Category: From Pastor’s Desk 2026

From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Don’t be critical

6Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 4

5Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to another week of the month of March 2026. My prayer is that God will keep you humble and gentle in all your dealings with those around you, so that you will not say or do anything to them that will expose you to His judgment. Amen.

As we see in the bible, one of the things that can expose us to God’s judgment is being critical of others. Truly, no one in this life is perfect in conduct. Only God is. So, people can make mistakes. And where this is the case, attempts must surely be made to set them Title: Don’t be criticalright.

However, whether people have actually made mistakes or have been mistaken to have made mistakes, how we intervene in their matters will determine whether they listen to us or not. It will also determine whether we have the praise of God or not.For example, when the friends of Job came to him in his time of distress, he thought that they had come to comfort him. But instead of comforting him, all of them ended up criticising him, accusing him of doing things that he never did. And did he listen to them? No, he did not. Did he accept all the lies they told against him? No, he did not. (Cf. Job 2:11-13)

Why did Job not listen to them? First, it was because they did not verify the evil reports they had heard about him before of accusing of doing wickedness. Second, it was because they all spoke to him harshly and not tenderly, ignoring completely the fact that he was in serious pains and had also lost all his children and wealth. So, even if they were right, there was no way a man in pains like him would listen to their harsh and critical words.Now how did God attend to this matter? He attended to it with anger. And who was He angry with? Job’s friends! Why? First, it was because they misused the knowledge of Him that they had in criticising Job. Second, it was because they did not comfort the man at all but added to his pains. And as God told them, they needed to go and beg for his forgiveness and prayer. Otherwise, His wrath would come on them. (Cf. Job 42:7-9)

In like manner, God’s wrath may fall on any of us for being critical of others. See, God is watching all our relationships to see how we conduct ourselves in them. And where He can see that we are carelessly injuring the lives or faith of others with our words, He will not ignore it. Yes, in His mercy, He may draw our attention to our folly, as He did with Job’s friends, so that we may repent and do the needful. But He may just judge us without any warning, as He judged Miriam and Aaron for criticising Moses on an occasion. (Cf. Num 12

)So, while nothing is wrong with correcting people if they are wrong, we must be sure that we are not correcting anybody on the basis of things that we have not verified. Then we must also learn to be gentle in correcting people, even if we are certain that they have missed it. Otherwise, what is meant to be a word of correction may become a word of criticism. And that may not accomplish the purpose we intend it to accomplish. On the contrary, it may even expose us to the judgement of God. May we not foolishly expose ourselves to His judgment, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

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From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: First deal with your own problems

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date February 28, 2026

ALAYTHIA BIBLE church

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 44

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It is with great joy that I welcome you to the third month of this year, the month of March 2026. My prayer is that God will set right anything that is not in line with His will in your life, so that the manifestations of His blessings in your life will no longer be hindered. Amen.

Now I offered that prayer for you because there are times that the reason certain blessings of God are not manifesting in our lives is that some things are wrong in our lives and need to be taken care of. And we may not even be paying attention to these wrong things, so that we can trust God to take care of them for us. Instead, our attention may be on what is wrong with the lives of others around us. And unless we turn our eyes away from what is wrong with other people to what is wrong with us, so that we may deal with them, the manifestation of some blessings of God will continue to elude us.

Remember that our Lord Jesus says this to us:“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matt 7:3-5NIV)

Did you see that? We can be busy analysing the problems in the lives of others while we fail to first deal with the problems in our own lives, which are more likely bigger. And that is hypocrisy. It is hypocrisy because unless we first deal with the big problems in our own lives, we cannot help others deal with the small problems in their lives.

So, instead of wasting your time considering all that is wrong in the lives of others around you, begin to talk to God about those things that you can see to be wrong in your own life. And as you do this, His mercy will flow abundantly to you for your restoration.For example, when David and his people were running away from Absalom, a man called Shimei began to curse and to stone him and his officials. And when one of his soldiers asked for permission to go and cut of the man’s head, David rebuked him. Why? The reason was that Shimei was not the rebel that drove him out of his palace. It was his own son, Absalom, that drove him out. And Absalom was able to drive him out of the palace in that manner because he failed as a father. (Cf. 2Sam 16:5-13)

If there was anyone, then, that David needed to deal with at the time, it was he himself, not Shimei. And that was exactly what he did. He focussed all his attention at the time on reflecting on his errors as a father and praying to God for mercy. And did God answer him or not? He did.So, if we want God’s mercy and favour to work in our lives unhindered, our attention must first be on dealing with those things in our lives that are not in line with His will instead of on talking about what is wrong with the lives of others. And may the Spirit of God daily grant us all the strength we need to do this, so that none of the blessings meant for our lives will elude us again. Amen.Have a lovely March 2026.

From Pastor's Desk 2026 General Post Pastor's Desk

Title: The right attitude towards rebuke

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date February 21, 2026
No Comments on Title: The right attitude towards rebuke

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 43

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to the last week of this month, the month of February 2026. My prayer is that God will always keep your heart humble to receive His word, even if it is a word of rebuke, so that His purpose for your life may be fully realised. Amen.

One of the things that are difficult for us to receive from God is a word of rebuke. We often don’t find it hard to accept His word of blessing or praise. But when He decides to rebuke us, we may get angry with Him or with the people that He is using to rebuke us. And that will surely hinder the fulfilment of His purpose in our lives or expose us to judgment.

As we see in Scriptures, God does not rebuke us because He just delights in condemning us or our works. Rather, He rebukes us when we are wrong. And that is so that we may repent and not expose ourselves to His judgment. Our attitude towards His rebuke, then, is what will tell whether His word of rebuke will do our lives good or not.

For example, even though King Asa had been a godly king, when God rebuked him for putting his trust in men instead of in Him, he got angry. He was so angry with God that he put the prophet God had sent to him in jail and also oppressed some of the people of his land. Therefore, the word of rebuke sent to him could not do him any good and turn him away from the path of destruction. No wonder he died sick and before his time. (Cf. 2Chro 16)

But then, to one’s surprise, when God sent a word of rebuke through Prophet Elijah to King Ahab, that wicked king, he accepted it humbly. The word so humbled him that he tore his clothes, fasted and went around meekly. So, instead for God to judge him immediately, He postponed the judgment to the time of his son. (Cf. 1Kings 21)

Now you can see that you can be known as a righteous person and yet have a bad attitude towards rebuke. Yet someone that is known for being wicked or useless may have a good attitude towards it. And where this is the case, that so-called bad person will experience the mercy of God for forgiveness and preservation.

But you, with your so-called righteousness, will miss out on His goodness because of your stubbornness and bad attitude towards His word of rebuke.So, anytime you are being rebuked by God for doing what is wrong or inappropriate, accept it with meekness. Don’t argue. Don’t try to justify yourself. Yes, the person God is using to rebuke you may be harsh. Yet accept the word of rebuke coming to you, as long as it is the truth. And even though you think that you have been misrepresented, still be meek enough to first listen to any word of rebuke coming to you before explaining yourself.

That way, you will not present yourself as stubborn and expose yourself to God’s judgment.Remember that you don’t know everything. None of us knows everything. Only God does. And if He will be able to perfect His purpose in our lives, we must have the right attitude towards rebuke. Otherwise, we may end up like King Asa. May that not be our lot in life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: When God left him to test him

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date February 14, 2026

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 42

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 another week of the month of February 2026.

My prayer is that God will readily fill your heart with sufficient wisdom and humility to always make choices that will please Him and that will not put you and others in your life in trouble. Amen.As we know through the bible, King Hezekiah was one of the few kings of Judah that served God faithfully and wholeheartedly. So, God blessed him greatly and also granted him rest from all his enemies.

Nevertheless, this is what is written in the bible about how God tested him towards the end of his reign:“But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.” (2Chronicles 32:31NIV) Why would God leave Hezekiah to test him and to know all that was in his heart? Did God really need to test him in order to know what was in his heart? No! God already knew what was in his heart. So, the test was not for God to know what was in his heart but for him to know what was in his own heart.Now how did God test him? He tested him by letting him make a certain decision on his own.

As the account goes, after God had healed him and given him fifteen additional years, some envoys came from Babylon to greet him. And without consulting God at all about how to relate to those envoys, he showed them all his greatness and wealth, everything in his palace and in his kingdom. (Cf. 2Kings 20:12-19)

Why did he do that? A desire for the praise of men! A desire to show off! And what led him to want to show off on that occasion? Pride! So, pride was in Hezekiah all along. But it did not show until God let him decide on his own how he would handle the envoys from Babylon. And it was after he had satisfied himself that God send Prophet Isaiah to him to tell him the consequences of his pride. God told him that he would lose everything he had shown the Babylonians, including some of his own descendants, to them after his death.

What a shame!Now what is this teaching us? It is that one of the ways God reveals the hidden evil in people’s hearts to them is by letting them make certain decisions on their own. Therefore, we must learn to pray that God will never leave us to make any decisions, great or small, on our own, without giving us His wisdom. That way, we will never make any decision that will ruin our lives or the lives of those that we love.

Have a lovely week.