here in Lagos and the content of the vision (Life Mastery for Teens) we are running is Vision, Sexual Purity and Character. The reality is that these were things that have personally shaped my life. I once lived with no sense of direction, I wavered through life without a destination in mind. I once struggled with sexual sins with no one to help. All these God brought me out of. When I share with teenagers at our programs or one-on-one, I share from God's word and from a testimonial perspective. This drives the message deeper into their hearts. Today, through God's help, I've been a tool to help people find meaning and direction for their lives and to bring them out of whatever has held them down. A number of them have given their lives to Christ and others committed to getting more intimate with God.

God knows how to make sense out of your nonsense. No matter how devastating or terrible your past is, God can create a wonderful and inspiring future from it.

Remember Paul, previously a murderer, and strong apologist for the Jewish faith became a very strong apostle that turned the world upside down for Christ. Paul referred to himself as the chief of sinners, but God made him chief of the apostles at the end.

Only God can tell what He wants to make out of your mess?

Will you trust Him?

Prayer:

Father, make a ministry out of every mess I've been through in Jesus Name.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

Stay grounded, stay rooted

What keeps a tree firm on the ground during a storm? It is surely not the beauty of its leaves, or the beautiful curves of its branches. It is that unseen part - the roots, that makes it firm in the ground. Without this, the tree will give way in times of heavy flood or violent winds. 

David tells us in the Psalms that we are like a "tree planted by the rivers of water." For a tree to be planted by the water, its root must go down deep and into the soil and it will surely flourish.

So, after you are restored, where you are planted is of utmost importance. When God has restored you to Himself, you need to start hanging around people that look like where you God is taking you and not where you are coming from.

I was speaking to a friend today whom I'm seeing how God is radically changing his life before my very eyes. The dealings of God in his life have been so deep and powerful that it only reveals God wants to do a great work through him. One thing he mentioned was that when we had a genuine encounter with God, he had to leave that committee of friends and moved to another area entirely and he began to demonstrate even more commitment to God and his local church.

Staying grounded will cost you, but it will make you.

Prayer:

Father, whatever it will cost me, I want to stay rooted and grounded in you every single day of my life in Jesus Name.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

Keep Standing

It has been repeatedly said that it is harder to maintain success than it is to attain it. This is the same with the walk of faith too. You may get saved in a matter of seconds, but it takes a lifetime of walking with God to finish strong.

When we look at the Lost Son, after he returned home and got restored back to his father, we heard no mention of him anymore. He had settled fully into the bosom of his father. This reveals that we must stay and go deeper in to God when we are restored.

Paul tells us, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 6:1, KJV). Restoration comes with strong demands of staying in fellowship with the Father. Standing here is not a product of effort but of Grace. We are to stand on the grace that saved us and grow in it every single day. We must always bear in mind that the devil is unrelenting in drawing souls to himself.

We must trust in the saving grace of God. The same grace that restores still has the capacity to keep us from falling. I'd end with this lovely scripture, it says, "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 1:4, KJV). Please memorize that scripture.

Prayer:

Lord, I receive grace to stand steadfast in you. I choose to grow your grace every single day in Jesus Name.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

There is enough blood

There is a song Travis Greene sang over and over at the Experience last year. My favorite part of the song is where it says, "On the hill there is the cross, on the cross there is blood for me...the blood is flowing down." How beautiful are those lyrics for us today. It may have been over 2000 years ago since Jesus died for us, but His blood still speaks better things for you and I today.

We usually sing, "The blood of Jesus sets me free, from sin and sorrow." This is very true for us today. We must realize that God values blood. In Leviticus we are told that, "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." How true! God works wonders through His blood.

Remember when the Prodigal son returned home, the father asked that they killed the fattened calf to celebrate his return. In so much joy, his father said, "And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry" (Luke 15:23, KJV). So, they began to make merry for his return.

Friends, do you know that while they were rejoicing, a ram was dying losing its own life (its blood was shed)? Interestingly, it wasn't just any calf, it was a fattened one. in fact the brother attested to the fact that this ram was special (probably reserved). Do you realize that God also has slain his best for your sake? The lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world for us. God sent His Only Son to die for your sins. His death gave you life, his fall, gave you the opportunity to rise. You can be sure that the price that God paid for you is greater than any sin you may have committed.

I've always thought to myself that one drop of the blood of Jesus is enough to cleanse all the sins of the most notorious sinner.

You have been bought with a price and that price is the very blood, the life of Jesus.

Blood has been shed for you. The fattened calf has been killed for your sake. You can make merry with God today, because a sacrifice was paid- The Lamb of God.

Won't you return home now?

Prayer:

Father, I believe that you have shed your blood for me. I believe that the blood that was shed was for my sake. I receive your sacrifice for me. I am made whole in Jesus name.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

What it means to be dead or lost

I was speaking with someone at one time and explaining to him what death really meant according to the Bible. The explanation didn't quite go down well with the person as he thought that death was simply the termination of life.

But is that it?

Death in God's word refers to a separation from life and not the end of life. From the time Adam fell, every other human born into the world was born dead - dead into sin. Sin itself caused the separation. This is why scripture says, "The wages of sin is death." In other words, sin causes a separation between us and God and that separation is death in itself. Sin and death are alike. Death (separation from the life of God) is caused by sin.

The Lost son we've been talking about, left his father's house, and went to spend his substance on a sinful lifestyle. When he returned his father said, *"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry"* (Luke 15:24, KJV). For goodness sake, this boy was alive (by all sense of the word. Doctors hadn't certified him dead) yet his father said he was dead and lost.

Anyone who is yet to be saved is DEAD in sin. Those who are saved are ALIVE in Jesus Christ. You have not truly began to live until you have the LIFE of God on your inside. This is why John could write, *"In him was life and the life was the light of men"* (John 1:4, KJV).

So, are you truly alive? Do you have the life of God within you? Your constant fellowship with the Father is the key to renewing the life of God within you.

Remain alive. Remain ever fresh.

*Prayer:*

Lord, I choose to have your life and to remain in constant fellowship with you. I never want to be lost or dead while yet living.

*Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

God only needs to perceive your repentance?

In one documentary I watched about sharks, I learned that they are so sensitive that they could perceive blood miles away from where it is spilled. In other words, they are attracted by the scent of blood. When they sense it, they swim rapidly to the spot to feed on their prey...sometimes these prey are humans too.

Now, do you know that in much the same way when God perceives (even in your thoughts) that you repent from a sin or you demonstrate the willingness to return to Him (this includes being genuinely sorry  for wrongs done), He comes with an entourage of His Grace and mercy to rescue you from the bondage of that sin?

When the lost son was still in the strange land far from his father, he began to talk to himself, he said, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father..."

I love that final part. It says, "And he arose, and came to his father..." he not only was remorseful and truly sorry for his sins, he repented (proved by action).

When his father saw (perceived repentance) he had compassion and ran to him, kissed him and celebrated his return.

This reveals a whole lot for us today. Immediately the father had seen him, his heart went out to him.

Friends, no matter how far you've gone from God, He still expects you back. Whenever he senses (Like the sharks do) that you have a change of mind, he comes with all His might to rescue you.

In Yoruba, the word "repentance" is "ironupiwada" translated it means something like "A deep change of mind/thinking that affects a change in behavior and character" That's repentance!

So, the son that left in pride, arrogance returned home with remorse, humility and submission. He knew he missed it and was willing to retrace his steps.

The only person that cannot retrace his step is the devil, you can still retrace yours (as long as  we are alive). Repent and return and see God receive you with His strong arms of mercy and grace.

Do you receive this tonight?

Prayer

Lord, I turn from every thing I've done against you. I repent of my wrong deeds (mention them) receive me to yourself in Jesus Name.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

NB: I apologize for not sending this yesterday. It was already prepared, but I had issues with power supply. All gadgets were off.

The Faithfulness of God

God isn't like the planets that keep shifting and moving day after day. Neither is He like the wave of the sea that is tossed to and fro. James describes God saying, "Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning" (James 1:17, KJV).

There is no variableness. The standard of God does not change. Paul says the foundation of God stands sure. That's super amazing.

_Do you know what this means?

It means we can always bank on the faithfulness of God as our Father, Forgiver, Helper, Teacher and much more. Haven't you ever wondered that when people get into trouble in their lives, they suddenly become religious, they remember that God exists and something within them assures them that God will hear. Well, He always does.

Luke 15 records something profound about the Lost Son. It says, "and when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!... I will arose and go to my father..."

*Now, here's the point*

Your real self is that which desires the presence of the Father. It says "when he came to himself", this means that the deepest parts of each of us, at the fabric of our making by God is encrypted a divine code that always relates back to our Father. Though the son wanted food, he realized that he had to get into the Father's presence before he could access all that he needed. So, the proof that you have found yourself is revealed in your desire to seek the presence of the Father.

Friends, when you meet people who are deep necked in sin, or simply wavering from God or perhaps are indifferent about Him, simply know that they are not their real selves. Within them lies a desire for God.

Are you still in the "far country" of sin or backsliding? You can return home now. The Father is waiting.

It's time to return home... You can trust the faithfulness of God.

Prayer:

Father, I trust your faithfulness. I come into your arms again, receive and restore me in Jesus name.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional