Oluwafemi Ifesanmi

Have you ever seen fishermen at work? I watch a documentary about them and found out how rigorous the work could be; casting out their nets, waiting for a while and when the harvest comes: extra effort is required to draw the net into the boat and that’s for the mechanically assisted method how much more when there is no machine to assist. The normal phenomena in life as concerned with bountiful harvest is that there must be a required input of hard work; almost like saying “What you sow, you’ll reap.” Over time, we’ve come to realize that this is not always so for at some point in life, we have heard, seen or somewhat experienced demeaning results irrespective of the large effort inputted. Such result could be due to human influence or at times just beyond control and one begins to wonder - why? The story of St Luke 5:1-7 tells of a similar situation turned joy. There we see some full grown hard-working ‘professional’ fishermen who had Toiled All Night and caught nothing but dirt in...

[Lesson from John 21:3-17] “So when they have dinned, Jesus said unto Simon Peter – Simon, son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these?” What made Jesus say this to Peter? Perhaps we should take it from the onset when he encountered Jesus. [Luke 5:4 –11] Having toiled all night, Peters fishing business was beginning to flop, Jesus came into the scene and intervened then Peter had a humongous profit- one at which he probably never had before for it was indeed net-breaking.  Seeing this he was afraid and was not sure if he was good enough for the Master. Jesus told him to fear not for He would make Peter fishers of men. That sounds like a good business deal. Peter seeing all that was done might have thought ‘why would I settle for this large temporary profit when I could ALWAYS have the source of unending wealth (referring to Jesus) with me. So Peter left all the fishes and followed Jesus, but we see Peter after a while still having the ‘what’s in it for me attitude’; he said somet...

The story of ‘Blind Bartimaeus’ is one quite full of lessons if only we take time to peruse it. At the beginning, we see Jesus coming out of Jericho with His Disciples and great multitudes following Him. Its a quite general perception that the Leader with a large entourage is more often than not usually among the crowd at the forefront and having a larger crowd following. Mr Bartimaeus who at this stage of his life had adapted to the norm of each day’s hustle and bustle, perceived something strange – a larger crowd than usual which to him signified something extraordinary happening. Verse 47 says “when he heard that it was Jesus”, which means he most likely had inquired about the event and his colleagues might have been there with him as well. Having confirmed his enquiry, he cried out for mercy. His cry was quite perturbing that those around him tried to silence him but to no avail; until he got the attention he required. Mark 10: 46-52. Lessons learnt: This man understood the sit...

Time... what an indispensable commodity it is; given freely and equally to all and can't be altered. The same 24 hours is allocated daily to everyone whether high/low, rich/poor, strong/weak,.. whatever the status. Right from the process of fertilization, everyone partakes in the non-mandatory yet compulsory race of time. We all want to grow - engage in things which exhibit growth in various facets. However, some unexpected occurrence could arise and growth gets hindered. One gets the more irated when even after so much struggle/toil to achieve a specified growth, an extremely minute progress is experienced or an impotent result or worse still retrogression is experienced. Yet, time waits for no one. What do you do in such situation. The book of John chapter 5, verses 5 to 7 gives a story about a man who had an unexpected delay in time; it says: " And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had bee...

This is the story of one Man Yet it is the story of us all This is not just a story It is history This is not just history It is His Story Are you a child of sorrow? He was the King of Sorrows Do you think yourself depressed? He dined with anguish of soul in the house of Death Are you deserted of hope? He was acquainted with grief Do you think yourself lonely? He had no single friend in His greatest hour of need Do you think yourself sinful? All of sins converged in Him God’s Cup of Wrath was fully emptied by Him Clothed with our sins He was MADE sin And became accursed of God Behold the Man; who hath known sorrow like Him? All ye Depressed, look unto Him All ye deserted of hope, behold your King of Sorrows He has triumphed See, He brings joy, He leads your fears captive He comes bearing gifts He took your diseases and sorrows Became cursed for your blessings Judgement and mercy in Him accomplished All of sins debited in Him All of Grace only He can cr...

The human mind is most usually characterised with Anxiety. It’s not a sin to be anxious actually, but at times, we are usually anxious and worried about things beyond our control. Be it concerning Financial matters, or relationship or whatever... One thing is sure – Things need / take time to grow. God has created all things and made them beautiful; HE has set the course for growth in all things; therefore, bypassing this order most-often usually lead to grave consequences in future. How do I mean? Taking the case of Adam as an example; he was a fully grown Man - but had the brain of a small child. He was inexperienced, hadn’t learnt anything and was given the duty of a manager. Thus; he failed. However, since plan A (Adam) failed, GOD created a plan B: which is why Jesus (although being a God) came to the world in form of a child. He had to experience the growth and passed through all forms of struggles, hunger, temptations, trials, pain… For verily he took not on him the nature o...

Several years before I saw a movie titled Pinocchio. The character Pinocchio was a wooden puppet made by a skilled old carpenter named Gepetto. One thing led to another and a fairy gave life to the wooden puppet.  Pinocchio, although still a wooden puppet began to see, walk, talk, and ear like a normal boy. The old man fell in love with it and treated it like his child. Pinocchio got lost one day and his father went in search of him, he traveled across seas to other countries and on the way, his boat capsized and he was swallowed by a big fish. After several scenes, Pinocchio also got swallowed by the same fish and he met his father in the belly of the big fish, it was a great reunion for them. The scene of the fish's belly was quite interesting. Although being a fable, it was a fairly big room partially flooded probably to the ankle. I remember seeing a table and I think a lit lantern... well it was obvious that after several weeks in the belly Gepetto had started living comfo...