Month: June 2022

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

A lesson from Bathsheba | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: June 29, 2022 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 5, No. 7

from pastor's desk

“One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.” 2Sam 11:2-4NIV)

The story of David’s scandal with Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, is one of the most popular stories of the bible. That is because it illustrates for us those warning words from the Scripture that say, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” David fell when and where he never thought he would fall. And the consequences were of very terrible proportions for him and his family. (Cf. 1Cor 10:12)

But then, was it only David that fell? It was not only David that fell into the mud of adultery. Bathsheba also fell into this same mud because she too was married. Yes, God held David more responsible for what happened. That was because he was the one that initiated the whole thing. He was the one that sent for Bathsheba and most likely sweet-talked her into committing adultery with him. But it was not a rape case. It was a voluntary sexual escapade between two consenting adults.

So, David was not the only one to blame for this gross sexual misconduct that eventually led to the murder of an innocent man. Bathsheba was also to blame. It is true, according to the account, that David was in a wrong place at the wrong time. He was not supposed to be in town at all at the time, for it was a time when kings led their armies to war by themselves (2Sam 11:1). But for reasons best known to him, he chose to send his general in his place at the time. And that was what exposed him to the situation that Satan used to ruin his testimony as a man after God’s own heart.

Therefore, always avoid being in the wrong place at any time, not just the wrong time. Avoid making excuses for not being where you should be when you should be there. That is because you don’t know when your being in a wrong place will expose you to battles you should never have any business fighting or to situations that may damage your life, relationships or reputation permanently.

But as I pointed out before, David was not the only one to blame for what happened. Bathsheba also was to blame for it. How? Was it her fault that she was beautiful? No! Or was it wrong for her to take her bath the very evening David saw her? No! How, then, was she also to blame?

Well, for the most part, she was to blame because she did not take her privacy seriously enough. Think about the case yourself. Was she living in a village, where life was low and the people uncultured? No! She was living in a city, in fact very close to the palace of the king of the land. What, then, made her, a married woman, choose to take her bath in a place so open or conspicuous that anyone aimlessly wandering around could see her? Only God knows. But poverty of a good bathroom was most certainly not the reason.

Yes, I am certain that this woman did not go out that evening expecting the king to see her while taking her bath. But she ended up exposing herself to the sin of adultery by not taking her privacy seriously. And even at that, she could have politely rejected the king’s adulterous proposal. If she had, David would have needed to rape her to succeed. Then the story would have ended differently. But she did not. Why? I will leave that to your sanctified imaginations, since we are not told the reason in the bible.

At any rate, what I want you to learn from her is the need for you to take your privacy seriously and to guard it jealously. There are many women today, married and singles, who, like Bathsheba, do not take their privacy seriously at all. They wear whatever they like, regardless of where they are or of where they go. And they often blame this on weather, fashion, pregnancy, motherhood, tiredness or anything else their mind can think of. We now even have those who record and store their private activities, especially immoral ones, on their mobile phones.

Now what all such people need to know is that they are playing with fire. And someday, like Bathsheba, they may get burnt. They may end up exposing themselves to people or situations that will take away from them things that neither money nor time can buy. Then their lives, happiness or reputation may be gone forever. And if you will ask around, you will discover that some are already living testimonies to this. So, watch yourself.

Copyright © 2022, 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: 07085711280)

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2022 Pastor's Desk

Your own enemy | Pst. J.O. Lawal | June 26, 2022 |Vol. 11, No. 8

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I gladly welcome you to the last week of the month of June 2022. My prayer is that God will rid your life of everything that is hindering the full manifestation of His blessings in your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

In the parable of our Lord Jesus about a man who gave his servants certain amount of money to work with, we see a very important life principle. And it is that anyone who will not intelligently put their God’s given relationships, abilities, opportunities or privileges to work will not increase in good works or in the good things of this life. It is only those who sensibly utilize and continue to utilize what God has given them that will continue to abound in good works and good things. (Cf. Matt 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-26)

As the account goes, a man, who was going on a long journey, decided to share some of his money among his servants, so that they may put it to work. In other words, he did not want all of his money lying fallow and gathering dust in his safe while he was away. So, he gave part of it to his servants to work with, according to the ability of each of them. To one he gave five talents. To another he gave two talents. And yet to another he gave one talent.

Now, after a long time, this man came back and began to settle accounts with the servants he had entrusted his money to. And to his surprise, only two of them worked with the money he had given them and multiplied it. The man with five talents made a profit of five more talents with his money. Likewise, the man with two talents made a profit of two more talents with his money. But the man that was given one talent only came around with excuses. He did nothing with the talent he was given and so got nothing in addition to it.

Why did he do nothing with his own talent? Well, the popular answer is that he did nothing with it because he felt that what he was given was too small, when compared to what others were given. But that was never the reason. In the first place, their master gave each of them money according to their abilities. So, what he could handle was what he was given. Second, historians will have us know that a talent at that time was about 20 years of a day labourer’s wage. So, it was a lot of money that this man was given.

It follows, then, that it was not because his money was small that he did nothing with it. Rather, in his own words, it was because he was afraid of losing it that he did nothing with it (Matt 25:25). But as his master told him, he could have deposited the money with the bankers, and he would have received it back with interest. So, fear was not enough reason for him not to do anything with such a huge sum of money. He had another problem, which was laziness. In other words, it was because he was lazy in his mind and with his hands that he made no effort to consider how to multiply what he was given. So, he allowed the very thing his master was trying to avoid to happen – he allowed his money to lie fallow.

To cut a long story short, apart from the punishment that this lazy and unprofitable man was given to serve, his master commanded that his money be taken away from him and given to one of the servants that had shown themselves worthy of receiving more. And in conclusion, our Lord Jesus says that is exactly how things work in God’s kingdom. Those who acknowledge all that God has given them – people, resources, skills, gifts, education, position and so forth – however small or insignificant these things may be, and are putting them to good use are the ones He will continue to promote and increase in good things. But those who do nothing with what He has given them can only expect what they have, even if it is little, to be taken away from them. This explains why poor people often get poorer and rich and influential people often get richer and more influential. 

So, if you are not utilizing what God has given you or enabled you to acquire by His grace, you are simply showing yourself to be unprofitable and unfit to be introduced or elevated to higher heights in life. You are your own enemy then, regardless of what your excuses may be. You are the one limiting and pulling yourself down. Therefore, you should not expect things to get better but worse for you.

Now my prayer is that things will only get better and better and never worse for you. But praying about it alone will not do. You also need to wake up from your slumber, stop making excuses for failure or poverty and identify everything God has given you that you can use to increase yourself in relevance, good works and resources in life and begin to put it to work. And as you do this, you will be amazed to see all the blessings of God that have been inactive or dormant in your life fully finding expression.

Have a splendid week.

Copyright © 2022, 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@abcministry.com  or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

God’s man or another Pilate? | Pst. J.O. Lawal | June 22, 2022 | Youth for Jesus | Vol. 5, No. 6

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

“Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.” But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.” (Luke 23:20-25NIV)

From the passage of the Scripture above, it is clear that Pilate knew quite well that Jesus did not deserve to be punished at all, not to talk of being given a death sentence. Yet he gave him a death sentence. Of course, he did this reluctantly, for as we are shown in a parallel passage, right before the people, he washed his hand with water and said, “I am innocent of the blood of this man.” (Cf. Matt 27:24)

But the fact remains that he gave Jesus a death sentence. He gave him a death sentence, even though it was in his place to release Him and let Him go in peace. He gave Him a death sentence, even though he had examined him and found him guiltless. Yes, he gave Him a death sentence, even though his wife had earlier sent a message to him not to have anything to do with the condemnation or death of an innocent and righteous man.

Now why did Mr Pilate do that? Why did he use his office, which was the highest office in the land at the time, to promote injustice, when the right way to judge was very clear to him? It was because he wanted to please the people; he wanted to go with the crowds (Mark 15:15). Of course, he did not see it that way. That was why he used water to publicly wash his hands off the case. But what was that? That was nonsense. He was in a position to use his authority to save an innocent man from a jealous and ruthless mob. But he would not. How, then, could he think a bowl of water was all he needed to free himself from the sin and guilt of murder?

In any case, similar things still regularly happen in the world today. Here and there, we see people who are in a position to promote justice or what is upright act contrary what to what they know and even believe to be the truth. Why? Fear is always the reason. 

When we are afraid of being different, afraid of becoming unpopular with the majority, we may find ourselves throwing away our sense of justice or our duty to give justice in order to please men. And then we will start looking for ways to justify ourselves by saying things like, “If you can’t beat them, you join them,” or “God sees my heart and knows that I am not in support of this.”

But the word of God says ‘No’ to such things. His word commands us never to follow a multitude to do evil (Ex 23:2). And that is not because our refusal to go with the multitude will be easy in every situation. Rather, it is because the will of God is for us to separate ourselves from every kind of evil, even if doing so will set us against the whole world.

To say the fact, there may surely be times in our lives in which our stand for justice or morality will set us against the crowd or the majority. Yes, there may be times in which our refusal to go with the majority in promoting wickedness, injustice or immorality will be the only chance for righteousness to win where we are. And it will be good of us not to be like Mr Pilate but like God the true judge on such occasions. Otherwise, whatever we do afterwards may not have any power to change the history we have already made.

Pilate made history as the head of a supreme court that sentenced the only sinless man that ever walked the face of the earth to death. Yes, God wanted things to end that way. But Pilate did not have to be the one to make it happen. And you also don’t have to be the one to once again illustrate to the world that the natural man will always choose evil over good, if the circumstances are right, when you can be one of those that will be showing the world that God still has righteous people here on earth that will always do His will, even if they have to go against everyone else. 

Which will it be, then? Will you be God’s man or another Pilate? Or shall I say, “Will I be God’s man or another Pilate?” I guess we all will find out someday in eternity.

Copyright © 2022, 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: 07085711280)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

When you are not fit to judge evil | Pst. J.O. Lawal | June 15, 2022 | Youth for Jesus | Vol. 5, No. 5

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

“When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he kept quiet about it until they came home.” (Gen 34:5NIV)

As outrageous as the case of Dinah’s rape must have been to her father, Jacob, he did not do anything about it when he heard of it. Why? It was because he was already an old man at the time and his sons were not around. He must have reasoned, then, that there was no way he could possibly deal with the prince that had raped his daughter and not get himself into a bigger trouble or even killed.

Therefore, as the account goes, he waited for his sons to come back home from tending their livestock. And when he told them what happened to their sister, they handled the case. Yes, how they handled the matter surpassed his expectations and even made him afraid. But the fact remains that they did not allow the wickedness done to their sister to go unjudged.

In like manner, even though Joab, David’s most accomplished army general, did certain horrible things that required that he was judged and punished severely, David had to leave his judgment to Solomon, his successor (1Kings 2:5-6). Why? First, it was because Joab was his nephew, a son of his sister, Zeruiah. Second, it was because he was one of those few faithful men who went through everything with him in order for him to be all that God wanted him to be. Third, it was because this man, being very close to David, also probably had some of his dirty secrets, like the murder of Uriah, which he could use against him any time.

So, judging Joab’s acts of wickedness was something David could not handle objectively and without some sentiments or fear of the consequences that could follow. But he knew that the man must be punished for his sins. Therefore, he passed the matter on to his son, Solomon. And Solomon, unlike his father, had no reason to be sentimental in handling Joab’s case. There was nothing good the man did for him for which he needed to reward him or overlook his wrongdoings. On the contrary, Joab was even one of those who did not want the throne to go to him but to his brother, Adonijah. (Cf. 1Kings 1)

Therefore, having become king, he just needed to wait for an opportunity to use his good office to judge this man for the murder of innocent people and perhaps some other acts of wickedness that were not on record. And when the opportunity came for him to do so, when Joab got himself entangled in another conspiracy move, he did not hesitate at all to judge him. (Cf. 1Kings 2:13-35)

What is all this teaching us, then? It is that there are times we are not in a position to judge wickedness, even though it is our utmost desire to see it judged. This may be because we are not powerful or influential enough to judge it or because we ourselves have gotten involved in certain things that make us morally unfit to judge it. It may even be because judging it may mess up certain important relationships for us and put us in some bad light for endangering innocent souls in our pursuit of justice.

Whatever the case may be, we must know when we are not fit to judge evil or wickedness. And whenever that is the case, we should wait until we are fit to do so or wait until we find someone else that is fit to do so and that we can hand the matter over to. Otherwise, we may end up destroying ourselves or other good people and relationships in the process.

Then the fact that we are not fit to judge evil now does not mean we should totally overlook it or act as if it did not exist or as if it were nothing. Evil is what it is. So, we must always condemn it, even where we are not fit to judge it. That way, we will be sensitising our society against it and also strengthening those who have what it takes to judge it to do so at the right time. Otherwise, God Himself may have to step in and judge the evil we have left unjudged in His own way. Then even those of us who have ignored it may not be spared at all. 

Copyright © 2022, 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: 07085711280)

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2022 Pastor's Desk

Share the good news | Pst. J.O. Lawal |June 19, 2022 | Vol. 11, No. 7

Beloved: grace and peace be yours abundantly from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of this month. I pray that you will be counted worth of the calling you have received from God all through the week and for the remaining part of your time here on earth. Amen.

One of the things the Lord expects of everyone that has been a beneficiary of His goodness and salvation is for them to share with others the good news of what He has done for them. That way, those they share this with can be moved to come to Him to experience His goodness in their own lives as well. For example, after setting that mad man that was possessed by a legion of demons free, the Lord said to him, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” (Mark 5:19NIV) 

Now did that man do as he was instructed by the Lord or not? He did! In fact, he went beyond what was expected of him. He did not speak only to his family members of what God had done for him. Instead, he also went talking about it to everyone that cared to listen to him in a region called ‘The Decapolis’, which means ‘The Ten Cities’. 

Imagine that. That man went all through a region of ten cities, talking about what Jesus had done for him. Why? First, it was because he was really grateful for what the Lord had done for him. Second, it was because he also wanted others, who were under satanic bondage, to know that they too could obtain deliverance by coming to the Lord, however terrible their cases may be.

In like manner, if the Lord has indeed been good to us too in our assembly, we owe it to Him to let others know about it. If He has indeed been changing our lives for the better and moving us forward through His word, then, we should let our friends, family members, colleagues at work or in school and neighbours know that they too can become partakers of His goodness with us. As I pointed out before, God Himself is expecting us to do this. That is because one of the reasons He is doing us good is that we may become doors through which He will have access to the lives of others around us and also do them good.

What this means, then, is that if we will not spread the news of His goodness to us to those around us, we are not just being selfish but also hindering His work. And there is no way we will be acting in selfishness and hindering God’s work and will not suffer for doing so, to one degree or another. Perhaps the reason for the stagnation some of us are experiencing in our lives is even this. We will do well, therefore, to repent without delay and begin to passionately lead others around us to experience the goodness of God that are already enjoying.

This, of course, does not mean that we should force or manipulate anybody to become partakers with us in enjoying the goodness of God. Rather, it means we should do all that we can to encourage and inspire as many as we can to come and see for themselves how good and gracious the Lord can be to them. And may the Spirit of God continually teach and strengthen our hearts to take this matter seriously in our lives, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid week.

Copyright © 2022, 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@abcministry.com  or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2022 Pastor's Desk

Keep yourself humble. | Pst. J.O. Lawal. | June 12, 2022. | Vol. 11, No. 6

Beloved: grace and peace be yours immeasurably from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of June 2022. I pray that God will keep your heart humble before Him all the time, so that redundancy or stagnation will not take charge of your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we are told in the bible, the reason the angel of God that we now call Satan became Satan was pride. Originally, he was made by God to be perfect in beauty and wisdom and was given a very high place among the angels of God. But when he allowed his beauty to fill him with pride, he was thrown down by God from his position of prestige and power. (Cf. Ezekiel 28:11-19)

Why, then, are we told this in the bible? It is so that we may know that God hates pride. And why does He hate pride? It is because pride is a symptom of our refusal to give Him credit for whatever good thing we have or are able to do. As we see in the bible, we all are nothing apart from God and can have nothing apart from Him. He is our creator and the creator of everything else that exists. So, there is nothing we can take credit for in this life or in the age to come. He is before all things and all things are from Him and for Him. (Cf. Ps 24:1; Col 1:16-17; Rev 4:11)

But when we fail to acknowledge this fact and begin to act like we are something, whether towards Him or towards men, we are positioning ourselves to be thrown down by Him, just as Satan was thrown down by Him. The bible says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So, it does not matter who we are or what height we have attained in life, the moment we allow pride in our lives, the moment we start to think or act as if we were God, we would find Him resisting us. And if we fail to repent quickly, we will soon enough find ourselves trampled down on the floor of life or in the pit of hell. (Cf. James 4:6; 1Peter 5:5)

So, give no room for any form of pride in you, regardless of how smoothly life is going for you or what position of advantage you are or how useful you have become in the hands of God. Remember that Satan was once a great instrument of praise in the hand of God. But pride ruined him. And it can ruin us too. It can corrupt our beauty, wisdom, knowledge, position and usefulness, if we too allow it. It can turn us into beasts, beasts that God will not want to have anything to do with.

And is that what you want? Do you want to become someone that God will begin to seek to discard or get rid of? I am sure you don’t. But that is what may eventually happen, if you allow any form of pride in you. So, watch yourself. Watch the way you relate to God and the way you relate to men. And may the Spirit of God open your eyes to whatever form of pride you have in you, so that you can deal with it before it leads to your downfall, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

Copyright © 2022, 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@abcministry.com  or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Get adequate instructions | Pst. J.O. Lawal | June 08, 2022 | Youth for Jesus | Vol. 5, No. 4

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

“When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” he inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The LORD answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!” Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.” So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. (Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah.)” (1Sam 23:1-6NIV)

From our opening bible text, it is clear that it is not enough to find out from God if it is alright for us to do something; it is equally important we find out from Him whether success is sure for us in what He says that we can do or not. David, as we see in the text, was not just satisfied with the fact that God told him that it was okay for him to support the people of Keilah in fighting the Philistines. He also wanted to be sure that doing so would not result in defeat but victory for him. And he got his answers.

But why did David act like that? He must have known that the fact that God tells someone to go ahead and do something does not mean that the person will succeed in doing so. If the person does not ask God questions on how to go about what they want to do or ask Him if they are going to succeed in doing it, they may not succeed. They may, in fact, get killed or injured while acting on the word of God.

For example, we are told in the bible that when God told Samuel to go and anoint David in place of King Saul, he immediately protested. Why? He knew that Saul had become wicked and ruthless, for the Spirit of God had already left him at the time. And if he should carelessly ordain someone else in his place, Saul would most likely kill him. So, he had to express his concern to God about the matter. And God taught him what he would do in order to succeed in the assignment and not put himself in arms’ way. If that had not been the case, if he had simply hurried down to the house of Jesse to anoint David as king in place of Saul, he would most likely have lost his life in the process, even though it was the will of God he was carrying out. (Cf. 1Sam 16:1-14)

Also, we are told in the book of Judges of how the eleven tribes of Israel failed twice to defeat the tribe of Benjamin, even though God was in support of their cause. As the story goes, certain wicked men from the tribe of Benjamin had raped a woman to death. And because their tribesmen would not punish them or hand them over to be punished by the people of God, all the men from the remaining eleven tribes decided to move against them in battle to purge the land of wickedness. (Cf. Judges 19-20)

But they did not just move against these Benjaminites without first consulting God. They consulted Him first, and He asked them to go. He even told them the first tribe to go. But when they went, they met with utter defeat. Summoning courage, they came to God again to ask whether it was alright for them to go to battle against the men of Benjamin. And He said that it was alright for them to go. But when they did, they lost again. In fact, their loss was so terrible that they all came back, weeping and crying before the Lord. (Cf. Judges 20:17-26)

Nevertheless, they inquired of the Lord again the third time to know if they should still go and fight the men of Benjamin. This time, however, God did not just tell them to go but also told them that He would give them victory. And when they went and fought against those evil men, they succeeded. Why? It was because the Lord had said that He would make them succeed. (Cf. Judges 20:27-28)

But why did they fail the first two times they went to battle against the Benjaminites, even though God approved of their going? Though we are not expressly told this in the bible, we can infer from other things said in it that they failed in that manner because they did not get enough instructions from God about the matter. Yes, they asked God if they could go to battle against those people and who should go up first among them. But they did not ask Him about the right time to strike or if they would succeed at all in doing so. So, they failed. And it was just the mercy of God that made them succeed in the final battle; it was not that they learnt their lessons and asked sufficient and right questions.

However, David, who must have read their account in the Scriptures, would not act like them at all in fighting any battle. He would not just ask God if it was okay for Him to engage in any battle; he would also ask Him if he would succeed in doing so. And God always answered him. No wonder he never lost any battle. (Cf. 1Sam 30:7-8; 2Sam 5:18-19)

In like manner, if we too do not want to find ourselves failing while acting on God’s word or instructions, we should always be patient to be adequately instructed by Him. Yes, God has spoken to you about what to do about a matter. But also make sure you find out how to go about it, where to handle it and when to handle it. Don’t run ahead with insufficient instructions about the will of God concerning any matter of your life, even if it is a prophet, an angel or God Himself that has spoken to you. Instead, like Samuel and David, always ask relevant and enough questions from God about any matter you are dealing with. Otherwise, you may often find yourself failing or getting injured while doing His will.

Copyright © 2022, 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: 07085711280)

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General Post

You may not see them again | Pst. J.O. Lawal | May 25, 2022 | Youth for Jesus | Vol. 5, No. 3

“But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.” “Just as you say,” Moses replied, “I will never appear before you again.”” (Ex 10:27-29NIV)

As the bible account of the deliverance of the nation of Israel from their Egyptian overlords shows, Moses, by the command of God, met with Pharaoh several times, asking him to let the Israelites go. But the man wouldn’t just listen. Yes, there were times that he begged Moses to plead with God on his behalf and on behalf of his people, so that He may remove His heavy hand of punishment from them. And Moses did, thinking that doing so would make the man repent of his stubbornness. Yet this man failed to keep his word each of those times.

Finally, as we see in our opening bible text, there came a time that he ordered Moses never to show up before him again. Otherwise, he would die. And Moses never went back to him again. Why? It was because the time for his destruction had come. And he was certainly destroyed. 

What is the point of this, then? It is that it is God’s mercy that makes Him send people to warn us, correct us or rebuke us, whenever we are missing it. But He will not forever be sending them to warn or dissuade us from walking in the path of error, disgrace, failure or destruction, if we will not heed His word. At some point, He will stop those He is using to set us right from coming to us. And when He does so, when He gives us over to have our way, we should know that our disgrace or destruction is right at the door.

We have another similar example in the story of King Saul. He was the first anointed king of Israel and was loved by the Lord. But he had this wrong attitude towards spiritual authority and divine instructions, which Samuel, the prophet, had once openly rebuked him about. And did he take this man of God’s word of rebuke seriously? Evidently, he did not. So, when he failed to totally destroy the Amalekites and all that they had, as God had instructed him to do, Samuel came to him with a severe word of judgment from God. And that was the last time Samuel came to him. He never came to him again. Even when an evil spirit began to torment and hurt him, this man of God did not show up before him to pray for him or to counsel him. He just left him to himself. (Cf. 1Sam 13&15)

Therefore, this king went from bad to worse. He went on to become miserable, irresponsible, envious, dangerous and murderous. And towards the end of his life, he found himself looking for a witch to counsel him, even though he was the one that had driven all the witches in the land out of it when he became king. Why? It was because God had nothing to say to him again, even though he longed to hear from Him. So, he perished in battle as though he were not anointed at all. (Cf. 1Sam 28&31)

In like manner, if we keep refusing godly and wise counsel that God is bringing to us through His people that He has planted in our lives, a time may come when He will have nothing more to say to us. Where that is the case, we are not likely to see again all those wonderful people He has been using to say to us thing that will lead us to salvation or elevation. And that will be because He has stopped them from coming to us. Then, like Saul, we too may end up seeking counsel or help from witches, wizards or some foolish individuals, whose counsel will ultimately send us to our destruction.

So, if you are one of those who often meet sound counsel with stubbornness, pride or resentment, you need to watch yourself and repent when you still can. Otherwise, a time may come when you will never again see good, honest, wise and righteous counsellors in your life again. And perhaps you are already there. Perhaps all those good people that God used to send to set you right have already been withdrawn by Him. It is not too late for you to humble yourself before Him and ask for His mercy, since you still have life in you. And He will show you mercy, if you do so. But if you insist on walking in your path of error, then, know that nothing but destruction is all you can expect, when all has been said and done.

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