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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Be safety conscious

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 19

“Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.” (Ecclesiastes 10:8-9)

What is Solomon speaking to us about here? Basically, he is speaking to us about the need to be careful in all that we do. And he uses four different activities that we may engage in to illustrate his point to us.

First, he speaks about the digging of pits. As we all know, we often dig pits for various good reasons. And there are times that we dig pits to deliberately endanger the lives of others.

In any case, Solomon’s point is that we must always keep in mind the fact that we ourselves can fall into a pit that we have dug, even if we have dug it for a good and legitimate reason. Therefore, when digging any pit, we should put safety measures in place.

That way, nobody’s life, including our own very lives, will be endangered by it. Then we should be careful never to dig a pit for anybody’s fall. That is because we may end up being victims of our own wickedness.Solomon also speaks about breaking through walls. And there are times that we need to break through some walls to move ahead in life or to enjoy some relationships or to know some secrets.

But whether it is a necessity that we break through a wall or not, it is important that we demonstrate utter carefulness and preparedness in doing. That is because we may not fully know or appreciate what is waiting for us behind that wall. And if it should be a snake or something even more harmful, we should meet it ready.

Otherwise, we may end up being sorry for ourselves.What we are saying is that what is behind a wall of limitation may be more dangerous and limiting than the wall itself. And where people don’t function with an understanding of this, where all they are after is just breaking through their limitations and they are not preparing for what may be behind those limitations, they may end up losing their lives or endangering their lives in ways beyond their expectations.

Furthermore, Solomon speaks about the quarrying of stones and splitting of wood. And while these things can be done legitimately, it does not cancel out the fact that there are dangers associated with doing so. Therefore, anyone quarrying stones or splitting wood ought to know that he may endanger himself and others around him while doing so, if he is not safety conscious.

Now Solomon says this to let us know that each job has its own hazards. It will be wise of each of us, then, to appreciate the dangers associated with whatever work we are doing and put measures in place to protect ourselves from them. Otherwise, we may end up endangering ourselves and others that we love. And how painful would that be?

At any rate, while it is highly important that we are safety conscious in all that we do, we must also never forget that unless God keeps us safe, we will not be safe, however careful or safety conscious we may be. So, we must never put our trust in our being safety conscious but in God. And may God continually keep us all safe from all forms of accidents and hazards, in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Copyright © 2025, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

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Fire in my Bones General Post Youth for Jesus

Title: The Lord looks at the heart

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 18

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”” (1Sam 16:7NIV)

When did God say the words of our opening bible text to Samuel? It was when he was in the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as king over Israel, that is, in place of King Saul. And who was Samuel not to consider his appearance or height? It was Eliab, Jesse’s first son.

Now why was Samuel not to consider Eliab’s appearance or height? It was because God needed more than his appearance and height in order to make him king. God also needed his heart to be right.

Unfortunately, the man did not have the kind of heart that could make God choose him as king over His people. So, he was rejected.But then, it was not only Eliab that was not considered by God to have the heart of a king among Jesse’s sons. Six other sons of his were also considered by God not to have the heart of a king. Only David, the man’s last son, was considered by God to have the kind of heart He needed His king to have. And it was he that Samuel was told to ordain as king over the people of Israel. (Cf. 1Sam 16:1-13)

What is this teaching us? It is the fact that even though God is the one that promotes or exalts people in life, He does not exalt them indiscriminately. On the contrary, He exalts people based on what He sees in their hearts.

The fact, then, that someone is in a low position does not mean that God is going to exalt him. If the heart of the person is not right for exaltation, God is not going to exalt him. Yet we may see Him taking someone that is already in a high position to an even higher position. Why? The person’s heart is right for exaltation. Therefore, if you want God’s exaltation in life, take care of what is in your heart.

Yes, it may look like you are qualified for certain positions in life because of your education, beauty, intelligence, family background or social status. But if pride, bitterness, lust, envy, hypocrisy or dishonesty is your heart, God may not consider you fit for those positions. We would not know exactly what God saw in Eliab’s heart and in the hearts of his other brothers that made Him reject them for the position of king over Israel. But He saw what He saw. And what He saw displeased Him. So, He rejected them.

Now perhaps there is something God is seeing in you too that is making Him reject you for certain positions of elevation that could have been yours in life. You need to rid your life of whatever it is. But you cannot do that unless you know what it is. How, then, will you know what it is? God Himself, who knows what is in every heart, will have to reveal it to you.

If there is any prayer you, then, must learn to pray, it is that God will constantly reveal whatever displeases Him in your heart to you, so that you may rid yourself of it. And may He, in His mercy, answer you each time you offer this prayer to Him, so that you may do the needful about the state of your heart and never hinder yourself again in life.

Cheers!

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)

Categories
The fruit of the Spirit

Title: Meditating on His word|FruitBearing 7

Series: Fruit bearing

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This morning, I want further share with you on ‘Fruit bearing’. We have been looking at the need for us to be fruit bearing believers in Christ Jesus. God, as we see in scriptures, wants us to bear fruit. That’s because it brings Him glory when we do so. And we have looked at the nature of fruit He wants us to bear. This is referred to in scriptures as the fruit of the Spirit.

But we are not likely to bear fruit as He expects us to if it is not our desire to do so. As I’ve told us again and again, we must desire what God desires for us. We must want what He wants for us. We must not assume that we are going to become the persons God wants us to become automatically. If we do not want to become the persons He wants us to become, we will most likely not become the persons He wants us to become. If we do not want to have what He wants us to have, there is a possibility that we are going to end up not having what He wants us to have. So, we must desire to bear fruit as He wants us to bear fruit.

Now of course, as we see in scriptures also, God has not left us to ourselves in this matter. He is at work in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. God is at work in us to fill us with desires that are consistent with His good purpose and to also enable us to realize those desires. But we must not quench those desires. We are told not to quench the Spirit (1Thessalonians 5:19). You know what that means? It means to silence the Spirit of God. He is talking to you. He is telling you what to do. You can silence Him. You can tell Him to keep quiet. You can tell Him that what He is doing is too much.

As a child of God, if you are indeed a child of God, it is His job to fill you with those desires that are consistent with His good purpose. And God is never remiss in handling His jobs. He is never remiss in handling His responsibilities. So, surely, He will fill you with desires that are in line with His good purpose. But you can quench those desires. You can decide not to work with them. You can decide to eliminate them. You can decide to ignore them. And you can think yourself of the number of times you have quenched those good desires that God brought to you. You can think of the recent ones, the times in which God was leading you to do something or asking you to do something and you silenced Him. You knew that what He was asking you to do was the right thing for you to do. You knew that it was good. You knew that it was righteous. You knew that it would be profitable for you and for every other person around you. Yet you did not do it. Why? That is what is called quenching the Spirit, silencing the Spirit.

Well, do not give anybody the impression that God is not giving you the will to do what is right. If He is not giving you the will to do what is right, that means He is not living in you. That is the point. If He is living in you, He will surely and continually give you the will to do what is right, to do what is in line with His purpose for you. But you will have to work with that will. Otherwise, it will amount to nothing.

In any case, what we are dealing with is ‘Fruit bearing’. And we are dealing with it because that is what God wants us to do. Then we have equally seen that apart from Him, we can do nothing. In St. John’s Gospel, chapter 15, which we have been looking at, Jesus describes our relationship with Him. He refers to himself as the vine and to us as the branches. And He tells us that as the branches cannot bear fruit by themselves without abiding in the vine. In the same vein, cannot bear fruit by ourselves without abiding in Him.

So, we already know the main secret of bringing forth fruits, the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of the Spirit, which consists in: love, joy, peace, gentleness, humility, self-control, brotherly kindness. The secret is abiding in the vine, abiding in our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our source, the source of everything God wants to produce in us. He is the source of the joy that God wants to produce in our lives. He is the source of the love that God wants to exhibit through our lives. He is the source of the humility, the gentleness, the meekness, the self-control that God wants to exhibit through our lives and in our lives. Therefore, we have to remain connected to Him.

It is not for us to struggle to be any of these things. It is not for you to struggle to love, to be patient, to be kind, to be gentle or humble. If you are struggling, something is wrong. Because you are supposed to do these things naturally. Why are you a new creation, by the way? Why have you been recreated? You have been recreated so that you will be able to do these things naturally.

So, if you are not doing them naturally, something is wrong. And you may want to ask yourself if you have not been disconnected from your source. Or you may want to ask yourself if nothing is blocking your connection to your source. Because doing these things should come to us naturally. And doing these things will come to us naturally if we abide in the vine. Branches do not struggle to bear fruit. They just bear fruit naturally. All they need to do is to remain in the vine. So, we too should bear fruit naturally. All we need to do is to remain in the vine or abide in the vine.

How then do we abide in the vine? The word of God tells us that we abide in him by allowing his words to abide in us. Let me read that verse to you again from 1 John chapter 2, verse 24:

“As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.” (NIV)

What have you heard from the beginning? The word of God! Now John says see to it that the word of God that you have heard remains in you or abide in you. If it does, if it does abide in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. Simple!

So, if I want to remain connected to Him, I must allow His word to abide in me. As I pointed out last week, that goes beyond merely reading Scriptures or studying Scriptures. It also involves meditating on Scriptures, meditating on the word of God. Because the only way the word of God will abide in you is if you will meditate on it, if you will continually ponder on it. If it is not abiding in you, then, you are not meditating on it enough. You have to meditate on what the word of God says about you. You have to meditate on what the word of God says about fruit-bearing. If you want to bear any kind of fruit in abundance, then, you must meditate on what the word of God says about that thing.

It is hard work, of course. Meditating on the word of God is hard work. And this is why many of us Christians struggle with living in the light of the word of God. To continually think about what the word of God says, to set His word continually before you is hard work. To fix your gaze on what the word of God says is hard work. To fix your mind on what the word of God says is hard work. The word of God has not said it will be easy. God has not said it will be easy to meditate on the word of God. All he has told us is to meditate on His word and to do so day and night.

So, during the day, you’re thinking the word; you’re pondering on what the word of God says about you, what it says about your life, what it says about your walk with Him, what it says about your various relationships. You’re pondering on these things. In the middle of the night also, you do the same. In other words, when you wake up in the middle of the night, what should naturally come to your mind is the word of God. You wake up to wee. What should come to your mind? The word of God!

See, if you have to wake up to think about anything, what you should think about is the word of God, not your family problems, not your business problems, not your academic problems. That is worrying. That is being anxious. And it is not going to solve your problem. It may make you wake up angry. It may make you wake up bitter. It may make you wake up moody. That’s why some people wake up moody. They’ve been meditating on the wrong things. They wake up in the middle of the night to meditate on the wrong things. So, they are bound to wake up moody. Some often wake up anxious. Why do they wake up anxious? They’ve been meditating on those things that will make them anxious.

Now, of course, meditating on the word of God does not mean that all the problems surrounding you will naturally vanish. They may still be there staring you in the face. But meditating on the word of God will prepare you to handle them. It will give you the confidence you need to handle them. It will give you the wisdom you need to handle them. Meditating on the word of God will make you one with what God has said. And you see, when you become one with what He has said, you cannot act contrary to what He has said.

If you are acting contrary to what God has said, if you are living a life that is contrary to the will of God for you, the main problem is that you have not become one with what God has said. You may believe in what He has said. You may love what He has said. You may agree that what He has said is good for you. Yet it’s not working in your life. And the word has to work in your life. The word of God has to work in your life for you to produce the fruit God talks about. Paul says to the Thessalonians that he is glad that the word of God they heard is working in them (1Thessalonians 2:13). But I’m saying it’s not going to work in you until you become one with it.

Now the only way to become one with it is to meditate on it. It does not matter what your profession is. It does not matter what your job is. It does not matter what your background is. If you will meditate on the word of God, it will produce in your life the results God wants to see. You are not going to struggle to get the results produced. The word in itself is powerful enough to produce in your life what God talks about.

God spoke to Joshua along this line. Joshua was a soldier. And the only gift God had to give him was His word. Look at Joshua, chapter 1, from verse 7. God, speaking here to Joshua, says:

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” (NIV)

The first thing God told him is to be strong and very courageous. And you know, when God speaks to you like that, you don’t try to be what you are told to be, because the word He has spoken to you will produce in you the strength to be what you are meant to be. I mean that if God says to you, “Be strong,” what happens to you? You become strong.

In one of the visions of Daniel that was what happened to him. The vision weakened him. The vision made him weak. So, he fell flat on his feet. And he had no strength in him to even talk. And God said to him, “Be strong now; be strong.” And what happened? He became strong. So, when God speaks to you, it’s not for you to try to be what you are meant to be. It’s for you to receive what He says, knowing that His word will produce the energy in you that is required for you to be what you are meant to be. (Cf. Daniel 10:15-19)

Well, God said to Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous.” And when God said those words to him, he became strong and courageous. And then God went on to tell him that he must be careful to keep the law that Moses had given to him. He must not turn either to the right or to the left in keeping. That means he must make no excuses for not acting on the word. He must not try to revise whatever God has said to him. Just act on it. Don’t try to revise it. Just act on it. That way you are going to be successful wherever you go.

Then look at verse 8. God, still talking to this man, says:

“Keep this book of the law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (NIV)

Where is he to keep the book of the law? On his lips! In his mouth! Read the word. Talk the word. You understand the point now? You must keep on saying what the word says to yourself. By the way, Romans 10, verse 17, says, “Faith comes by hearing the words of Christ,” right? But it does not say whom you must hear it from. It only says faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. You can hear it from yourself, then. And you had better start hearing it from yourself.

How do you hear it from yourself? You say it to yourself. You say what the word is saying to yourself. I do that every day. I may not have done enough of it, but I am ready to do enough of it. For example, in 2 Timothy, chapter 1 verse 7, we are told that God has not given us the spirit of timidity, but the spirit of power, love, and sound mind or self-control, right? That’s the Spirit we have. Now I have to say that to myself. I have to say that God has not given me the spirit of timidity. And I say that to myself almost every day, in fact, more than once every day, that God has not given me the spirit of timidity but the Spirit of power.

Now I also have to break it down. It’s not just about quoting Scriptures. I have to break it down. The Spirit God has given me is the Spirit of power, not the spirit of weakness. So, I am not weak. I am not a weak Christian; I am a strong Christian because the Spirit of God fills me with power. Also, He has given me the Spirit of love. So, I have to tell myself, “What I have in me is love. The Spirit of God fills my life with love, not with lust but with love. So what my life will express is the love of God. Because there’s the Spirit of God in me and He’s filling my life with love.”

Then He fills my life with soundness of mind, with self-control, with self-discipline. So I am not undisciplined. I am disciplined. The Spirit of God works in me and fills my life with discipline. I have to say that to myself. You have to say that to yourself. You have to talk the word. What are you doing? You are making yourself one with the word of God. That’s how to meditate.

Again, this goes beyond memorizing scriptures. This is thinking the word of God and speaking the word of God to yourself. And you have to do this day and night. As often as it comes to your mind, you say it. You say it to yourself. You say it so that you hear it.

Now God says if you will do this day and night, you will be prosperous and successful. I’m, then, going to ask myself, “If I’m not doing this and I’m not prosperous and successful, what could be wrong?” It may mean that I’m not doing it enough. Because God says that if I do it, this will be the result: prosperity, success. And He says do it day and night. That is non-stop. It’s not a one-off thing. It’s not what you do for a week. It’s not what you do when you feel good. It is not what you do when there are no challenges staring you in the face.

It is easy to say, “My God supplies all my needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus,” when your bank account is full, when you enter your kitchen and there is food everywhere. Yes, when things are going on well, you can easily say, “My God supplies all my needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus.” It’s easy to say that. But you had better just know that you are thanking God where that is the case.

But to say that when your bank account is empty, to say that when there is no food in your house, that’s what we are talking about. To say these things, regardless of the circumstances that you are faced with, that’s what we are talking about. You are saying that to yourself, regardless of what you see or do not see. Regardless of what is happening in the country, you are saying to yourself, “God supplies my needs according to His generosity”. And since you have to do it non-stop, that means you have to keep on doing it until the result starts showing. You can’t quit as far as this is concerned.

I’m trying to show you why many of us believers are not bearing the fruit God wants us to bear. We think that we are going to do the right thing for a while and then stop. No! The right thing must be done all the time. The right thing must be done from start to finish. If you are going to become one with the Word of God, you must be prepared to do so from start to finish.

We are given some illustrations in Scriptures to show us that we must be committed to the Word of God in order to see their results. There are times, of course, that when God asks us to do something and we do it, the results manifest immediately. But that is not the case all the time. There are times, there are situations in which you have to consistently act on what God has said over a period of time, unspecified time, before you begin to see results. And if you are not prepared to do the Word of God for as long as you have to do it, you may not get results. In fact, there are results that will not be evident in your life.

God, for instance, spoke to Joshua about what to do to bring the walls of Jericho down. I’m asking you this because I’ve asked myself. God said you will have to go around the walls of Jericho once every day, right? For how many days? Seven days! Then, on the seventh day, they would have to go around the walls of Jericho seven times and afterwards shout.

The question is, “Could God not have brought down the walls of Jericho the first day, having made them go around it once?” Could God not have done that? Or could God not have brought down the walls of Jericho as they approached it, without these people having to march around it at all? Could God not have done that? If He could divide the Red Sea without any one of them touching it, if He could open the rivers of Jordan just by the priests stepping into it, could He, then, not bring down the walls of Jericho by Joshua merely stretching his hand towards it? He could.

Yet He did not. Instead, He told them, “You will have to march around it for seven days. And on the seventh day, you will do so seven times.” Why? It was to teach them commitment to His word and commitment to Him. It was to show them that there are things that you must do again and again and again and again in order for you to see results.

Why must Naaman dip himself inside the river Jordan seven times? Oh, someone may say, “Oh, that is because seven is the perfect number.” That’s true. But how many people had to dip themselves inside the river seven times in order for them to get well in the bible? How many people did Jesus ask, “Go and dip yourself inside the river in order to be cleansed of leprosy?”

A leprous man came to Him once and asked, “Master, if you are willing, you can make me whole.” And the Bible says Jesus touched him and said, “I’m willing; be whole.” And he was whole instantly. He didn’t have to go to any river. He didn’t have to do any washing. He was healed instantly. Right there. (Cf. Matthew 8:1-3)

Now for Jesus Christ, it didn’t matter whether it was one person or ten people. Ten came to him and said, “Master, have mercy upon us. We are suffering from leprosy.” He said, “Okay, go and show yourselves to the priests.” He didn’t say go and dip yourself inside any river. ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests’ was what He said. And on their way, they realized that they had been made whole. When were they made whole? The moment He spoke His word to them. (Cf. Luke 17:11-19)

So, if God wants to do something instantly, he can do it instantly. Right? The power to do it instantly is there. If He has to perform a thousand miracles to make that happen instantly, He would do so. Now if he is not doing it instantly, and He is asking you to follow a process, what is it teaching you? Discipline, the discipline of commitment!

What am I saying? It is that in order for us to see the benefits of the word of God in our lives, the full results of the word of God in our lives, we must be committed to it non-stop. If you are going to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit as mentioned in scriptures, love, joy, peace, contentment, humility, gentleness, self-control, patience, faith, faithfulness, then you must be prepared to meditate on the word of God non-stop.

So, if certain things are not evident in your life yet, do not worry. What you need to do is to meditate more on the word of God. Is somebody following me this morning? Don’t try to struggle to love. Don’t try to struggle to be patient. Don’t try to struggle to be humble. Don’t try to struggle to be anything that God wants you to be. You don’t have to. What you need is to draw from your source. And how do you draw from your source? You draw from your source by meditating on His word. And if you are not seeing the results yet, what must you do? You must be more committed, be more committed to His word. That means your commitment is not enough.

Solomon says if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small; your strength is not enough. That’s why you faint. That’s why you get tired. That’s why you get weary. Your strength is not enough. Now what are you going to do? Are you going to die there? No. What do you do? Get more strength. Strengthen yourself in the Lord. Isn’t that what we are taught to do in scriptures? We are told to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Who is going to do that? I am going to do that. You are going to do that. You are going to strengthen yourself in him. How do you strengthen yourself in him? One of the ways is by meditating on his word. (Cf. Proverbs 24:10; Ephesians 6:10)

So, if you have been failing at something that God wants you to do, it’s not just for you to try harder. Are you following my point? What you need to do is to get more strength. Draw more from him. Otherwise, you are going to be frustrated. And there are frustrated Christians. They love God. They want to please Him. They want to do His will. But they keep finding themselves unable to do what He wants them to do. So, at some point, they get frustrated; they become finally tired. And at a point of their tiredness, Satan may drive them back to where they were coming from.

Some have been driven back like that, driven away. These are now saying, “Christianity is not working for me. I thought I would be able to live this Christian life. It’s not just working. God, you know I really want to. But it is not working.” So, they turn away from Him. But that’s not the solution. That’s only going to mess you up more.
What you need to do is to return to your source. Draw more from your source. If you will draw from Him, you are going to find all the strength you need, all the energy you need, all the comfort you need, all the inspiration you need to be the person He wants you to be, to do the things He wants you to do.

God said to us through Isaiah, “Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Now waiting on him doesn’t mean sitting down in one place, waiting for Him to come. No! It goes beyond that. It means putting your reliance on Him, putting your trust in Him. That’s what it means. In other words, you stay put there. You are telling yourself, “I must keep drawing from Him. The challenges may be hot. Things may be intense. But I remain connected to him. I will keep on meditating on His word. I will keep on filling myself with His word. I may appear weak today. I may even fall or fail at some point. But see, I’m not getting discouraged. Because He says that those who wait on Him will have their strength renewed.” (Cf. Isaiah 40:31)

Who is going to renew their strength? God Himself! In other words, He will furnish them with the strength they need to go from start to finish. They will have the strength to be patient. Do you understand the point now? The one whose reliance is on God, maybe for one thing or the other, whatever it may be — that thing may not be showing up yet – but he’s going to have the strength to be patient to see the result. Yes, he will have the strength, all the strength he needs, all the energy he needs, to run and not grow weary, to walk and not faint.

So, if you feel tired in your walk of faith, you know that something is wrong. What should you do? Go for strength! That’s not the time to stop studying the word. That’s not the time to stop meditating on the word. That’s not the time to stop praying. Usually, that’s what people will do. When they get tired like that, they now stop doing everything. But that’s when to do it more. Because the one that has spoken will not fail you. He has said you will have your strength renewed. And you will surely have your strength renewed. You will have your wisdom renewed. You will have your determination renewed. Whatever it is that must be renewed in you will be renewed. So, you’re going to fly. You’re going to soar like an eagle. You will soar above those challenges. You will soar above those trials. You’re going to be on top of them. You want to be on top of those challenges. But that’s what it means to soar.

Eagles are not afraid of the wind blowing. Because they have to use the wind to rise. They’re going to use it to rise. And you’re going to use those challenges to rise. You are going to use those trials to rise. You are going to use those tribulations them to rise. They will not pull you down. They will not make you faint. They will not make you weary. They will not destroy you. You are walking in victory over them.

Let’s begin to bless the name of the Lord this morning.

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: An error of leadership

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No.16

“There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error that arises from a ruler: Fools are put in many high positions, while the rich occupy the low ones. I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.” (Eccl 10:5-7NIV)

Who is making his observation known to us in our opening text? It is Solomon. And what has he observed? It is an error or a blunder that is often committed by those in leadership. Now what is this error of leadership that Solomon is talking about? It is that of putting unfit people in positions of authority or influence. And wherever that happens, people will not enjoy the benefits of leadership as they ought to. What they will be witnessing, on the contrary, are multiplied failure, chaos and pains.

For instance, as we are told in the bible, when Samuel became old, he made Joel and Abijah judges over the people of Israel. Why? They were his sons. So, he did not make them judges over the nation because God had chosen them or because they had shown themselves as honourable and wise men that could lead the people to please God and experienced prosperity.

Instead, he made them judges because they were his sons and he believed that they would follow his steps in leading the people. (Cf. 1Sam 8:1-2)But did those men walk in the footsteps of their father, Samuel? Not at all! Instead, they acted in greed, took bribes and also twisted justice. And when the people could no longer endure their nonsense, they approached their father to remove them and give them a king instead. That, of course, was not fully in line with the will of God for them. But it was Samuel’s error of leadership that caused it. So, even a great man of God can commit the error of leadership that Solomon speaks of in our opening bible text. (Cf. 1Sam 8:4-5)

Sadly, even Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, also committed this same error of leadership when he first became king. How? It was by choosing the young men that had grown up with him as his counsellors. Is anything wrong with choosing a young person as a counsel to the king or any leader? No! But the person should only be chosen because he is capable of giving sound counsel any time the demands to do so are made on him. (Cf. 1Kings 12)Rehoboam, however, did not choose those young men as his counsellors because they had anything in their heads. Rather, he chose them because they were his childhood friends.

Unfortunately, because they had nothing in their heads, they gave him the counsel that made him lose the larger part of his kingdom to another man.Now, of course, Rehoboam lost his kingdom in that manner because God had already said that He would divide that kingdom into two and give a part of it to Rehoboam. But it was his error of leadership, the one Solomon speaks of our opening text, that hastened it. What a shame! (Cf. 1Kings 11:26-40)

In any case, the point of all this is that if you are in a leadership position, be careful how you choose those that serve with you or represent you. Positions of leadership or authority are not meant for rewarding people or for making them happy. Rather, they are meant to be used to serve people and make life better for them.

So, in choosing people for positions of authority, choose only those who are utterly fit to serve or lead with you. Don’t choose anyone simply because they are close to you or because they have been good to you. Otherwise, they may undo all the good that you have been doing and even ruin your reputation. Therefore, be cautious.

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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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: The test of patience

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No.14

“On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”” (Acts 1:4-5NIV)

Who gave the command in our opening text? It was our Lord Jesus Christ. And to whom did He give the command? It was to His disciples.What, then, was the command? It was for them to wait in Jerusalem until they were baptised with the Holy Spirit.But exactly when would they be baptised with the Holy Spirit? The Lord did not tell them. He only said to them, “In a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” So, they would need to have faith in Him to obey this instruction.

Also, they would need to be patient in order to see what He had spoken of come to realisation. Now did they wait or not? They waited. And did the Holy Spirit come on them or not, as Jesus had promised? He came on them. But how long did they wait for the Holy Spirit to come on them?

Well, bible scholars would have us believe that they waited for about ten days. Jesus died during the Passover feast. And He showed Himself to these disciples in a period of forty days after His resurrection. Then the Holy Spirit came on them on the day of Pentecost, which was just fifty days away from the Passover feast. (Cf. Acts 1:3 & 2:1-4)

In any case, the point is that for those early disciples to receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, they had to be patient in waiting for Him. No one today has to wait like that to be baptised with the Holy Spirit, for He has already been made available by God to baptise all those who believe in Christ Jesus. But those early saints had to wait for Him to first be poured out on all humanity before they could receive Him.

And if they had not been patient in waiting for Him, if they had left Jerusalem a day or two days before He came, only God knows what would have become of them and of the church of Jesus Christ on earth.Thankfully they waited. And I am sure the Lord chose them because He could trust them to wait for as long as they had to until the Holy Spirit be poured out on them.

Can He also trust you and me to wait for Him in any situation? Can He trust us to patiently wait for Him to perfect what He is doing concerning our lives, in spite of the challenges or opposition we may face while waiting?King Saul could not be trusted by God to patiently wait for Hm. So, even before He failed God, He had chosen someone else to replace him (1Sam 13:13-14).

What happened? Well, once when the Israelites were at war with the Philistines, he too was commanded to wait until Samuel could come and offer some sacrifice to God before he would lead his men to war. And he did wait for seven days, the time set by Samuel.

However, when Samuel was not showing up that seventh day, he got impatient at some point and decided to offer the sacrifice himself. Why? It was mainly because his soldiers were deserting him. But should he not have called all of them to order, as their king? He should have done that. But he did not.Then even if all his men left him, was God not with him? Was God not sufficient to win the battle or war with him alone? How many men did Gideon need to defeat the Midianites of his time? Only three hundred men! Yet he defeated them because he had the consciousness that God was with him. (Cf. Judg 6-8)

But Saul did not have that consciousness. So, he allowed the misbehaviour of his men to make him lose his patience and do something God had not given him the right to do. Unfortunately for him, Samuel showed up just when he finished making the sacrifice. That means the man of God still came the very day that he had said he would come. So, he only needed to wait a little longer that day. And if he had, God would have established his kingdom.

Sadly, he failed that test of patience and lost what he was trying to keep. And we too may end up losing what we are desperately trying to keep, save or obtain, if we will not learn to be patient with God. Yes, we may be faced with all kinds of challenges that will give us the impression that God will be too late to save us or to perfect what concerns us. But as long as we function with the consciousness that He cares about us and will never leave us or disappoint us, we must keep on waiting for Him patiently.

Yes, as the apostles of old did while waiting for the Holy Spirit, it will be good for us to keep on strengthening ourselves in prayer and in the word of God, while we are waiting for God to fulfil His purpose for our lives. Yet we must be determined to patiently wait for Him, even if we have to do so till our time is up here. That is the only way we will not fail our test of patience and be fully rewarded by Him.

Cheers!

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

Title: Slow to learn

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 5

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 to the sixth month of this year, the month of June 2025. I pray that God will strengthen you every day of the month to make the most of His grace in growing to be all that He wants you to be. Amen.

In the book of Hebrews, the writer tells us that it is possible for our spiritual growth to be arrested. And one of the things that can make that happen is an unwillingness on our part to make effort towards learning the truth of God, understanding it and also applying it to our lives.

Look at how he puts this:“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” (Heb 5:11-12NIV)

Did you see that? This man of God had a lot of things to share with the brethren who first received this letter about the life of faith in Christ Jesus. But it was hard for him to do so. Why? The reason, according to him, was that they were slow to learn. That, of course, does not mean that they did not have the capacity to learn and understand what they were being taught. Rather, it means that they were lazy about learning. In other words, they were not making any serious effort to understand and begin to put to work the things they were learning.

Therefore, as the man of God goes on to say in the bible text, when these people ought to be teachers already, when they ought to be taking responsibility for other new believers, they themselves still needed someone to be teaching them all over again the basic truths of God’s word. When they ought to be spiritual adults that could be entrusted with spiritual babies, they still wanted themselves to be treated as babies. Now think of how frustrating that must have been for this man of God and other leaders of these brethren. Yes, think of the kind of discouragement it must have brought to their hearts.

Unfortunately, even today, we still have many of God’s people that are lazy to learn spiritual truths and apply them. These ones are making their leaders in the church to teach the same things again and again. They are making them to correct them again and again about the way they are living their lives in bitterness, in hatred, in selfishness, in lust, in pride, in greed, in jealousy and in lack of zeal for God. Therefore, they are slowing down the ministry of their leaders and of their Christian assemblies, making it difficult for them to reach and bless more people for the Lord.

What, then, are church leaders to do to such people? How do leaders deal with those who are frustrating their effort in raising them in the will of God? Well, as the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us, at some point, they will have to stop treating these spiritually lazy believers as babies. Yes, they will have to start teaching them the things they do not want to learn and also stop treating them as spiritual babies, making them to do for themselves those things that they are reluctant to do. (Cf. Heb 6:1-3)

Now will that make such believers happy? No! In fact, it may make some of them stop coming for church meetings altogether. But whether it makes them happy or not, what has to be done has to be done for them to stop hindering the growth of their assemblies. So, if you have been a child of God for two years or more and have still refused to grow in your faith and become someone that your church leader can trust with responsibilities, you are slow to learn and spiritually lazy. And if you continue to be like that, slowing down your church leaders, they may soon begin to withdraw the attention they are giving you, so that you can stop being a spiritual baby. That, of course, will not be something pleasant for you.

So, wake up before it is too late and begin to pray to God to supply you with adequate zeal and strength to start making the most of His grace to grow spiritually. Otherwise, it will not be long at all before those who become born again after you become your teachers in the Lord.

Have a lovely June 2025.

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: That grace may increase

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: vol 14, NO 3.

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to another week of the month of May 2025. My prayer is that God will rid your life of everything that is working against the full expression of His grace in your life, so that you can be all that He wants you to be and also enjoy all that He wants you to enjoy in life. Amen.

Now one of the things that hinder the manifestation of the grace of God in the lives of His people is sin. What kind of sin? Any kind of sin! That means just as sexual immorality can hinder the manifestation of the grace of God in the lives of His people, so also can greed, theft, bitterness, drunkenness, jealousy and slander hinder it.Unfortunately, many of us do not have this understanding.

We think it is only obvious sins like adultery, drunkenness and theft can hinder the manifestation of God’s grace in our lives. But any kind of sin can hinder the manifestation of His grace in our lives. That is why Paul asks this question of us all: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” And his answer is, “No, we cannot go on living in sin and expect more of God’s grace in our lives.”Why is that so? The reason is that it takes the grace of God to walk in victory over sin. And He has already freely provided for us the grace to do so (Titus 2:11).

If we, then, are not walking in victory over every kind of sin, it means that we are not making adequate use of His grace. Therefore, we should not expect more manifestation of His grace in our lives. What we are saying is that for us to witness greater or more manifestation of God’s grace in our lives, we need to first begin to make adequate use of whatever measure of grace He has already given us. If we are not making adequate use of the grace He has already given us, He will not give us more.

Yes, people may pray for more grace for us. But that prayer will only work when we are using the grace that has already been provided by God for us, adequately and appropriately.Look at Samson, for example. When he began to indulge in sexual immorality, did God multiply His grace that was in his life? No! On the contrary, at some point, that grace stopped working.

So, he fell into the hands of his enemies and was seriously messed up. And that is showing us that we cannot be using the grace of God to live a life that is contrary to His will and expect it to always work well for us or to increase in our lives.

However, we can expect God’s grace in our lives to diminish in manifestation or to altogether stop working, if we are not using it at all or if we are abusing it. And that will put us at the mercy of the devil. If we, then, do not want that to happen to us, we must learn to make adequate use of His grace given to us in living in victory over sin and in doing the good works He wants us to do. And we can do this by giving ourselves to His word, prayer and Christian fellowship.

My prayer is that our hearts will be strengthened everyday to make the most of all the grace God has already given to us, so that He can continually multiply it for us to be all that He wants us to be in life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.Have a lovely week.

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

Title: What He thinks of us

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 2

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It gives me great delight welcome you to another week of the month of May 2025 and to also welcome you to our 13th year church anniversary. My prayer is that God will continue to build us up to be all that He wants us to be by the power of His Holy Spirit. Amen.

It is indeed a thing of joy to know that we have been meeting as an assembly in this town for thirteen full years. And we ought to be thankful to God for all that He has done in us, for us and through us in these thirteen years. We also ought to be thankful to Him for all that He is still going to do among us, for us and through us in the year we are just starting as a church. My prayer is that His good works will never cease in our midst, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

But then, as we are celebrating God’s goodness to us today as an assembly, there is something very important that we need to pay attention to. And that what He thinks of us as an assembly. If we ask around, people will have all kinds of things to say about our assembly. And what they say may be pleasant to the ear or not pleasant at all. But we cannot judge how well we are doing as a church on the basis of what people think or say about us.

We cannot even judge how well we are doing on the basis of what we think of ourselves. The only true judgment of how we are doing lies with God. And we all will do well to pray that He will reveal what He thinks about us to us, so that we can give ourselves to functioning accordingly.

As we see in the book of Revelation, the Lord says this about the church in Laodicea:“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” (Rev 3:17-18NIV)

Did you see that? This church thought that it was rich spiritually and in need of nothing. But the Lord said that it was wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. So, the only one who knows the true condition of every church is the Lord Himself. And unless He tells us our condition, we may think we are doing well, when we are actually failing, or think that we are doing poorly, when we are actually doing well in God’s sight.

Therefore, as I said before, let us all give ourselves to praying wholeheartedly that God will reveal to us what He thinks about our assembly, so that we will not be acting on a reputation that we do not have before God and lose our place and our reward in His kingdom. I rejoice with all of us again, as we celebrate another year of God’s faithfulness to us as a church. My prayer is that God will cause us stand firm in all His will for us and also continually cause His favour and mercy to rest upon us. Amen.Happy celebration.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Callous or passionate|Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: July 12, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 9

“When Moses inquired about the goat of the sin offering and found that it had been burned up, he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and asked, “Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area? It is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the community by making atonement for them before the LORD. Since its blood was not taken into the Holy Place, you should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary area, as I commanded.” Aaron replied to Moses, “Today they sacrificed their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, but such things as this have happened to me. Would the LORD have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?” When Moses heard this, he was satisfied.” (Lev 10:16-20NIV)

Why was Moses angry with Eleazar and Ithamar? It was because they neglected something of the will of God that they should have done. They were supposed to have eaten the meat of a goat that had been offered for sin offering before the Lord. Instead, they had it burnt up.

So, Moses was angry with them for not doing the will of God on that occasion. Now was he right to be angry with them for not doing the will of God that day? Yes, he was right to be angry with them for not doing the will of God that day. In fact, he would be right to be angry with them for not doing the will of God any day. That is because the will of God is not something we choose to do anytime we like.

Rather, it is something we must be devoted to doing every moment of our lives.Mind you, there are consequences for not doing the will of God for us. And that is something that someone like Moses was well acquainted with. He had seen how God judged Pharaoh and the Egyptians for their rebellion against Him. He had also seen how He judged many of the Israelites in the wilderness for various sins.

So, he was not going to allow anybody under his leadership to behave anyhow, without regard for the word of God. Instead, he would passionately set himself against that person.In like manner, wherever we are acting in leadership capacity, we must show ourselves as passionate in standing against wickedness, oppression, cheating, stealing and any other kind of evil.

That way, those under us will know that any form of wickedness on their part will not be overlooked or swept under the carpet. Instead, it will be brought out in the open and judged. And that will make them apply caution or restraint anytime they want to do something nasty or silly.

Nonetheless, we need to know when and where to put our passion for righteousness to prevail aside and instead show compassion to those who have failed to meet up with our expectations or what is required of them.

And that, as we see in our opening bible text, was where Moses missed it when he was rebuking Eleazar and Ithamar for not doing the will of God on the day mentioned.As the bible equally shows us, something terrible had earlier happened that same day to the elder brothers of these men, that is, Nadab and Abihu. For reasons not disclosed in Scriptures, the two of them had offered unauthorised fire before the Lord, contrary to His command.

So, a fire came out from His presence and instantly consumed them. They were not even warned or given any opportunity to repent and change their ways. Conversely, they were immediately put to death by God. And He was not sorry about killing them. Instead, He told others to be warned. (Cf. Leviticus 10:1-5)

Then, as if that were not enough, He told Moses to tell Aaron and his remaining two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, not to mourn for those who had died like the rest of the people. Otherwise, they too would die and cause trouble for the entire nation. Why? They were God’s anointed priests. So, they must not defile the anointing on them with mourning. (Cf. Leviticus 10:6-7)

Now try to imagine how Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar must have felt that day. Try to imagine what must have been going on in their minds about the matter and about their ministry as priests. It is possible that they were even saying to themselves, “Did we volunteer to be priests? Was it not God Himself that chose us? Why, then, must He place this kind of burden on us?” You can see, then, that such a day was not one in which they would want to eat anything or have a feast, even though the Lord had commanded it.

And that was exactly what Aaron pointed out to Moses when he, in his passion for God’s honour, began to rebuke them for not performing their priestly duty of eating some sin offering. He told him that even God would not have been pleased with him, if he had treated the death of his sons as nothing and had begun to feast on some sin offering meat. That would have painted him as a callous and insensitive father.

How, then, could a callous and insensitive father be a true and compassionate high priest for the people?In any case, when he said these things to Moses, as the account shows us, he was satisfied. In other words, Aaron’s words opened Moses’ own eyes to the fact that he had allowed his passion for God to rob him of compassion. The men that died were his own blood too. They were his nephews. Yes, they died for their sins.

But he should still have comforted their father and brothers instead of getting angry with them for neglecting some of their priestly duties that day. What if those who died were his own sons? Would he have carried on with his work that day as though nothing had happened?

Well, the point of this is that we must know where to draw the line between being zealous for God’s honour and being brutal, callous or unfeeling. Yes, we should be passionate about anything that concerns God, His honour and His work.

However, we must not allow our passion or zeal to make us become insensitive or callous in dealing with those who are unable to keep in step with us in doing God’s will or work because they are genuinely hurting or troubled in their lives.

Otherwise, as Aaron showed Moses, we will be acting contrary to the nature of God our Father, who is not only strict but also compassionate. And that may ruin whatever we are trying to do for Him instead of building it. So, be careful.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: When may I do something for myself?|Fire in my Bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: June 28, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 7

“Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?”” (Gen 30:29-30NIV)

Who was Jacob talking to in our opening bible text? It was his father-in-law, Laban. As the account goes, Jacob had been working for Laban for more than fourteen years at the time they were having this conversation. And all through the years that he worked for him, taking care of his livestock, things only got better for him. In other words, the man became richer and richer while Jacob was working for him.

And why? It was because God was with Jacob.See, there are times that wicked people become wealthy and great in life because of the presence of certain children of God in their lives. And if, because of their ignorance of this fact, they should begin to maltreat these children of God or drive them away from their lives, the favour of God that they have been enjoying because of them will naturally cease. That, of course, is when they will know that the prosperity and peace they have been enjoying are not a result of their hard work or smartness but a result of God’s favour at work in the lives of His children that have been in their lives.

Now that exactly is how it was with Laban. Laban, as we see in the bible, was a business shark and cheat, a very manipulative and dangerous man. So, even though Jacob himself was a very smart and cunny person, he still could not handle him. In fact, as he would point out when they were going to finally part, Laban cheated him ten different times, underpaying him for his hard labour and service (Gen 31:41).

And there was simply nothing he could do to beat him at his game.Yet God blessed the household of this wicked, dangerous and manipulative man. Why? It was because of Jacob. Jacob was an inheritor of the blessing God gave Abraham. So, naturally, whatever he laid his hands on, whether it was his own business or someone else’s business, was bound to prosper. And that is how it should be for all God’s children who have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:3).

Whatever we lay our hands on ought to prosper, regardless of who owns it. However, if we will not be like Jacob and always walk in the consciousness of the blessings of God at work in us, things may keep dying and failing in our hands. Jacob knew that he was blessed of God and that whatever he handled was bound to prosper.

So, as we see in our opening text, he was bold to tell Laban that the presence of God in his life was the reason for the prosperity of his household. And we too must be able to boldly say the same things to the unbelievers around us that God’s presence in our lives is the reason for our prosperity and whatever degree of prosperity whatever we are handling for them is experiencing.

But then, as we also learn from the bible story of Laban and Jacob, it was not only Jacob that knew the secret of Laban’s prosperity. Laban also knew. How did he know? It was by divination. He himself told Jacob this. In other words, when Laban could no longer explain the reason he was getting richer and richer, he had to go and consult some diviners to find out why. And that was when he was told that Jacob was the reason. So, he decided that he would do whatever he could to keep him with him permanently. (Cf. Genesis 30:27-285)

Now who would not want to act like Laban? If you were given some sure word that your greatness in life is tied to the presence of some friend, neighbour or family member, would you not want to do all that you could to keep them forever with you? You would. But then, whether such a person would willingly and lovingly stay with you or not would be dependent on the kind of treatment you gave them.

And that was where Laban failed.As he himself pointed out, he knew that Jacob was the reason God was blessing him. Yet he was not kind to him at all but was cheating him. His plan was just to keep using him to advance himself until he would become useless to him. And when Jacob saw that he would never be able to stand on his own to care for his family, if he continued to serve him in that manner, he told him that he wanted to leave. That, of course, led the two of them to revisit their contract and to make room for Jacob’s prosperity. And he surely went on to prosper and to surpass Laban himself in prosperity.

What, then, is the point of all this? First, it is that you should learn to treat very well anyone God is using to prosper or advance you in life. Otherwise, a day may come when they will wake up and change the terms of their relationship with you. And if that should happen, the terms and conditions you may arrive at may not favour you, as it was the case with Laban. Then the pains and regrets that may follow will be all yours to live with.Second, don’t waste your time or life on relationships or jobs that are not focussed on building you up and preparing you to be able to stand on your own in the future.

Yes, you may, for some reasons, have to be with people or work in places that don’t have much money or prestige to readily offer you. That does not mean that is how things will be for life. Things can change. Then that person or job that does not have anything to readily offer you today may be offering you things that you will enjoy for the rest of your life.

However, don’t waste your time or life with anyone or in any place, if, even if it is not able to offer you much money, it is not offering you any training or opportunity for you to be built up and make your future solid. Otherwise, one day, when you are no longer needed there and perhaps have been completely used up, you may just realise that you have nothing to start afresh with or to rest on.

And who are you going to blame then? None other but yourself! So, wake up now, as Jacob did, and start asking, “When may I do something for myself?”