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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: The honourable rapist | By: J.O. Lawal| Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones
Date: June 21, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 6


“The young man, who was the most honored of all his father's household, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter.” (Gen 34:19NIV)

Who was being referred to as the most honoured of all his father’s household in our opening text? It was a prince called Shechem. And what made him a person of interest in bible accounts? It was the fact that he raped Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. So, Shechem was a rapist. Yes, he is referred to in Scriptures as the most honourable of all the people in his daddy’s family. Still, he was an honourable rapist. 

Now how does one relate to that? If the most respected person in a family is a rapist, what then will the other members of that family be? Murderers! Kidnappers! Human traffickers! Swindlers! They just can’t be anything near good.

Well, what is the point of this? It is that we must learn to pay close attention to the kinds of people in the lives of those we are relating to before we open our lives to them or make friends of them. That is because doing so will surely give us some insight into who they themselves may be or what they may be capable of doing.

We are not told in the bible if Shechem and Dinah had been relating as friends before he raped her. But we are told that he was seriously in love with her and was, in fact, tender in talking to her (Gen 34:3). And if someone is always tender and kind in talking to you or in relating to you, you will most likely begin to feel safe around the person at some point. But you may really not be safe with them at all. 

As Dinah later realised, she was not at all safe with Shechem, even though he was the most honourable man of the house of Hamor. That was because the young man was a rapist. But could she have known or suspected that he was capable of raping her? Yes, I believe she could have known. And she, in fact, would have known, if she had not been ignoring the kinds of people the members of the young man’s household were.

See, as long as the family members or close companions of anyone you are relating to are wicked, violent or troublesome, it will be foolish of you to assume that they will be an exception among them. Yes, sometimes, we do have such exceptions. For instance, we are told in the bible that Prince Abijah, the son of King Jeroboam, was the only good person in his father’s household – he was the only exception there. So, God said that he was the only one that would be buried after his death. Others would perish and be eaten up by birds and dogs, receiving no proper burial. (Cf. 1Kings 14)

Therefore, sometimes, someone could be the good exception among their evil family members or companions, just as someone could be the evil exception among their good family members or companions. But in most cases, people’s character is hardly different from the character of those that they flock with. So, even if, like Shechem, someone is good, kind and tender to you, don’t assume that they are just as you see them, inasmuch as the people with whom they live or do things together are evil, violent or unfaithful. 

Truly, the person in question may not be as horrible as their companions are. They, like Shechem, may be the most honourable among them. But that does not mean that they are harmless and will not hurt you anytime the opportunity to do so presents itself. So, harm yourself with caution when you are dealing with them, even if you want to give them a chance to prove that they are different from those in their lives. Otherwise, the price you will pay for assuming that they are what they are not may be worse than the one Dinah paid for hers.
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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Limiting circumstances |By: J.O. Lawal|FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: May 17, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 1

“Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.” (Num 14:33NIV)

Why did God say that the children of the Israelites that rebelled against Him in the wilderness, when He was leading them into the Land of Promise, would be nothing but shepherds for forty years? Was it because that was the only vocation available for humans at that time? No! There were all sorts of vocations that people could learn and practise then.

In fact, as we see in Scriptures, there were all kinds of skilled workers among these Israelites at that time. For example, we have people like Bezalel and Oholiab among them at the time. And these young men were experts in all kinds of crafts. There were also among them women who were skilled in spinning cloth materials. (Cf. Ex 31:1-11 & 35:25-26)

So, at that time, there was no shortage of skills to engage in all kinds of vocations that could transform a land into a wonder among these Israelites. But how much could they accomplish for themselves and their nation with their various skills and vocations while wandering in the wilderness? Not much!

The prevailing circumstances in that wilderness did not give much room for them to fully utilise whatever special skills or abilities they had and build great vocations or careers with them. They could not settle down there to farm. They could not settle down there to build houses. And they could not set up a market there for people from different nations to come and trade in. The best they could do there was take care of their animals and wait until God led them out of there into the land flowing with milk and honey, which He had promised them.

But why, then, didn’t they just get out of the wilderness and move into the land God had promised them? They could not. They could not because they had no power of their own to take that land. God had to give it to them. Then why was God not giving it to them, since He had promised to do so? It was because He did not want the unbelieving older generations among them to enter the land. So, He was waiting until the last one of them died before giving the land to their descendants, something that took forty years. And that, of course, also means that those qualified to enter that land of rest and prosperity were stuck in the wilderness because of their natural relationships, their relationships with their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties and so forth.

What is the point of all this? It is that the circumstances of our birth or of where we are can put certain limitations on us, even lifetime limitations. Yes, the circumstances of our family or those of where we live, work, do business or study can keep us in poverty, illiteracy, danger or illness. And it does not matter how hardworking, diligent, educated or gifted we may be, those circumstances may never allow us to attain certain heights of usefulness, prominence, prosperity or comfort in life.

Unfortunately, many don’t know this. They don’t know that regardless of what degree of hard work, diligence or carefulness they employ where they are, as long as certain circumstances are prevalent there or in their families, their efforts will not succeed in giving them the experience of prosperity or peace that they desire. So, they keep putting in more effort. And if they are not shown mercy by God, frustration and depression are bound to set in at some point and ruin them.

What, then, do such people need? They need divine intervention. In other words, they need God to step into their situation. And what will that accomplish? First, when God steps into their situation, He will open their eyes to see what their problem really is, which is that they are being limited or hindered by certain circumstances of their lives. Second, He will take steps to remove or change the circumstances limiting them or take them away from those circumstances to where they need to be to flourish and be all that He wants them to be.

In the case of the Israelites that we are considering, God, at the right time, had to lead them out of the wilderness into the land He had prepared for them, so that they could flourish with their gifts, abilities and vocations. Otherwise, their names and memories would have disappeared along with them in the wilderness. But in the case of Isaac, when he was living in Gerar and there was a severe famine in the land, all God needed to do was give him favourable circumstances. So, though it was a time of severe famine, the man still rose above all odds and flourished in the land. (Cf. Gen 26)

So, if you feel or can see that certain prevailing circumstances where you are have been working against you and making nonsense of your diligent labour or carefulness and forcing poverty, illness, illiteracy or any other terrible thing on you, don’t waste time at all to take the case up with God. That is because He is the only person that can show you what to do and also fix the problem for you. And He will surely have it handled for you, if you will patiently allow Him.

But if you choose to use your own wisdom to address things and move to where you should not move to or stay where you need to get away from, you will someday realise, like Naomi of bible days, that you have not solved your problem at all but have only made it worse (Ruth 1). My earnest prayer is that you will act wise in this matter and not make things worse for yourself while you are trying to handle them. Amen.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

You Will Not Find a Better or Greater God | By: J.O. Lawal | FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: May 10, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 5, No. 52

“Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and took them away. He shut the doors of the LORD’s temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem.” (2Chron 28:24-25NIV)

Why did King Ahaz shut the door of the Lord’s temple? It was because he did not want anyone to use it as a place of worship again. Why did he not want anyone to use the Lord’s temple for worship anymore? It was because he was angry with Him. And why was he angry with Him? It was because he felt that He was his problem – he felt that He was the reason he lost almost everything he had inherited from his ancestors.

Truly, as the account of his reign goes, things were put in reverse gear when this man became king. Everything went backward and not forward. And raiders came against the nation from every side to ruin it and to take the people captive. The situation was so bad that God, at some point, had to show mercy and intervene through one of His prophets, so that certain two hundred thousand wives and children of the land that had been taken captive would be released and sent back home. (Cf. 2Chro 28)

Yet Ahaz saw God as the problem. But was God really the problem? Was God really the reason the nation collapsed under his reign? No, God wasn’t the problem. He was the problem. He was the one that chose not to honour and worship God, as his father Jotham and his grandfather Uzziah had done. He was the one that chose idolatry and the practice of sorcery as his own way to be safe and secure. This man, as the bible tells us, was so detestable and ruthless that he offered his own sons to his gods in the fire. (Cf. 2Chro 28:1-4)

Therefore, God took away his protection. And the land became vulnerable and unsafe. What, then, should he have done? He should have returned to the God of his ancestors; he should have returned to the God that kept the nation safe and prosperous under the reigns of his father and grandfather. But did he? No, he did not!

Instead, he went deeper into idolatry. Look at how the bible puts that: 

“In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.” (2Chron 28:22-23NIV)

Think about that. Ahaz was ready to worship any god that he considered to be the winning god. But he would not worship the living God. Why? He was hoping that he would find a better and more powerful god than Him. 

See, Ahaz knew that the reason he was crushed and defeated by the nations around him was that he forsook the God of his ancestors. And that made him mad. It made him mad because he felt he should be free to choose any god he wanted and not having anyone force any god on him. So, he wanted to shame God by finding a more powerful or greater god than Him to worship. That was one of the reasons he shut the doors of the temple of God and multiplied idol worship in the land.

But did Ahaz find a greater or more powerful god than the living God? No! Why did he not find? It was because there is none. There is no god greater or more powerful than the living God. To say the fact, He is the only God that exists. All the so gods that people worship are no gods at all. They are either idols, the works of men, or demons, beings created by God. So, if anyone thinks he is going to find a greater, better or more powerful god than the living God, the person has already failed before his journey starts. 

What is the point I am making? It is that there is no greater or better god than the living God. In fact, there is no other god but Him. Therefore, if, like Ahaz, you want to forsake Him for some other gods because you think He is your problem or because you think serving Him is burdensome or because you think He is too weak or slow for you, you also, like Ahaz, will someday realise that you are your own problem and that you cannot find any god like Him or any god greater or better than Him. But will your life still be intact then? Will it not have become utterly or eternally ruined by the time you find out?

Ahaz’s life and country were ruined because felt he was free to choose his own god or gods and still be fine. And there are still many like him today who equally think they are free to choose their own gods or not to choose any god at all but become their own gods. But they are wrong. Man is not free to choose his own god or gods, for he did not create or make himself. Man was created by the living God. So, he already has the God he is to worship, serve and live for. And the best thing he can do for himself is to accept this reality and live accordingly. That will be his wisdom. That will be his eternal peace.

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Fire in my Bones General Post Youth for Jesus

Title: Make your work very good too
By: J.O. Lawal

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: April 19, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 5, No. 49

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good…” (Gen 1:31NIV)

Why are we taught in Scriptures to imitate God? It is because we can do so. If we could not imitate God, we would not be told to do so. But because we have been created in His image and after His likeness, we have what it takes to imitate Him. And that is exactly why we are told to do so. (Cf. Gen 1:27; Eph 4:24; Eph 5:1)

Now in what ways are we to imitate God? We actually have several instructions in Scriptures pointing us to ways in which we are to imitate Him. But the one I want to draw your attention to has to do with the way we handle our work. How, then, are we to imitate God in the way we handle our work? Or what exactly are we to imitate in the way God handles His work?

As we see in the book of Genesis, everything God made in the beginning was good, perfect and flawless. In fact, in our opening bible text, we are told that when God was done with all His work in the beginning, He Himself testified that all that He had done was very good. And why was His work very good? It was very good because He Himself is a good God. So, He cannot do anything that will not fully communicate His goodness or carry the trademark of His excellency.

That being the case, we too, who are God’s children and creation, must learn to function with the same mentality. We must continually say to ourselves, “I am God’s child and creation. So, I cannot do anything that will not fully communicate the goodness and excellency of God my Father.” And until we begin to function with this mindset, we will not stop handling our jobs and anything else that we lay our hands on anyhow.

When God started the work of creation, His focus was not to create a universe that He would have to come around to repair every now and then. Rather, His focus was to create a universe that would have all that it would need to transform itself with ever-increasing glory. That is why He has never had to repair the sun, the moon or any of the stars. And none of them has ever failed to live up to expectations.

Also, observed that God has never had to put any new thing here on earth since He created it in the beginning. Why? It is because He put in it right from the beginning everything that we would need to make it a wonder. So, we are the ones to do the investigating and searching. We are the ones to labour to find out the things He has placed here on earth to beautify it and make it most enjoyable for us. And ever since some of us have been doing that, we have been finding the earth to be more and more interesting to live in.

You can see, then, that when God judged all His works as very good, He was not overrating Himself. He did a very good creation job in the beginning. And whatever mess we are seeing in the world right now was not made by Him but by us through our sins and various scheming. (Cf. Ecc 7:29)

In any case, I said all of that to show you what we ought to imitate in God about our work. And that has to do with making the works of our hands very good too. In other words, just like God, whenever we are done with anything, we should be able to tell ourselves that what we have done is very good and will truly serve the purpose for which we have done it. But our works will not be very good, if our goal is not to make them very good. No, our works will not be very good, if our minds have not been renewed to embrace the fact that we were originally created by God to do good works and that everything we do must bear testimony to this fact, whether it is spiritual or natural. (Cf. Eph 2:10)

Look, doing things that are not good, things that are substandard, things that are of low quality and things that will not fully serve the purpose for which they are done is contrary to our nature and also to the will of God for us. In fact, we should consider it shameful and beneath us to do such things. So, if you are a child of God, you need to cleanse yourself of every culture of doing things anyhow, of doing things that will make those who are going to use them mad or upset with you.

Yes, sometimes, it is people that will compel you to go below what you know to be good and acceptable because they want something cheap. Yet they are the ones that will go about ridiculing your work as substandard or worthless. So, don’t allow anybody to kill the goodness of your work because of money. That is because it is not a must that you serve everyone. If you have to serve anyone, then, be sure to take from them what will make you serve them well. That way, the goodness of your work or service will by itself continually speak for you. And you will be proved to be a true child of God, your Father, whose eternal goal is to always make everything very good.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Beyond the face value | By: J.O. Lawal|FIRE MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: March 08, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 5, No. 43

“Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the LORD that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come upon you from your youth till now.”” (2Sam 19:5-7NIV)

As we are shown in the bible, there was a time (before David became king) that three of his mighty men risked their lives by fighting their way through the enemy lines in order to get water for him from a well near the gate of Bethlehem. But he would not drink the water they brought for him. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to God (2Sam 23:13-17).

Why did he do that? Was it because he did not appreciate what those men did? No, not at all! He did appreciate what they did with all his heart. However, he felt that their sacrifice was way too much for him to utilise. In other words, he was looking beyond the water that was brought to him to the effort that made it available. He was considering what those men went through to be able to bring him the water. One, two or all three of them could have lost their lives while fighting to get the water. So, he reasoned that the cost of the water brought to him was the value of the lives of the three men that brought it and did not consider himself worthy of drinking it. That was why he offered it to God.

Unfortunately, years later, when an entire army risked their lives to save him from the rebellion of his son Absalom, he did not come out to welcome and celebrate them for what they did. He did not even think of giving God an offering for them. Instead, he stayed indoors to mourn his dead son, Absalom. And that was why, as we see in our opening text, Joab, the commander of his army, told him to his face that he was being ungrateful.

As Joab pointed out to him, instead of looking at the invaluable sacrifice his men made for him, his family and his dynasty, he was brooding over the loss a rebellious son that brought death on himself. He went on to tell him that if he failed to pull himself together and speak encouraging words to the men that sacrificed their lives for his safety, he would soon lose all of them along with his throne.

What is the point of all this? It is that there are times that we (all of us) also act like David and undermine the significance of what people are doing for us or have done for us. It is not that we don’t appreciate them at all. But we don’t appreciate them enough to show it. And that may be because we are looking at the face value of what they have done for us or given to us. Or it may be because we think they are more than capable of doing for us what they have done for us or of giving to us what they have given to us.

But people’s act of kindness or generosity are not to be treated by us like that. Instead, they are to be treated with consideration and thoughtfulness. In other words, we must always look beyond what we are receiving to what has accomplished it. What we are receiving may be free. But that does not mean it is cheap. And even if what we are receiving is free and cheap, it does not mean that the effort that made it available to us is cheap.

Why does our Lord say that He is going to reward anyone that gives any of His people just a cup of cold water to drink? Is it because a cup of water is expensive? No! A cup of water can be gotten free, even from strangers, in most cases, unless there is a drought where we are. However, even though a cup of water can be gotten from almost anybody for free, the effort that produces it is never cheap. (Cf. Matt 10:42)

Someone, for instance, fetched the water from which that cup of it that you are receiving is taken. Some people dug the well or sank the borehole where it was gotten. Somebody paid for the services of those who sank the bore hole. Somebody bought the equipment they used in sinking the borehole. Somebody also bought the cup you are going to drink from. Someone equally washed the cup and someone paid for the soap being used to wash it. Do you want me to continue to list the things involved for you? I am sure you don’t, for you will soon find it boring.

My point, at any rate, is that even if it is a cup of water someone has freely brought to you, appreciate the person for it. It may not satisfy you fully. Yet appreciate the one who has brought it to you profusely instead of allowing your emotions to get in the way. That is because the cost of everything you receive from people is always beyond what meets the eyes. Efforts beyond your imaginations have gone into the process.

So, before you open your mouth to say to anyone, “Is that all you can do for me?” or “If I were in your position, I would do more than this,” consider these things carefully. And don’t let the spirit of ingratitude rule you. Otherwise, it may not be long at all before you lose the devotion or help of most, if not all, of the good people in your life.

All this, however, is not an excuse for you to be stingy and doing for others less than you can. I mean that you should not use what I am saying here as your excuse for being stingy or for often running away from making sacrifices for others. God is watching you, if you are like that. And He will surely reward you accordingly. So, watch it.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Encourage them|By: J.O. Lawal|FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: February 22, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 5, No. 41

“Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites, who showed good understanding of the service of the LORD. For the seven days they ate their assigned portion and offered fellowship offerings and praised the LORD, the God of their fathers.” (2Chron 30:22NIV)

As we see in the bible, that is, under the old covenant, it was the duty of the Levites and their priests to learn and understand the written will of God about how He was to be served and worshipped. That way, they would be able to lead the whole nation of Israel to serve God faithfully and stay away from unclean and impure things. (Cf. Ezek 44:15-31; Malach 2:7)

But as we also see in the bible, it was not every generation of these Levites and priests that demonstrated understanding and faithfulness in handling the worship of God. To say the fact, most of their generations did not handle the service of God truthfully at all. Therefore, we have several prophets of God condemning them and pronouncing God’s judgment on them.

For example, we are introduced to the sons of Eli in 1Samuel and told how they were nothing but sons of the devil, even though they were the leading priests in the land. So, God had to ruthlessly judge them and their descendants after them. Also, we have God expressing His displeasure towards the ways of the priests of the time of Malachi. Look at how this is set forth in the bible:

“And now this admonition is for you, O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name,” says the LORD Almighty, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me. “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. And you will know that I have sent you this admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD Almighty.” (Mal 2:1-4NIV)

Did you see that? God had no word of praise for those priests at all. And that was because they were corrupt and would not serve His purpose for choosing them. In other words, instead of leading the people in the true worship of God, they were misleading them and getting them into trouble.

Since the nation of Israel, then, had a history of having corrupt and irresponsible priests and Levites, what should be the response of the people, if they suddenly stumbled upon an upright priest? It should be a response of gratitude to God and encouragement to such a priest.

Now that is what we see Hezekiah demonstrating in our opening bible text. This king was leading a spiritual reformation and restoration in the land at that time. So, he needed all the spiritual help he could get. And given the history of corruption of the priests and Levites in the land, he must have been surprised to find that there were still certain priests that understood how God was to be served and that were also devoted to serving Him accordingly. So, the least he could do was to speak encouraging and kind words to those priests. That way, they would be inspired to do better and better in their service to God and to His people who had abandoned Him for years.

In like manner, any time we see people in our land who are devoted to doing what is right and to maintaining justice where they are, we should do all we can to encourage them instead of discouraging them. We know what our country looks like today. We know that it is hard to find in our neighbourhoods, schools, government offices and business centres people who are upright in heart, diligent and trustworthy.

Therefore, anytime we come across anyone who has these qualities, anytime we come across anyone who has refused to be corrupted and made irresponsible by sick our society, we, like Hezekiah, should do whatever we can to encourage them. That is how to strengthen goodness and righteousness in our world.

Interestingly, Paul admonishes us to do similar things in the church. He tells us that wherever we see church leaders that are doing well in feeding us with the word of God and leading us in His will, we should doubly honour them. Why? It is because such leaders are hard to come by. (Cf. 1Tim 5:17)

As the bible shows us, even in the days of the apostles of old, there were so many so-called church leaders that were greedy, corrupt and irresponsible. Therefore, Paul wanted the brethren to know that they must learn to encourage the upright and faithful leaders among them. Otherwise, Satan may, at some point, get these also to lose heart and start imitating the greedy, immoral, manipulative and injurious church leaders around them. (Cf. Phil 3:17-19; 2Peter 2:1-3)

The point I am making, at any rate, is that we all who love righteousness must learn to appreciate it in others. Then we can strengthen it in our world instead of weakening it.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Domestic oppression |By: J.O. Lawal | FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones
Date: February 08, 2023 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 5, No. 39

“Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers. Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.” Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.” Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.” When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.” (Neh 5:1-6NIV)

As we see in the book of Nehemiah, in order for the Jewish exiles that had returned to Jerusalem to be rid of the harassment and disgrace they were facing from the hostile gentiles surrounding them, Nehemiah had to leave his comfort zone as King Artaxerxes’s cupbearer and come home to help them. Was it easy for him to get this king’s permission to do this? No! He really could have lost his life in the process of seeking it. But because he had first sought the Lord’s face and favour before approaching the man, his request was miraculously granted. (Cf. Neh 1-2)

Now when he eventually came and began to labour for the welfare of his people, he thought it was only the oppression they were faced with from outside that he had to deal with; he did not know that he would have to handle domestic oppression as well. But it was not long after he had successfully dealt with the external forces contending with the welfare of his people that he realised that the people he was working hard to save were equally oppressing one another.

Remember that Moses also had a similar experience. He had, on one occasion, killed an Egyptian in his attempt to save one of his own. But to his surprise, it was not only the Egyptians that were oppressing his people. They themselves were oppressing themselves. And when he tried to point this out to one of them, he ended up having to run for his life for the next forty years. (Cf. Ex 2:11-15)

In any case, as we see in our opening text, Nehemiah was really angry when he realised that while he was labouring hard to help his people get established in the land, there were still among them those who were using their positions of advantage to oppress others. And he had to call their nobles and officials into a meeting and bound them with oaths and curses in order to solve the problem. Otherwise, all his labour to comfort the people and give them rest would have come to nothing because of the domestic oppression going on among them. (Cf. Neh 5:6-13)

Similarly, in Nigeria today, there is much distress everywhere for the citizenry. And is this because our leaders are so cruel and unfeeling? No! Yes, we cannot run away from the fact that many of our leaders have not done well at all in caring for the people. But the truth also is that much of the distress we are now experiencing is not a direct consequence of their ineptitude but that of the domestic oppression we too are subjecting ourselves to.

For example, can we in all honesty say that our leaders are totally to blame for the outrageous increase in fuel prices that we are now seeing? No! That is an offspring of domestic oppression. Or can we in all sincerity put all the blame for the scarcity of the new naira notes that we are seeing on our leaders? No! That is also a product of domestic oppression emanating from many of our commercial banks and POS operators. Or can we say that our leaders are totally to blame for the daylight robbery of many Nigerians by those in the power sector? No! That is equally a product of domestic oppression.

Yes, our economy has been badly managed by our leaders for many years. And no one, as I pointed out before, can excuse them from taking responsibility for that. But we are the ones making this economy daily worse through our greed. Our greed is the force driving us to use the poor leadership in the country as an excuse for pursuing unjust profit in every possible way. So, our pains and miseries are mostly self-inflicted and our oppression largely domestic.

If we, then, are going to witness any relief soon, we all must choose to end every form of domestic oppression we are perpetuating or sponsoring in our offices, business centers, neighbourhoods, schools and even religious assemblies. Remember that, right now, we don’t have any Nehemiah that will compel us to do what is right. So, if we don’t begin to do what is right as a matter of urgency, it may not be long before our beloved country is totally colonised again by foreigners.

Now this sort of colonisation, of course, is not going to be territorial, as it was before we gained independence. Rather, it is going to be an economic thing. In other words, our economic independence will totally be taken away from us and we will be nothing but economic slaves of some other nations. My prayer is that things will not degenerate to that level before we all come back to our senses or before God sends a Nehemiah to us to redeem our honour. Amen.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Would He make a garment of skin for you too?| By: J.O. Lawal|FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: February 01, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus| Number: Vol. 5, No. 38

“I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” (1Tim 2:9-10NIV)

The day we live in is one in which indecency and inappropriate dressing are now the order of the day. Yes, it is a day in which women, including some elderly ones, no longer see anything wrong with dressing like prostitutes or walking around almost naked.

Unfortunately, even our women in the church are not left out of this societal menace. Many of them are vitally contributing to it. And this is evident in the kinds of dresses they wear to our church meetings. No, they may not come for church meetings half-naked. But they will make sure they wear something that reveals enough of certain parts of their bodies, so that they could get someone’s attention. It is no wonder, then, that rape cases are daily multiplying at a very alarming rate in our country, just as cases of consensual sex among unmarried people are just too much to talk about.

But from what we see in our opening bible text, God’s people, God’s women, old or young, ought to be different in the way they dress and comport themselves. Is it that God does not want them to look beautiful and elegant when they dress? No! He wants His daughters to look beautiful and elegant wherever they appear. Otherwise, He would not create them to be beautiful.

Look, for example, at what the bible says about the daughters of Job that were later born to him: “The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.” (Job 42:14-15NIV) Who gave Job these extremely beautiful daughters? God! So, beauty, any degree of it, is a gift from God. And no should condemn or despise it.

Unfortunately, there are preachers who have mistaken what Paul says in this text to mean that God’s women are not to dress well or beautiful themselves at all, especially with articles of gold or silver. So, they condemn any woman who appears beautiful, without making any effort to find out what quality of life the person is living. But these same people may not see anything wrong with their own women braiding their hair or using bags or shoes with gold or silver plates. And that shows that they are ignorant of what this Scripture means.

I remember, for instance, how a so-called prophet once told a brother of mine that the Spirit of God wanted him to be careful of light complexioned ladies. Why? He had earlier that day seen him with a light complexioned lady. But did he know who she was to him? No! If he had, he would not have said that the Spirit of God told him what He obviously did not tell him.

In any case, what the Scripture we have above is telling us, first, is that God’s daughters are never to take their dressing or physical outlook more seriously than their conduct. So, we should not say that you, as a lady, are beautiful simply because of your hair-do, use of jewelleries and cost of wears but because you are a woman that is also rich in good deeds and character. In other words, if you are not rich in character, your physical beauty may as well be as good as worthless.

Second, this Scripture is telling us that when you dress, demonstrate decency. Cover what is meant to be covered and protect what should be protected. Yes, God has made you beautiful. But He does not want you to get outrageous in handling it. Or else you might soon turn yourself into a tool of seduction in the hand of the devil or open the door of your life for ungodly people or criminals to begin to desire you.

Remember that when the first man and the first women fell and the glory of God that was covering them left, the first thing they did was to cover their nakedness with garments of leaves. And when God came and met them in that condition, what did He do? He made garments of skin for them. Why? He could see that they were not adequately covered, even though it was just the two of them. (Cf. Gen 3)

Now if God should physically appear to you too today, what do you think He would do or say about your dressing? Would He freely settle down to relate to you or would He want to make a garment of skin for you to cover your nakedness? I am sure you know the answer. Therefore, what is acceptable to God is what you should always wear, whether you are a woman or a man and not what many of these movie, music or sport stars are leading you to wear. Otherwise, one might begin to wonder whether you are a child of God at all.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Don’t be selfish | By: J.O. Lawal |Fire in my Bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: November 16, 2022|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 5, No. 27

“Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil 2:4NIV)

What does it mean to be selfish? It means to be concerned about yourself alone, especially at the expense of others. It means to do things or go for things for the sole purpose of satisfying ourselves and without considering how others are affected. And the word of God says that is a wrong way to live.

Now is it wrong to be concerned about ourselves? No! Or is it wrong to want to satisfy ourselves? No! Unfortunately, there are people who think we don’t have to be concerned about ourselves at all but about others and that we don’t have to satisfy ourselves at all but others. These are the kind that would say, “Always think of others first.”

But as nice and gracious as that may sound, it is not at all a godly philosophy. Why did I say that? It is because there is nowhere in the Scripture in which God tells us to think of others first. On the contrary, what we have are Scriptures in which God says, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Why is God telling us to love our neighbours as ourselves? The reason is that until we learn to love and treat ourselves right, we cannot love and treat others right. (Cf. Matt 22:39)

By the way, even those who tell us to always think of others first are really not putting others first in their lives. I am saying this because the major reason they love to put others first is that it makes them feel good or accomplished. I mean that there is a measure of satisfaction these people derive or seek to derive from putting others first in their affairs. So, ultimately, their putting others first is not really about others but about themselves. Can we, then, say that they are putting others first? No!

Well, my point is that being selfish is not basically about not putting others first. That is because you can be putting others first and still be dubious. Yes, you can be putting others first and still be cheating them. If you have younger ones and you grew up with them, you should understand what I am saying. Here you were, sharing a lump of meat among you and your younger ones. And you decided to first give them their own share, so that they would see you as selfless. But was that to say you did not cheat them at all? You know the answer.

So, the idea of putting others first may not eliminate cheating or selfishness. However, it is possible not to put others first and still not be selfish. This is a situation in which you are not just concerned about yourself but also about others. And that is what Paul is speaking of in our opening bible text. There he tells us not to look at our own interests alone but also at the interest of others.

What is the difference between a selfish person and an unselfish person? A selfish person is only concerned about their own interests and not at all about yours. So, for example, if they make or sell to you a product, they will only be concerned about the profit they will make from the sale and not at all about your enjoyment of it. That, of course, is the foundation for all fake products and substandard services. The people behind them are only concerned about their own gain and not at all about the benefit or loss you may derive from what they offer you. They are selfish.

Something similar can be experienced in relationships, whether natural or spiritual. When people are merely concerned about how much they can squeeze out of you and not concerned at all about how that will affect you or concerned about what they also can do to show that they care about you, they are selfish. And selfishness irritates. Selfishness puts off kind people. In fact, it will only take a kind person that is walking in the love of Christ to remain forever kind to you, if you are selfish.

So, don’t be selfish. Don’t be concerned about yourself alone but about others as well. If people are helping you or working with you, be genuinely concerned about their welfare as well and show it as often as you can. Yes, be sure you are regularly considering how you can show them that you too care about them and that you are not a parasite.

See, selfish people are parasites, always seeking to drain others. Selfish people don’t move the world forward or contributing anything significant to make it better. It is unselfish people that are moving the world forward and making it better and more enjoyable for everyone to live in. They are the ones coming up with new inventions and easier and better ways and methods of doing things. They are the ones making and selling to us products or services that give us value for whatever money we pay for them.

Yes, they too may be making profit and probably getting richer through what they are doing for us, depending on the kind of relationship we have with them. But whatever they do for us is not just about them but also about us. So, God is happy with them because they are making us happy. And He will be happy with us too, if we will stop being selfish and start making others really happy by being unselfish in all that we do.

Cheers!

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

More than competence |By: J.O. Lawal | November 09, 2022

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 5, No. 26

“The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.” (Gen 39:2-5NIV)

Evidently, from what we see in Scriptures, Joseph was a highly competent young man when it comes to administration and management, whether of people or of things. But it was not his competence that took him to the top everywhere he found himself; it was God’s favour.

As we see in our opening bible text, when his master saw his competence and success in handling whatever was committed into his hands, Joseph found favour in his eyes. Therefore, he promoted him, made him his personal attendant and put him in charge of his whole household. But do you know that Joseph’s master may as well have ignored the competence he saw in him? Do you know that he could as well have considered his competence to be a threat to his own position as the master of that house?

See, it is not everyone that is comfortable with having competent people around them. There are people that feel threatened when they have a wise and competent subordinate or colleague around them. They see them as a threat to their current position or future position. So, they become jealous and start considering how they may pull them down or how they can show everyone that they are overrated.

Remember the story of King Saul and David. Remember that even though David killed Goliath and saved the nation of Israel on one occasion, King Saul never wholeheartedly accepted him as a loyal servant. Why? It was because he was not comfortable with his competence and the fact that God was with him everywhere he went. He was not comfortable at all with the fact that the young man might just become the next king, just by watching the way he was rising in the army and becoming more and more popular among the people. (Cf. 1Sam 17&18)

So, even though he promoted David and gave him a high rank in the army, he did it reluctantly. He did it because he had no choice, for the bible tells us that all his officers and the people of Israel loved the young man because of his competence and because he fought and won their battles for them. Then, even though he made him his in-law by giving him one of his daughters, it was not because he loved and cherished him as one of his loyal men. Rather, it was because he wanted the girl to be a trap that he would use in catching and killing him.

In any case, when he could no longer bear the thought of David becoming his successor, he, in his jealousy, began to deploy all the resources at his disposal to hunt him down at every given chance in order to kill him. If David, then, had not found favour in the sight of God, he would have perished at some point in the hands of this wicked and jealous king.

Therefore, the fact that you are competent does not mean that the people that matter where you are and who, to some extent, can decide how high you rise in life or how far you go in life will respect and appreciate you. They may not at all. Instead, they may be the ones that Satan will use to prey upon your very life. This is why you need to find favour in their eyes, even though they are wicked and unreasonable. And God can make that happen.

How reasonable and kind was Potiphar? We would not know, for we are not told in the bible. But we are told that Joseph found favour in his eyes. So, even though he was a total stranger to him and not an Egyptian, he kept on promoting him until he put him charge of his whole household. And how reasonable and kind was the prison warden that this young man met in the prison, having been shamefully treated by Potiphar’s wife? We are not told in the bible. But we are told that God caused Joseph to find favour in his eyes, so much so that the man recognised his abilities and put him in charge of the entire prison facility and all that was going on there. (Cf. Gen 39)

Also, we are not told how reasonable and kind the Pharaoh of Joseph’s days was. I suspect that he must have been a highly reasonable and kind man. But then, it would take more than being reasonable and kind to make a total stranger, one just coming out from the prison, your second-in-command and ruler over your entire nation. All the odds were against Joseph in that situation. But because God’s favour was working for him, Pharaoh and his officials did not see anything wrong with putting a man with such great competence over their entire nation, even though he was not a native. (Cf. Gen 41)

So, if there is anything you need more than competence to keep rising in life, it is God’s favour. It is good to be competent. And you should labour to be known and seen as a very competent person in whatever field you are working. But competence without God’s favour will never leave its prison room. So, crave His favour. Receive His favour. And whatever abilities you have will begin to shine forth and open doors of greatness for you.