Category: Fire in my Bones

Behave yourself wisely | Johnson Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date April 18, 2025

Recommended Citation: Lawal, J. O. (2025, April 16). Behave yourself wisely (Vol. 7, No. 48). Youth for Jesus.

“So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.” (1Sam 18:5NKJV)

What are we told here about David? It is that he behaved himself wisely in handling all the things King Saul sent him to do. In other words, he conducted himself in such a way that even though he was very young at the time, he had the respect of Saul, the army officers and also the troops. So, when he was given a high rank in the army, everybody loved it. Nobody thought that he was overrated. Instead, they saw it as something he deserved.

In like manner, we too must learn to behave ourselves wisely wherever we find ourselves. We must learn to take advantage of the wisdom of God in us to win the respect of those around us, whether we are living together, working together or studying together. And we can do this by showing seriousness in all that we do and say, by giving appropriate honour to everyone, by staying out of other people’s business and by making ourselves helpful and useful to others whenever they need us. And if this is the way we are functioning, people will be glad to see us elevated and honoured in life.

Paul says something along these lines to Timothy. He says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” (1Tim 4:12NIV) What does this apostle mean by this? First, let us look at what he does not mean. He does not mean that Timothy should go around talking rudely to anyone that tries to disrespect him because he is young. Doing that would be very silly and arrogant of him. In fact, doing that would make people look down on him all the more.

What, then, does Paul mean? Well, he means that Timothy should behave himself so wisely that nobody would use his being young as an excuse for disrespecting him. That, of course, is why he goes on to tell him to be an example to other believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. And as he does this, everyone would give him the respect that he deserves as a man of God.

Now we too should pay attention to how we behave where we live, study or work. People won’t give us adequate and appropriate respect simply because we bear some titles or because we are rich or because we are highly educated. Rather, they will do so because we know how to behave ourselves wisely. And if we should fail to learn to behave ourselves wisely, we may lose more than the respect and honour of others. We may also lose those things that are giving us pride in life.

Remember Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant. She was given an unspeakable privilege of sharing her mistress’ husband, even though it was something contrary to the purpose of God for those involved. And if she had behaved herself wisely in that situation, she would have enjoyed her mistress, Sarah, for the rest of her life. But she did not behave herself wisely but foolishly. When she got pregnant, she began to despise her Sarah, thinking that she had become the apple of Abraham’s eye. (Cf. Gen 16)

But soon enough, she saw that she was wrong. She saw that she could never take Sarah’s place in Abraham’s heart, even though she was carrying the man’s pregnancy. But she already lost whatever love and respect Sarah and others had for her in that home. And though she later humbled herself, all the remaining years she spent there were years of misery and pains.

You can, then, see that we may never win certain people’s respect or love back once we lose it. So, in all your dealings with people, always conduct yourself in such a way that you will continually earn their respect. And may God daily strength you to do so. Amen.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

fmb_Strengthen my hands_J.O._Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date April 11, 2025

Recommended Citation:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, April 9). Strengthen my hands. Youth for Jesus, 7(47).

“They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” [But I prayed,] “Now strengthen my hands.”” (Neh 6:9NIV)

Who said these words? It was Nehemiah. And who was Nehemiah? Nehemiah was the governor of the land of Judah that God used in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after the people had returned from exile.

Now though this man was a governor at the time he said these words, a governor that was righteous and also highly connected to Emperor Artaxerxes, he still found himself in a situation where certain individuals tried to frighten and weaken him. Why? They wanted him to abandon the good work he was doing, the good work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and also seeing to the welfare of his people.

So, it is not only those who are poor, weak and lowly in life that face threats to weaken or render them useless in life. The rich, powerful and influential also face these things. Yes, they too sometimes find themselves in situations where they are being harassed, oppressed or threatened, so that they may not fulfil the desires of their hearts. And in such situations, their wealth, power and influence may not be able to help them. That, of course, is sometimes the reason some good people end up becoming useless or unprofitable leaders. The forces they have to contend with in the positions they find themselves are just too much for them to handle.

Well, as we see in our opening text, at some point, Nehemiah too found himself being harassed and threatened by the enemies of his people, so that he would be too weak to do anything good for his land as governor. But this man would not surrender to fear and stop the good work he was doing. Instead, he decided to pray to God.

Why did Nehemiah choose to pray to God, when he was being harassed and threatened? It was because he knew that only God could make him succeed under the circumstances he had found himself. Yes, he was rich, powerful and influential. But he also knew that wealth, power and influence could fail and have failed times without number. Only God never fails. So, he chose to pray to Him.

Now what was his prayer? It was very simple. It was that God would strengthen his hands. In other words, he wanted God to give him all the encouragement, strength, boldness, wisdom, determination, protection and resources he would need to finish the good work he was doing. And did God answer him or not? He did, for he finished the good work he started in record time and with excellence. So, all his enemies were put to shame. (Cf. Neh 6:15-16)

In like manner, if you too are faced with people or situations that are threatening to stop or hinder you from doing whatever good and righteous thing you have in mind or are up to, don’t be surprised. And don’t start saying, “God, why me?” You will not be the first person to experience that. Also, you surely won’t be the last person to experience it, as long as this earth remains.

So, instead of getting worried or losing your mind because certain people or circumstances are trying to frighten you and stop you from doing whatever good thing you want to do, just pray to God as Nehemiah did. Yes, pray to Him, saying, “Strengthen my hands, my God.” And He will answer you and furnish you with all the strength, wisdom, protection, courage, people, resources and encouragement you need to succeed. Then all those who are against you will be put to shame, when they see that what you have done has been done by the power of the living God.

Cheers!

Tags in love, love, love is not in a hurry, love is patient, religion, religion. spirituality

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

fmb_Love is not always in a hurry_J.O._Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date April 2, 2025

Recommended Citation:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, April 2). Love is not always in a hurry. Youth for Jesus, 7(46).

“Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.” (John 11:5-6NIV)

When you love someone, how do you treat anything that concerns them? You treat it with all the seriousness it requires. But that does not seem to be what we see in our opening text. As we see in it, Jesus loved Lazarus, Martha and their sister, Mary. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days.

Now that did not look like an expression of love, or did it? No, it did not. If He had loved Lazarus indeed, then, He would have been in a hurry to get to him before he died. But He did not do that. Instead, He waited until the man had been in the tomb four days before He went to raise him up from the dead. And that made everything look like He deliberately used Lazarus’ misery to promote His own glory.

But was it really like that? No, it was not like that. As the account shows us, even though Jesus waited two more days where He was when He heard that Lazarus was sick, the man was already lying in the tomb four days by the time He got to his town. That would mean that it took the messenger that had brought Him the news at least one day to get Him, just as it took Him at least one day to get to Lazarus’ place. Judging by that, Lazarus had already died by the time the man that brought Jesus news of his illness got to Him.

More so, Jesus Himself later plainly told His disciples that Lazarus was dead, that is, before they all left for his place (John 11:14). How did He know that? It was by divine revelation. So, Jesus did not wait two more days where He was because He wanted Lazarus to die before He would go and see him. Rather, He waited that way because He knew that the man was already dead and there was no need to be in a rush to go and raise him up.

But then, He could still have left immediately to raise Lazarus from the dead. And if He had done that, Lazarus’ sisters and their people would not have had to mourn him as much as they did. But He did not do that. Instead, He waited two more days before going to see him. Why?

Well, in answering that, first, Jesus was not in a hurry to go and raise Lazarus from the dead because He knew that the power of God could not be hindered by time or decay. So, regardless of when He got to where Lazarus was, the power of God would still work in bringing the man back to life.

Second, if Jesus had immediately gone to raise Lazarus up from the dead, his family and others with them may not have appreciated the awesomeness of God’s power as they did when He raised him up when his body was already decaying and smelling. In fact, some people may even have said that the reason it was easy for Him to bring him back to life was that Lazarus merely fainted or went into a coma for a while. And that way, they would have dismissed any involvement of the mighty power of God in what happened to him.

But Jesus would not make it easy for anyone to dismiss the awesomeness of God’s power as nothing. So, even though He loved Lazarus and his sisters very much, He handled the bringing back of the man from death to life in such a way that everyone who got to know about it would appreciate it and glorify God for it. And that is showing us that true love is not always in a hurry to help or solve problems. Rather, it is always thoughtful enough to handle whatever it does to help others in such a way that it will be adequately and appropriately appreciated.

Unfortunately, many of us know nothing about this quality of love. Therefore, we are often in a hurry to express our love to people anyhow, instead of acting in thoughtfulness in expressing it. But there are times that love needs to let people appreciate the enormousness of their problems in order for them to also appreciate the solution that it offers them. Otherwise, they may just treat an invaluable gift of love as something ordinary or common. And where that is the case, love may be wounded, paralysed or killed. That explains why some people now find it hard to act in love towards anyone. Their love was wounded, paralysed or killed by some who should have appreciated it.

Well, if you don’t want that to happen to your love for anybody, don’t always make something difficult look easy, just because you can do it. And don’t always make something expensive look cheap, just because you can afford it. Then learn to let people see the need for them to be helped before stepping in to help. Otherwise, you may just make your love or acts of love look like nothing to individuals who have difficulties recognising genuine love.

Cheers!

Tags in love, love, love is not in a hurry, love is patient, religion, religion. spirituality

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

A gift or a curse_J.O._Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date March 26, 2025

Recommended Citation

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 26). A gift or a curse. Youth for Jesus, 7(46).

“The man said, “The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”” (Gen 3:12NIV)

Those were Adam’s words to God, when He asked him if he had eaten the forbidden fruit. And his words showed that he, after his fall, no longer saw Eve as a gift of blessing to him from God but as a curse.

But from what we see in the bible, when God first brought Eve to him, he brought her to be a blessing to him and not a curse. In fact, before God brought her to him, He had said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” So, God never intended that Eve would be a curse or a problem to Adam. On the contrary, all He had wanted was for her to be a blessing to him in all ways, so that life would be easier and more enjoyable for him. (Cf. Gen 2:18)

More so, when God brought Eve to him, he himself could not hide his joy. He said, “”This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, for she was taken out of man.” So he was truly happy to have her. And he was not ashamed of her or to be around her, even though they were both naked. (Cf. Gen 2:23-25)

It is surprising, then, that this same man could freely blame God for bringing Eve to him, just because she was instrumental to his fall. Yes, it was God that brought Eve to him. But as I said already, He brought her to him only to make life easier and more enjoyable for him, not for her to be a trap for Satan to catch him. If she, then, became a curse to him, if she became the reason he fell away from the grace of God, who was to blame.

Evidently, Adam himself was to blame for what became of the gift of God to him. At least, from what we see in the account, he was right there when Satan deceived Eve and made her eat the forbidden fruit. And what did he do to stop her? Nothing! He just stood there and watched, as the woman was being messed up by the devil. Not only that, he took the fruit from her hand and ate it, showing that he approved of what she did. (Cf. Gen 3:1-7)

How, then, was he able to freely accuse God of being indirectly responsible for his fall, when he could have prevented what happened from happening? Did God make the woman head over him when He brought her to him? No! Did God say that he could not teach, rebuke or correct the woman, if she ever missed it? No! Why, then, did he not check the woman when she was being deceived by the serpent? Why did he not step into the situation to protect her from Satan’s lies?

Well, we are not given answers to these questions in the account. But we do know from the account that God judged Adam for listening to the voice of his wife instead of rebuking her and also protecting her from the devil. Yes, God judged him for taking the word of His gift to him more seriously than His own commands to him. (Cf. Gen 3:17-19)

Very similarly, as we see in the bible, God judged Eli and his household because he allowed his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, to become a curse to him and the nation of Israel. These sons were given to him by God Himself as gifts of comfort, as gifts to perpetuate his family line. But he allowed them to become a curse by not dealing with their excesses and wickedness, showing that he valued the gifts more than the giver. So, God told him that He would punish his household because he honoured his sons more than him. (Cf. 1Sam 2-4)

Now what is all this teaching us? It is that we are to pay attention to how we relate to any gift God has given to us in life. That God is the one that has given something to us as a gift does not mean that thing cannot become a curse or a problem to us. If we would not relate to it with the wisdom of the Spirit and also with caution, it may end up becoming the reason we will fall or fail God.

So, don’t assume that God’s gifts of things or people to you will always automatically be a blessing to you. They may just become a curse to your life, if you won’t learn to relate to them according to the wisdom of the Spirit given through the word of God. And you won’t relate to them according to the wisdom of God’s Spirit, if you value or cherish them more than God Himself who has given them to you. So, watch yourself.

Tags a gift or a curse, Fire in my bones, religion, spiritual, spirituality

Fire in my Bones

Don’t make yourself a victim_J.0_Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date March 19, 2025

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!

Tags alaythia, alaythia bible church, dont be a victim, Fire in my bones, johnson lawal, religion, spirituality, vigilance

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Cursing the Deaf_Lawal_J.0

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date March 12, 2025
No Comments on 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.

Tags Fire in my bones, religion, Youth for Jesus

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Sensible People _J.0.Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date March 8, 2025
No Comments on 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!

Tags Fire in my bones, religion, sensible people, spirituality

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

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

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date February 26, 2025
No Comments on 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!

Tags corrections, discipline, Fire in my bones, religion, spirituality

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

“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.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Prepare yourself for greatness | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 05, 2025 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 7, No. 39

“When I was a boy in my father’s house, still tender, and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said, “Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” (Prov 4:3-7NIV)

Those are Solomon’s words to us. And he says them to let us know that greatness did not just happen to him; he prepared himself for it. How? It was by taking very seriously the teaching and discipline of his father, David.

As he shows us in that text, when he was but a boy, his father used to teach him all kinds of things. And among the things he taught him was the need for him to go for wisdom and understanding with everything he had. Why? Wisdom and understanding are supreme; they are more important than anything else a man could own or inherit. And the one who has them will be honoured and exalted by them.

You can, then, see why it was wisdom and understanding that he asked for, when God came to him in a dream and asked him to tell Him what he wanted Him to do for him. He had so meditated on these things that even in a dream he had to talk about them to God. And the reason he gave himself to meditating on them that way was that he took what his father had told him about them very seriously. That means he agreed with his father that by going for wisdom and understanding he would be preparing himself for greatness in life. (Cf. 1Kings 3)

The point I making, at any rate, is that Solomon’s focus, as a young man, was not merely on taking the throne of his father; rather, it was on making himself fit to be approved by God, his father and the people as the next king over the nation of Israel. And did he get their approval or not? He did. First, he was his father’s choice for the throne. Second, and more importantly, he was God’s choice for the throne. Then, when he ascended the throne and began to lead the people with wisdom and justice, it did not take them much time at all to accept him as worthy of the throne of his father, David.

But think about his elder brothers that were after getting the throne for themselves. Did any of them succeed? No! Why? None of them was prepared for true leadership. None of them had the fear of God, the wisdom and the discipline required to sit on that throne. And why did they lack these things? The reason was that they did not yield themselves to learn from their father, David.

Amnon, for instance, was a rapist. And he was so lacking in self-control that he even raped his own sister, Tamar. Therefore, even though as the firstborn he should have naturally been the crown prince, he lost his life before his time. He was caught by surprise and assassinated. And that was also possible because of his lack of self-control in handling wine. He, as the first heir to the throne of David, was supposed to be on his guard always. But he was not on his guard on the day he was brutally killed while getting himself drunk. That, of course, shows that he did not learn much, if he learnt anything at all, from his father about leadership and soldiery. (Cf. 2Sam 13)

What about Absalom? He was murderous, crooked and immoral. Instead of learning from his father and gaining the discipline needed to lead as king, he was busy using his fine face and smooth lips to plot how he would take over the kingdom from him by force. And did he succeed? Yes, it initially looked like he was going to succeed. But it only took a while for his father’s men to snatch the kingdom from his hand again and get rid of him. How, then, could someone like that keep the nation safe, if he were to be king? (Cf. 2Sam 16-18)

Then we have Adonijah, who also put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” What made him think he was fit to be king? Well, the reason was that he had some entitlement mentality. As we are shown in the bible, his father never rebuked or corrected him about anything. So, he was an overpampered child. And he felt that he could take anything he wanted for himself, including the kingdom of his father. But was he trained, disciplined and raised to be king by his father? No! And was he allowed to become king? No! Instead, he was rejected.

It is actually both interesting and surprising that the same David that raised Solmon and brought him up well would not discipline Adonijah at all. Why? We are not told the reason in the bible. Perhaps someone was getting in his way whenever he wanted to discipline him early in his life. We would not know. But we do know that by not raising the way he raised Solomon, he was showing that he had no intention of putting him in any position of greatness or significance in his kingdom. And since he too did nothing about gaining whatever discipline and training his father would not give him from the word of God, God also would not consider or choose him to be His king over Israel, though he was very handsome. What a waste of beauty! (Cf. 1Kings 1)

Well, my point all long is that greatness will not just happen to you because you live with it or very close to it. You will have to prepare yourself for it, if it will be yours. So, you need to focus more on gaining the discipline and wisdom you need for greatness in life than on greatness itself. That means as you find opportunities to learn and be trained to increase in fruitfulness and usefulness in life, make the most of them. Don’t excuse yourself from the word of God. Don’t reject discipline. Don’t run away from training. Otherwise, true greatness will always run away from you, even if you come as close to it as the air you breathe in.