Pastor Taiwo Odukoya on Sunday, November 29 took to admonishing and encouraging his congregation to always have an attitude of thanks.
“It takes the living to thank and praise God,” he said at the Church’s annual Thanksgiving service. “When we verbally and vocally appreciate God, we reveal His glory to everything created around us.”
Reading from 2 Samuel 6:12-19, Pastor Taiwo went on to explain the secret to King
David’s Constant Heart of Thanksgiving
He noted that there were three things David gave:
- David offered a heart full of gladness. – “You cannot be grateful and despise. You cannot despise and express thanksgiving.”
- David sang praises. – “A grateful heart will always sing.”
iii. David danced on to the Lord.
The preacher went ahead to encourage his listeners to always appreciate the people in their lives.
“Thanksgiving starts with appreciating people,” he explained, using the opportunity to appreciate his wife, Pastor Nomthi Odukoya, his children, the pastorate, workers/staff of the Fountain of Life Church.
He went ahead to encourage leaders and employers of labour to teach their staff to always appreciate others.
“Teach your staff to say thank you. Teach them to appreciate people. A business will fail if there are no customers and a leader will never be a leader if there are no followers,” he said.
On the other hand, he admonished employees to desist from complaints but to be grateful and appreciative of their employers. He noted that a staff full of complaints will slow down the organisation.
Such a person, he argued, is sowing seeds that he or she will harvest in the future.
“A man who cannot say thank you is conceited and prideful,” he added. “You may be offended, but when you let the word of God dwell richly in you, it will generate songs in your heart, when that happens, the bitterness will go.”
The pastor urged the congregation to therefore cultivate the habit of singing, dancing, and thanking God and that they should always be grateful for what they have and avoid grieving for what they don’t have.
“‘Thank you’ is the best form of prayer. It expresses extreme gratitude with humility,” he said.
Did you know that saying Thank You, is the best prayer anyone can pray? God has called us His children to a life of thanksgiving and appreciation. Our verbal and vocal appreciation of God will always attract the blessings and glory of God upon our lives.
