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.

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Put them to death_J.0_Lawal

Lawal, J. O. (2025, April 13). Put them to death. From Pastor’s Desk, Vol. 12, No. 50.

Beloved: Grace, mercy and peace be yours immeasurably from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to another week of the month of April 2025. My prayer is that God will daily teach you to take advantage of His grace to walk in victory over every kind of sin or weakness of the spirit, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Why did I offer this prayer for you? The reason is that it is the will of God for us to put to death any kind of sin that may be associated with our lives. Look at what Paul says about this to the Colossian brethren:

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Col 3:5-10NIV)

Can you see all the things that we must put to death and also rid our lives of? Then can you observe that we are the ones to put these things to death in our lives? That means even though we are now children of God and new creatures in Christ, the bad things we used to do will still want to find expression in our lives and make a mess of our faith. That is because it has become cultural for us to do them.

But as Paul tells us, it is because of all these evil things that the wrath of God is coming on the disobedient. Therefore, we must not give ourselves to them again. Instead, we must put them to death. And can we actually put them to death? Do we have the ability to put them to death?

Well, if we could not put them to death, God would not say that we should do so. The reason He tells us to do so is that we can do so. But how do we do so? We cannot do so by simply wishing or determining to do so. Peter, for instance, was determined not to deny Jesus. Yet he denied Him three times in a row in one night. So, being determined not to do what is wrong is not enough; we must also possess the ability not to do what is wrong. Otherwise, the pressure of sin may weaken our determination and drive us to do what is against the desires of our hearts. (Cf. Matt 26)

All of this is why the bible further says to us. “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” (Rom 8:13NIV) Did you see that? It is only by the supply of the Spirit of God that we can put any kind of sin or bad behaviour to death in our lives. Otherwise, we can only find ourselves failing again and again.

So, if you want to end any kind of sin in your life, you must turn to the Spirit of God for the enablement to do so. How? First, you do so through prayer. Second, you do so by meditating on the word of God and confessing it to yourself. Third, you do so by fellowshipping with the people of God that are walking in righteousness. And as you consistently give yourself to these things, you will soon enough see for yourself that those wrong things that you are struggling with in your life have been put to death by the Spirit of God.

Have a great week.

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)

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Just One Hour_J.0_Lawal

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 30). Just one hour! From Pastor’s Desk, Vol. 12, No. 48.

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace to you without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to the transition week between the months of March and April 2025. My prayer is that God will daily strengthen your heart to do all that is right for you to do to remain pure and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

In order for our Lord Jesus, when His time came, not to shrink back from dying on the cross for the redemption of humanity, He needed to do one thing. What was it? He needed to pray. And how much time did He need to pray? He did not need a whole week or a whole day to pray. He needed just one hour to pray.

Now how did we know that all Jesus needed at that time was just one hour of prayer? We knew through Scriptures. As the account goes, as He saw that His time was at hand, He took three of His disciples, Peter, James and John, with Him to pray in a place called Gethsemane. But instead of praying with Him, they were simply sleeping. And that was because they were very tired. Just look at what the bible says about these things:

“Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”” (Mark 14:37-38NIV)

Did you see that? How much time did Jesus expect these disciples to spend in praying with Him? Just one hour! Of course, Jesus could pray to God for more than one hour. Before this time, He had prayed on several occasions for hours, sometimes all through the night. So, He did not choose to pray for one hour on this occasion because He could not pray for more hours. Rather, He chose to do so because He knew that a lot could be changed or done through even one hour of prayer.

Now, of course, because of that one hour of prayer that He offered to God for His soul in that hour of darkness, He received sufficient strength and courage to die on the cross and obtain eternal redemption for us. But what about His disciples who could not join Him in praying for themselves for just one hour? They all went on to deny and desert Him. And if He had not prayed for them before that their faith would not fail, that would have been the end of their relationship with Him.

What is this teaching us, then? It is simply that we cannot measure or quantify what our heartfelt prayer can accomplish for us or for all humanity, even if it is only for one hour. In fact, just one minute of prayer can be the difference between life and death, success and failure, victory and defeat. How long did it take David to pray that God would frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel? It probably took him less than a minute. Yet that prayer changed everything about the rebellion he wanted to end. That prayer led to his victory over Absalom. (Cf. 2Sam 15:31)

Am I now saying that you should only be praying for just one minute or just one hour? No! To say the fact, there are problems that will probably take us hours or days of prayer to handle. But if we will learn to recognise that our prayers can change history, then, we will begin to make the most of every moment we have to pray, even if it is just one hour. And my prayer is that our hearts will be filled with adequate strength from God to daily walk in the light of this truth, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a pleasant week.

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)

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025

Friendship with the world_Pst_J.O_Lawal

Recommended Citation:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 23). Friendship with the world. From Pastor’s Desk, 12(47).

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to another week of the month of March 2025. My prayer is that God will daily keep His love in your heart burning, so that you may remain true to Him to the end. Amen.

As we face this new week, I want to admonish you with the words of James that say, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4NIV) What point is James making here? It is that there is no way we can choose God as our friend and still be in love with the world. Once we choose the world as our friend, then, we have already chosen God as our enemy. And how that will hurt us is not something anybody can tell. But it will surely hurt us.

Now it is unfortunate that we have many so-called children of God who claim to love Him but who are still in love with the things of this world. They still want to talk and dress like those of the world. They still want to party like them. And they are still in love with their music and movies. How, then, can they truly say that they love God? Or how can they say that these things of the world that they are in love with are not hurting their relationship with God? It is only a liar that will say that.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that everything being done by those of this world is wrong. To say the fact, there are a lot of things being done by those of the world that are right and good for God’s people too and that God’s people can learn from. But there are also things that those of this world do to basically pollute themselves and others. And the child of God must identify such things and separate himself from them. Otherwise, regardless of how much he claims to love God, he will be polluted and turned into an enemy of God.

Remember Lot’s daughters. Even though they left Sodom as virgins in their bodies, they were actually not virgins in their minds. Why? The reason was that the things they saw and heard in Sodom corrupted their minds. In fact, it is possible that they had practised in their minds all the things they were seeing and hearing in Sodom before they left the place. Therefore, at some point, when they could no longer control themselves, they got their own father drunk and then slept with him. What a shame! (Cf. Gen 19)

In like manner, we may think that the things we are seeing and hearing through our friendship with the world are not hurting us. But we are only lying to ourselves. There is no way we will be in friendship with the world and its pollution will not enter our lives. And once it enters our lives, we too may one day do as Lot’s daughters did. We may do the unthinkable.

All of this is why the word of God warns us against friendship with the world. It can only make us enemies of God. And if we should become His enemies, what will become of our hope of His eternal kingdom? It may just slip out from our hands. I pray that the hope of God’s kingdom will never slip out of our hands. But we too should watch ourselves.

Have a great week.

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)

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025

Guard your heart_J.0._Lawal

Recommended Citation

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 16). Guard your heart. From Pastor’s Desk, Vol. 12, No. 46.

Beloved: Grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am pleased to welcome you to another week of the month of March 2025. I pray that God will daily keep your heart from being messed up by the devil in any way, so that you will never take any step that will result in regrets for you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The bible says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Prov 4:23NIV) What does this mean? It means that one of the most important things you can do for yourself as a child of God is to guard your heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. And why is this important? It is important because everything you do in life proceeds from your heart. If you, then, will not protect it well, Satan will fill it with all kinds of evil. And before you know what is happening, you will have found yourself doing what you never thought you could do.

For instance, did Judas Iscariot think that he could betray the Lord Jesus, when he first became one of His apostles? I don’t think so. Yet, because he would not guard his heart against greed, Satan succeeded in entering him and driving him to betray his Lord and Saviour. What a shame! (Cf. John 13:2&27)

What about David? When he was first ordained by God to be king over Israel, did he think that he could one day snatch another man’s wife and then kill the man? No! He loved God too much for that. Yet, because he did not guard his heart against lust, he ended up doing the unthinkable. He snatched Bathsheba from Uriah and also killed the man. (Cf. 2Sam 11)

Now if David, a man after God’s own heart, could act like that, simply because he would not guard his heart, don’t you think that we too can do similar or worse things? And if Judas Iscariot, a man privileged to live, eat and drink with Jesus, could betray Him because he would not guard his heart, don’t you think that we too can do similar or worse things?

Therefore, in the wisdom of God, He tells us to take the protection of our hearts against evil thoughts and desires very seriously. Otherwise, we may end up messing up our lives and faith in ways beyond what anyone can ever imagine. So, shut the door of your heart against those thoughts of bitterness, jealousy, hate or lust. And my prayer is that God will daily strengthen your heart by His Spirit to daily do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a pleasant week.

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)

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Be Careful and Prayerful_J.0.Lawal

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.

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)

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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.

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)

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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.

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)

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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

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.

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)

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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.

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)

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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

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.

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)