Author: Pastor J.O. Lawal

FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2024 Pastor's Desk

Be willing and obedient | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 08, 2024 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 13, No. 19

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great delight that I welcome you to the second week of the month of September 2024. My prayer is that your heart will be strengthened now and always to desire for yourself what God desires for you and to also discipline yourself to go for it. Amen.

One of the things we are consistently shown in Scriptures is that it is not enough for God to want us to have something; we too must also want to have whatever He wants us to have. Not only that, we must as well be ready to do whatever He wants us to do in order to have whatever He wants us to have. Otherwise, unless we are shown mercy, we will not have what He wants to have.

All this, of course, is why God say this to us through Isaiah: ““If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land…” (Isa 1:19NIV) From what God says here, what does He want us to have? It is the best of the place we are dwelling. And we must understand that He is not talking here about the best the place we are living in is currently dishing out to us. That is because the best the place we are living in is dishing out to us at the moment may not be good enough for us or for our families. But the best God has deposited in the place for us, which may not be visible to anybody yet, will always be more than good enough for us.

How, then, are we to access the best God has planted in our land for our good? First, as He shows us through Isaiah, we must be willing to have it. In other words, we must not be ready to settle down or be satisfied with anything that is less than His best for us. This, of course, is not to say that we are not to be thankful for what God has already given to us or done for us. We must always be thankful to God for everything He has done for us and is also doing in our lives. But as we are giving thanks to Him for what we are enjoying from His hands, we must also be moving forward to take hold of every other good thing He wants us to have. Otherwise, we will end up living lives that are inferior in quality to the kind He wants us to live.

Look at what is said in Scriptures about Joshua towards the end of his life: “When Joshua was old and well advanced in years, the LORD said to him, “You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.”” (Josh 13:1NIV) Did you see that? Even when Joshua had become very old, God still had very large areas of land for him to take over. That means he had not yet fully experienced the best God wanted to him have at the time. Sadly, his body had become too weak at the time to still take hold all of the things God wanted him to have. What a shame!

So, till our old age, God will always open our eyes to see His good provisions for us. And how beautiful will it be, if we are able to take and enjoy all of them? Well, one way for that to happen is for us to be willing and eager to have all of them. Otherwise, like Joshua, it is when we have become old and our bodies have become too weak to run around that we will be seeing all that we could have received and enjoyed from God’s hands. But it may have become too late by then. I pray that it will never become too late for you to realise God’s best for you and go for it. Amen.

The second thing God says we must do in order to enjoy the best He has for us in our land is to be obedient. In other words, we must give ourselves to following His instructions on how to take over and enjoy His best for us. Otherwise, even if we are willing to have His best, we will still not be able to access and enjoy it. And even if we access His best for us by following our own ways, whatever we receive in this manner can only introduce corruption into our lives. Therefore, we will end up not enjoying it the way we are supposed to enjoy it.

Now my prayer is that you will not only receive God’s best for you in this country, in spite of the situation of the country, but also enjoy it to the full. But you must be willing to receive and enjoy it and also obedient to all of God’s instructions to you.

Have a lovely week.

Copyright © 2024, 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)

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Perfect your knowledge | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 04, 2024 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 7, No. 17

fire in my bones

“For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” (1Cor 13:9-10NIV)

What does Paul mean here? Well, he means exactly what he says, which is that we all know in part. In other words, none of us knows everything there is to know in life, regardless of how much we may think we know. That being the case, we should never act like we know it all.

See, even if we are the wisest among men, we still don’t know all there is to know about life, not even to talk about knowing all there is to know about God. That is why Solomon, in his wisdom, says, “Then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.” (Eccl 8:17NIV)

Did you see that? Life is too much for any of us to completely comprehend. Yes, through the aid of the Spirit of God in us, each of us can know all that he needs to know to make sense out of living. But to know everything about life is beyond any of us. That perfection in knowledge will not come to us in this age but in the age to come that we are looking forward to.

Therefore, as I said before, we should never act like we know it all. That is the beginning of foolishness. Instead, first, we should learn to recognize our areas of inadequacy in knowledge. In other words, I must constantly know what I do not know and accept that I do not know it.

Of course, that I do not know something does not mean that I need to know it. I mean that it is not all knowledge that is useful to me. So, I don’t need to waste my time pursuing any form of knowledge that is useless or unprofitable to me. But if I must gain sufficient useful or needed knowledge in life, the key is to know what I do not know and accept that I do not know it. Otherwise, if demands should be made on me on the basis of what I assume or pretend to know, failure and disgrace are what will naturally follow.

The second way to respond to the fact that we know in part is to make effort to perfect our inadequacy in knowledge. That means instead for us to remain ignorant of what we need to know, whatever it may be, we should look out for those who know it and make effort to learn from them.

Yes, that may cost us something. True knowledge always costs people something. That is why many don’t make effort to perfect their inadequacy in knowledge. They are looking at how much they may end up paying for it. But it is not in all cases that knowledge costs money. There are times that all that it will cost us is humility, patience or (and) self-discipline. And if we are willing to pay the price, we will know what we need to know to move from where we are to where we should be.

Mind you, ignorance is also costly. In fact, a lot of times, it is costlier than knowledge. So, don’t keep yourself ignorant about God or about life, when and where you can learn and perfect your knowledge. Otherwise, you may end up being the enemy that will keep you stagnant for life.

Copyright © 2024, 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)

FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2024 Pastor's Desk

They may be ahead of you in the kingdom | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 01, 2024 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 13, No. 18

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 month, the month of September 2024. I pray that none of the things meant for your peace of mind and elevation will be hidden from you in the month, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we begin this new month, I want to remind you of a parable of our Lord Jesus Christ that goes like this:

“”What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.”” (Matt 21:28-32NIV)

What is the main point of this parable? It is that it is not enough to mentally agree to do the will of God; we must also go ahead and do it. And unless we are actually doing what we know and agree to be the will of God for us in every area of our lives, we will not be different from those who do not believe in God at all.

As we see in the parable, when that father spoke to his first son about going to work in his vineyard, the young man told him plainly that he would not go. Why? We are not told. He must have had his reasons. But later that same day, he thought about his refusal to obey his father and concluded that it was wrong of him to do so. Therefore, he repented and went to do what his father had commanded him to do.

But when this father spoke to his second son, he did not argue with him at all. Instead, he said, “Yes, sir. I will go and work in your vineyard, as you have commanded.” However, he never went to do the father’s will. Why? We are not told. He must have all kinds of excuses for not going. But the point of it was that he did not go to do the will of his father, even though he had originally agreed that he would do it.

Now, having told this parable, Jesus went on to make its point clear to the religious leaders of the Jews that He told it to. And what was its point? It was that that those that they considered to be sinners would get into the kingdom of God ahead of them. Why? It was because even though they knew the will of God and were preaching His will, they would not do it. But those that they referred to as sinners and useless people were turning away from their sins to do the will of God at the preaching of Jesus. So, they would surely get ahead of them into the kingdom of God.

In like manner, we may think of ourselves as godly and spiritual people, simply because we attend church meetings, carry bibles around and say ‘Jesus is Lord’ all the time. But if we are not doing the things God wants us to do in our lives and in our society, we are just deceiving ourselves and are not better than those who do not believe at all. If, however, those that we think are worthless sinners begin to turn around to do the will of God in their lives, we will someday be surprised to see that they are ahead of us in the kingdom of God.

How, then, will you feel, if you find out on the Day of the Lord that certain individuals that you do not think know anything about God or the way of righteousness are in the kingdom of God while you are in hell or are occupying better positions in the kingdom of God than you? Well, I am sure you know that such feelings are hard to imagine. But that will be the case, if you are not devoted to doing the will of God wholeheartedly. So, stop using religion to cover up your disobedience to God and begin to do all that you know to be His will for your life. And I pray that you will be strengthened to do so, even as you journey through this month and the remaining part of the year, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a pleasant September 2024.