LIFE – REALITIES MINISTRIES

Reset your life focus | Pst. J.O. Lawal | May 29, 2022 | Vol. 11, No. 4

Beloved: grace and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the year, which is the transition week between the months of May and June. I pray that your heart will continually be strengthened to take seriously whatever ministry God has given to you in His kingdom, so that you will not fail Him and lose your reward. Amen.

Our Lord Jesus once said this to His disciples: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” (Cf. John 4:34) On another occasion He also said to them: “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” (John 9:4NIV) Why did our Lord speak like this? First, it was because He knew that God had given Him a ministry to carry out here on earth. Second, it was because He had a sense of responsibility. And this was driving Him to take the ministry God had given to Him seriously. Third, it was because He knew that He did not have forever to do the job God had given Him. So, if He did not give His ministry the attention it deserved, He would not complete it by the time His time here on earth was up.

In like manner, each of us too has received a ministry from the Lord. Each of us has a job or a set of jobs that God has assigned him to do for Him and His kingdom here on earth. That is what the bible tells us. It is on us, then, to know what the ministry we have received from Him is and to begin to carry it out diligently and with the intent of finishing it on time. And Paul, speaking along this line to the Ephesian-elders, says this about himself: “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24NIV)

Can you see that Paul’s focus in life was not at all different from our Lord Jesus’ focus in life? His focus too was to do the will of God with his life and to finish His work. And would that be convenient for him? He did not expect it to be convenient. In fact, he said that the Holy Spirit had already warned him not to expect this to be convenient for him (Acts 20:22-23). However, whether it was convenient or not, he was determined to please God with his life in all ways and to diligently complete the task He had given to him. Why? It was because he knew that the one who called him and set him apart for Himself would always be with him and ensure that he succeeded.

Now if we too would function with the mindset that both our Lord Jesus and Paul had about living for God and doing His work, then, we will never fail God, regardless of how hard or inconvenient things may be for us. But is this the mindset with which we are operating in life? Are we functioning with an abiding consciousness that our lives must be lived to please God and to do the work He has given us, whatever this work may be and whatever the circumstances of our lives may be?

If we are not functioning with this consciousness, then, we are simply wasting our lives. No, it may not look like we are wasting our lives, especially if we are being praised by men for our accomplishments in different areas of life. But a time is coming when, as Jonah eventually did, we will realise that all our race outside the will of God can only end in the belly of a big fish, in a place of utter darkness, where there is no gain, where there is no reward. And that is when we will know that all that we have done has been for nothing. My prayer is that your race and toil here on earth will not eventually amount to nothing, in Jesus’ name. But you too must reset your focus, if it has not been on doing the will of God and finishing the task He has given you.

Do have a great 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)

Handling Peninnah |Pst. J.O. Lawal |November 10, 2021 |Series: Youth for Jesus |Number: Vol. 4, No. 26

“And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.” (1Sam 1:6-7NIV)

The bible story of Hannah is a very popular one. And it is popular because of the prayer she offered to God for a child and the result that followed. But what drove this woman to pray earnestly concerning her barrenness? It was the harassment that she constantly suffered from her rival that drove her to do so.

As the story goes, Hannah was very much loved by her husband, Elkanah. And though we are not told this in the bible, it could be because she had been barren that the man decided to have another wife who would give him children. Having another wife, however, did not make Elkanah stop loving Hannah. He kept on showering love on her, so that she would not ruin herself with depression because of her childlessness. (Cf. 1Sam 1:3-8)

What this means is that if this woman had not had any rival in her home, she may not have taken that bold step of faith to pray earnestly to God about her problem. But she had a rival. Peninnah was her name. And it was this Peninnah that God used to eventually drive the woman to pray to receive not just one child but six children (1Sam 2:18-21).

How, then, did that happen? As the account further shows us, Peninnah made sure life was miserable for Hannah because of her childlessness. In other words, she kept on doing and saying things that would provoke her and make her cry over and over again. Why? Maybe she wanted her to abandon her home and run away or to kill herself or to just do something stupid that would remove her from that family. Only God could have known exactly what was on her mind.

At any rate, the fact is that the world has never had a shortage of people like Peninnah. They are the kind that always use others’ predicaments, handicaps, lack or weaknesses to taunt them or drive them crazy. They are nothing but oppressors. And perhaps you even have one or more of them around you now. They can be a neighbour, a colleague at work or a family member. But you can see that they are doing all they can to make life uneasy or miserable for you because you do not have certain things they have or because you are not able to do certain things they are able to do. They are the Peninnah in your life.

Now I want you to know that such people have no fear or knowledge of God in them at all. Otherwise, they would have known that there is nothing they themselves have that they have not received from God. And since they have received everything from Him, they have no right to boast about anything they have that gives them an edge over others or to despise those who do not have what they have. (Cf. 1Cor 4:7)

But then, should you surrender yourself to their harassment, oppression or threats and put yourself at their mercy? No! Should you allow them to continue to make you mad, depressed or sorrowful? No! Or should you allow them to make you embrace wickedness and begin to fight them back with anything you can think of or lay your hands on? No!

See, one main reason Satan is using such people against you is to make you lose your faith in God. And once you lose your faith in God, you are going to destroy your character and, of course, your life. That way, your enemies would have won. So, don’t give them any reason to rejoice over your ruin or defeat. Instead, act like Hannah. And what did Hannah do? Hannah prayed to God.

Why did she pray to God? First, it was because she realised that by crying all the time and going crazy because of what Peninnah was doing, she was just giving her more power over her. More so, her crying and going crazy could not in any way solve the problem. On the contrary, it may even make her kill herself or everybody in the house someday. So, she gave up on crying and going crazy and instead prayed to God. And she prayed to Him because she knew that He had the power to solve her problem and change her story. Did He, then, solve her problem and change her story or not? He did.

Mind you, as the bible points out to us, from the moment she prayed to God about the matter, the peace of God took charge of her life and she was no longer sorrowful (1Sam 1:18). So, if you too have any Peninnah in your life. Don’t give them more power by crying or going mad because of what they are doing to frustrate you. And don’t allow them to drive you to become like them by embracing wickedness or idolatry of any form. Instead, see whatever they are doing as God’s means of driving you to earnestly pray to Him about the matter at hand. And just as He comforted and vindicated Hannah, He will comfort and vindicate you too, if you don’t give up.

Cheers!

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)