TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Tuesday 7th July 2026)
“And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.”‘” Exodus 4:21-23 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 188TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORIES!
This is the day the LORD has made, I shall rejoice and be glad in it. Day unto day the LORD has been merciful to us. Night unto night He has been keeping us alive. If God’s mercy is not on a man, the devils mess will be on his life. The enemy came to kill, to steal and to destroy. But God’s mercies came to give us life and life more abundantly.
God’s mercy is responsible for keeping us while we drift away. It is responsible for bringing us back to the Father’s house, so that the cost of being outside the house will not destroy us. This morning, we want to look at the life and times of the prodigal son. I hope we are ready for a fresh word from the LORD for an ancient Bible story!!
The story began with the title, “the Lost Son.” You see that in some Bibles. When we are lost, only the Father’s mercy will help find us and bring us back to Him. When we come to Him, the Fathers mercy will make us to be accepted as we are, but will not allow us to remain as we are. We must be changed.
For the prodigal son, I will say it was the Father’s mercy that made Him not to deny the young man his request to have his own share of inheritance even while the father was still alive. Except in rare cases like this one, inheritance is shared after the death of a father not before. So, when he ran into trouble, he remembered the blessing of living in his father’s house and decided to return (repent).
Now the way he decided to return is very important. Most times we want to return to the LORD but do not know the right approach to take. He took the best approach so long as God’s justice system is concerned. He did not decide to return with the pride of the Pharisee or the “I deserve mercy” mentality.
In fact, he was not even seeking the position of a son again. He knew he had lost it and decided to return with the mentality of the tax collector, who found himself so unworthy of God’s mercy but got it anyway. If we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged.
THE YOUNG MAN JUDGED HIMSELF. HE SOUGHT THE POSITION OF A SERVANT AND NOT THE PREVIOUS POSITION OF A SON.
The Bible says,
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”‘ Luke 15:17-19 NKJV
Hidden in this story is the very position to take if you want to secure GOD’s mercy to help you recover from anything in life. Don’t forget, we crash-land in life and become victims of poverty, diseases, struggles, pain, disappointment, divorce, etc. because of the Godless or Christ less decisions we do take in life.
Families go from curses to curses, poverty to poverty, marriage problem to marriage problem, from generation to generation because of the Christ-less and God-less decisions they take from generation to generation.
So, if our lives become unbearable, that is not the time to storm the gates of Heaven requesting blessings. That is the wrong approach; God’s justice system does not favor people who do such things. It favors people who take the approach of a humble soul seeking for God’s mercy; the very approach that the prodigal son took when his life crash-landed.
The prodigal son took a “return position” that forced great mercy from the heart of the father. One of the golden things he did was not to ask for what he lost because he knew he no longer deserved it. In fact, he judged himself and passed sentence over himself. And God’s justice system says if we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged.
He lost his position as a son and recognized it and never requested or came back for it. He came back for the position of a servant. If He had come back for the position of a son, he would have been condemned because it would be unjust to have that position back after what he did, according to God’s justice system.
GOD’S MERCY FLOWED OUT TO HIM BECAUSE HE TOOK THE RIGHT APPROACH.
The story of the prodigal son is the story of GOD and us. Jesus said that story to show us, among other things, how to approach God in need. But many of us are not learning! Our arrogance and pride has stopped us recovering all that our Godless and Christ-less decisions took away from us.
But a people who will do what the prodigal son did will always force God’s mercies out of His throne room to their lives on earth. Yes, they will turn God’s justice system to their favor.
At this point, let’s ask ourselves some questions. Let’s take down some towers of Babel in our hearts with some real questions. Do we think we deserve a Child after we have aborted the ones that we conceived, maybe out of wedlock, to save ourselves from shame?
Do we think as singles, we deserve a wife or husband after we have abused our bodies, or destroyed the life of men or women through seduction or hindered other women or men from having the love of their husbands or wives, or even sleeping with them?
Do we think we deserve life after we have looked God in the face and chosen death? Do we think we deserve healing after turning our back on the word of the healer Himself and allowing diseases to break out among us?
Yes, let us ask ourselves some real throne room questions. Do we think we deserve even a marriage after we have abused married people or destroyed their families? Do you think we deserve peace after rejecting the counsel of God for our lives and going to establish our own righteousness?
Let these questions humble all of us!!
Do we think we deserve Heaven because of grace if we spend our days living a Christian life that is not different from the life of a lost sinner out there? Do you think you deserve restoration after losing privileges that the LORD gave you to a life of rebellion, wickedness and all kinds of sins?
WHATEVER WE MAY HAVE LOST TO SIN, IGNORANCE AND REBELLION, IS LOST, THAT IS THE FACT.
We do not deserve another chance. We must come to terms with that for GOD to show us mercy. That was the revelation that the prodigal Son had! That was the faith position that drew great mercies from the heart of his father to his life. If we do the same, our lives will receive great mercies from God and be restored in moments.
When the young man returned to GOD with a desire to get, not what he lost and with an accurate judgment of himself, God gave him much more than he lost! God gave him his position back and much more!
The Bible says,
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.” Luke 15:20-24 NKJV
Let me repeat this story of a woman I consider a contemporary prodigal son, like many of us. In 1996 a preacher shared with us the story of a harlot that GOD transformed totally and gave a home. She was a professional harlot that had some complications during her harlotry days. The doctors had to cut off her womb to save her life.
Then one day she met the LORD through the preaching of a child of GOD; it was an encounter that took her away from the streets into the hands of Christ.
She later joined a Church and said to herself, “I don’t deserve marriage or children after all I have done. I will serve the LORD unconditionally and die and never join those seeking him for marriage.”
This decision was taken in a church that see marriage as the ultimate of the faith. So, it was not a cheap decision, but she held on to it. She kept to her word. She did what the prodigal son did. “Father I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your servants.”
SHE SERVED FOR SOME TIME, AND THEN A YOUNG MAN SHOWED UP ASKING HER HAND IN MARRIAGE. SHE DECLINED.
Then another came, and she declined. Then they started disturbing her from all over. Then in a bid to be sending them away and making sure no one comes, she started saying to them, “I have no womb.”
But one day a certain man came; this one refused to give up even after she had told him she had no womb. The man maintained that God said to him she was his wife. After a long time of hanging on, he went to their pastor dragging her along.
To cut the long story short, they had a Holy Ghost filled wedding and after one month the lady took in. That was when the man started his own ‘trouble’ – good trouble of course.
He said to her, “So you lied to me that you have no womb just to put me away?” The lady was weeping uncontrollably when that happened. The man thought she was weeping because of his rebukes. But he never knew she was weeping because it was impossible for her to conceive.
She would later show him all the medical papers that validated her claim of having no womb. What do you think God did to this lady? He gave her what she lost to sin and wickedness when she judged herself like the prodigal son did. If we judge ourselves, if we resist becoming part of the “DON’T JUDGE ME GENERATION,” we will not be judged, we will be saved.
GOD GAVE HER WHAT SHE LOST BECAUSE SHE NEVER MADE IT HER REASON FOR COMING TO THE LORD!
Many Christians will rather ask God for what they lost and make it their reason for coming to Him.
That is why they will remain without having it. You find so many people placing a demand on God for marriages, money, peace, prosperity, deliverance, healing, and other things, with some through prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving, etc. instead of judging themselves and passing sentences that agrees with God’s justice system on themselves before God.
Yes, many will seek to be arrogant before God asking him for what they lost even in tears instead of seeking to serve Him like this woman and the prodigal son did.
If you look at our devotional text this morning, you will realize that Israel was in Egypt for over 400 years and God raised Moses to bring them out. But His primary vision for bringing Israel out of Egypt was not to free them from Pharaoh but for them to serve Him.
A major highlight in the text says,
“Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.”
What can we glean from here? Israel in Egypt represents mankind in slavery to sin and Satan. God saves us from the slavery of sin and Satan for us to “serve” Him, not necessarily for Him to “save us from our self-inflicted sorrows.” It is when we serve Him that those things are removed.
Understand that none will be allowed to serve God in self-inflicted sorrows if we return through the route of the prodigal son. He is too merciful to let that happen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” 1 Corinthians 11:31 NKJV
