Christian Faithful have been challenged to spare a moment to reflect on God’s ceaseless goodness and show gradtitude to God always, especially as the celebration of Christmas and New Year draw close in appreciation of all he has done in course of the year 2019.
Minister-in-Charge (M-I-C), Rhema Chapel International Churches, Port-Harcourt, Pastor Abiola Ajadi, stated this during his brief exhortation as part of the activities marking the Thanksgiving Sunday.
Pastor Ajadi observed that anyone who thinks well will be able to accord God due appreciation, especially in the area of benefits that cannot be quantified. He listed such benefits as breathing in and out of air, God’s protection and numerous others as things taken for granted most times by people.
According to the M.I.C, festival of thanksgiving is one of the demands God has placed on his children, as he anchored his argument on the book of Deuteronomy 16:16. He noted that on occasion such as the declared thanksgiving, no one should appear before his maker empty.
He said that when one gives thanks, it is an acknowledgment of what God had done in the past. On reasons to give thanks, the Minister-in-Charge, recalled how God in defense of his people, the Israelites, had killed the first born of Egyptians and as a show of his providence, he made water to come out of the rock, same way he gave manner to the people to help them enjoy his benefits in a strange land.
But he noted that many gave flimsy reasons for not thanking God in their lives and noted that this was responsible for unthankfulness, which signs, according to him include inadequacies in people’s lives.
In similar breath, he stressed that people who don’t give thanks would not have time for God in their schedule, until when they need him in critical times. But he expressed the confidence that gratitude to God moves him to do more by helping his children in many ways.
Another sign of unthankfulness which the Clergy noted include, when people expected God to help them, and appeared before him with a sense of entitlement. He acknowledged that when God’s children thanked him for little, he will be disposed to do more in their lives.
The 2019 annual Thanksgiving Service at Rhema Chapel International churches Port-Harcourt drew a large congregation who presented different thanksgiving offerings before the altar of God. Men in the congregation led their families, even as departments and fellowships followed suit.
