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The fruit of the Spirit

Title: Prayer | FruitBearing 8

Series: Fruit bearing

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This morning, I want to further share with you on ‘Fruit bearing’. We have been looking at what Scriptures have to say to us about bringing forth fruit. And that’s because it is the will of God for us to bear fruit, which is referred to in scriptures as the fruit of the Spirit. On that note, we have looked at how to bear fruit. And one main instruction the Lord Jesus Christ gives us along that line is that we must abide in Him. He says, “Abide in me. Unless you abide in me, you cannot bear fruit.” He already describes our relationship with Him as that of the vine and the branches. And as branches cannot bear fruit unless they abide or remain in the vine, we cannot bear fruit unless we remain in Him.

How then do we remain in Him? One main way to remain in Him is to allow His Word to remain in us. We must give room to His Word in our lives. If we will not give room to His Word in our lives, then we will not be able to bring forth the kind of fruit He wants us to bring forth. It’s not about struggling to do this or to do that. It’s about abiding in your source. It’s about remaining connected to your source, the source of your fruitfulness.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the source of our fruitfulness. The child of God must keep that in mind. The child of God must know that. In fact, when somebody becomes a Christian, that’s the first thing he must be educated in. Otherwise, he may struggle. He may struggle in his Christian life, struggling to please God. It’s possible that even you are struggling to please God this morning. You are struggling to be the person He wants you to be. You are struggling to walk in love. You are struggling to be patient, kind, humble, gentle, self-controlled. Something is missing. What is missing is the fact that you are not abiding in your source.

You are not supposed to struggle. I’m not saying you are not to make effort. That’s not what I’m talking about. But struggling to be the person God wants you to be shouldn’t be happening in your life. And it will not be happening in your life if you are drawing from the source of your fruitfulness.

Now as I said before, one way to draw from Him is to meditate on His Word. Keep meditating on His Word. If it’s been hard for you to do certain things that He wants you to do, then, it may just be that you have not meditated long enough on what His Word says about that thing. It may just be that you have not become one with His Word as far as that thing is concerned. So, you don’t need to become discouraged. You don’t need to become disheartened. You don’t need to give up in your quest to becoming what God wants you to become. You only need to give yourself more to His Word.

Solomon says, “If you faint in the time of trouble, your strength is small.” If you don’t want to faint in the time of trouble, what do you do? You get more strength. You go for more strength. So, you need to give yourself more and more to the Word of God. It’s not a one-off thing. It cannot be a one-off thing. And that’s one of the reasons Jesus says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Cf. Proverbs 24:10; Matthew 4:4)

Interestingly, Jesus, when He said that, was quoting Moses. It was Moses that first said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” That means the word of God is your very life; you have no life apart from the word of God. Thus, the word of God is not something you give attention to once in a while or when you feel like doing so. The word of God is something you must daily give attention to. It’s something you must every moment give attention to. (Cf. Deuteronomy 8:3)
So, you must labor to know everything the word of God says about you, about how to live to please God, about how to walk in the light of His presence. You must give yourself to knowing this. You will not know these things automatically. You will have to give yourself to learning from Scriptures what they say about you.

Even Jesus Christ had to do that. Even Jesus had to give Himself to Scriptures. And everything He did was based on what Scriptures said about Him. Even when He was going to describe the life He lived to His disciples after His resurrection, the Bible says He took them to the Scriptures, beginning with Moses, to show them that everything that happened to Him was consistent with what is in Scriptures. (Cf. Luke 24:25-27)

If Jesus Christ had to live like that, in order to live a life that was well pleasing to God, don’t think you can do otherwise and live a life that is well pleasing to God. It is not going to work. So, you must be prepared to give yourself to the word of God every day, every moment, if you are going to bring forth the kind of fruit He wants your life to bring forth.

Then you must also learn to express your dependence in God. Don’t forget Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” That means it is impossible for you to do anything that will please God apart from Him. Again, as I pointed out before, you may do some things apart from Him. You may have been doing a lot of things apart from Him. And there are many people today in the world that are doing all kinds of things apart from him. But the day is coming when they are going to realize that everything they have done apart from Him is nothing. It will be summed up as nothing. It will have no praise from God.

See, for God, it is not just for us to get involved in all kinds of activities — God is also interested in what is motivating those activities. He is also interested in where we are drawing the strength to carry out those activities. So, if you have agreed that apart from Him you cannot do anything, that apart from Him you cannot bear the fruit He wants you to bear, be the person He wants you to be or do the things He wants you to do, then you must learn to express your dependence in Him.

How? Through prayer! I have been talking about drawing from your source in order to live the kind of life God wants you to live. And this is of course something you must be interested in doing. I can’t remember the number of times I have said that while sharing with us in this series. You must want what God wants for you. You must desire to be what God wants you to be. If you don’t desire to be what God wants you to be, it is not going to happen. And the scriptures are abundantly clear about that. God is not going to force you to be the person he wants you to be or to have whatever it is that He wants you to have. You must want to have what He wants you to have. You must want to be what He wants you to be. Because that’s one of the things that will motivate you to go in the right direction.

So, do you want to bear fruit? Do you want to bear the fruit of the Spirit that Christ speaks about, the fruit of love, joy, peace, faith, self-control, patience, humility, gentleness, brotherly kindness and generosity? Do you want to bear much fruit? If you want to, then, you must also be willing to draw strength from the one, the only one that can make it happen. You must be willing to draw wisdom, understand or whatever it is that you may need from the only one that can make it happen.

Therefore, you must be willing to pray. You must be devoted to prayer. You can’t bear the kind of fruit God wants you to be abundantly if you are not devoted to prayer. That’s because there are forces in this life that are working against you. There are forces in this life that do not want you to bear fruit. There are forces that do not want you to be the person God wants you to be. The Word of God is very clear about that. It says that we are in a struggle, we are wrestling, not with human beings but with demons. And you better keep that in mind.

There are people who don’t believe in the supernatural, of course. And that’s unfortunate. Because the supernatural is all around them. There are people who don’t believe in the existence of Satan or in the existence of demons. And that’s unfortunate again because Satan and demons are all around you. Demons are all around us. And I am not saying that to make you afraid. That is because just as demons are all around us, we also have angels all around us. They are coexisting. We too are coexisting with them. They are our neighbors. I’m telling you. Demons are your neighbors. There’s nothing you can do about that, just as angels are your neighbors. They are all around us. (Cf. Ephesians 6:12)

Well, the word of God says we are in a struggle with them. And that’s why we have to be strengthened every moment. We have to be strong every moment. For us to be the persons God wants us to be, for us to live the kind of life He wants us to live, we have to be strong. We cannot afford to be weak. We cannot afford to be feeble. And to access strength, we must be given to prayer. Strength is available in God. You must understand that. Wisdom is available in God. Everything we need is already present in Christ. And since we are in Him, we have access to everything we need. That’s what the word of God tells us. We have access to His fullness.

Paul is talking about this in Colossians chapter 2 when he says you have been given fullness in Christ. It means we have access to His fullness, the fullness of His life. But the point is that we don’t always take advantage of His fullness. It’s something we have to learn to do. If we all are daily taking advantage of His fullness, our lives would have been a lot better.

Now this goes beyond just confessing it. This, of course, again is where certain Christians are missing things. They confess the word of God. And that’s good. They confess the fact that they have been given fullness in Christ. But see, your confession of the fullness of Christ is just a declaration of the truth. It’s not your confession that will make what has happened true. What has happened has already happened. The fullness of Christ is already yours. Your confession of it is not going to make it any more yours, because it is already yours.

Fine, it is good to confess what God says. It’s so that your spirit can agree with that reality. But what has happened has already happened. What ‘is’ is already is. It’s not your confession of it that is going to make it more real. So, confession is just confession. A confession of the truth is just a confession of the truth. You must apply the truth for it to work. If you don’t apply the truth, the truth will not work.

You see, if you don’t take steps on the basis of the truth you know, the truth will not automatically work. Jesus says you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. That is the reality. But for the truth to make you free, you must act on it. Today you have access to the fullness of Christ. You must take advantage of the access that you have to His fullness. And I’m saying that one of the ways to take advantage of your access to His fullness is being devoted to prayer.

So, if you find that certain fruit of the spirit is not manifesting in your life, apart from meditating on what the word of God says about that fruit of the spirit, you must also pray for the manifestation of that fruit in your life. That is because it is supposed to be manifesting in your life. Now this is what James is talking about. Look at James chapter 1, from verse 5, which says:

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (NIV)

Did you see that? It says, “If any of you lacks wisdom.” Now of course, some Christians have problems with this. They believe that James is not reasoning like a New Testament preacher. Why? It’s because Paul says Christ Jesus has already been made wisdom unto us. So, they think that this is conflicting, that the reasoning of the Christian or of the New Testament believer should be that wisdom is already his. And it is true. Wisdom is already yours. Wisdom is already yours in Christ. Christ has been given to us as wisdom from God. He is our wisdom. (Cf. 1Corinthians 1:30)

But the question is, “Do you always manifest that wisdom?” The things you say, are they always words of wisdom? The decisions you make, have they always been decisions of wisdom? The week just ended yesterday. All the decisions you made last week, were they decisions of wisdom? All the steps you took last week, were they steps of wisdom? All the words you spoke last week, were they words of wisdom? You took last week. Were those types of wisdom? Can you confidently tell yourself that everything you did last week was wisdom-based or wisdom-motivated? If it is not so, then something is wrong with your understanding of Scriptures or your application of it.

Look, the fact that the word of God says that Christ has been made to us wisdom doesn’t mean that we are always walking in wisdom. What the word of God wants us to know is that wisdom has been made available to us in Christ Jesus. But we must not know how to access that wisdom. We must know how to access it and utilize it. Otherwise, even though we have access to wisdom, we are going to be doing foolish things.

There are many believers that are doing foolish things; they are continually taking silly steps. It’s not because wisdom is not available to them. It is simply that they are not taking advantage of it or they have not learned how to take advantage of it.

So, James is not saying something contradictory to what Paul says. James is only showing us how to access the wisdom that is already ours. And he says, “If you lack wisdom, if you can see that you are making foolish decisions, that the decisions that you are taking, they are not moving your life forward, what should you do? Talk to God about it.”

Or if you find yourself in a situation and you don’t know exactly what to do. It’s not every time that we don’t know exactly what to do. That’s because the wisdom of God is already present in our lives. But you know, there are times that we come in contact with certain situations and we don’t know exactly how to handle them. You are asking yourself: “What do I say here? How do I decide here? What step do I take here?” You don’t know.

Now you don’t sit down, worried about the situation. That won’t work. You don’t pace the floor, trying to wrap your mind around the situation. Sometimes that may work; there are times that it may not work. Because, of course, if wisdom will be operational in your life, you must learn to think. The word of God also tells us that wisdom will not always readily work in us, if we are not going to use our head. The reason God has given you that mind to think is so that you can think; it’s not so that somebody can do your thinking for you. Yes, of course, you may employ people to do your thinking for you; that’s good business. People do that all the time, employ people to do their thinking for them so that they can think. That’s even thinking on its own, to know that you can employ people to do your thinking for you in certain areas of life.

Well, we are saying that if wisdom will work, you must think, because it is as you think that wisdom is released. When you read the books of Solomon, you will find things like ‘I ponder’, ‘I think,’ ‘I consider’. So even though God blessed Solomon with wisdom, wisdom wasn’t just naturally or automatically manifesting in his life; the man had to use his head for the thing to work.

But even if you are using your head, there are times you still won’t know what to do. You will think and think until you are probably wanting to have a brain damage. Then you can tell that your brain is tired or exhausted. Yet your problem is not solved. What should you do? Pray to God for the needed wisdom!

I said all of that to draw your attention to something, because what James is speaking about here is not applicable to accessing wisdom alone. There’s a principle there that can be widely applied. The word is: “If any of you lacks something.” It may be anything. In this case, he’s speaking about wisdom. But what you lack may not be wisdom. What is not finding expression in your life may not be wisdom. It may be joy that is not finding expression in your life. It may be love. It may be gentleness. It may be humility. It may be self-control. You know from the word of God that this thing is meant to be finding expression in your life, but it is not. What should you do? You pray.

Maybe you have found yourself caustic. People can’t interact with you without getting hurt, without getting injured. There are people like that. Even though they are Christians and attend church meetings, you cannot have a normal interaction with them without getting hurt. They will say something that will hurt you. They will just do something that will hurt you. If you live with them from morning till evening, they will have hurt you a number of times before the close of the day.

If you are like that, something is wrong. That’s not who you are. You are acting contrary to what you are and you need to accept the fact that you are already acting contrary to what you are. The fruit you are bearing is not the fruit God wants to see. And you don’t have to be making excuses for yourself. But you can be doing that. You may not confront yourself with the truth about what is happening in your life, which is contrary to the will of God. You may say, “I’m just who I am. I can’t change.”

See, if you want to make an excuse for yourself for possessing a bad habit, you will have an excuse to make for it. If you want to make an excuse for being impatient, you will have an excuse for being impatient. If you want to make an excuse for having a short fuse, you will have on. At the slightest provocation, you get angry, you get upset, you are shouting, you are screaming at somebody. You can say that’s how you are in your family. You can say it’s just that I don’t like people being cheated. You can say that. You know it’s an excuse. I can’t just tolerate anybody cheating on me. That’s your excuse for having a short fuse.

But the truth is it’s not acceptable. And once you don’t agree that it’s not acceptable, you are not going to deal with it. But when you agree that it’s not acceptable and say, “I cannot continue like this, getting angry every minute. I cannot continue like this,” what do you do? You go and pray. That is because the strength to be patient with people is available in Christ.
Perhaps those around you think of you as loveless or as unfeeling. That’s because it’s just obvious that you are unkind to those around you. The child of God cannot have that kind of reputation. You cannot have the reputation of being unkind. But that may at the moment be your reputation. You’re unkind. You’re unfeeling. What are you going to do about that?

First, of course, you must meditate on the Word of God, what the Word of God says about relating to people. The Word of God already tells us to live a life of love. And the Word of God has shown us that we can live a life of love. The Word of God says God, by His Spirit, has poured His love into our hearts. Romans 5, verse 5, says, “God has shed abroad His love into our hearts.” So, the love of God is in your heart, if you’re a child of God. It is there, resident in your heart. Your life may not manifest it. Your words may not show it. Your look may not even show. But His love is in your heart already.

To say the fact, there’s a look of love. Some Christians don’t have. There is still some wildness in their look. Somebody may be wild before becoming a Christian. And his is one of the ways you know that the Word of God has affected some people. If you knew them when they were not Christians, you could tell that they were wild. But now that the love of God has taken charge of their lives, that wild look is no longer there.

See, if there is no love in you, there is that look that comes with it. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman, that wild look will be there. And it’s uninviting. So, it doesn’t matter where people meet you, they will notice it. Maybe you’re an attendant in a filling station. When somebody is coming to buy fuel, and the person looks at your face and looks at the face of another attendant, he knows where to go. Can you relate?

Now the child of God cannot be like that. You can’t be wild in your look. You can’t. Because the love of God is in your heart. So, if it’s not manifesting, something is wrong. And you can’t be making excuses for not manifesting love. So, what do you do? You’ve got to pray about it. I am saying that if you lack love, you have to pray. Because you have access to love, the love of God. You will only need to pray about it. And it will begin to manifest in your life.

Why are you praying about it? You are praying about it because you have realized that apart from Christ Jesus you cannot manifest love. You have realized that apart from Him, you cannot manifest any fruit of the Spirit. And you want to manifest all the fruit of the Spirit spoken of in Scriptures. So, you talk to Him. You express your dependence in Him by talking to him. You will say, “I want to see this manifestation in my life. You have told me that you have poured out your love into my heart. Now I want to see that love in expression. Fill me with the strength to love. Fill me with the strength to be patient. Fill me with the strength to be humble.” And He will answer you.

Really, it takes strength to do these things, spiritual strength. And you have to draw that strength from Him. But it cannot be a one-off. There are things that told to do in scriptures that are not one-off. It’s not that you do it today and you don’t do it tomorrow. It’s not that you do it for one week and you don’t do it again. You have to do these things all the time.

For instance, how often should you meditate on the word of God? The bible says, “Day and night!” You know what that means? It means all the time. It means when you’re walking in the street, you’re meditating on His word. It means when you sit at the meal table, you’re meditating on His word. Every little chance you get, you meditate on the word of God. You are talking the word to yourself. You are thinking the word to yourself. There must be a commitment to it. Otherwise, the word of God will not find expression in your life.

The same thing goes with praying. We are taught to pray without ceasing. You know what that means? It means praying all the time. It’s not something you reserve for church meetings. It’s not something you reserve for your family prayer time. It is something you do all the time. I try to do that all the time. I’ve not gotten to where I want to be yet. But I want to get there. So, I give myself to praying all the time. And I’m telling you that it is beneficial. But it’s not something you do for one year and stop. This is what you do all your life. Because doing it is what is going to take you to where God wants you to be.

You may not be there today. You may not even be there tomorrow. You may not even be there next year. But you can be there. You can be that person He wants you to be, that man that He wants you to be, that woman that He wants you to be, that husband or wife that He wants you to be, that citizen of your country that He wants you to be. You can be it. But it’s going to be a lifetime devotion. You’re making a lifetime commitment to doing these things.

So, you’re praying without ceasing. You’re drawing from Him without ceasing. Walking in the streets, you’re praying and talking to God. You sit at a table, you’re talking to God. Because as matters of life are coming to you, you’re talking to Him about them. And it will not be long before those around you begin to feel it. And regardless of the forces that come against you, if you are like that, they cannot win. They cannot overcome you. Yes, at some point, you may feel like they’re going to overcome you. But they are not going to overcome you. They are not going to win. They are not going to defeat you.

The bible says those who hope in Him will have their strength renewed. Those who are constantly expressing their dependence on God will always have their strength renewed. They will always have access to the needed wisdom, to the needed understanding, to the needed strength, to the needed boldness.

But this is not for the lazy. The Christian life is not for the lazy. It is hard work. And you have to be willing to do the hard work. But see, there’s nothing you want to do that is harder than what Jesus Christ has already done for you. He has accomplished what God needed Him to accomplish for us. Our own is to access and enjoy what He has already done for us. So, if you are determined to access and enjoy what He has done for you, then, be ready to do that hard work of accessing it.

Let’s spend some time to pray this morning.

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: Have genuine concern for them

fire in my bones
fire in my bones


Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 8, No.15

“Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land.” (Nehemiah 5:14-16NIV)

Those were the words of Nehemiah, as he gave some account of his leadership over the people of Judah. And he penned down these words for us to show us a very important quality of a true leader. And what is that quality? It is a show of genuine concern for people.

See, a true leader does not just lead because he has to or because no one else will do so or because of what he hopes to gain. Rather, he leads because he is genuinely concerned about the welfare of others and also because he believes that he has what it takes to actually care for them. Therefore, where he does not think that he has what it takes to lead others and see them adequately cared for, he will graciously and humbly refuse to lead.

For instance, after defeating the Midianites, the people of Israel requested that Gideon would become their king. But he humbly declined. And why? Was it because he was being modest? No! Rather, it was because he knew that God had not chosen him to be their king but just a deliverer. So, he would not allow them to compel or entice him to take a position in their lives that was not meant for him but for God. (Cf. Judges 8:22-23)

But becoming king over the Israelites would have enabled Gideon to accumulate lots of money, wives, concubines, servants and lands. Yet he would not become their king. And that was because he wasn’t just concerned about himself and what he could possibly gain by becoming their king; he was also concerned about their welfare. He was concerned about what would become of them, if he should take a role in their lives and affairs that God had not made him fit for.

Now that’s how a true leader reasons. He is not just concerned about himself but also concerned about the people. And where he can see that his rights, interests or privileges as a leader will harm the people instead of bless them, he will let go of those privileges or even his position. And that is also what we see in Nehemiah. Though this man was the governor of his people, he would not fully utilise his rights and privileges as governor. Instead, he devoted himself to working for their protection and prosperity.

Why? The first reason was that he could see that the burden of taking care of his office as governor was too heavy for the people to bear. And if he had insisted on utilising all his rights and privileges as governor, he would simply have increased their sufferings. But he would not do that because he had genuine concern for them.

The second reason was that he had the fear of God in him. If he had not had the fear of God, he would still have placed a heavy burden on the people, even though he could see that they could not bear it. All that would be on his mind was that it was his right to do so.

Sadly, we have many leaders all around the world, including parents and church leaders, that are like that. They are always more concerned about the rights, benefits and enjoyment of their positions than the welfare of the people they are leaders over. No wonder a lot of people are suffering in the world today, even though they have leaders over them that are meant to alleviate their sufferings. The leadership over them is not bringing them the comfort they need but is simply adding to their miseries. What a shame!

In any case, the point of all this is that you should learn to show genuine concern for those under you, if you are a leader in any capacity. Otherwise, you are occupying a wrong position and should promptly excuse yourself from there before God Himself removes or replaces you, something that may be too painful for you to bear.

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 Pastor's Desk

Title: Train yourself to be godly

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 16

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great delight that I welcome you to another week of the month of August 2025. My prayer is that God will daily strengthen you in the week and throughout the remaining years of your life to live a life that is well-pleasing to Him. Amen.

As we begin this new week, I want to encourage you with the words of Paul that say:“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1Tim 4:7-8NIV)

What is the first thing this apostle says to us here? It is that we should not waste our time with stories that do not promote godliness and that do not agree with the truth God is saying to us. And there are many such stories from one culture to another. They appear to be saying the truth about life because they have been told again and again for generations. But they are not the truth at all, for they are contrary to what God is saying to us through His holy Scriptures. And if we do not want our lives and souls to be ruined by them, we must stay away from them.The second thing Paul tells us in that text is to train ourselves to be godly.

Why? The first reason is that godliness is not automatic. Yes, we are God’s children and have in us what it takes to be godly, for God has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2Pet 1:3).

But if we do not give ourselves to doing things that will promote godly living, godliness will not manifest in our lives.

Unfortunately, many of God’s people don’t know this. They think once someone becomes born again, he will automatically be seen by those around him as godly. But that is not true at all. If that person will not give himself to the word of God, to prayer and to the fellowship of God’s people, godliness will not be seen in his life.

Also, if he will not begin to consciously take steps to do what is right and to stay away from what is wrong, he will not gain a reputation as a godly person. So, if you want people to see you as a godly person, you have to consciously begin to train yourself to do those things that will promote godliness in your life.

Another reason Paul tells us to train ourselves to be godly is that the benefits of doing so are enormous. And these benefits are not just earthly; they are also eternal. Think about this: there are problems that you cannot have in this world, if you are living a godly life.

For instance, if you are not a drunkard, there are some forms of disgrace you cannot experience in life. But if you are one, you are bound to be disgracing yourself from time to time.

So, if you do not want certain problems in your life, all you need is to train yourself to be godly. Also, if you want God’s praise here on earth and also when you get to heaven, daily train yourself to be godly. And may the Spirit of God strengthen you to act accordingly, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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)

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: The test of patience

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No.14

“On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”” (Acts 1:4-5NIV)

Who gave the command in our opening text? It was our Lord Jesus Christ. And to whom did He give the command? It was to His disciples.What, then, was the command? It was for them to wait in Jerusalem until they were baptised with the Holy Spirit.But exactly when would they be baptised with the Holy Spirit? The Lord did not tell them. He only said to them, “In a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” So, they would need to have faith in Him to obey this instruction.

Also, they would need to be patient in order to see what He had spoken of come to realisation. Now did they wait or not? They waited. And did the Holy Spirit come on them or not, as Jesus had promised? He came on them. But how long did they wait for the Holy Spirit to come on them?

Well, bible scholars would have us believe that they waited for about ten days. Jesus died during the Passover feast. And He showed Himself to these disciples in a period of forty days after His resurrection. Then the Holy Spirit came on them on the day of Pentecost, which was just fifty days away from the Passover feast. (Cf. Acts 1:3 & 2:1-4)

In any case, the point is that for those early disciples to receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, they had to be patient in waiting for Him. No one today has to wait like that to be baptised with the Holy Spirit, for He has already been made available by God to baptise all those who believe in Christ Jesus. But those early saints had to wait for Him to first be poured out on all humanity before they could receive Him.

And if they had not been patient in waiting for Him, if they had left Jerusalem a day or two days before He came, only God knows what would have become of them and of the church of Jesus Christ on earth.Thankfully they waited. And I am sure the Lord chose them because He could trust them to wait for as long as they had to until the Holy Spirit be poured out on them.

Can He also trust you and me to wait for Him in any situation? Can He trust us to patiently wait for Him to perfect what He is doing concerning our lives, in spite of the challenges or opposition we may face while waiting?King Saul could not be trusted by God to patiently wait for Hm. So, even before He failed God, He had chosen someone else to replace him (1Sam 13:13-14).

What happened? Well, once when the Israelites were at war with the Philistines, he too was commanded to wait until Samuel could come and offer some sacrifice to God before he would lead his men to war. And he did wait for seven days, the time set by Samuel.

However, when Samuel was not showing up that seventh day, he got impatient at some point and decided to offer the sacrifice himself. Why? It was mainly because his soldiers were deserting him. But should he not have called all of them to order, as their king? He should have done that. But he did not.Then even if all his men left him, was God not with him? Was God not sufficient to win the battle or war with him alone? How many men did Gideon need to defeat the Midianites of his time? Only three hundred men! Yet he defeated them because he had the consciousness that God was with him. (Cf. Judg 6-8)

But Saul did not have that consciousness. So, he allowed the misbehaviour of his men to make him lose his patience and do something God had not given him the right to do. Unfortunately for him, Samuel showed up just when he finished making the sacrifice. That means the man of God still came the very day that he had said he would come. So, he only needed to wait a little longer that day. And if he had, God would have established his kingdom.

Sadly, he failed that test of patience and lost what he was trying to keep. And we too may end up losing what we are desperately trying to keep, save or obtain, if we will not learn to be patient with God. Yes, we may be faced with all kinds of challenges that will give us the impression that God will be too late to save us or to perfect what concerns us. But as long as we function with the consciousness that He cares about us and will never leave us or disappoint us, we must keep on waiting for Him patiently.

Yes, as the apostles of old did while waiting for the Holy Spirit, it will be good for us to keep on strengthening ourselves in prayer and in the word of God, while we are waiting for God to fulfil His purpose for our lives. Yet we must be determined to patiently wait for Him, even if we have to do so till our time is up here. That is the only way we will not fail our test of patience and be fully rewarded by Him.

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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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Be quick to judge it

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No.13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Title: Misplaced priorities

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: When you are not fit to judge

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No.11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Responding to threats

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 6

“But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” (Nehemiah 4:7-9NIV)

Why were Sanballat and his associates angry that the Jews of their time were making progress in repairing the walls of Jerusalem? They were angry because they would no longer be able to profit from the miseries of those Jews as they used to. And there are still people like Sanballat and his associates today, people who never want others to be free from oppression or poverty because they are profiting from it. Now when such people begin to see you making progress or doing things that will hinder them from profiting from your misery or misfortune, they will not be happy.

Besides, they may even begin to take steps to keep you where you are, where they can continue to profit from your sorrow and pain. And that was the case with Sanballat and his associates. Not only were they not happy with Nehemiah and the Jews because they were making progress in building the walls of Jerusalem and ending all the forms of harassment they had been experiencing, they also began to take steps towards causing them trouble.

How, then, did Nehemiah and the other leaders of the Jews respond to the threat of these people? They responded to it in two ways. First, they prayed to God about it. In other words, they asked God to pay attention to what their enemies were saying and planning against them, so that He may frustrate them.

Why? It was because they knew that unless God kept them safe from the threats and wicked plots of these wicked people, they would not be able to keep themselves safe from them.In like manner, when we are being threatened or harassed, we must learn to pray to God and not ignore what Satan is using people to do against us. Nehemiah and his people did not ignore Sanballat and his men.

Otherwise, they would have been caught by surprise and frustrated or destroyed. And if we too don’t want those threatening us to catch us unguarded, we had better never ignore their threats, however feeble they may seem.

Instead, we should pray to God about them, so that we may always have His protection from their evil thoughts and schemes. Otherwise, we may end up feeling sorry for ourselves when these enemies are through with us.The second thing Nehemiah and his people did was to keep watch on the activities of their enemies, day and night.

Why? It was so that they would be regularly updated on what they were doing and be able to prepare themselves for it. And that was a manifestation of wisdom on their part.See, it is not everything needed for our safety that God will do for us.

There are things He will not do to keep us safe because He knows that He has given us the wisdom, strength and resources to do them. And if we fail to do these things for ourselves, we will not be able to blame Him for not keeping us safe.Keeping an eye on what Sanballat and his associates were doing was something that Nehemiah and his men could do. And they did not expect God to do it for them. Instead, they did it themselves. And it paid off, for it made their enemies see that they were not stupid people that they could easily attack and frustrate.

In like manner, keeping an eye on what anyone threatening or harassing you is up to will let them know that you are not stupid but sharp and attentive.

In fact, it will make them think twice before they take any step against you. And since keeping an eye on them is something you can do, do it, instead of waiting for God to do it for you.

Otherwise, you may ignorantly or foolishly take steps that will make you fall into their traps.Who, then, are you going to blame, if that should happen? Yourself!

So, learn and embrace the wisdom of God to keep yourself safe from all kinds of threats. And may God’s loving eye continually watch over your life. Amen.

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

Title: A ready faith

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 6.

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the second week of the month of June 2025. And I pray that your heart will always be made ready to receive from God whatever good thing He wants you to have. Amen.

As we see in the bible, no one can receive anything good in this life, if God has not provided that thing. That means we can only receive what God has given or provided. If He, then, has not provided something, no one, regardless of how great his faith may be, can receive it. (Cf. John 3:27)

But then, even if God has provided something for us, we too must want to have it. Otherwise, that thing may never be ours, unless we are shown mercy. For example, as we see in the bible, the family of Zechariah and Elizabeth were childless for many years, even though they were righteous before God. That, of course, did not make them turn to some other gods for help. Instead, they kept on praying to God to show them mercy and take away their disgrace. (Cf. Luke 1:5-7)

Now how did I know that they were praying to God to take away the shame of barrenness from their home? I know because, as we also see in the bible, when God sent angel Gabriel to give the good news of His answer to their prayer to them, the first thing he told Zechariah was, “Your prayer has been heard.” So, if we will not faint in praying to God, we will surely receive an answer to our prayer, as long as it is in line with His will. Yes, the answer may take a while to get to us. But it will surely come. (Cf. Luke 1:13)

However, will God’s answers to our prayers always meet us ready? Are we going to be ready to receive from Him what He wants us to have, which we too may have been praying and longing for, when the thing is eventually brought to us? Zechariah was not ready to receive from God the child he had been praying for years for, when God eventually cleared the way for the child to come to his family. He could not believe that God was really going to give them a child in their old age. (Cf. Luke 1:11-20)

Why, then, was he praying to God all those years for a child? He was probably doing so to fulfil all righteousness. And if God had not been merciful to him, in spite of his unbelief, he would have been the reason his wife would remain childless for life.

So, it is not enough to be praying to God to give us something. Our hearts also must always be ready to receive from Him what we are praying for, regardless of how long it takes for the answer to come to us and regardless of how impossible it may seem for the answer to come to us. Otherwise, our prayer for that thing may end up being a waste.Not only that, we must continually give ourselves to the word of God, so that our faith will be strengthened to always be ready to receive from Him.

Mary the mother Jesus, for instance, never prayed to God to become the mother of the saviour of the world. She probably never considered nor took to seriously the Scripture that talks about a virgin that would conceive and give birth to the saviour. But when angel Gabriel came to tell her that she had been chosen by God to be the mother of the saviour, her faith was ready to accept what God had chosen her for. So, she said, “May your word to me be fulfilled.” And it was so. (Cf. Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:36)

In like manner, if our faith is always ready to receive from God, whatever He wants us to have will be ours, even if we have never prayed for it. So, let us learn to daily feed ourselves with His word, so that we may always have a ready faith to receive from Him. And may you and I be strengthened to do so, 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)