Tag: counsel

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Choosing Abimelech

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 2

“When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech used it to hire reckless adventurers, who became his followers.” (Judg 9:3-5NIV)

Who was Abimelech, the one mentioned in our opening text? He was the son that Gideon’s concubine bore for him. And what was so important about him that God cared to put his account in the bible for us? It was the fact that he was the first man to ever attempt to rule as king over the nation of Israel. (Cf. Judges 9:6)

Now, as we also see in the bible, when the people wanted Abimelech’s father, Gideon, to become their king, he frankly and humbly rejected their proposition. Look at how the bible puts that: “But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”” (Judg 8:23-24NIV)

Did you see that? This man said that neither he nor any of his sons would be king over these people. Why? The reason was that he knew that the Lord is their king. Yes, he saved them from their enemies. But that was because the Lord called, sent and empowered him to do so. So, he knew that it would be foolish of him to try to take the place of God in their lives as their king. And even though he had seventy legitimate sons, none of them attempted to be king over the Israelites. Why? He had raised them well enough to know their place in the lives of the people. (Cf. Judges 6-8)

In like manner, we too must know our proper place in people’s lives. God may have used us or be using us to help them in various ways. That, however, does not make us God. We should, therefore, never attempt to take His place in anyone’s life. Otherwise, sooner or later, we will surely find ourselves facing challenges never meant for us in life. We may even end up undoing all the good God has used us to do.

So, let us be mindful of ourselves.In any case, as I pointed out before, Gideon had another son called Abimelech, the son of his concubine. And apparently, this son of his was not raised by him as others had been raised. That, of course, must have been the reason the thought of using his father’s legacy as a leverage to become king over Israel could enter his head. Unfortunately, the people of his mother’s side welcomed the idea and gave him a lot of money to hire ruthless men to accomplish his ambition.

Why? Well, as we see in our opening text, their reason was that he was related to them. In other words, he was their relative.So, the people of Shechem did not choose Abimelech as their leader because he was an upright, wise and godly man, one that righteous people could flourish under his leadership. Instead, they chose him because he was their relative. And because they did, a scoundrel was empowered to destroy all his father’s seventy sons (except his youngest son that escaped) and also all the good works God has used him to do for his nation.

Then, much later, he too and his sponsors went on to destroy themselves. What a pity! (Cf. Judges 9)What is the point of all this, at any rate? It is that we need to learn to choose our leaders for the right reasons. Someone may be our relative, a friend, a neighbour, a colleague at work or in school or a church leader. It does not mean that they have the right qualities to occupy certain leadership positions.

And if we should allow sentiments to lead us to choose and sponsor them to occupy a position that they have no ability or character to handle, we may someday realise that we have chosen Abimelech and empowered the devil himself to afflict and destroy much good. Then, like Abimelech and the people of Shechem, we too and the bad choice of leadership we have made may end up labouring hard to destroy ourselves.

Now would something like that not be bad and distressing? It would! But it is something that is happening in many places all around the world, even today. People and the leaders they have chosen for themselves are cursing themselves and also labouring hard to destroy themselves. And if we want to put a stop to a repetition of such mess, we had better stop allowing sentiments to drive us to choose Abimelech.

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

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: 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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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

It is simply a joke

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 1

“If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.” (James 1:26NIV)

Who is James talking to in our opening text? He is talking to those who consider themselves to be religious. And do we have people who think of themselves as religious? We do! Yes, we have people who see themselves as men and women who know God, love God, worship God and have God’s ears.

Now is anything wrong with seeing ourselves in that light? Well, James does not say that something is wrong with seeing ourselves as those who know God, who know where He lives and who also know what He eats. But he tells us that this view of ourselves ought to have some serious impact on what comes out of our mouths. Otherwise, we are simply lying to ourselves about knowing God and worshiping Him. That means our religion is worthless.

Sadly, we have many today who think of themselves as God’s deputies but who exercise no control whatsoever over what comes out of their mouths. These ones say anything that comes to their minds, without weighing it to see whether it is good or bad or whether it honours God or dishonours Him. And if anyone tries to correct them or to show them that they are supposed to be talking like those who know God and not like little devils, they will not be slow at all to abuse or curse the person as well.

Now perhaps you are like that. You can abuse or curse anyone and anything. You can even get the dead to be stirred up in their graves through your abusive words. Yet you call yourself a Christian or a child of God. The word of God is coming to you now and telling you that you are self-deceived. Truly, you may think that you know God and are serving Him.

But you are simply a joker. Your religion is worthless. In other words, what you are doing in your worship of God makes no sense to Him at all. And that is because your so-called relationship with Him has not yet changed you.See, when a man comes into a relationship with God, the first obvious change that will be seen in his life has to do with the way he talks. He will no longer want to speak carelessly or loosely. Instead, he will want to speak love and grace.

Yes, this may initially prove difficult for him to do, especially if he has been a loose talker all his life. But he will begin to make effort by the power of the Spirit of God in him to speak differently. Yes, he will begin to make effort to show through his words that he is no longer a sinner. And if he continues like that and does not stop, it will not be long before he realises that loose taking is no longer an option for him.

So, if you are still loose in the way you talk, if nothing appears to be too corrupt or unclean for you to say with your mouth, you are either saying that you don’t know God at all or have utterly forgotten that you have been saved by Him. And it does not matter what religious title or titles you carry around on your head, your religion is worthless – it is simply a joke.If you, then, do not want your religion to remain a joke, you have to begin to put a tight rein on your tongue.

That means you have to now begin to teach your tongue not to say just anything that comes to your mind. Yes, impure, corrupt and hurtful things may still want to come out of your mouth. But you must not allow them to come out of it, for your tongue is meant to speak only those things that glorify God and also edify men, not things that dishonour them.

My prayer is that you will daily find in God all the strength you need to keep these words in mind and to also begin to put them to work in your life and affairs. Amen.

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MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTS Message Transcripts 2025 Single Message Series

SEE TO IT (8)BOUNDARIES TO RESPECT (A)

Date: May 04, 2025

Series: See to it

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We have been looking at a number of things on the relevance of taking certain instructions given to us in Hebrews, chapters 3 and 12, very seriously. These instructions have to do with watching over one another, so that we do not go astray or fall short of the grace of God. This, of course, has led us to looking at various things that we need to pay attention to, if we will be able to freely help one another stay in the truth and not become a part of the problem we are trying to prevent or solve. And the last thing we looked at on this note had to do with relating to one another only on the basis of the word of God, not on the basis of human traditions or superstitions, not on the basis of mysticism and not on the basis of our feelings, idiosyncrasies or experiences.

Our traditions may be good. And our experiences may be okay to teach others. But we must use these things in relating to people only to the degree that they agree with the word of God. Wherever they do not agree with the word of God, we must discard them in our dealings with people. Otherwise, we may end up judging those that God has not judged or condemning those that He has not condemned.Now there is another thing we need to pay attention to in relating to one another, if we will be able to truly watch over one another and keep ourselves from going astray. This has to do with recognizing those boundaries that we must not cross in people’s lives. There are boundaries we must not cross in our dealings with people. These boundaries may not be obvious. But they are there. And in relating to people, we must recognize and respect them. Otherwise, we may not be able to help them in any serious way or end up becoming a part of the problem we are trying to prevent or solve.

One of such boundaries is people’s right to privacy. The Lord Jesus has called us to live in freedom. So, we must allow every child of God to enjoy their freedom, as long as they are not using it as cover up for evil (Galatians 5:13; 1Peter 2:16). The point I am making is that we can only help people to do degree that they permit us. So, we must know when and where people want us in their lives and when and where they do not want us in their lives. We must not attempt to impose ourselves on anyone. We must not be close to people beyond want they want or what they permit. If someone has set certain boundaries in their lives that they do not want you to cross, then, you must respect their right to privacy.

In 2Corinthians, chapter 6, Paul says this from verse 11: “We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts also.” (2Corinthians 6:11-13NIV)Paul is counseling the Corinthian brethren here to remove the boundaries they have placed around their lives, so that he and his ministry companions could freely affect them.

According to him, they are not withholding their affection from these Corinthians. Instead, they have freely opened wide their hearts to them, so that they could share their lives with them. So, it is only fair that the Corinthians do likewise. And that is what Paul is placing his fingers on here. But you can see that Paul is not trying to impose himself on these brethren. Yes, he was the one that God used in starting their church. And he had spiritual authority over them and could command them to do those things that are right for them to do. Yet he would not impose himself on them.

Instead, he wanted them to realize the need for them to consciously open wide their hearts to them, so that they may freely and fully affect them in their walk of faith. And that was because he respected their right to privacy.In like manner, it is important that we respect people’s right to privacy. It is important that we respect their right and freedom to choose what they want and do not want, to choose how we help them and the extent to which we help them in their faith. So, if someone does not want us to help them in certain areas of their lives, we have to respect their decision and stay away from those areas of their lives that they do not want us to touch.

Yes, we may know exactly what they need in those areas of their lives. But if they will not permit us to help them, we will have to let them be until God opens their eyes to see that they need us to help them in those areas of their lives.Look at how Paul relates to Philemon in his letter, as an example of the need for us to learn to respect the rights of others to make certain decisions for themselves: “Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul – an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus – that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. I am sending him – who is my very heart – back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel.

But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary.” (Philemon 8-14NIV)The things Paul says here are in favour of a man called Onesimus, who used to be a slave of Philemon. The man ran away from his master and was meant to be severely punished for doing so. But as God would have it, he met Paul at some point and become born again. Not only did he become born again, he also grew in his faith so much so that he became a very dear son in the faith to Paul. Naturally, Paul would want to keep this young man to himself. But he knew it would not be right for him to do so, since he knew his master, Philemon. The right thing for him to do would be to send him back to his master for reconciliation. Yes, he could just write a letter to his master, using his spiritual authority over him to command him to let Onesimus remain with him. But he knew that would be an abuse of his spiritual authority and his relationship with Philemon. He knew that if he did that, he would be trampling on the man’s rights.

So, he would not do so but would instead appeal to the love of Christ in Philemon. And that is what we see in this passage.Now is it the will of God for people to keep slaves? No! But during that era, God did not contend with humanity about making slaves of themselves, though He forbade His own people, the Israelites, from making slaves of their own brethren. Why did God not contend with people on this matter? The reason was the hardness of their hearts. God knew that unless people were recreated and changed from within, telling them not to make slaves of themselves could only fall on deaf ears. But as the gospel prevailed in the world, slavery diminished in acceptance.

And today, slavery is no longer socially or politically acceptable in any part of the world.In any case, at that time, there was no law against having slaves. So, Paul would not trample on Philemon’s right to own slaves. But since Philemon was a child of God, he appealed to the love of God in him in dealing with Onesimus, his run-away slave. As I pointed out already, Paul could have commanded this man to forgive Philemon and to also release him to him as a helper. But he respected his right and wanted him to function on the basis of the love of God in his heart. So, he appealed to him to welcome back Onesimus and reconcile with him, out of love for Christ. That way, all of them could continue to freely fellowship together as members of the same family, the family of God.You can see that even though Paul was an apostle, he respected the right of Philemon to make his own decision about the matter of Onesimus.

We too should learn to respect people’s rights to make decisions about their lives. We should not treat them as morons and keep trampling on their rights to decide for themselves, just because we have spiritual authority over them. Instead, we should respect their freedom to make choices that they believe are right for them. And we should respect their right to privacy.Yes, we may know what is right for others to do in certain situations of their lives. But we must still respect their rights to choose what to do for themselves. We can encourage them. We can warn them. We can open their eyes to see the will of God for them. But as long as they have come of age, we must learn to respect their right to choose for themselves whatever they want in life. That way, they will not do anything because they are forced or manipulated or threatened to do it but because they want to do it.

What I am saying, all along, is that if someone does not want us to help them in certain areas in their walk with God, we just have to let them be. We see our Lord Jesus dealing with us in this same manner. He does not cross whatever boundaries we set for Him in our lives. Look at what is written to us in the bible about this: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20NIV)The Lord is not speaking to unbelievers here but to believers.

Interestingly, often, this Scripture is used to address unbelievers to give Jesus a chance in their lives. And that is not a bad thing. But in the context, the words were originally said to believers and not to unbelievers. These believers were shutting the Lord Jesus out of certain areas of their lives. So, He had to tell them to open the door for Him to come into those areas of their lives and fellowship with them there.Well, He is saying the same thing to us today. He is telling us to allow Him in every area of our lives. Yes, He lives in us by His Spirit. But He may be living in us as guest, a visitor. There are, in fact, many believers who think of the Spirit of God as a guest in their lives.

They do not see Him as the owner of their lives. But He is the owner of our lives. And we must treat Him as such.However, He will not force Himself on us. So, the right thing for us to do is to willingly offer ourselves to Him. The word God tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God, holy and acceptable, which is our logical act of worship.

In other words, the willing offering of our bodies to God is the right thing for us to do. We have to realize that it is the right thing for us to do and do it.Well, we see Jesus telling the brethren in Laodicea that He is standing at the door and knocking and that if anyone hears His voice and opens the door, He will come in and fellowship with that person and they with Him. But what if the person does not hear the Lord knocking at all? He won’t force His way in. Instead, He will keep knocking until the person hears and opens the door. Or what if the person hears and does not open the door for the Lord? He won’t still force His way in.

He will just let the person be until he realizes the need for him to open the door for his Lord to come in and fellowship with him.So, if you do not want the Lord to address you about your marriage, for instance, He will let you be. But you can be sure that you will be a failure in that area of your life. If you don’t want Him to address you about your finances, He will let you be. Or if you are stingy and selfish and do not want Him to talk about these things, what is He going to do? He will let you be. Even if it is your health that you don’t want Him to touch, He will let you be. He will not force Himself on you. If He had been forcing Himself on all men, then, all men would have been born again already.Truly, the Lord wants to fellowship with us in every area of our lives. He does not want us to live alone in any area of our lives. That, in fact, is what God has called us to. He has called us into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ (1Corinthians 1:9).

He has called us to live with Him and for Him to live with us. He does not want us to walk through life alone. Instead, He wants us to have His companionship every moment of our lives.However, we may not have His companionship every moment of our lives. That, of course, will not be because it is unavailable. Rather, it will be because we are not permitting Him in our lives. That is how the Lord functions. That is how we also must function. We must learn to knock the door of people’s lives instead of badging in. Jesus knocks before coming into any area of our lives.

Why does He do that? That is respect. He is showing that He respects our rights to choose for ourselves. He may not respect us for the choices we have made. But He respects our right to choose whatever we want to choose for ourselves. We may choose badly. We may choose what will destroy us. But since He has given us the right to making choices for ourselves in certain areas of life, He knows that He has to respect our right to make those choices.Just think about this: God has given us the right to make our own choices in certain areas of our lives. We, of course, do not have absolute rights to choose in life. There are things that are chosen for us by God or by people. But there are areas of life in which we have been given the right to choose for ourselves. And God is not taking that right away from us. He is not trampling on it at all. He will always respect it. He will not contend with us in using it. But He is always concerned that we choose right.

How painful it must have been for Him, then, to watch us use the right He has given to us to hurt ourselves and others badly? Well, God will continue to come to us, asking us to open the door of every area of our lives for Him, so that He can come in and lead us to choose right. He will show us what is right and what is wrong and tell us to choose what is right. He will show us the difference between life and death and also show us to choose life. He will show us the difference between health and death, between wealth and poverty, and also lead us to choose that which is right for us. In like manner, as I have been saying, we must respect people’s privacy and also their right to choose whatever they want for themselves. It may hurt us badly that people are making the wrong choices.

But we still have to respect their right to choose for themselves, if they will not permit us to help them choose right. A man once told me that he had resolved to maintain a private life and to shut those of us who were his brethren out of his home. And I told him right there that I would respect his choice, even though I knew it was a terrible one. I also went on to inform the brethren to respect his privacy and not visit him uninvited. Now was I happy to do that? No! But that’s what the Lord Himself would do.

So, if people do not want you to help them in certain areas of their lives, you have to let them be. That way, neither they nor God will be able to hold you responsible, if they should fall away from the grace of God. Let us pray.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Your hard work or His generosity | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: January 08, 2025 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 7, No. 35

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

“”But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’” (Matt 20:13-16NIV)

Those were the words of a landowner that our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of in a parable of His. According to the parable, this landowner had gone out very early one morning to hire people to work in his vineyard. And when he got his first set of workers, he agreed to pay them a denarius at the end of the day’s work. So, they went into his vineyard and began to work. (Cf. Matt 20:1-2)

Then, some hours later, he went out again to get more people to work in this same vineyard and told them that he would pay them something fair at the end of the day’s work. So, they also went to work in his vineyard. (Cf. Matt 20:3-5)

However, as this man could clearly see, the people he had brought in to work for him were not enough to get the day’s job done. So, he kept on going out to bring in more people to work for him till the very last hour of the day. And at the end of the day’s job, when it was time to pay his workers, he instructed his foreman to pay everybody the same thing, including those who worked for only one hour. This, of course, infuriated those whom he had hired during the early hours of that day. They felt that it was unfair of him to pay them, who had worked hard all day in the hot sun, the same wages as those who only worked for one or three hours of the day. So, they began to grumble against the man. (Cf. Matt 20:5-12)

Now were they right to grumble and protest against this landowner? Judging from a human point of view, we might say that they were right to do so. But judging from God’s point of view, they were not right to protest or grumble at all. Why?

Well, as we see in our opening text, the man paid them exactly what they had agreed to collect from him when he was going to hire them. So, he did not cheat or defraud them at all. He only gave them what they had bargained for.

But in dealing with others who worked for him that day, especially those who worked only for one hour, he did not pay them according to their labour but according to his generosity. Why did he act like that? We are not told in clear terms in the account. But it could be that he was impressed by their perseverance in waiting until they got a job.

As the account goes, before he brought these men into his vineyard to work that evening, he had asked them why they were standing in the market place all day long doing nothing? And they had told him that it was because nobody gave them a job. So, it was not because they were lazy and unwilling to work that they stood for a whole day in the market place doing nothing. Rather, it was because nobody gave them a job to do.

Now these men could have gone back home in the afternoon of that day, since nobody was going to hire them. But they did not. Instead, they decided to wait until the very last hour of the day to see if anyone would still eventually hire them. And their perseverance paid off. Someone came and hired them, even though he knew that they would only be able to work for one hour. Not only that, that person decided to pay them a whole day’s wages when they done working for him. And that shows us that it pays to persevere in doing the right thing.

See, doing the right thing may not immediately yield us a good result. But if we don’t give up on doing it, God will surely make it pay off, even in what we might call the last hour. So, don’t turn away in anger, discouragement or disappointment from doing that right thing you are doing. Don’t give up on it because nobody is paying attention to it or showing any interest in it or in you. Just keep on doing it and trusting God. And when the time is ripe, He will do for you what will let you know that doing the right thing is never a waste of time.

In any case, why does the Lord share this parable with us? He shares it with us to show us how God rewards people in life and in His kingdom. And how does He reward them? First, He rewards them according to their labour. Second, He rewards them according to His kindness and generosity. And it is the one that they desire out of these two, then, that will determine how He rewards them.

In other words, if you want Him to reward you on the basis of your hard work and diligence, then, He will do so. The only thing is that you may not like what you will get. But if you want Him to look beyond your labour and reward you according to His kindness and generosity, then, you can be sure that what you will get will be beyond what your years, months, weeks or days of hard work can ever bring to you.

Which, then, is it going to be this year? Will you want God to reward you according to your hard work or according to His generosity? As for me, I will want Him to reward me according to His kindness and generosity.

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 2024 Pastor's Desk

Who told them to leave? | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: March 10, 2024 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 45

Pastor J.O. Lawal
Pastor J.O. Lawal

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be made abundant to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am glad to welcome you to another week of the month of March 2024. My prayer is that God will fill your heart with adequate and complete knowledge of the right steps to take to walk in victory over the current economic and security problems of our country, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

It is no news that our country is really facing very serious economic and security challenges. And it is only God’s intervention that will see us through. That is why we, who know Him, must not stop praying to Him until our joy is full over the nation. Remember that our Lord Jesus tells us to ask until our joy is full. So, as long as our joy is not yet full over our nation, we must keep on praying to God for her. (Cf. John 16:24)

But then, while we eagerly expect God to intervene and save our nation, we, as individuals, also need to know the right steps to take to flourish and not be destroyed by the problems of the nation. And the only person that can show us what to do is God. So, as we are praying to Him for our country, we must also be praying to Him for ourselves. We must be praying to Him that He will fill our hearts with the exact knowledge of what to do to walk through this trying period of the nation and come out victorious. And if we will sincerely do so, He will surely answer us and guide us in the way we should go.

Again, remember that the word of God tells us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, to acknowledge Him in all our ways and to not lean on our own understanding. That way, He will lead us in the path of victory. It is sad, however, that even many among God’s people are no longer counting on Him to guide them in the way they should go during this period. Instead, they are relying on their wisdom and understanding. And those who are functioning like this are abound to suffer disgrace, sooner or later, if they are not shown mercy by God. (Cf. Prov 3:5-6)

Remember the story of Naomi and her family members. They all left the land of Israel for the land of Moab because there was a very severe famine in the land. But who told them to leave? Was it God? We are not told that at all. But we are told that Naomi ended up regretting what they did. That was because she was the only one of them that came back home alive. And even though she came back alive, she came back with nothing. (Cf. Ruth 1)

But consider the case of the Shunammite woman, whose son Elisha had raised from the dead. There was a time that she too left the land of Israel with her family because of famine. But did she lose her family members or her possessions where they relocated to? No! Instead, as we are shown in the bible, when the famine was over, she came back with her people, alive and well. Not only that, the king commanded that everything she had left behind be given back to her, including all the money made on her possessions. (Cf. 2Kings 8:3-6)

Why was this woman favoured like this? It was because the steps she took to leave the land during that period of famine was commanded by the Lord. Look at what the bible says about that: “Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.” The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.” (2Kings 8:1-2NIV)

Did you see that? That woman did not just run away from the land with her family members because she felt it was the right thing for her to do. Rather, she left the land because her spiritual leader, Prophet Elisha, told her that it was the will of God for her to do so. So, she was simply obeying the command of God. No wonder she did not regret it.

We too will not regret it, if we will allow God to lead us during this period of national crises instead of jumping here and there to do anything that comes to our minds or anything that others around us are doing. And He will lead us, if we will pray to Him to do so. How? It may be through the Scriptures, through visions or dreams, through angels or through our spiritual leaders. But God will surely lead us to prosper, in spite of everything, as long as we keep our hearts open to be led by Him.

Do have a splendid week.

Copyright © 2024, 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@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2024 Pastor's Desk

Delivered from all his fears | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 18, 2024 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 42

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I welcome you to another week of the month of February 2024 and pray that God will rid your heart of every thought of fear that is paralysing you and keeping you from taking the right steps to experience the prosperity that could be yours in life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

In the parable of the man that gave his servants money to work with, which our Lord shares with us, the reason the servant that did nothing with the money he was given did nothing with it was that he was afraid. For years, preachers have taught us that the reason he did nothing with the money given to him was that he considered it too small for him, compared to what others were given. But there is nothing in the account that says or suggests that. (Cf. Matt 25:14-30)

First, as we see in the account, what this servant’s master gave him was much, even though it was a talent. That is because, during that period, a talent was a lot of money. Second, his master gave him and his fellow servants money according to their individual ability (Matt 25:15). So, it was not because the money given to him was too small or was not as much as what others were given that he did nothing with it. According to him, he did nothing with it because he was afraid of losing it (Matt 25:24-25).

In any case, because this servant allowed the fear of losing the money he had been given to possess him, he became blind to every opportunity that he could have utilised in using the money and multiplying it. So, while his fellow servants were multiplying their own talents, he was busy with irrelevancies, things that his master would not ask him questions about. That, of course, was how he lost his talent to one of those that worked hard with their own talents and also lost his place before his master, instead of being promoted. (Cf. Matt 25:24-30)

What is this teaching us? It is that fear paralyses. Fear opens people’s eyes only to failure. And when all you can see is failure, there is every tendency that you will forget that you have God and that He can show you how to turn failure around to success. So, you will find yourself giving up and surrendering to defeat, death or poverty.

But you don’t have to surrender to defeat, death or poverty. None of us has to surrender to these things. Yes, we may be confronted with all kinds of fear because of the circumstances of our lives or of our country. We may be confronted with the fear of hunger, the fear of our children’s school fees, the fear of house rent that has not been paid, the fear of an illness that is troubling our body, the fear of some unpaid debts, the fear of a business or job that is failing in our hands, the fear of a coming examination or the fear of losing someone dear to us.

Whatever form the fear we are confronted with may take, what we need to do is to talk to God about it. And He will handle it for us. David, in one of his psalms, says, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” (Ps 34:4NIV) Did you see that? When David sought the Lord about everything bothering him and making his heart afraid, He delivered him from all his fears.

How did the Lord deliver this man from all his fears? We would not know, for he does not tell us in detail. But his testimony is that when he sought the Lord, he was delivered from all his fears. So, if you did not know before, know now that God is able to deliver you from whatever fear you have that is filling you with depression, making you sick or making you want to run away or commit suicide. All you need is to seek the Lord’s face about it. And He will deliver you from it, open your eyes to see His provisions for your experience of success and victory and also give you great testimonies to share.

Have a splendid week.

Copyright © 2024, 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@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: When your background is irrelevant|Fire in my bones

fire in my bones
fire in my bones
Date: December 13, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 31

“Where you began will seem unimportant, because your future will be so successful.” (Job 8:7NCV)

Recently, I congratulated one of my church elder brothers who was just awarded a doctorate degree by one of the prestigious universities in the land. And though the news met me as a surprise, I was really happy and grateful to God for him. Why? First, it was because I remembered where we started from. It was a little town that you could not find on the map of Nigeria of those days. It was really a rural place then and still won’t be considered by many as an urban centre today. Yet, against all odds, some people have risen from that same rural place to become great and mighty in the country. 

So, where you started from in life is not really what is important but where you eventually rise to. You may have started from an obscure and unknown place in life. But once you become successful and great in life, only few people will bother to find out where you started or how you started. What they will be concerned about is how they can be a part of your success or benefit from it.

Second, I was surprised at the news of his doctorate degree award because when we were still the young boys of the church, he did not look like someone that would go on to become an academic. Yes, he was one of our role models then, someone that would master anything he set his heart on to learn. But I personally still did not see an academic in him. Yet, at this moment, what I saw or did not see in him years ago is irrelevant. He is already what he is by the grace of God. 

And there is nothing anybody can do against that.What is the point of that? It is this: that you do not have an impressive look or beginning does not mean you are not loaded with God’s grace to become great and mighty here on earth. So, don’t let how you look or where you are taking off prevent you from dreaming great things for yourself in life. 

Instead, determine to take advantage of the grace of God to utilise to the full all the beautiful things He has deposited in you. And if you will do that, only God Himself can tell how far you will go and how high you will rise in life.Now that, of course, is the point being made by one of Job’s friend (Bildad) in our opening bible text. And though he was misapplying it at the time, we cannot run away from the truth it is communicating. What truth is it communicating? It is that your future can make your background irrelevant. 

In other words, what becomes of your life in the future can make your background, social, academic, financial or spiritual, irrelevant. What, then, will become of your life, when all has been said and done? Will it make your natural or spiritual background irrelevant? If it will make it irrelevant, in what way will it make it irrelevant? Is it going to be on a positive note or on a negative note? The future that that dear church elder brother of mine came into has made his natural background irrelevant on a positive note. 

Everyone will now relate to him on the basis of his new status, a doctor of philosophy, not on the basis of the littleness or insignificance of the town in which he was born and raised. But the same thing could not be said of the prodigal son. He was born and raised in wealth. But all of that, at some point, became irrelevant, since he failed to make the most of it in building a place of greatness for himself in life. (Cf. Luke 15)

Well, the point is that when the story of your life is finally completed, what becomes of you is what will really matter and not your background. My prayer is that you will be led by the Spirit of God to make the most of everything He has provided for you to be all that you can be in this life, irrespective of your background, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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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.

Copyright © 2023, 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: 07085711280)

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2022 Pastor's Desk

They won’t ask or wait for your permission | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: November 27, 2022 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 30

Pastor J.O. Lawal
Pastor J.O. Lawal

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 year. My prayer is that your heart will be strengthened and humbled to allow God to fully take charge of your life, so that it is only His works and not Satan’s works that will be finding expression in it, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

In Revelation, chapter 3, verse 20, John gives us this great outcry of our Lord Jesus to the church of the Laodiceans: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev 3:20NIV) Why would the Lord need to be knocking the door of any Christian’s life? Is He not our Lord? He is! And as our Lord, is He not supposed to be inside our lives and sitting over all our affairs? He is! Why, then, would He need our permission and cooperation to come in and fellowship with us in any area of our lives?

The reason is simple. The Lord does not force Himself on people. On the contrary, He allows them to think for themselves and decide whether they need Him in their lives or not and act accordingly. That explains why the whole world has not been saved. The Lord will not force His salvation on us. We will have to agree that we need salvation and that we cannot save ourselves from the things destroying us unless He saves us.

But then, it is one thing for us to come to the Lord for salvation, it is another thing for us to allow Him to utterly save us and to eternally keep us safe. And how will this be possible? It is by giving Him room to lead us in every area of our lives, not keeping any part away from Him. As God’s children, He is already living us, for we are His temple. However, that He is living in us does not mean that He is in charge of our lives and all our affairs. That He is living in us does not mean that He will not have to knock the door of certain areas of our lives to see if we will permit Him to take charge of them.

We all know ourselves. We all know whether we have given our Lord Jesus room to control us in every area of our lives or not. We all know those areas of our lives in which we have totally shut Him out because we don’t want to hear what He has to say to us about them or because we believe we can handle ourselves in them. What we may not know, however, is that our Lord Jesus did not die for us to be Lord only over a few areas of our lives. Rather, He died for us to be Lord over every area of our lives.

Also, our Lord Jesus did not rescue us from the devil and his hosts so that He could become Lord over just some areas of our lives. Rather, He rescued us so that He might become Lord over every area of our lives. Therefore, if we will not willingly permit Him to take charge of every area of our lives, if we are shutting Him out of our lives or some part of our lives, simply because He will not force Himself in, then, we can expect the enemies of our souls that He saved us from to seize the opportunity to come back into our lives and renew their works. And they will not knock or wait for our permission if they are coming in. They will just come right in, with or without our permission.

Look at what our Lord Jesus says about this: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Matt 12:43-45NIV) Did you see that? The devil and his demons are always looking and checking out for where to rest. And the only reason they will not be able to make our lives or any area of our lives their home or resting place is for them to see that it is already occupied and governed by the Lord Jesus.

But if they should come around to examine our lives and find them or any part of them empty and unoccupied by the only one who has authority and power over them, they will not lose time at all to gather forces to take charge of that part of our lives. Then things can only get worse for us in that part of our lives. And if we still hesitate to allow the Lord to step in and take charge, it will not be long before the works of these evil beings spread to other areas of our lives.

Now perhaps this is the situation with you. Instead for things to get better in certain areas of your life where you are encountering challenges, they are not just getting worse but also beginning to affect other areas of your life that have been peaceful. Then you need to check yourself to see if you have not shut the Lord Jesus out of some of your affairs. And if that is the case, the only solution is for you to repent and open the door for Him without delay, so that He can do that which only He can do and restore your peace and joy. But if you remain adamant and insist on not allowing Him, then, be ready to welcome more of Satan’s works in your life and affairs with or without your permission.

Have a splendid week.

Copyright © 2022, 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@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)