Category: Fire in my Bones

Title: Because he destroyed it

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date May 13, 2026

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 52

“Moreover, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani to Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger by the things he did, and becoming like the house of Jeroboam — and also because he destroyed it.” (1 Kings 16:7NIV)

Who did the word of the Lord come to, as we see in our opening text? It was Baasha and his house. And who was Baasha? He was the man that became king over the nation of Israel after Nadab son of Jeroboam. Now how did he become king? He became king by killing his master, Nadab. In fact, it wasn’t only Nadab that this man killed. He also killed every member of Jeroboam’s family, not leaving any one of them alive. (Cf. 1 Kings 15:25-29)

But then, what Baasha did to the house of Jeroboam was simply a fulfilment of the prophecy of a man of God, Ahijah the Shilonite. God had spoken through this prophet that He would destroy the entire household of Jeroboam. And that was because he deliberately led the whole nation of Israel into idolatry, even though he was God’s choice. So, when Nadab, his son, became king in his stead, God raised up Baasha to fulfil His word. (Cf. 1 Kings 14:14-16)

Sadly, after Baasha had become king, he began to misbehave. He too went on to commit the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. He did not turn away from it at all. Instead, he perpetuated it.But he was the one that destroyed the house of Jeroboam. And he knew that God gave him the power to destroy man’s house because of his wickedness. How come he too went ahead to commit the same acts of wickedness?Well, that is showing me that the fact that God uses me to condemn or judge an act of wickedness in someone doesn’t mean that I am not capable of committing the same act of wickedness or something worse.

No, it doesn’t mean that I am a better person. So, if I do not continually entrust myself to God in prayer and also allow His word to dwell in me and renew my mind, I may someday find myself committing the same acts of wickedness I have condemned or judged in others. Where that, then, is the case, unless God decides to show mercy, I can only expect Him to judge me the same way I have judged others. (Cf. Gal 6:1; James 2:13)

As we see in Baasha’s case, God said that one of the reasons He would wipe out his family in judgment was that he was the one that judged and destroyed the family of Jeroboam. If he had not been the one that destroyed that family in judgment, maybe he would have been spared. But God was not going to spare him because he gave himself to committing the same sins he had judged in others. Now all this is why our Lord Jesus warns us against judging others where we are yet to judge ourselves (Matt 7:1-5).

And we will do well to pay a very close attention to what He tells us about this. Otherwise, we may bring quick and sudden judgment on ourselves from God because of our ruthless judgment of others that are probably better than us in conduct or character. So, let us mind ourselves.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: The right procedure

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date May 6, 2026
No Comments on Title: The right procedure

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 51

“Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the LORD our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.”” (1 Chron 15:11-13NIV)

Who said the words of our opening bible text? It was David. And what led him to say them? It was the experience that he and the people of Israel had when they first attempted to bring the Ark of God to the place they had prepared for it.Now what sort of experience did they have? It was a bad one. And it was bad because someone died while they were taking the Ark of God to the place prepared for it.As the account goes, they had placed the Ark of the Covenant on a new cart while moving it. But when they got to a certain place, the oxen pulling the cart stumbled. So, Uzzah, one of the two men guiding the Ark, reached out its hand to steady it, so that it might not fall off. But God got angry with him and killed him. (Cf. 1Chro 13:7-10

)That, of course, brought a sudden end to all the celebration of David and his people. They had to take the Ark of God to another place, to the house of a man named Obed-Edom. David asked them to do that because he was afraid of what might happen to him and his household, if the ark should be brought into his palace. But then, he later found out that the household of Obed-Edom was not harmed at all by the presence of the Ark of God there.

Instead, it was tremendously blessed. That prompted him to go and find out what went wrong when they were bringing the ark to the place he had prepared for it. And it was then that he realised that they did not carry the Ark of God at the time according to the prescribed way. (Cf. 1Chro 13:12-14)Now Solomon says this to us:“For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.” (Eccl 8:6NIV)

Did you see that? Just as there is the right time for everything to be done here on earth, there is also the right procedure for it. Otherwise, the effort, time, resources and even people expended on what we are doing may just go to waste. Not only that, we may get into trouble for using a wrong procedure for what we want to do, even though it is the right thing.David and his people wanted to do the right, something that naturally should earn them the praise of God. But they did not make enough effort to learn the prescribed way, the right procedure to follow in doing it.

So, a life was lost, even though their intentions were right.In like manner, time, resources, effort or people may be lost, if we will not learn the right procedure for anything we want to do in life. We may feel good about using the wrong procedure or feel bad about using the right procedure. But what matters in doing anything good and meaningful in life is not what we feel or how we feel; rather, it is our commitment to using the right procedure for doing it at the right time. So, always make effort to learn the right procedure for doing things, especially in areas of your ignorance. Otherwise, the consequences and pains that will follow may be irreversible.

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.

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!

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?

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.

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.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Walk with the wise

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date March 25, 2026
No Comments on Title: Walk with the wise

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 45

“Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” (Proverbs 13:20NIV) Who is talking to us in our opening bible text? It is Solomon. And what is his instruction to us? it is that we should walk with the wise. In other words, we are to make wise people our companions.Now why do we need to do that? Why do we need to make wise people our companions?

According to Solomon, it is one of the ways to become wise. And as he further points out, if we ignore this instruction and decide to choose fools as our companions, we are bound to suffer one form of harm or the other. It is only a matter of time.But then, we must also understand that walking with wise people will not necessarily make us wise. It is our purpose of walking with them and our attitude towards learning from them that will determine whether our walk with them will result in our becoming wise or not.

What I am saying is that we have to be intentional in choosing to walk with wise people. That means we must intentionally look out for people that are truly wise around us that we can walk or fellowship with. Doing that in itself will be wisdom on our part. But it has to be done because there is no guarantee that wise people will freely flow into our lives. And where wise people are not readily around us to walk with, we had better begin to look elsewhere for companionship.Also, apart from being purposeful about choosing wise people as our companions, we also need to be purposeful about learning from them ways of wisdom. Otherwise, though we walk with them for decades, we will still not be wise.

Rehoboam, for instance, lived with his father Solomon for a number of years before he became king in his place. Yet he did not demonstrate wisdom at all but foolishness at the beginning of his reign. Why? His focus was most likely not on learning ways of wisdom from his father but on some other things. What other things? We are not told what they might be in the account. Perhaps his focus was just on becoming the next king after his father or on pleasure or on his father’s wealth.At any rate, though Rehoboam had a very rare privilege of being the son of Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived on earth before Jesus came, and also of living with him, he did not learn much wisdom from him. That was because he was not intentional about learning wisdom from him. So, he ended up having fools as his companions and suffering terribly for it. (Cf. 1Kings 12; 2Chro 10)

Now we too can expect to suffer terribly in life, if our companions are fools. And if we don’t want that, we had better begin to intentionally look out for the wise people among all the people in our lives that we will choose as our companions or counsellors. And once we recognise them, we should begin to take every righteous step that will make it possible for us to walk with them and also learn from them. Then perhaps we already have some of such people as our companions, we should not make the mistake of wasting the opportunity we have to learn from them by focussing our attention on less important things like pleasure, riches or positions in our relationships with them. Otherwise, even if we gain these things through our relationships with them, we, like Rehoboam, will still lose them at some point for our lack of wisdom. So, let us mind ourselves.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Even if you deserve it

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date March 18, 2026

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 44

“Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.” (1Sam 16:19-20NIV)

Why did Jesse send gifts to King Saul, as we see in our opening text? It was to appreciate him for choosing his son to be his personal musician in the palace. So, the gifts were not sent to bribe him to take David in as his musician but to appreciate him for already doing so.But why did he have to appreciate Saul in that manner? At least, David was chosen to serve him because he was highly skilful in playing the harp. He must actually have been the best in doing so in the country at the time.

Nevertheless, if the king, for any reason, had refused to have him, what would he have done? Nothing! Or if some of the officials of the king had decided to mess the selection process up and chosen someone less worthy of the service, what would David and his father have done? Nothing!So, even though David was chosen on merit, his father was still wise enough to know that he was supposed to appreciate the king for choosing him. And while we are not told in clear terms how King Saul responded to that show of appreciation, we are told from the account that he actually went on to like David very much. He, in fact, so liked him that he sent word to his father to allow him to remain permanently in his service. (Cf. 1Sam 16:21-22)

What, then, is this teaching us? It is that we must learn to recognise where appreciation is needed and give it. For many of us, it is only when people have given us or done for us something we don’t deserve that we think of the need to appreciate them. Therefore, we may not see the need to show appreciation where we think we deserve or are entitled to have what is coming to us. This is why we usually don’t show enough appreciation to our parents, husbands, wives, children, brethren or leaders in the church and other people that are close to us. We think we deserve or are entitled to whatever they are doing to us or for us.

But even if you deserve or are qualified or entitled to have something, it may still not come to you. You may be denied it, robbed of it or cheated of it for various reasons. If you, then, have not been denied what you are qualified or entitled to have, you should first be thankful to God for delivering it to you. Also, you should do whatever you can to appreciate anyone that He may have used in making that thing yours. That is because you may not be able to say what other doors of goodness doing so may open for you.

Finally, if someone that has gotten something on merit has enough sense to appreciate those used by God to secure that thing for him, you who are receiving whatever you are not qualified or entitled to have should know that you have no excuse for being lacking in appreciation.

So, learn to appreciate those God is using to lift you up or to open doors of prosperity to you, not just with words of mouth but also with meaningful gifts, however little those gifts may be. This is not bribery. This is appreciation. And if bribes can make people go out of their way to twist situations and systems, imagine what genuinely shown appreciation can do in setting things right.

Therefore, whether you deserve that good thing coming to you or not, recognise where to show appreciation for it and show it. May God continually fill you with the wisdom to do the right thing, as far as this matter is concerned. Amen.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: First investigate it

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date March 12, 2026

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 43

“Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:3-4NIV)

In our opening bible text, we find part of the introduction of Luke to his gospel concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. And what do we learn from what he says in this introduction? First, we learn that he originally wrote this gospel for the reading of a nobleman called Theophilus. The sort of position Theophilus was occupying at the time is something we cannot tell from the text. But by referring to him as ‘Most excellent Theophilus’, we can safely assume that the man must be occupying a very powerful and influential position wherever he was at the time.The second thing we learn from the text was that even though Luke was a believer in Christ Jesus at the time, he did not just believe everything he was told and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Instead, he first carried out a careful, thorough and extensive investigation about the things he was hearing and learning before embracing them as true. Why did he do that? Well, first, he did that because he did not want to be acting on lies or fabricated stories. Second, it was because he lived during the days of the early preachers of the gospel and so nothing stopped him from verifying the things that they were saying to see whether they were true or not.

Third, it was so that he would not be leading others too, including Theophilus, to believe a lie.Now we find something similar to this in the attitude of the Jews in Berea towards the preaching of Paul, when he came to them. Look at what the bible says about this:“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.” (Acts 17:11-12NIV)

Did you see that? These people did not just accept Paul’s sermons as true because he called himself an apostle of the Messiah that they had been waiting for. Instead, every day they took out time to investigate what he was teaching them in the Scriptures to see if it was true. And when they realised that it was true, many of them believed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with joy.So, you can see that the apostles of old encouraged their audience to investigate the things they were teaching them. They did not just ask them to accept their messages as true because they were apostles. Otherwise, they would be preventing them from gaining the confidence they needed to defend their own faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That being the case, learn to investigate whatever you are being taught in the church and in life by anybody. Investigate it using the Scriptures and other relevant resources that are at your disposal. Don’t just accept anything as true on the strength of anybody’s title, position, education, fame or experience. That is a cheap way to be misled into believing and acting on lies or errors. And where that is the case, you will have only yourself to blame for whatever you suffer for believing and acting on any lie or error. So, mind yourself.