Month: September 2023

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2023 Pastor's Desk

No short-cut to growth |By: J.O. Lawal | Date: October 01, 2023 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk| Number: Vol. 12, No. 22

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to the month of October 2023, the month of independence celebration for Nigeria. And I pray that God will fill your life and home with sweetness and rest every day of the month, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, even though today marks the 63rd year that this country has gained independence, many do not see anything to celebrate in the fact that we are independent. Why? It is because our independence has not resulted in significant growth and development for us as a nation. And why has it not resulted in these things for us? It is largely because, as leaders and as those being led, we are not devoted to doing things that will result in growth and development.

See, growth and development don’t happen by chance or accident. There are things that make them happen. Yes, ultimately, it is God makes all things grow (1Cor 3:6-7). However, even though God is the one that makes all things grow, there are still things that He expects us to do in order for His life to work in us or whatever we are doing and make it grow.

For example, even though it is God that will make our babies grow in stature, wisdom and knowledge, we must give them adequate food, expose them to all kinds of education and also encourage them to exercise their bodies. Otherwise, the potential for growth in them will not manifest. And that will not be God’s fault.

So, if we want our country to grow and become great among other nations of the world, we all must identify those things that will promote her growth and devote ourselves to doing them. And this must reflect in the choice of leaders that we make during our elections. We cannot continue to choose self-centred, greedy and incompetent people as leaders and still expect them to do things that will result in the greatness of our country. It may take a thousand miracles for that to happen.

Similarly, if we want to grow spiritually, as God’s children, we must give ourselves to doing those things that will result in our growth. Truly, God wants us to grow up in our walk with Him. He does not want us to remain babies, having been born again. Otherwise, we will not be able to live up to His expectations in this world. And that is why He commands us in His word to grow in the grace and knowledge of His Son Jesus Christ (2Pet 3:18).

But God will not force spiritual growth on us. There are things we must do for it to happen. And we are told what these things are in the bible. We are told to give ourselves to the word of God, to prayer and to the fellowship of God’s people. And unless we give ourselves to these things, even God Himself will not be able to make us grow in our faith and in our usefulness to Him.

At any rate, the point I am making is simply that if we want any form of growth to happen in our lives, we must identify what we need to begin to do in order for it to happen. Now, of course, it may take a while for some kinds of growth happening in our lives to be obvious, even if we are doing what will make them happen. But as long as growth is happening in our lives, it will surely become obvious at some point that we are truly growing.

So, even if it is not clear to you or anyone around you that you are growing spiritual and in other areas of your life, don’t give up on doing those things that will make you grow. Instead, continue to do them. And at the right time, your growth and progress will become evident to all. My prayer is that God will open our eyes to see everything we need to in order to experience true growth and development in our lives, homes and country and also strengthen us to devote ourselves to doing it. Amen.

Happy independence.

Copyright © 2023, 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

Title: You may mess things up|Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones
Date: September 27, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 19

“Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.” (Mark 1:43-45NIV)

Who did Jesus send away with a strong warning? It was a man that he had healed of his leprosy. As the account goes, this man had approached the Lord and begged Him to heal him of his leprosy. And He had compassion on him, touched him and cured him of his leprosy. Then, as Mark shows us in our opening text, the Lord proceeded to strongly warn him not to tell anyone about what He had done for him.

But why would the Lord warn this man not to share his healing testimony with anyone? Was it not a good thing that He did for him? And would the sharing of his healing testimony not bring even more people to Him, so that He could minister to them as well? What exactly was on the Lord’s mind when He strongly warned this man not to share his testimony with anyone?

Well, no one knew the answers to these questions until the man involved disobeyed the command the Lord had given him. As we further see in our opening bible text, despite the strong warning the Lord had given him not to tell anyone about how he got healed of his leprosy, he still went around, speaking freely about it and spreading the news. Consequently, the Lord could not openly go anywhere without being besieged by crowds of people. 

Now it is true that among the reasons Jesus came into the world was to heal and set men free from all their sicknesses and diseases. But He could not have possibly been doing this all the time. He too was a man. So, like every other person, He needed to eat, rest, sleep, visit his family members and do other things that are normal and legitimate for every human being to do. Also, He needed time to pray and study the word of God and meditate on it. Otherwise, exhaustion would soon set in and make Him useless in ministering effectively to those coming to Him.

So, when the Lord told that man not to share his healing testimony to anyone, it was so that He would have enough breathing space to freely go around and minister in an organised way. That way, He would be able to minister effectively to more people and in more places without calling undue attention to Himself or wearing Himself out. But that man robbed Him of all this through his disobedience.

Yes, the man must have thought that he was helping the ministry of Jesus by publicising what He had done for him. But he was wrong. He was not helping His ministry at all. Instead, he was hindering it. The only way he could have helped His ministry was to have listened to His instruction and kept quiet. But he did not. So, he made it hard for Him to minister in that area according to His plans.

Now what is the point of all this? It is that we don’t know better than God. So, when He gives us an instruction, whether directly or through any of His servants, we should take it seriously and not act otherwise. Yes, as people with brains, we may think differently about something God has already instructed us about. Nevertheless, if we indeed agree that His foolishness is wiser than our wisdom, we will do as He has instructed us.

See, it is not every time that we will immediately understand why God is asking us to do something or not to do it. There are some things that we will not know the reason God has given us instructions about them until we obey or disobey Him. 

How, then, would you feel, if you had to learn that God is wiser than you through your disobedience and that you had missed something good He had prepared for you? Or how would you feel, if you had to find out that you had messed up God’s work, your life or a loved one’s life while you actually thought that you were helping Him? 

Those are hard questions to answer, right? So, when next you receive a spiritual instruction, see to it that you do as you are told instead of trying to follow your mind. Otherwise, like that leprous man whom the Lord healed, you too may end up messing up things. And who knows how messed up they will be?
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General Post

Watch your life | By: Johnson O. Lawal | Date: June 25, 2023 | Series: Single messages

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2023 Pastor's Desk

Be sure you are learning from Him | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 24, 2023 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 21

from pastor's desk

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours forevermore from God our Father and through our Lord Jesus Christ. I am glad to welcome you to the last week of the month of September 2023. My prayer is that God will teach your heart how to make the most of all His provisions for you to live a meaningful and excellent life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the reasons many who are Christians don’t experience the power and goodness of God as promised in Scriptures is that they don’t commit themselves to learning from Him how to do so. As we see in Scriptures, the beautiful things God has in store for all those who put their trust in Him are beyond what we can count or imagine (Ps 40:5; 1Cor 2:9). And He is devoted to making us receive and enjoy them all.

However, we have to learn from Him how to receive and enjoy what He has provided for us. Otherwise, we may end up not receiving or enjoying them. For example, towards the end of the ministry of Prophet Elijah here on earth, God told him to go and anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, to succeed him as the chief prophet in Israel. And he went and publicly anointed him, though not with oil but with his own garment, in his farm, as God had instructed him. (Cf. 1Kings 19:15-19)

Now Elisha, having been publicly anointed like that, could have gone around the country telling everyone to start calling him ‘Prophet Elisha’ and ‘God’s chosen one to replace Elijah’. What would have been the result of that? A sort of ministerial accident! Why? It is because even though Elijah had publicly anointed him as prophet in his place on the day he found him, the authority and power to function in that capacity did not come on him that day. Besides, though God had chosen him as a prophet, all that he still knew at the time was how to farm and not how to stand as God’s mouthpiece.

For Elisha, therefore, to be able to stand as God’s mouthpiece, he needed to learn. Otherwise, he may end up being rejected by God and replaced with another person, as it happened in the case of King Saul. And somehow, Elisha himself knew this. So, he left his job as a farmer, followed Elijah and became his attendant in order to learn from him how to become the prophet God had chosen him to be. (Cf. 1Kings 19:20-21)

Did that decision, then, pay off for Elisha or not? It did. That is because, as we are further shown in the Scriptures, on the day that Elijah was being taken to heaven by God, he made it clear to him that even though he had fulfilled his part of publicly choosing him as the prophet that would take his place, it was not in his hand to give him the authority and power meant for that office. That was God’s job to do. And if God would not do it, that would most likely mean that He had chosen someone else for that office. (Cf. 2Kings 2:1-15)

Thankfully, on that day, Elisha proved that he had learnt enough from Elijah to be able to see what he needed to see in order to receive the authority and power he needed to function as God’s lead prophet in Israel. So, he went on to serve God faithfully from start to finish. He did not corrupt or abuse his office as a prophet. Instead, he used to make life better for his people.

Unfortunately, the same thing could not be said of Gehazi, the man who later became the attendant of Elisha. Though he was with this prophet all the time and went everywhere with him, he did not learn from him anything tangible enough to be able to take his place as the lead prophet of God in Israel. Instead, he corrupted his way with greed and became leprous. So, instead of becoming what God had chosen him for, he ended up as a story teller in the palace of the king of Israel. What a shame! (Cf. 2Kings 5 & 8:1-6)

Well, in the light of all this, Lord Jesus says to us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:28-30NIV) Did you see that? In order to enjoy rest from the Lord Jesus and become all that God wants to become in this life, coming to Him is not sufficient. We also need to humble ourselves to learn from Him, as Elisha humbly learnt from Elijah. Otherwise, our coming to Him may end up not accomplishing anything significant in our lives.

So, be sure you are not deceiving yourself but are truly learning from our Lord Jesus all that you need to enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings given to you and to become the person He wants you to be in this life. And may you daily be strengthened by the Spirit of God to take this matter seriously, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great week.

Copyright © 2023, 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

Title: Don’t give yourself to desolation|Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones
Date: September 20, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 18

“…And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom's house, a desolate woman.” (2Sam 13:20NIV) 

Why did Tamar give herself to living a desolate life? It was the rape experience she had with her half-brother, Amnon. As the account goes in the bible, because Amnon could not deal with his irrational love for Tamar, he resulted to using manipulation to get her into bed with him. 

Unfortunately for him, the young lady would not willingly participate in the incest that he suggested to her. So, he overpowered her, raped her and then drove her away like as one would drive a stray dog away. (Cf. 2Sam 13:1-19)

To make matters worse, when their father, King David, heard about the case, he was only furious -- he did not do anything about it. He did not give Amnon any serious punishment at all, one that would let him and other rapists like him know that there was no place for them and their nonsense in Israel.

 Why? He was probably looking at the political implications of punishing the crown prince for raping his own sister. He probably even did his best to hide from the public what happened, so that the image of his family would not be tarnished. (Cf. 2Sam 13:21)

In any case, Amnon got away unscathed after raping his sister. And since he could rape a princess like that and get away with it, then, nothing would have happened, if it were a commoner that he had raped. The matter would also have been swept under the carpet and more easily too.So, we should understand that it is not only commoners that may be suffering injustice in our land. 

Some highly placed people too may be suffering injustice in silence. They too are angry. And they want to fight back and punish the injustice they have suffered with all the strength, authority and power they have. But some of the people in their lives will not just allow them to do so. 

Why? Image! They don’t want the public image of their family, company or political party to be ruined. So, though they are hurting and aching as a result of what has been done to them, they just have to let it go and bear their pains in silence for life or until an opportunity to judge those who hurt them without ruining the image they are trying to protect shows up.  

If you, then, have been a victim of any form of injustice, don’t think your case is peculiar. Don’t think it is because you are not as rich, influential or educated as some people that your matter has gone unjudged. 

That is because even if you are rich, influential or highly educated, you may still be unjustly treated and not be able to do anything to punish those who have cheated you.However, even if you have suffered any form of injustice, what becomes of your life, going forward, is what is important. 

As we see in our opening bible text, beautiful Tamar refused to move forward with her life because of the injustice that she had suffered. So, as young and beautiful as she was, she retired to her elder brother’s house and began to live a desolate life, a joyless life.

 In other words, she allowed what happened to her to make a mess of her. Why? She, unlike her father, did not know how to draw strength, courage and wisdom from God to heal and rebuild her life (1Sam 30:1-6).

Now perhaps that is where you too are right now. You are living in desolation because of certain injuries or injustice you have suffered in the hands of some people. 

You need to wake up, give your life over to God and let Him heal and restore you. That way, you won’t have to make a waste of your life because of the wickedness done to you.Remember Joseph. 

Remember that he too suffered all kinds of injustice, first from the hands of his own blood brothers and then from the hands of Potiphar’s wife. Yet he did not allow his life to stop or to become useless because of these things.

 Instead, he entrusted himself to God and gave himself to diligently doing everything that was committed to his care. So, he was healed and lifted up in due season. And to show that he was completely healed by God, when he eventually met his brothers again, he had no grudges against them.

 Instead, he forgave them and saved them and their families from the seven years of came upon their land. In like manner, you too can be totally healed of whatever injury you have suffered from the hands of men, if you will commit yourself to God to heal you. And you should do that without delay instead of giving yourself to a life of desolation and uselessness. That is because if you stop your life, ruin it or make it joyless because of anybody, you will have only yourself to blame.

 And guess what? God may eventually win over to His side those people that hurt you and whom you are using as your excuse for messing up your life. They, then, will go on and become useful and mighty instruments that will be highly rewarded in His kingdom, while you will have wasted your life and have nothing to receive from God for it. So, be wise, my friend and begin to do the right thing right away.
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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2023 Pastor's Desk

Bring them to Him | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 17, 2023 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 20

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of September 2023. I pray that God will find you highly useful in the week in leading many to experience the goodness of His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we are shown in the bible, one of the reasons our Lord Jesus had many people coming to receive from Him was that those that benefited from His ministry kept on telling their friends and families and bringing them to Him. For example, Mark gives us this report about a time when He came home:

“Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”” Mark 2:3-5NIV)

Did you see that? The only reason that paralytic man had a chance of being healed by the Lord Jesus was that his people brought him to His house. But they did not just bring him to the Lord’s house, they also did all they could to get him to see Jesus. And the Lord referred to what they did as an act of faith. So, it was not the faith of the paralytic man that the Lord considered in healing him but the faith of those people that brought him.

Also, John tells us in his gospel of how Andrew, having met Jesus, immediately went to look for his brother, Simon, and brought him to the Lord. And when he came to Him, He gave him a new name. He called him ‘Peter’. So, the reason we now speak of the great Apostle Peter was that his brother brought him to the Lord Jesus to experience His salvation and goodness. (Cf: John 1:40-41)

Furthermore, John tells us of how Philip brought his friend Nathaniel to the Lord Jesus. And even though Nathaniel was initially sceptical about meeting the Lord, his friend convinced him to come and meet him first before jumping into any conclusions. When he came, however, and the Lord gave him some revelations about himself, he surrendered himself to His lordship from that day on and became one of his apostles. (Cf. John 1:43-51)

Now though the Lord is no longer physically present in this world, He is always present by His Spirit in every meeting of those who believe in Him. And He is always there to teach, heal, deliver and transform the lives of those who are there. If you, then, have been experiencing His goodness and transformation in your life in this assembly, you too should be bringing your friends, family members and neighbours to Him to experience these same things and not be selfish. (Cf. Matt 18:20)

See, you cannot tell how much the Lord is able to do for those that you bring to Him. You cannot tell how your bringing them to Him will change their lives, homes and future. Could Andrew tell that his brother, Peter, would be used by the Lord in the mighty way he was used, when he first brought him to Him? No! But by bringing him to Him, he opened the door for him to become a mighty instrument of praise in His hands.

In like manner, by bringing your friends, families and neighbours to the Lord, you may just be opening the door for them to become mighty instruments of praise in His hands. So, as you go this week, begin to consider those that you are going to bring to the Lord among the people around you. And I pray that God will make room for you to lead them to Him and also fill you with adequate wisdom and courage to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid week.

Copyright © 2023, 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

Title: Don’t make it hard for Him|Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: September 13, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 18

“The LORD says, “I will teach you the way you should go; I will instruct you and advise you. Don’t be stupid like a horse or a mule, which must be controlled with a bit and bridle to make it submit.”” (Ps 32:8-9GNT)

From what we see in our opening text, it is clear that God is committed to leading us in the way we should go to enjoy His best and also be the best we can be in life. However, for Him to successfully lead us to experience all that He has in store for us, we have to willingly and humbly yield ourselves to Him.

Otherwise, He may not be able to accomplish His purpose in us without hurting us.See, God reserves the right to let us be, if we will not cooperate with Him in guiding us to be all that He wants us to be in life.

Yes, He can choose to allow us to lead ourselves, if we will not allow Him to lead us. And if that happens, sooner or later, we will realise that we cannot lead ourselves without ruining our lives and even everything we hold dear.Then if God, out of compassion and in spite of our stubbornness, still decides to lead us to experience His goodness, He may have to take very drastic measures to make us submit to Him and follow Him.

For example, Jacob once found himself wrestling with a man that had appeared to him while he was faced with an imminent attack from his brother, Esau. What led to his struggle with this man? We would not know. But it is clear from the account that he knew that the man he was wrestling with was no ordinary man but one in a position to bless him. (Cf. Gen 32:22-32)

Now the question is, “Why was Jacob wresting with one who could bless him?” Why did he not just yield to the man and freely receive his blessings? Well, as the account further goes, when the man realised that he could not overpower him, he hit his hip and threw it out of joint, so that he began to limp for the rest of his life.

And it was after then that he blessed him and changed his name to Israel.But what is the point of this experience that Jacob had? It was to teach him that he had been struggling with God all his life instead of yielding to him. Jacob was someone that truly believed in God and in His purpose for his life.

However, the story of his life before that experience shows that he was also someone that believed in using his own schemes to help God realise His purpose for his life. We see this in the way he cheated his brother, in the way he lied to his father and also in the way he related to Laban, his uncle. He always had something up his sleeves in dealing with everyone in his life.So, when he was supposed to go back home and settle down to enjoy his family and prosperity, the fear of his brother would not let him have peace of mind.

That, of course, was when God showed up to him in form of a man. And He showed up to him to let him see that unless He hurt him, He would not be able to fulfil His good purpose in his life, as long as he continued to insist on doing things his way. So, Jacob learnt utter submission to God and His ways in a hard way.

Now, as we see in our opening text, God is warning us too, telling us not to be Jacob. He is telling us not to be like horses or mules that had to be restrained and controlled with bit and bridle in order to make them listen to their riders. In other words, He does not want us to make leading us to experience His goodness hard or difficult for Him.

Instead, He wants us to willingly yield ourselves to Him and to His word, so that He will be able to fulfil His good purpose in us without having to first injure us. Otherwise, He may just decide to let us be and so fail to be what He wants us to be in this life. In like manner, in all our human relationships, we need to learn to cooperate with those who have authority over us and are in a position to make our lives better through their leadership, as long as they are in the will of God. We should not make leading us difficult for them (Heb 13:17).

Otherwise, they may have to take very drastic measures in making us do what we should have been willingly and naturally doing for our growth, development and profitability in life. And that may not leave us without some injuries or pains.

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2023 Pastor's Desk

Rid yourself of selfishness | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 10, 2023 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 19

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of September 2023. I pray that God will rid your heart of every wrong thing that is making your relationships sour and also hindering your experience of His goodness. Amen.

Now one of the things that often make it difficult for us to have sweet fellowship with the people in our lives is selfishness. What is selfishness? Selfishness is going for what we want without showing any concern for how it will affect others. In other words, you just want what you want and are not interested in who gets hurt or destroyed in the process.

Selfishness, then, is the foundation of all the evils being done in the world. It is the reason people steal, fornicate, rape, murder, do money rituals and so forth. They are just concerned about what they want for themselves. They don’t care about what they do to have it and how what they do to have it is going to affect others. They are selfish.

Selfishness, as I already pointed out, is also the reason people cannot get along in their marriages, neighbourhoods, workplaces and even Christian assemblies. All they think of is what they want and how to get it. They will not think of how what they want and the way they go about getting it will affect those with them or around them. So, they are going to meet with resistance, which sometimes may be violent or costly.

A number of years ago, I came home from work only to be greeted in my street with a very terrible and unbearable odour. “What happened here?” I asked my co-tenants. “Why is everywhere filled with this kind of evil odour?” And they told me that it was those in the house beside us that emptied their septic tank straight into our street.

But why did they do that? Did they think of the health implications of doing so to themselves and the neighbourhood as a whole? No! Did they consider the fact the odour that would come from doing so would drive everybody in the neighbourhood away from their houses? No! They just saw that their septic tank was full and needed to be emptied. So, they emptied it into the street. And that, of course, made some neighbours call on some government health workers to visit them and give them appropriate punishment.

What is my point? It is that selfishness will make life difficult for you and those around you. This is why the word of God says to us, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil 2:3-4NIV) Did you see that? If we want peace in our homes, neighbourhoods, workplaces and churches, each of us must not just be concerned about want we want for ourselves but also about what others want for themselves.

See, when we are not just concerned about ourselves but also about others, we will demonstrate caution and understanding in our dealings with them. So, we will not take steps that will destroy them in our attempt to satisfy ourselves or become bitter against them, if they have to say ‘No’ to certain requests we are making of them. But if we are taking steps that are ruining other people’s lives or joy because we want to please ourselves or if we are making enemies of others because they will not say ‘Yes’ to certain requests (and not rights) of ours, we are walking in selfishness. And regardless of how high we rise in life, sorrow and pains will never be far from our lives.

So, watch your life for every form of selfishness and make sure you deal with it with the word of God and by the power of the Spirit of God. And may God strengthen you to do so. Amen.

Have a great week.

Copyright © 2023, 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 General Post Youth for Jesus

Title: Don’t let it discourage you|Fire in my bone

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: September 06, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 17

“After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself.” (2Chron 32:1NIV)

What is the first thing that is brought to our notice in our opening text? Hezekiah’s faithfulness to God! When this man became king, as we have in bible accounts, he gave himself to faithfully doing the will of God. First, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple that his father, Ahaz, had shut, repaired the temple and also purified it. That was so that true worship could begin again in the land. (Cf. 2Chro 29)

Second, Hezekiah led the people to celebrate the feast of Passover in a very grand way, equal only to the way it was celebrated in the days of King Solomon. Third, Hezekiah saw to it that the welfare of the priests and Levites in the land was no longer neglected. He encouraged and led the people to bring in all the tithes, firstfruits and offerings required by the law to the house of God. And all these things were done in accordance to the will of God. (Cf. 2Chro 30-31)

Now one would expect that with this man’s demonstration of faithfulness, trouble would be very far from him and his land. But it was not so at all. As we see in our opening text, after all that he had so faithfully done for the Lord and his land, a very powerful enemy showed up and invaded his land, thinking to conquer it for himself. And his threats were so frightening that the whole nation convulsed with fear. But why should this happen after Hezekiah had demonstrated faithfulness in serving God and doing His will? Did he not do enough to please God? Yes, he did.

What, then, was the problem? Well, the coming of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, to attack Hezekiah and his people was not God’s doing at all. That was Satan’s doing. And he did it to discourage this king and his people. He did it to make him think that doing the will of God was a waste of time.Thankfully, Hezekiah did not fall into his trap. Hezekiah did not give up on God because he was attacked by an enemy after faithfully doing His will.

Instead, he cried out to God for help and encouraged the people of the land to trust in Him. And did God fail him or not? No, God did not fail him. On the contrary, God sent an angel of His that killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers of the Assyrians in one night. So, their king withdrew to his own country, humbled and defeated, without firing a single shot of arrow at the land of Judah. (Cf. 2Kings 18-19)

What is the point of this? It is that whether you do the will of God or not, challenges of life are inevitable. So, don’t think that challenges will not come to you because you are doing the will of God. Otherwise, you will often find yourself falling into Satan’s traps of discouragement. See, doing the will of God will not exempt any of us from life’s challenges. At least, from what we see in Scriptures, doing the will of God did not exempt our Lord Jesus from life’s challenges.

For example, the bible says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”” (Matt 4:1-2NIV)

Did you see that? After fasting forty days and forty nights, one would expect that the first thing Jesus would witness was a mighty provision of God or an opportunity to preach a great sermon or heal the sick. But that was not happened at all. Instead, it was Satan who showed up again. He had been tempting the Lord all through those days of fasting and praying, as indicated in the Scriptures. And when He was done, he still showed up again to tempt Him to abuse the power of God, tempt God and even engage in idolatry.

Now did the Lord allow that to discourage Him? No! Did He allow that to make Him think that praying and fasting all those days and nights was a waste of time? No! Instead, He drew His strength from the Spirit of God and resisted the devil with the word of God. And did He succeed in driving him away or not? He did.

In the same vein, we too can expect Satan to show up in our lives anytime, especially when we are feeling high and excited in the spirit because we are doing the will of God. And his coming at such times will be to discourage us and make us think that praying, fasting, giving, preaching or doing anything that is the will of God for us is a waste of time. We, however, must be ready like Jesus to resist him with the word of God until he flees from us. And he will surely flee. So, stay encouraged, beloved. It always pays to do the will of God.

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2023 Pastor's Desk

An opportunity for Him to work | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 03, 2023 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 18

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours immeasurably from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the month of September 2023. My prayer is that God will glorify Himself in very obvious ways in every area of your life in the month and throughout the remaining part of the year. Amen.

As we know from Scriptures, the world we live in is one that lies under the power of Satan (1John 5:19). That is why there is no part of the world in which his wicked works are not obvious. However, God, in His kindness, already sent His Son to destroy the works of this wicked and evil being (1John 3:8). And wherever He is permitted by men to work, Satan’s works will surely be destroyed there and God will be glorified.

For example, John gives us this account concerning a man that our Lord Jesus once healed:

“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” (John 9:1-4NIV)

Did you see that? That man was born blind, not because of anybody’s sins but because Satan attacked him. So, it is not every time that sin is responsible for people’s sufferings. There are times that people suffer simply because Satan just want to make them suffer. And if they do not know how to resist him and resist him, he will have his way and make them suffer, if God does not stop him. That was what happened in Job’s case. And that was also what happened in the case of the man we are considering.

Satan attacked this man when he was still in his mother’s womb to make him blind. How he did that we would not know. But it is clear that he was not resisted by the parents of the man. Why? Well, the reason would most likely be that they, like the apostles of the Lord, believed that he was suffering because of his own sins or their sins. And that being the case, they could not see Satan in the picture at all. All they could see was God punishing him for their sins. So, their hope could only be that He would one day have mercy on them and take His hand of judgment away from the young man.

However, when Jesus got involved in the situation, He changed the whole narrative. First, He told His disciples that the man was not in that condition because of anyone’s sins. Second, He told them that what happened to him was not the work of God but of the devil. Third, He showed them that every activity of the devil, like that man’s blindness, gives God an opportunity to do His own work of salvation and deliverance. Fourth, He showed them that His purpose of being in the world was to do the works of God among men. And did He do the work of God in the life of that man or not? He did it. He made sure he began to see from that day on. And that caused God to be glorified by the man, his parents and other well-wishers. (Cf. John 9:6-38)

In like manner, God is seeking to be glorified in your life too by destroying whatever work Satan has done or is doing there. And He does not care whether sin is responsible for his works in your life or not. All He wants you to know is that whatever Satan is doing in your life is an opportunity for Him to work in your life and be glorified. So, allow Him to work and turn things around for you good.

How, then, do we allow God to work in us and destroy the works of the devil? First, it is by asking Him to do so. So, pray to Him about whatever work of the devil you can perceive in your life and tell Him to destroy it. And it shall be so. Then we can allow Him to work by acting on whatever He tells us to do. As we see in the case of that blind man, the Lord told him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. And when he did, he came back home seeing. If we too will take whatever He says about our salvation, prosperity and healing seriously and act on it, His works will manifest in our lives and people will glorify Him through us.

Have a fabulous week.

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