Tag: Fire in my bones

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: No reason to boast

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No.12

“For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (1Corinthians 4:7NIV)

Those are Paul’s words to us. And what is the first thing he points out to us? It is that we are not better than anyone else in the world. We may feel that we are better than some people because of certain natural or acquired advantages that we have over them or because of our accomplishments. We may also think we are better than others because certain people in our lives are saying so.However, the wisdom of God tells us that we are not better than anyone else, regardless of what we or others think.

Why? The reason is that there is nothing we have that we have not received from God. The bible says the following to us:“A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.” (John 3:27NIV)”Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

Did you see that? Every good thing we have or have accomplished in life has been given to us by God. And if we look or ask around, we will see that there are people that are better than us in terms of natural or acquired advantages but who are not as accomplished as we are. In like manner, there are people who do not have the kind of advantages we have in life but who are more accomplished than us.

What this is telling us is that having certain good things that others do not have or accomplishing feats that others have not accomplished is not a function of being better than anybody. Rather, it is a function of God’s grace, God’s gift. Therefore, we have no reason to boast about our possessions or accomplishments. Also, we have no reason to look down on anybody. That is because there is nothing we have that we have not received from God.

If we, however, fail to grasp this and continually give glory to God, we will find ourselves thinking that we are better than others and even boasting about it. And what will God call that? He will call it pride. And there is only one judgment from God for pride. It is downfall.Remember that it was pride that brought Satan down from the height of glory God had originally placed him (Ezekiel 28:12-17). It was also pride that destroyed King Herod, the one that beheaded Apostle James (Acts 12:20-23).

So, before you start acting in pride towards others and boasting that you are better than them, remember these things. And may God continually prevent you from orchestrating your own fall. Amen.

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

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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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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Be ready for your season

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 9

“Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:15-16NIV)

Who is Paul talking to here? He is talking to me. He is talking to you. He is talking to anyone who cares to listen.Now what point is he making to us through what he says? It is that we are to live wisely. And why are we to live wisely? The reason is that we are living in evil days. That means there is enough evil in the world every day to destroy any of us or to make our lives meaningless. And if we are not living wisely, then, our lives can only amount to nothing, that is, if they are not prematurely cut short.

So, we must be determined to live wisely. And how do we live wisely? As Paul goes on to tell us in that text, it is by making the most of every opportunity. That, of course, means that there are opportunities for us in these evil days to make sense out of living. And it is only those who make the most of these opportunities that will be ready to attain the heights God wants them to attain in life when the season for their elevation comes.

As we are told in the bible, God has seasons for lifting people up to different levels of greatness, importance or usefulness in life (1Peter 5:6). But it is not everyone that is always ready when the time comes for God to lift them up or help them.

For example, when it was time for God to end the wilderness experience of the Israelites that Moses brought out of Egypt and take them into the Promised Land, they were not ready to go in. But all the difficulties they had experienced, all the words God had spoken to them and all the miracles He had performed for them were meant to make them ready for that moment Yet they were not ready for it. So, they ended up spending forty more years in the wilderness before the Promised Land could be theirs to possess and enjoy. (Cf. Num 13-14)

In like manner, the word of God that comes to us day after day, the miracles we are experiencing or witnessing and the various circumstances we are going through in life are all supposed to make us ready for the seasons in which God will elevate us.

But if we are not making the most of them to strengthen our faith and to train ourselves to be responsible, faithful, patient, humble, loving and forgiving, we will simply find out that we are not ready when our season of elevation comes to us from God. Then who knows how many days or years it may take again for us to be ready, that is, if we ever become ready.

So, instead of complaining about your life’s circumstances, however ugly they may seem, learn to apply the word of God and His goodness to you in making the most of these circumstances to make yourself ready for your next season of elevation. That was how Joseph functioned. He did not waste his time and energy in complaining about the miseries of his life.

Instead, he used God’s favour that was on his life to make the most of the opportunities of his evil days to prepare himself for his season of elevation. And when that day came, he was more than ready to ascend. May that be your experience too in every season of elevation that comes to you from God.

Amen.

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

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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: Do not harden your heart

Series: From Pastor’s Desk|Number: Vol. 14, No. 8

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the last week of the month of June 2025. My prayer is that your ears will never be deaf to whatever the Spirit of God is saying to you, so that you will always be safe in living the life God wants you to live. Amen.

In the book of Hebrews, chapter 3, we are given this admonition: “So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…”” (Heb 3:7-8NIV) Who is speaking to us here? The Holy Spirit! And what is He saying to us? He is telling us that as long as it is called today, we should not harden our hearts when God is talking to us. In other words, we should not insist on doing our own thing, when God has already told us what He wants us to do. 

Now why should we not harden our hearts, when God is speaking to us? The reason is that doing so will surely result in disgrace, pain or destruction for us. Remember what is said in the bible about the Pharoah that would not let the children of Israel go and worship God. It is said that this king hardened his heart and would not do what God commanded. He continually turned deaf ears to what God was saying to him. And how did that end for him and his people? It ended very badly. (Cf. Ex 8:15&32)

But then, someone may say, “But it was God Himself that hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Why, then, should anybody blame him?” It is true that God hardened the man’s heart. And why did He do that? First, it was because the man himself was never ready to listen to what God had to say. That is showing us that our unwillingness to listen to what God is saying to us can only result in the hardening of our hearts. That means each time we choose to turn a deaf ear to what God is saying to us, our hearts will become more hardened to His truth. Then it will become more and more difficult for us to repent and save ourselves from His judgment. (Cf. Ex 9:12; Ex 10:20&27)

Another reason God hardened Pharaoh’s heart was to teach us that only He has the power to make people repent. And if He does not use this power to make them repent, there is nothing that is said to them or done for them that will make them repent. Remember that each time God’s judgment came on Egypt because of Pharaoh’s stubbornness, he would ask Moses to plead with Him for him and his people. But the moment he experienced some relief, he would harden his heart again. 

So, experiencing God’s goodness or mercy in great ways is not enough to make anyone listen to Him. He Himself has to work on our hearts to make us listen to what He is saying to us. Otherwise, even if He puts us in Eden, as He did with Adam and Eve, we will still harden our hearts against Him and force Him to drive us out of there.

All of this is why, as you go this week, learn to make it your prayer everyday that God will keep you from hardening your heart against whatever He is saying to you. That way, you will always be safe to enjoy His goodness and mercy in life. 

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: Act your part

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 8, No. 6

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” (Luke 15:31NIV)

Who said these words? It was the father of the prodigal son that said them. And who did he say them to? He said them to his elder son?Now why did he say these words to the young man? The reason was that he was complaining that he was not being fairly treated by him.

Look at what he actually said to him:”But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ (Luke 15:29-31NIV)

What do we see from this young man’s protest to his father? We see anger. We see frustration. We also see bitterness. But should he have been angry, frustrated and bitter in this sense? No! Why, then, were these things present in his life? They were present there because he would not live in the consciousness of who he was. They were present there because he would not act his part as the elder son of his father and heir to everything the man had.He, as he pointed out to his father, had been slaving himself for him for years.

In other words, he had been doing all kinds of jobs for the man, including those meant for servants or slaves. But who asked him to act like that? Was it his father? It could not have been his father.Truly, he was meant to obey his father in everything good and right. But he was not meant to do that as a slave but as a son. In other words, he was to do whatever his father asked him to do, not with the consciousness of someone being used but with the consciousness of one that would in the long run enjoy the fruit of all that he was doing.

Mind you, as his younger brother pointed out when he came back to his senses, even their father’s servants were living in some measure of luxury (Luke 15:17). Therefore, neither of them had any legitimate reason to be living like a slave.

Unfortunately, he did not fully appreciate this. So, he would not act his part and enjoy himself as a son and heir to all that their father had. Instead, he was waiting for his father to command him to enjoy what already belonged to him before he would do so.

But he, unlike his foolish younger brother, had the training, discipline and wisdom needed to enjoy his inheritance. All he needed was to appreciate the fact that all that his father had belonged to him, especially since his younger brother had already received his own share of the inheritance, and act accordingly. But he would not learn the need to act his part until his foolish and reckless brother came back home and was treated to a great celebration by their father with part of his own inheritance.

In like manner, until certain people begin to enjoy in very unusual ways the benefits of our relationship with God or our relationships with some people, we may not wake up to the need to cherish what God has done for us or given to us. And where that is the case, the best thing for us to do is not to get angry, bitter or frustrated. That will only make a bad situation worse. Instead, it is to begin to act our part in such relationships and stop denying ourselves the enjoyment of what is ours.

So, start acting your part as a child and heir of God in every situation you find yourself. Yes, lay claim on everything that God has already said is yours without hesitation or fear, in the name of His Son Jesus. And it will be yours to enjoy. Then start acting your part in all your relationships with people.

Yes, fully act your part as a father, mother, husband, wife, child, sister, brother, church member, employer, employee, neighbour or citizen, as the case may apply. And may God readily bring about circumstances that will wake you up to begin to act your part in all your relationships, so that you may fully enjoy all that God has provided for your enjoyment through them. Amen.

Cheers!