Lover of my soul

God is simple, very loving, and understanding. The generations of humans might have made God look hard, inconsiderate, and unloving, yet they can’t change who God is. He is a good God, Who cares for everything He created. He is a loving, caring, and very responsible heavenly Father Who planned the best right from the foundation of the world for His children, whom He made in His own image and after His own likeness. He is ever faithful and good. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He gives good things always to His beloved children. Get to meet with this God for yourself.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

James 1:17

– Funmi P. Adebayo
(c) 2022

Book Review: The Shepherd, The Overseer, and The Soul

Author: Funmi Adebayo
Pages: 150
Publisher: The Christ A Poet Concepts, Nigeria.
Reviewer: Adeleye Olaoye, Ubamara Ezenobi, Zoe Ziva, Ebubechi, Clement Victor

Funmi Adebayo, the author of this book, gives us this gem of a book through the light of the Spirit of God penetrating into 1 Peter 2:25 and Ezekiel 18:4. The Shepherd, Overseer and the Soul is a book aimed at building foundational knowledge on the role that the soul of a man plays in the life of a believer. The Author has broken this book down into 7 Chapters to help relate his message.

The author started by making clear that the human soul is eternal. It cannot be dissolved by death, unlike the human physical body. The soul is the representation of a man in the spirit realm. Therefore, what becomes of the soul of man is the reality of that man

He then further compared the mind as a signal analyzer. An example of a signal analyzer is an Oscilloscope,  it’s a device that analyzes signals of different forms and has a wide application in different fields and professions today. From the author’s analysis, the mind acts as the signal analyzer while the heart takes the final decision.

If man wasn’t already dead spiritually then God wouldn’t have bothered about giving him a new spirit and a new heart.

Funmi presents a compelling argument by clearly stating that it is not enough to just claim you believe in Jesus Christ. You must also prove that by obediently following Him. If you truly believe in Him, you will hear Him and do His sayings. God’s desire for His children to be tamable and coachable just like the sheep because hardly deviate from the path channeled by the shepherd and are much sensitive of intruders or strangers.

We are not of the world. Yet at the same, that does not mean we are not meant to be in charge. This is quite a salient point made in the book reminding us that we are the light of the world and while we remain here we are to be in charge by and for our Lord Jesus Christ and make known the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and powers among the celestial ones.

Talking about God as Shepherd, Funmi posits that God is completely charismatic in his leadership; strong communicator, empathetic and relatable, confident, motivational. This in return gives us joy, loveliness and makes resources available. His final words were “As we have returned to the Shepherd of our soul, let us trust Him for the best in life. Remember He is the good Shepherd, Who gave His life, His soul, for us His sheep. (John 10:11.)”

ONESIMUS

That you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave—a beloved brother… Philemon 1: 15-16

I’m a fugitive fleeing from punishment
A slave mortgaging with my destiny
Transecting my soul with transgression

A man finds me whose father
sentenced to death two thousand years ago
Says his name is Grace and he won’t let me go


Wraps warm hands around me
till his love fills me to overflow
Like rainwater filling a cistern

” I died“, he says but now I live forever
And if you let me, I can wipe away your past too, forever.”

Ayooluwa Olasupo Ìmísí
©2021

Redemption Memo

It began like this…

Clad in purple and linen, cat-walking with stiletto strapped feet,
I miss my steps

Fall into a gully of mud
Stumble into the midst of men mouthing profanity

Stench ooze from me like box of putrid egg

I become crafter of maleficence, of deeds done in darkness

Yet, I am of tender days than to perpetuate impurity
You, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.

Lord, seems mother said you do not appose your eyelids like the sons of men?

But why are these befalling me
Or why should I be falling?

Like Martha, this is how I feel:
Lord if you had been here, my soul would not have been ensnared in the tempter’s trap

Now I come with a bunch of sins, my back bent into a hunch

Have mercy on me, Lord, have mercy and vanquish this vile!
Let these things cease, like when you stilled the storm

Will you discard the memento of your purchase?
The one you stamped by your blood on the tree, like Rahab’s scarlet cord hung over the window in Canaan?

Up till now, the spies are over the gate of my soul, watching, waiting to devour & divide me as a spoil—this moribund mortal

But the redemption of my soul is costly,
And in it, you promised sin shall not have dominion over me

This is why tonight, I recite to you the memorandum of my redemption
I hope you heed my cry and help me.

Ayooluwa Olasupo Ìmísí
©2021

Can I trust you?

Can I trust you?
Trust you enough to behold my nakedness,
To come before you bare-
With engraved scars and a broken soul,
Can I trust you will hold my brokenness,
And make a sculpture out of me,

Can I trust you?
Trust you enough to let go,
And drown me into your vessel,
Guiding me through the waves life throws at me,

Can I trust?
Enough to abandon all I have built,
Pillars of sweat and blood,
And follow you to the promised land,
Though alien to my eyes but familiar to my heart,
I hear how it calls out to my spirit,
And sings sweet melodies of what my future would be like!
This rhythm soothes my soul,
But fear has gripped me by my spine
And has crippled my faith and numbed my feet
So I ask, Dear Lord,
If I give you my hands to hold,
Can I trust you?
That you will never let go
Until these songs of the future
Become a reality I dance to!
Can I trust you?

Adeleye Olaoye
©2021

THE MERCY THAT BROKE ME

I was Confused, I knew my acts were wrong
but worst, I was caught
and no excuse was permitted
my execution was at hand
knowing what’s at stake
I couldn’t stop tears from flowing even If I tried
I was among they that accused me
hand in hand with the Law
I brutally slit my soul and cried as I bled

Behind, around and within me stood my accusers
yelling and jeering at me
the sounds of their voices aching my heart and soul
I was pushed with sticks from behind and pulled violently by the law
my wrists bound with its ropes tightly knotted
sighs of agony escaped through my clenched teeth as I was pulled
couldn’t shut my ears to the scorns and insults
I was paraded naked for them to laugh at and spit on
those who had been with me in the act condemned me even more
my sin was announced as we moved through the streets
the voices of those behind, around and within me hand in hand with the law accused me
They brutally slit my soul and watched me bleed

As we approached the temple
I could see him faintly through my tears-blurred vision
I had heard of him but
the words he said were too good to be true
My accusers hated his guts
though they’re powerless against it
it was his words against their world
they hated him more because he Claimed to be The MESSIAH
His name was and still is Jesus Christ
each time I saw Him teaching the multitude
I would wondered if he saw through me
and what he would say to me if we ever had an encounter
I was called out of reminiscence by the voices of my accusers
accounting my sins before Him as they eagerly await His judgment
while they stood relaying my sins before him
I bent down my head in shame and tears filled my eye
He bent down likewise and started writing something on the ground
which made it obvious, he wasn’t interested in all the accusations placed before him
he stood up only to vindicate me from my outward accusers with these words:
“He who is without sin among you should cast the first stone”
Surprisingly, They were honest enough to admit none is sinless
As they dropped my case along side their stones and stepped away
He stood up knowing I still accused me with support from the law
He said, “Where are your accusers, hath no one condemn you?”
I replied rather soulful “No one”
as the knowing hit me that I was standing alone
then he vindicated Me from myself and from the law
saying; “even I do not condemn you… go and Sin no more”

Just like that! I wondered
I was broken inside, not by fear but by Love
He didn’t even look at me with judgments in his eyes
but with love
I felt like a child in the warmth of a Father embrace
He gave me hope
I knew then Jesus loved me regardless of what I had done
There I decided that I was never going back to shame,
for the love is strong enough to restrain me
I knew that I would no longer be accused and condemned
Not by any man, not by the Law, not by me
Because Jesus Himself had told me EVEN I, DO NOT CONDEMN YOU
Hand in hand with God’s Love, The Grace of JESUS has set me free
Tended my wounded soul and watched me spring up to life in Christ
Hallelujah!

PearlyThoughts
©2021

Inner strength

The task is enormous like Mount Horeb
But the strength inside is small

Looking for strength for the task
Searching for strength for the mission

Stumbled at a gym center
Thinking with it I will gather strength I need for the task

But that only helped to build my physical muscle for bodily profit

Went to the rich and highly placed for strength
But feebleness is what characterized them

A voice came and said, “I am the strength you need.”
Heh! “Strength is now a person not a feeling or force”, said my soul.

A brother also confirmed once that, “he can do all things through this personality who strengthens him.”

My strength must be Jesus Christ, Him alone the very strength I need to move mountains and subdue the earth.

Brightobong
©2021

EVEN IF FOR A SMILE

As I gaze the blue sky with my tired eyes
Swimming in the ocean of my mind
Word draining and words building
My tired soul in complete disarray

Will I rise again like these ocean waves?
Renewed with strength that won’t cave in
But this weary soul needs some hope
My tired mind, helpless as all look lost

Would you like some pie sir, a whisper?
My eyes alight with a new glow at the smile
A petite brown haired girl with green eyes
With the brightest smile I ever saw

Yes please, little smiling one I croaked
I stretched forth my tired hands
My grieving soul a teary-eyed. My wife and
My little girl will not return, alas

Oh what a pain untold to lose your world
But this smiling one renewed my hope
Not to end it on this deep blue sea
But to start all over again even if for a smile

Galatians 6:10 “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith

Ajegbomogun Olufunke
©2021