Are you in lack?

There are two reasons why people may end up in lack or want. First, the absence of the Shepherd and the failure to manage the resources God has given to us. We see the Lost Son in a strange land, after squandering the wealth and possessions he had been given, the Bible says, "And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want" Luke 15. The problem with this young man is that he SPENT ALL.

You may be going through a setback financially, emotionally or in any other form. It is often because we fail to "replenish" ourselves or the source from which we benefit.

That young son fell into dire lack because he first had left his father. King David said, "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16:11, KJV). At his right hand, there are pleasures. Again we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, also through Christ's poverty we were made rich. Our staying with the Father (the Shepherd) guarantees that all our needs will be met according to His riches in glory by Christ.

Second, because the son SPENT ALL he was reduced to nothing.

What are you doing with the resources God has committed into your hands? Are you now in want because of how you've failed to manage His resources? Are you still in the Father's house?

There's much more with God. Return to the house of blessing.
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Scripture for meditation: "The lord is my shepherd I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1, KJV)

Prayer:

Lord, I receive wisdom to manage and increase the resources you've committed into my hands in Jesus name

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

Do you know who you are?

The greatest battle any of us will ever fight is the battle of identity. It has gotten so bad in the world that people are born male prefer to be female and go for what they call gender-reassignment surgeries. There are all kinds of movements in the world all claiming something. All these movements and developments are all seeking to discover their identity. It is futile to try to discover who we really are and who God made us to be without knowing God himself. In Genesis, God said, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion..." (Gen 1:26, KJV). In the image of God we were created.

NB: Remember we are talking BOUNCE BACK, but these past few days we have been examining the different paths that leads one away from God so that we can recognize where we presently are and know how to get back.

So, when the enemy comes the first root he tries to attack is our identity. While growing up as a christian (I'm still growing), several times voices will come in my head "Are you sure you are born again?" This question led me many times to run to the altar for altar call to salvation, at other times I would turn to Romans 10:10 to say the prayer of Salvation again. It was that serious. The challenge about this is, whenever you are not confident in who you are or your identity in Christ, you are bound to sway and end up a prey to the enemy.

When the devil came to Jesus, he said, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread" (Matthew 4:3, NKJV). If Jesus had obeyed that would mean that he obeyed the voice of the enemy just to prove his Sonship. The voice you are to listen to is the voice of God within you (the small still voice that bears witness with your own spirit that you belong to God).

So, where do you stand? Are you constantly taunted by the enemy questioning your salvation or your victory over a particular besetting sin in your life?

Establish yourself strongly in who God says you are. Only dogs return to their vomit, lions do not. You are a child of the King of Kings. You are royalty. You come from a divine dynasty where your Heavenly Father rules.

Rise up and declare your identity. When you loose an understanding of your identity you settle for mediocrity. It appears that our fellowship with God is what constantly reinforces our identity in our spirits. When the prodigal son left his father's house, he began to feed pigs (something that was far beneath him).

If I may ask, what are the things you find yourself doing now? Do you think you are involved in things that are beneath what God has called you to be?

Stop. Get up. and return to the Father.

Remember, there is a King in you.

Prayer:

Lord, unfold to me afresh my identity in you in Jesus Name.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

Stay in the Prison

I've been studying the life of Nick Vijucic for a ghostwriting project I'm currently working on, and I found it deeply inspiring. Nick was born over 30 years ago without arms and legs (a very rare condition). His parents did not treat him any differently from his other siblings, they sent him to a normal school like others. Due to his condition, he became the object of bullying from his colleagues. At one time, he felt so depressed that he attempted to drown himself in the bathtub. Then in that moment, he remembered the love of his parents, and because of this love, he decided not to take his own life and from there he discovered God's purpose for his life. Now, he lives life fully, though without limbs and yet affects the world with the love of God still.

Put simply, the love Nick's parents had for him constrained him from taking his own life. One scripture that fits this perfectly is, *"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead" (2 Cor 5:14, KJV).* So, God's love is a sentence we have been given for eternity. We cannot escape His love. More importantly, his love is like a prison which we are enclosed in.

The prodigal son we talked about yesterday didn't want this. He went to a "far country" where he was away from the influence of his father and there he spent all he had on prostitutes and a wayward life.

*Here's the word*

As long as you are in the presence of the Father- strong in fellowship and communion, dwelling within the courts of God - the desire for sin will be continually dealt with. The son could only behave in those manners because the Father's presence was no longer felt. He felt independent. You can declare your independence from any other thing in the world, but not from the love and presence of God. It is dangerous. The greatest expression of the absence of the love and presence of God is hell (and that is where all who reject the love of God end up. John 3:18).

The love of God was why Joseph could say "How can I do this wicked thing and sin against God?" That was his consciousness. The love of God constrained him from acting in the way Potiphar's wife demanded.

Do you find it easy to continue in your vomit or to go back to things you've repented from? Check. Your fellowship with God and His word will kindle the flame of his love in your heart again.

His love alone can prevent you from falling into sin.

Stay imprisoned in the love of God.
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Scripture for meditation: "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead" (2 Cor 5:14, KJV).

Prayer

Lord, I receive your love everyday. I choose to be conscious of your presence everyday of my life in Jesus name.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

The ONE mistake the prodigal son which you must not dare

So, last night God opened my eyes to see something in a new light. The opening verses of the parable Jesus told has some very profound insights for us. Jesus said, "A certain man had two sons, And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living." The son asked his Father to give him what belonged to him from the massive possessions the Father had (I believe the Father really wanted to teach Him a lesson from the very start that was why he never objected to the whole request).

I learned that the word "Father" in Hebrew means, "Source and Sustainer." Here was a boy who had a Father (His source and sustainer) and yet he sought for "things." For him, the things that he could get off his father was more important than being with the father.

Here's what God impressed on my mind as I meditated on these things:

"It is not what you have that sustains you, it is who you have. We have God as our Heavenly Father, no other person can sustain us like He does, not even our earthly parents." I guess this is why Jesus said we should not call any other person "Father" except our Heavenly Father.

So, who sustains you? Is it your job, parents, your husband or your friends? You must look beyond your salary or any source of income you have. God is the SOURCE and the SUSTAINER of your life. Scripture tells us that He upholds all things by the word of His power. I've always said, "It is not gravity that holds the universe in place, it is the Word of God."

So, if God can sustain all the universe by His word, he surely can sustain you.

I urge you to refuse to be satisfied with the "things" God can give you, rather be satisfied with HIM. He alone is sufficient. The son had everything including His Father, but he chose the things and left to a place where he squandered everything.

If all you have are material blessings - the Father's presence, then you are of all the people the poorest.

Don't make the mistake of the boy. With God, you have everything because He is Father and Father= Your Source and Sustainer.

Are you still going to keep on asking for things or for Him?

......
Scripture for meditation: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32, KJV).

Prayer:

Lord, I refuse to be satisfied with things, I want you. I know in you I find my completion. Your presence is all I need. Forgive me for the desire for things. I want you.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

So, where are you?

At a point in time, my mentor and Pastor, Temiloluwa Ola, said to me "Tobi, for a long time you just disconnected from me. I couldn't even pick you on my radar." This sent a strong signal to me. God had by divine arrangements made him My Pastor since my service year and today he's still My Pastor though he's not based in Lagos.

In much the same way, we may all be on earth but there are certain people who are off the radar of God. This must have been the case with Adam when God came calling in the garden saying, "Adam, where are you?"

Though God is everywhere and nothing can be hidden from him, yet what we do can isolate us from his presence and influence. Because of our self will and power to choose, we can make certain decisions that will send us far from God.

The lost son which Jesus spoke about did the same thing. He made the choice not only to take the inheritance he was not ripe for, he went into a far country - so says the scripture. It now further says and There he spent his substance.

Whenever we go far from God, we expend our substance. This includes every blessing God has given us, we detach from all the profitable relationships God has placed in our lives. The farther we go away from God, the more we expose ourselves to the one who comes to Kill, steal and destroy.

Adam hid behind trees when God sought for him. Today, what tree are you hiding behind? Are you hiding behind the tree of your job, your relationship, your business, or some other habit you're engaged in? What's your excuse for absconding from God's presence?

When you stay away from fellowship with God you become prey to the enemy. Don't let the enemy waste all God has given you before you realize that you need Him more than anything.

Prayer

Lord, I come out of everything that's taking me away from you. I want full restoration in Jesus Name.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

Permissive but not Perfect

The theme for this month was inspired by a service I was told to anchor in church on one of the days in April. It so happened that Bounce Back was what came to my heart as I prepared, and while I rounded up my preparations, the story of the Prodigal son came to my heart and that was when it all clicked.

Throughout the month, we will pick vital lessons from this story. It carries a lot of insight for our walk with God.

When I was 14 years of old, I felt as though I had arrived, I was a teenager after all. My voice had already started getting deep, had some strands of beard coming out from my chin, and I was about the same height as my mother. I felt I had my own life to live and could take decisions on my own. Was I right? Certainly not, but I felt so. In many ways, we are like this as believers, we feel that we have reached certain heights and can demand certain things from God because it is "our right." Yes, they are our right, but we may not be ripe to receive them.

Do you know that the prodigal son was just like that? He felt that he had come of age, that he could now handle what belonged to him, therefore he made a request for his inheritance which was supposed to come to him much later.

Now see this: For the fact that God grants you your wish doesn't mean that is His perfect will for you. It is not enough to pray according to God's will, rather we are to discover God's will then pray it out to manifestation. What you ask according to God's will may just be His permissive will and not His perfect will for you.

Yes, John mentioned that when we pray according to God's will He hears us, fine! But we must go a step ahead to discover the will of God first before we pray that will. His perfect will is always perfect for us.

It is good to know what is freely given to us of God, but it is better to know when to access them and how God wants us to access them. Many times we fall into traps because of our own desires to get certain things.

For the fact that God permitted that relationship doesn't mean it is perfect, for the fact that you got that high-paying job doesn't mean it aligns to God's plan for your life, the list goes on.

Paul completes this by saying, "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is" (Eph 5:17, KJV).

Get out of permission into perfection.

I hope this blesses someone tonight

Prayer:

Lord, help me to understand your perfect will and bring me into its fullness in Jesus name.

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional

Condemnation Kills

The other day a very special friend came around and I found out that she had an injury on her leg, immediately I took her to a nurse around the area to dress the wound. As soon the nurse touched the surface of the wound (with cotton wool soaked in Mentholated Spirit), she screamed and wiggled her leg away from the touch, this ensued for minutes before we were done. Here was the solution to the problem, yet she was running away from it.

In much the same way, I've come to discover that when people fall or experience a setback in life, rather than running to God (where the solution is) they run away from Him (thinking the solution could be out there somewhere). Just like my she was wriggling away from the touch of the nurse (who had the key to healing the wound), many of us flee from the presence of God (like Adam) rather than running to Him.

In the book of Genesis when Adam and his wife had sinned, they realized they were naked and immediately they began to sew fig leaves. Let me say here that *SIN WILL REDUCE YOU*. Imagine people whom God clothed with glory, they now became people wearing leaves, they suddenly became tailors just to cover their shame.

Irrespective of the power of sin, God is still very much interested in us. The joy of restoration is always greater than the pain of correction.

One song I listened to has this lyrics, _"I'm running, I'm running, I'm running to the mercy seat..."_ That should be our attitude when we fall.

So, where are you right now? Because of a past fault are you running away from God or running towards Him?

*The farther away you run from God the more you open yourself to be a victim for the enemy.*

Embrace the loving arms of God now. Condemnation drags one faster back into sin than temptation can.

Condemnation kills. Embrace the loving arms of the Father (Yes, He will correct you, but He will restore you)

*Prayer:*

Lord, I run to the mercy seat today. I choose to be trained by your arms of correction while I enjoy your restoration in Jesus name.

Focus Scripture- Romans 8:1

Oluwatobi Adesanya
For Daily Dealings Youth Devotional