Author: Pastor J.O. Lawal

From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Why they will not act on the word of God

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date August 22, 2026
No Comments on Title: Why they will not act on the word of God

Date: August 23, 2026
Series: From Pastor’s desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 17

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great joy that I welcome you to another week of the month of August 2026. My prayer is that the word of God that is continually coming to you in this assembly will not fail to accomplish His will in your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we see in the bible, anytime God speaks, He stands by it to bring it to pass (Jer 1:12). But the fulfilment of His word is not always automatic. The attitude of the people that He is speaking to towards His word is also important. Otherwise, His word may not fulfil His will in their lives.

For instance, even though God had promised to give the land of Canaan to the people of Israel, many of them that came out of Egypt were unable to possess it. Why? The reason was that their attitude towards the promise of God was wrong. They did not believe that God was able to fulfil the promise He had made to them. So, when He asked them to go in and possess the land, they refused to do so. (Cf. Num 13-14)

Now because they refused to enter the land of Canaan to possess it when God told them to do so, He also decided not to give them the land again but to give it to their children. What, then, became of them? They all kept on wandering in the wilderness until they perished.

In like manner, there are many Christians that are wandering in life today because they would not embrace the word of God for their lives and act on it. And why will they not embrace His word and act on it? Fear is one of the reasons. When people are afraid of what the outcome of acting on the word of God may look like, they may not act on it.

Truly, none of us can confidently say what the outcome of our acting on the word of God will look like. But if we have confidence in the fact that God will never put us to shame, we will act on His word, even if we do not know what will come out of doing so. And when we do so, we will surely witness His glory.

Pride is another reason some people will not act on the word of God. These ones, like King Saul and King Asa, think that they know better than God and that their own schemes will work better than trusting in Him and doing whatever He is asking them to do. But the bible tells us that even the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom. It also tells us never to rely on our own understanding or to be wise in our own eyes in handling any matter of our lives. Otherwise, as it was with Saul and Asa, we will soon find out that our wisdom is nothing but foolishness. (Cf. 1 Sam 15; 2 Chro 16; Prov 3:5-7; 1 Cor 1:25)

Then we have those who will not act on the word of God because they are not paying adequate attention to what He is saying to them. Why? They are distracted because of the love of money, fame, pleasure or position. But what they do not understand is that these things cannot give them satisfaction in life. Only God can give that to them. And since they will not pay attention to what He is saying to them, they will forever be running after satisfaction and never finding it.

Now I may not know why you too will not act on the word of God that is coming to you the way you should. But I know that if you will not act on His word coming to you, there is no way your life can be fully established in His will. If you, then, want your life to be established in His will, lay aside your fear, pride or anything that is distracting you, so that you can give your full attention to hearing His word and acting on it. And may you be strengthened to do so without delay, so that your life can be all that God wants it to be. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Don’t let them discourage you

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date August 19, 2026
No Comments on Title: Don’t let them discourage you

Date: August 19, 2026

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 9, No. 14

“When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble — burned as they are?” Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building — if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!” Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.” (Neh 4:1-6NIV)

Who got angry when he realised that the Jews were rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem? It was a man called Sanballat. Why was he angry? He was angry because what those Jews were doing would destroy whatever wrong influence he and his associates used to have over their land and their lives.

Therefore, he and his men began to insult and ridicule them, thinking that would weaken or discourage them and make them abandon the work.

But did they abandon the work? No! Why? They did not abandon the work because it was good for their freedom, growth, development, prosperity and safety. Also, they did not abandon the work because they had the permission of King Artaxerxes, the emperor that they were under his dominion at the time. (Cf. Nehemiah 2)

So, they knew that nobody could legitimately force them to stop doing the work. Yes, people may harass them, insult them or threaten them. But they had no right to stop them from working. And if anyone should try to do so, it was on them to firmly resist the person.

Now that, of course, was what they did to Sanballat and his associates. They firmly resisted them. How? First, they paid no attention to their insults and discouraging words. Second, they prayed to God to deal with them and their insults and threats. Third, they continued to do the good work they had started until they completed it.

Fourth, they posted a guard day and night to keep an eye on those wicked people.What do we learn from this? It is simply that we must not allow anyone to discourage us from doing whatever we know is righteous, lawful and proper for us to do for our progress and peace of mind in life. People who are benefitting from our stagnation, misery or misfortune will never encourage us to do what is right for our lives.

On the contrary, they will do whatever they can to discourage us.Also, people who are complacent and are not desirous of anything great for themselves should not be expected to encourage us to do anything good for ourselves. What they will want is for us to remain together with them in the same stagnant situation and be suffering and complaining together.

If we, then, should begin to take steps towards advancement in life, they may be among the first to insult, threaten and discourage us.But as Nehemiah and the Jews of his time did, we must never allow anyone to discourage us, regardless of what they are saying or doing, as long as what we are doing is in the will of God and lawful for our progress and peace of mind in life.

Instead, we should ignore their wicked words, give ourselves to prayer, keep on working and also keep on watching. And God will honour us and fulfil all our good desires and every step of faith that we take.

Cheers!

From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: With or without us

Date: August 16, 2026
Series: From Pastor’s desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 16

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to another week of the month of August 2026. My prayer is that God will keep your heart right with Him always, so that He can find you useful in building His church to be all that He wants it to be. Amen.

As we see in the bible, the only person that can build the church of God is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Look at what He once said to His disciples about this:

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matt 16:18NIV)

Did you see that? Who is the owner of the church? It is the Lord Jesus. Unfortunately, there are many church leaders today that think they own the churches of God under their care. But they were not the ones that died for the sins of the people under their care. Also, they were not the ones that recreated the people under their care.

The one who died for the sins of all of us is the Lord Jesus. And the one who recreated all of us is God. If anyone, then, is seeking to take their place, the person will surely find himself in serious trouble at some point. That is why many leaders of God’s people are in all kinds of trouble that they cannot disclose today. They have been seeking to occupy in the lives of the people of God positions that are not meant for them.

In any case, since the Lord is the owner of the church, He is the only that can build it up to be what it is meant to be. And He has said that He would do so. How? One of the ways is by equipping each member of the church to do things that will result in the edification of all the other members of the church.

So, if you are doing anything in the church at the moment that is blessing the people of God, you should know that it is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that is working through you. And if you want Him to work more through you and bless many more lives, you should keep yourself humble before Him and available to Him.

There are many in the church today that the Lord is not using because of their pride. These ones think if they do not do certain things in the church of God, those things will never get done. But what they don’t understand is that they cannot do anything good for the church, if the Lord Himself does not enable them to do it. Since that, then, is the case, He can choose to replace them with other people any day and any time.

Then there are many in the church that the Lord is not using because they are not just available to Him. There is always one excuse or the other for not being where He wants them to be and for not doing what He wants them to do. Such individuals are also overlooking the fact that He can always replace them, if they fail to repent in time.

Well, the point is that the Lord is able to build His church with or without me. If I humble myself and make myself available to Him, He will use me. But if I am walking in pride or if I refuse to make myself available to Him, He will surely find some other people to use in building His church. That, of course, may take Him a while. But He will surely do the needful. Will He, then, reward me for making myself useless to Him? No!

So, let us always keep in mind the fact that the Lord will build His church with or without us. That way, we will humble and make ourselves available to Him anytime and anywhere. And when the time is ripe, we will be greatly rewarded by Him.

Have a lovely week.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: When you were insignificant in your own eyes

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date August 12, 2026
No Comments on Title: When you were insignificant in your own eyes

Date: August 12, 2026
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 13

“Samuel said, “Is it not true that when you were insignificant in your own eyes, you became head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD chose you as king over Israel.”” (1Sam 15:17NET)

Who did Samuel say the words of our opening text to? It was King Saul. He was the one that was humble when he was not known by anyone in the land of Israel. And because he humbled himself, God exalted him and made him king over His people, the Israelites.

Now we are not told much about the humility of Saul before he became king. But we do learn from the bible that he was so humble at the time that he was willing to spend days looking for the lost donkeys of his father. Also, we learn from the bible that before he became king, Saul was humble enough to take counsel from one of the servants of his father. (Cf. 1Sam 9)

That, of course, explains why God exalted him to be king over His people. Remember that the bible tells us that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So, if we will humble ourselves before God and in relating to people, He will surely exalt us. That is because the power of exaltation is with Him. (Cf. James 4:6; 1Pet 5:5)

If we, however, will not humble ourselves, we will soon enough find God resisting us. In other words, instead for Him to be working for our exaltation, He will be working to limit us. And that will not be because He hates us. Rather, it will be because He does not want us to destroy ourselves and others through our pride.

As we see in our opening text, a day came in which Samuel had to remind Saul that when he was little and insignificant in his own eyes, when he would not think more highly of himself than he ought, God exalted him. Why did he have to remind him of this? The reason was that pride had already settled in his heart at the time. He had become so proud that he could revise God’s command to him at will. And that, of course, led to his downfall. That made him lose the throne that God had given to him.

Now that is teaching us that the same God that is elevating us can begin to throw us down, if we begin to act in pride towards Him and towards other people in our lives. Therefore, regardless of how high the Lord has elevated you, don’t ever function in such a way that He will one day have to say to you, “When you were insignificant in your own eyes, did I not lift you up?” Otherwise, that will be the day you are thrown down your high place, regardless of high it may be, unless you are shown mercy.

It is reported in the bible that Esther did not stop to take Mordecai’s counsel and instructions even after becoming queen. Why? She was a humble woman. As we see in her book, Mordecai was the one that took care of her and raised her when nobody knew her. Also, he was the one that God used in elevating her to the position in which she later found herself in life. So, even common sense would have told her that such a person was not someone she should relate to in pride or arrogance. (Cf. Esther 2:19)

Sadly, even though common sense is speaking to some people not to act in pride, they will still not listen. How, then, can you expect them to listen to the wisdom of the word of God?

In any case, the point I am making is that don’t allow any position of advantage in which you have found yourself make you begin to think you are now somebody too special to humble yourself before God or before people, especially those that God has used in one way or the other to lift you up. That will spell nothing but downfall for you. And if you should fall in that manner, it may take more than a thousand miracles to get you back on your feet, even with the mercy of God at work. So, mind yourself.

General Post

Title: Give them convincing reasons

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date August 9, 2026
No Comments on Title: Give them convincing reasons

Date: August 02, 2026

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 15, No. 14

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace to you without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the month of August 2026. My prayer is that God will fulfil all His good plans for your life in the month and also use you to fulfil His good plans for many others, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we see in the bible, it does not matter how insignificant or wicked people may be in life, God is able to fulfil His good purpose for their lives and even use them as instruments through which He will bless others. All He needs is to get them to listen attentively to what He has to say to them. And before they even realise what is happening to them, He will have turned things around for their good.

For example, when our Lord Jesus met a Samaritan woman by the well of Jacob at Sychar, all He wanted was for the woman to listen to what He had to say to her. And was she willing to listen to Him? No! She just wanted to fetch water and disappear. (Cf. John 4)

Why, then, did she not want to speak to anybody at the time? The reason was that she was trying to run away from the truth about the problems of her life. But when the Lord, by divine revelation, began to expose the truth that she was running away from to her, she began to give Him attention. And when the Lord was done with her, she ran inside her town to call all the people she could find to come and listen to Him.

Look at what is said about that in the bible:“Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.” (John 4:28-31NIV)

Did you see that? That woman was so touched by the things Jesus shared with her that she went inside her town and get the people there to come and see Jesus. But she was not someone that we could refer to as a good woman. She was a woman that had been with five different husbands. And the man she was with when Jesus met her was not even her husband. He was just someone that they were both committing fornication together.

That was what turned her life around. That was what made her forget about whatever bad reputation she had and run to tell everyone she could find in her town to come and see Jesus.

And through her, the Lord Jesus was able to bless many people in her town. Now if God could use a woman that did not have a good reputation to change the lives of many in her town, think of what He could do with those who have good reputations.

Yet He is unable to use many of us who have good reputations to bless those around us. Why? We are not giving them convincing reasons to come to Him through faith in Christ Jesus. That Samaritan woman gave the people of her town convincing reasons to come to the Lord Jesus. And she did not speak to them casually about her experience with Him. If she had spoken to them casually about it, they would not have come to Him for salvation. So, if we want people to come to the Lord Jesus through us and be blessed, we cannot be casual about it. And we will not be casual about it, if our lives have indeed been changed by Him.

Has your life, then, been indeed changed by the Lord Jesus Christ? If it has been changed by Him, begin to give those around you convincing reasons to come to Him, convincing reasons to listen to His word, convincing reasons to pray to Him and convincing reasons to give their lives to Him. And as you do so, the Spirit of God will work with you in changing their lives and bringing glory to God.

Have a lovely August 2026.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: About evil spirits

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date August 7, 2026
No Comments on Title: About evil spirits

Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 12

“”When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Matt 12:43-45NIV)

In our opening bible text, the Lord Jesus draws our attention to a number of things about evil spirits, so that we can know how to handle them. And the very first thing He tells us about them is that they can occupy people’s lives. In other words, they can live inside a person or with a person. Where that, then, is the case, the life of that person is bound to manifest the character of the evil spirit or spirits living in them or with them and also experience their activities, to one degree or the other. So, a spirit of madness will cause the one it has possessed to do crazy things, just as a spirit of blindness will make blind the one whose eyes it has possessed.

The second thing the Lord tells us about evil spirits is that they can be driven out of people’s lives or space. So, they do not have absolute power over anybody’s life or over any environment. Their power can be broken. Their activities can be ended. But the only ones who can do so are our Lord Jesus Christ and all those who believe in His name. That is because the name of Jesus is greater than every other name. So, He is the head over every authority and power. (Cf. Luke 10:19, Col 2:10; Phil 2:9-11)

The third thing the Lord reveals to us about evil spirits is that they can come back to where they have been driven away. And not only can they come back to where they have been driven away, they can also bring other evil spirits along with them. All this, of course, is showing us that they are intelligent beings and should be treated as such.

Sadly, even many of those of us who call ourselves believers in Christ Jesus don’t face life with the consciousness of the points raised by our Lord Jesus Christ in our opening text. That is why certain problems have remained adamant and unyielding in our lives for months or years, in spite of all that we have done to handle them. It is also why certain problems have been resurfacing in our lives, homes or families for years, following or exhibiting the same patterns.

But if we will begin to pay attention to what our Lord says to us about evil spirits in that text and act accordingly, we will be able to break the power of all the evil or unclean spirits harassing us over our lives and affairs and wherever we find ourselves. Not only that, we will be able to firmly resist them, if they should show up again at any point in our lives.

Well then, if you are dealing with any persistent problem or any problem that keeps coming back to your life, understand that you may just be dealing with an evil spirit. So, lose no time at all to command it in the name of Jesus to stop its works in your life or space and get out. And it will obey you because Jesus is Lord over every one of them.

Then don’t ever assume that a problem cannot resurface in your life, simply because you have dealt with it once. If it is an evil spirit that is behind it, he can personally bring it back or ask some other wicked spirits like himself to bring it back to you. That is why our lives must not be empty of the presence of God. And if we are children of God, our lives are not empty but full of His presence.

Therefore, we should not accommodate any new, returning or recurring problem at all in our lives. Instead, we should drive it away in the name of the Lord Jesus, letting it know that there is no room for it in our lives. And may you always be strengthened to remember to act on these things wherever you find yourself, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cheers!

House Of Prayer House Of Prayer 2026 Youth for Jesus

Title: The word works

By: J.O. Lawal
Date: August 2026
Series: Youth for Jesus
Article: 1

As we see in the bible, when God was going to perfect everything that concerns the earth that He made, it was His word that He used. Look at what is said to us in Scriptures about this:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Gen 1:1-2NIV)

Which earth was formless and empty? The earth that God Himself created! Also, which deep had darkness all over its surface? The deep that God Himself created! So, the fact that God is the creator or author of something does not mean that the thing may not be originally formless, empty, barren or overwhelmed with darkness.

However, from what we see in this text, it is clear that God will never leave anything He creates in darkness or in a formless, empty or barren situation. On the contrary, He will keep working on it until it becomes good and perfect. No wonder Paul tells us in a letter that God who has begun a good work in us will carry it on till the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, He will not abandon His good works in us but will surely perfect it. (Cf. Philippians 1:6)

Now we see this illustrated for us in the account given to us in Genesis 1 about how God perfected the earth He created. When God first created it, it was formless, empty and full of darkness. But then, He began to speak to it. Yes, He began to say to it what He wanted to see in it. And as He began to do this, everything He was saying was happening and the earth was being beautified and perfected. So, by the sixth day of creation, the earth had become so beautiful that the first man God made could happily live in it.

What is that telling us? It is telling us that the word of God works. It is telling us that His word is not inoperative or powerless. Rather, it is able to produce whatever He says that it should produce. In fact, He Himself has said this to us about His word:

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isa 55:10-11NIV)

Did you see that? God’s word will never return to Him empty. No, it will never return to Him without accomplishing what He desires and achieving the purpose for which He has sent it. Why? The reason is that He Himself is watching over it to fulfil it (Jer 1:12).

Therefore, if I can just get to know His word concerning my situation and speak it to it, it will work. Yes, it will make my situation conform to His will. That is because He Himself will watch over what I have said, which is His word, to fulfil it.

Am I, then, learning His word concerning the various situations of my life, so that I may speak it to them? And am I speaking His word that I know about the various situations of my life to them, so that they can conform to His will and bring about the perfection of my life?

See, we don’t have to wait for God to personally speak to the situations of our lives. That is because we ourselves can speak to those situations, if we know His word concerning them. In fact, God expects us to speak to the situations of our lives ourselves once we know His word concerning them. He told Moses to speak to a mountain to bring forth water out of it. And He told Jesus to tell us to speak His word to any mountain of our lives and expect that mountain to respond. That is because His word works. (Cf. Num 20:8; Mark 11:22-23)

So, if we want to see a perfection of everything that concerns our lives, we had better not be waiting around for God to be personally speaking His word into them, when we ourselves can take His word that we know and speak them into our lives. Instead, we should begin to tirelessly speak His word to every aspect of our lives where we want to see perfection. And His word will work there and give us great testimonies of His goodness to share with others. This, of course, depending on the situation we are dealing with, may take days, weeks, months or years, as it also took God some days to perfect the earth He created. But His word that we speak to our situations will surely work.

Prayer nugget
Father, I thank you because your word always works. Teach me to always learn and speak it to the various situations of my life, so that my life will be exactly all that you want it to be.

From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Give them convincing reasons

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date August 1, 2026
No Comments on Title: Give them convincing reasons

Date: August 02, 2026

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 15, No. 14

And when the Lord was done with her, she ran inside her town to call all the people she could find to come and listen to Him. Look at what is said about that in the bible:“Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.” (John 4:28-31NIV)

So, she could not have been someone with a good reputation in that town.But even though the Lord knew everything about her bad character, He did not condemn her. He only spoke to her about the need for her to know God truly and begin to worship Him in spirit and in truth. That was what turned her life around. That was what made her forget about whatever bad reputation she had and run to tell everyone she could find in her town to come and see Jesus.

Why? We are not giving them convincing reasons to come to Him through faith in Christ Jesus. That Samaritan woman gave the people of her town convincing reasons to come to the Lord Jesus. And she did not speak to them casually about her experience with Him. If she had spoken to them casually about it, they would not have come to Him for salvation.

So, if we want people to come to the Lord Jesus through us and be blessed, we cannot be casual about it. And we will not be casual about it, if our lives have indeed been changed by Him. Has your life, then, been indeed changed by the Lord Jesus Christ? If it has been changed by Him, begin to give those around you convincing reasons to come to Him, convincing reasons to listen to His word, convincing reasons to pray to Him and convincing reasons to give their lives to Him. And as you do so, the Spirit of God will work with you in changing their lives and bringing glory to God. Have a lovely August 2026.

Pastor's Desk

Title: Proving the genuineness of our faith

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date July 25, 2026
1 Comment on Title: Proving the genuineness of our faith

Date: July 26, 2026
Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 13

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am pleased to welcome you to the last week of the month of July 2026. My prayer is that God will see to it that your faith does not fail, irrespective of what Satan may throw at you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the things we see in Scriptures is that God, from time to time, allows Satan to test His children. And this is not so that they may fall. Rather, it is so that the genuineness of their faith in Him may be proven and that glory may be brought to Him through their steadfastness. (Cf. 1 Peter 1:6-7)

For example, one of the reasons that God allowed Job to be tested by Satan was that it would become clear to Satan that Job’s faith in Him was genuine and not counterfeit. Before the testing, Satan had told God that the reason Job was faithful to Him was that he was enjoying His blessings and protection. In other words, if God would take away Job’s protection and allow him to afflict him, he would stop serving Him and begin to curse Him instead. (Cf. Job 1&2)

How, then, would God prove Satan wrong about Job? It was by allowing him to test him. And did Job fail? No, he did not fail. Why? The reason was that God kept him. God did not allow Satan to tempt him beyond what he could bear. Also, God strengthened him to endure the temptation.

In like manner, God is able to keep us too when we are being tempted by the devil. How? First, as He did in Job’s case, He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. Second, He will equip us with everything we need to walk in victory over Satan’s temptations. (Cf. 1Corinthians 10:13)

But we also must have the right attitude towards the temptations or challenges coming our way. How? First, we must not think we can overcome them with our wisdom or effort. Otherwise, we will disappoint ourselves as Peter did when he denied the Lord Jesus. Second, we must rely solely on God for everything we need, including patience, to overcome our trials. Third, we must continually remind ourselves that God is faithful and will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear but will sustain us all through the period of the trial.

Now where people do not know these things in order to act on them, when they are being tried by the devil, they may find themselves grumbling against God or relying on the flesh for what only the Spirit of God can do. And that will result in their downfall, if they are not shown mercy. So, regardless of how great or little what Satan is confronting you with may be, keep these things in mind to act on them. And you will not be put to shame but be made to experience great times of refreshing and restoration from the Lord.

Have a lovely week.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Appearances not enough

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date July 23, 2026
1 Comment on Title: Appearances not enough

By: J.O. Lawal
Date: July 22, 2026
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 10

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”” (1 Sam 16:7NIV)

When did God say the words of our opening text to Samuel? It was when he went to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as king over Israel, that is, in place of King Saul.

As the account goes, it was God Himself who had told Samuel to go to Jesse’s house to anoint as king one of the man’s sons that He had chosen. Interestingly, God did not tell Samuel who among the sons of this man He had chosen as king. He just told him to go there first and then expect Him to show him who the king was among the man’s sons.

But then, when Samuel saw Jesse’s first son, Eliab, we are told in the bible that he thought it was he that the Lord had chosen as king. So, without even asking God any question about the young man, he immediately said, “Here is the Lord’s anointed before Him.” And how many times have we also acted like Samuel, thinking we knew what was on the mind of God, only to realise that we have missed it?

See, we cannot determine the mind of God simply on the basis of what we see, hear, feel or think. That is because what we see, hear, feel or think about a matter may not be telling us enough things or everything we need to know about that matter. But God can do that. He can tell us everything about any matter, that is, beyond what we can see, hear, feel or think about it. That is because He sees it all. He knows all things about every matter and every person, however hidden those things may be.

In any case, before Samuel would commit a blunder in Jesse’s house by anointing the wrong person, God quickly told him not to consider the appearances of the sons of the Jesse coming to him. Why? The reason was that their appearances were not enough to show him or tell him all that he needed to know about them, about their fitness to be king. He would need divine revelations to know that. Yes, he would need divine revelations to know the one among them that was king on his inside.

Now that was exactly what happened. Though Jesse first had seven of his sons stand before Samuel, there was none of them that had what it would take to be God’s king on his inside. And they had to wait for David to be brought in from where he was looking after his father’s flocks before the king God had chosen was found and anointed. (Cf. 1 Sam 16:6-13)

What, then, do we learn from all this? One of the lessons of this is that we cannot tell whether someone is great or small by merely looking at their externals. Judging by David’s appearance and life’s circumstances at that time, no one would take him for a king. But God, who created him, had already put in him what would make him a king of kings. If anyone, then, ignored or maltreated him before he was publicly anointed by God as king, just because nothing about him looked special, would the person not be doing so to their own disadvantage? They would!

Also, by merely looking at the physical appearance of our Lord Jesus and his birth circumstances, no one would take him for the Saviour of the world and Lord of everything God has created. In fact, when Nathaniel first heard about him, his remark was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” But when he came to Jesus and He began to tell him where he had been that day, he realised that his focus on the externals had made him miss it. So, he quickly apologised and said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel.” (Cf. John 1:44-49)

So, don’t ever again judge anyone’s worth in life only on the basis of what you can see, feel, hear or think about them. Instead, judge them on the basis of what God has revealed to you about them. And if He has not yet revealed anything to you about them, just relate to them with love and respect. That way, you will not be dishonouring someone that may tomorrow be in the position of protecting, honouring or elevating you.

In like manner, don’t judge your worth in life on the basis on your life’s circumstances. Instead, judge your worth only on the basis of divine revelations. That is because only God knows the worth of the things He has deposited on your inside. And unless He reveals it to you, you will either underrate yourself or overrate yourself, none of which is good for you. So, begin to daily seek divine revelations of who you truly are on the inside by giving yourself to prayer and the word of God. That way, you will never again look down on yourself or allow anyone to look down on you, for you will know that your place in life is special.

Cheers!