good – REALITIES MINISTRIES

It is for your good | Pst. J.O. Lawal | July 17, 2022 | Vol. 11, No. 11

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of July 2022. May God continually supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Now that prayer was first offered by Paul in his letter to the Philippian church. And why did he offer it for them? It was because they made him very happy through the gifts they had sent to him. As he pointed out in his letter to them, he was not expressing his happiness because he could not do without their gifts. He could do without them. That was because he was a man that had been taught by God to be able to thrive in any circumstance, whether he had plenty or little. (Cf. Phil 4:10-13)

So, even if none of the people God had used him to establish in the truth of Jesus would support him, he would still be fine. God would surely see to it that he was fine. Remember that God once used ravens, unclean birds, to bring His servant Elijah food, morning and evening, during a time of famine, a time when nobody had time to think about him. In like manner, He is able to take care of all His servants who put their trust in Him, whether people care for them or not. (Cf. 1Kings 17:2-6)

However, as Paul also notes in his letter to these Philippians, it is for their benefit to share good things with him from their possessions. Why? First, by doing so, they will be fulfilling the will of God for their lives. God has ordered that those who preach the gospel should live from doing so. Therefore, anyone sharing from their ministries and being blessed through it must also share in their needs. (Cf. Luke 10:5-7; Phili 4:14; 1Cor 9:14; Gal 6:6)

Then, as Paul further points out to these brethren, by sharing our possessions with those ministering to us in the word of God, we will be crediting our eternal accounts with God. So, even though it is men we are giving to, if we do so generously and without grumbling, God Himself will take our gifts as fragrant offerings and sacrifices that are pleasing and acceptable to Him. And once He receives our gifts in this manner, we can be sure that He will reward us for them at the appropriate time and in appropriate ways. (Cf. Gal 6:6-10; 2Cor 9:6-8; Phil 4:18-19)

Besides all this, when we fulfil God’s will for us by giving to those ministering to us, we will not only cause them to overflow with thanksgiving to God for us, we will also move them to wholeheartedly offer prayers for our good, just as Paul does for those Philippians in his letter to them. And who knows what tremendous impact those prayers could have on our lives? (Cf. 2Cor 9:12-14)

If you, then, have not been devoted to sharing good things with the ministers God is using for you, you are not walking fully in the will of God for you and are also cheating yourself of many things that could have been yours. So, wake your heart up to take this matter seriously. Determine how you are going to consistently support them with your resources according to how God has blessed you financially. And may God strengthen you to excel in doing so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cheers!

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)

Remember to do them good | Pastor J.O. Lawal

Date: December 12, 2021 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 10, No. 32

Beloved: grace and mercy be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of December 2021. I pray that God will open your eyes in it to see all the good you are supposed to do for others in the year that you are yet to do and also enable you to do it without delay, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now I offered that prayer for you because it is in line with the will of God for you. In other words, just as it is His will that all those who are meant to do you good this year will remember to do so, it is also His will that you too will remember all those that you are supposed to do good to this year and do whatever good you are supposed to do to them or for them. Therefore, our desire must not just be for others to remember to do us good; rather, it must also be for us to remember to do others good. And there are people that God is expecting us to remember to do something good to. It may be because of certain roles that they or someone related to them have played in our lives in the past. Or it may be because we are just in the best position to help them.

For example, here is what is written about David concerning this matter: “David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”” (2Sam 9:1NIV) Why did he ask this question? It was because he remembered Jonathan, his friend. In fact, Jonathan was more than a friend to him; he was a brother as well. When he was alive, he loved him with all his heart and did all that was in his power to protect him from his wicked and jealous father, Saul.

But then, he died because of the sins of his father, and the kingdom was taken away from their family and given to David. So, at the time David was asking this question, nobody was paying any serious attention to what was going on in their family again. They had become a history to everyone. If David, then, had not made any move to find out if he could be of any help to them, they may never have gotten any serious help or attention in the land again. But by asking that question, he was able to learn that Jonathan actually had a crippled son that had been abandoned by almost everybody. And that was how the young man, Mephibosheth, was lifted out of the realm of shame and poverty and brought into the prosperity of the king. (Cf. 2Sam 9)

Now though we are not told how God rewarded David for doing this, bible accounts show us that, years later, when he was running away because of the rebellion of his son, Absalom, Mephibosheth’s servant, Ziba, was one of those that God used to supply him and his men food. But what if David had not allowed God to use him to lift them out of poverty and shame at the time he did, would the man have had anything to support him in his own days of misery? Even if they had something to support him, would they have thought about him at all, when he had not remembered them or done anything good for them when it was in his power to do so? It was very unlikely. (Cf. 2Sam 16:1-4)

So, if there are people you are in a position to support or do some good to now, and there will be such people, lose no time to help them in whatever way you can. That is because you may not be able to tell how God will reward you for the good you are doing to them today or when the good you are doing to them today will open a door for you too to receive some form of kindness that money or position cannot buy.

Do have a splendid week.

Copyright © 2021, 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)