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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Sensible People _J.0.Lawal

Recommended Citation:Here is a citation in APA 7 format:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 5). Sensible people. Youth for Jesus, 7(43).

“I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.” (1 Cor 10:15NIV)

Who is speaking here? Paul the apostle! Who is he talking to? The Corinthian brethren! And how does he describe them? He describes them as sensible people.

Therefore, the fact that someone is a child of God and is filled with the Spirit of God does not mean that his reasoning abilities have been taken away from him. No, they have not been taken away from him at all. Instead, they are still very much with him. So, he is expected to be using them.

Are you, then, using your reasoning abilities? Am I using my reasoning abilities? One of the things that can easily make us angry and lose ourselves is for someone to tell us that we are not sensible or that we are not using our head? And if we are not using our head, we are simply not using it. So, even if we get angry because someone says that we are not using our head, it will not change the fact that we are not using it. What we need to do, then, is not to get angry but to start using our head.

As Paul points out in that text, sensible people use their head. Yes, sensible people judge what they hear, see and feel before they decide on how to respond. They won’t just take something as good or bad or as true or false, based on what they can immediately see, hear or feel. Instead, they will first take out some time to examine and judge it in the light of the knowledge that is available to them. That is why they rarely fall into traps of deceit or seduction. It is also why they are often able to make the most of life’s opportunities, even turning bad situations around for their good.

Therefore, as a sensible person, always judge the things coming to you before you act. When you hear a sermon or read a passage of the bible, for example, judge it in the light of entire body of truth given to us in the Scriptures. Paul, as we again see in our opening text, invites his readers to judge what he is teaching them. He doesn’t say that they should just accept and never question whatever he says to them, seeing that he is an apostle. If he had done that, he would have taken away from them their freedom to use their head. And that is what often results in slavery. If you, then, don’t want to be enslaved to any false doctrine or ungodly practice, you had better learn to stay away from anyone that will not allow you to judge their teachings or practice before accepting it.

Then, even in natural matters, learn to judge what you hear, see or feel. Otherwise, you may lose certain once-in-a-lifetime opportunities or unconsciously make a victim of yourself. David, for instance, had to start acting naughty, when he first came as a fugitive to Achish king of Gath. Why? He had heard this king’s servants telling him of his exploits as Israel’s war champion. And he immediately judged the situation and reasoned that Achish may soon begin to see him as a threat to his life and his kingdom and then have him killed. (Cf. 1Sam 21:10-15)

Therefore, he pretended to be having fits of insanity in order to appear too weak to be a threat to anyone. That, of course, bought him the needed time to gain Achish’s trust. So, the man eventually began to treat him like a loyal servant. (Cf. 1Sam 27)

In like manner, we too can turn bad situations around for our good, if we will learn to act like the sensible people that God has made us, judging what we hear, see and feel carefully to know the proper way to respond to them. And I pray that you will be daily strengthened by the Spirit of God to begin to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cheers!

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)

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General Post Single Message Series

Songs of the Spirit_.J.0_Lawal

Recommended Citation: Lawal, J. O. (2025, February 23). Songs of the Spirit. Single Sermons.

In Colossians, chapter 3, verse 16, Paul says this:

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” (NIV)

I have shared some things with us along from this verse of the Scriptures before. Yet I want to speak to us from it again this morning, as we sing together. Now I want you to know that what we are doing this morning is spiritual. It is not a waste of time. It is not something we are doing to just fill in the gap. It is something spiritual.

Well, from the verse I just read to you, Paul makes it clear to us that we can do two major things with singing in the church. First, he says we can instruct ourselves with songs. Yes, we can teach and admonish ourselves with songs. We can educate ourselves in the things of the Spirit with songs. And we have done some of that this morning. Haven’t we?

Then he also tells us that we can praise God or minister to Him with songs. We can worship God, praise Him and bless His heart with songs. That is why he tells us to sing to God with gratitude in our hearts to God. In other words, we are to express our gratitude to God with songs.

There is, of course, another use of songs in the church, which Paul does not mention here. It is that we can pray to God with songs. And when we talk to Him with songs, He will answer us, as long as we are talking to Him according to His will. That is why Paul tells us in that text that our songs must be songs from the Spirit. That means they must be spiritual songs, songs that are in line with the will of God.

In any case, when we begin to sing like this, all kinds of things will begin to happen to us and for us in the realm of the spirit, especially when we are doing so from our hearts and according to the will of God. Truly, we may not be able to immediately tell what is going on when we are singing spiritual songs from our hearts. But things are surely going on.

For instance, in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16, we are told of how Paul and Silas were arrested in Philippi for setting free a young lady that was possessed of a demon. They were arrested. They were beaten. And they were jailed. But then, as Luke tells us, in the middle of the night – about midnight – Paul and Silas began to pray and to sing hymns. They could have been depressed because of their situation. Remember that they had been unjustly treated. And that was enough to give anyone a reason to feel sad or sorrowful and to pity himself.

But these men did not pity themselves. They did not allow depression or anxiety to take over. Yes, they had every reason to be depressed. But they chose not to be depressed. And all kinds of bad or negative things may be happening around you or to you too, if you allow yourself to become depressed because of them, it is your choice. That is because you can choose not to be depressed. You can choose not to be anxious. You can choose not to be afraid.

Now you may look at your life and see that things are not going as they are meant to be going. And that can indeed be what is obvious. I mean that it may be obvious to everyone around you that your life is a mess, that it is out of order and place. And you can allow that to depress you. Or you can choose to praise God and bless His name.

These men – Paul and Silas – chose to pray and to sing to God. And they were not doing this quietly, as Luke further points out. Everybody heard them, as they prayed and sang to God. All the prisoners with them in the prison could clearly hear them as they prayed and sang hymns. That means they were excited about it. That means with all the pains that they must have been feeling in their bodies, with all the bruises and cuts on them and with the horrible odour of blood that must have been coming from them, they still chose to pray and to sing aloud.

Well, as they were doing that, suddenly a miracle happened. They were not expecting it. They were just doing what they knew to be right. Remember that the word of God says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, ‘Rejoice!’” And to rejoice always means to rejoice always. This ‘always’ means all the time, including when you have no money in your bank accounts, including when failure is staring you in the face, including when your body feels weak. (Cf. Philippians 4:4)

So, it is not the circumstances that should determine your devotion to rejoicing in the Lord always. Rather, it is the word of God. The word of God says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” That is God’s command to you. That was what Paul and Silas were obeying. And as they were obeying it, there was an earthquake that shook the prison where they were being held to its very foundations. Immediately, their chains and those of all the prisoners with them fell loose. Also, all the prison doors were flung open. In fact, it was so serious that the jailer was going to kill himself, for he thought that all the prisoners had escaped.

But Paul quickly stepped in and said to him “We are all here. Don’t harm yourself.” And that same night, salvation came into the house of that man. Why? The reason was that two men chose to act differently. They chose to go against the tides. They chose to do the will of God. And if you too will choose to do the will of God this morning, praising Him, miracles will happen in your life. Yes, miracles will happen around you. Miracles will happen in your home. Concerning your business miracles will happen. Concerning your job miracles will happen. Concerning your academics miracles will happen. There will be earthquakes that will destroy the limitations in your life. There will be earthquakes that will destroy barriers. There will be earthquakes that will remove the mountains hindering you. There will be earthquakes that will bring to you all that God wants you to have, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let us continue to bless His name this morning.

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)

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 General Post

His Eyes Are Always On Them_J.O.Lawal

Recommended Citation: Lawal, J.O. (2025, March 2). His eyes are always on them. From Pastor’s Desk, 12(44).

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the third month of this year, the month of March 2025. My prayer is that God will beautify your life and home afresh in the month, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, as we begin this new month, I want to encourage you with these words from a Psalm of David:

“But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.” (Ps 33:18-19NIV)

What do we see here? We see that God’s eyes are always on those who fear Him and who have put their hope in His unfailing love. In other words, He never takes His eyes off them, regardless of where they go or find themselves.

Why, then, are God’s eyes always on such people? First, it is so that He may deliver them from death. Remember that it was David that said these words. And he said them as a testimony of God’s goodness to him. God continually protected him from death, even though his enemy, King Saul, took all kinds of steps to kill him and prevent him from sitting on the throne of Israel. Eventually, it was his enemy that lost his life. But he went on to become the king that God had always wanted him to be.

In the same vein, if we too are living in the fear of God and have all our trust in Him, not in human beings or their schemes, we will always enjoy His protection from death and destruction. That means it does not matter what Satan does to destroy or kill us, he will not succeed. But we will go on to become on all that God wants us to be in life.

Second, God’s eyes are always on those who fear Him and whose hope are in His unfailing love in order to keep them alive in famine. That means it does not how bad the economy of a place becomes, God will always see to it that those who are living to honour Him and who have their eyes fixed on Him do not go hungry. In fact, as He made Isaac wealthy in a time of famine, He is able to make them wealthy too. (Cf. Gen 26)

In like manner, even though the economy of this country is poor at the moment, if we will continually live in the fear of God and put our hope in Him, He will see to it that we do not hungry. How will He do that? I cannot tell you. That is because I wouldn’t know unless He tells me. But I do know that if we will not throw our confidence in Him away, He will see to it that we do not lack any good thing, even though we are living in a time of famine.

So, maintain your faith in God, regardless of what is happening around you and regardless of what you have or do not have at the moment. Also, keep on living in His fear, even though everyone around you has given themselves to unrighteousness. And He will see to it that you are never put to shame.

Have a lovely March 2025.

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)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

It’s not just to make you sorrowful_By J.0. Lawal

Recommended Citation:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, February 26). It’s not just to make you sorrowful. Fire In My Bones_Youth for Jesus, 7(42).

“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it — I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2Cor 7:8-11NIV)

What should rebuke or correction aim at accomplishing? As we see through Paul’s words in our opening text, it should aim at accomplishing repentance. This man of God, at some point, had to write a letter of rebuke and correction to the Corinthian brethren. And his words of rebuke and correction were so intense that he later received news that those words made these brethren sorrowful.

Now was he happy that the Corinthians became sorrowful on account of his letter of rebuke and correction? No! Why was he not happy that his letter made these brethren sorrowful? Isn’t that the purpose of rebuke or correction, making people feel sad and sorry for themselves?

Well, Paul was not happy that the Corinthians became sorrowful because of his words of rebuke and correction because he knew that being sorrowful about one’s wrongdoing is not the same thing as repenting of it. We may feel very terrible today about something we have done. That, however, does not mean we will never do it again, given the same or similar circumstances.

There are people, for instance, that always feel sorrowful each time they are involved in sexual immorality or each time they hurt someone they love. But have they stopped hurting the people they are hurting? No! Of what use, then, is their sorrow? Of no use!

Therefore, as we see in our opening text, what Paul was looking out for in the Corinthians was not just their sorrow about their wrongdoings; rather, what he was looking out for was their repentance. It was their repentance that would make him happy. It was their repentance that would show him the kind of sorrow they had.

See, as this apostle shows us, there are two kinds of sorrow. First, we have godly sorrow. This kind of sorrow produces repentance. In other words, it drives the one that has it to take necessary steps towards putting a stop to whatever they are doing wrong, so that they can begin to do what is right. Therefore, it will not leave them with regrets. Instead, it will make them receive God’s cleansing from the poison of sin and error.

Now that, of course, is the kind of sorrow God wants to see in us, when He corrects us. It is the kind of sorrow that Peter exhibited when he denied Jesus Christ three times in a row in one night. This sorrow made him see the folly of trusting in his own ability to follow the Lord. This sorrow made him draw even nearer to the Lord.

But then, we also have worldly sorrow. And Paul says this kind of sorrow brings nothing but regret and death. Yes, you are sorrowful about what you have done. But instead of turning to God for forgiveness and strength to repent, all you think about is your mess. And the more you load yourself with thoughts of regret about your mess, the more you want to punish yourself for it. Then, if you stay longer in that realm, it will not be long before you do something to harm your faith in God or to harm your life.

Remember Judas Iscariot. Remember that he killed himself for betraying Jesus. But he was not the only that failed Jesus that night. Peter and all the other apostles also failed him, to one degree or the other. But did they kill themselves? No! Why, then, did he kill himself? He killed himself because what he had was worldly sorrow. All he was thinking about was how someone like him could stoop as low as to betray his loving lord and master. He was not thinking at all about God’s grace for his cleansing, repentance and restoration. So, he made a bad situation worse for himself.

If we too don’t want to be making bad situations worse for ourselves, when God is correcting or rebuking us, we should never again focus on the mess we have made but on the need to make the most of God’s grace for our forgiveness, cleansing and repentance. Yes, we may be sorrowful about what we have done. But unless we are cleansed of it and set right, our sorrow will make no sense to God or result in the healing of our lives.

In like manner, in correcting or rebuking others, our focus should never be on making them feel bad or sorrowful, to the end that they may want to destroy themselves. Rather, it should be on encouraging them to repent and begin to do what is right. There are people who rebuke or correct only for the purpose of making others feel really silly and horrible for their wrongdoings. They care nothing about whether your sorrow leads you to repentance or not. They just want to make you feel very bad.

Now such people are simply being borrowed by the devil to destroy others. And if, for any reason, you should be a target of their rebuke or correction, you had better not allow them to fill you with the sorrow that destroys. Otherwise, you will only have yourself to blame.

Cheers!

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)

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General Post

The Baby Jesus Story _ Mary Oladele

Hey little one! Do you want to hear the most amazing story ever?

A long, long time ago, God sent His very special Son, Jesus, to the world because He loves us so, so much! Jesus was born as a tiny baby, just like you were once a baby. His mommy, Mary, and daddy, Joseph, took care of Him, and He grew up to be kind and loving to everyone.

Jesus did wonderful things—He made sick people better, He gave food to hungry people, and He even calmed a big, scary storm with just His words! But most of all, Jesus came to show us how much God loves us.

But guess what? Some people didn’t like that Jesus was saying He was God’s Son. They got really mad and did something very sad. They put Jesus on a big wooden cross, and He died. It was a very, very sad day. But do you know what? That wasn’t the end of the story!

After three days—one, two, three—something AMAZING happened! Jesus came back to life! He wasn’t dead anymore! God made Him alive again to show everyone that His love is bigger and stronger than anything, even death!

And do you know what that means? It means Jesus is alive forever, and He loves YOU so, so much! One day, we will get to be with Him forever too, and that’s the happiest ending of all!

Isn’t that the best story ever? 😊 Drop a comment if you are blessed by this story.

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 General Post

Show your love for Him – By J.0. Lawal


Lawal, J. O. (2025, February 23). Show your love for Him. From Pastor’s Desk, 12(43).

Senior Pastor Alaythia Bible Church

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 the last week of the month of February 2025. My prayer is that God will make available for you in the week every good thing your heart desires to have this month that you are yet to have. Amen.

Now, as we begin this new week, I want to encourage you with the following Scripture about Solomon and how he proved himself worthy of God’s favour:

“Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.” (1Kings 3:3-4NIV)

How did Solomon show his love for God, as we see in this bible text? First, he showed it by walking according to the godly instructions given to him by his father. In other words, he was living according to the will of God. Second, he showed his love for God by giving to Him. He gave Him a thousand burnt offerings in one day. And there is no record in the bible that anyone had proved his love for God in this manner before.

Well, because Solomon took his love for God beyond words of mouth by living according to His will and also by being generous to Him, God also appeared to him in a dream to reward him. God asked him to ask for anything that he wanted Him to do for him. That, of course, was how he became the wisest and richest man of all the people of his time. (Cf. 1Kings 3:5:15; 2Chro 1:1-12)

What is this teaching us? It is that it is not enough for us to be telling God that we love Him or telling people that we love God; we also need to daily prove our love for Him. And how do we prove our love for Him? First, it is by living according to His will. No one who will not live according to the will of God should say, “I love for God.” That will be nothing but a lie. If you truly love Him, then, you will not only be devoted to finding out what He wants but will also be doing what He wants.

The second way to prove that we love God is by being generous to Him. Can we truly say that we love someone that we are not generous to? No! If we love people, we will be generous to them. We will want to give them anything that is within our ability to make them happy. In fact, sometimes, because of our love for some people, we may even go beyond our ability in giving to them. And if we truly love God too, there are times we will go beyond our ability in giving to Him.

A woman once proved her love for Jesus by pouring a jar of some very expensive perfume on His head. Those who saw this, of course, were very angry with her. Why? They thought the perfume she poured on Jesus’ head was too expensive to be wasted like that. But Jesus said told them immediately that what she did was not a waste at all. On the contrary, what she did was done to show her love for Him. Then what she did, according to the Lord, was also done to prepare His body for His burial, even though she had not known this herself before that time. That means it was actually the Spirit of God that led her to do what she did. And the reward was that her name would be mentioned wherever the gospel of the Lord is preached. (Cf. Matt 26:6-13; Mark 14:1-9; John 12:1-8)

So, we can even say that one of the ways to know how yielded we are to the Spirit of God is through our generosity to God. How generous are you, then, to Him? How generous are you to His servants? Then how devoted are you to living your life to please Him? These are the things that will let us know whether you truly love Him or not. My prayer is that what you call love for God will always prove to be genuine and not counterfeit, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a pleasant week.

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)

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General Post

Don’t entrust yourself to them | J.O. Lawal

“Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.” (John 2:23-25NIV)

Why would the Lord not entrust Himself to the people of His time, even those who claimed to believe in His name? As we see in our opening text, one main reason for that was that He knew what was in them. And what was in them? Deceit!

The bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9NIV) Whose heart is the Lord describing here? It is the heart of the natural man, the heart of the man that has not been recreated. And the Lord is saying that his heart is deceitful and incurable. In other words, you cannot trust or rely on what is coming out of his heart. Otherwise, you may end up regretting it.

You can now understand why our Lord Jesus would not entrust Himself to the people of His time. He knew that He could not rely on them to always believe in Him and to always stand by Him. And was He right about them or not? He was right about them.

At least, from what we see in Scriptures, when He was arrested and unjustly tried and condemned to death, most of those who claimed to believe in Him and who used to praise Him were nowhere to be found. Only the voices of those who wanted Him to be crucified could be heard. And if He, for any reason, had thought or expected that He would have some people to stand with Him and speak in His favour, He would have been grossly disappointed. But He was not at all disappointed because He never expected any of them to stand with Him and for Him on that occasion. He was prepared to stand alone, knowing that God would not leave Him, even if everyone else forsook Him. (Cf. John 16:32)

In like manner, don’t for any reason entrust yourself to people, especially those who do not know God. Instead, always rely on God. That is because people, including those who know God, may forsake you when you are seriously counting on them. They may forsake you because their hearts have never been with you. Or they may forsake you because they see your circumstances as too frightening or overwhelming for them.

To say the fact, you too may have in the past forsaken certain individuals counting on you. You may have reasons that seemed legitimate to you for doing so. But that will not change the fact that you failed someone that was relying on you to stand with them and for them. And only God can speak of the extent to which that must have affected the person.

In any case, the point I am making is that human beings are not naturally reliable but naturally unreliable. Yes, those who have been recreated by God among them can be reliable because God is at work in them. But it is not every time that all of them yield themselves to God to make them reliable. So, if you entrust yourself to them, they may fail you. And where that is the case, you may become terribly disappointed and even bitter.

That, by the way, is why some people find it hard to forgive certain individuals who have failed them in life. They entrusted themselves to them instead of entrusting themselves to God. And when they failed them, they could not handle the hit, the disappointment. So, they became horribly bitter and unforgiving. Sadly, there have been cases in which it was the bitterness that such people harboured in their hearts that destroyed them, not even the challenges that they actually faced.

All of this is why you must not entrust yourself to anyone but to God alone. That is because only He is ever reliable. And as long as your dependence is in Him, you will not be disappointed or bitter, if men should fail you. Instead, you will know that you will be sustained by Him, irrespective of what you are faced with. Then, like Jesus, you too will be able to say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Suggested Citattion

Lawal J.O. (Feb 19, 2025). Don’t entrust yourself to them. Youth For Jesus Series, 7(41).

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)

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Don’t neglect their welfare | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 16, 2025 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 42

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours immeasurably from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I welcome you with joy into another week of the month of February 2025. And I pray that God will set you right wherever Satan is secretly using you to hinder His work. Amen.

I once worked in a church office in which many of the workers often left after working for few months. Why did they come in there to work in the first place? The reason was that they too felt that doing so would give them an opportunity to serve God better. So, they left their jobs, businesses, families and so forth to come and work with God.

Unfortunately, as I already pointed out, they would not stay long at all in that church office before leaving. Why? Was it because they did not adequately count the cost of working with God in that manner before coming? That may indeed be the case with some of them. Or was it that they were lacking in patience and endurance? That may also be so with some of them. But one obvious reason most of them quitted as they did was that their welfare was being neglected.

Now who was supposed to see to their welfare? First, the pastor that they were working with was supposed to do so. And did he do so? No, he did not. On the contrary, though he was living an obviously flamboyant life, he did not see the welfare of those working with him as a priority at all. So, many of them could hardly feed or dress well. Yet he was expecting them to be showing the members of the church that it pays to serve God. How ironic!

Also, members of this church were supposed to be concerned about the welfare of these church workers. At least, they knew that these people were not playing around. They knew that it was because of them that their church was successful in carrying out many of her functions. And though they could see that most of them were finding it hard to live well, they would rather wait for them to beg for their assistance than allow God to move them to see to their welfare. Yet they were the ones that complained the most that church workers were not staying because their pastor was not taking good care of them. What a shame!

Well, I share that with you to let you know that our attitude towards the welfare of God’s servants can make them abandon the work God has given to them or turn them to unfaithful servants. Do you know that all the Levites that were supposed to be working in the temple of God during the time of Nehemiah once left their duties to go and work as farmers, traders and so forth? Why? The reason was that their welfare was neglected by the people. Nehemiah had to step into the situation and severely rebuke the leaders of the people before they began to do what was right. (Cf. Neh 13:11-13)

Now I personally believe that if someone like Nehemiah had been in the church I mentioned above and had severely rebuked the members and the pastor for their neglect of the welfare of their church workers, many of those who left would have stayed and continued to serve God and the church faithfully. But there was one. So, they lost a lot of good and faithful workers.

In like manner, unless many of us and our church leaders are being severely rebuked about our attitude towards the welfare of the servants of God among us, we will not change our ways. And as long as we will not change our ways, we will continue to lose many who would have been great servants of God to various businesses and institutions of the world.

Will that make God happy? No! But He will have to wait until He can find people who will not allow our neglect of their welfare to affect His work. And who knows how long that will take? No one. This is why we all must wake up and begin to take seriously the welfare of everyone God is using to do His work and bless us. And may God strengthen us to do so. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

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)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Protect them and your faith also | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 12, 2025 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 7, No. 40

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

“Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.” So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It is well.”” (2 Kings 4:22-23NKJV)

What was the exact reason the Shunammite woman was visiting Elisha on the occasion mentioned in our opening bible text? It was that her son was dead. And how was that Elisha’s problem? Was he the one that killed the boy? No, he was not the one that killed the boy. But he was the one that prophesied that the woman and her husband would have him, having been childless for years. And his prophecy at the time did not suggest that the boy would not live long at all. So, it made sense for the woman to want to meet him to find out what went wrong or missing.

But then, as we also see in our opening text, this woman would not tell her husband her real reason for wanting to meet Elisha. She would not tell him that their boy, their only child, had died from his brief illness. Why?

First, the reason was that she wanted to protect the man. And how was she protecting him by not telling him right away that their son was gone? Well, as the account goes, this woman’s husband was already an old man when the prophecy came that they would have a child. Evidently, he had become even older when the body suddenly took ill and died. So, to bring him news of the death of his boy, his only child, at that age may be as good as handing him a death sentence. Or what do you think?

Now remember that though Jacob had twelve sons, when he learnt of the death of Joseph, he became an unhappy and depressed old man. And he would have died in depression, if he had not been blessed by God to see Joseph again. Also, remember that even though David did not touch Nabal’s family at all, the man still had a heart attack just by hearing what David and his men could have done to him and his family. So, it is not everyone that has a strong heart to handle bad news and not be destroyed by it. (Cf. Gen 37 & 1Sam 25)

At any rate, my point is that it was because the Shunammite woman cared about her husband and wanted to protect him from the shock of their boy’s death that she did not immediately inform him of what had happened. She most likely did not know how exactly the old man would respond to the news. And she was not willing to risk anything. So, she just told him that all was well. And all eventually ended well.

But what if all had not ended well? What would she have done? Well, even if all had not ended well, it would still have been clear to everyone around that she did her best to protect her old husband from being destroyed by the news of the death of their only child.

More so, this woman had no intention of giving her son up to death like that. Instead, she was going to meet the man of God that gave them the prophecy about the birth of the boy to do something about the situation. But would she have been able to do that, if she had told her husband what happened and the man had fainted or died? Would that not have been another problem on its own, a problem that may have made meeting the man of God to bring their boy back to life impossible or difficult for her? It would!

Then let us even say that her husband took the bad news in good faith. Did the woman have any guarantee that he would be on the same faith page with her in meeting the man of God to bring the boy back to life? No, she did not! And if the man should be unbelieving in the situation, would he have helped the matter at all? No!

So, that woman was not just after protecting her husband from grief, she was also after protecting her own faith from being paralysed or made ineffective by anyone’s unbelief. And we should learn from her.
What should we learn from her? First, we should learn to protect our loved ones from information or news that may ruin them.

See, because of the conditions of some people, it may not be appropriate or good to expose them to certain news or information. Otherwise, things may worsen for them. So, if we truly love them, we will do our best to keep them from seeing or hearing anything that may make a bad situation worse for them.

However, we should also know that there are times that keeping certain information away from some people is nothing but making a bad situation worse for them and perhaps for us too. So, before we decide to keep any vital information away from those who deserve to have it, we should be sure that our doing so is not going to worsen things for them or us.

The second lesson from that woman is the need for us to protect our faith from any form of unbelief. We must not assume that all those who love us and are good to us are people of faith. That is because some, many or all of them may not be people of faith at all. And where are not sure of this, it will be wisdom for us to make the exercise of our faith private. Otherwise, the unbelief of even the good or righteous people in our lives may make our faith weak or ineffective in enjoying God’s provision of favour, restoration or protection.

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)

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Don’t discourage them | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 09, 2025 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 41

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours abundantly from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer. I am glad to welcome you to another week of the month of February 2025. My prayer is that God will rid you every attitude that may make you a hindrance to the progress of the church of God or of other people in your life. Amen.

In Numbers, chapter 32, Moses says this to the tribes of Gad and Reuben:

“Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from going over into the land the LORD has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. After they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them.”” (Num 32:6-9NIV)

Why did he say these hurting words to them? It was because they had requested to have their own inheritance before the whole nation crossed over River Jordan to take the land of Canaan that God wanted to give them. And Moses saw that as a sign of unfaithfulness and an attempt to discourage the remaining people from going on to take the land God was going to give them. Therefore, he began to rebuke them severely.

But then, these people simply made that request because they saw that the land on that side of River Jordan was suitable for livestock rearing. And they had very large herds and flocks. Why, then, did Moses get so upset with them that he began to rebuke them? The reason was that he did not want them to be the reason others would be discouraged from going for what God had wanted them to have and then get into trouble.

As Moses pointed out to them, the reason all of them ended up wandering for forty years in the wilderness was that ten of the twelve men that were sent to spy the land God was going to give them brought back an evil and discouraging report to the people. And it was because of these ten men that the entire nation had to suffer and be kept from enjoying God’s provision for them to the full for forty years. If only ten men, then, could make an entire nation suffer for forty years, imagine what problems whole two tribes could bring upon them. That, of course, was why Moses had to quickly protest.

In any case, those people assure Moses not to worry at all. They told him that they would not dare discourage the people from having God’s best for them. Instead, they would leave their families behind and march on with them into the Promised Land until every other tribe had their own inheritance. And that was exactly what they did. (Cf. Jos 22:1-9)

Now what lessons are there for us in all this? First, it is that we need to watch how our words and actions may affect those in our lives, especially the people of God. Yes, we may have very good reasons for wanting to say or do whatever we have in mind. But where what we say or do may discourage others or fill them with lukewarmness and keep them from away from what God has planned for their lives, we need to watch ourselves. Otherwise, we may end up being the reason their lives and our lives as well will remain stagnant forever.

Second, where we observe that the people in our lives are doing things that will discourage us or others, we need to speak up, as Moses did. Yes, they may have good reasons for what they are doing. But unless we speak up and allow them to explain themselves, we may not know whether they should be tolerated or firmly resisted. And that may just allow Satan to use them to make a short trip to greatness and rest long or impossible for us.

Third, if we are confronted by others who have legitimate reasons to believe that our actions are going to hinder them or cause problems for them in life, we should be patient and humble enough to explain ourselves. Otherwise, we may make a bad situation worse. If the people of Gad and of Reuben had chosen to enter into arguments with Moses, instead of explaining themselves to him, he may have prayed to God against them. And they may have been severely judged by God, as Dathan, Korah and those with them were judged by Him. (Cf. Num 16)

So, don’t train yourself to be arguing with people when they accuse you on any matter. Instead, be patient and humble to explain yourself to them. That way, you will be healing your relationship with them instead of further destroying it. And may the Spirit of God continually fill you with the wisdom and strength to act accordingly. Amen.

Have a splendid week.

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)