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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: It must not be for a while

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 15

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to another week of the month of August 2025. And my prayer is that God will daily fill your heart with humility, so that you can continue to experience His elevation in every area of your life. Amen.

After King Saul had disobeyed God by not totally destroying the Amalekites, Samuel said this to him: “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.” (1Sam 15:17NIV)

When did the Lord anoint Saul to be king over Israel? It was when he was humble. It was when he did not see himself as someone better than others. But after his throne had been established, he allowed pride in his heart and began to do as he pleased.

Now how did God respond to that? He took away the kingdom He had given to him from him. Then He replaced him with a young boy, David. And though he fought hard to keep the kingdom for himself and his descendants, he could not keep it. That is because we can only keep what God has given to us. We cannot keep whatever He has taken away from us.

Well, the point of this bible story is that our humility must not be for a while. Rather, it must be from start to finish. If we demonstrate humility before God for a while, our elevation also will be for a while. In other words, the moment we start manifesting arrogance, the same God who has been lifting us up will begin to bring us down. (Cf. James 4:6; 1Peter 5:5)

This, of course, is the reason some people have not risen beyond the height they have attained in life. When they humbled themselves before God, He showed them mercy and began to elevate them. But when they got to certain heights of greatness, they began to misbehave. They began to act as though it was their wisdom or power that brought them to where they were. So, instead for them to be taken by God to higher grounds, He just left them where they were and began to lift up other people around them. And if they still continue to act in pride, they may end up being thrown down to lower positions in life.

So, humility is not just something we need to be lifted up by God; it is also what we need for Him to keep us from falling from the high places He has placed us. Remain humble, then, before Him. And you will never have any reason to be afraid of being thrown down by Him.

Have a lovely week.

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

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Be quick to judge it

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No.13

“When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.” (Eccl 8:11NIV)

After Amnon had raped his half-sister, Tamar, many or some of those who were privileged to know about the matter must have been waiting for a sentence to be passed by King David and his officials on the young man. But for some reasons not mentioned in the account, no sentence was immediately passed on him. In fact, judging from the account, it did not look like any sentence was ever going to be passed on him, for two years after, when he was assassinated, the sentence was yet to be carried out. (Cf. 2Sam 13)

Now why was no sentenced passed by King David on Amnon for raping his own sister? As I already pointed out, we are not told in clear terms in the account. It may be because he was the crown prince and sentencing him to death or to exile may not look politically okay. We wouldn’t know the reason for sure.However, because the sentence for his crime was not quickly carried out, Absalom, the elder brother of the rape victim, decided to take the law into his own hand.

Two years later, when everybody thought the matter had been forgotten, he arranged for Amnon to be assassinated. Then he fled.Now was Absalom also punished for murdering his own elder brother? No! Did David send anybody after him to arrest him and make him face justice? No! Then when he came back from the self-exile he had imposed on himself, was he punished by the king? No! Why was he not punished? Again, we are not told in clear terms in the account.

But then, because he was not punished, he had the opportunity he needed to stage a coup to get rid of his father from the throne. And he would have succeeded and destroyed his father, David, if God had not stepped into the situation to deal with him and rescue the nation from his hand. But many lives were needlessly lost in the process. They were needlessly lost because the man that was in a position to judge wickedness failed to do so when he had the chance to do so. (Cf. 2Sam 14-20)

Well, I personally believe that it is because of all this that Solomon, who witnessed it all, says to us in our opening bible text that when the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do evil.

What that means, first, is that when we are in a position to judge wickedness and will not judge it immediately or at all, somebody else that is not in a position to judge it may be filled with enough anger to judge it. And because the person is not motivated by justice but by anger or bitterness, they will most likely go beyond what is appropriate and adequate in judging the matter. Then they will have made a bad situation worse and be exposed to judgment themselves.

Second, when we fail to judge a crime in time, the person involved and other evil doers like them may be encouraged to do more evil. Why do many, for instance, keep on violating traffic rules in our country? The reason is that people are hardly judged for doing so.

So, most people drive their vehicles with the mindset that nothing will happen to them, even if they break all the traffic rules of the land. And think about the number of lives that have been needlessly lost as a result of that. It is unspeakable.In any case, Solomon wants us to know that if we want our society to be sane and healthy for us all to live in, we cannot afford to ignore crimes.

Instead, we must be quick to judge it in accordance with the laws of the land or of wherever we are, especially when we already have enough evidence to do so. Otherwise, before we know it, evil will so multiply against us that we will need divine intervention to judge it. And where that is the case, we ourselves cannot boldly say that we will be safe when all has been said and done.

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: Misplaced priorities

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: From Pastor’s DeskNumber: Vol. 14, No. 13

Beloved: grace and mercy be multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to the last week of the month of July 2025. I pray that God will daily keep your heart fixed on those things that truly matter in life, so that you will not waste your life on irrelevancies. Amen.

As we see in the bible, it is possible for us to get ourselves occupied with the wrong thing and still think we are doing so for the Lord. That may be because we do not know how to handle things in the order of their importance or urgency. And where that is the case, we may find ourselves losing things that could change our lives forever while running after things that could only give us temporary satisfaction.

For instance, the bible tells something that happened when Jesus visited the house of Mary and Martha one day. Look at how it is reported by Luke in his gospel:”As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42NIV)

What is this account showing us? It is showing us something about misplaced priorities. And who misplaced her priorities in the account? It was Martha. How? Did she do anything bad by working hard to entertain Jesus and His disciples on that occasion? No! But she should first of all have taken out time to speak with the Lord and to also listen to Him. This would have helped her in knowing the right way and time to entertain Him.Some of us too often make the same mistake when people visit us.

We want to be in a hurry to entertain them without first spending time to converse with them and learn their real reason for visiting us. And we may end up not settling down to have any serious discussion with them till they leave, just because we want to entertain them. That is not how to build a good and meaningful relationship.Well, while Martha was busy trying to entertain Jesus, her sister, Mary, sat down to learn from Him.

That, of course, offended her so much that she could not hide it. Therefore, she came to the Lord to tell Him to rebuke Mary for not knowing her priorities and to send her to assist her in preparing what they would use in entertaining Him and His disciples.But instead for the Lord to do what she wanted, He simply told her that she was actually the one that had misplaced her priorities.

In other words, she too should have sat down like her sister to learn from Him. Then she would have gained better knowledge on how to entertain Him and be praised. And that knowledge would have stayed with her for life. But she missed her opportunity to learn and become a better person that day. What a shame!In any case, the point of this is that we must never allow any good thing we are doing for God to hinder us from giving adequate attention to Him, His word and prayer.

Otherwise, we will not know Him and how to serve Him better. And that may even make us lose the rewards of the so-called good things we think we are doing for Him.So, let us always get our priorities right, as children of God. Our relationship with Him must always come before our service to Him. And may our hearts be duly strengthened never to forget this. Amen.Have a splendid week.

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

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: When you are not fit to judge

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No.11

“Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.” (1Cor 4:5NIV)

What is Paul speaking to us about here? He is speaking to us about situations in which we are not fit to judge others. What he says here, of course, can be mistaken as meaning that we cannot and must not judge others at all. And if we should mistake it like that, then, we will be giving evil enough room to strengthen itself against us and destroy us.

But Paul is not saying that we cannot and must not judge others at all. Instead, he is simply telling us to understand that there are situations in which we are not fit to judge what others are doing or what is going on in their lives.

In fact, what he says here is similar to what the Lord Jesus say to us through the gospel of Matthew, which reads:“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matt 7:1-5NIV)

Is the Lord telling us not to judge people at all here? No! Rather, He is giving us an example of a situation in which we are not fit to judge others. What is that situation? It is one in which we are guilty of the same offence as others or of worse offence than them.

And where that is the case, He is telling us that we are not morally fit to judge them. So, we should first take care of the evil in our lives before pointing accusing fingers at others. Nevertheless, if God has already judged something in His word as wrong or evil, we must judge people accordingly.

So, if you are doing something wrong and somebody condemns you for it, don’t say, “Jesus says, ‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged.’” And do not say, “What right do you have to judge me, seeing that you too are doing something worse.” Just repent. Otherwise, sudden destruction may come upon you while you are arguing with the truth.

Well, Paul’s point to us in our opening text is that it is not in every situation that we are fit to judge what is going on in people’s lives or what they are doing, however close we may be to them. And that is because it is not everytime we have enough light or information to judge others correctly. We may know what they have done or what they have not done. But we may never know why. We may also never know what they have done in secret or not done in secret.

If we, then, judge them only on the basis of what we know, without considering their motives and secrets and the fact that we may not know enough about the matter at hand, we can miss it big.That is why we are admonished by Paul to wait until the one that knows everything about everyone comes to judge. Then He will judge everybody and their works, motives and secrets. That, of course, is when we all will know who has done well and who has done better. But until then, we wait.

Now remember that Job’s friends made the mistake of judging him before God showed up. They judged him as wicked, proud and unrepentant. And that was because they thought that they knew enough about him. But God knew the man differently. So, when He showed up on the scene to judge, it was not Job that needed sin sacrifices and prayers for forgiveness; rather, it was his friends. (Cf. Job 4-42)

In like manner, if God should open our eyes, we may be extremely surprised at the number of people we will need to go and meet for prayers of forgiveness because we judged them wrongly. And only God knows in what ways this is hurting and limiting our lives. So, henceforth, don’t be in a hurry to judge anybody in matters that God has not clearly judged.

Instead, first check if you do really know enough to judge their matter. Otherwise, wait for the judge of all to come and do His job. That will be your wisdom.

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: Wealthy in a time of famine

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 12

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great delight that I welcome you to another week of the month of July 2025.

My prayer is that God will open your eyes in the week and throughout the remaining part of the year to see all His provisions for you to live in sufficiency, in spite of the famine of all kinds of good things that our country is witnessing at the moment. Amen.

The bible says, “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.” (Ps 33:18-19NIV)

Who are those that God’s eyes are continually on? It is those who fear Him and who have put their hope in His unfailing love. So, if you fear God and have your hope in Him, His eyes will continually be with you wherever you go and irrespective of the circumstances of your life.

Now why will God continually have His eyes on you in this manner? As David shows us in those texts of his psalm, the first reason is to deliver you from death. And is that not a beautiful thing? It is. So, don’t be afraid of death, even hidden death. It will not be your portion. That is because God will continually deliver you from it.The second reason God will continually watch over you is that He may keep you alive during famine.

That means regardless of how bad the economy of the land may be, God will see to it that you and your household are sustained. How will He do that? That is beyond what anyone can tell. But since His word tells us that He will do it, we can be assured that He will do so. All we need is to act on whatever He tells us to do.

For example, there was a very severe famine during Isaac’s time. It was so severe that the man wanted to relocate to Egypt. But God told him not to do so. Why? The reason was that His provisions for him to prosper were not in Egypt at the time. They were in the land he was living in. If he, then, had gone to Egypt, his hopes would have been dashed. (Cf. Gen 26)

Thankfully, Isaac obeyed God and stayed where he was. And because he obeyed Him, He opened his eyes to go into farming. That, of course, was how he became wealthy in a time of famine.

In like manner, God can make us too wealthy in a time of famine or hardship. We just need to put our trust in Him and act on whatever He tells us about His provisions for us. And my prayer is that our ears will not be deaf to whatever He is saying to us about His provisions for our prosperity. That way, we too, like Isaac, can become wealthy in this period of national famine and be a blessing to others around us.

Have a great week.

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

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

Title: Impossible to please Him

Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 14, No. 11

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace 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 July 2025. My prayer is that God will daily equip you with everything you need to please Him in all ways. Amen.

As we are told in the bible, it is only through faith that we can please God. But why do we need to please God? The reason is that He is the creator, owner and judge of our lives. If there is anyone, then, that we need to please, it is God. And if we are not pleasing Him, we are defeating His purpose for creating us. So, all we can expect is eternal condemnation.

But then, as I already pointed out, it is only through faith in God that we can please Him. Look at what the bible says about that: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6NIV)

Now observe that the bible does not say, “Without faith it is difficult to please God.” That will mean that even if you do not have faith in God, you may still be able to please Him, if you try hard enough. But that is not what the bible says. What it says is that without faith it is not at all possible to please God.What, then, is faith in God?

First, it means taking God seriously. It means to accept whatever God says to us about Himself, about us and about life generally as the truth that we must act upon. And anyone who is not living on this basis cannot please God at all, regardless of how good he may appear to others. He is just doing his own thing.

Second, faith in God means to rely on Him absolutely. And why do we need to rely on Him absolutely? It is because He is the source of every good thing we need to be all that we have been created to be in life. To have faith in Him, then, means to live with a recognition of the fact that we cannot do anything we need to do or have anything we need to have in life without Him.

Anyone, then, who is not living on this basis is not pleasing God, regardless of how beautiful his life may appear to be. The person is just doing his own thing.Now if someone becomes as successful as anybody can be in this world and is not pleasing God, what has he really accomplished? Nothing! Why is that so? It is so because it is only those who live to please God that will forever live with Him in His eternal kingdom.

Those who do not live to please Him, who are simply doing their own thing, can only end up in hell, away from Him forever.If we, then, do not want that to be our experience, we must take our faith in God seriously.

We must take whatever He tells us seriously. And we must rely on Him only for everything we need in life. That was how our Lord Jesus lived when He was here on earth. He took God seriously by always doing only those things that pleased Him (John 8:29). He also relied on Him for everything He needed to succeed in life (John 5:19). And when His time was done here, He was received by the Father to sit at His right hand.

May we also be received by Him to occupy the places He has prepared for us in His eternal kingdom when our time here is done, as we live as Jesus lived, by faith in God. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Wasted on an empty head

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 8

“Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful face on an empty head.” (Proverbs 11:22MSG)

Those are Solomon’s words to us. And he does not say them to discredit beauty. Beauty is good! Beauty is a gift from God. So, we ought to appreciate it in anyone who has been endowed with it.However, beauty alone is not enough to attain greatness in life.

Yes, beauty may open certain doors of greatness for you. But if you lack God’s favour, good sense, character and adequate measure of education and skills, those doors of greatness may just be wasted.Look at Esther of bible days, for example. Her beauty made room for her among those being considered as queen for King Xerxes. But she needed more than her beauty to become queen. She also needed God’s favour, wisdom and character.

Thankfully, she had them all. (Cf. Esther 2)As we see in the account, the moment the king’s Eunuch in charge of the harem saw her, he just loved her and began to treat her differently from all the other girls that were brought to him. That’s favour. Then when it was her time to go to the king, she did not request for anything else apart from what that man had told her to take along. So, she ended up becoming queen. That’s wisdom. (Cf. Esther 2:8-16)

Moreover, after she had become queen, she continued to listen to the counsel of her uncle, Mordecai, the man who had raised her like his own daughter. So, she continued to thrive and prosper. That’s character. (Cf: Esther 2:20)You can see, then, that you need more than beauty to thrive and prosper in life. Otherwise, you will be wasting the good opportunities to shine that God may be using your beauty to bring to you.

And where that is the case, the words of Solomon that say, “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful face on an empty head,” will be true concerning you. In other words, beauty will have been wasted on you, wasted on an empty head.Now you may know one or two people that what we are talking about is true concerning them.

Beauty has been wasted on them, for they lack the qualities needed to make it shine. And is that what you too want? Do you really want people to be saying that God has wasted beauty on you? Well, that is what they will most likely be saying, if all you have got apart from your beauty is an empty head. And this is not applicable to beauty alone; it is also applicable to other natural advantages or gifts you have received from God.

If all you have apart from these natural advantages or gifts is an empty head, you will surely be making a waste of God’s gifts.All this is why you should learn to pray that God will daily equip you with everything you need to make whatever natural endowments He has blessed you with worth it in life. Then you must not be lazy. Instead, you must drive yourself to daily take advantage of every opportunity you have to train and develop yourself to be fit for greatness in life.

That way, as God is using your natural endowments to open doors of favour for you, you will not be using your hands to shut them, simply because you have got nothing else apart from an empty head.

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: If you think you are standing firm

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 10

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be abundantly multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour. I am glad to welcome you to another week of the month of July 2025. My prayer is that God will keep you from falling into any trap set by the devil to ruin your soul. Amen.

Now is God really able to keep us from falling into traps set by the devil to destroy our lives and souls? Yes, He is! The bible says this about Him: “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” (Jude 24-25NIV)

Did you see that? God has the ability to keep us from falling. Not only that, He has the ability to present us to Himself without fault and with great joy. And to say the fact, if He does not keep us from falling, we will surely fall and not make it into His eternal kingdom. Also, if He does not present us to Himself without fault and with joy, we will not be able to stand before the Lord Jesus when He appears in His glory.

Therefore, we must learn to entrust ourselves to Him in prayer, daily asking Him to use His power to keep us from falling or failing Him in this world. Then we must never assume that we cannot fall because we are praying, studying Scriptures, giving and living righteous lives at the moment. That is because it is when we feel most secure in our walk of faith that we are most vulnerable to satanic attacks.

Remember that even though Jesus prayed and went without food for forty days and forty nights, Satan still came to tempt Him. And if He had not been full of the word of God and the strength of the Holy Spirit, He would have fallen and failed God.

So, regardless of how upright your life may appear to be now, always remember this Scripture: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1Cor 10:12NIV)When must we be careful not to fall? It is when we think we are standing firm. The person that knows that he is not standing firm where he is does not need anybody to tell him to be careful not to fall. He knows that if he is not careful, he will surely fall.

But the one that sees himself as secure where he is may not see any reason to be careful not to fall. That is why his fall may be too sudden for him to notice. Then there may be no remedy for him.

When did Moses miss it? It was when it looked like he already knew everything about God and could never offend Him. And when did David miss it? It was when his kingdom had been firmly secured in his hands. So, the time we need to be most careful not to fall into Satan’s traps is when everything is going on well for us in our walk with God and in our lives. And if we fail to realise this and act accordingly, the price we will pay for our arrogance may too much for us to bear. (Cf. Num 20; 2Sam 11)

All of this is why we must trust God completely to keep us from falling or failing Him, instead of assuming that we will be safe because we are devoted to prayer, the word of God, righteous living and giving.

Our trust must never be in any good thing we are doing to please God. Rather, it must always be in God Himself. Otherwise, if we are not shown mercy, we will fall where we never think we can. I pray that none of us will fall away from the place of God’s grace for us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great week.

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

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Fire in my Bones General Post

Title: Don’t be wicked

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 8

“But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death.” (Gen 38:7NIV)

Who was wicked in the Lord’s sight? It was Er. And who was Er? He was Judah’s firstborn son. Now Judah was one of the sons of Jacob. And though he could not be referred to as a very good man himself, he was the one that the blessing of the coming Messiah was given to by God through his father (Gen 49:8-12).

In any case, because Er was Judah’s son, he was someone that was supposed to know God and live in His fear. But evidently, he did not live in the fear of God at all. Instead, he was referred to as wicked. How was Er wicked? We are not told in the account. But if God says that someone is wicked, then, the person must be utterly wicked.For example, we are told this in the bible about the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas: “Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD.” (1Sam 2:12NIV)

Did you see that? Even though these men were priests of God, He still regarded them as wicked. Why? They had no regard for Him. And because they had no regard for Him, they abused their positions as priests, oppressing, cheating and corrupting the people of God under their leadership. (Cf. 1Sam 2:13-36)

So, to be wicked is to act without regard for the Lord. Yes, to be wicked is to do things as though God did not exist and would not do anything whatsoever about whatever you do. But God will definitely do something about whatever each of us does. He will do something about it because He is the judge of all mankind and also possesses the power to put everyone where they belong

.If you, then, are wicked, don’t expect God to ignore your wickedness. He will not ignore it. No, He may not deal with you for your wickedness right away. But He will surely deal with it when the time is ripe. And when He does, you may not know how He will judge.

In Er’s case, God judged his wickedness with death. The man died before his father. Also, in the case of Eli’s sons, God judged them too with death. So, they died before their father. And who knows how many have died before their time because of their wickedness? Only God knows.

Well, the point I am making is don’t be wicked. Don’t treat people as if there were no God that would judge between you and them, regardless of what advantage you may have over them. Otherwise, you may just be calling for your own death before you are ready to embrace it.

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

Title: Only He has the power of perfection

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 9

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the transition week between the months of June and July 2025.

My prayer is that God will perfect all that concerns your life, as we move into the other half of the year in the week. Amen.

David, in one of his psalms, says, “The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” (Ps 138:8NKJV)

Who will perfect that which concerns David? The Lord! Why? The reason is that only He possesses the power of perfection. And if He does not perfect that which concerns our lives, there is nothing we do to perfect our lives that will work.

Do we, then, need perfection in any area of our lives? If we do not know or think that we need perfection in any area of our lives, we will not desire it or go for it. David, for instance, could see that he needed perfection in certain areas of his life when he wrote this psalm.

Truly, God had given him a position of honour, peace of mind, good health and wealth. Yet he could see that there were things in his life, home and kingdom that needed to be set right and perfected. And instead of worrying about these things or trying to fix them himself, he entrusted them to God, saying, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.”

In like manner, we too must first acknowledge the things that need perfection in our lives, regardless of how good things may be going for us at the moment. Otherwise, we will not see the need to entrust them to God, the only one with the power of perfection. Then, when we have identified those things that need perfection in our lives, we should not try to handle them with our wisdom or strength. Instead, we should hand them over to God.

Why should we do that? The reason, as I pointed out already, is that we do not have the power of perfection. Only God has it. And if we try to play God in perfecting those things concerning our lives, however simple those things may be, we will soon see that we have made bad situations worse for ourselves.

Remember King Jeroboam.Remember that it was God that ordained him as king over the nation of Israel. But when he saw certain things that could affect his rule, he did not turn to God to perfect what He had started in his life. Instead, he resorted to his own wisdom. Therefore, he brought destruction upon himself, his household and the nation as a whole. (Cf. 1Kings 11-14)

Now I pray that we will not bring destruction on ourselves or others around us in our attempt to perfect the things that concern our lives. But we must learn to commit our lives and affairs to God in prayer for their perfection. That is because He cares about us and also possesses the power to perfect all that concerns us.

Have a splendid week.