Category: Youth for Jesus

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Fire in my Bones General Post Youth for Jesus

Title: Don’t let it discourage you|Fire in my bone

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: September 06, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 17

“After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself.” (2Chron 32:1NIV)

What is the first thing that is brought to our notice in our opening text? Hezekiah’s faithfulness to God! When this man became king, as we have in bible accounts, he gave himself to faithfully doing the will of God. First, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple that his father, Ahaz, had shut, repaired the temple and also purified it. That was so that true worship could begin again in the land. (Cf. 2Chro 29)

Second, Hezekiah led the people to celebrate the feast of Passover in a very grand way, equal only to the way it was celebrated in the days of King Solomon. Third, Hezekiah saw to it that the welfare of the priests and Levites in the land was no longer neglected. He encouraged and led the people to bring in all the tithes, firstfruits and offerings required by the law to the house of God. And all these things were done in accordance to the will of God. (Cf. 2Chro 30-31)

Now one would expect that with this man’s demonstration of faithfulness, trouble would be very far from him and his land. But it was not so at all. As we see in our opening text, after all that he had so faithfully done for the Lord and his land, a very powerful enemy showed up and invaded his land, thinking to conquer it for himself. And his threats were so frightening that the whole nation convulsed with fear. But why should this happen after Hezekiah had demonstrated faithfulness in serving God and doing His will? Did he not do enough to please God? Yes, he did.

What, then, was the problem? Well, the coming of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, to attack Hezekiah and his people was not God’s doing at all. That was Satan’s doing. And he did it to discourage this king and his people. He did it to make him think that doing the will of God was a waste of time.Thankfully, Hezekiah did not fall into his trap. Hezekiah did not give up on God because he was attacked by an enemy after faithfully doing His will.

Instead, he cried out to God for help and encouraged the people of the land to trust in Him. And did God fail him or not? No, God did not fail him. On the contrary, God sent an angel of His that killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers of the Assyrians in one night. So, their king withdrew to his own country, humbled and defeated, without firing a single shot of arrow at the land of Judah. (Cf. 2Kings 18-19)

What is the point of this? It is that whether you do the will of God or not, challenges of life are inevitable. So, don’t think that challenges will not come to you because you are doing the will of God. Otherwise, you will often find yourself falling into Satan’s traps of discouragement. See, doing the will of God will not exempt any of us from life’s challenges. At least, from what we see in Scriptures, doing the will of God did not exempt our Lord Jesus from life’s challenges.

For example, the bible says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”” (Matt 4:1-2NIV)

Did you see that? After fasting forty days and forty nights, one would expect that the first thing Jesus would witness was a mighty provision of God or an opportunity to preach a great sermon or heal the sick. But that was not happened at all. Instead, it was Satan who showed up again. He had been tempting the Lord all through those days of fasting and praying, as indicated in the Scriptures. And when He was done, he still showed up again to tempt Him to abuse the power of God, tempt God and even engage in idolatry.

Now did the Lord allow that to discourage Him? No! Did He allow that to make Him think that praying and fasting all those days and nights was a waste of time? No! Instead, He drew His strength from the Spirit of God and resisted the devil with the word of God. And did He succeed in driving him away or not? He did.

In the same vein, we too can expect Satan to show up in our lives anytime, especially when we are feeling high and excited in the spirit because we are doing the will of God. And his coming at such times will be to discourage us and make us think that praying, fasting, giving, preaching or doing anything that is the will of God for us is a waste of time. We, however, must be ready like Jesus to resist him with the word of God until he flees from us. And he will surely flee. So, stay encouraged, beloved. It always pays to do the will of God.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Trouble instead of help |Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: August 30, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 1

“Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to him, but he gave him trouble instead of help. Ahaz took some of the things from the temple of the LORD and from the royal palace and from the princes and presented them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help him.” (2Chron 28:20-21NIV)

One of the things made abundantly clear to us in Scriptures is that no one can help anyone that God does not help. So, if you want true help about any matter of life, the one you should turn to is God. Otherwise, anyone or anything you turn to for help apart from God may end up making an already bad situation worse for you.

As we see in our opening bible text, there was a time that King Ahaz of Judah turned to the king of the Assyrians, Tiglath-Pileser, for help. Why? He was being attacked by his neighbouring nations from different angles. So, he was losing his people and his territory at a very alarming rate. (Cf. 2Chro 28:5-15)

But why was he losing his people and land in that manner? That was the first question he ought to have asked himself. His father, Jotham, did not lose his people or land at all. Instead, he made them stronger and richer. Also, his grandfather, Uzziah, did not lose his people or land at all. Instead, he made them stronger and richer. (Cf. 2Chro 26-27)

What, then, was his own problem? Why could he not keep what was passed on to him? He could not because he did not take God seriously as did his grandfather and father. Instead of worshiping God, he gave himself to the worship of idols and the practice of divination. Therefore, God withdrew His protection from him and from the land. That, of course, was the reason for his trouble. (Cf. 2Chro 28:1-8)

So, even though Ahaz needed help in order to be saved from his enemies, there was something he needed more than help. And that was repentance. If he had repented and turned back to God, the God of the nation that he was king over, he would have had all the help he needed to defeat his enemies and win his land and people back.

Ahaz, however, was too arrogant to humble himself before God and seek His face. Therefore, he turned to the king of the Assyrians for help. Unfortunately, as we are told in our opening bible text, instead of getting help from this man, all he got from him was trouble. And even though he gave him some of the treasures laid up by his ancestors in the temple of God and in his palace, all he still got from him was trouble.

Eventually, he gave himself to more idolatry and messed up the entire nation even more before his meaningless reign ended.In like manner, there are many like Ahaz today who are going from place to place and people to people for all kinds of assistance or support. But what they need may not just be help but to take God seriously in their lives and stop living according to their own ways. And as long as they do not realise this and act accordingly, any help they find may soon enough prove to be no help at all but trouble.

Then, like Ahaz, there are many all around the world who keep looking for help and solutions to the problems of their lives outside God. And will they get helped? No! Instead, like Ahaz, what they will keep finding are people like Tiglath-Pileser, who will keep taking from them but never giving them anything but trouble.

Now perhaps you already have such people in your life. They keep asking you to give them all kinds of things and taking you to all kinds of places, all in the name of wanting to help you. Yet their help is not forthcoming. If you are not careful, such people will be the ones that will run you dry. Then you will wake up one day and realise that your home, possessions, savings, health and everything else you care for are gone. Yet you have not been helped.

So, stop seeking help where it does not exist. Your help is with only one person. And that person is God. You just need to humble yourself, put your trust in Him and stop relying on your understanding. And He will see to it that you get the right kind of help you need without having to lose your head, sleep, relationships or resources.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: What if things were worse?|Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: August 23, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 15

“The LORD said, “Jeremiah, if you get tired racing against people, how can you race against horses? If you can’t even stand up in open country, how will you manage in the jungle by the Jordan?”” (Jer 12:5GNT)

Those were God’s words to Jeremiah, when he began to question Him about His commitment to giving justice. In Jeremiah’s estimation, the wicked and the faithless in his land were becoming more and more prosperous. And that was happening at the expense of the righteous and godly people in the land.Yet he could not see God doing anything about it. He could not see Him punishing the wicked for their wickedness, dragging them off to be killed or destroyed. So, he got upset and began to take God to task about His justice.

Now when people begin to question God and find fault with Him about His devotion to giving justice here on earth, they may soon enough become part of the wickedness they have been complaining about. This is why Solomon says, “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.” (Eccl 8:11NIV)

In other words, when people do not immediately receive due punishments for their wickedness or wrong acts, they will most likely encourage themselves in the practice of wickedness.But then, it is not only those who have been given to wickedness that this may affect. It may also affect those who have been given to righteousness and are looking forward to seeing justice prevail where they are. If they cannot obviously see the wicked being punished by the leadership of where they are, they will expect God to step in and punish them.

And if they wait for a while and can’t also see God punishing them in ways that are obvious to them, they may give up on righteous living and become a part of the problem they used to complain about.Perhaps this is addressing you. Perhaps you too have given up on doing what is right or are about to give up on it because of the injustice you are witnessing everyday where you are.

And that is because you have a feeling that God is helpless or slow or unconcerned, as far as matters concerning justice are concerned. Well, if that is the case, then, you are like Jeremiah of bible days. He too, as I pointed out earlier, at some point felt that God was not showing enough concern, if any at all, about the injustice in his country.

Otherwise, He would have stepped in and begun to judge all those involved. But when God was going to answer him, the response he expected was not what he got. He probably was expecting God to comfort him and tell him to be patient with Him and that He was soon going to do something about the injustice in the land. But God did not say that at all. Instead, as we see in our opening text, He told him to stop being childish and grow up.

According to God, if Jeremiah could not cope in a race with men like himself, how would he cope, if he were to be in a race with horses? Or if he could not cope with life in an open country, how was he going to cope if he were to be dropped off in a jungle? And what did God mean by saying these things? It was that Jeremiah should not use the unjudged injustice in his land as an excuse for misbehaving or abandoning righteous living.

Why? It was because whatever form of unjudged injustice he could see in the land was nothing to compare to what was in existent in some other places. And if he could not cope with it, how would he be able to cope, if he were to find himself in a more wicked place?Now did God say these things to give Jeremiah the feeling that He had no interest in giving justice on earth? No!

Rather, He said it to let him know that whatever form of unjudged wickedness or injustice he saw in the land should not be used by him as an excuse for not doing what was right or for grumbling. As we see in Scriptures, God dispenses justice here on earth every day (Zeph 3:5).

And that it is not obvious to us does not mean that it is not happening. So, we should not use the fact that we have not seen certain acts of wickedness or injustice dealt with as our excuse for giving up on righteous living or for living a life of grumbling.

Instead, we should learn to concentrate on doing the will of God with hearts filled with thanksgiving. That is because regardless of how terrible the injustice or wickedness we see where we are may be, God will have us know that there are places where things are worse. And if we will not learn to take advantage of His grace to deal with whatever evil we are confronted with where we are now, how are we going to survive, if things should get worse there or if we should find ourselves in a worse place?

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Anointed but weak|FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: August 09, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 13

“Then the king said to his men, “Do you not realize that a prince and a great man has fallen in Israel this day? And today, though I am the anointed king, I am weak, and these sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil deeds!”” (2Sam 3:38-39NIV)

Those were David’s words after Joab had murdered Abner, Israel’s army general, in cold blood to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel. But why did he say such words? He said them because he realised that even though he was the Lord’s anointed king, he did not have it takes to keep under control some of his men.

And in this situation, he was referring to Joab and his brother Abishai. Naturally, David was supposed to have the two of them executed or banished for the roles they played in the death of Abner. That was because he did not give them any order to have the man murdered.

As we see in the account, Abner and David had just had a feast together to celebrate their alliance before Joab went after him and used deceit to kill him. So, as God’s anointed king that wanted to be just in leading the people, the right thing for him to do was to judge those murderers.But he could not do anything to them.

Why? First, as he himself admitted, they had become powerful and influential among his men. That was because they both of them were mighty men of war and had led his men to experience victory in battle many times. So, they were men that were feared, trusted and respected. That being the case, there was no way he would judge them and not create divisions among his own men. Second, these men were David’s nephews, sons of his sister Zeruiah. So, if he chose to execute or banish them because of Abner, who was not entirely a good man himself, many of the people may see him as a heartless person. His blood relationship with them, then, also weakened him and prevented him from judging them for what they did to Abner. (Cf. 1Chro 2:13-17)

Now what did David miss? Was it his fault that Joab and Abishai were his nephews? No! And did he do any wrong by recognising their prowess and allowing them to lead his men in battle? No! But it is clear that he allowed their familiarity with him to breed contempt for his authority. If, right from the time they just came to him as young men, he had been strict or hard in disciplining them and showing them that he would not accept any form of disregard for his authority from them, simply because they were his blood, they would most likely not have become emboldened to do anything without his permission.

Also, David must have given these men, Joab and his brother, too much independence as leaders of his army. That was why they were bold to call Abner back on that occasion without first checking in with their king. But authority must always be checked. If you give someone some measure of authority and will not check it or place some restrictions on it, it will take the grace of God for that person not to use that authority to strengthen himself against you.As we see in David’s case, Joab and his brother used their relationship with him and the positions he gave them in his army to strengthen themselves against him. So, even though they were loyal to him to the end, they also had a culture of doing whatever pleased them, even if it was contrary to what he wanted. And he remained weak in handling them till he died. The best he could do was to entrust the judgment of Joab to his son Solomon, who, of course, was too wise for the man to contend with (1Kings 2:5-6).

Well, what is the point of this? It is that you should not allow any relationship to make you weak in using your position to do the will of God. It does not matter whether it is a blood relationship, work relationship or spiritual relationship, don’t handle it in a way that it will introduce weakness of character into your life. We have seen husbands made weak by their wives and vice versa, so that they are now unable to always do the will of God with their positions.

And we have seen parents made weak by their children and vice versa, so that they are now unable to do what is right where God has placed them. We have even seen employers, bosses and anointed preachers made weak through some unclean relationships with those under them, so that they are now unable to do what God wants with their respective positions.

So, you really can be made weak in doing what is right or in judging wickedness by the people you love, trust or admire. And that is what will most likely happen, if you will not exhibit discipline and self-control in your dealings with them all the time.

Who, then, knows how far they will go in abusing your relationship with them? Remember that the only reason Abner responded to Joab’s call to come back that day was his relationship with David. And he took advantage of that to destroy him. Therefore, don’t let anyone make you weak and, by so doing, turn you into a partaker of their sins. And be very careful too not to weaken anybody in doing what is right through your relationship with them or through the authority they have entrusted to you. Otherwise, like Joab, you may expose yourself to God’s judgment.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Surviving in Ahab’s court|By: J.O. Lawal|FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: August 09, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 13

“So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Obadiah was a devoted follower of the LORD. Once when Jezebel had tried to kill all the LORD’s prophets, Obadiah had hidden 100 of them in two caves. He put fifty prophets in each cave and supplied them with food and water.)” (1Kings 18:3-5NIV)

The bible is full of shocking or hard-to-believe revelations and reports. And one of them is that of a man called Obadiah. Now this Obadiah was not the popular Prophet Obadiah, whose book we have in the bible. On the contrary, as we see in our opening bible verses, he was the palace administrator of King Ahab.

Who, then, was Ahab? Ahab was a well-known figure to bible readers. And that is because he was one of the most wicked kings that the nation of Israel had before they were exiled. Not only was he wicked, he also married a very wicked woman, a witch, if you would agree, called Jezebel. And this Jezebel was so wicked, ruthless and godless that even the great Prophet Elijah trembled at her threats. (Cf. 1Kings 19:1-3)

Now here is what the bible says about the two of them: “There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel.” (1Kings 21:25-26NIV)

Did you see that? Ahab and his woman, Jezebel, were monsters, as far as God was concerned. You can, then, imagine how hazardous living with them or working for them would look like.Yet, as we see in our opening bible text, Obadiah, who happened to be their palace administrator, was a devout worshipper of God. That sounds quite implausible, or what do you think? How could a man who worked every day and so close to these evil people be a godly man? Was that even a possibility? Yet the bible says that he was not just a godly man but also a devout worshipper of God.

That means he was radically committed to worshipping God. Then, to make us understand how devoted to God this man was, we are told of how he saved and protected 100 true prophets of God from his wicked mistress, Jezebel. Not only that, he provided them with food and water throughout the period that they were hidden away from the reach of the witch. That, evidently, was something that could have cost him his head. Yet he did it. His devotion to God, then, could not have been a joke at all.

But how did he survive among these godless people? How did he not lose his faith or life among them? We are not given any clue in the account. But we do know from Scriptures that anyone who will survive like that among cruel, wicked and godless people must take God and His word seriously. In other words, such a person will first give himself to studying and meditating on God’s word. Second, he will be determined to act on what he knows to be the will of God. Third, he will, through prayers and thanksgiving, be dependent on God for the wisdom, favour, strength, boldness and protection needed to do His will. Otherwise, he would be crushed or polluted by the wickedness where he is.Now since Obadiah was neither crushed nor polluted by the wickedness in Ahab’s palace, it must mean that he was highly blessed by God with wisdom, favour, strength, courage and protection to survive there.

So, in case your excuse for turning away from God or from doing his will is that you are living with Ahab and Jezebel, remember that you will not be the first or the last person to live with them. Obadiah lived with them and survived. And that was because he trusted God and was determined to live to please Him.

If you too will begin to trust Him and be determined to do His will, He will make you survive around them.Then you must also never forget this: that someone is living and working with Satan does not mean that he is another Satan.

Often, we assume that those who work under or with cruel and godless people must be cruel and godless themselves. But it is not always so. Life’s circumstances that we may never understand may place someone right under the leadership of a wicked soul or in their house. That, however, does not mean them they are not different. They may just be different. And if we allow sentiments to make us assume the worst of them, we may miss whatever good thing God may have done for us through them or the opportunity to be used by God to encourage them or lift them out of trouble.

So, next time who want to judge someone on the basis of the evil character of the people around them or in their lives, remember that they may just be an exception, another Obadiah. You will do well, then, to first study to know who they really are. That way, you will not jump into hasty conclusions about them and condemn the innocent.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Don’t become useless to Him|By: J.O. Lawal|Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

“But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command.” (1Sam 13:14NIV)

Those were Samuel’s words to King Saul after he took it on himself to offer to God sacrifices that Samuel ought to have offered to Him. And why did he do that? He did it because he got tired of waiting for Samuel. As the account goes, Samuel had told him to give him seven days to be with him and make sacrifices to God before he would engage in the battle that was before him.

But for reasons not disclosed in the bible, Samuel was late in coming. So, Saul decided to usurp his authority and make the sacrifices the man was supposed to offer. Unfortunately for him, just as he finished making the offering, Samuel came. And all he had left to do was pronounce God’s judgment on him. (Cf. 1Sam 13)

Now what was God’s judgment concerning Saul? It was that He had already replaced him with someone else. But did God really have to do that? Why did He not give him another chance to redeem himself? Well, God did not give him another chance because it was useless to do so. As we also find out in the bible, after this incident, God sent Samuel to him again to give him another assignment. And how did he handle it? Unfaithfully, as usual! He went and did his own thing, not want God had commanded him to do. (Cf. 1Sam 15)

So, Saul at that time had already developed an independent mind. That means he was only after doing what pleased him and not what pleased God, who anointed him and made him king over His people, Israel. Therefore, he could not be trusted by God. No, God did not remove him from his throne immediately.

In fact, He allowed him to reign for forty-two years. But He never gave him any task or assignment again till he died. So, those years of his reign were nothing but useless years, as far as God was concerned, just as he too had become nothing but a useless king.What is the point of all this? It is that God is taking note of our attitude towards whatever task He gives to us. If we are handling the tasks He gives to us diligently and faithfully, whether they are tasks He gives to us directly or those that He gives to us through others, He will continue to give us more tasks. And as He gives us more tasks, He will also multiply His grace in our lives to do them. So, we will find ourselves increasing in usefulness, fruitfulness and relevance before Him.

But if we cultivate the habit of handling the tasks God gives to us as we please, a time is coming when He will have nothing else to say to us again. He will simply find someone else who will do what He wants.

Don’t we also function in like manner? We do! If, for instance, we have a tailor or carpenter that is always doing what he pleases with our work and not what we want, are we going to keep giving him jobs to do for us? No, we will not, especially when he is not the only carpenter in town. Why? We don’t want use all our time arguing with someone that has no mind or intention of satisfying us.

In the same vein, God also does not want to use all His time arguing with us, when it is clear we have no intention of doing what will please or satisfy Him. This is why, as we see in our opening text, He is always searching for people who are after His heart. Why? They are those who will willingly and faithfully do what He wants and not be arguing with Him or doing their own thing. So, if you are not one of those who are after satisfying God always in living for Him and also in handling His work, you are simply making yourself ready for redundancy in His kingdom.

That, of course, does not mean that God will reject you as His child. He won’t reject you as His child, if you do not reject Him as your Father. But the fact that you are His child does not mean that He considers you as someone He can entrust His work to. And if He is not entrusting His work to you, then, you are nothing but a useless child. I pray that you will not end up living the rest of your life as a useless child of God, in Jesus’ name.

But you also need to examine your ways and your attitude towards whatever tasks you are currently handling for the Lord and make amends where necessary. It is well with your soul.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Not entirely evil|By: J.O. Lawal|FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: July 26, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 11

“Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:15-16NIV)

What is Paul’s instruction to us in our opening bible text? It is for us to be very careful how we live. Why do we need exercise caution or carefulness in the way we live? According to Paul, the reason is that the days we are living in are evil.

Is Paul now saying that every day is an evil day? Yes, that is exactly what he is saying. And is that in line with the mind of God? Yes, it is in line with the mind of God. That is because our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when addressing us about the need not worry about tomorrow, says this to us: “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt 6:34NIV)

That means every day is loaded with enough trouble, enough evil to ruin anybody. However, the evil of any day does not have to ruin us or destroy us. And it will not ruin us or destroy us, if we know how to live. But if we do not know how to live, even the good of any day we witness may not do us any good at all.

As Paul equally shows us in that text, though the days we live in are evil days, something we all can attest to, they are also days of opportunities. In other words, the days we live in are not entirely evil but also good. What is important, therefore, is for us to recognise the good in every day and make the most of it to defeat the evil in it.

Now that is what Paul refers to as living wisely, living carefully, living thoughtfully. Yes, each new day will bring its own kinds of evil to our world.

But we must not just focus our attention on the evil happening in it but also on the opportunities God is making available to turn the evil happening in it around for our good. The bible says this to us about God: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28NIV)

Did you see that? Just as our enemy, the devil, is working hard to fill every day with evil for us, God, our Father, is also working to turn every ugly situation around for our good. And whose work do you think will naturally prevail? God’s work!

So, instead for you to allow all the bad things happening around you or to you to make you lose your mind and start misbehaving, focus your attention on the good things God is doing on your behalf and how you can make the most of them to frustrate the devil and defeat every evil thing he is doing to bring you down.

That was how Joseph functioned when he was sold into slavery by his brothers. He did not focus on his slavery but on the opportunities that it afforded him to rise and shine. And did he rise and shine or not? He did. (Cf. Gen 39)

Also, when he was in the prison, he did not focus his attention on the bad things happening in the prison and what they could do to him. Rather, he focussed his attention on the good things happening there, on the opportunities available for him there to rise and shine.

And did he rise and shine or not? He did. In, fact, he went on from there to become the prime minister of the land of Egypt. (Cf. Gen 39-41)

In like manner, what will spell wisdom for us, especially those of us living in Nigeria now and who are faced with unnumbered problems, is to stop looking only at all the bad things that are happening in our land and to also start looking out for the opportunities God is providing through them to turn things around for our good.

And as we recognise these opportunities and begin to utilise them, we will soon see that the evil days are not entirely evil after all – they are also loaded with all kinds of good things for us to enjoy and flourish. My prayer is that God will open your eyes to see the good He has in store for you every remaining day of your life and also lead and strengthen you to make the most of it, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: You must master it|By: J.O. Lawal|Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: July 19, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 10

“Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”” (Gen 4:6-7NIV)

Why did Cain end up killing his brother, Abel? It was because he failed to listen to God’s warning. As the account goes, after God had rejected his offering, he got terribly angry with his brother. But was he supposed to be angry with his brother?

No! Was his brother the one that rejected his offering? No! Or was his brother the one that kept him from living right before God, so that his offering would be acceptable? No! Nevertheless, Cain held his brother responsible for his own failure to get God’s approval. In like manner, we have many today who hold people who have absolutely nothing to do with their failure, stagnation or poverty in life responsible for it.

So, instead for them to examine their lives careful in order to see what they are missing or getting wrong, all they will be busy doing is considering how the progress of others is affecting their own progress.

I remember how I once had to sound a friend and colleague of mine out along this line. She and a number of others in my office had been terribly upset that very day with certain colleagues of ours that were handling their jobs anyhow. And I did not see anything wrong with that. It is proper for any of us to be upset with those we are working together, if they are slowing us down or messing up our work.

However, this friend of mine went beyond being upset that day to expressing her bitterness by saying, “We get to do all the work. And these ones that are messing up get to take all the money.

Yet they don’t have better papers than we do.” So, I had to immediately stop her from fuelling her bitterness by drawing her attention to the fact those so-called slothful colleagues of ours were not the reason she was not being highly paid by the company. Granted, those people may be slothful. But their slothfulness had nothing to do with her low wages. It was her choice to accept that job, even though the pay was low – nobody forced her to take it. So, holding those people responsible for her low pay was totally out of line. And if she did not quickly get rid of that idea, she would soon enough be filled with bitterness against them, something that may drive her to do something that would ruin them and her as well.

Now that was what happened to Cain. Because he held his brother responsible for God’s rejection of his offering, hatred for him began to fill his heart. So, God had to immediately step in and warn him. Why would God do that? God just rejected his offering. Yet He came to warn him. That means He did not reject his offering because He did not love him. Rather, He rejected it because He wanted him to see that he was not living right and needed to repent.

Otherwise, his entire life would end up being a waste.So, the fact that God has sent a word of rebuke to you about anything wrong that you are doing does not mean that He hates you. Rather, it means that He loves you and does not want you to continue to do what will destroy you or to keep on following a path that will end in ruins and regret. As the bible tells us, it is those that God loves that He rebukes; it is those that He accepts as His own that He disciplines. So, if He is continually setting you right, consider yourself precious to Him. (Cf. Heb 12:5-6)

Unfortunately, Cain did not see the love of God for him in the rejection of his offering. Also, he did not see it in the warning that came to him to guard his heart against all the evil thoughts that were coming to him. So, he ended up murdering his own brother, the very one he was supposed to protect. And that, of course, brought God’s judgment on him. (Cf. Gen 4:8-16)

What is the point of this? It is that if we do not watch the kinds of thoughts we permit in our hearts and master them or take them captive, we may end up holding the wrong people responsible for the failure, shame or stagnation our lives are experiencing. Or we may end up seeking happiness, satisfaction or peace of mind in wrong relationships or activities. And where this is the case, we may end up destroying the very people we are meant to protect. (Cf. 2Cor 10:5)

Look at Amnon, the first son of David, also. Because he would not master his thoughts, he began to seek enjoyment and sexual satisfaction from his own blood sister. So, he ended up raping her, a sister that he was supposed to be protecting from rapists. And that took away not just the throne of Israel from him but also his life. (Cf. 2Sam 13)

So, if you have been tolerating or nursing evil thoughts in your hearts, you may just be preparing yourself to harm those you are supposed to love, cherish and protect. And the word of God is coming to you now to warn you, saying, “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

You must master it | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: July 19, 2023 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 6, No. 10

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

“Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”” (Gen 4:6-7NIV)

Why did Cain end up killing his brother, Abel? It was because he failed to listen to God’s warning. As the account goes, after God had rejected his offering, he got terribly angry with his brother. But was he supposed to be angry with his brother? No! Was his brother the one that rejected his offering? No! Or was his brother the one that kept him from living right before God, so that his offering would be acceptable? No!

Nevertheless, Cain held his brother responsible for his own failure to get God’s approval. In like manner, we have many today who hold people who have absolutely nothing to do with their failure, stagnation or poverty in life responsible for it. So, instead for them to examine their lives careful in order to see what they are missing or getting wrong, all they will be busy doing is considering how the progress of others is affecting their own progress.

I remember how I once had to sound a friend and colleague of mine out along this line. She and a number of others in my office had been terribly upset that very day with certain colleagues of ours that were handling their jobs anyhow. And I did not see anything wrong with that. It is proper for any of us to be upset with those we are working together, if they are slowing us down or messing up our work.

However, this friend of mine went beyond being upset that day to expressing her bitterness by saying, “We get to do all the work. And these ones that are messing up get to take all the money. Yet they don’t have better papers than we do.” So, I had to immediately stop her from fuelling her bitterness by drawing her attention to the fact those so-called slothful colleagues of ours were not the reason she was not being highly paid by the company.

Granted, those people may be slothful. But their slothfulness had nothing to do with her low wages. It was her choice to accept that job, even though the pay was low – nobody forced her to take it. So, holding those people responsible for her low pay was totally out of line. And if she did not quickly get rid of that idea, she would soon enough be filled with bitterness against them, something that may drive her to do something that would ruin them and her as well.

Now that was what happened to Cain. Because he held his brother responsible for God’s rejection of his offering, hatred for him began to fill his heart. So, God had to immediately step in and warn him. Why would God do that? God just rejected his offering. Yet He came to warn him. That means He did not reject his offering because He did not love him. Rather, He rejected it because He wanted him to see that he was not living right and needed to repent. Otherwise, his entire life would end up being a waste.

So, the fact that God has sent a word of rebuke to you about anything wrong that you are doing does not mean that He hates you. Rather, it means that He loves you and does not want you to continue to do what will destroy you or to keep on following a path that will end in ruins and regret. As the bible tells us, it is those that God loves that He rebukes; it is those that He accepts as His own that He disciplines. So, if He is continually setting you right, consider yourself precious to Him. (Cf. Heb 12:5-6)

Unfortunately, Cain did not see the love of God for him in the rejection of his offering. Also, he did not see it in the warning that came to him to guard his heart against all the evil thoughts that were coming to him. So, he ended up murdering his own brother, the very one he was supposed to protect. And that, of course, brought God’s judgment on him. (Cf. Gen 4:8-16)

What is the point of this? It is that if we do not watch the kinds of thoughts we permit in our hearts and master them or take them captive, we may end up holding the wrong people responsible for the failure, shame or stagnation our lives are experiencing. Or we may end up seeking happiness, satisfaction or peace of mind in wrong relationships or activities. And where this is the case, we may end up destroying the very people we are meant to protect. (Cf. 2Cor 10:5)

Look at Amnon, the first son of David, also. Because he would not master his thoughts, he began to seek enjoyment and sexual satisfaction from his own blood sister. So, he ended up raping her, a sister that he was supposed to be protecting from rapists. And that took away not just the throne of Israel from him but also his life. (Cf. 2Sam 13)

So, if you have been tolerating or nursing evil thoughts in your hearts, you may just be preparing yourself to harm those you are supposed to love, cherish and protect. And the word of God is coming to you now to warn you, saying, “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

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Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Callous or passionate|Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: July 12, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 9

“When Moses inquired about the goat of the sin offering and found that it had been burned up, he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and asked, “Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area? It is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the community by making atonement for them before the LORD. Since its blood was not taken into the Holy Place, you should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary area, as I commanded.” Aaron replied to Moses, “Today they sacrificed their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, but such things as this have happened to me. Would the LORD have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?” When Moses heard this, he was satisfied.” (Lev 10:16-20NIV)

Why was Moses angry with Eleazar and Ithamar? It was because they neglected something of the will of God that they should have done. They were supposed to have eaten the meat of a goat that had been offered for sin offering before the Lord. Instead, they had it burnt up.

So, Moses was angry with them for not doing the will of God on that occasion. Now was he right to be angry with them for not doing the will of God that day? Yes, he was right to be angry with them for not doing the will of God that day. In fact, he would be right to be angry with them for not doing the will of God any day. That is because the will of God is not something we choose to do anytime we like.

Rather, it is something we must be devoted to doing every moment of our lives.Mind you, there are consequences for not doing the will of God for us. And that is something that someone like Moses was well acquainted with. He had seen how God judged Pharaoh and the Egyptians for their rebellion against Him. He had also seen how He judged many of the Israelites in the wilderness for various sins.

So, he was not going to allow anybody under his leadership to behave anyhow, without regard for the word of God. Instead, he would passionately set himself against that person.In like manner, wherever we are acting in leadership capacity, we must show ourselves as passionate in standing against wickedness, oppression, cheating, stealing and any other kind of evil.

That way, those under us will know that any form of wickedness on their part will not be overlooked or swept under the carpet. Instead, it will be brought out in the open and judged. And that will make them apply caution or restraint anytime they want to do something nasty or silly.

Nonetheless, we need to know when and where to put our passion for righteousness to prevail aside and instead show compassion to those who have failed to meet up with our expectations or what is required of them.

And that, as we see in our opening bible text, was where Moses missed it when he was rebuking Eleazar and Ithamar for not doing the will of God on the day mentioned.As the bible equally shows us, something terrible had earlier happened that same day to the elder brothers of these men, that is, Nadab and Abihu. For reasons not disclosed in Scriptures, the two of them had offered unauthorised fire before the Lord, contrary to His command.

So, a fire came out from His presence and instantly consumed them. They were not even warned or given any opportunity to repent and change their ways. Conversely, they were immediately put to death by God. And He was not sorry about killing them. Instead, He told others to be warned. (Cf. Leviticus 10:1-5)

Then, as if that were not enough, He told Moses to tell Aaron and his remaining two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, not to mourn for those who had died like the rest of the people. Otherwise, they too would die and cause trouble for the entire nation. Why? They were God’s anointed priests. So, they must not defile the anointing on them with mourning. (Cf. Leviticus 10:6-7)

Now try to imagine how Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar must have felt that day. Try to imagine what must have been going on in their minds about the matter and about their ministry as priests. It is possible that they were even saying to themselves, “Did we volunteer to be priests? Was it not God Himself that chose us? Why, then, must He place this kind of burden on us?” You can see, then, that such a day was not one in which they would want to eat anything or have a feast, even though the Lord had commanded it.

And that was exactly what Aaron pointed out to Moses when he, in his passion for God’s honour, began to rebuke them for not performing their priestly duty of eating some sin offering. He told him that even God would not have been pleased with him, if he had treated the death of his sons as nothing and had begun to feast on some sin offering meat. That would have painted him as a callous and insensitive father.

How, then, could a callous and insensitive father be a true and compassionate high priest for the people?In any case, when he said these things to Moses, as the account shows us, he was satisfied. In other words, Aaron’s words opened Moses’ own eyes to the fact that he had allowed his passion for God to rob him of compassion. The men that died were his own blood too. They were his nephews. Yes, they died for their sins.

But he should still have comforted their father and brothers instead of getting angry with them for neglecting some of their priestly duties that day. What if those who died were his own sons? Would he have carried on with his work that day as though nothing had happened?

Well, the point of this is that we must know where to draw the line between being zealous for God’s honour and being brutal, callous or unfeeling. Yes, we should be passionate about anything that concerns God, His honour and His work.

However, we must not allow our passion or zeal to make us become insensitive or callous in dealing with those who are unable to keep in step with us in doing God’s will or work because they are genuinely hurting or troubled in their lives.

Otherwise, as Aaron showed Moses, we will be acting contrary to the nature of God our Father, who is not only strict but also compassionate. And that may ruin whatever we are trying to do for Him instead of building it. So, be careful.