Category: Fire in my Bones

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Fire in my Bones

Don’t make yourself a victim_J.0_Lawal

Recommended Citation:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 19). Don’t make yourself a victim. Youth for Jesus, 7(45).

“Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.” (Gen 4:8NIV)

Why did Cain kill his brother Abel? He killed him because he was jealous of him. He was jealous of him because, while God accepted Abel and his offering, He did not accept him and his offering. He had probably thought that he would be more favoured by God on that occasion. But when things did not go as he had expected, he became very jealous and angry. And because he would not deal with these things, he ended up murdering his own brother, a brother that he was supposed to be protecting.

But why did he succeed in murdering Abel? He succeeded in murdering him because Abel was either naïve or unobservant. As the bible tells us, after Cain and his offering to God had been rejected, he became very angry. He was so enraged that God had to quickly come to talk to him about his attitude and sin’s desire to posses him to do something stupid and dangerous. (Cf. Gen 4:1-6)

Now did Abel not see that his brother’s face was downcast because God did not accept him and his offering? If he did not notice that, then, he was totally unobservant. That means he was not paying much or any attention to what was happening around him. How, then, could he possibly tell if he was safe to be where he was or not?

Personally, I do not think that Abel was unobservant. The account does not show that he was unobservant. On the contrary, the account suggests that he too could see that his brother was very angry because of how God treated him and his offering. Yet he was not on his guard against him. Why? It must have been because he did not think at all that his brother could harm him, regardless of how angry or jealous he was.

But that was naivety on Abel’s part. It was naïve of him not to know that anger could turn someone into a mad man, making him do unthinkable things, things that he himself will later regret doing. It was also naïve of him not to know that jealousy always poisons people’s lives, making them dangerous and unreasonable. Since Cain, then, was filled with both of these things, he should have been on his guard against him.

Unfortunately, he was not on his guard against him. So, he lost his life prematurely to the cruelty of his own blood brother. And God did not protect him. Why did He not protect him, even though he was a righteous man? We are not told the reason in the account or anywhere else in the bible. But our Lord Jesus tells us something that may help us understand why God may not protect a righteous person from the wickedness of those in his world. He says:

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matt 10:16NIV)

Did you see that? The righteous is not just supposed to be as innocent or meek as a dove, he is also supposed to be as clever as a snake. In other words, he is supposed to always be attentive, observant and on his guard against any form of danger. Otherwise, he will often make himself a victim of the hatred, bitterness, jealousy or sexual harassment of the wolves in his world.

Truly, regardless of how smart or clever we may be in our conduct, if God does not protect us from the evil schemes and anger of the wolves in our world, we will not be safe. But we should at least first obey His command that tells us to be as clever as snakes in dealing with those of this world. Then we can trust Him to take care of every other thing that concerns our safety.

If we, however, fail to obey what He has told us to do, we may end up making ourselves a victim of the wicked, as Abel did. And God may not protect us. Yes, He will avenge us. But we would have already suffered. My prayer is that you will never again suffer from the hands of the wicked and unreasonable. But you too should be as clever as snakes, just as you are as meek as doves.

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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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Cursing the Deaf_Lawal_J.0

Recommended Citation

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 12). Cursing the deaf. Youth for Jesus, 7(44).

“Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.” (Lev 19:14NIV)

What point is God making by saying to us the things we have in our opening text? It is that we are not to use the weaknesses or handicaps of others to exploit or hurt them. Doing so, as He further points out, can only show that we do not fear Him.

Now, of course, we may say, “I can never do that. I can never curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person.” But any time we are using someone’s ignorance, weakness or position of disadvantage in life to exploit or hurt them, that is exactly what we are doing. We are cursing the deaf. We are putting a stumbling block in front of the blind.

For instance, a pastor that I once knew was transferred to replace another pastor in a chapter of their assembly. And the first thing he did when he got to that assembly was to reduce the stipends being given to all the staff he met there. Why? Well, his reason was that they were performing far below what they were being given.

But what those people were being given at the time for what they were doing was quite little, compared to what most graduates like them were earning. Yet this man did not care at all. He just did what he felt that he had to do.
Now was he not afraid that those staff members may resign and leave? No, he was not. Why was he not afraid? First, he was not afraid because he knew that those staff members had put in some years of their lives into serving that church, years that they could have used in building some careers, furthering their studies or building some businesses. So, leaving the church office like that would be like starting all over again. It would, then, take a very bold and daring person to do so.

Second, that man was not afraid that his staff would leave because he was aware that most of them, if not all of them, came to work in the church office because they believed that God wanted them to be there to serve Him. So, he judged that they would not want him to start telling the church members that the reason they left was that they were unwilling to make sacrifices for God. And did he judge right or not? He did.

In fact, none of those staff members left at the time. Instead, they all stayed to justify the fact that they were not working for God because of money but because they loved Him. But were they happy to stay? No! What, then, can we say that the man did to them? He used their situation, their sense of commitment to God, to exploit them. And that is nothing but cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind.

Now there are several other things that we too can do that will amount to cursing the deaf or putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind. For instance, people will know that the price of an article has gone terribly up. Yet they will go to someone who doesn’t know and buy everything they have from them at the old price, instead of telling them that the price had changed. And too often, it is their own customers that do this to them. So, the person ends us suffering some losses that could have been avoided. What is that? it is cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind.

What about those who take advantage of those who come to them for help in dealing with sexual abuse or sexual sins? They are cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind. How? They are well aware of the weakness of those coming to them. They already know that they cannot help themselves in their situation. Yet they mess them up while claiming to be offering them help. Are they not cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind? They are!

In any case, the word of God tells us that a lack of the fear of God is what will make us do such things. That, then, means there will surely be consequences. So, if there is any way in which you are using people’s ignorance, handicaps, weaknesses or position of disadvantage to exploit, harass or hurt them, you need to repent before it is too late. That is because God is watching you. And He will pay you back in full for whatever you do, good or bad. 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)

Categories
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)