Category: Youth for Jesus

“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.

Copyright © 2025, 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)

“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.

Copyright © 2025, 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)

“But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”” (Luke 10:29NIV)

I used to have a friend that had a culture of engaging in baseless arguments with me. Initially, I did not take it to heart. But I later realised that it was becoming utterly unclean and dangerous. So, I asked her, “Why do you like to argue over matters that require no argument at all?” And in response, she said, “I cannot just accept that you are right and I am wrong. So, I have to first argue things with you, even if I will later admit that you are right.”

Now that, of course, made me end my friendship with her. That was because I just knew that we would at some point hurt ourselves, if we continued to be friends under such circumstances. How do you maintain friendship with someone that cannot admit it when they are wrong? How do you maintain friendship with someone that will always find a way to justify their wrongdoings? You will have to be a weak person to stay in friendship with that kind of person. And your weakness in this area will surely get you seriously wounded. It’s only a matter of time.

Well, the point I am trying to make is that if you are wrong in any matter, just admit it. Don’t try to justify or prove yourself to be right. That will be nothing but a show of pride. And if you continue in that path long enough, you will surely meet with disgrace or destruction (Prov 11:2 & 16:18).

For instance, in our opening text, we are told of an expert in the law of Moses that wanted to justify himself before Jesus by asking Him, “Who is my neigbhour?” This man, as the account shows us, had first asked the Lord about what he must do to inherit eternal life. And the Lord, in response, had led him to the things said in the law of Moses about loving God wholeheartedly and also loving our neighbours as we love ourselves. (Cf. Luke 10:26-28)

But instead for this man to simply accept those simple instructions and make up his mind to start acting on them, he proceeded to ask the Lord, “Who is my neighbour?” Why would he ask Him that kind of question? Did he really not know who a neighbour is? He did. But he wanted to give the Lord the impression that his reason for not loving his neighbour as himself was that he did not even know who he could call his neighbour. So, he asked him that stupid question.

In any case, because the Lord knew quite well what he was trying to do, He decided to lecture him a little about who his neighbour was by telling him a very instructive story, the story of the good Samaritan. And by the time He was done telling him the story, his foolishness had been exposed. So, he had nothing else to say but to walk away in disgrace. (Cf. Luke 10:30-37)

Now that is showing us that we can never succeed in justifying our wrongdoings before God and His truth. We may, through some acts of cleverness, oratory or stubbornness succeed in justifying our sins or errors before men. We may say it is because others are doing the wrong thing that we also are doing it or say it is because we are not hurting anybody that we are doing what is wrong. But it is only men that may accept such nonsense from us and not punish us. God will not accept it from us.

Yes, God can forgive anybody’s sins and also cleanse them of their unrighteousness, as long as the person admits them and seeks to be forgiven through Jesus Christ. But when people will not admit that they are wrong, when God has already said that they were, they will miss the forgiveness and cleansing that should have been theirs. And if they continue in that path of self-justification, it won’t be long before sudden disgrace or destruction comes on them, which they won’t be able to escape.

So, if it has been your culture to always want to appear right, you need to check yourself. You may do and say all that you can to always appear right. It does not mean that you are always right or that you are even right most of the time. It simply means you have a spirit of self-justification. And if you don’t rid yourself of it on time, it is not only precious relationships that it may cost you; it may also cost you God’s favour and mercy.

Copyright © 2025, 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)

“Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.” (Gen 13:10-13NIV)

Why did Lot choose to live near Sodom? The reason was that he was only considering how doing so would promote his prosperity and not how it would injure his soul. Lot, as we are shown in the bible, was a righteous man (2Peter 2:7). He was a man that feared God so much that he did all that he could to raise his two daughters as virgins, even while living in Sodom, a land of immorality.

But what was he doing in Sodom, in the first place? At the time he left for Sodom, as we see in our opening text, the men of Sodom were already sinning greatly against the Lord. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before God’s judgment came on them. Yet Lot took his family and possessions to go and live near them and later among them. Why?

Well, as I pointed out earlier, it was because of the material gains that his heart was after that he did so. Could he not have gained material wealth somewhere else? He could! But that may have cost him more time, more effort and more labour. And he did not seem to have the patience for all that. So, he decided to settle for what seemed to be the easiest way to accomplishing his desire of become wealthier. He went to live in Sodom.

However, when God decided to judge Sodom, Lot could not save his wealth or possessions. In fact, he could not save his wife that day but lost her. Also, though he was able to save his daughters from the destruction that came upon Sodom, he could not save their souls from the immorality of Sodom. They later committed incest with him. And these things agree with the words of our Lord Jesus that say: “The one who wants to save his soul will lose it, but the one who loses his soul for my sake will find it. (Cf. Gen 19; Matt 16:25)

Now contrast what Lot did with what Ruth did. Ruth also was once confronted with the choice of staying in Moab with her family and friends and that of leaving Moab with her mother-in-law for the land of Israel. And at that time, since she had already lost her husband and wealth and had no child, staying in Moab promised to give her a quick restoration of her joy and prosperity. But leaving for the land of Israel promised her nothing but more and greater pains and suffering. (Cf. Ruth 1)

Yet this woman chose to go to the land of Israel with her mother-in-law, Naomi. Why? The reason was that she no longer wanted to be a part of the idolatry of Moab, the land of her people. Ruth, as the account goes, knew that going back to live with her people, having already known the Lord, would surely injure her faith. Did she know to what extent doing so would injure her faith? No! But wasn’t willing to take the risk. So, she left Moab for Israel and had to endure a life of poverty for a while because of that.

But because Ruth put her relationship with God first, instead of her enjoyment of material things, she eventually gained all the wealth and happiness she could have hoped for in life. Not only that, she reaped an indescribable spiritual reward for what she did. God ordained that it was through her line that our Lord Jesus would come. Hallelujah! (Cf. Ruth 2-4; Matt 1:5-6)

Now why am I bringing this to you? It is to let you know that you can choose to either be Lot or Ruth in this life. If you are often or always putting your enjoyment of life ahead of your relationship with God, then, you are Lot. And like Lot, you may end up losing everything you are trying to gain or save, including your soul. That is because you are bound to be making decisions that will jeopardise everything for you, even though they may appear easy enough to lead you to quick prosperity and enjoyment of life.

But if you always put your relationship with God first, even where it exposes your life to hardship, pain or death, you are Ruth. And like Ruth, you will not only see your soul preserved by God but also see everything you need to make sense out of living handed over to you.

Which, then, will it be? Will you be Lot or will you be Ruth? I pray that your heart will be guided and strengthened to always choose wisely, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Copyright © 2025, 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)

“You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about.” (2 Corinthians 11:19 -21NIV)

A pastor once threw a mug at one of his church office staff because he was angry with her. Thankfully, the mug did not hit her. So, she lived to tell the story. But did she resign and stop working with the man? No, she did not. Instead, she continued to work with him and to put up with his excesses and abuses, even publicly adoring and praising him.

Why? Was it because she was acting on the word of God that commands us to hold our church leaders in the highest regard? Yes, in her mind, that was exactly what she was doing. But the truth is that she was simply being foolish, as we are clearly shown in the word of God.

Also, a sister once told me how she ended up sleeping with her pastor a couple of times. And how did she end up doing that? Well, she ended up doing so because the man told her that part of her ministry duties was to satisfy him sexually. And did she believe that? No, she did not! But did she leave the assembly or stay away from the man? No! Instead, she continued to submit to him as her church leader until he began to have his way with her.

Now, from what she also told me, she was not the only one being treated by the man in that manner. There were some others like her. Yet none of them had the liver to expose his wickedness to other leaders in the church or to run away from him. Instead, they all continued to put up with his nonsense, hoping that he would be transferred to another chapter soon, so that their misery could end. Why would they do that? The reason was that they all were foolish.

Why did I say that they were all foolish? I said so because, as we see in our opening bible text, it is foolishness that makes God’s people put up with things like that. See, it is not the will of God for His children to be abused by their leaders or to be subjected by their leaders to any kind of inhumane treatment.

Unfortunately, even when Paul was writing these things to the people of God, there were church leaders that were abusive and overbearing. Yes, at the time, there were church leaders that were enslaving, exploiting and taking advantage of their brethren. Also, there church leaders at the time that were arrogant enough to slap their brethren in the face.

Now one would naturally expect that brethren who were being treated in that manner would resist such leaders firmly and refuse to be enslaved or cheated or abused by them. But as Paul equally shows us in that text, that wasn’t the case at all. On the contrary, those brethren put up with all the inhumane treatment they were receiving from their leaders. And that shocked this apostle to the bones, for he knew that he and his ministry companions could never ever think of treating anybody in that manner.

Interestingly, these same brethren, especially the ones in Corinth, that Paul would dare not maltreat, abuse or cheat would not respect him or see to his welfare. Instead, it was those who were exploiting, abusing, cheating and maltreating them that they were giving all their respect to and also supporting with their resources. How ironic!

In like manner, even today, many of God’s people hardly treat with utmost respect church leaders that treat them as Christ would treat them, that is, with love and respect. They hardly give them their support. And that is largely because they unconsciously see them as weak. But these same brethren may be willing to give up their eyes for those that maltreat, abuse, enslave and exploit them. How ironic!

Wel, the wisdom of the Spirit of God is telling us in our opening text through Apostle Paul that it is not humility at all to put up with enslavement, exploitation or any form of abuse of authority in the church. Rather, it is stupidity. Those who do so, then, are simply promoting bad leadership and wickedness in the church of God. And they will be first among those who will reap and eat the fruit of what they are sowing.

Therefore, don’t put up with any form of leadership enslavement or exploitation in the church or wherever you are. Instead, stand up against it with the word of God and with prayer. And you don’t have to be abusive or disrespectful in order to do so. You just need to let those involved know that God has not permitted you to be a slave of anybody or to be treated like an animal. And if getting out of that environment is what will make you live to enjoy the freedom that is yours in Christ Jesus, please do so.

May God keep your life and soul safe all the time from the activities of wicked, corrupt and unreasonable people, even in the church. Amen.

Copyright © 2025, 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)