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From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Do not grieve God

Post author By Praise Kolawole
Post date May 2, 2026

Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 1

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It is with great delight that I welcome you to the fifth month of this year, the month of May 2026. My prayer is that God will always keep you from doing anything that will grieve Him and make Him change His mind about fulfilling His plans for your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now I offered that prayer for you because it is possible for us to grieve God. Yes, it is possible for us to cause Him sorrow through the way we live and through our attitude towards His word. And that is because He loves us. It is only those that we love and care about that can grieve us or make us sorrowful. Those that we don’t love cannot grieve us, regardless of how badly they behave towards us. In fact, we will most likely not allow someone that we don’t love to do anything that will make us sorrowful.

But when someone that we love and cherish begins to treat us with disrespect, we will not be happy at all. And if the person continues to make us unhappy like that, we may just change our minds about them and withdraw our love from them. Then they will no longer be able to enjoy their relationship with us the way they used to.

In like manner, because God loves us, we can grieve Him. And if we should make grieving Him a culture, a time may come when He will change His mind about us and about His plans for us. How, then, are we not going to waste or ruin our lives, if that should happen?

For instance, this is said about why God removed King Saul from his place as ruler over the nation of Israel:

“Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.” (1Sam 15:10-11NIV)

Did you see that? God was grieved that He made Saul king over Israel. Why? The reason was that the man made it a habit to disregard His commands. To make matters worse, he had no sense of remorse at all. He found it hard to genuinely repent whenever he was rebuked or corrected. So, God changed His mind about him and replaced him with another person.

Now did Saul feel remorseful, when God changed his mind about him, and seek His face for mercy? No, he did not. Instead, he just carried on acting as king, as though nothing had happened. So, he ended up ruining his life and making nonsense of whatever good thing he did as a king for the nation of Israel.

But then, as we see in the account, Samuel, who was not the one that was removed from his position, continued to mourn before God for this man. In fact, at some point, God had to tell him to stop mourning for Saul and go and anoint someone else in his place (1 Sam 16:1). And why was he mourning for Saul like that? It was because he understood the gravity of grieving God and the need for genuine repentance if we have done so. Otherwise, we may just end up wasting our lives and whatever grace we have received from God.

All of this is why we too are warned in the Scriptures in this way:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Eph 4:30NIV)

Did you see that? We must watch ourselves not to give ourselves to doing anything that will grieve the Spirit of God that is living in us. And if we have been grieving Him in any way, we should repent and seek His face for forgiveness without delay. Otherwise, like King Saul, we too may end up wasting all the love and grace He has showered on our lives. May that not be our lot, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely May 2026.

Copyright © 2026, 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: When they want you to be more

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date April 30, 2026

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 50

“The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us — you, your son and your grandson — because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.” But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”” (Judg 8:22-24NIV)

Why did the Israelites ask Gideon and his descendants to rule over them? The reason was that he saved them from the hand of Midian. As the account goes, the Midianites had been terribly oppressing them before that time. The oppression was so much that many of the people had to seek shelter for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. And that went on for like seven years. (Cf. Judges 6:1-6)

Thankfully, Gideon stepped up and fought bravely for them. So, they were rescued and given rest from the oppression of their enemies for forty years. In fact, the bible says that Midian did not raise its head at all against them during those forty years. So, what the Israelites had through Gideon was a great salvation. (Cf. Judges 8:28)

You can, then, see why they were at some point moved to tell the man to become their king. That means they wanted him to be more than a judge and deliverer to them. They wanted him to establish kingship in the land and make his family line the royal family.But Gideon quickly and boldly refused to be more to them than he already was. He refused to become their king. He even went on to tell them that none of his sons or grandsons would become their king. Why? They already had a King. God was that King. (Cf. 1 Sam 12:12)

Not only that, Gideon knew that it was God that called him and empowered him to save them. Truly, they were not there when God called and empowered him to do what he did. But he would not forget that fact and act as though it was by his own power and intelligence that he saved them from their enemies. That was why he lost no time in telling them that he would not be anything more than God had already chosen him to be among them. To be more than that was to become something he was not made fit for in life.

And the result could only be pain and destruction. In like manner, a man once came to Jesus and asked Him to command his brother to give him his own share of their father’s inheritance. This man wanted Jesus to be more than what God had made Him to the people. God had made Him their Messiah, teacher, healer and Saviour. He had not sent Him to be their judge in handling the matters of this life. There were others that He had given that job to. (Cf. Luke 12:13)

Why, then, did that man want Jesus to be something to him more than He was meant to be? Ignorance! He thought that since Jesus was a highly respected teacher and prophet of God among the people, He should also be able to dabble into the family matters of those coming to Him and tell them how to handle things. But doing that would simply be putting Jesus in trouble, giving the religious leaders of the land an excuse to finish Him off.

Why? The reason was that there were judges in the land at the time that had been appointed to handle all kinds of disputes between the people. And these judges must have had their own court sessions where they listened to cases and gave rulings. If Jesus, then, began to hold His own court sessions and to give rulings there, who would He claim to have received that authority from? He would simply be ensnaring Himself in His attempt to be what He was never meant to be by trying to be more than what He was ordained by God to be to the people.

Thankfully, our Lord Jesus was too wise to fall into that kind of satanic trap. So, He asked the man to tell who made Him a judge in handling such matters. In other words, He wanted the man to know that it was not in His place to be to him what he wanted Him to be. In fact, He further told him that greed was his motivation for asking Him to function in that manner. The man, then, must have left Him very disappointed. But who cares? (Cf. Luke 12:14-21)

Now what is the point of all this? First, it is that we must not allow anyone to use their ignorance, selfishness, lust or greed to pull us into taking in their lives places not meant for us. Yes, if we are good and kind to people, they will often find ways to make our relationships with them stronger, so that they can enjoy more of us. And while nothing is fundamentally wrong with that, we need to know when and where we cannot be anything more to them than what we already are. Otherwise, we will take a place never meant for us in life and expose ourselves to problems that are never meant to be for us in life. It might, then, take an abundant release of God’s mercy on our lives for what we have done not to ruin us and the people involved themselves.

The second point of this is that we must not lead people to become to us something that they have no capacity or right to be to us. Yes, they may have been many things that are good to us. But if we will continue to enjoy with peace of mind what they have been to us, we had better not allow any form of selfishness or greed to drive us to let them take up role in our lives not meant for them. We will not only be exposing them to danger by doing so but also exposing ourselves to God’s judgment. So, let us mind ourselves.

General Post

Title: But he was a leper

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date April 25, 2026

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 52

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It is with great delight that I welcome you to the transition week between the months of April and May 2026. My prayer is that God, without delay, will rid your life of everything that is undermining His goodness in it, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I offered that prayer for you because there are times that the reason some of the good things God is doing in the lives of His people may not amount to anything is that certain things in their lives are undermining them. And until those things are dealt with, nothing good He does for them will give them complete satisfaction and rest in life.

For instance, this is written in the bible about a man called Naaman:“Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.” (2Kings 5:1NIV)

Who made Naaman great, as we see in this bible text? It was God. He was the one that made him someone that was highly valued and respected by everyone in his country, including his king. But in spite of all that God did for him, he was not completely happy and at rest. Why? He was a leper.

In other words, he was someone that would eventually be separated from all the people that loved him and be made to live alone. Otherwise, his leprosy may be contacted by them.What, then, would become of his greatness? What would become of his riches? And what would become of all the exploits God had done through him? All of these things would eventually be rendered meaningless by his leprosy. His leprosy would not allow him to enjoy them fully or for long. And the thought of that alone must have made him a very sad man.Thankfully, God used a young slave girl that was brought to his house from the land of Israel to help him in receiving his healing. The girl told him about Prophet Elisha and how God could use him to heal his leprosy. And when he went to the man of God, he was indeed cured of his leprosy.

So, from that day on, he began to serve God and to enjoy every good thing He had done for him with satisfaction and without fear. Now the same God that dealt with the leprosy of Naaman can deal with anything that is preventing you from fully enjoying His goodness in your life. All you need is to call upon Him for help. And as you do so, every ‘But’ that is rendering His goodness in your life meaningless will be dealt with. Then you will begin to enjoy His blessings to satisfaction.Have a pleasant week.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Perseverance pays

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date April 22, 2026

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 49

“About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’” (Matthew 20:6-7NIV)

Who went out in the evening and found some people standing around and doing nothing all day long? It was a landowner that was hiring people to work in his vineyard.But why would this man go out about 5pm looking for people to work for him? What volume of work could anyone that he hired at that time possibly do for him?

Well, as the account goes, the man did what he did for two main reasons. First, he did it because the work to be done in his vineyard was enormous, but those available to do the work were few. Yes, he had gone out a number of times that same day to bring in people to work for him. But it was evident that all the people he hired were not enough or would not work hard enough to finish that day’s job. And since he did not want anything to be left undone that day, he made a quick decision to go out again and bring in more workers, even if they would only be able to work for one hour.His second reason for doing so was to show his generosity to anyone that would position himself for it.

As our Lord Jesus, who shared the story made clear, when the man was going to pay all the people that worked for him that day, he gave all of them the same amount. And that actually upset those that he first brought in to work for him. They were upset because they thought it unfair to be paid the same amount as those who worked for only one hour.The man, however, told them that he wasn’t being unfair to them at all. That was because he paid them what they had agreed that morning to collect from him. Then, as he equally pointed out to them, he paid those who came in last the same amount as he paid them because he wanted to be generous to them. And could anyone fairly accuse him of being wrong by being generous to those people? No! (Cf. Matt 20:8-15)

But then, what put those workers who worked only for one hour in that position where they were able to enjoy that man’s generosity? Perseverance! How? Again, as we see in the account, these people came out that day as others did hoping that someone would hire them to work. Unfortunately, nobody was willing to hire them.

Now, having waited for few hours that day, they could have gone back home, discouraged and sad. But they did not. Instead, they stayed where they were, still hoping that someone would come around and hire them. And they stayed like that till the evening, not giving in to discouragement but still hopeful. That was perseverance. And it eventually paid off for them.How did it pay off for them? First, it enabled them to secure a job that same day and to get paid for what they did. So, they did not go home empty-handed.

Also, it positioned them to be beneficiaries of the generosity of the man that hired them. He gave them the full wages for a day’s job, something they did not merit at all. This, of course, is teaching us that perseverance pays.

The reason favour has been eluding some people is that they won’t persevere in doing anything. They will not persevere in handling their studies for excellence. They will not persevere in handling their business or in getting a good job, so that they can improve the quality of their living. Once things are not going their way, they will readily give up and not persevere or endure at all. Therefore, when favour shows up, it will not meet them where they are supposed to be and doing what they are supposed to be doing.

So, it will elude them.Now my prayer is that God’s favour for salvation, promotion or enlargement will never elude you again. But then, you need to learn to persevere in whatever you are doing. Things will not always go as you want them to go in life. But as long as you are on the right track and doing the right thing, persevere and don’t quit or give up. That is because God will show up for you at the right time, even when you think it is late, and cause His favour to rest upon you.

Cheers!

From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: The sin of Eli

Post author By Praise Kolawole
Post date April 18, 2026

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 51

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to another week of the month of April 2026. I pray that God will keep you from being a victim of His judgment on any of the people in your life or around you. Amen.

Now I offered that prayer for you because it is not every time that people experience God’s judgment because they themselves are evil. There are times that people experience God’s judgment because they fail to use their authority to judge the evil being done by those under their watch. For example, God said this to Samuel about Eli the priest: “For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them.” (1 Sam 3:13NIV)

Why was God going to judge the house of Eli? Was it because the man was wicked? No! Or was it simply because his sons were wicked? No! The reason God was going to judge his house was that he failed to restrain his sons, even though he was well aware of their sins.If Eli had not been aware of the sins of his children, God would not have held him responsible for them.

Also, if Eli had not been in a position to restrain his children, so that they would no longer be able to freely sin against God, He would not have held him responsible for their sins. But not only was he aware of their sins, he was also in a position to judge and restrain them. Yet he failed to do so. Therefore, God told him that He would judge his family for the sins of the young men.

Now why did God tell him about His coming judgment ahead of time? It was so that he would urgently do the needful. But did he do the needful? No, he did not. Instead, his response was that God was free to do whatever was good in His sight about the matter. In other words, as far as he was concerned, he was not going to stress himself again about what his sons were doing. (Cf. 1Sam 3:18)

What, in any case, is this teaching us? It is that when God places people under our authority, He does not expect us to allow them to do as they please. Instead, He expects us to use our authority to set them right, if they should be messing up. Otherwise, we will be committing the sin of Eli. That being the case, anytime God steps in to judge the wickedness we have refused to judge, we too are sure to partake in His judgment, unless we are shown mercy. And who knows how He will judge?Therefore, don’t be like Eli that refused to act on God’s warning to judge his sons because he was tired of their mess.

Instead, begin to use your authority to set things right wherever you have the authority to do so. That way, you can keep yourself from partaking in the judgment of the disobedient.Then don’t get upset when those who have authority over you will not allow you to carry on with any kind of nonsense under their watch. That is because they are doing the will of God. Not only that, by now allowing you to misbehave under their watch, they are protecting you from God’s judgment. So, you should really be thanking them for being responsible leaders. Otherwise, you may just get yourself wounded through God’s judgment, if you fail to accept correction. I pray that such will not be your lot, in Jesus’ name. Amen.Have a lovely week.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: What will they say in your favour?

Post author By Praise Kolawole
Post date April 15, 2026

Date: April 15, 2025

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 48

“When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them…” (Luke 7:4-6NIV)

Who came to Jesus, as mentioned in our opening text? It was certain elders of the Jews. Why did they come to Him? it was because a Roman centurion had sent them.As the account goes, a servant of this centurion had fallen ill and was about to die. But the man was not ready to lose him. He was not ready to lose him because he valued him highly and was willing to do anything within his capacity to save him. (Cf. Luke 7:2)

Now that is teaching us something. And it is that we must labour to make ourselves useful and relevant to the people in our lives, regardless of how low our positions in life may be. That way, they might someday be willing to go to any extent to favour us.In any event, even though this centurion was willing to do anything to save his servant from death, he could not freely access the only available and authentic solution.

How? Our Lord Jesus was the only person the man knew at the time that could immediately and surely save his servant from death. But He was not someone that he could easily see or approach or bring into his house. That was because He was a very busy person. Not only that, Jesus was a Jew and Jews would not freely fellowship with gentiles or enter their houses. So, to get Him to come and heal this man’s servant in time seemed almost impossible.

Nevertheless, because the man was determined to save his servant, he humbled himself and went to plead with some elders of the Jews to help him quicken the process of seeing Jesus and perhaps bringing Him into his house. And what gave him the confidence to meet those elders? It was the fact that he too had been good to them. He had proven to them that he loved their nation, even though he was a Roman centurion.

In fact, he had built a synagogue for them.Therefore, when he met them with his request, they lost no time at all in meeting Jesus on his behalf. And when they got to Him, they begged Him earnestly to go to the man’s house to heal his servant, even though they knew that Jews would not normally do something like that.

Why? The reason was that the man had been good to them. So, they had all kinds of things to say in his favour. Did Jesus, then, answer them or not? He did. And though the man, out of respect, eventually asked Him not to come again to his house but to send His word instead, the fact remains that Jesus was willing to go to his house to save his servant, in spite of their ethnic and religious differences. (Cf. Luke 7:6-10)

Now what is the point of all this? It is that being generous and good to others pays. No, we are not to be good and generous to people because of anything we hope to receive in return from them. Rather, we are to be good and generous to them because it is something God loves and will reward.

However, if we are good and generous to others, we will be making it easy for them to have something to say in our favour to God and to men. And where, when and how this may benefit us is not something anyone knows or can speak about. But a day may come when the only thing that will open certain doors for us is what others have to say in our favour. What, then, will they have to say in our favour?

From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Life is not fair

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date April 11, 2026

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 50

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to another week of the month of April 2026.

My prayer is that God will use every situation of your life, however ugly it may seem, to accomplish His good purpose in your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.Now why did I offer that prayer for you? It is because I know that life is not fair. Look, for example, at what Solomon says about it:“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” (Eccl 9:11NIV)

Did you see that? Life will not readily work for the good of anybody, regardless of the greatness of the person’s abilities. That is why we have many people with great abilities living miserable lives. The abilities that are supposed to be an advantage to them in life have not been of any serious help to them. Those abilities may even be working against them.Why? The reason is that life is not fair. Life will not just give you prosperity or peace of mind because of your abilities, relationships or hard work. You just have to be in the right place, at the right time and doing the right thing.

Otherwise, all the abilities, wisdom, education and opportunities you have may just go to waste.How, then, can you put yourself in the right place, at the right time and doing the right thing? It is by entrusting yourself to the author of life. If you will entrust yourself to the author of life, He is able to teach you what is best for you and also guide you in the way you should go. (Cf. Is 48:17)

But will you do that? Will you entrust yourself to God, the author of life, so that He can guide you in the way you should go in life and establish you in righteousness, peace and prosperity? If you will do so, He will surely cause all the situations of your life to work together for your good. Therefore, even though life is not fair to you, it will not be able to stop you from being all that you are meant to be here on earth. Remember that even though life was not fair to Joseph, he still became the person he was meant to be in life. That was because he entrusted himself to God.

So, stop complaining that life is not being fair to you. You just have to handle life as it presents itself to you, regardless of what colour it has painted itself with. Yes, you just have to win in life, however unfair things may be to you. And the only way to do that, as I said before, is for you to entrust yourself to God. Entrust yourself, then, to Him. And you will surely stand victorious, when all has been said and done.

Have a pleasant week.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Apply your mind

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date April 8, 2026

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 47

“I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!” (Eccl 1:12-13NIV)

Who is speaking here? King Solomon. And what point is he making to us? It is that of the need for us to learn to apply our minds to the various issues of our lives, if the wisdom of God will find expression in us as it should.Solomon, as we know through the bible, was blessed by God with unusual wisdom and breadth of understanding. He was so wise that people all over the world came to speak with him and to learn from him. Look at some of the things said about him in the bible:“He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.” (1Kings 4:32-34NIV)

How was Solomon able to do all the things mentioned in the text above and even more? Was it just because God gave him great wisdom and understanding? No! The reason was that he applied his mind to think and to explore things. In other words, he made it his business to put his mind to work. And it was as he did so that he found the wisdom and understanding that God had given to him at work in awesome ways.

In like manner, until we also learn to put our minds to work, until we learn to apply our minds to study, observe and explore the matters of our lives, the wisdom of God will not find expression in us as it ought to. Yes, we may be praying earnestly to God for wisdom. But until we start applying our minds to think, plan, investigate, examine and explore things in life, wisdom will not find expression in our lives as it should, even though we have wisdom greater than that of Solomon.What was the problem with the servant that buried the talent that his master gave him? It was that of unwillingness to put his mind to work. That man would not apply his mind at all to see how he could profit with the talent he had been given. So, whatever measure of wisdom that he had in him could not function to take him to higher heights of usefulness in life. (Cf. Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27)

Now that servant may even have possessed greater wisdom than the other servants. But of what use is wisdom that won’t work? We too may possess greater wisdom than many people around us. But unless that wisdom is at work in taking us to great heights of fruitfulness and usefulness, it will be nothing but a waste. And the only way whatever measure of wisdom that God has given to us will profit our lives and our world is for us to learn to put our minds to work.So, instead of sitting down in poverty, shame or distress, begin to apply your mind to think of how to move from where you are to where you should be.

Yes, there is a need for us to also continually pray to God to fill you with wisdom, knowledge and understanding to do what is right with your life and circumstances. But His wisdom, knowledge and understanding will not work in your life to make anything meaningful out of it for you, if you will not learn to use your head. Begin to use your head, then. Begin to apply our mind to think of how to use the challenges and opportunities of your life to your advantage. Yes, you will find doing so to be hard work. But this kind of hard work will pay you handsomely in life. So, get started with it right away. See you at the top.

From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Celebrating Easter

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date April 4, 2026

ALAYTHIA BIBLE church

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 49

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to another month of the year, the month of April 2026. My prayer is that God will perfect all that concerns you in the month and grant you rest on all sides. Amen.

As you know, today is the day that most Christians all over the world are celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And while there are Christians that do not see any need for this, especially since our Lord Jesus has not commanded us to do so, nothing can be said to be wrong with it. What I am saying is that nothing is wrong with setting aside a day to celebrate Easter and tell the whole world about what Jesus did for the salvation of humanity.

However, in celebrating Easter, we must not give ourselves to doing those things that the Lord came to save us from. In other words, our celebration should not result in drunkenness, wild parties or sexual immorality. Rather, it should first all be a celebration of thanksgiving to God for showing us mercy and sending Jesus to redeem us.Second, our celebration should lead us to remind ourselves of what the resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplished for us. As we see in the bible, it is because of His resurrection that we now stand justified before God. Also, it is because of His resurrection that we are now new creations and righteous people before Him. Then it is because of His resurrection that we now have dominion over Satan, sin and the world. (Cf. Rom 4:25; 2Cor 5:17-21)

Therefore, what will make our celebration of Easter meaningful is that we are walking in the consciousness of these things. If we are not walking in their consciousness, our celebration of Easter is meaningless. We will just be showing that what He did for us was a waste.Now my prayer is that what Jesus did for you and me through His death, burial and resurrection will never be a waste. But we too must continually ponder on what He did for us, so that we can daily take advantage of it to be the people God wants us to be. I welcome you once again to this new month and pray that you will enjoy the full benefits of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus in your life in the month. Amen.Happy Easter.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: It won’t diminish you

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date April 1, 2026

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 46

“Show proper respect to everyone…” (1Peter 2:17NIV)

What is Peter’s main instruction to us in our opening text? It is that we are to show proper respect to everyone. That means there is no one that doesn’t deserve to be respected.

Actually, many of us hardly find it hard to respect those who are older than us, who are senior to us at work or in school, who are occupying more important positions than us in life, who are far richer than us or who appear to be more serious in spiritual things than us. But when we are dealing with those that we consider to be inferior to us in any way, we don’t want to treat them with respect. And that is because we don’t see them as deserving our respect.But the Spirit of God through Peter is telling us that everyone in this life deserves respect, to one degree or the other. What we need to learn, as we deal with each person that comes our way, is how to properly respect them without putting ourselves down.

So, even if someone is not up to your class, according to human standards, you should still see him as deserving to be respected. That is because even though you may appear to be better or greater than him in all ways, according to human standards, he is still a human being that has been created in the image of God. And for that reason alone, you ought to relate to him with respect. (Cf. Gen 1:26-28; James 3:9-10)

In addition, it will be hard, if not impossible, to find someone in this life that you are better or greater than in all ways. That is because there will always be something others have that you don’t have. Therefore, they also deserve to be respected by you.

For example, even though Jesus Christ is Lord over all the creation of God, He still showed proper respect to the various people He related to in life. As we are shown in the bible, He showed proper respect to His parents, being submissive to them (Luke 2:51). Also, when certain people came to collect the temple tax from Him and Peter, He showed them respect by paying, even though it was not something He should be paying as Lord over everything. Why? It was because He knew that doing so would not diminish Him in any way; it would not change His status as the Lord of everyone and everything. (Cf. Matt 17:24-27)

In like manner, showing people adequate respect will not diminish you in life; it will not stop you from being who and whatever God has already made you. Rather, it will open more and greater doors for God’s favour and honour for you. Also, by doing so other people can learn humility from you.When Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, once came to visit him in his palace, he got up from his throne to pay her respect. Did that change his status as a great and powerful king? No! Also, when Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, came to pay him a visit in the wilderness, he went to meet him and bowed down to greet him. And did that diminish him in any way? Did it change his status as a great prophet of God? No! (Cf. Ex 18:5-7; 1Kings 2:19)

Therefore, wherever you are or go, learn to treat those you meet with respect. You may not know much about people when interacting with them. But by showing them some respect in the way you address and relate to them, you may just be laying a foundation for a better future relationship with them.

That way, if you should later find them to be higher than you in life, according to human standards, you will not be sorry that you did not treat them well on your first encounter. Or else, your apology may not be able to change their minds about you. And if they should be the ones to find out that you are higher than them in life, based on human classifications, they will be readily willing to show you respect, learning humility from you.So, don’t let it distress you to show people, old or young, rich or poor and known or unknown, proper respect. It won’t diminish you. It will only raise your value before God and man.