And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. [Luke 5:5-7]


...we have toiled all the night...

May darkness and night never scramble all the labours of a man in Jesus name. It is not just enough to toil and struggle, I must be asking myself one question, "what time is it?" When the labours of a man are done at the wrong time - the night time, no matter how meticulous and dutiful such labours may be, they become efforts in futility, wasted years, it were better if nothing was done. It were better if a man spends his days just sleeping, doing nothing, than to engage all his energy to pursue a course when darkness has covered his sight.

The night time is the NORMAL fishing time, but God does not expect me to follow protocols, I must follow His voice, I must be asking myself, “What is HE saying NOW!!!”. When the light of God's glory does not shine upon the head of a man, when the light that brightens the way is completely faded and there is no illumination upon a man’s path and direction, oh, that man will labour in oblivion, he will get nowhere, he will make no progress.
When we pierce the dark with fruitless efforts, wisdom demands that we drop our tools and face the reality that lies before us - the darkness must give way, else nothing tangible can ever be achieved. A man labouring with all his strength with blunt knives, though he sees the overgrown weeds that fill everywhere, though he's passionate to clear out the field, his wishes can only become real if he takes out time to sharpen his tools, else, he will labour in futility and fruitlessness. He will do so much but achieve so little, he will squander his strength. Men will call him foolish, he will have much blister palms, he will cut his energy short, and later when the tool eventually gets sharpened, blistered palms will not allow him to handle the sword skilfully again.

Why do we toil and toil and toil, and yet we catch no fishes? A fruitless service does not care how much energy you invested, you're even worse than an indolent figure if all your labours produced no output to distinguish you from the lazy. Of what use is the endless sacrifice if nothing will come out of it? Where are the fishes? If you have no fishes to show for your labours, then it is debatable if you ever lifted a finger in labour. Your laborious input is not the yardstick for measuring your success, it is the output your labours generated.

Why all the labours, and yet there are no souls?, why all the sacrifice when it does not affect the hearts of men?, why the endless toils?, you even do much more and almost die in the attempts, yet, they're like forgotten waters that flow under the bridge, leaving no marks behind to trace its days. I can hear God’s silent answer:... IT'S BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN TOILING IN THE DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT...

At the night times, there are no revelations, the voice of The Lord is absent, the darkness of the night has clouded out the illuminations of His presence, and you're left to grope alone without His light to guide your path. Many times we think it is by doing much physically that yields results- we think in quantities. Many times we believe our strength and intellectual excellence can carry us through. Sometimes we trust our judgments and expertise, "I've been fishing for many years and I know the intricacies, I know it is only in the night that fishes come out", we boast. But alas, because the voice of The Lord has been drowned in the dark nights of our souls and He has left us to trust in our emptiness, He leaves us to grope in the darkness of our strength without His words shinning through and lighting our parts. We toil endlessly by following rules, whereas, His blessings have never attended our ways...


...I have toiled ALL NIGHT... The night has been the usual period of toiling. We have been toiling all night. We have been toiling according to our usual method, using our normal strategies, and nobody dares tells us about afternoons or mornings, “those are unrealistic”, we say. Our methods, brains, ways, ideas have been our guide, we have trusted more in what we know than relying on the Holy Spirit, but God is saying, "your method once worked, but now, it is finished, it is impotent, you need Me now, no more your brilliance".

"All night?...” is the normal time without hearing from The Lord. Why not discard your old methods, wash your nets, forget yourself, and WAIT IN HIS PRESENCE FOR WHAT HE WILL BID YOU DO? Many, because nothing seems to work despite several efforts, we have now retorted to traditions. In those days while we spoke about Jesus to neighbours, treasures flowed endlessly from our lips. Men who listened to us received grace, they wrote down mysteries till their notes were filled, but these days, men come and go back the same without a treasure to scoop, so they write nothing down. Instead of us to get back and wait upon The Lord that the fountain may break forth again, we angrily descend upon the people telling them they're not serious. We compel men to do and mimic what the Holy Spirit did in our midst ages ago when He was still here. We covet the glories of old, but depend on our human strength to produce those spiritual results. We demand obedience by force with our lips, even though our lives don't command it...

O Lord, today I need your words to come unto me. I need Thee to speak into my darkness, I need to hear from you even when my work looks easy to my common sense. I dare not engage my will because my brain tells me so. I dare not climb without my Guide, else I will labour fruitlessly. I know that when the light of Jesus lightens my pathway, even the most difficult and laborious tasks is a complete walkover, I will no longer go in my strength. Just a word from Thee, and the fishes will break my single net cast into the sea of the world. Countless souls will be won not because I preached, not because of my expertise, not because of my labours..., but because Your voice went forth and pierced my darkness, and turned it to day. But as long as I keep trusting in my energy, expertise and brilliance, I will labour till I drop, and seemingly easy tasks will turn to be my hardest task without a victory song.


…Nevertheless…:

Nevertheless means, 'that notwithstanding', 'it negates everything correct that I have learnt concerning this issue', 'it doesn't make sense', 'it looks foolish'.
Imagine the time Jesus asked Peter to catch fishes: This was during the day, The location was close to the shore and not in the deep waters, There were thousands of eyes watching, (A normal person would say, “you think fishes are so daft and want to get caught?”)…, but that was Christ’s own time while His words went forth.

Christ's ways may completely negate common sense, yet, nevertheless, THAT IS THE SOLUTION TO YOUR FRUITLESSNESS. I must agree that 'let God be true and all men liars, I must concede obedience unto Him, I must agree that whatever I know, is wrong in the face of Jesus' instructions.

Many people never tell The Lord "nevertheless", they begin to cook up ideas, they bring in several manmade methods, they subject people to rules and regulations, they enforce disciplinarian methods on those who don't win souls, they begin to open register to carnally monitor attendance and growth, they introduce competitions and price giving, worldly methods that spur men to work tirelessly to get a prize, they set goals and limits, the Spirit of The Lord is completely sidelined, men begin to labour to meet leadership demands and please ordinary men, the fear of leaders replaces the fear of God, they labour to increase church, never to increase the kingdom of God, everybody wants to be the best by out shinning others..., you hear them saying..."our parish must build the biggest church", "our zone must outshine the other zone in giving", "we must come first in singing"..., carnal competitions, carnal comparisons take over men, several business models are introduced in running the church, and the Spirit of God is discarded...


...At thy word...

Do we search the word of God these days to know the mind of God when we no more get results (fishes), or we simply deliberate over issues with different suggestions by committee members, and we establish new stringent rules?

Why didn't the fishes come in the first place?

- Was it a problem with Simon's net? Why then do we want to discard the net and go and get better, sophisticated nets?

- Was it the problem of expertise?, Why then are we strategising to send Peter back for training on fishery?

- Was it a problem of baits? Why are we suggesting sharper baits...?

- Was it a problem with the sea, the weather, the unseriousness of Peter
…....., No, it is NONE OF THAT...

I discover that several times when there are spiritual issues that we should wait and depend on the Holy Spirit, and wait upon God in prayers for, so that "a word" from God can come forth, we normally bring in artificial, carnal, manmade, ‘common-sensical’ methods to try and solve spiritual problems. We proffer different irrelevant solutions, we blame Peter, we blame the nets, we try to enforce strictness, we change strategies, we engage ourselves in more stringent labours, we get more attractive baits...
Many times when converts are scarce, instead of leaning upon the word of Christ, which is the hook that draws men's hearts to God, we compel men to go and labour. We employ business methods we have simply substituted the Holy Spirit for. All God requires, is a complete broken spirit that breaks down in His presence and cries that The Lord will send the rain again.

When Jesus was ready and had seen the submission of Peter, He simply gave His word again, and the same Peter (not another), the same net (not another), the same ocean, the same boat, everything the same, was what God used, the only difference was that "GOD SPOKE".


And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.

Whao! This is great. What baffles me here is that all this happened just at the instance of The Lord. They engulfed a great number of fishes that their nets brake and not even 2 ships could contain them. The ships even began to sink.
There was NOTHING that Peter did to enclose these great multitudes, he only listened, heard God, and obeyed. It's not because Peter tightened his belt.

It is not my loud publicities that will draw multitudes into my net. It is not my brilliant strategies, it is not church growth principles that I employ that will draw men in their thousands to Jesus. The main issue for me, is to sit at the feet of The Lord and hear definite instructions from Him. I must tarry at His feet until He speaks into my barrenness and fruitlessness before I can launch out to fish men.

Friend, there is nothing wrong with your ship. There is nothing wrong with your net. God has no controversies with our structures, our approach, our organisation or organogram. No matter how perfectly erected a structure is, it is just like a skeleton that stands strong and solid, but without life and breath, it is useless. I can change the skeleton and make it more robust, its bigness or robustness still does not bring life. I must come to an understanding that UNTIL GOD HIMSELF HAS WORKED, ALL HUMAN EFFORTS ARE VAIN. No matter how committed, devoted, zealous, those cannot do the works of God, God's work is spiritual, it will take God ALONE to do it. All HE needs from me is to beseech Him until He sends the rain.

Here now is the big question: "What did God say?, have you heard Him", or you're just using zeal and energy to push on? Are you attempting great things for God, but you don't know God's statement about it?. God expects me to abandon everything if I don't want to end in dust and ashes, and kneel before Him in tears UNTIL He reveals His mind unto me and gives me a clear word that will propel me into His perfect purpose. Selah.