Author: Pastor J.O. Lawal

Categories
From Pastor's Desk 2026 General Post Pastor's Desk

Title: Stop wasting His grace

ALAYTHIA BIBLE church


Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 10

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to another week of the month of July 2026. My prayer is that the grace of God that is continually being poured upon your life will never go to waste, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now I offered that prayer for you because it is possible for the grace of God to go to waste in our lives. In other words, it is possible for the grace of God to fail to accomplish what it is meant to accomplish in our lives. And that is why we are warned with these words of Apostle Paul that say:

“As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.” (2 Cor 6:1NIV)

Did you see that? It is possible to receive the grace of God in vain. How is that possible? It is possible through our failure to act on the word of God that is coming to us. Yes, it is possible for us to hear the word of God in a church meeting right now and then leave the meeting to go and do something entirely opposite what we have heard. Likewise, it is possible for us to read our bibles right now and then get up from reading it to go and do something entirely different from what we have just read.

Judas Iscariot, for example, sat with all the apostles of the Lord Jesus when He was sharing the word of God with them just before He was arrested and crucified. He was with them when the Lord washed their feet and taught them again the need to be devoted to serving one another in love. Yet he left them that same night to bring those who would arrest the Lord and crucify Him. Did he not, then, waste the grace of God that he had received? He did. (Cf. John 13)

Also, God speaking to Ezekiel about all the people coming to listen to his sermons, says this:

“As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.” (Ezek 33:30-32NIV)

Who was the Lord referring to in this text? Those who were eagerly coming to listen to Ezekiel’s sermons! He was not referring to those who had no interest at all in listening to him. Rather, He was referring to those who were eagerly coming to listen to his sermons. Yet these people that were coming to listen to this man of God had no intention of acting on what he was teaching them. In fact, the Lord told Ezekiel that he was nothing more than an entertainer to them. What, then, were those people doing to the grace of God coming to them? They were wasting it.

Now what does the bible say about those who waste the grace of God? It says that God’s judgment is bound to fall on them. I pray that His judgment will not fall on you. But don’t just keep on listening to His word and making no effort to act on it. Truly, you may have areas of your life in which you find yourself weak in acting on God’s word. All you need to do is call on Him to give you the needed strength to do His will in those areas. And He will answer you. (Cf. Heb 10:26-31)

Paul says this to us about his own attitude towards the grace of God:

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Cor 15:10NIV)

Did you see that? The reason Paul did not waste the grace of God upon his life was that he worked hard with the word of God that he was receiving. So, he became the person God wanted him to be. You too should begin to do likewise, if you truly want to be the person God wants you to be. And may the Spirit of God continually fill you with adequate strength to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: How to forgive

By: J.O. Lawal
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 8

“The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.” (2 Cor 2:6-8NIV)

Among the things we are shown in our opening text is that God is not only interested in our forgiving those who have hurt or offended us; He is also interested in the process we follow in forgiving them. Why? The reason is that it is the process that will determine whether the forgiveness we have given restores the person receiving it to right living or not.

For example, in forgiving Peter, our Lord Jesus did not merely forgive him with words of mouth; He also sought him out after His resurrection to comfort and restore Him. How? First, He sent an angel to tell the women that came to His tomb on the resurrection morning to tell Peter to come with the other disciples to see Him in Galilee (Mark 16:7).

Second, when He appeared to all of them, including Peter, He did not say a word about what the man had done. He did not tell him how much what he had done pained Him. He just would not say anything about it. Why? The reason was that Peter was already sorrowful enough about the matter. So, talking about it again would only make him more sorrowful. And that could totally drive him away from the Lord. Therefore, the Lord would not say anything about the case.

Third, the Lord gave Peter a new assignment. He specifically told him to take care of His sheep for Him. He, in fact, also went on to give him a revelation about his death in the future. Why? It was to comfort him, to reassure him of His love for him and to let him know that He had forgiven him and forgotten about the matter concerning his denial of Him. (Cf. John 21:15-19)

You can, then, see why Peter would go on and serve the Lord faithfully for the remaining years of his life. The forgiveness he received worked. The forgiveness he received brought about his complete restoration. And that was because of the way it was given to him by the Lord.

In the same vein, if we too want the forgiveness we give to people to work in their lives to change them and to set them right, we must pay attention to how we give it. We must do it as we are shown in our opening text and as illustrated or modelled for us by our Lord Jesus Christ in Peter’s case. How?

First, we must know when we don’t need to punish at all and when the punishment needs to end where we have to punish. We don’t need to punish at all or again when the guilty person has already admitted their error, are sorrowful about it and are desirous of our forgiveness.

Second, forgiveness must be accompanied with acts that will comfort and reaffirm our love for the person involved. If the person involved will not sincerely admit their error and apologise for it, then, that is a different issue. And where that is the case, we just need to forgive them in obedience to God and move on. God will deal with them according to His wisdom.

But where the person has already shown that they are sincerely unhappy about hurting us, then, we may have to do more than merely telling them that we forgive them with words of mouth. We may also have to look for them ourselves, if they are too shy to do so, in order to comfort them and to reaffirm our love for them. We may even have to embrace them, pray for them or do something with them just to assure them of the forgiveness we have given to them. That is what will produce true repentance, change their lives and heal our relationship with them.

Now remember that God had to treat all of us in this manner in order to bring us to Himself, change our lives and make our fellowship with Him beautiful. We too have to be willing to do the same for others that are in need of our forgiveness. Otherwise, the forgiveness we give may end up changing nothing about the lives of those receiving it or about our fellowship with them. How miserable will that kind of forgiveness be, then?

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Categories
From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Don’t run away from the truth


By: J.O. Lawal
Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 09

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to the month of July 2026. My prayer is that God will keep you humble all the time to embrace sound doctrine through faith in Christ Jesus, so that you will not become a victim of the lies of the devil in any area of your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the things we are told in the bible about the last days is that they are days in which many who called themselves believers in Christ Jesus will not want to accommodate sound doctrine. Look at what Paul says about this:

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Tim 4:3-4NIV)

Did you see that? The last days are days in which people will not put up with sound doctrine. They are days in which people will turn their ears away from the truth to stories that cannot edify them. They are also days in which there will be many bible teachers who, as Aaron did to the Israelites in the wilderness, will be teaching people what their itching ears want to hear, giving them what they want and not what they need. (Cf. Exodus 32)

But why will people who are known to be Christians not want to put up with sound doctrine or be running away from the truth that is meant to set them free? One main reason is that their hearts are not fully devoted to God. So, they are not serving Him because they have come to realise that it is the right thing for them to do. Rather, they are doing so because of what they hope to get from Him. That is why they keep going from on church to another church and from one prayer mountain to another prayer mountain.

Now will that make their lives better? No! It will not make their lives better because what they are doing can only give Satan more opportunities to mess their lives up through false pastors, prophets, evangelists and apostles. And there are many who have been victims in this manner and are not even bold enough to share their ugly experiences.

In any case, if you don’t want to become a victim of the lies and wickedness of the devil like them, don’t run away from the truth. Truly, the truth is not always sweet to hear. But if we will accept it and act on it, it will eventually make life sweet for us. I pray that God will daily strengthen you to embrace His truth, however bitter it may seem to your ears, so that all that concerns your life may be made sweet. Amen.

Have a lovely July 2026.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Categories
General Post

Title: He won’t judge it prematurely



Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 7

“”The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'”” (Matt 13:27-30NIV)

What we have in our opening text is part of the parable that our Lord told about God’s attitude towards evil in His kingdom. As the parable shows us, it is not every time God immediately deals with evil in the world or among His people once it shows up. There are times that He allows it to grow and mature before dealing with it.

But why does God sometimes allow evil to thrive for a period in a place before dealing with it? There are two main reasons for this, as we see in the parable we are considering. The first reason is that evil may be identified as evil in an unmistakable way.

See, unless some acts of evil are given some time to thrive and mature, people may not see them as truly evil and destructive. But when they are given enough time to thrive and destroy those doing them or those around them, everybody will agree that they are indeed evil and must be dealt with.

In the same way, unless some wicked people are given enough time and space to show themselves as wicked, those around them may not know them for what they really are. But when they are given enough time and opportunities to reveal themselves, everyone will know the truth about them and how to deal with them.

The second reason God sometimes gives evil room to thrive before dealing with it is that He may not hurt innocent and righteous people while dealing with it. You know there are times that righteous and good people may be so involved with wicked and bad people that there is no way God will judge those wicked and bad people and not hurt them. Sometimes, this may be because of their ignorance. And sometimes it may be because certain circumstances of life have yoked them together with the wicked.

In any case, because of His love for good and righteous people, God often waits until He is able to properly separate them from the wicked before carrying out His judgment on the wicked. And if we don’t understand this, we may think that He is slow in judging wickedness or that He is totally uninterested in judging it. But He will never fail to judge wickedness. It is just that He won’t judge it before the time to do so is ripe; He won’t judge it prematurely.

So, don’t lose heart, if wickedness seems to be thriving where you are, even though you can see it and are praying that God will deal with it. He will surely deal with it at the right time. And to say the fact, your own safety and the safety of others whom you love may just be the reason He is yet to judge it. So, remain patient, as you continue to do what is good and right.

Then you too, in dealing with life’s problems, should study to know when to allow some problems to fully reveal themselves before dealing with them. What is common with many of us is to deal with a problem immediately it surfaces. But there are some problems that will create more problems for us, if we deal with them prematurely. And it takes the wisdom of God to identify such problems and patiently wait for them to mature or full reveal themselves to us and everyone around us before dealing with them.

Therefore, learn to pray to God to daily furnish you with adequate wisdom and understanding to recognise the nature of every life problem you are dealing with, so that you will not deal with any problem prematurely and create more and bigger problems for yourself. And it shall be so.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: We should not become tired

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 9, No. 6

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Gal 6:9NIV)

Who is Paul talking to in our opening text? All God’s people! And what is he saying to us? It is that we should not become weary or tired in doing good to others.Now if it is not possible for us to become tired in doing good, Paul will not say that we should not become tired in doing good.

For instance, if people will not appreciate the good things we are doing to them or for them, we can become tired of doing good to others.Also, if people are paying us back with evil for the good we are doing to them or if they are taking undue advantage of our generosity to them, we may tell ourselves that we have done enough.

In other words, we may not be inspired to do good to any other person in any serious way again. And that will be because we are already hurt.Then if we are not receiving or experiencing much acts of goodness from others, we may not feel encouraged to continue to do good to others.

In fact, we may, in such situations, assume that God is not paying attention to our good works, so that He may reward us for them.But the word of God to us in our opening text is that we should not become tired of doing good to others. Why? The reason is that God will surely reward us for all our acts of goodness at the right time. That means if we are not yet getting rewarded by God for any of our acts of goodness, the reason is that the time is not ripe. When the time is ripe, He will surely reward us for each of them, if we do not give up.

So, regardless of people’s attitude towards our good works, whether good or bad, we should not become tired of doing good. On the contrary, we should be like our Lord Jesus who continued to go about doing good, even though He was being persecuted and insulted for doing so. And just as God honoured Him for it at the right time, He will honour us too at the right time for whatever good we do, irrespective of people’s attitude towards us.

But then, we too should be careful of paying attention to people’s attitude towards our acts of goodness. Otherwise, we may fall into the trap of the praise or approval of men. Then we may lose whatever reward we may hope to receive from God for our good works.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Categories
From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Relating to our church leaders

By: J.O. Lawal

Date: June 21, 2026

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 15, No. 08

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to another week of the month June 2026. My prayer is that your life will be rid of everything that is preventing you from fully enjoying His blessings that have been poured out on your life. Amen.

Now among the things that often hinder the manifestation of the blessings of God in the lives of His people is not relating to the leaders appointed in the church over them according to the will of God. And what is His will, as far as relating to the leaders over us in the church is concerned? His will is summarised for us in the following Scriptures:“Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.” (1 Thess 5:12-13NIV)

“Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” (Heb 13:17NIV)

“In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.” (1 Cor 9:14NIV)

What do we see here? First, we see that the will of God for us is to hold those He has appointed over us in the church in the highest regard. And this must show in the we talk to them and interact with them. Why? Is it because they are better than us in God’s sight? No! Rather, it is because of His work that they are doing among us.Now we are to respect them in this manner not only when they are nice to us but also when they rebuke us.

One of the reasons God established David’s throne was that he continued to show King Saul great respect, even when the man had lost his way. He did not choose when to respect him and when not to respect him. If we too want the blessings of God to be established in our lives, we must not choose when we show respect to our church leaders. Instead, we must always show them high respect, for that is the will of God for us. And if any of them is misbehaving, though we are showing him respect, God will judge the person Himself in His own way.

The second thing revealed to us about the will of God in relating to our leaders has to do with submitting to their authority. What does this mean? It means that as long as a church leader is leading you in the will of God, you have to wholeheartedly follow his instructions. Why? The reason is that God will ask him about how you are doing. What report, then, will he give about you?When Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On ganged up against Moses and Aaron, Moses told God not to accept their offerings. And God did not accept them.

Not only that, He caused the ground to swallow them and their families up alive. So, even though they too had the blessings of God on their lives, those blessings could not protect them from His judgment. And that was because of their wrong attitude towards their leaders. You can, then, see why we are told that not being submissive to our church leaders will not work for our good. (Cf. Num 16)

Then the will of God is for us to support our church leaders with our money and other material things. And this is not what we do once in a while or when we are hoping that they might offer some special prayers for us. Rather, it is what we must be devoted to doing. And none of us has any excuse for not doing it. That is because even if it is only a cup of water we can regularly give them, God will accept it on our behalf and reward us for it.

Unfortunately, even though many of God’s people have been taught these things again and again, they don’t act on them. And this is one of the reasons there is still much manifestation of poverty, failure and weakness in many assemblies of God’s people. We are the ones working against His blessings in our lives.

See, if you don’t see a church leader as worthy of your respect, obedience and support, leave his assembly and go to where you can wholeheartedly respect, obey and support the leader. Otherwise, you will be working against your own prosperity. My prayer is that the Spirit of God will lead you to repentance wherever you are missing it on this matter without delay. Amen.Have a lovely week.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Are you stupid?

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 9, No. 15

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.” (Prov 12:1NIV)

Those are some of Solomon’s words of wisdom to us on what our attitude towards discipline and correction should be.

First, he tells us to love discipline. And is that a simple thing to do? No! Why? The reason is that discipline, any kind of real discipline, is hardly pleasant. Now because discipline is hardly pleasant, many of us will do whatever we can to avoid it. It is only those that are looking at the value it may eventually add to their lives that will love and embrace it. If you, then, will not love and embrace discipline, it must mean that you don’t want to see yourself increase in value and usefulness in life. (Cf. Heb 12:11)

But if you want to see yourself increase in value and usefulness before God and before men, then, don’t run away from discipline. Don’t excuse yourself from circumstances sent into your life to teach and train you to increase in fruitfulness and usefulness in life. Those circumstances may be unpleasant.

Yet you must be determined to endure them. And you will be able to endure them, if you will trust God in prayer and in His word for the strength, determination, patience, wisdom and any other thing you need to do so.Remember that the word of God tells us that in all things God is working for the good of those who love Him, of those who have been called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).

So, you are not alone in any situation you find yourself in life. God is there with you to work in you, with you and through you in order to fulfil His good purpose in your life. That is why you should not lose heart or give up. Instead, you should make up your mind to use the situation to discipline you to experience a greater fulfilment of the purpose of God for your life. And it shall be so.

The second thing Solomon speaks about in our opening text has to do with loving correction and not hating it. Why must we not hate correction but love it? The reason is that correction too, like discipline, is hardly pleasant to receive.

Yes, some people are so gracious in the way they talk and act that you will really have to be a proud person for their correction to hurt you. But you can’t always expect that it is only such people that will correct you in life. All kinds of people, the good, the bad and the ugly, have corrected you in the past. And going forward, you should still expect the same.

In any case, regardless of whether the correction coming to you is coming in a gracious way or not, what is important is that you take to it. Are you truly wrong? If you are, then, accept correction. Don’t try to defend yourself. Don’t try to justify yourself. Don’t try to make excuses for yourself. Otherwise, you will sooner or later be injured for refusing to accept correction. Then you will have proved yourself to be nothing but stupid, as Solomon tells us in our opening text.

What was the difference between David and Saul? Their attitude towards correction! Both of them were God’s choice. Both of them were anointed of God. And both of them, being human, messed up at different points in their lives. But then, while Saul was totally rejected because of his mess, David was forgiven and established in spite of his mess.

Why? As bible account shows us, the reason was that where David would readily acknowledge his sins and seek God’s face for mercy and forgiveness, Saul would simply be labouring to justify himself. He always had excuses to make for messing up.

And because he was often more concerned about making excuses than doing what was right, he could not become the king God had always wanted him to be. So, he was rejected and replaced with David. Now if we too don’t want to be rejected by God for the various places of usefulness, advantage and honour that He has prepared for us in life, we need to drop whatever bad attitude we have towards correction. No one knows it all.

So, no one is above missing it. If you, then, are being corrected for missing it, admit it and do the needful. Not doing so is simply saying that you know it all. And we know that those act like that are nothing but stupid. Are you, then, stupid? If you are not, then, begin to love correction and to also show it by appreciating anyone that God may use to correct you. And may you be cleansed and energised by the Spirit of God to begin to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: A reward God has not given

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 9, No. 4

“Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?” (1 Sam 15:19NIV)

Who were these words said to? King Saul! And why were they said to him? They were said to him because he did not completely obey the command of God given to him by Samuel.

Now what was the command of God given to Saul by Samuel? It was that he should go and completely destroy the Amalekites and everything they had, leaving nothing alive. Did he, then, go to destroy these people and everything they had? Yes! And did he completely destroy them and everything they had, as He had been commanded by God? No!

Why did he not make a complete destruction of those people and everything they had? Greed! How? Well, when he and his men saw the fat and well-groomed livestock of those Amalekites, they changed their minds about completely destroying them and decided to spare them. They even spared their king, Agag. Why? It may be that he had promised to give his wealth to them. Who knows?

In any case, it was greed that made Saul disobey God the way he did. Yes, in his own eyes, he felt that he had obeyed God by destroying all the Amalekites and sparing only their king and the best of their livestock. He even thought of what he did as an opportunity to sacrifice some of the animals to God.

But as far as God was concerned, his partial disobedience was as bad as total disobedience. That means he did not obey Him at all. That being the case, He judged him by removing him from his throne.

What, then, do we learn from this? It is that we should not allow greed to push us to take for ourselves a reward that God has not given to us. King Saul did what he did because he felt that he and his men deserved to be rewarded by God for the hard work of destroying the Amalekites. But they were not the ones to tell God what they deserved or did not deserve. They were His servants and were meant to obey whatever command He gave them, whether He was going to reward them for it or not.

As the bible shows us, even though God always rewards people for doing His will or for doing good, we are not to see that as an entitlement. Rather, we are to see it as a manifestation of His grace towards us. That is because He is the source of our lives and everything else. So, He does not owe us anything. We are the ones that owe Him everything. (Cf. Job 41:11; Luke 17:7-10; Romans 11:35)

Therefore, regardless of what we may have done for God, we should never attempt to reward ourselves with what He has not given to us. Others around us, including preachers, may be doing that, rewarding themselves through extortion, manipulation and threats with rewards God has not given to them. But we must always turn away from such. That is because He will never forget to reward us adequately for our labour of love at the right time (Gal 6:9; Heb 6:10).

If we, however, should decide to reward ourselves by ourselves and in our own way, we may lose even our souls in the process. So, mind yourself.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Categories
From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Pray for our country


Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 6

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours abundantly from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the second week of the month of June 2026. My prayer is that God will continue to keep you and all that is yours from being victims of the wickedness of these last days. Amen.

One of the instructions given by God to His people is that they must continually pray for the peace and prosperity of wherever they are living. And it does not matter whether where they are is their native land or a foreign land, as long as they are living there, God wants them to pray for it. Why? The reason is that their own prosperity and peace are dependent on it to one degree or another.

For example, here is what God said to the Jews that were taken as captives to Babylon during the days of King Nebuchadnezzar:

“Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jer 29:7NIV)

Did you see that? Even though those Jews were taken as slaves to Babylon against their wish, God still commanded them to seek the peace of the place and to be praying for it. Why? The reason was that the degree of peace and prosperity they would enjoy in the place depended on how peaceful and prosperous the place was.

In like manner, one of the reasons many of us are not enjoying greater peace and prosperity than we are enjoying now is that our country is not peaceful and prosperous as it should be. And unless God intervenes and deals with everything hindering the peace and prosperity of the country, many of us will remain stagnant and unhappy for life.

Therefore, it is not enough for you to be praying for yourself; it is equally important that you are praying for this nation. And your prayer for the nation should not be occasional; rather, it should be something that you will be offering all the time. That is because if the country is peaceful and prosperous, you too will enjoy its peace and prosperity.

But then, if you have been lazy in praying for yourself, how can we expect you to be praying for the country? Or if you have been selfish in your prayer life or if all that you think about is your own peace and prosperity when you pray, how can we expect you to take praying for our country seriously?

In any case, the word of God is coming to you now and telling you to take praying for our country seriously, instead of accepting the stagnation it is imposing on you or thinking all the time about running to another country. Remember that some people made the countries you are thinking of running to great. You too can be among those who will make our country great through your fervent prayers for it. And may the Spirit of God strengthen you to take this matter seriously, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Categories
From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: An inherited God



Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 5

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to this new week, which will be the first week in the month of June 2026. I pray that God will keep your heart faithful to Him to the very end, so that you will not lose whatever reward that ought to be yours for serving Him, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we see in the bible, it is possible for those who claim to be serving God not to serve Him wholeheartedly. And where that is the case, they may lose their soul or lose the reward of their service. It all depends on the nature or degree of their unfaithfulness in their service to Him.

For example, this is what is said in the bible about a king of Judah:

“Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly.” (2 Chron 25:1-2NIV)

Did you see that? King Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly. How was that so? Well, as we see in the account of his reign that we have in the bible, Amaziah started out in obedience to God. He even obeyed God when it was not convenient for him to do so. (Cf. 2 Chro 25:1-12)

However, after he had defeated the Edomites in a battle, he brought back their gods to the land of Judah and began to worship them. Why would he do that? What exactly was he thinking? As we learn from the account, before he went to fight the Edomites, God had sent him a prophet to tell him what he needed to do to be victorious. And when he did it, he was victorious indeed. Why, then, would he turn his back on God?

Besides, common sense ought to have told him that choosing the gods of the Edomites as his gods was a stupid thing to do. That was because those gods could not save the Edomites themselves from his hands. Why, then, did he think they were the right gods for him to begin to worship?

Well, to say the fact, the problem with Amaziah was that he never really had a true revelation of the living God, the God of his ancestors. To him, He was just a God that he had inherited from his forefathers. So, he was not serving Him because he truly believed in Him. Rather, he was serving Him because that was what the people that raised him told him to be doing.

But after defeating the Edomites, he somehow began to feel that it was his power that made him defeat them and not God. Therefore, he concluded that it was time for him to choose his own gods. And from that time on, he began to make mistakes until he destroyed himself. (Cf. 2 Chro 25:14-28)

What is the point of this story? It is that we need to truly know God in order to serve Him wholeheartedly. Yes, we may have been born into Christian homes. That, however, does not mean that we already know God and Jesus Christ as we ought to know them. What we know about them may just be what we have inherited from our parents or what the people around us have passed on to us. And where that is the case, a time may come when that knowledge may not be adequate to keep us faithful to God. Then we may begin to misbehave and do things that will make us lose our souls or whatever rewards that could have been ours for serving Him.

Therefore, you need to be sure that your worship of God is born out of a personal conviction that He is God indeed. And you need to be sure that your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is born out of a personal conviction that He is Lord indeed. Otherwise, your so-called faith in Him may just be a lie after all. My prayer is that such will not be the case with you, when all has been said and done. Amen.

Do have a lovely week.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)