Category: FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025

From Pastor’s Desk is a weekly admonition to believers! It has the purpose of weekly edification of the saints, preparing them for a fruitful walk with God every week.

Be Careful and Prayerful_J.0.Lawal

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date March 8, 2025
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Recommended Citation: Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 9). Be careful and prayerful. From Pastor’s Desk, 12(45).

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am glad to welcome you to the second week of the month of March 2025. And I pray that God will keep you from falling into any trap set by the devil for your soul, so that you may stand blameless at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we begin this new week, I want to admonish you with these words of our Lord Jesus Christ:

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36NIV)

What are the main things the Lord wants us to note and take seriously, as we see in this bible text? The first is the need for us to be careful. Why do we need to be careful? The reason is that our enemy, Satan, will daily use all kinds of things to fight our souls in order to enslave us and make us forget that this earth is not our permanent home. And if we are not careful, we will have been lost to the anxieties of this life and to all kinds of ungodly things that will ruin our lives and souls before we know what is happening.

So, be careful. Be careful of where you go. Be careful of who you make friends with. Be careful of what you allow your eyes to see and what you allow your ears to hear. And be careful of what thoughts you permit in your mind. Otherwise, you may just lose yourself to the world and to the devil before you know it.

The second thing the Lord wants us to pay attention to, as we see in that bible text, is our devotion to prayer. There are, of course, all kinds of prayers. But the prayers He is talking about here have to do with the preservation of our souls in these last days. So, first, He tells us to pray that we will be able to escape all the terrible things, accidents, calamities, plagues, famines and so forth, that will be happening in the last days. Second, He tells us to pray that we will be able to stand before Him when He returns.

What is the point of all this, then? It is that none of us can escape the dangers and corruption of the last days, if we are not preserved by God Himself. Our boldness, determination and strong will are not enough to preserve us. God Himself has to preserve us. Otherwise, we will just wake up one day and realise that we too have become everything we have once preached against.

Therefore, apart from being careful in our daily walk in this life, we must also give ourselves to earnestly praying that God, in His mercy, will preserve our lives and souls from all the dangers and corruption of these last days. And if we will continually do this in faith, we will not be put to shame. Instead, we will be preserved pure and blameless when our Lord Jesus returns.

Do have a lovely week.

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Don’t neglect their welfare | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 16, 2025 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 42

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours immeasurably from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I welcome you with joy into another week of the month of February 2025. And I pray that God will set you right wherever Satan is secretly using you to hinder His work. Amen.

I once worked in a church office in which many of the workers often left after working for few months. Why did they come in there to work in the first place? The reason was that they too felt that doing so would give them an opportunity to serve God better. So, they left their jobs, businesses, families and so forth to come and work with God.

Unfortunately, as I already pointed out, they would not stay long at all in that church office before leaving. Why? Was it because they did not adequately count the cost of working with God in that manner before coming? That may indeed be the case with some of them. Or was it that they were lacking in patience and endurance? That may also be so with some of them. But one obvious reason most of them quitted as they did was that their welfare was being neglected.

Now who was supposed to see to their welfare? First, the pastor that they were working with was supposed to do so. And did he do so? No, he did not. On the contrary, though he was living an obviously flamboyant life, he did not see the welfare of those working with him as a priority at all. So, many of them could hardly feed or dress well. Yet he was expecting them to be showing the members of the church that it pays to serve God. How ironic!

Also, members of this church were supposed to be concerned about the welfare of these church workers. At least, they knew that these people were not playing around. They knew that it was because of them that their church was successful in carrying out many of her functions. And though they could see that most of them were finding it hard to live well, they would rather wait for them to beg for their assistance than allow God to move them to see to their welfare. Yet they were the ones that complained the most that church workers were not staying because their pastor was not taking good care of them. What a shame!

Well, I share that with you to let you know that our attitude towards the welfare of God’s servants can make them abandon the work God has given to them or turn them to unfaithful servants. Do you know that all the Levites that were supposed to be working in the temple of God during the time of Nehemiah once left their duties to go and work as farmers, traders and so forth? Why? The reason was that their welfare was neglected by the people. Nehemiah had to step into the situation and severely rebuke the leaders of the people before they began to do what was right. (Cf. Neh 13:11-13)

Now I personally believe that if someone like Nehemiah had been in the church I mentioned above and had severely rebuked the members and the pastor for their neglect of the welfare of their church workers, many of those who left would have stayed and continued to serve God and the church faithfully. But there was one. So, they lost a lot of good and faithful workers.

In like manner, unless many of us and our church leaders are being severely rebuked about our attitude towards the welfare of the servants of God among us, we will not change our ways. And as long as we will not change our ways, we will continue to lose many who would have been great servants of God to various businesses and institutions of the world.

Will that make God happy? No! But He will have to wait until He can find people who will not allow our neglect of their welfare to affect His work. And who knows how long that will take? No one. This is why we all must wake up and begin to take seriously the welfare of everyone God is using to do His work and bless us. And may God strengthen us to do so. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Don’t discourage them | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 09, 2025 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 41

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours abundantly from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer. I am glad to welcome you to another week of the month of February 2025. My prayer is that God will rid you every attitude that may make you a hindrance to the progress of the church of God or of other people in your life. Amen.

In Numbers, chapter 32, Moses says this to the tribes of Gad and Reuben:

“Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from going over into the land the LORD has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. After they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them.”” (Num 32:6-9NIV)

Why did he say these hurting words to them? It was because they had requested to have their own inheritance before the whole nation crossed over River Jordan to take the land of Canaan that God wanted to give them. And Moses saw that as a sign of unfaithfulness and an attempt to discourage the remaining people from going on to take the land God was going to give them. Therefore, he began to rebuke them severely.

But then, these people simply made that request because they saw that the land on that side of River Jordan was suitable for livestock rearing. And they had very large herds and flocks. Why, then, did Moses get so upset with them that he began to rebuke them? The reason was that he did not want them to be the reason others would be discouraged from going for what God had wanted them to have and then get into trouble.

As Moses pointed out to them, the reason all of them ended up wandering for forty years in the wilderness was that ten of the twelve men that were sent to spy the land God was going to give them brought back an evil and discouraging report to the people. And it was because of these ten men that the entire nation had to suffer and be kept from enjoying God’s provision for them to the full for forty years. If only ten men, then, could make an entire nation suffer for forty years, imagine what problems whole two tribes could bring upon them. That, of course, was why Moses had to quickly protest.

In any case, those people assure Moses not to worry at all. They told him that they would not dare discourage the people from having God’s best for them. Instead, they would leave their families behind and march on with them into the Promised Land until every other tribe had their own inheritance. And that was exactly what they did. (Cf. Jos 22:1-9)

Now what lessons are there for us in all this? First, it is that we need to watch how our words and actions may affect those in our lives, especially the people of God. Yes, we may have very good reasons for wanting to say or do whatever we have in mind. But where what we say or do may discourage others or fill them with lukewarmness and keep them from away from what God has planned for their lives, we need to watch ourselves. Otherwise, we may end up being the reason their lives and our lives as well will remain stagnant forever.

Second, where we observe that the people in our lives are doing things that will discourage us or others, we need to speak up, as Moses did. Yes, they may have good reasons for what they are doing. But unless we speak up and allow them to explain themselves, we may not know whether they should be tolerated or firmly resisted. And that may just allow Satan to use them to make a short trip to greatness and rest long or impossible for us.

Third, if we are confronted by others who have legitimate reasons to believe that our actions are going to hinder them or cause problems for them in life, we should be patient and humble enough to explain ourselves. Otherwise, we may make a bad situation worse. If the people of Gad and of Reuben had chosen to enter into arguments with Moses, instead of explaining themselves to him, he may have prayed to God against them. And they may have been severely judged by God, as Dathan, Korah and those with them were judged by Him. (Cf. Num 16)

So, don’t train yourself to be arguing with people when they accuse you on any matter. Instead, be patient and humble to explain yourself to them. That way, you will be healing your relationship with them instead of further destroying it. And may the Spirit of God continually fill you with the wisdom and strength to act accordingly. Amen.

Have a splendid week.

FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: Cooperate with HimBy: J.O. LawalDate: February 02, 2025Series: From Pastor’s DeskNumber: Vol. 12, No. 40

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date February 1, 2025
No Comments on Title: Cooperate with HimBy: J.O. LawalDate: February 02, 2025Series: From Pastor’s DeskNumber: Vol. 12, No. 40

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the second month of this year, the month of February 2025. My prayer is that God, by His Spirit in you, will cause you to humble yourself before Him, so that He can lead you to experience the fullness of His favour and goodness all through the month, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we begin this month, I want to admonish you with these words from one of David’s psalms:

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.” (Ps 32:8-9NIV)

Who is speaking here? God! Who is He speaking to? Me! You! All of us! And what is He saying to us? First, He is telling us that He is ready to instruct and teach us in the way we should go in life. That means it is not every way that we take in life that will result in peace of mind and prosperity for us. There is a particular way for us to take to have these things. And the only one that knows this way and can lead us through it is God, our maker.

The second thing God says is that He will counsel us and watch over us. That means He is ready to see to it that we are never confused in life and that we are never without protection. What, then, do we need to enjoy His teaching, guidance and protection every day of our lives? We just need to cooperate with Him. And are we going to cooperate with Him? Are you going to cooperate with God to lead you to enjoy His best for your life?

As we see in the bible text above, God warns us not to be stubborn like animals. Why? We are not animals. We are humans created in His image and after His likeness. So, we have understanding and can be taught and guided by Him. Animals have no understanding. And because they have no understanding, you cannot explain things to them or reason with them. So, you have to trick or force them to cooperate with you. Otherwise, you will not be able to get them to do what you want them to do for you.

In like manner, if we choose to act like animals in our relationship with God, then, He won’t be able to easily teach or guide us to experience peace and prosperity in our lives, as He will love to. It follows, then, that if He must accomplish any good thing in our lives, He will have to make us listen to Him the hard way. But He hardly does that. That is because there is no guarantee that we will listen to Him, even if He has to make us learn the hard way.

For example, I once spent some hours counselling someone about her marriage. Yet she went ahead and did the exact opposite of what I told her. Now she has been through two failed marriages. And even if she marries again today, there is no guarantee that the new marriage will not fail. That is because unless she starts listening to God, she will have to continue to learn the hard way.

I shared that with you to just let you know that God does not want us to learn anything in life the hard way. That is because we may not even live to tell the story. So, He wants to teach us, guide us and also protect us. But we must rid ourselves of all stubbornness and humble ourselves to learn from Him and to follow Him. And I pray that we all will be daily strengthened to do so. Amen.

Have a lovely February 2025.

FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Before the evil day comes | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: January 26, 2025 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 39

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the last week of the month of January 2025. I pray that God will daily encourage you to always take advantage of His grace to be strong in Him, so that no evil day will triumph over you. Amen.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Eph 6:13NIV) What is the instruction to the people God here? It is to put on the full armour of God. In other words, they are to take advantage of whatever God has provided for their protection to keep themselves protected. So, this is not something God will do for them; rather, it is what they will do for themselves.

Now why is it important for God’s people to do this? It is so that they will be able to stand their ground, when the evil day comes. So, it is certain that some evil days will come for every child of God. Truly, there is no day that does not have evil in it, to one degree or the other. But there are days in which certain evils are particularly directed to each of us. And it is because of such days that we need to stay protected with God’s armour.

For example, there was a time that some people ganged up against Daniel to destroy him. How? It was by tricking King Darious to order everyone in his kingdom not to pray to any god at all but him. And as the order stated, any disobedience to it would land the one involved in the den of lions. (Cf. Daniel 6:1-9)

Why did these men make this kind of move? It was because they knew that the reason they had not been able to destroy Daniel was that he was a man of prayer and also one who feared God. Therefore, their thought was that if they could get him not to pray to God for at least one month, they should be able to get him and destroy him. And if he still chose to pray, against the king’s order, then, he would end up in the den of lions. So, for them, there was not escape for the man at all.

But they failed. They failed because Daniel never stopped praying to God, in spite of the king’s edict. Instead, he continued to pray and to pray in such a way that even his enemies would know that he was praying. But that was an evil day for him. It was a day in which all the wicked officials of King Darius were against him. It was a day that even the king could not help or save him. (Cf. Daniel 6:10)

Why, then, did he continue to pray to God? He continued to pray to Him because he had come to see God as his all in all. This man had been meditating on the word of God and praying for years. And that had built his faith up to the point that no threat from anybody could move him. So, even though everyone was against him during that period, he wasn’t moved at all. That was because he knew that God would keep him safe.

Did God, then, keep him safe or not? He did keep him safe and also put all his enemies to shame. But what if he had not been building his faith up before that evil day came? Would he not have been destroyed? He would most likely have been destroyed.

What is the point of this, then? It is that we should not wait until the evil day comes before we start building up our faith in God or seeking His protection. To say the fact, we may not even remember or be bold enough to seek God’s protection when the evil day comes, if we have not been used to entrusting our lives to Him.

Thinks about this: Will someone who will not pray when there is no law against praying pray, if there should be a law against it? Not likely! So, you will most likely not demonstrate in God in the day of adversity a faith that you don’t have in him in the day of prosperity. That is why it is now that you must put on the full armour of God. Otherwise, you will have no answer for the devil when the evil day comes.

Have a lovely week.

FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Only few people | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: January 19, 2025 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 38

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Post date January 18, 2025
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Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am glad to welcome you to another week of the month of January 2025. My prayer is that God will wake you up to recognize all the duties of your ministry and also strengthen you to begin to carry them out without delay. Amen.

Paul, in a letter to Timothy, says this to him: “…discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2Tim 4:5NIV) Why does he say this to him? He says it to him because he is sure that he knows his ministry and the responsibilities that go with it. If Timothy does not know the duties of his ministry, then, he won’t be able to fulfil all of them on purpose. Yes, he may accidentally carry some of the duties of his ministry, even if he does not know them. But he won’t be able to deliberately and fully carry out duties that he knows nothing about.

Now if Timothy is not fully discharging the duties of his ministry, then, God will not be able to bless everyone He wants to bless through his ministry the way He wants to. And will God be happy about that? No, He won’t. So, He will have to find ways to wake him up to do all that he is supposed to do or find some other people that will do what he is supposed to do that he is neglecting.

In like manner, God is expecting every child of His in the church today to recognise the duties of his ministry and also begin to carry them out. Otherwise, He will not be able to bless people through them as He wants to. And where this is the case, He will have to seek ways to wake them up to do what they are neglecting or find some other people to do it.

Unfortunately, even though God is doing all He can to wake many of us up to begin to do all the duties of our ministry, we are often unwilling to do so because of fear, laziness, distraction, greed or ignorance. Therefore, often, He also has to call upon others to pick up and do what we are refusing to do. This is why, in many Christian assemblies, it is the same few people that are committed to the word of God that are also often committed to attending prayer meetings, visiting others, giving and even taking care of their church meeting places.

For instance, in a letter to the Corinthians, Paul says this to them: “I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you.” (1Cor 16:17NIV) Did you see that? These three men were evidently elders of the church in Corinth. That means they must have had a lot of responsibilities to shoulder at the time. Yet, as large as the Corinthian church must have been at the time, it was still these three men that supported Paul with their resources in order to make up for what the whole church should have done.

Now is that a good thing to be happening in any church of God? No! Should only few people be bearing the burdens that all the members of an assembly are supposed to be bearing? No! Is it not possible for those few people to become tired or discouraged at some point and not want to do anything again? It is possible. And we have had people who became discouraged and stopped attending their church meetings altogether because they were overwhelmed by the burdens they were bearing.

Then even if such people do not become discouraged, will they not be the only ones that will get rewarded by God for what their entire churches are supposed to be rewarded for? They will be the only ones. That is because God will never reward anyone for what the person has not done for him. Apart from that, the growth and development of an assembly in which only few people are responsible for everything being done will be slow. You can now see why we have several assemblies in our land that have been around for years but are still babies in fruitfulness and usefulness.

In any case, I am sharing these things with you to let you know that it is not a good thing for us as an assembly to leave what all of us are supposed to be doing for God for only few people. And if this has been the case, then, we have unconsciously been limiting the growth and usefulness of our assembly and perhaps also filling some people among us with discouragement. So, we need to repent and pick up our duties in praying, giving, visiting others and so forth. Then our church will begin to grow and increase in usefulness as it should and we also will not lose our reward to others.

Have a splendid week.

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

If you want better results | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: January 12, 2025 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 37

Pastor J.O. Lawal

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great delight that I welcome you into another week of the month of January 2025. I pray that God will lead you by His Spirit to take all the necessary steps for you to excel in all your ways in the year, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, at the beginning of a new year like this, it is common for people to begin to desire to live better lives and get better results in their endeavours. And nothing is wrong with that. However, desiring to live a better life is not enough to live a better life. Likewise, desiring to get better results in life is not enough get better results. If we are not doing enough of those things that will make us live better lives and get better results in our endeavours, we will not live better lives or get better results.

The bible says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Gal 6:7NIV) What does this mean? It means that God has already established a law that says that it is what a man sows in life that he will reap. So, first, you cannot reap what you have not sowed. Second, you cannot change the harvest of what you have planted – what you have planted is what you are going to reap.

If you, then, want to live a better life and also get better results in your endeavours this year, the first question you need to ask yourself is, “Am I planting anything at all that will make me live a better life and get better results?” If you are not planting anything into life, you should not expect anything in return. It is only those who are planting that can look forward to a harvest of what they are planting.

The second question you need to ask yourself is, “What kind of seeds am I planting?” As I told you before, you cannot change the harvest of any seed you have planted. What you plant is what you will reap. So, if you want a better life and better results this year, you may want to change the seeds you are planting. If, for example, what you have been planting are seeds corrupted with fear, laziness, selfishness, bitterness, grumbling or evil speaking, you must change them to seeds of faith, love, hard work, generosity, prayer and the word of God. Otherwise, it does not matter how hard you try this year, you will not live a better life or get better results. On the contrary, things may even get worse for you.

Then, even if what you have been planting are seeds of faith, love, hard work, generosity, prayer and the word of God, you need to plant more of them in order to reap more of them in form of a better life and better results. Remember again that it is what you plant that you will reap. Truly, God is able to multiply greatly the harvest of what you have planted. But He can only multiply what you have planted and not what you have not planted. So, if it is a hundred seed that you plant, it is that one hundred seed that He will multiply for you. And if it is a thousand seed that you plant, it is also that one thousand seed that He will multiply for you. There is no favouritism with Him.

Therefore, if you desire to experience greater success and enjoyment this year, be ready to plant more good seeds. And as you do so, I pray that God will multiply greatly the fruit of your labour and give you rest on every side, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely week.