Category: Youth for Jesus

Date: August 12, 2026
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 13

“Samuel said, “Is it not true that when you were insignificant in your own eyes, you became head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD chose you as king over Israel.”” (1Sam 15:17NET)

Who did Samuel say the words of our opening text to? It was King Saul. He was the one that was humble when he was not known by anyone in the land of Israel. And because he humbled himself, God exalted him and made him king over His people, the Israelites.

Now we are not told much about the humility of Saul before he became king. But we do learn from the bible that he was so humble at the time that he was willing to spend days looking for the lost donkeys of his father. Also, we learn from the bible that before he became king, Saul was humble enough to take counsel from one of the servants of his father. (Cf. 1Sam 9)

That, of course, explains why God exalted him to be king over His people. Remember that the bible tells us that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So, if we will humble ourselves before God and in relating to people, He will surely exalt us. That is because the power of exaltation is with Him. (Cf. James 4:6; 1Pet 5:5)

If we, however, will not humble ourselves, we will soon enough find God resisting us. In other words, instead for Him to be working for our exaltation, He will be working to limit us. And that will not be because He hates us. Rather, it will be because He does not want us to destroy ourselves and others through our pride.

As we see in our opening text, a day came in which Samuel had to remind Saul that when he was little and insignificant in his own eyes, when he would not think more highly of himself than he ought, God exalted him. Why did he have to remind him of this? The reason was that pride had already settled in his heart at the time. He had become so proud that he could revise God’s command to him at will. And that, of course, led to his downfall. That made him lose the throne that God had given to him.

Now that is teaching us that the same God that is elevating us can begin to throw us down, if we begin to act in pride towards Him and towards other people in our lives. Therefore, regardless of how high the Lord has elevated you, don’t ever function in such a way that He will one day have to say to you, “When you were insignificant in your own eyes, did I not lift you up?” Otherwise, that will be the day you are thrown down your high place, regardless of high it may be, unless you are shown mercy.

It is reported in the bible that Esther did not stop to take Mordecai’s counsel and instructions even after becoming queen. Why? She was a humble woman. As we see in her book, Mordecai was the one that took care of her and raised her when nobody knew her. Also, he was the one that God used in elevating her to the position in which she later found herself in life. So, even common sense would have told her that such a person was not someone she should relate to in pride or arrogance. (Cf. Esther 2:19)

Sadly, even though common sense is speaking to some people not to act in pride, they will still not listen. How, then, can you expect them to listen to the wisdom of the word of God?

In any case, the point I am making is that don’t allow any position of advantage in which you have found yourself make you begin to think you are now somebody too special to humble yourself before God or before people, especially those that God has used in one way or the other to lift you up. That will spell nothing but downfall for you. And if you should fall in that manner, it may take more than a thousand miracles to get you back on your feet, even with the mercy of God at work. So, mind yourself.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 12

“”When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Matt 12:43-45NIV)

In our opening bible text, the Lord Jesus draws our attention to a number of things about evil spirits, so that we can know how to handle them. And the very first thing He tells us about them is that they can occupy people’s lives. In other words, they can live inside a person or with a person. Where that, then, is the case, the life of that person is bound to manifest the character of the evil spirit or spirits living in them or with them and also experience their activities, to one degree or the other. So, a spirit of madness will cause the one it has possessed to do crazy things, just as a spirit of blindness will make blind the one whose eyes it has possessed.

The second thing the Lord tells us about evil spirits is that they can be driven out of people’s lives or space. So, they do not have absolute power over anybody’s life or over any environment. Their power can be broken. Their activities can be ended. But the only ones who can do so are our Lord Jesus Christ and all those who believe in His name. That is because the name of Jesus is greater than every other name. So, He is the head over every authority and power. (Cf. Luke 10:19, Col 2:10; Phil 2:9-11)

The third thing the Lord reveals to us about evil spirits is that they can come back to where they have been driven away. And not only can they come back to where they have been driven away, they can also bring other evil spirits along with them. All this, of course, is showing us that they are intelligent beings and should be treated as such.

Sadly, even many of those of us who call ourselves believers in Christ Jesus don’t face life with the consciousness of the points raised by our Lord Jesus Christ in our opening text. That is why certain problems have remained adamant and unyielding in our lives for months or years, in spite of all that we have done to handle them. It is also why certain problems have been resurfacing in our lives, homes or families for years, following or exhibiting the same patterns.

But if we will begin to pay attention to what our Lord says to us about evil spirits in that text and act accordingly, we will be able to break the power of all the evil or unclean spirits harassing us over our lives and affairs and wherever we find ourselves. Not only that, we will be able to firmly resist them, if they should show up again at any point in our lives.

Well then, if you are dealing with any persistent problem or any problem that keeps coming back to your life, understand that you may just be dealing with an evil spirit. So, lose no time at all to command it in the name of Jesus to stop its works in your life or space and get out. And it will obey you because Jesus is Lord over every one of them.

Then don’t ever assume that a problem cannot resurface in your life, simply because you have dealt with it once. If it is an evil spirit that is behind it, he can personally bring it back or ask some other wicked spirits like himself to bring it back to you. That is why our lives must not be empty of the presence of God. And if we are children of God, our lives are not empty but full of His presence.

Therefore, we should not accommodate any new, returning or recurring problem at all in our lives. Instead, we should drive it away in the name of the Lord Jesus, letting it know that there is no room for it in our lives. And may you always be strengthened to remember to act on these things wherever you find yourself, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 11

“Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.” (1 Cor 8:1-2NIV)

Those words were penned down by Paul for the Corinthian brethren about two thousand years ago. Yet they are still very much relevant today. And they are calling our attention to the need to always be ready to learn and not assume that we know everything about every matter.

Now from what Paul says in that text, there are three basic things we must know about knowledge. The first is that everybody knows something. In other words, however ignorant someone may be, they still possess some measure of knowledge. They may not know how to fully utilise the knowledge they have. But they know something. So, don’t ever think of anyone as utterly ignorant.

The second thing we need to know about knowledge is that it is capable of producing pride. Knowledge in itself is not meant to produce pride. Rather, it is meant to enlighten, instruct and educate. But it can become a vehicle for conveying pride in the hand of the one that has it. And where that is the case, it will not benefit or build people up as it should.

As Paul shows us in that text, as good as it is to possess useful knowledge, if that knowledge is not being handled by love, it will not build anybody up. On the contrary, it may end up destroying people. For instance, those who make atomic bombs or nuclear weapons do so with knowledge, great knowledge. But how beneficial is their use of this great knowledge to humanity? I am sure you know the answer.

So, unless love is the thing motivating the use of the knowledge we have, it will not do anybody good. It will only ruin lives, homes and even nations. Knowledge, then, is not good in the hand of a loveless person.

The third thing we need to know about knowledge, as we see in our opening text, is that no one has enough of it. That means I don’t know it all and you don’t know it all. Yes, you may think that you know enough or everything about a matter. But that is because you have not yet met someone that will expose your knowledge gap. The day you meet that person is the day you will see that you don’t yet know as much as you should. And that may come with some measure of disgrace, especially if you have been acting in pride about what you think you know.

Therefore, regardless of what you think you know about a matter, always assume that there may be someone else somewhere who knows about it more or better than you. That way, you will be ready to listen to others, learn more and perfect your knowledge. But if you are continually going about with the air of ‘I know it all’, never wanting to keep quiet to listen and learn from others, a day may come when your poverty of knowledge will be exposed in a very shameful way. What, then, will you use to cover your shame?

An expert in the law of Moses, for instance, once asked Jesus about the greatest of the commandments of God. And the Lord answered him in a very direct way. But instead for him to just take the answer and begin to act on it, he tried to show himself as highly knowledgeable by further asking the Lord, “Who is my neighbour?” That, of course, prompted the Lord to tell him a story, the story now popularly known as ‘The good Samaritan’. And when He was done telling the story, the foolishness and self-righteousness of the man had been exposed. So, he went away disgraced. (Cf. Luke 10:25:37)

Now you don’t have to disgrace yourself in a similar manner. And you won’t, if you will continually remind yourself that you don’t know it all and be willing to learn from others. Truly, others may not have much to teach you. But whatever little knowledge you are able to gain from them may someday be the difference between failure and success or honour and disgrace for you. So, mind yourself.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

By: J.O. Lawal
Date: July 22, 2026
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 10

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”” (1 Sam 16:7NIV)

When did God say the words of our opening text to Samuel? It was when he went to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as king over Israel, that is, in place of King Saul.

As the account goes, it was God Himself who had told Samuel to go to Jesse’s house to anoint as king one of the man’s sons that He had chosen. Interestingly, God did not tell Samuel who among the sons of this man He had chosen as king. He just told him to go there first and then expect Him to show him who the king was among the man’s sons.

But then, when Samuel saw Jesse’s first son, Eliab, we are told in the bible that he thought it was he that the Lord had chosen as king. So, without even asking God any question about the young man, he immediately said, “Here is the Lord’s anointed before Him.” And how many times have we also acted like Samuel, thinking we knew what was on the mind of God, only to realise that we have missed it?

See, we cannot determine the mind of God simply on the basis of what we see, hear, feel or think. That is because what we see, hear, feel or think about a matter may not be telling us enough things or everything we need to know about that matter. But God can do that. He can tell us everything about any matter, that is, beyond what we can see, hear, feel or think about it. That is because He sees it all. He knows all things about every matter and every person, however hidden those things may be.

In any case, before Samuel would commit a blunder in Jesse’s house by anointing the wrong person, God quickly told him not to consider the appearances of the sons of the Jesse coming to him. Why? The reason was that their appearances were not enough to show him or tell him all that he needed to know about them, about their fitness to be king. He would need divine revelations to know that. Yes, he would need divine revelations to know the one among them that was king on his inside.

Now that was exactly what happened. Though Jesse first had seven of his sons stand before Samuel, there was none of them that had what it would take to be God’s king on his inside. And they had to wait for David to be brought in from where he was looking after his father’s flocks before the king God had chosen was found and anointed. (Cf. 1 Sam 16:6-13)

What, then, do we learn from all this? One of the lessons of this is that we cannot tell whether someone is great or small by merely looking at their externals. Judging by David’s appearance and life’s circumstances at that time, no one would take him for a king. But God, who created him, had already put in him what would make him a king of kings. If anyone, then, ignored or maltreated him before he was publicly anointed by God as king, just because nothing about him looked special, would the person not be doing so to their own disadvantage? They would!

Also, by merely looking at the physical appearance of our Lord Jesus and his birth circumstances, no one would take him for the Saviour of the world and Lord of everything God has created. In fact, when Nathaniel first heard about him, his remark was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” But when he came to Jesus and He began to tell him where he had been that day, he realised that his focus on the externals had made him miss it. So, he quickly apologised and said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel.” (Cf. John 1:44-49)

So, don’t ever again judge anyone’s worth in life only on the basis of what you can see, feel, hear or think about them. Instead, judge them on the basis of what God has revealed to you about them. And if He has not yet revealed anything to you about them, just relate to them with love and respect. That way, you will not be dishonouring someone that may tomorrow be in the position of protecting, honouring or elevating you.

In like manner, don’t judge your worth in life on the basis on your life’s circumstances. Instead, judge your worth only on the basis of divine revelations. That is because only God knows the worth of the things He has deposited on your inside. And unless He reveals it to you, you will either underrate yourself or overrate yourself, none of which is good for you. So, begin to daily seek divine revelations of who you truly are on the inside by giving yourself to prayer and the word of God. That way, you will never again look down on yourself or allow anyone to look down on you, for you will know that your place in life is special.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Date: July 15, 2026
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 9

“I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everything man does, both good and bad.”” (Eccl 3:17TLB)

What point is Solomon making in our opening bible text? It is that there is nothing we do here on earth that God will not reward us for, not just in heaven but also here on earth.

But then, the time or season that God will judge and reward us for whatever we do, good or bad, is not up to us to determine. Rather, it is up to Him to determine.

All of this is why we need to give ourselves to doing only what is good and righteous in His sight. And even if we should do anything wrong in His sight, we should lose no time to seek and obtain His forgiveness. Otherwise, at the set time or in the right season, He will reward us or our descendants for our deeds, whether good or bad.

For example, when the Shunammite woman began to take care of Elisha anytime he came to her town, she did not know when God would reward her or how He would reward her. She was probably just waiting for a heavenly reward from Him. But a day came when God moved the prophet to minister to her. That, of course, was the end of her barrenness. And she and her family would afterwards go on to experience more of God’s reward for her generosity at some other times in very spectacular ways. (Cf. 1 Kings 4&8)

So, if you are doing good and are not yet seeing God’s reward for it, don’t lose heart. Instead, continue to do good. That is because, at the set time, God will surely reward you. Interestingly, the reward may even extend to your descendants after you. So, always look beyond yourself when expecting God’s reward for obeying Him by doing good. That is because He is able to do immeasurably more than what we ask or think, according to His power that is at work in us. (Cf. Galatians 6:9 & Ephesians 3:20)

In like manner, if you are doing evil, God will surely reward you for it at the set time, if you fail to repent and receive His forgiveness when you can. For example, when Reuben slept with his father’s wife, the man did not say or do anything about it, even though he heard about it. Why? We are not told the reason in the account. It may be that he did not want to place a curse on him and ruin his life, especially since he was his first child. (Cf. Genesis 35:21-22)

But then, we also do not have it on record that Reuben did anything to seek God’s forgiveness and his father’s forgiveness. He just treated the matter as a non-issue, since his father said nothing about it. But when the time came for God to prophesy about his future and the future of his brothers through their father, his judgment came. He was told that he would no longer excel in life. And it was so. (Cf. Genesis 49:3)

Also, when the Amalekites came out to attack the Israelites in the wilderness unprovoked, they thought that the matter would end there. But the matter did not end there at all. Years later, God would visit them with judgment when Israel had their first king. And though the people responsible for the mess were long dead at the time, God paid their descendants the debt of judgment He owed their nation in full. (Cf. Exodus 17:9-16)

So, as I already pointed out, God’s judgment will surely come to each of us at the set time for everything we are doing. That is because judgment, as far as He is concerned, is a debt that He owes each of us. And He must pay it at the set time. We should, therefore, turn away from everything wicked to only what is good. That is the only way the judgment payments being made into our account by God will make us glad and not sorrowful.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

By: J.O. Lawal
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 8

“The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.” (2 Cor 2:6-8NIV)

Among the things we are shown in our opening text is that God is not only interested in our forgiving those who have hurt or offended us; He is also interested in the process we follow in forgiving them. Why? The reason is that it is the process that will determine whether the forgiveness we have given restores the person receiving it to right living or not.

For example, in forgiving Peter, our Lord Jesus did not merely forgive him with words of mouth; He also sought him out after His resurrection to comfort and restore Him. How? First, He sent an angel to tell the women that came to His tomb on the resurrection morning to tell Peter to come with the other disciples to see Him in Galilee (Mark 16:7).

Second, when He appeared to all of them, including Peter, He did not say a word about what the man had done. He did not tell him how much what he had done pained Him. He just would not say anything about it. Why? The reason was that Peter was already sorrowful enough about the matter. So, talking about it again would only make him more sorrowful. And that could totally drive him away from the Lord. Therefore, the Lord would not say anything about the case.

Third, the Lord gave Peter a new assignment. He specifically told him to take care of His sheep for Him. He, in fact, also went on to give him a revelation about his death in the future. Why? It was to comfort him, to reassure him of His love for him and to let him know that He had forgiven him and forgotten about the matter concerning his denial of Him. (Cf. John 21:15-19)

You can, then, see why Peter would go on and serve the Lord faithfully for the remaining years of his life. The forgiveness he received worked. The forgiveness he received brought about his complete restoration. And that was because of the way it was given to him by the Lord.

In the same vein, if we too want the forgiveness we give to people to work in their lives to change them and to set them right, we must pay attention to how we give it. We must do it as we are shown in our opening text and as illustrated or modelled for us by our Lord Jesus Christ in Peter’s case. How?

First, we must know when we don’t need to punish at all and when the punishment needs to end where we have to punish. We don’t need to punish at all or again when the guilty person has already admitted their error, are sorrowful about it and are desirous of our forgiveness.

Second, forgiveness must be accompanied with acts that will comfort and reaffirm our love for the person involved. If the person involved will not sincerely admit their error and apologise for it, then, that is a different issue. And where that is the case, we just need to forgive them in obedience to God and move on. God will deal with them according to His wisdom.

But where the person has already shown that they are sincerely unhappy about hurting us, then, we may have to do more than merely telling them that we forgive them with words of mouth. We may also have to look for them ourselves, if they are too shy to do so, in order to comfort them and to reaffirm our love for them. We may even have to embrace them, pray for them or do something with them just to assure them of the forgiveness we have given to them. That is what will produce true repentance, change their lives and heal our relationship with them.

Now remember that God had to treat all of us in this manner in order to bring us to Himself, change our lives and make our fellowship with Him beautiful. We too have to be willing to do the same for others that are in need of our forgiveness. Otherwise, the forgiveness we give may end up changing nothing about the lives of those receiving it or about our fellowship with them. How miserable will that kind of forgiveness be, then?

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 9, No. 6

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Gal 6:9NIV)

Who is Paul talking to in our opening text? All God’s people! And what is he saying to us? It is that we should not become weary or tired in doing good to others.Now if it is not possible for us to become tired in doing good, Paul will not say that we should not become tired in doing good.

For instance, if people will not appreciate the good things we are doing to them or for them, we can become tired of doing good to others.Also, if people are paying us back with evil for the good we are doing to them or if they are taking undue advantage of our generosity to them, we may tell ourselves that we have done enough.

In other words, we may not be inspired to do good to any other person in any serious way again. And that will be because we are already hurt.Then if we are not receiving or experiencing much acts of goodness from others, we may not feel encouraged to continue to do good to others.

In fact, we may, in such situations, assume that God is not paying attention to our good works, so that He may reward us for them.But the word of God to us in our opening text is that we should not become tired of doing good to others. Why? The reason is that God will surely reward us for all our acts of goodness at the right time. That means if we are not yet getting rewarded by God for any of our acts of goodness, the reason is that the time is not ripe. When the time is ripe, He will surely reward us for each of them, if we do not give up.

So, regardless of people’s attitude towards our good works, whether good or bad, we should not become tired of doing good. On the contrary, we should be like our Lord Jesus who continued to go about doing good, even though He was being persecuted and insulted for doing so. And just as God honoured Him for it at the right time, He will honour us too at the right time for whatever good we do, irrespective of people’s attitude towards us.

But then, we too should be careful of paying attention to people’s attitude towards our acts of goodness. Otherwise, we may fall into the trap of the praise or approval of men. Then we may lose whatever reward we may hope to receive from God for our good works.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 9, No. 15

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.” (Prov 12:1NIV)

Those are some of Solomon’s words of wisdom to us on what our attitude towards discipline and correction should be.

First, he tells us to love discipline. And is that a simple thing to do? No! Why? The reason is that discipline, any kind of real discipline, is hardly pleasant. Now because discipline is hardly pleasant, many of us will do whatever we can to avoid it. It is only those that are looking at the value it may eventually add to their lives that will love and embrace it. If you, then, will not love and embrace discipline, it must mean that you don’t want to see yourself increase in value and usefulness in life. (Cf. Heb 12:11)

But if you want to see yourself increase in value and usefulness before God and before men, then, don’t run away from discipline. Don’t excuse yourself from circumstances sent into your life to teach and train you to increase in fruitfulness and usefulness in life. Those circumstances may be unpleasant.

Yet you must be determined to endure them. And you will be able to endure them, if you will trust God in prayer and in His word for the strength, determination, patience, wisdom and any other thing you need to do so.Remember that the word of God tells us that in all things God is working for the good of those who love Him, of those who have been called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).

So, you are not alone in any situation you find yourself in life. God is there with you to work in you, with you and through you in order to fulfil His good purpose in your life. That is why you should not lose heart or give up. Instead, you should make up your mind to use the situation to discipline you to experience a greater fulfilment of the purpose of God for your life. And it shall be so.

The second thing Solomon speaks about in our opening text has to do with loving correction and not hating it. Why must we not hate correction but love it? The reason is that correction too, like discipline, is hardly pleasant to receive.

Yes, some people are so gracious in the way they talk and act that you will really have to be a proud person for their correction to hurt you. But you can’t always expect that it is only such people that will correct you in life. All kinds of people, the good, the bad and the ugly, have corrected you in the past. And going forward, you should still expect the same.

In any case, regardless of whether the correction coming to you is coming in a gracious way or not, what is important is that you take to it. Are you truly wrong? If you are, then, accept correction. Don’t try to defend yourself. Don’t try to justify yourself. Don’t try to make excuses for yourself. Otherwise, you will sooner or later be injured for refusing to accept correction. Then you will have proved yourself to be nothing but stupid, as Solomon tells us in our opening text.

What was the difference between David and Saul? Their attitude towards correction! Both of them were God’s choice. Both of them were anointed of God. And both of them, being human, messed up at different points in their lives. But then, while Saul was totally rejected because of his mess, David was forgiven and established in spite of his mess.

Why? As bible account shows us, the reason was that where David would readily acknowledge his sins and seek God’s face for mercy and forgiveness, Saul would simply be labouring to justify himself. He always had excuses to make for messing up.

And because he was often more concerned about making excuses than doing what was right, he could not become the king God had always wanted him to be. So, he was rejected and replaced with David. Now if we too don’t want to be rejected by God for the various places of usefulness, advantage and honour that He has prepared for us in life, we need to drop whatever bad attitude we have towards correction. No one knows it all.

So, no one is above missing it. If you, then, are being corrected for missing it, admit it and do the needful. Not doing so is simply saying that you know it all. And we know that those act like that are nothing but stupid. Are you, then, stupid? If you are not, then, begin to love correction and to also show it by appreciating anyone that God may use to correct you. And may you be cleansed and energised by the Spirit of God to begin to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 9, No. 4

“Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?” (1 Sam 15:19NIV)

Who were these words said to? King Saul! And why were they said to him? They were said to him because he did not completely obey the command of God given to him by Samuel.

Now what was the command of God given to Saul by Samuel? It was that he should go and completely destroy the Amalekites and everything they had, leaving nothing alive. Did he, then, go to destroy these people and everything they had? Yes! And did he completely destroy them and everything they had, as He had been commanded by God? No!

Why did he not make a complete destruction of those people and everything they had? Greed! How? Well, when he and his men saw the fat and well-groomed livestock of those Amalekites, they changed their minds about completely destroying them and decided to spare them. They even spared their king, Agag. Why? It may be that he had promised to give his wealth to them. Who knows?

In any case, it was greed that made Saul disobey God the way he did. Yes, in his own eyes, he felt that he had obeyed God by destroying all the Amalekites and sparing only their king and the best of their livestock. He even thought of what he did as an opportunity to sacrifice some of the animals to God.

But as far as God was concerned, his partial disobedience was as bad as total disobedience. That means he did not obey Him at all. That being the case, He judged him by removing him from his throne.

What, then, do we learn from this? It is that we should not allow greed to push us to take for ourselves a reward that God has not given to us. King Saul did what he did because he felt that he and his men deserved to be rewarded by God for the hard work of destroying the Amalekites. But they were not the ones to tell God what they deserved or did not deserve. They were His servants and were meant to obey whatever command He gave them, whether He was going to reward them for it or not.

As the bible shows us, even though God always rewards people for doing His will or for doing good, we are not to see that as an entitlement. Rather, we are to see it as a manifestation of His grace towards us. That is because He is the source of our lives and everything else. So, He does not owe us anything. We are the ones that owe Him everything. (Cf. Job 41:11; Luke 17:7-10; Romans 11:35)

Therefore, regardless of what we may have done for God, we should never attempt to reward ourselves with what He has not given to us. Others around us, including preachers, may be doing that, rewarding themselves through extortion, manipulation and threats with rewards God has not given to them. But we must always turn away from such. That is because He will never forget to reward us adequately for our labour of love at the right time (Gal 6:9; Heb 6:10).

If we, however, should decide to reward ourselves by ourselves and in our own way, we may lose even our souls in the process. So, mind yourself.

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