Category: General Post

Boring believers | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: August 18, 2024 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 13, No. 16

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date August 17, 2024
No Comments on Boring believers | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: August 18, 2024 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 13, No. 16

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to another week of the month of August 2024. My prayer is that God will fill your heart with great excitement for Him and for His kingdom, as we begin the week, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the reasons we are not daily seeing many people turning on their own to the Lord Jesus for salvation is that many of us who refer to ourselves as Christians are not excited about God and about our faith. We are not excited to read or listen to the word of God. We are not excited to pray. We are not excited to sing and dance before the Lord. And we are not excited to give. In short, we are boring believers.

Now no one wants to be around boring people. No one wants to be around those who are not excited about their lives or whatever they are doing. And because many of us are boring to live with, work with or study with, the unbelievers around us would rather want to be in the beer parlour and in the discos than be with us or be in our church meetings. What a shame!

But God is not boring to live with or be with. And we see that illustrated in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the exact representation of His being. He was not boring to live with or be with at all when He walked the face of the earth. Read the gospels. And you will see that the disciples never had any dull moment with Him. The only time they began to be sorrowful was when it became clear that He would be taken away from them. Yet He told them not to be sorrowful at all. Why? According to Him, it was because the Holy Spirit would come and take His place in their lives, living in them, with them and through them. So, there would be no reason for them to be dull or boring in life. (Cf. John 14-16)

Why, then, are many of us dull and boring today, even though we claim to have the Holy Spirit in us? Why are we not excited about God, about His word, about prayer, about giving and about service in God’s kingdom? We are excited about watching worldly movies, listening to worldly songs, being with ungodly friends and attending worldly parties. But when it comes to our relationship with God and with His people, all that can be seen in us is dullness. What exactly is our problem?

Evidently, it is the spirit of lukewarmness that is in the world that has taken hold of us. It was this same spirit that afflicted the church of God in Laodicea of bible times and made them spiritually pitiful, wretched, poor, blind and naked. Interestingly, this wicked spirit will not altogether stop us from attending church meetings, praying, hearing God’s word or giving. But it will make us do these things in such unserious and dull ways that we will gain nothing by doing them. (Cf. Rev 3:14-22)

See, as we are shown in the bible, people don’t get changed and lifted by God just because they come to Him. Rather, they get changed and lifted by Him because they come to Him with hearts that are serious about living with Him and being blessed by Him. What I am saying is that it is only those whose hearts are seriously eager for God and what He has in store for them that will truly enjoy Him and be able to attract others to Him. (Cf. Heb 11:6)

So, if your life is not attracting others to the Lord Jesus Christ, it will either mean that you are not excited about Him at all or that your eagerness and excitement about Him are not enough. And like members of the church of Laodicea, you are in danger of being rejected as a fake believer by the Lord. My prayer is that when we stand before the Lord on that glorious day, you will not be rejected as a fake child of God, in Jesus’ name. But you need to pray now to God that He will awaken everything that is dead in your zeal and excitement for Him and His kingdom, so that you will be on fire for Him for the rest of your time here on earth.

Have a lovely week.

Copyright © 2024, 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@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2024 General Post Pastor's Desk

Fulfil your prayer duties to our country | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: June 16, 2024 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 13, No. 7

Beloved: grace and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to another week of the month of June 2024. And I pray that your heart will be strengthened everyday to take your prayer duties to our nation seriously, so that times of refreshing may come to us all without delay. Amen.

As we are told in the bible, all of us who know God have been commanded by Him to be praying for our land and for our leaders, irrespective of how bad things may be. Why? First, it is so that we may experience peace and progress in the land. Second, it is because God is pleased with such prayers and is able to use them to save many. (Cf. 1Tim 2:1-3)

So, if you have not taken your prayer duties for our country seriously, you have to begin to do so. No, the things we see and hear everyday may not give us enough encouragement to pray for our country. Those things may even give us the impression that praying for our nation is useless. In fact, recently, I heard someone on the radio saying that the problems of our nation are now beyond what prayers can solve. Yet she claimed to believe in prayer.

Now is it actually true that the problems of our country are beyond what prayers can solve? No, that is not true at all. Yes, there other things we need to be doing in order to save our nation apart from praying for her. But without praying to God for her, there is no measure of wisdom or power that we deploy that will save her from the dominion of the devil that we are now witnessing.

So, if you are among those who think praying for Nigeria is a waste of time, you are missing it and showing that you no longer believe in the power of God to save and to heal. And you need to repent. You need to repent because God will someday hold you responsible for failing to carrying out your own duty of praying for the redemption and peace of your country. What, then, are you going to tell Him on that day?

Look at this Scripture and what it says about our responsibility in praying for our country:

“I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.” (Isa 62:6-7NIV)

Did you see that? All of us who are God’s children are watchmen planted by God Himself here in this country. And part of our job is to pray day and night for her. We must not be silent about this. We must not give ourselves rest about this. And we must not God Himself rest until He saves our country, restores her, establishes her in prosperity and also makes her the praise of the earth.

That means until we see the fruit of our prayers for our country, we must not stop praying to God for her. No, we must not allow all the bad and discouraging news we daily hear (and we hear a lot of it) to keep us from praying for her. That is because God is answering our prayers, even though what He is doing to save our land may not be obvious to any of us yet. But He is already working for our good, in response to the prayers of His children that are truly praying to Him day and night. And look at what He says will happen when we take our prayer duties for our country seriously:

“The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain as food for your enemies, and never again will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled; but those who harvest it will eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather the grapes will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”” (Isa 62:8-9NIV)

Don’t you like these words? I like them. And I know that they will be our testimonies in every part of the country. So, wake up from your slumber and begin to fulfil your prayer duties to this nation. And great will be our testimonies, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have splendid week.

Fire in my Bones General Post Youth for Jesus

A motivation for jealousy | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 07, 2024 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 6, No. 39

fire in my bones

A motivation for jealousy | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 07, 2024 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 6, No. 39

“And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.” (1Sam 18:9NIV)

When did King Saul begin to keep a jealous eye on David? It was when all the armies of Israel returned to the land after David had killed Goliath. That means Saul was not always jealous or afraid of David. On the contrary, he once loved and cherished him.

First, he loved him as the anointed musician that used to comfort him with his music, especially when an evil spirit would come to torment him (1Sam 16:21-23). Second, he loved him as a vibrant upcoming Israelite warrior. Look at what the bible says about their relationship before jealousy tore them apart: “After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house.” (1Sam 18:1-2NIV)

Can you see that Saul was already seeing David as a son and member of his family after his exploit in killing Goliath? How, then, did jealousy come in and separate them? Well, as we are further shown in the bible, it came in through the indiscreet singing of the women of the land that came to welcome them home after David had killed Goliath.

Before that time, Saul had been their champion. He had been the warrior king that was handling all their enemies for them. But when David showed up and defeated Goliath the giant, the selective memory of the people would not allow them to remember all that Saul had done for them. So, they began to talk everywhere about David and what he had done. There may have even been some exaggerations here and there, just to make the story of his fight against Goliath sweeter in the ear.

Then, to make matters worse, they brought their high praise of David to Saul’s doorsteps. They sang the song they had composed in his praise in his ears. Therefore, he did not need any prophet to let him see that the people had already begun to replace him with David in their hearts. (Cf. 1Sam 17:6-7)

Now, if Saul had not stopped being a spirit-led man at the time, he would, most likely, not have taken the matter to heart. But the Spirit of God had already left him. And as if that were not enough, a special evil spirit had begun to torment him. So, the song of those women irritated him. Not only that, it made him afraid that he might someday lose his kingdom to David, even though he was not yet aware that he had been ordained by God as king in his stead.

Therefore, he began to keep a jealous eye on him. And that, of course, made life miserable for David for the rest of this man’s life. That was because all that he wanted was to get rid of him and prevent him from taking over his kingdom.

What is the main point of all this? It is that we should be careful of how we use praise, especially when dealing with men. Praise that is not wisely handled or well directed can become a motivation for jealousy. Yes, we need to praise those that have done things deserving of praise. But we should watch where we praise them and how we praise them.

Don’t praise anyone beyond what they are meant to be given credit for. Don’t be selective in praising anybody, especially when you are dealing with a team. And don’t misappropriate praise. In other words, don’t give the praise that is meant for God to man or the praise that is meant for A to B. You may just be stirring up jealousy in others for the person you are praising and creating problems that are larger than them for them. And if they are not shown mercy and protected by God, the way David was shown mercy and protected by Him from King Saul, they may not live long to enjoy the fruit of what earned them your praise.

Mind you, as I already briefly mentioned, a misappropriation of praise can stir up jealousy even in God. Why was the Herod that wanted to kill Peter struck down by an angel of God? Was it because he had killed James and had also attempted to kill Peter? No! Rather, it was because when certain people began to give him the praise that was due to God, he accepted it instead of returning it to God. (Cf. Acts 12:19-23)

So, don’t arouse God’s jealousy against anyone by giving the praise that is due to Him to them. Otherwise, they too may have their lives cut short by Him, as Herod’s life was cut short by Him. What joy, then, would that give you?

Copyright © 2024, 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: 07085711280)