Author: Pastor J.O. Lawal

Manage your position with wisdom | Pst. J.O. Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date December 24, 2021
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fire in my bones

Date: December 22, 2021 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 4, No. 32

“A wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son, and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.” (Prov 17:2NIV)

When the prodigal son lost it all and had to go and get a job, he confessed to himself that even the servants in his father’s house were better off than him. In other words, their living conditions as servants were far better than his own living conditions as a son. So, he concluded that he would go back to his father’s house and beg him to take him in, not as a son but as a servant. (Cf. Luke 15:11-20)

But why did he find himself in that situation? He found himself there because he did not manage the rights, opportunities and privileges that his position as a son in his father’s house gave to him with wisdom. And that is what Solomon is speaking about in our opening bible text. There he tells us that our position in life is not what is really important; what is really important is how we conduct ourselves in whatever position we are.

As he points out, even if we start out in life as a servant or an errand person, occupying a low place in life, if we will conduct ourselves and our affairs with wisdom, at some point, God is able to raise us up to sit, dine and rule with princes. And if we start out in life in a position of advantage, having access to riches, honour, affluence and so forth, if we will not learn to conduct ourselves and our affairs with wisdom, at some point, we will realise that we have lost it all and that some that should have been our servants are now the ones ruling over us.

Remember Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. Remember that it was lack of wisdom, prudence and character that made him lose the larger part of the kingdom that his father left for him to his father’s servant, Jeroboam. Yes, of course, it was the will of God for Jeroboam to become king and to have the larger part of that kingdom. But it was this man’s foolishness that made it very easy for what God wanted to come to pass. So, if you are given to handling your affairs with a foolish mind, regardless of how high or lofty your position in life may be, you will just be making it easy for people of lesser influences or of lower places in life to push you aside and take over what God has given to you. (Cf. 1Kings 11:26-12:24)

Then remember Joseph too. Remember that even though he started out in Potiphar’s house as a slave, he ended up being the administrator of that man’s house because he conducted his life and affairs with wisdom. Potiphar may have had sons and daughters at that time. But nothing is said in the bible about them or about any of them being the one in charge of his house. Joseph was the one in charge. And he was in charge because overtime he proved to Potiphar that he had what it takes to do so. (Cf. Gen 39)

In like manner, even if you are in a low place in life now, God is able to lift you up to a high place of leadership, power, influence and riches. But you will need to show those that He may want to use to lift you up that you have abilities that belong in the high place of life. Otherwise, it does not matter your level of faith in Him, you may never rise beyond where you are. So, don’t just desire to leave your low place in life for a high place; also, cultivate attributes that will make you fit to function in the high places of life. Then when God opens the door for your lifting, you will not waste the opportunity but be ready to make the most of it.

Copyright © 2021, 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)

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Remember where you came from | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: December 08, 2021 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 4, No. 30

“Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.” (Deut 24:17-18NIV)

Among the things that are most difficult to manage in life is comfort. And that is because it can make one totally forget where he is coming from or what he has been through in life. To say the fact, God loves to do for people things that will make them forget their years of pains, miseries or sufferings. And that is to show them how powerful He is. For instance, when Joseph would name his firstborn child, he called him Manasseh, meaning God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household (Gen 41:51). That means God did for this young man things that made him look like someone that had never suffered in life.

In like manner, He is still doing for people today things that will turn their lives around and make them forget all their years of pains and sufferings. And why is He doing this? It is so that those He is lifting and comforting may also use their position of comfort and prosperity to help others who may be suffering or experiencing pains the way they used to.

Look at what Paul says about this: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2Cor 1:3-4NIV) Did you see that? Apart from the fact that God wants us to live in comfort in life, He also wants us to be instruments through which others will experience His comfort in life. That means we are not the only ones He has in mind when He leads us into comfort and prosperity; He has others around us in mind as well. And we will do well to keep this in mind, so that we do not allow our comfort and prosperity to make us blind to the sufferings of others around us.

Unfortunately, there are many today that comfort and prosperity have blinded already. These ones were lifted by God out of some sticky mud of misery and poverty and set on a solid rock of comfort and prosperity. And they were lifted up by Him like this so that they too could begin to do things that would lift some others out of their muds of misery, poverty or shame and set them on some solid ground of peace and prosperity. But instead of allowing themselves to be used by God in this way, they are yielding themselves to be used by the devil to add to the sorrow and pains of the afflicted ones around them.

You only need to look at the way some rich and influential people today treat their employees, neighbours or other people that are subject to them, and you would most likely conclude that they had never tasted suffering in life. But they have tasted it. In fact, if you hear the stories of what some of them experienced in their days of poverty, you would know that only God could have made them survive. Yet these same people, who have had their own fair share of oppression and affliction, now no longer see anything wrong in oppressing or afflicting others. Why? They have totally forgotten what it looks like to suffer. And if care is not taken, at some point, God may have to send them or their descendants back to where they came from, examples of which abound all around us.

At any rate, it is so that God wouldn’t have to treat us in that manner that He sends us the warnings that we have in our opening bible text. There He tells His people, the Israelites, to remember where they had come from in order to settle in that land of comfort and prosperity that He gave them. They had come from Egypt, that house of furnace, where they were shamefully and brutally treated for more than three hundred years. And now that they have rest and peace of mind from Him, if they are not careful, they also will not know when they will start treating the strangers and the poor and weak people among them just exactly the way the Egyptians treated them. Then, they would open the door for the wrath of God to come upon them.

In the same vein, if, in our days of comfort and prosperity, we do not continually remind ourselves what life once looked like for us, if we do not continually remind ourselves of how God set us free from the hands of certain powerful people that would have made an end of our lives or of all the pledges we made never to oppress anyone if God should deliver us, then, we too may end up becoming worse than our oppressors. Perhaps you have already become worse than those who once oppressed you, especially in the way you treat the people that are now under you. The word of the Lord is coming to you now in order that you may retrace your steps and repent before it is too late. Otherwise, God may change His mind about you and send you back to where He picked you up from or put an end to whatever plans He has to further lift you up or prosper you (Jer 18:9-10).

I pray that things won’t have to end like that for you. I pray that God will never have to send you or your family back into any place of suffering that He already rescued you from, so that you may learn afresh whatever you failed to learn before about how to treat people. But you too have to learn to do what is right and pleasing to Him with whatever measure of peace of mind or comfort He has given you in all your relationships with others. And may you be continually strengthened to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Tags Fire in my bones, remembrance

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Guard yourself against them | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: December 15, 2021 |Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 4, No. 31

Guard yourself against them

“Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.” (2Tim 4:14-15NIV)

God, as we see in Scriptures, is able to protect and safe His children from all kinds of wicked and unreasonable men. He is, in fact, able to protect them from all the traitors and saboteurs in their lives. But then, His children also must learn to be on their guard against individuals that have clearly revealed themselves as enemies or as having tendencies to become enemies. This is so that they will not foolishly walk into their traps or snares.

For example, in our opening bible text, Paul reminds his son in the faith, Timothy, of a man called Alexander and of how this man had shown himself to be his enemy. Why? It is so that Timothy will be on his guard against him. God, of course, is able to protect Timothy against all of this man’s wicked plans and works. However, it will be foolish of Timothy not to take whatever righteous measure that is in his power to take to protect himself against this man, seeing that God has already revealed him as his enemy.

See, we must understand that it is not everybody that their earthly life is meant to end the way our Lord’s earthly life ended. Our Lord surrendered Himself to be betrayed and killed because He knew that God was going to use His death and resurrection to save the world. So, even though He knew the traitor among His men and all that this traitor was doing to hand Him over to His enemies, He did not do anything to protect Himself against him. But since none of us has been chosen for that purpose, it will be unwise of us, then, to ignore any sign or revelation to us from God about what certain people may be planning to do to hurt us.

To say the fact, one of the ways God protects us against the wickedness of our enemies is by revealing who they really are, what they are capable of doing and what they are planning against us to us. Yes, of course, we will still need to function by His wisdom to make use of whatever information or knowledge He gives to us along this line. But we must surely make use of it. Otherwise, we may end us suffering or dying where He never intends us to die.

For example, there was a time that some Jews, more than forty men actually, bound themselves with an oath to kill Paul the apostle. And they told their religious leaders what to do in order to make this happen. But God, in His kindness, revealed their plot Paul’s nephew. And he came and told him about it. Interestingly, the night before those people hatched their wicked plan, the Lord had appeared to Paul in a vision and assured him that he would certainly testify about him in Rome. That means it was not His intention for this man to die at that time. Yet He did not say anything to him about what those wicked Jews were planning. Instead, it was his sister’s son that He used to reveal it to him. (Cf. Acts 23:1-16)

Now why did the Lord not reveal that matter to Paul in that vision? Though we are not told the reason in the bible, I personally believe it was because the soldiers holding him at that time would most likely not have believed him. And if they did not believe him, they would not do anything to protect him. But when his nephew came with details of the plans of those wicked men and shared everything with the commander of those soldiers, he believed the young man and immediately made adequate and effective plans for Paul to be protected and taken away from that region. (Cf. Acts 23:17-35)

What is the point of all this? It is that it is not every time that God will use His angels or some supernatural acts to warn or protect us from our enemies. There are times that it is people or circumstances that He will use to reveal our enemies and their plots against us to us. And when this is the case, He expects us to take whatever legitimate steps we can take to frustrate them or guard ourselves against them. That is what we learn from Paul’s case. Though he may have prayed to God to protect him against his Jewish enemies, he also took advantage of the fact that he was in a military camp to protect himself against them.

So, when God’s has revealed your enemies or what they are doing to you, don’t stop only at praying for protection against them; instead, also take whatever honest or legitimate steps you can take to guard yourself against them. And may you continually be filled with the right measure of wisdom and boldness to make the most of God’s revelation to you in protecting yourself and all that is yours and that you love against all forms of wickedness and evil. Amen.

Tags Fire in my bones, guard yourself, Guard yourself against them

FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2021 Pastor's Desk

Remember to do them good | Pastor J.O. Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date December 12, 2021
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Pastor J.O. Lawal

Date: December 12, 2021 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 10, No. 32

Beloved: grace and mercy be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of December 2021. I pray that God will open your eyes in it to see all the good you are supposed to do for others in the year that you are yet to do and also enable you to do it without delay, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now I offered that prayer for you because it is in line with the will of God for you. In other words, just as it is His will that all those who are meant to do you good this year will remember to do so, it is also His will that you too will remember all those that you are supposed to do good to this year and do whatever good you are supposed to do to them or for them. Therefore, our desire must not just be for others to remember to do us good; rather, it must also be for us to remember to do others good. And there are people that God is expecting us to remember to do something good to. It may be because of certain roles that they or someone related to them have played in our lives in the past. Or it may be because we are just in the best position to help them.

For example, here is what is written about David concerning this matter: “David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”” (2Sam 9:1NIV) Why did he ask this question? It was because he remembered Jonathan, his friend. In fact, Jonathan was more than a friend to him; he was a brother as well. When he was alive, he loved him with all his heart and did all that was in his power to protect him from his wicked and jealous father, Saul.

But then, he died because of the sins of his father, and the kingdom was taken away from their family and given to David. So, at the time David was asking this question, nobody was paying any serious attention to what was going on in their family again. They had become a history to everyone. If David, then, had not made any move to find out if he could be of any help to them, they may never have gotten any serious help or attention in the land again. But by asking that question, he was able to learn that Jonathan actually had a crippled son that had been abandoned by almost everybody. And that was how the young man, Mephibosheth, was lifted out of the realm of shame and poverty and brought into the prosperity of the king. (Cf. 2Sam 9)

Now though we are not told how God rewarded David for doing this, bible accounts show us that, years later, when he was running away because of the rebellion of his son, Absalom, Mephibosheth’s servant, Ziba, was one of those that God used to supply him and his men food. But what if David had not allowed God to use him to lift them out of poverty and shame at the time he did, would the man have had anything to support him in his own days of misery? Even if they had something to support him, would they have thought about him at all, when he had not remembered them or done anything good for them when it was in his power to do so? It was very unlikely. (Cf. 2Sam 16:1-4)

So, if there are people you are in a position to support or do some good to now, and there will be such people, lose no time to help them in whatever way you can. That is because you may not be able to tell how God will reward you for the good you are doing to them today or when the good you are doing to them today will open a door for you too to receive some form of kindness that money or position cannot buy.

Do have a splendid week.

Tags do them good, From pastor's desk, good, remember to do them good

FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2021 Pastor's Desk

Use it for appreciation | By J.O. Lawal.

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date December 4, 2021
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Date: December 05, 2021 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 10, No. 31

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord. It gives me great delight to welcome you to the last month of this year, the month of December 2021. And I pray that your life and home will overflow with gladness and peace all through it, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, as we come to this very last month of the year, I want to admonish you to use it to appreciate God and all the people He has used to bless you in one way or the other in the year. Why do you need to appreciate God? First, it is because that is His will for you (1Thess 5:18). The will of God is that everyone living in the world that He created and enjoying His provisions there would show themselves grateful to Him, regardless of the circumstances in which they find themselves. So, even if certain things are not working well for them in the world at the moment, they still need to learn to be thankful to Him for those things that are working well for them. That is because things could have been worse for them, if it had not been for Him (Ps 124).

Second, you need to appreciate God because it is what will open the door for you to receive more from Him and to also receive a perfection of what you have received from Him (Ps 50:23). See, whatever we have right now, however wonderful or unpleasant it may be, is not the best for us in this life. There is always something better in God’s hand, something beyond what our minds can handle or fathom (Eph 3:20). And until we learn to give thanks to Him for the gift of life and also for all the good things in our lives, we will not be showing ourselves as worthy to receive more from Him or to have Him perfect the things that are not working well for us.

So, instead of looking at the things that are not working well in your life and complaining about them, take out time to first consider carefully the things that are working well in your life and give God thanks for them. Remember that every good and perfect gift comes from Him. So, if anything is working well in your life at all, He is the one responsible for it. And you should acknowledge that and be truly thankful to Him for it. (Cf. Ps 103:1-5; Is 26:12; James 1:17)

Also, don’t allow yourself to get carried away because of the few good things God has done for you in life and forget to be thankful to Him. That is because there is always more to receive from Him. And if you will not be thankful for whatever He has already done for you, will you not be shutting the door to receive more from Him against yourself? Remember those ten lepers that Jesus healed. Only one of them came back to thank Him. Others were too excited to remember to come back and thank Him. And it was only that one man that came back to thank Him that received one more word of blessing from Him – your faith has made you whole. In like manner, it is only those who return to thank God this year end for all He has done for them in it that will receive more from Him and also a perfection of all He has done for them. (Cf. Luke 17:11-19)

How, then, do you show God that you are grateful to Him for all He has done for you this year? First, you show it by praising Him with your words, songs and dances (2Sam 6:14; Luke 17:15; Acts 3:8). Second, you show it by giving to Him. In other words, you give something for His cause, the cause of the gospel. So, if you have not deliberately done anything for the kingdom of God this year in appreciation of what He has been doing in your life, prepare to do so this month. Third, you show it by continually using whatever He has done for you to promote His righteousness.

Finally, as I pointed out before, it is not only God you are to appreciate this year end; you are also to appreciate all the people He has used to bless, protect or lift you up in the year. I know none of us can actually know all the people God has used or is using to make life better and safer for us. But there will always be some individuals that we can point to the remarkable roles they have played in our lives. And we should think of ways to appreciate them too. That is because if they had not yielded themselves to be used by God for us, certain exaltation or salvation we experienced in the year may probably have been delayed or postponed.

Now don’t make excuses about this. It does not always cost much to appreciate people, if we will learn to be thoughtful. So, be like David, who, in the day of his prosperity, sent gifts to all his friends that accommodated and provided for him during the time he was roaming about because of King Saul (1Sam 30:26-31). And may God abundantly supply you with all kinds of good things this December, so that you can be truly grateful to Him and to all the people He has used for you this year, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Do have a great December 2021.

Tags appreciate, appreciate God, From pastor's desk, use it for appreciation

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Wait for your time | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: December 01, 2021 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 4, No. 29

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date December 2, 2021
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“Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot. Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, “Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the LORD made this prophecy about him: ‘Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the LORD, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the LORD.”” (2Kings 9:24-26NIV)

There is an adage in Yoruba, which when translated in English, says, “Until a child is holding the sword of judgment firmly in his hands, he wouldn’t be making certain enquiries about what was responsible for his father’s death.” And that is often the case in judging wickedness. Until someone has some measure of authority and power at his disposal, it does not matter how unhappy he is with the wickedness going on under his watch, he may not be able to effectively deal with it or judge it.

Now such was the case with Jehu, an Israel’s army general that was later anointed by God to be king in place of Joram, son of Ahab. As we see in our opening bible text, on the day that this man began to judge the wickedness of the house of Ahab, he reminded his chariot officer that both of them were with their master, Ahab, when the prophecy came that he and his family would certainly pay for the innocent blood of Naboth that they had shed. That indicates they too were not happy about the wickedness and bloodshed that characterised the reign of that man.

But could they do anything about the wickedness of his household at the time they were serving him? No! Why? It was because they did not have the authority or power to do so. And why did they not have the power or authority to do so? It was because it was not yet their time to have it.

However, the moment Jehu was ordained by God and also instructed by Him to make haste to judge the house of Ahab, he lost no time at all in doing so. Why? He knew that he had God’s authority and backing on this one and was bound to succeed. And he did succeed.

But then, you know that it was possible for some people who knew Jehu while he was still serving Ahab to have castigated him for not doing anything about his master’s wickedness or to even have associated him with his master’s wickedness. And that would be because they did not understand that even if someone is a lover of justice, there are things he cannot judge unless he has the authority and power to do so. And if he should dare to judge such things without having the power and authority to do so, he will most likely pay very dearly for it.

So, if you know any godly person that seems to be acting weak or docile in his position of authority, don’t be quick to judge them. That is because they may just be dealing with situations that they have no power, authority or wisdom to handle. And will God, then, be happy with you for condemning or judging them for something He has not given them abilities and opportunities to handle? I don’t think so.

Solomon says, “Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy. Even the king milks the land for his own profit!” (Eccl 5:8-9NLT) Did you see that? A lot of times, the number and ranks of those involved in making justice impossible in a place may just be too much to imagine. And without God’s backing, favour and authority, if you try to maintain justice in such a place, you may just end up perishing in a den of lions. (Cf. Dan 6)

Therefore, if you are passionate about maintain justice for God and man where you are, and you should be, if you are truly a child of God, then, be sure God has already delivered to you the authority, power and people to do so. Otherwise, wait for your time. Yes, wait until God bestows on you the authority and power to judge wickedness and maintain justice where you are, for that is only when you will succeed in doing so. And if you are wondering what you should be doing before that time, then, I will tell you this: First, be praying that God will hasten His handling of the authority and power that you need to judge wickedness and uphold justice to you. Second, continue to use your position now to promote whatever measure of righteousness it permits you to promote.

And may God strengthen you and make you alive, well and ready when the time comes for Him to use you to set right whatever is wrong in your world.

Tags christianity, counsel, Faith, Fire in my bones, wait for your time, waiting on God, waiting period, waiting time, wisdom

FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2021 Pastor's Desk

Be faithful in your service to Him | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: November 28, 2021 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Vol. 10, No. 30

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours forevermore from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to the last Sunday of the month of November 2021. I pray that the goodness of God will overflow your life and home throughout the remaining days of the month and also the year, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we begin this new week, I want to admonish you to take your service to God seriously and handle it wholeheartedly. Why? First, it is so that God can use it to accomplish His purpose in the lives of men. When we do not serve God wholeheartedly and according to His will, we may taper with the results He wants to get with whatever we are doing. And that will not be for our good or the good of those we are serving on His behalf.

For example, though the Jews of the earthly days of our Lord Jesus had priests, teachers of the law, Pharisees and Sadducees, who were ministering to them, the Lord still said that they were like sheep without a shepherd. In other words, the ministry of their religious leaders was not achieving the purpose of God in their lives. Why? Was it because something was wrong with them? No! Rather, it was because most of these religious leaders of theirs were hypocrites, whose hearts were not truly devoted to serving God according to His will. (Cf. Matt 9:35-36; Matt 23)

Now if we compare their ministry to that of the first seven deacons of the church, we see a great difference. That is because even though these deacons were not ordained to preach but to handle the sharing of food among God’s people, their ministry still resulted in the spread of the word of God and the growth of the church. Why? It was because they ministered with hearts that were faithful to God. So, if we are faithful in our service to God, He is able to use whatever we are doing, however insignificant it may seem to men, to accomplish His good purpose in people’s lives. But if we are not faithful, as I said before, we will most likely hinder or destroy His work. (Cf. Acts 6:1-7)

Yes, of course, there are times that God ignores people’s unfaithfulness in serving Him and still accomplishes His purpose through what they are doing. For example, there was a time that Moses and Aaron disobeyed Him and still got results. In other words, in spite of the disobedience of these men, God still performed a miracle for His people through what they did. But did they get rewarded for their unfaithfulness? No! Instead, they got severely punished for it. (Cf. Num 20:1-13)

Also, when we look at the life of Samson, we see that one main lesson it teaches us is that it is possible to be unfaithful to God in our lives or in our service to Him and still be seeing Him at work in what we are doing. But then, as we also see through His life’s story, if we continue to act in unfaithfulness in our lives or service to God, there will certainly come a time in which He will have to allow us to face the consequences of our unfaithfulness, which may be too much for us to handle. (Cf. Judges 13-16)

So, if you are unfaithful in your service to God, know that there will be consequences. One of them is that you won’t be receiving any reward or praise from Him for whatever you are doing. And the forms other consequences may take is not something I or anyone else can talk about. But they may be very grievous. All of this is why you need to watch the quality of service you are giving to God. Remember that He cannot be deceived or mocked. That means what you sow is what you will get. (Cf. Ps 18:25-26; Gal 6:7-8)

If you sow deception, unfaithfulness or hypocrisy in your service to Him, the fruit you will reap will show it. And if you sow faithfulness, diligence and love in your service to Him, the fruit you will reap will also show it. So, stop lying to yourself about your service to God and face the truth about its quality. Yes, examine and test the quality of your service to God in the light of His word in order that you may do what is needful. Otherwise, you will have only yourself to blame when He begins to treat you as your service deserves. I pray that you will not end up losing your reward for serving Him or get severely punished for not serving Him appropriately, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Do have a fabulous week.

Tags Faithfulness, How to serve God

Fire in my Bones

Find your strength in Him | By: J.O. Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date November 24, 2021
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fire in my bones

Date: November 24, 2021 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 4, No. 29

“David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.” (1Sam 30:6NIV)

Why was David distressed on the occasion mentioned in the bible text above? He was distressed because his fighting men were talking about stoning him? But why were they talking about stoning him? It was because each of them was bitter in spirit because their wives, sons and daughters had been taking captive by the Amalekites. And they blamed him for it. They blamed him for it because he was their leader that took them far away from their family without leaving some armed men behind to protect them.

So, in a sense, David was actually to blame for their misery. But stoning him or killing him in any way was not going to bring their wives, children and possessions that had been captured back to them. Also, it could not in any way have brought comfort to their hearts or taken away the sorrow of losing their loved ones. But because they allowed their distress to overwhelm them, they totally forgot that David had always been a good, kind and reliable leader to them all and to their families and began to think of killing him.

Perhaps you too are in a similar situation right now. You made a mistake or certain circumstances have come up against you that are threatening to destroy you or your reputation. And instead for the people that you have loved and cared for to show some sympathy and help you walk in victory over what you are faced with, all they can think or talk about is how to punish you for allowing your problem to become their personal problem or how to make sure your problem does not become their personal problem.

Now how you respond in such situations will go a long way in determining whether they go from bad to worse or are turned around by God for your good. In David’s case, though he must have felt really bad that his men and friends, whom he loved dearly and had been taken care of, could be so selfish in that situation that all they could think about was killing him instead of rallying round him to find a solution to their common predicament. Nevertheless, he did not fight or argue with them. Why? First, it must have been because he admitted in his heart that what happened was partly his fault. He overlooked a part of his leadership function, which was to secure the lives and properties of his people. So, in that instance, he failed them.

Second, David did not fight or try to defend himself before his men on this occasion because he knew that it would not solve their problem. On the contrary, it would only make an already bad situation worse. So, instead of trying to defend himself, he turned to God for comfort, strength and restoration. And did he find these things, which he could not find in his warriors and friends, in Him or not? He did. As the account further shows us, David not only found strength and comfort in God on this occasion, he also found victory over his enemies in Him. He was able, through God’s enablement, to defeat those who had taken his people captive, take back everybody and everything they had captured and also take the goods of these enemies of his. (Cf. 1Sam 30)

How seriously we need such leaders like David today, leaders who will admit their wrongs when they are wrong instead of acting in arrogance, leaders who will seek God’s face and take every step within their power to solve the problems of their people instead of trading blames? Unfortunately, what we have in many places of authority today are selfish, self-occupied and arrogant leaders, who busy themselves with fighting and insulting everyone that is pointing out their flaws instead of admitting their failures and dealing with them.

In any case, you don’t have to be a leader to be in a situation similar to David’s. And if you too will look to God for your comfort, strength, boldness and wisdom to do the right thing, you will certainly walk in victory over whatever that situation throws at you. But if, instead of doing this, you give in to bitterness, quarrelling or blame trading, you will soon enough realise that you have made a bad situation worse for yourself and others. And the following consequences may not be pleasant at all.

Tags encouragement, Find, find your strength, find your strength in him, your strength

FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2021 Pastor's Desk

Don’t let them condemn you | Pst. J.O. Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date November 20, 2021
No Comments on Don’t let them condemn you | Pst. J.O. Lawal

Date: November 21, 2021 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 10, No. 29

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours immeasurably from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of November 2021. I pray that it will overflow with the goodness and favour of God for you and your home, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we begin this new week, let me remind you of the words of Paul, which say, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (Col 2:16-17NIV) What is the point this apostle is making here? It is that we must not allow anyone to judge us according to the Law of Moses.

But why will Paul say this? It is because we will often come across people who will want to judge us according to this law. Yes, we will often find people who will want to measure our standing before God on the basis of our commitment to this law and ruin our liberty in Christ (Gal 2:4-5). I, for example remember how, when we just started holding church meetings, one of the ladies that joined our choir began to complain about some our sisters that wore trousers to church meetings. And when I asked to know why she was doing this, she said it was because what they were doing was not in agreement with what the bible says. And what part of the bible is she referring to? Evidently, it is the part in which we have the Law of Moses.

Unfortunately, this same sister used to wear trousers when she was not in church meetings. And when I asked her, “But I have seen you in town a number of times in trousers. If it is not wrong for you to wear them outside church meetings, why, then, should you think it is wrong for others to wear them to church meetings?” But instead of giving me a direct answer, she just said, “I just know that it is wrong, according to the bible, for a lady to wear what pertains to a man.” And that was how she stopped attending our church meetings altogether.

Now that is nothing but hypocrisy. It is hypocrisy to accept that something is wrong according to the God’s word and yet be doing it, whether openly or secretly. It is also hypocrisy to condemn in others what you yourself are doing. It gets even worse when you are condemning the innocent. And there are many of God’s children today who still wrongly condemn other children of His. Why? It is because they are not paying attention to the truth of Scriptures.

For example, as Paul shows us in that bible text above, one of the truths which many do not pay attention to is that the Christian must not allow himself to be judged at all on the basis of the Law of Moses. Why? It is because that law was never given to him by God. Rather, it was given to the Israelites when they just came out of Egypt as their national law and was later set aside by God after Jesus had fulfilled it and introduce a new and living way to serve Him. (Cf. Ex 24:12; Acts 15:1-29; Heb 8-10)

Is all this to say that the Christian cannot learn anything about God from the Law of Moses? No! He can learn a lot from it. And he should do his best to learn all he can from it. However, as Paul further shows us, that law is simply a shadow of what God wants His people to know about Him and life. The truth is in Christ Jesus. That means if you really want to know the truth about God and about life, it is the Lord Jesus Christ that you have to give your attention to. He is the way, the truth and the life. And no one can come to God or know God or life apart from Him. (Cf. John 14:4) So, it is the truth that is revealed in Scriptures about Him that we ought to pay attention to and get ourselves busy with. Also, it is the truth that is revealed about Him in Scriptures that we should always use as our basis for interpreting other things that are said in them. That is because it is the truth about Him that will make us free to live the kind of life God wants us to live.

All of this is why we must not allow anybody to pressure or trick us into living any kind of life that is not in agreement with what is revealed about our Lord Jesus in Scriptures. And it is also why we must refuse to feel bad or sad because certain individuals are angry with us for not embracing the law of Moses or some traditions of men that are contrary to the truth of Jesus. But we will feel sad or even succumb to the pressure of those who may want to lure us away from the truth of Jesus with their false religion or devotion, if we do not know the truth that is taught about Him in Scriptures and continue in it. So, make it your business to keep learning and acting on the truth revealed about Him in the Scriptures. And you will never be a victim of anybody’s error or excesses.

Do have a lovely week.

Tags committment, condemn, is wearing trousers a sin, judge, wearing trousers

Fire in my Bones

What are you waiting for? |Pst. J.O. Lawal |November 17, 2021 |Series: Youth for Jesus |Number: Vol. 4, No. 28

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date November 18, 2021
No Comments on What are you waiting for? |Pst. J.O. Lawal |November 17, 2021 |Series: Youth for Jesus |Number: Vol. 4, No. 28

“When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and there, underneath, he had sackcloth on his body. He said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!”” (2Kings 6:30-31NIV)

The bible text above reveals the reaction of a king of Israel after hearing the lamentation of a woman who had come to him for justice. What really went wrong? Well, as the account shows, there had been a famine in the land that made life really miserable for everybody. Unfortunately, the king did know how bad the situation had become until two women came to him and gave him a hint (2Kings 6:24-31).

Now, as one of them pointed out, because of the severity of the famine, she and her friend, neighbour or mate (we are not told exactly what their relationship was) had agreed to slaughter their sons for food. The idea was that she would first release her son for the first day’s meal and then the other woman would release hers for the second day’s meal. And she did release her son the first day. So, they slaughtered him and ate him up.

However, when it was the turn of the other woman to release her son, she was not going to do so. Instead, she went and hid him somewhere safe. But she had joined in eating the son of the woman that dragged her to the king. So, though what they both did was utterly wicked, selfish and irresponsible, something they ought to be executed for, it was only fair that the she also presented her son that they may both eat him up as well. How horrible!

In any case, when the king heard this, he was too shocked to even pass any judgment on the matter. All he could think of doing was mourning for the land and also killing Elisha, the most recognised man of God in the land at the time. But how did he expect his mourning for the land to change the situation of things for the people? Did he really expect it to bring back those that were already dead or eaten up by others as a result of the famine?

Or how did he expect his killing of Elisha to solve the problem? Elisha was the main man of God that had been helping the land with his prophetic instructions and saving this same king and his people from the hands of their enemies (2Kings 6:8-23). Yet he wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill the one with the solution to their problems. Just think about that.

Now, all along, he had known that Elisha was a true man of God and was always available for them to consult. But he did not consult him. He did not meet him to ask for his intercession for the land. He just sat down in his palace and waited for a bad situation to become terribly worse. Why? Basically, it was because the famine was not affecting him and his household much. Yes, they knew there was a famine. But they had no idea how bad it was, seeing that they were living off the provisions of the people.

Think about that. That king and his household were living off the taxes, revenues and gifts that they were taking from their people. Yet when there was a famine, they did not think it wise to do all they could, including humbling themselves before God, to see that the famine did not destroy the people providing for their needs. At least, they should have known that if the famine destroyed the people, then, there would be no one to pay the taxes and revenues they were living off. Unfortunately, they were just too self-occupied to think straight. And I suppose God had to wait until they were faced with the reality of how bad things were for the land before He spoke through His servant, Elisha, to them on how He was going to end their problem. (Cf. 2Kings 6:32-7:1)

In like manner, many of our leaders today, especially in Africa, who live off their people, are too self-occupied to make effort to know how bad things really are for the people that are providing them the money they are using to live their big and large lives. They are just too comfortable to see how bad things are for these people. That is why they will not go to those whom God can use to solve the basic problems of their land for help or even listen to them when they are telling them what can be done and should be done. But once in a while, when they are confronted with the horror of what their people are going through, they start taking some funny and meaningless reactionary measures that may not change a thing or undo the much harm that has been done. God will certainly judge them accordingly.

But perhaps you too are like that. Because of the little comfort you are enjoying now, you are ignoring certain problems that your family, neighbourhood, organisation, business or religious group is faced with. Yet you are in a position to help out or take steps that will solve those problems permanently. The question for you, then, is, “What are you waiting for?” Are you waiting for an already bad situation to become worse? Or are you waiting for what could have been handled as a domestic or communal problem to become a national or personal one?

See, there is no problem that we or the people in our lives may be faced with in this life that is beyond God’s power to handle for us. But God may not do anything to solve our problems for us, if ourselves will not acknowledge the severity of these problems and reach out to Him for help. And a lot of times, we don’t acknowledge and do something about the problems in our world until they become our personal problems. If you, then, do not want any problem being faced by those around you to someday become your personal problem, begin to make use of the grace of God in your life to deal with them. But if you keep pretending as though you could see nothing, a time will come when the Creator and owner of your life, who knows you thoroughly, will see to it that you are rewarded as your actions or inactions deserve (Prov 24:11-12).

Tags Take actions, what are you waiting for?, why