Author: Pastor J.O. Lawal

Title: Never arrive there

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date September 24, 2025

fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 20

“Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning.” (Ecclesiastes 4:13NIV)

What is Solomon saying to us in our opening bible text? Is he telling us that young people are by all means better than old people? No! Truly, youthfulness has its own advantages. But that does not mean that old age does not have its own advantages as well. It does.

Therefore, it is faulty reasoning to simply say that it is better to be old than to be young or that it is better to be young than to be old. Both are good. And what can make the one better than the other is the measure of wisdom that is applied in handling it.

Now that, of course, is one of the points Solomon is communicating to us through what he says in that text. He is saying that the fact that you are old, rich, powerful and influential does not mean that you are better than any young person around you or in your life. If you are not walking in wisdom, then, any young person around you that is walking in wisdom is better than you, even if he is poor and unknown.

What, then, does it mean to walk in wisdom? That, actually, is not a simple question to answer. But thankfully, Solomon tells us one of the things that will show that a man is walking in wisdom in that text. He refers to it as the willingness to take and act on counsel, godly counsel. And as he points out, the moment we arrive in that place in our lives where we no longer respect godly counsel, we have become nothing but fools, irrespective of our age or position in life.

Remember that Solomon himself, at some point, arrived in that place in his life where he no longer yielded to godly and scriptural counsel concerning the many strange women in his life. And even though God appeared to him twice to warn him, he still did not listen to Him. So, in his old age, the strange women in his life led him into the worship of idols. That, of course, was the foundation for the loss of the larger part of the kingdom by his household. (Cf. 1Kings 11)

So, when this man is telling us that it is better to be young, poor and unknown and receptive to godly and spiritual counsel than to be old, rich, influential and powerful and be deaf to godly counsel, he knows what he is talking about. That is because that poor and unknown young person can become rich, known and powerful by acting on the godly counsel coming to him. But the one who is already rich, powerful and known can lose everything and be put to shame, even in his old age, if he should begin to despise and reject godly and spiritual counsel.

Never arrive there, then! No, never arrive in that place in your life where you think you already know it all and begin to do away with spiritual and godly counsel. That is because it is a foolish place to arrive in. And once you are there, regardless of how old you are or how far you have come in life, all that you have done or accomplished in wisdom may soon be lost.

So, mind yourself.

Copyright © 2025, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: Is it what you need to hear?

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date September 20, 2025

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 21

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to the third week of the month of September 2025. My prayer is that your ears will never again be deaf to the voice of the Spirit of God, so that you will not perish with this world of darkness. Amen.

As we see in the book of Revelation, one of the things the Lord Jesus kept on saying to His churches that He wrote letters to was that the one who had ears to hear should hear what the Spirit of God was saying to the churches. That is telling us that it is not everyone that has ears to hear the voice of the Spirit of God, whether for their promotion or protection. What some people have ears to hear is their own voice or the voice of the devil. So, regardless of what God is saying to them by His Spirit, they cannot hear it.

For example, despite the warning of Prophet Micaiah to King Ahab, this king would not listen to him. His words could not just enter his ears and cause a change of decision, so that he may be protected from the death that was awaiting him in battle. But the words of Ahab’s prophets entered his ears and made him bold to go to a battle that would claim his life. Why? Those prophets told him what he wanted to hear. (Cf. 1Kings 22; 2Chro 18)

So, one of the reasons people become deaf to the voice of the Spirit of God is that they want to hear only what they want to hear. And even if they have to pay someone to tell them what they want to hear, they will gladly do so.

No wonder the bible says:“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2Tim 4:3NIV)

Now perhaps you too are one of those that we are talking about. All the preachers and people that you are listening to are only the ones that will tell you what you want to hear. But is what you want to hear what you really need to hear? If what you want to hear is not what you need to hear, then, you are not different from King Ahab. So, you are already exposing yourself to danger. And if you fail to repent on time, you will surely ruin your life and soul someday.

So, before you turn away from whatever anyone is telling you, first ask yourself whether what the person is saying is what you need to hear or not. And if it is what you need to hear, if it is what will truly benefit your life and set it in the right direction, know that it is the voice of the Spirit of God that is talking to you. Accept it, then, even if it hurts. That will be your wisdom.

Have a lovely week.

Tags alaythia bible church, christianity, Fire in my bones, From pastor's desk, wisdom

The fruit of the Spirit

Title: Fellowship (a)|Fruit bearing 9

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date September 18, 2025

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This morning, we want to continue from where we left off on ‘Fruit bearing’. We have been looking at what Scripture says about God’s desire for us to be bearing fruit, fruit of the Spirit. And for us to bear fruit as He wants, Jesus says that we must abide in Him. He describes our relationship with Him as that of the vine and the branches. Now for branches to bring forth fruit, they must abide in the tree that they belong to. Otherwise, they would not be able to bring forth fruit. Bearing fruit for any branch is supposed to come naturally. It is not something it should struggle to do. And it will not struggle to do it, if it remains in the vine or in the tree, whatever tree it may be, that it belongs to. In like manner, we must abide in the Lord Jesus Christ in order for us to continually bring forth the kind of fruit He wants us to bring forth and to bring it forth abundantly.

Then I proceeded to show you how to abide in Him. The first thing I mentioned had to do with meditating on His word. We must remain in His word. We must allow His word to remain in us. If we allow His word to remain in us, then, we are going to remain in Him. That involves meditating on His word. It’s not a one-off thing, as I pointed out. It’s something we must continually do. It’s something we must give ourselves to doing every day.

Then I talked about prayer. We must give ourselves to prayer. We have all kinds of Scriptures that point to the fact that we must give ourselves to prayer every day. Why is that important? It is important because prayer is one of the ways we express our dependence on God. It’s one of the ways we show that it is He that we are counting on for everything that we need. Then prayer is one of the ways we receive from God what He has provided. It’s one of the ways we draw from Him what He has freely provided for us.

There are things that God has freely provided for us as we are shown in scriptures. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 12, we are told that one of the reasons we are given the Holy Spirit is that He may make us understand those things that God has freely given to us. The things God has freely given to us are for our growth. They are for our fruitfulness. It’s the job of the Spirit, then, to make these things known to us. But it doesn’t end there. We also must make efforts to take advantage of these things. One of the ways we take advantage of these things is through prayer. When we pray, we are able to take advantage of what God has provided for us. So, whatever it is that you need to bring forth the kind of fruit God wants you to bring forth, you can receive it from God through prayer.

There is, then, no excuse for any child of God not to bring forth abundant fruit of the Spirit. There is no excuse. If we would learn to meditate on the Word of God and to also pray, we would be able to take advantage of all of God’s provisions for us to be the kind of people He wants us to be. Keep that in mind.

Another way to abide in Him – because we are looking at abiding in Him so that we can bring forth the kind of fruit He wants us to bring forth – is to stay in fellowship with His people. Now this may not make sense to anyone that is not given to Scriptures. And you may not see how staying in fellowship with other people of God equals abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. But Scriptures show us that one of the ways we abide in Him is by staying in fellowship with other believers, especially those of our local assembly.

Why is this so? It is so because we are plainly told in Scriptures that we all are members of the same body, that is the body of Christ. Look at Romans chapter 12, from verse 4:

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5NIV)

Here, believers are referred to as the body of Christ. And we are told that just as a body has many members, so in Christ, though we are many, form one body. In other words, in Christ Jesus, all of us form one body. And then it goes on to say, “Each member belongs to all the others.” And that’s how things are with our bodies. Each member of your body belongs to all the other members. Each part of your body is a member of all the other parts of the body. That means there is no member of your body that can exist by itself. It has to remain with other members of the body, with other parts of the body for it to exist. Otherwise, it will not exist at all.

Now a member or a part of any body that is going to exist on its own is going to be a severed part of that body. And once it is severed from that body, it is dead. That’s plain and simple. We have had people whose certain parts of their bodies were amputated or severed. Can we still say those parts of their bodies are still members or are still parts of their bodies? No! Or would they keep those parts of their bodies that were severed somewhere? No! The moment they were severed, they would begin to disintegrate; they would begin to smell and give off bad odors. So, nobody was going to keep those severed members with them. They would have to get rid of them.

I am saying that to just let you understand that there is no part of our bodies that is self-existent or that can exist on its own. It has to remain in the body. It has to remain a part of the other parts of the body. So, each part of our body has something to contribute to the growth, development and welfare of the entire body. It doesn’t matter how small that part is. It has something to contribute to the growth, development and welfare of the entire body. There is no part of the body that is there by mistake or that is there by accident. There is no part of our body that is useless. We may not know its function, but there is no part of our body that is useless. Every part of our body has its own functions. And interestingly, there is no other part of the body that can carry out the functions of another part of the body the way that part of the body can carry it out.

Yes, for one reason or the other, we may be able to do without a certain part of our body. We don’t pray that will happen to us. There are people that have had to do away with certain parts of their bodies. They did that reluctantly. They did that because it was going to ultimately save them, save the other members of the body. But they did so reluctantly. And that’s because there is no part of the body that is useless. And once a part of the body is not there again, the body cannot function as well as it is meant to function again – its functions become limited.

It’s not a mistake, then, that our body is used to explain how the body of Christ operates. It’s not a mistake at all. It is just to make us appreciate the fact that we all belong to one another. And because we all belong to one another, we all have something to contribute to the overall growth and development and welfare of the entire body of Christ.

As I said before, each part of the body has something that it is contributing to the growth, development and welfare of the entire body. So, it means for the body to be what it is meant to be, all the parts of the body must draw whatever each part of the body has to offer or deliver. They must draw from it. They must take advantage of it.

The entire body relies on the eyes to see, right? And the entire body relies on the ears to hear what is happening around. Is that not correct? The moment the body, however, begins to ignore what the eyes are seeing, what happens? It gets into trouble. The moment the body ignores what the ears are seeing, what’s going to happen? It’s going to get into trouble.

Now these things happen in our body all the time, even though we are not paying attention to them. All the parts of our body are cooperating for us to survive, even though we are not paying attention to that. In like manner, all the members of the body of Christ must cooperate for us to be all that God wants us to be. The point I’m making is that there is no way any of us can bear fruit the way God wants them to bear, if he is not going to draw from other members of the body of Christ. It is not possible. Each member of the body of Christ has something to offer for you to be as fruitful as God wants you to be.

See, it does not matter what level of spiritual growth you have attained. It doesn’t matter how well-known you are in the body of Christ or how highly respected you are in the body of Christ. The truth of the matter is that each member of the body of Christ has something to contribute to your growth and development, to your welfare, to your fruitfulness. And if all the other parts of the body of Christ are not contributing what they are meant to be contributing to your growth and development and welfare, you will not be as fruitful as God wants you to be. It’s a simple fact.

And what it means is that even the one among us Christians that we can refer to as the most mature, if we can use that language, can still not be said to have become as mature as he can be, as long as other members of the body of Christ are not contributing all that they are meant to be contributing to his growth and development. Can you relate to what I’m talking about? What I’m saying is that there are many of us that would have become better believers, if other members of the body of Christ have been contributing what they are meant to be contributing to our lives. And many of us would have been more fruitful than we are right now if we are consciously drawing what other members of the body of Christ have to contribute to our growth and development. We need to understand this so that we can begin to make a conscious effort to draw from one another whatever it is that God will want us to draw from one another for our growth, for our development and for our fruitfulness.

This is one of the reasons those who don’t take Christian fellowship seriously cannot grow as they are meant to grow in the body of Christ. They can’t develop as God expects them to develop. They cannot mature in the things of God as God expects them to mature. They may have an appearance of godliness, an appearance of holiness. They may appear to be doing well in the faith. But the truth of the matter is that they are not doing well in the faith. If you go close to them, and you watch their lives, you will see that they are not doing well in the faith as they are meant to be doing or as they can be doing.

Yes, you may say, “I can study Scriptures on my own and meditate on the word of God on my own.” That’s fine. You can and you should be doing that. You can say, “I can pray on my own and get answers from God.” Yes, you can and you should be doing that because the word of God commands you to be doing that. But I’m saying that it is not enough for you to be as fruitful as God wants you to be.

That’s because when you got born again, you got born again into a body. And you cannot be all that God wants you to be without that body. You cannot. It’s not like it is hard for you to be all that God wants you to be without that body. It is impossible for you to be all that God wants you to be without that body. But you will have to learn to make the most of what other members of the body of Christ have to offer you for your growth, development, welfare and fruitfulness in Christ Jesus.

Now Paul says something similar to this in 1 Corinthians 12, from verse 12. Look at it:

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1Corinthians 12:12-13NIV)

What Paul is talking about here is the body of Christ. And he’s telling us that Christ is not one person; Christ is a body of people. That’s something that you need to pay attention to as a child of God, so that you may know how God views you and where you belong and make the most of your position in the family of God.

Well, Christ is not one person; Christ is a body of people. When we talk about Jesus Christ, Jesus is a person. Jesus is the anointed one. And what we are told in Scriptures is that He is the head, the head of the body of Christ, you see? But I’m saying Jesus is just one person. And if He is the head of the body, that means that body has members, that body has parts. So, every member of that body can be properly referred to as Christ. That’s because the head alone doesn’t make the body.

The head must have a body, alright? Since Jesus, then, is referred to as the head of the body of Christ, it means He is not the only one we can properly refer to as Christ. All the people that make up that body that He is head over are also Christ. And that is why it also says that we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body. We are all brought together by the same Spirit to form one body. So, we all are members of the body of Christ. He is the head. We are the body. So, we are jointly united; we are jointly connected.

Before we go further here, let me read to you from Ephesians chapter 1, from verse 22. Speaking about Jesus, Paul says:

“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:22-23NIV)

God has placed everything under the feet of who? The feet of Jesus! And then He appointed him to be head over who? Over the church! He has been appointed to be head over us. Paul goes on to say that we are His body. So just as we can refer to Him as Christ, and we should refer to Him as Christ because He is Christ, we also can be referred to as Christ.

Now that may appear strange to the religious mind. So, we may not want to bother the religious mind about that. Because if you say to a religious man, “I am Christ,” it is going to bother him. It is going to disturb him. And he will want to drag things with you. And you don’t need to get involved in any kind of quarrel with anybody. It is not necessary. But you should know that for yourself, that you are Christ. It should be personal knowledge to you.

Think about this: If you are looking for someone, and maybe the person is probably looking over somewhere or bending somewhere, so that you can’t see the person’s head but just the body, you are not going to say, “Oh, that is Joshua’s body.” What are you going to say? That is Joshua! Is that not what you will say? That is what you are going to say. Someone will have to be dead for you to say that is his body. If the person is alive, you are not going to say that is his body. You are going to say that is him. Right? If you are pursuing a thief, and they cannot see his face, but they can see him running somewhere, what are they going to say? They are not going to say that is his body. Rather, they are going to say that is him.

So, we can properly refer to ourselves, all of us who are in Christ Jesus, as Christ. That is because Paul tells us in this text that Christ is the head and we are his body. He even does better in explaining this to us. He refers to us as the fullness of him. Look at it, verse 22 again: “…which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Who are the fullness of Christ? We are the fullness of Christ. We are His completeness. We complete Christ. That’s the point. And that is because it is the same Spirit that has made Jesus Christ that has also made us Christ. It is the same spirit that gave birth to Jesus that has given birth to us. We have not been born by a different Spirit. We have been born by the same Spirit. We have been recreated by the same Spirit.

Now that’s what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 12. He says by the same Spirit we all have been made or baptized to form one body. So together we make one body. That’s the kind of relationship we have with one another. We are members of one another. And we must keep this in mind, that we are members of one another and that each of us has something to contribute to the growth, welfare, development and fruitfulness of the others. No, we may not have learned enough about how to do this. But each of us is in that position, placed there by God to be able to contribute to the overall growth, development, welfare and fruitfulness of the entire body of Christ.

I really won’t be able to finish up with this this morning. But then, I should say this in advance: the fact that we are saying this, that each of us has something to contribute to the overall welfare, usefulness and fruitfulness of the entire body of Christ, does not mean that everyone that refers to himself as a Christian is able to do the same thing. Because as I’m pressing this further, I am going to show you how each of us is able to contribute to the fruitfulness of the others. That means we must be in proper fellowship with one another for that to happen. It means we must respect one another. It means we must take one another seriously. It means we must relate to one another in unity for that to happen.

But then, we are warned in Scriptures that there are certain individuals that refer to themselves as believers that we must stay away from. So, while I’m saying this, I must also let you know that it’s not every believer or every so-called believer that has something to contribute to your growth or that has something to contribute to your fruitfulness. It is not everyone that refers to himself or herself as a believer that you will interact with and your life will become better.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, from verse 9, Paul says:

“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people – not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case, you will have to leave this world. But now I’m writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.” (1Corinthians 5:9-11NIV)

Look at what Paul is saying here. He says, “I wrote to you in my letter.” What letter? We do not have that letter. So, evidently, there was a letter before what we’re referring to now as 1Corinthians. Paul had written them a letter before he wrote this one. And in that letter, he told them not to associate with sexually immoral people. Now he is clarifying for them those that he’s actually referring to, those that he’s saying they must not associate with. And he’s saying that I’m not referring to those of this world who are sexually immoral or who are swindlers or who are idolaters. In that case, you will have to leave this world.

So, when the word of God says do not associate with sexually immoral people, with those who are greedy, with those who are involved in idolatry, it’s not essentially referring to those of this world who are unbelievers. We cannot run away from such people. They are all around us. Some of them are our family members. Some of them are our neighbors. Some of them are our colleagues at work or in school. We buy things from them in the market. And you can’t make certain choices about whether you’re going to relate to them or not relate to them. No, you can’t run away from relating to them. You just have to relate to them. Otherwise, you will need to leave the world. You can’t insist that the person that is going to sell pepper to you in the market must be a Christian. You are not going to eat at all if you want to do that. You can’t insist that the motorcyclist that is going to carry you must be a Christian. You will soon wear yourself out if you want to do that. If you want to rent a house, you can’t insist that the landlord must be a believer. You may not get a house to rent if you want to do that.

The point we are making is that we cannot totally avoid relating to those of this world simply because they are immoral or greedy or wicked. For one reason or the other, we will need to keep on relating to them. Of course, we are told how to relate to them in Scripture. So, don’t miss my point. We are given sufficient instructions in Scriptures on how to relate to such individuals as well. But we are not told in Scriptures not to associate with them at all. If we want to do that, we will probably need to leave the world. Not only that, we will not be able to affect them with the Word of God. So, take note of that.

But the people I am referring to are those who refer to themselves as believers, those who refer to themselves as believers but who are sexually immoral or greedy, who are involved in adultery, who are swindlers. We are told not to associate with them. We are told not even to eat with them. Why? They have nothing to contribute to your growth. They are not going to help your faith. On the contrary, they may ruin your faith. They may pollute your life and destroy the good work that God is doing in you. So, Paul says, “Do not associate with such individuals.”

You can see that we already have a clear instruction about this. And that is not to say we are to hate them. It is not to say that we are to abuse them. But it’s just to let them know that the kind of Christianity they are practicing is not the one we are called to practice in Scriptures. So, you must stay away from them.

Also, from 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1, Paul says this:

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,

boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” (2Timothy 3:1-5NIV)

Again, is Paul referring to unbelievers here? No! I used to think, growing up as a believer, that Paul was referring to unbelievers. In fact, growing up, I heard messages preached along this line that suggested that Paul was referring to unbelievers. But look at what he says again: “Mark this: People will become lovers of themselves, lovers of money and so forth in the last days.” Now are unbelievers becoming these things? No, they are already these things. They are already lovers of themselves. They are already boastful. They are already unforgiving. They are already disobedient to parents. And that’s why we properly refer to them as unbelievers. Is that not true? So, they are not becoming these things. They are already these things.

Paul, then, cannot be referring to them. Conversely, he is referring to believers. They are the ones that can become these things. Because of the times, they can become these things. And he further tells us that they will have a form of godliness, that is, an appearance of godliness. That means they also are going to be involved in doing most of the things that godly people are doing. They are going to be praying in the name of Jesus. They are going to have personal bibles. They are going to be attending bible study meetings. They are going to be attending prayer meetings. They are going to be giving tithes. They are going to be giving offerings. Some of them would have changed their names to bible names. That is what Paul means when he says that they are going to have an appearance of godliness.

However, the power of God will not be in expression in their lives. Because it takes the power of God to be godly. It takes the power of God to manifest godliness. It takes the power of God to manifest holiness. It’s not something based on mere talk. It takes God’s power, divine power, to live a godly life. It is impossible to live a godly life without God’s power. It is impossible. God’s power must be at work in you for you to live a godly life.

If His power, then, is not at work in you, it does not matter how you try to fake it, it is not going to work. You are just going to be an actor. That’s all. It’s not going to work. And the believer is told to stay away from you. So, stay away from such people. Why? They are not going to contribute to your growth. They are not going to contribute to your fruitfulness.

Now I’m saying this in advance so that you get my point and don’t misrepresent what I’m saying. The fact that I’m drawing your attention to the reality of our oneness in Christ, to the fact that we all have something to contribute to each other’s fruitfulness doesn’t mean that everyone that claims to be a Christian is in that position to help your faith or to help your growth. Do you get my point?

We’ll close here this morning. Let’s bow our heads and thank God for his word that’s come to us.

Copyright © 2025 Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Be safety conscious

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date September 18, 2025

fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 19

“Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.” (Ecclesiastes 10:8-9)

What is Solomon speaking to us about here? Basically, he is speaking to us about the need to be careful in all that we do. And he uses four different activities that we may engage in to illustrate his point to us.

First, he speaks about the digging of pits. As we all know, we often dig pits for various good reasons. And there are times that we dig pits to deliberately endanger the lives of others.

In any case, Solomon’s point is that we must always keep in mind the fact that we ourselves can fall into a pit that we have dug, even if we have dug it for a good and legitimate reason. Therefore, when digging any pit, we should put safety measures in place.

That way, nobody’s life, including our own very lives, will be endangered by it. Then we should be careful never to dig a pit for anybody’s fall. That is because we may end up being victims of our own wickedness.Solomon also speaks about breaking through walls. And there are times that we need to break through some walls to move ahead in life or to enjoy some relationships or to know some secrets.

But whether it is a necessity that we break through a wall or not, it is important that we demonstrate utter carefulness and preparedness in doing. That is because we may not fully know or appreciate what is waiting for us behind that wall. And if it should be a snake or something even more harmful, we should meet it ready.

Otherwise, we may end up being sorry for ourselves.What we are saying is that what is behind a wall of limitation may be more dangerous and limiting than the wall itself. And where people don’t function with an understanding of this, where all they are after is just breaking through their limitations and they are not preparing for what may be behind those limitations, they may end up losing their lives or endangering their lives in ways beyond their expectations.

Furthermore, Solomon speaks about the quarrying of stones and splitting of wood. And while these things can be done legitimately, it does not cancel out the fact that there are dangers associated with doing so. Therefore, anyone quarrying stones or splitting wood ought to know that he may endanger himself and others around him while doing so, if he is not safety conscious.

Now Solomon says this to let us know that each job has its own hazards. It will be wise of each of us, then, to appreciate the dangers associated with whatever work we are doing and put measures in place to protect ourselves from them. Otherwise, we may end up endangering ourselves and others that we love. And how painful would that be?

At any rate, while it is highly important that we are safety conscious in all that we do, we must also never forget that unless God keeps us safe, we will not be safe, however careful or safety conscious we may be. So, we must never put our trust in our being safety conscious but in God. And may God continually keep us all safe from all forms of accidents and hazards, in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Tags abc, alaythia bible church, counsel, Fire in my bones, wisdom

FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: Even if you are a king

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date September 13, 2025

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 20

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be abundantly yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to another week of the month of September 2025.

My prayer is that God will daily strengthen your heart to take His word seriously for you to always be successful in all your endeavours, in Jesus’ name. Amen.As we see in the bible, it does not matter who we are in life, God wants us to take His word seriously.

Why? It is because it is only through His word that can truly succeed in life and also enjoy our success. So, even if you are a king over people, you still need the word of God to be a successful king, a king that those under him will flourish.

Look at the instruction Moses gave to anyone that would be king over the people of Israel:“When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites.

It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.” (Deut 17:18-20NIV)

What is the first thing anyone that becomes king over the people of Israel must do? He must get a copy of the book of the law of God for himself. Why? First, it is so that he may give himself to reading it and also to meditating on it all the days of his life.

Second, it is so that he may be careful to live his life according to God’s word. And if he will do this, as Moses points out, he and his descendants will prosper and also reign a long time over the land.You can see, then, that even for any king in Israel to prosper and have many descendants that will reign after him, he must take the word of God seriously. He cannot ignore His word or claim that he is too busy for it.

Otherwise, his reign will not last. Unfortunately, as also see in the bible, most of the people that became kings over the Israelites did not take the word of God seriously.

So, their kingdoms did not endure. Instead, at some point, God had to send all the people into exile because of them. And we see the same thing happening in our world today. Wherever leaders do not take the word of God seriously, they cannot prosper. Instead, they are bound to lead their people into all kinds of slavery.

In any case, the point I am making is that if kings need to take God’s word seriously in order to prosper in life, we who are not kings cannot expect to prosper in life without taking His word seriously. So, if you have not been taking His word seriously, you need to repent for your own good.

How? First, get your own copy of the bible that you can read and understand. Second, give yourself to reading it and to also meditating on it. And as you daily do so, it will not be long at all before you find yourself living according to what God is saying to you.

Now anyone that is daily living according to what God says is bound to prosper in life. He may start small in life like David. Yet God will see to it that he prospers. He may also face many challenges in life like Joseph or Job. God will still see to it that he prospers. So, regardless of your position in life at the moment, take the word of God seriously. And true and lasting prosperity will be yours.

Have a splendid week.

Tags alaythia bible church, christianity, Fire in my bones, wisdom

Fire in my Bones General Post Youth for Jesus

Title: The Lord looks at the heart

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date September 11, 2025

fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 18

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”” (1Sam 16:7NIV)

When did God say the words of our opening bible text to Samuel? It was when he was in the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as king over Israel, that is, in place of King Saul. And who was Samuel not to consider his appearance or height? It was Eliab, Jesse’s first son.

Now why was Samuel not to consider Eliab’s appearance or height? It was because God needed more than his appearance and height in order to make him king. God also needed his heart to be right.

Unfortunately, the man did not have the kind of heart that could make God choose him as king over His people. So, he was rejected.But then, it was not only Eliab that was not considered by God to have the heart of a king among Jesse’s sons. Six other sons of his were also considered by God not to have the heart of a king. Only David, the man’s last son, was considered by God to have the kind of heart He needed His king to have. And it was he that Samuel was told to ordain as king over the people of Israel. (Cf. 1Sam 16:1-13)

What is this teaching us? It is the fact that even though God is the one that promotes or exalts people in life, He does not exalt them indiscriminately. On the contrary, He exalts people based on what He sees in their hearts.

The fact, then, that someone is in a low position does not mean that God is going to exalt him. If the heart of the person is not right for exaltation, God is not going to exalt him. Yet we may see Him taking someone that is already in a high position to an even higher position. Why? The person’s heart is right for exaltation. Therefore, if you want God’s exaltation in life, take care of what is in your heart.

Yes, it may look like you are qualified for certain positions in life because of your education, beauty, intelligence, family background or social status. But if pride, bitterness, lust, envy, hypocrisy or dishonesty is your heart, God may not consider you fit for those positions. We would not know exactly what God saw in Eliab’s heart and in the hearts of his other brothers that made Him reject them for the position of king over Israel. But He saw what He saw. And what He saw displeased Him. So, He rejected them.

Now perhaps there is something God is seeing in you too that is making Him reject you for certain positions of elevation that could have been yours in life. You need to rid your life of whatever it is. But you cannot do that unless you know what it is. How, then, will you know what it is? God Himself, who knows what is in every heart, will have to reveal it to you.

If there is any prayer you, then, must learn to pray, it is that God will constantly reveal whatever displeases Him in your heart to you, so that you may rid yourself of it. And may He, in His mercy, answer you each time you offer this prayer to Him, so that you may do the needful about the state of your heart and never hinder yourself again in life.

Cheers!

Tags abc, alaythia bible church, christianity, counsel, Faith, Fire in my bones, wisdom

From Pastor's Desk 2025 FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: He will frustrate their scheme

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date September 6, 2025

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 19

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours abundantly from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer. I am delighted to welcome you to the second week of the month of September 2025. My prayer is that God will frustrate every scheme of the devil against you in the week and throughout the remaining part of the year, so that all His good purpose for your life for the year may be fully realized. Amen.

When Absalom started his rebellion, a man called Ahithophel joined him. And who was this man? He was a friend of David, Absalom’s father. Not only was he David’s friend, he was also one of his counsellors. But then, he was not an ordinary counsellor. He was divinely gifted to counsel people. Look at what is said in the bible about him:“Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel’s advice.” (2Sam 16:23NIV)

Did you see that? Consulting Ahithophel for advice in those days was like consulting God Himself for advice. In other words, you could not miss it or fail while following his counsel. No wonder David was distressed when he heard that this man had joined his son Absalom in rebelling against him. He knew that as long as Absalom continued to listen to his advice, he would continue to have the upper hand. And before long, he would establish himself fully as king over Israel.

Therefore, David prayed to God about the matter. Look at what is said in the bible about that: “Now David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “O LORD, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”” (2Sam 15:31NIV)

What did David ask God to do? He asked Him to turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness in the ears of Absalom. Why? That was the only way for Absalom to lose. And did God answer him or not? He answered him. He used a man called Hushai to turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness in the ears of Absalom and the elders of Israel that were with him. So, Absalom went on to lose the battle for the throne. And Ahithophel himself went on to hang himself. (Cf. 2Sam 17&18)

Now observe that David did not pray that God should kill Ahithophel or Absalom, even though both of them were after his life and his throne. Instead, he prayed that God should frustrate their scheme. And when God frustrated their scheme, they ended up losing their lives.

In like manner, we don’t need to pray that God will kill anyone that is working against us. We just need to tell Him to frustrate their scheme, to turn into nothing whatever weapon they are employing against us. And He will answer us.

If someone, then, should die or suffer greatly while God is answering our prayers, we will not be held responsible for their blood.So, don’t worry about those who are working against you and trying to pull you down or destroy you, regardless of their number. Instead, pray to God that He will turn into foolishness whatever they may be saying or doing against you. And He will answer you and see to it that you are not put to shame.

Have a lovely week.

Tags alaythia bible church, christianity, counsel

The fruit of the Spirit

Title: Prayer | FruitBearing 8

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date September 4, 2025

Series: Fruit bearing

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This morning, I want to further share with you on ‘Fruit bearing’. We have been looking at what Scriptures have to say to us about bringing forth fruit. And that’s because it is the will of God for us to bear fruit, which is referred to in scriptures as the fruit of the Spirit. On that note, we have looked at how to bear fruit. And one main instruction the Lord Jesus Christ gives us along that line is that we must abide in Him. He says, “Abide in me. Unless you abide in me, you cannot bear fruit.” He already describes our relationship with Him as that of the vine and the branches. And as branches cannot bear fruit unless they abide or remain in the vine, we cannot bear fruit unless we remain in Him.

How then do we remain in Him? One main way to remain in Him is to allow His Word to remain in us. We must give room to His Word in our lives. If we will not give room to His Word in our lives, then we will not be able to bring forth the kind of fruit He wants us to bring forth. It’s not about struggling to do this or to do that. It’s about abiding in your source. It’s about remaining connected to your source, the source of your fruitfulness.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the source of our fruitfulness. The child of God must keep that in mind. The child of God must know that. In fact, when somebody becomes a Christian, that’s the first thing he must be educated in. Otherwise, he may struggle. He may struggle in his Christian life, struggling to please God. It’s possible that even you are struggling to please God this morning. You are struggling to be the person He wants you to be. You are struggling to walk in love. You are struggling to be patient, kind, humble, gentle, self-controlled. Something is missing. What is missing is the fact that you are not abiding in your source.

You are not supposed to struggle. I’m not saying you are not to make effort. That’s not what I’m talking about. But struggling to be the person God wants you to be shouldn’t be happening in your life. And it will not be happening in your life if you are drawing from the source of your fruitfulness.

Now as I said before, one way to draw from Him is to meditate on His Word. Keep meditating on His Word. If it’s been hard for you to do certain things that He wants you to do, then, it may just be that you have not meditated long enough on what His Word says about that thing. It may just be that you have not become one with His Word as far as that thing is concerned. So, you don’t need to become discouraged. You don’t need to become disheartened. You don’t need to give up in your quest to becoming what God wants you to become. You only need to give yourself more to His Word.

Solomon says, “If you faint in the time of trouble, your strength is small.” If you don’t want to faint in the time of trouble, what do you do? You get more strength. You go for more strength. So, you need to give yourself more and more to the Word of God. It’s not a one-off thing. It cannot be a one-off thing. And that’s one of the reasons Jesus says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Cf. Proverbs 24:10; Matthew 4:4)

Interestingly, Jesus, when He said that, was quoting Moses. It was Moses that first said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” That means the word of God is your very life; you have no life apart from the word of God. Thus, the word of God is not something you give attention to once in a while or when you feel like doing so. The word of God is something you must daily give attention to. It’s something you must every moment give attention to. (Cf. Deuteronomy 8:3)
So, you must labor to know everything the word of God says about you, about how to live to please God, about how to walk in the light of His presence. You must give yourself to knowing this. You will not know these things automatically. You will have to give yourself to learning from Scriptures what they say about you.

Even Jesus Christ had to do that. Even Jesus had to give Himself to Scriptures. And everything He did was based on what Scriptures said about Him. Even when He was going to describe the life He lived to His disciples after His resurrection, the Bible says He took them to the Scriptures, beginning with Moses, to show them that everything that happened to Him was consistent with what is in Scriptures. (Cf. Luke 24:25-27)

If Jesus Christ had to live like that, in order to live a life that was well pleasing to God, don’t think you can do otherwise and live a life that is well pleasing to God. It is not going to work. So, you must be prepared to give yourself to the word of God every day, every moment, if you are going to bring forth the kind of fruit He wants your life to bring forth.

Then you must also learn to express your dependence in God. Don’t forget Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” That means it is impossible for you to do anything that will please God apart from Him. Again, as I pointed out before, you may do some things apart from Him. You may have been doing a lot of things apart from Him. And there are many people today in the world that are doing all kinds of things apart from him. But the day is coming when they are going to realize that everything they have done apart from Him is nothing. It will be summed up as nothing. It will have no praise from God.

See, for God, it is not just for us to get involved in all kinds of activities — God is also interested in what is motivating those activities. He is also interested in where we are drawing the strength to carry out those activities. So, if you have agreed that apart from Him you cannot do anything, that apart from Him you cannot bear the fruit He wants you to bear, be the person He wants you to be or do the things He wants you to do, then you must learn to express your dependence in Him.

How? Through prayer! I have been talking about drawing from your source in order to live the kind of life God wants you to live. And this is of course something you must be interested in doing. I can’t remember the number of times I have said that while sharing with us in this series. You must want what God wants for you. You must desire to be what God wants you to be. If you don’t desire to be what God wants you to be, it is not going to happen. And the scriptures are abundantly clear about that. God is not going to force you to be the person he wants you to be or to have whatever it is that He wants you to have. You must want to have what He wants you to have. You must want to be what He wants you to be. Because that’s one of the things that will motivate you to go in the right direction.

So, do you want to bear fruit? Do you want to bear the fruit of the Spirit that Christ speaks about, the fruit of love, joy, peace, faith, self-control, patience, humility, gentleness, brotherly kindness and generosity? Do you want to bear much fruit? If you want to, then, you must also be willing to draw strength from the one, the only one that can make it happen. You must be willing to draw wisdom, understand or whatever it is that you may need from the only one that can make it happen.

Therefore, you must be willing to pray. You must be devoted to prayer. You can’t bear the kind of fruit God wants you to be abundantly if you are not devoted to prayer. That’s because there are forces in this life that are working against you. There are forces in this life that do not want you to bear fruit. There are forces that do not want you to be the person God wants you to be. The Word of God is very clear about that. It says that we are in a struggle, we are wrestling, not with human beings but with demons. And you better keep that in mind.

There are people who don’t believe in the supernatural, of course. And that’s unfortunate. Because the supernatural is all around them. There are people who don’t believe in the existence of Satan or in the existence of demons. And that’s unfortunate again because Satan and demons are all around you. Demons are all around us. And I am not saying that to make you afraid. That is because just as demons are all around us, we also have angels all around us. They are coexisting. We too are coexisting with them. They are our neighbors. I’m telling you. Demons are your neighbors. There’s nothing you can do about that, just as angels are your neighbors. They are all around us. (Cf. Ephesians 6:12)

Well, the word of God says we are in a struggle with them. And that’s why we have to be strengthened every moment. We have to be strong every moment. For us to be the persons God wants us to be, for us to live the kind of life He wants us to live, we have to be strong. We cannot afford to be weak. We cannot afford to be feeble. And to access strength, we must be given to prayer. Strength is available in God. You must understand that. Wisdom is available in God. Everything we need is already present in Christ. And since we are in Him, we have access to everything we need. That’s what the word of God tells us. We have access to His fullness.

Paul is talking about this in Colossians chapter 2 when he says you have been given fullness in Christ. It means we have access to His fullness, the fullness of His life. But the point is that we don’t always take advantage of His fullness. It’s something we have to learn to do. If we all are daily taking advantage of His fullness, our lives would have been a lot better.

Now this goes beyond just confessing it. This, of course, again is where certain Christians are missing things. They confess the word of God. And that’s good. They confess the fact that they have been given fullness in Christ. But see, your confession of the fullness of Christ is just a declaration of the truth. It’s not your confession that will make what has happened true. What has happened has already happened. The fullness of Christ is already yours. Your confession of it is not going to make it any more yours, because it is already yours.

Fine, it is good to confess what God says. It’s so that your spirit can agree with that reality. But what has happened has already happened. What ‘is’ is already is. It’s not your confession of it that is going to make it more real. So, confession is just confession. A confession of the truth is just a confession of the truth. You must apply the truth for it to work. If you don’t apply the truth, the truth will not work.

You see, if you don’t take steps on the basis of the truth you know, the truth will not automatically work. Jesus says you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. That is the reality. But for the truth to make you free, you must act on it. Today you have access to the fullness of Christ. You must take advantage of the access that you have to His fullness. And I’m saying that one of the ways to take advantage of your access to His fullness is being devoted to prayer.

So, if you find that certain fruit of the spirit is not manifesting in your life, apart from meditating on what the word of God says about that fruit of the spirit, you must also pray for the manifestation of that fruit in your life. That is because it is supposed to be manifesting in your life. Now this is what James is talking about. Look at James chapter 1, from verse 5, which says:

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (NIV)

Did you see that? It says, “If any of you lacks wisdom.” Now of course, some Christians have problems with this. They believe that James is not reasoning like a New Testament preacher. Why? It’s because Paul says Christ Jesus has already been made wisdom unto us. So, they think that this is conflicting, that the reasoning of the Christian or of the New Testament believer should be that wisdom is already his. And it is true. Wisdom is already yours. Wisdom is already yours in Christ. Christ has been given to us as wisdom from God. He is our wisdom. (Cf. 1Corinthians 1:30)

But the question is, “Do you always manifest that wisdom?” The things you say, are they always words of wisdom? The decisions you make, have they always been decisions of wisdom? The week just ended yesterday. All the decisions you made last week, were they decisions of wisdom? All the steps you took last week, were they steps of wisdom? All the words you spoke last week, were they words of wisdom? You took last week. Were those types of wisdom? Can you confidently tell yourself that everything you did last week was wisdom-based or wisdom-motivated? If it is not so, then something is wrong with your understanding of Scriptures or your application of it.

Look, the fact that the word of God says that Christ has been made to us wisdom doesn’t mean that we are always walking in wisdom. What the word of God wants us to know is that wisdom has been made available to us in Christ Jesus. But we must not know how to access that wisdom. We must know how to access it and utilize it. Otherwise, even though we have access to wisdom, we are going to be doing foolish things.

There are many believers that are doing foolish things; they are continually taking silly steps. It’s not because wisdom is not available to them. It is simply that they are not taking advantage of it or they have not learned how to take advantage of it.

So, James is not saying something contradictory to what Paul says. James is only showing us how to access the wisdom that is already ours. And he says, “If you lack wisdom, if you can see that you are making foolish decisions, that the decisions that you are taking, they are not moving your life forward, what should you do? Talk to God about it.”

Or if you find yourself in a situation and you don’t know exactly what to do. It’s not every time that we don’t know exactly what to do. That’s because the wisdom of God is already present in our lives. But you know, there are times that we come in contact with certain situations and we don’t know exactly how to handle them. You are asking yourself: “What do I say here? How do I decide here? What step do I take here?” You don’t know.

Now you don’t sit down, worried about the situation. That won’t work. You don’t pace the floor, trying to wrap your mind around the situation. Sometimes that may work; there are times that it may not work. Because, of course, if wisdom will be operational in your life, you must learn to think. The word of God also tells us that wisdom will not always readily work in us, if we are not going to use our head. The reason God has given you that mind to think is so that you can think; it’s not so that somebody can do your thinking for you. Yes, of course, you may employ people to do your thinking for you; that’s good business. People do that all the time, employ people to do their thinking for them so that they can think. That’s even thinking on its own, to know that you can employ people to do your thinking for you in certain areas of life.

Well, we are saying that if wisdom will work, you must think, because it is as you think that wisdom is released. When you read the books of Solomon, you will find things like ‘I ponder’, ‘I think,’ ‘I consider’. So even though God blessed Solomon with wisdom, wisdom wasn’t just naturally or automatically manifesting in his life; the man had to use his head for the thing to work.

But even if you are using your head, there are times you still won’t know what to do. You will think and think until you are probably wanting to have a brain damage. Then you can tell that your brain is tired or exhausted. Yet your problem is not solved. What should you do? Pray to God for the needed wisdom!

I said all of that to draw your attention to something, because what James is speaking about here is not applicable to accessing wisdom alone. There’s a principle there that can be widely applied. The word is: “If any of you lacks something.” It may be anything. In this case, he’s speaking about wisdom. But what you lack may not be wisdom. What is not finding expression in your life may not be wisdom. It may be joy that is not finding expression in your life. It may be love. It may be gentleness. It may be humility. It may be self-control. You know from the word of God that this thing is meant to be finding expression in your life, but it is not. What should you do? You pray.

Maybe you have found yourself caustic. People can’t interact with you without getting hurt, without getting injured. There are people like that. Even though they are Christians and attend church meetings, you cannot have a normal interaction with them without getting hurt. They will say something that will hurt you. They will just do something that will hurt you. If you live with them from morning till evening, they will have hurt you a number of times before the close of the day.

If you are like that, something is wrong. That’s not who you are. You are acting contrary to what you are and you need to accept the fact that you are already acting contrary to what you are. The fruit you are bearing is not the fruit God wants to see. And you don’t have to be making excuses for yourself. But you can be doing that. You may not confront yourself with the truth about what is happening in your life, which is contrary to the will of God. You may say, “I’m just who I am. I can’t change.”

See, if you want to make an excuse for yourself for possessing a bad habit, you will have an excuse to make for it. If you want to make an excuse for being impatient, you will have an excuse for being impatient. If you want to make an excuse for having a short fuse, you will have on. At the slightest provocation, you get angry, you get upset, you are shouting, you are screaming at somebody. You can say that’s how you are in your family. You can say it’s just that I don’t like people being cheated. You can say that. You know it’s an excuse. I can’t just tolerate anybody cheating on me. That’s your excuse for having a short fuse.

But the truth is it’s not acceptable. And once you don’t agree that it’s not acceptable, you are not going to deal with it. But when you agree that it’s not acceptable and say, “I cannot continue like this, getting angry every minute. I cannot continue like this,” what do you do? You go and pray. That is because the strength to be patient with people is available in Christ.
Perhaps those around you think of you as loveless or as unfeeling. That’s because it’s just obvious that you are unkind to those around you. The child of God cannot have that kind of reputation. You cannot have the reputation of being unkind. But that may at the moment be your reputation. You’re unkind. You’re unfeeling. What are you going to do about that?

First, of course, you must meditate on the Word of God, what the Word of God says about relating to people. The Word of God already tells us to live a life of love. And the Word of God has shown us that we can live a life of love. The Word of God says God, by His Spirit, has poured His love into our hearts. Romans 5, verse 5, says, “God has shed abroad His love into our hearts.” So, the love of God is in your heart, if you’re a child of God. It is there, resident in your heart. Your life may not manifest it. Your words may not show it. Your look may not even show. But His love is in your heart already.

To say the fact, there’s a look of love. Some Christians don’t have. There is still some wildness in their look. Somebody may be wild before becoming a Christian. And his is one of the ways you know that the Word of God has affected some people. If you knew them when they were not Christians, you could tell that they were wild. But now that the love of God has taken charge of their lives, that wild look is no longer there.

See, if there is no love in you, there is that look that comes with it. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman, that wild look will be there. And it’s uninviting. So, it doesn’t matter where people meet you, they will notice it. Maybe you’re an attendant in a filling station. When somebody is coming to buy fuel, and the person looks at your face and looks at the face of another attendant, he knows where to go. Can you relate?

Now the child of God cannot be like that. You can’t be wild in your look. You can’t. Because the love of God is in your heart. So, if it’s not manifesting, something is wrong. And you can’t be making excuses for not manifesting love. So, what do you do? You’ve got to pray about it. I am saying that if you lack love, you have to pray. Because you have access to love, the love of God. You will only need to pray about it. And it will begin to manifest in your life.

Why are you praying about it? You are praying about it because you have realized that apart from Christ Jesus you cannot manifest love. You have realized that apart from Him, you cannot manifest any fruit of the Spirit. And you want to manifest all the fruit of the Spirit spoken of in Scriptures. So, you talk to Him. You express your dependence in Him by talking to him. You will say, “I want to see this manifestation in my life. You have told me that you have poured out your love into my heart. Now I want to see that love in expression. Fill me with the strength to love. Fill me with the strength to be patient. Fill me with the strength to be humble.” And He will answer you.

Really, it takes strength to do these things, spiritual strength. And you have to draw that strength from Him. But it cannot be a one-off. There are things that told to do in scriptures that are not one-off. It’s not that you do it today and you don’t do it tomorrow. It’s not that you do it for one week and you don’t do it again. You have to do these things all the time.

For instance, how often should you meditate on the word of God? The bible says, “Day and night!” You know what that means? It means all the time. It means when you’re walking in the street, you’re meditating on His word. It means when you sit at the meal table, you’re meditating on His word. Every little chance you get, you meditate on the word of God. You are talking the word to yourself. You are thinking the word to yourself. There must be a commitment to it. Otherwise, the word of God will not find expression in your life.

The same thing goes with praying. We are taught to pray without ceasing. You know what that means? It means praying all the time. It’s not something you reserve for church meetings. It’s not something you reserve for your family prayer time. It is something you do all the time. I try to do that all the time. I’ve not gotten to where I want to be yet. But I want to get there. So, I give myself to praying all the time. And I’m telling you that it is beneficial. But it’s not something you do for one year and stop. This is what you do all your life. Because doing it is what is going to take you to where God wants you to be.

You may not be there today. You may not even be there tomorrow. You may not even be there next year. But you can be there. You can be that person He wants you to be, that man that He wants you to be, that woman that He wants you to be, that husband or wife that He wants you to be, that citizen of your country that He wants you to be. You can be it. But it’s going to be a lifetime devotion. You’re making a lifetime commitment to doing these things.

So, you’re praying without ceasing. You’re drawing from Him without ceasing. Walking in the streets, you’re praying and talking to God. You sit at a table, you’re talking to God. Because as matters of life are coming to you, you’re talking to Him about them. And it will not be long before those around you begin to feel it. And regardless of the forces that come against you, if you are like that, they cannot win. They cannot overcome you. Yes, at some point, you may feel like they’re going to overcome you. But they are not going to overcome you. They are not going to win. They are not going to defeat you.

The bible says those who hope in Him will have their strength renewed. Those who are constantly expressing their dependence on God will always have their strength renewed. They will always have access to the needed wisdom, to the needed understanding, to the needed strength, to the needed boldness.

But this is not for the lazy. The Christian life is not for the lazy. It is hard work. And you have to be willing to do the hard work. But see, there’s nothing you want to do that is harder than what Jesus Christ has already done for you. He has accomplished what God needed Him to accomplish for us. Our own is to access and enjoy what He has already done for us. So, if you are determined to access and enjoy what He has done for you, then, be ready to do that hard work of accessing it.

Let’s spend some time to pray this morning.

Tags alaythia bible church, christianity, Faith, religion

The fruit of the Spirit

Title: Meditating on His word|FruitBearing 7

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date September 4, 2025

Series: Fruit bearing

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This morning, I want further share with you on ‘Fruit bearing’. We have been looking at the need for us to be fruit bearing believers in Christ Jesus. God, as we see in scriptures, wants us to bear fruit. That’s because it brings Him glory when we do so. And we have looked at the nature of fruit He wants us to bear. This is referred to in scriptures as the fruit of the Spirit.

But we are not likely to bear fruit as He expects us to if it is not our desire to do so. As I’ve told us again and again, we must desire what God desires for us. We must want what He wants for us. We must not assume that we are going to become the persons God wants us to become automatically. If we do not want to become the persons He wants us to become, we will most likely not become the persons He wants us to become. If we do not want to have what He wants us to have, there is a possibility that we are going to end up not having what He wants us to have. So, we must desire to bear fruit as He wants us to bear fruit.

Now of course, as we see in scriptures also, God has not left us to ourselves in this matter. He is at work in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. God is at work in us to fill us with desires that are consistent with His good purpose and to also enable us to realize those desires. But we must not quench those desires. We are told not to quench the Spirit (1Thessalonians 5:19). You know what that means? It means to silence the Spirit of God. He is talking to you. He is telling you what to do. You can silence Him. You can tell Him to keep quiet. You can tell Him that what He is doing is too much.

As a child of God, if you are indeed a child of God, it is His job to fill you with those desires that are consistent with His good purpose. And God is never remiss in handling His jobs. He is never remiss in handling His responsibilities. So, surely, He will fill you with desires that are in line with His good purpose. But you can quench those desires. You can decide not to work with them. You can decide to eliminate them. You can decide to ignore them. And you can think yourself of the number of times you have quenched those good desires that God brought to you. You can think of the recent ones, the times in which God was leading you to do something or asking you to do something and you silenced Him. You knew that what He was asking you to do was the right thing for you to do. You knew that it was good. You knew that it was righteous. You knew that it would be profitable for you and for every other person around you. Yet you did not do it. Why? That is what is called quenching the Spirit, silencing the Spirit.

Well, do not give anybody the impression that God is not giving you the will to do what is right. If He is not giving you the will to do what is right, that means He is not living in you. That is the point. If He is living in you, He will surely and continually give you the will to do what is right, to do what is in line with His purpose for you. But you will have to work with that will. Otherwise, it will amount to nothing.

In any case, what we are dealing with is ‘Fruit bearing’. And we are dealing with it because that is what God wants us to do. Then we have equally seen that apart from Him, we can do nothing. In St. John’s Gospel, chapter 15, which we have been looking at, Jesus describes our relationship with Him. He refers to himself as the vine and to us as the branches. And He tells us that as the branches cannot bear fruit by themselves without abiding in the vine. In the same vein, cannot bear fruit by ourselves without abiding in Him.

So, we already know the main secret of bringing forth fruits, the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of the Spirit, which consists in: love, joy, peace, gentleness, humility, self-control, brotherly kindness. The secret is abiding in the vine, abiding in our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our source, the source of everything God wants to produce in us. He is the source of the joy that God wants to produce in our lives. He is the source of the love that God wants to exhibit through our lives. He is the source of the humility, the gentleness, the meekness, the self-control that God wants to exhibit through our lives and in our lives. Therefore, we have to remain connected to Him.

It is not for us to struggle to be any of these things. It is not for you to struggle to love, to be patient, to be kind, to be gentle or humble. If you are struggling, something is wrong. Because you are supposed to do these things naturally. Why are you a new creation, by the way? Why have you been recreated? You have been recreated so that you will be able to do these things naturally.

So, if you are not doing them naturally, something is wrong. And you may want to ask yourself if you have not been disconnected from your source. Or you may want to ask yourself if nothing is blocking your connection to your source. Because doing these things should come to us naturally. And doing these things will come to us naturally if we abide in the vine. Branches do not struggle to bear fruit. They just bear fruit naturally. All they need to do is to remain in the vine. So, we too should bear fruit naturally. All we need to do is to remain in the vine or abide in the vine.

How then do we abide in the vine? The word of God tells us that we abide in him by allowing his words to abide in us. Let me read that verse to you again from 1 John chapter 2, verse 24:

“As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.” (NIV)

What have you heard from the beginning? The word of God! Now John says see to it that the word of God that you have heard remains in you or abide in you. If it does, if it does abide in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. Simple!

So, if I want to remain connected to Him, I must allow His word to abide in me. As I pointed out last week, that goes beyond merely reading Scriptures or studying Scriptures. It also involves meditating on Scriptures, meditating on the word of God. Because the only way the word of God will abide in you is if you will meditate on it, if you will continually ponder on it. If it is not abiding in you, then, you are not meditating on it enough. You have to meditate on what the word of God says about you. You have to meditate on what the word of God says about fruit-bearing. If you want to bear any kind of fruit in abundance, then, you must meditate on what the word of God says about that thing.

It is hard work, of course. Meditating on the word of God is hard work. And this is why many of us Christians struggle with living in the light of the word of God. To continually think about what the word of God says, to set His word continually before you is hard work. To fix your gaze on what the word of God says is hard work. To fix your mind on what the word of God says is hard work. The word of God has not said it will be easy. God has not said it will be easy to meditate on the word of God. All he has told us is to meditate on His word and to do so day and night.

So, during the day, you’re thinking the word; you’re pondering on what the word of God says about you, what it says about your life, what it says about your walk with Him, what it says about your various relationships. You’re pondering on these things. In the middle of the night also, you do the same. In other words, when you wake up in the middle of the night, what should naturally come to your mind is the word of God. You wake up to wee. What should come to your mind? The word of God!

See, if you have to wake up to think about anything, what you should think about is the word of God, not your family problems, not your business problems, not your academic problems. That is worrying. That is being anxious. And it is not going to solve your problem. It may make you wake up angry. It may make you wake up bitter. It may make you wake up moody. That’s why some people wake up moody. They’ve been meditating on the wrong things. They wake up in the middle of the night to meditate on the wrong things. So, they are bound to wake up moody. Some often wake up anxious. Why do they wake up anxious? They’ve been meditating on those things that will make them anxious.

Now, of course, meditating on the word of God does not mean that all the problems surrounding you will naturally vanish. They may still be there staring you in the face. But meditating on the word of God will prepare you to handle them. It will give you the confidence you need to handle them. It will give you the wisdom you need to handle them. Meditating on the word of God will make you one with what God has said. And you see, when you become one with what He has said, you cannot act contrary to what He has said.

If you are acting contrary to what God has said, if you are living a life that is contrary to the will of God for you, the main problem is that you have not become one with what God has said. You may believe in what He has said. You may love what He has said. You may agree that what He has said is good for you. Yet it’s not working in your life. And the word has to work in your life. The word of God has to work in your life for you to produce the fruit God talks about. Paul says to the Thessalonians that he is glad that the word of God they heard is working in them (1Thessalonians 2:13). But I’m saying it’s not going to work in you until you become one with it.

Now the only way to become one with it is to meditate on it. It does not matter what your profession is. It does not matter what your job is. It does not matter what your background is. If you will meditate on the word of God, it will produce in your life the results God wants to see. You are not going to struggle to get the results produced. The word in itself is powerful enough to produce in your life what God talks about.

God spoke to Joshua along this line. Joshua was a soldier. And the only gift God had to give him was His word. Look at Joshua, chapter 1, from verse 7. God, speaking here to Joshua, says:

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” (NIV)

The first thing God told him is to be strong and very courageous. And you know, when God speaks to you like that, you don’t try to be what you are told to be, because the word He has spoken to you will produce in you the strength to be what you are meant to be. I mean that if God says to you, “Be strong,” what happens to you? You become strong.

In one of the visions of Daniel that was what happened to him. The vision weakened him. The vision made him weak. So, he fell flat on his feet. And he had no strength in him to even talk. And God said to him, “Be strong now; be strong.” And what happened? He became strong. So, when God speaks to you, it’s not for you to try to be what you are meant to be. It’s for you to receive what He says, knowing that His word will produce the energy in you that is required for you to be what you are meant to be. (Cf. Daniel 10:15-19)

Well, God said to Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous.” And when God said those words to him, he became strong and courageous. And then God went on to tell him that he must be careful to keep the law that Moses had given to him. He must not turn either to the right or to the left in keeping. That means he must make no excuses for not acting on the word. He must not try to revise whatever God has said to him. Just act on it. Don’t try to revise it. Just act on it. That way you are going to be successful wherever you go.

Then look at verse 8. God, still talking to this man, says:

“Keep this book of the law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (NIV)

Where is he to keep the book of the law? On his lips! In his mouth! Read the word. Talk the word. You understand the point now? You must keep on saying what the word says to yourself. By the way, Romans 10, verse 17, says, “Faith comes by hearing the words of Christ,” right? But it does not say whom you must hear it from. It only says faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. You can hear it from yourself, then. And you had better start hearing it from yourself.

How do you hear it from yourself? You say it to yourself. You say what the word is saying to yourself. I do that every day. I may not have done enough of it, but I am ready to do enough of it. For example, in 2 Timothy, chapter 1 verse 7, we are told that God has not given us the spirit of timidity, but the spirit of power, love, and sound mind or self-control, right? That’s the Spirit we have. Now I have to say that to myself. I have to say that God has not given me the spirit of timidity. And I say that to myself almost every day, in fact, more than once every day, that God has not given me the spirit of timidity but the Spirit of power.

Now I also have to break it down. It’s not just about quoting Scriptures. I have to break it down. The Spirit God has given me is the Spirit of power, not the spirit of weakness. So, I am not weak. I am not a weak Christian; I am a strong Christian because the Spirit of God fills me with power. Also, He has given me the Spirit of love. So, I have to tell myself, “What I have in me is love. The Spirit of God fills my life with love, not with lust but with love. So what my life will express is the love of God. Because there’s the Spirit of God in me and He’s filling my life with love.”

Then He fills my life with soundness of mind, with self-control, with self-discipline. So I am not undisciplined. I am disciplined. The Spirit of God works in me and fills my life with discipline. I have to say that to myself. You have to say that to yourself. You have to talk the word. What are you doing? You are making yourself one with the word of God. That’s how to meditate.

Again, this goes beyond memorizing scriptures. This is thinking the word of God and speaking the word of God to yourself. And you have to do this day and night. As often as it comes to your mind, you say it. You say it to yourself. You say it so that you hear it.

Now God says if you will do this day and night, you will be prosperous and successful. I’m, then, going to ask myself, “If I’m not doing this and I’m not prosperous and successful, what could be wrong?” It may mean that I’m not doing it enough. Because God says that if I do it, this will be the result: prosperity, success. And He says do it day and night. That is non-stop. It’s not a one-off thing. It’s not what you do for a week. It’s not what you do when you feel good. It is not what you do when there are no challenges staring you in the face.

It is easy to say, “My God supplies all my needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus,” when your bank account is full, when you enter your kitchen and there is food everywhere. Yes, when things are going on well, you can easily say, “My God supplies all my needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus.” It’s easy to say that. But you had better just know that you are thanking God where that is the case.

But to say that when your bank account is empty, to say that when there is no food in your house, that’s what we are talking about. To say these things, regardless of the circumstances that you are faced with, that’s what we are talking about. You are saying that to yourself, regardless of what you see or do not see. Regardless of what is happening in the country, you are saying to yourself, “God supplies my needs according to His generosity”. And since you have to do it non-stop, that means you have to keep on doing it until the result starts showing. You can’t quit as far as this is concerned.

I’m trying to show you why many of us believers are not bearing the fruit God wants us to bear. We think that we are going to do the right thing for a while and then stop. No! The right thing must be done all the time. The right thing must be done from start to finish. If you are going to become one with the Word of God, you must be prepared to do so from start to finish.

We are given some illustrations in Scriptures to show us that we must be committed to the Word of God in order to see their results. There are times, of course, that when God asks us to do something and we do it, the results manifest immediately. But that is not the case all the time. There are times, there are situations in which you have to consistently act on what God has said over a period of time, unspecified time, before you begin to see results. And if you are not prepared to do the Word of God for as long as you have to do it, you may not get results. In fact, there are results that will not be evident in your life.

God, for instance, spoke to Joshua about what to do to bring the walls of Jericho down. I’m asking you this because I’ve asked myself. God said you will have to go around the walls of Jericho once every day, right? For how many days? Seven days! Then, on the seventh day, they would have to go around the walls of Jericho seven times and afterwards shout.

The question is, “Could God not have brought down the walls of Jericho the first day, having made them go around it once?” Could God not have done that? Or could God not have brought down the walls of Jericho as they approached it, without these people having to march around it at all? Could God not have done that? If He could divide the Red Sea without any one of them touching it, if He could open the rivers of Jordan just by the priests stepping into it, could He, then, not bring down the walls of Jericho by Joshua merely stretching his hand towards it? He could.

Yet He did not. Instead, He told them, “You will have to march around it for seven days. And on the seventh day, you will do so seven times.” Why? It was to teach them commitment to His word and commitment to Him. It was to show them that there are things that you must do again and again and again and again in order for you to see results.

Why must Naaman dip himself inside the river Jordan seven times? Oh, someone may say, “Oh, that is because seven is the perfect number.” That’s true. But how many people had to dip themselves inside the river seven times in order for them to get well in the bible? How many people did Jesus ask, “Go and dip yourself inside the river in order to be cleansed of leprosy?”

A leprous man came to Him once and asked, “Master, if you are willing, you can make me whole.” And the Bible says Jesus touched him and said, “I’m willing; be whole.” And he was whole instantly. He didn’t have to go to any river. He didn’t have to do any washing. He was healed instantly. Right there. (Cf. Matthew 8:1-3)

Now for Jesus Christ, it didn’t matter whether it was one person or ten people. Ten came to him and said, “Master, have mercy upon us. We are suffering from leprosy.” He said, “Okay, go and show yourselves to the priests.” He didn’t say go and dip yourself inside any river. ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests’ was what He said. And on their way, they realized that they had been made whole. When were they made whole? The moment He spoke His word to them. (Cf. Luke 17:11-19)

So, if God wants to do something instantly, he can do it instantly. Right? The power to do it instantly is there. If He has to perform a thousand miracles to make that happen instantly, He would do so. Now if he is not doing it instantly, and He is asking you to follow a process, what is it teaching you? Discipline, the discipline of commitment!

What am I saying? It is that in order for us to see the benefits of the word of God in our lives, the full results of the word of God in our lives, we must be committed to it non-stop. If you are going to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit as mentioned in scriptures, love, joy, peace, contentment, humility, gentleness, self-control, patience, faith, faithfulness, then you must be prepared to meditate on the word of God non-stop.

So, if certain things are not evident in your life yet, do not worry. What you need to do is to meditate more on the word of God. Is somebody following me this morning? Don’t try to struggle to love. Don’t try to struggle to be patient. Don’t try to struggle to be humble. Don’t try to struggle to be anything that God wants you to be. You don’t have to. What you need is to draw from your source. And how do you draw from your source? You draw from your source by meditating on His word. And if you are not seeing the results yet, what must you do? You must be more committed, be more committed to His word. That means your commitment is not enough.

Solomon says if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small; your strength is not enough. That’s why you faint. That’s why you get tired. That’s why you get weary. Your strength is not enough. Now what are you going to do? Are you going to die there? No. What do you do? Get more strength. Strengthen yourself in the Lord. Isn’t that what we are taught to do in scriptures? We are told to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Who is going to do that? I am going to do that. You are going to do that. You are going to strengthen yourself in him. How do you strengthen yourself in him? One of the ways is by meditating on his word. (Cf. Proverbs 24:10; Ephesians 6:10)

So, if you have been failing at something that God wants you to do, it’s not just for you to try harder. Are you following my point? What you need to do is to get more strength. Draw more from him. Otherwise, you are going to be frustrated. And there are frustrated Christians. They love God. They want to please Him. They want to do His will. But they keep finding themselves unable to do what He wants them to do. So, at some point, they get frustrated; they become finally tired. And at a point of their tiredness, Satan may drive them back to where they were coming from.

Some have been driven back like that, driven away. These are now saying, “Christianity is not working for me. I thought I would be able to live this Christian life. It’s not just working. God, you know I really want to. But it is not working.” So, they turn away from Him. But that’s not the solution. That’s only going to mess you up more.
What you need to do is to return to your source. Draw more from your source. If you will draw from Him, you are going to find all the strength you need, all the energy you need, all the comfort you need, all the inspiration you need to be the person He wants you to be, to do the things He wants you to do.

God said to us through Isaiah, “Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Now waiting on him doesn’t mean sitting down in one place, waiting for Him to come. No! It goes beyond that. It means putting your reliance on Him, putting your trust in Him. That’s what it means. In other words, you stay put there. You are telling yourself, “I must keep drawing from Him. The challenges may be hot. Things may be intense. But I remain connected to him. I will keep on meditating on His word. I will keep on filling myself with His word. I may appear weak today. I may even fall or fail at some point. But see, I’m not getting discouraged. Because He says that those who wait on Him will have their strength renewed.” (Cf. Isaiah 40:31)

Who is going to renew their strength? God Himself! In other words, He will furnish them with the strength they need to go from start to finish. They will have the strength to be patient. Do you understand the point now? The one whose reliance is on God, maybe for one thing or the other, whatever it may be — that thing may not be showing up yet – but he’s going to have the strength to be patient to see the result. Yes, he will have the strength, all the strength he needs, all the energy he needs, to run and not grow weary, to walk and not faint.

So, if you feel tired in your walk of faith, you know that something is wrong. What should you do? Go for strength! That’s not the time to stop studying the word. That’s not the time to stop meditating on the word. That’s not the time to stop praying. Usually, that’s what people will do. When they get tired like that, they now stop doing everything. But that’s when to do it more. Because the one that has spoken will not fail you. He has said you will have your strength renewed. And you will surely have your strength renewed. You will have your wisdom renewed. You will have your determination renewed. Whatever it is that must be renewed in you will be renewed. So, you’re going to fly. You’re going to soar like an eagle. You will soar above those challenges. You will soar above those trials. You’re going to be on top of them. You want to be on top of those challenges. But that’s what it means to soar.

Eagles are not afraid of the wind blowing. Because they have to use the wind to rise. They’re going to use it to rise. And you’re going to use those challenges to rise. You are going to use those trials to rise. You are going to use those tribulations them to rise. They will not pull you down. They will not make you faint. They will not make you weary. They will not destroy you. You are walking in victory over them.

Let’s begin to bless the name of the Lord this morning.

Tags abc, bearingfruit, fruit

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Will your presence bless them?

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date September 4, 2025

fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 8, No. 17

“From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.” (Gen 39:5NIV)

Whose household was blessed by God, as we see in our opening text? It was Potiphar’s household. Why was his household blessed? It was because he put Joseph in charge of it.

Now why would God bless an entire household because of Joseph? The reason was that he took Him seriously. And because he took Him seriously, He ensured that His favour was on his life wherever he went. So, it did not matter whether he was in a house of slavery or in a prison, he was bound to shine and prosper. And anyone that favoured him or associated with him was also bound to be a part of his prosperity.

This, then, is teaching us that association matters a lot in life. If we associate ourselves with the right people, our lives will most likely go in the right direction. Likewise, if we associate ourselves with the wrong people, our lives will also most likely go in the wrong direction.

Potiphar’s life and family began to move in the direction of prosperity because he recognised God’s favour on Joseph’s life and put him in charge of everything he had, even though he was not an Egyptian like himself or a family member. We too should learn to recognise and appreciate God’s favour in the lives of others, so that we may relate to them appropriately. Otherwise, we may miss the goodness God may have communicated to our lives through them.

Then it is equally important that we too function in life in such a way that our presence in the lives of others will cause them to go in the right direction, in the direction of prosperity and not disaster or chaos. See, as children of God, it is not good at all for us to be friends with people, work with them or live with them for a while and our presence won’t bless them. What is good is for people to be able to place their fingers on the obvious progress or prosperity that their lives have experienced because we are their friends or because we have worked with them or lived with them.

All of this is why we too, like Joseph, must take God seriously. If we take Him seriously, we will walk in His righteousness and continually express our dependence in Him through prayer. And that will cause His favour to continually rest on our lives. Anyone, then, who associates with us is bound to be a partaker of the working favour of God in our lives. That, of course, will cause them to have great testimonies to share about their experience with us.

Do you, then, want those in your life to continually share great testimonies of how your presence is blessing them or do you want them to continually express regrets over knowing you or allowing you to be a part of their lives? Everything depends on how seriously you take God. And my counsel is that you begin to take Him very seriously, if you have not been doing so. May your presence in people’s lives never again bring pain but comfort to them, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cheers!

Tags alaythia bible church, christianity, Fire in my bones, wisdom