Category: Fire in my Bones

“If you will only let me help you, if you will only obey, then I will make you rich!”

(Isa 1:19-20TLB)

One of the reasons some people’s lives are utterly messed up and some have, in fact, lost their lives is that they would not receive help from God or from the people He sent to them. For instance, we are told in the bible of how a king of Judah, whose name was Asa, got sick and refused to seek God’s help for his healing. He only consulted the royal physicians in his illness. And was that wrong? No! Nothing is wrong with consulting physicians or doctors for us to get well, if we are sick. But even real physicians know that they cannot heal anybody – only God heals. So, it does not matter how hard they try or how much they invest in making someone well, if God does not make the person well, they will not be well. (Cf. 2Chro 16:12)

Well, because Asa would not seek God’s help in his moment of need, he died in his illness (2Chro 16:13). But why would this man, who was raised to know God as the healer, not seek healing from Him? As the account goes, it was because of pride. He did something wrong, and God rebuked him for it. And instead for him to admit that he was wrong and seek forgiveness from God, he got angry with Him and would, henceforth, not have anything to do with Him. This, of course, was what opened the door of his life for affliction to come in and take him away. (Cf. 2Chro 16)

In like manner, there are people today whose pride will not allow them to seek or accept God’s help or the help of those He is sending to them. They think they have enough wisdom to solve their problems their own way. But what they don’t know is that man’s wisdom is nothing but foolishness in the sight of God. So, someday, they will come to the end of that wisdom and see that their problems have not yet been solved or that those problems have actually ended their earthly lives.

Now I would not know where you need help in your life. Regardless of where it may be, you need to turn to God. Perhaps you did not know before that God had the power to help you. I am sharing this with you now in order that you may know that only He has the power to help you and that if He does not help you, nobody can (2Kings 6:26-27; Ps 62:11). And He wants to help you because He cares about you (1Pet 5:7). Your duty, however, is to cast your cares or anxieties on Him and allow Him to bear them.

In our opening text, He announces that if only we will allow Him to help us, He will make us rich in joy, peace of mind, love and every other beautiful thing of this life. But will pride let us allow Him? Will that desire to want to take credit for our advancement permit us to allow Him? I know there are times we reject people’s help because we do not want them to use it as a reason for unduly interfering with our lives. And indeed, there are people whose sole reason for helping others is to forever enslave them.

But God has no intention of enslaving anybody by helping them. In the first place, He owns us all, for He created us all for His own pleasure (Ezek 18:4; Rev 4:11). So, it is His duty to help us and produce in our lives what will bring Him pleasure. If our lives, then, are miserable or horrible, it gives Him no joy. You can now see why He always wants to set our lives right and fulfil His duty to us as a responsible Creator and Father. The right and logical thing for us to do, then, is to deliberately place our lives under His authority. That is because it is only by doing so that He can freely produce in us what is pleasing in His sight and make our lives truly meaningful.

Therefore, allow God to take charge of your life and affairs. Allow Him to help you solve that problem. Allow Him to give meaning and sense to your life. In short, allow Him to fulfil His responsibility to you as the owner of your life. And don’t allow pride or anything else to keep you back from doing so. Just let Him do in you, for you and through you what only He can do, and you will not be disappointed that you have done so.

Copyright © 2020, 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 alaythiabiblechurch@gmail.com / alaythia4all@gmail.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)
By: J.O. Lawal | Date: November 11, 2020 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 3, No. 26

“We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.”

(2Thess 3:11-12NIV)

There are many today, even in the church, that complain all the time of how hard life is for them and how difficult it is for them to take care of their basic needs. And that is their excuse for being unduly dependent on others for almost everything they need in life or want to do. But people who act like this are not living in the will of God. It is true that God wants His people to learn to support one another with their resources. In fact, it was by acting like this that the church of the first century, in their early years, accomplished a situation in which there were no needy persons among them (Acts 4:32-35).

However, these brethren were not supporting one another to encourage idleness or slothfulness. On the contrary, they were supporting one another to promote equality, to bring everyone to that place where they are financially independent and would not have to be unduly dependent on anyone (2Cor 8:13). And why did they function like that? It was because they were well taught. Their apostles and teachers taught them to get busy with one form of legitimate labour or the other, so that they would be able to take of themselves and also support others.

For instance, Paul, speaking to the Thessalonian brethren in his second letter to them, instructs them not to condone any form of idleness or laziness among them. In other words, they are not to support able-bodied brethren who will not act responsibly and put themselves to work. And as he further points out to them, even as an apostle, he worked while he was with them. He and his co-ministers worked night and day to have resources to take care of their basic needs. So, they would not buy anything on credit or use cleverness to take goods or services from any of the brethren and not pay for it. They even gave them a rule, which was that anyone who would not work must not eat. (Cf. 2Thess 3:5-10)

Therefore, when news came to them that some among these brethren had become idle and slothful, Paul lost no time to address the matter. And as we see in our opening text, it was a strong warning he gave them. He said, “Settle down and work to earn the bread you eat.” In other words, Paul wants these brethren to stop relying on others for everything they need in life, when they themselves are in a position to work to care for themselves and to also support others. He wants them to stop living like parasites.

Now notice that this apostle does not say to those poor and idle brethren, “Tell your pastors to organise a prayer meeting for you that will be titled ‘Bring back my glory’.” No, he does not say anything like that at all. Why? It is because as important as it is for us to pray, prayer alone cannot cure financial handicaps – we need to add legitimate labour that is handled with wisdom to it as well. Of course, through prayer, we are able to appropriate God’s favour and provisions for us. But if we will not get busy and apply ourselves to some honest labour, we will ultimately waste whatever measure of favour God pours out on our behalf.

So, if you have been living a parasitic life, you are wrong. It does not matter whether it is your family members, friends, neighbours or brethren in church that you have been feeding on, you are wrong. And in fact, they too are wrong to continue to encourage you to feed on them, while your abilities to be fruitful and useful are wasting away. Or don’t you know that is what is happening? You are wasting away, if you are not using those abilities and skills God has given you to work and add value to your life and to others’ life. Yes, if you are using entire days to sleep, watch movies, play games or to do any other thing that does not increase you in fruitfulness or relevance, you are wasting away. And by the time you wake up, you will have become nothing but an old useless person.

Therefore, you need to find something legitimate to do, according to your abilities or circumstances, in order to attain financial independence. In fact, you need to tell yourself that you are not going to be a parasite but one whose life is adding value to others’ lives. If you are working, and what you are earning from it is not yet enough to support you, it is understandable. Then it will make all the sense in the world for God’s people to support you until you attain financial independence. But if you are not doing anything but are only complaining of how there are no jobs anywhere or how nobody is willing to pay you what you are worth, then, you are simply wasting away. Then I have to say to you, friend, “Settle down and earn the bread you eat and stop being parasite.”

Copyright © 2020, 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 alaythiabiblechurch@gmail.com / alaythia4all@gmail.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)
By: J.O. Lawal | Date: November 04, 2020 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 3, No. 25

“I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”

(Rev 2:21-23NIV)

Those were the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to a woman He referred to as ‘Jezebel’ in the church of Thyatira. And what is the point the Lord is making through what He says about this woman? It is that she is unwilling to repent of her sins. But why is she unwilling to repent of her sins? One major reason is that she has not been judged of them.

In like manner, there are many today that have persisted in doing all kinds of wrong things because they have not been judged. These may even be rejoicing in their wickedness and calling those who will not join them foolish. But the fact that someone has not been judged by God for their wickedness does not mean they are never going to be judged for it. They would certainly be judged at some point, if they would not repent.

There are indeed times in which God judges people for their sins almost immediately they commit them. For instance, we are told of how He judged Nadab and Abihu, two of the sons of Aaron, with fire, the very moment they offered unauthorised fire before Him (Lev 10:1-2). Think about that. Even though we do not have it on record that these men had been living evil lives, God did not give them any time to repent of their wrongdoing at all. He judged them instantly.

Now compare their situation with that of the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas. They were utterly corrupt in all their ways and were even referred to in the bible as sons of Belial (1Sam 2:12). Yet God did not judge them for their wickedness, irreverence, immorality and other similar nonsense they were involved in immediately. And why did He not judge them readily for their sins? It was because He wanted to give them time to repent.

We see a similar treatment being given to the woman the Lord is talking about in our opening text. She too was given some time to repent of her sins. And why does the Lord give people time to repent like this? First and most importantly, it is because He does not delight in the death of any sinner – what He wants is their repentance (Ezekiel 18:23&32; 2Pet 3:9). Second, it may be because the cup of their sin is not yet full (Gen 15:16). Third, it may be because certain individuals are interceding for them, asking God to show them mercy (Amos 7:1-6). Then there are times that to deal with some sins people actually need time. I mean that the steps required in repenting of some sins and correcting the problems they have created may not be what can be taken in one day. And in such situations, people will indeed need some time to set things right. (Cf. Ezra 10:10-14)

Nevertheless, one thing we need to keep in mind is that there is expiration date before God for people to repent. So, if they fail to repent within the period of time He has given to them, He will have no option other than to bring His judgment on them. That is what the Lord says to the woman in our opening text. He says that He has already given her time to repent, but she is unwilling to do so. Therefore, He will judge her and all those involved in sinning with her with sicknesses and even death.

Why am I bringing you all this? It is so that you will not stay in any kind of sin, simply because you have not yet been judged for it. Evidently, the reason you have not yet been judged for that wrong act or those wrong acts of yours is that God is giving you time to repent. But you do not have forever to repent. There is expiration date on that repentance package you are holding. So, use it when it will count. Otherwise there may just come a day when your repentance will prove useless and unprofitable for you.

Copyright © 2020, 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 alaythiabiblechurch@gmail.com / alaythia4all@gmail.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)
By: J.O. Lawal | Date: October 28, 2020 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 3, No. 24

“So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.”

(Job 2:7NIV)

One of the things anyone that is involved in any kind of warfare must know is who their enemies are. Why is this important? It is important because unless we know who our real enemies are and what they are capable of doing, we will most likely underestimate them or give ourselves to fighting the wrong persons. And that will surely result in defeat and perhaps destruction for us.