A 40-YEAR PILGRIM ARRIVES CANAAN FOR THANKSGIVING

"Exodus 15:1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.

15:2 The LORD is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation: He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt Him.

15:11 Who is like unto Thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"

In the ensuing cacophony associated with untimely translation and unplanned relocation, my birth certificate was lost. But my mother told me that I was born on Saturday 13th August 1977. And I have scientific and historical reasons to believe her.

For me I think it is symbolic that I was born on the Sabbath day, not as a law breaker, but as a servant of Grace. It is this 40 years of grace that I here testify. It is the grace that has kept me throughout the journey from Egypt to Canaan that has given me cause to celebrate on this glorious day.

Curiously early in my life there were moves, spiritual and physical against my life. Some of which were sent as disguised messages to me. It was one of such vows that I shall not live that compelled me, even as a teenager, to provoke God's Almighty Power over my life and affairs.

I had told God then, "if these people succeed with their threats, then they are the real God and you, their creation"
As could be imagined my simple prayer touched the most sensitive nerve of Yahweh Adonai - His glory! And so I have survived to date not because I deserve to be, but because it is now a matter of God's sovereignty to preserve me to the fullness of my years - the very one He had in mind when He conceived me. To be sure, those who have dared God on this aspect of my life have met with instant consequences.

Apart from preserving me, God has also been very kind to me: by the circumstances that surrounded my childhood, my highest academic qualification ought to be FLSC but today I'm a graduate of Economics and presently working on a Master's degree.

I was born in a village but I have travelled far and wide across Nigeria and out of her. I didn't have a job 7 years post NYSC but today God has taken that scourge away.

I was born of barely literate parents but God is daily improving my literacy. I have not built a house yet but I pay my rent. I don't have a car yet but I can drive myself around when occasion presents itself. Of course more often than not you will find me in a government spec vehicle! Isn't that grace?

Can I truly exhaust God's abundant mercies to me? A few more will suffice:
One woman gave birth to me but today I have at least ten women who have shown me the love of a mother and almost in a competition to be the alpha mother! At a point I lost all my elder brothers but today God has blessed me with numerous elder brothers and friends of the same category.

I may not have invited us yet to honour my wife in a grand ceremony but I have parents inlaw tailor-made from heaven!
What more shall I say? God has been kind to me and deserves every praise I can muster.

Circumstances beyond my control brought me to Lagos last Friday but this has once again proven that Jesus plans for me! While there I had thought I would be with Kirk Franklin in Lekki to worship the King of Kings in a praise event there.

However a lingering desire to worship in Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land before Faith Theatre is completed caused me to change my mind. It was when I decided to pen this Thanksgiving that I saw the symbolism of being in Canaanland, OTA on this auspicious Sunday! Halleluyah!
And so I arrived Canaan today on a day of worship, after a 40-year journey! Incidentally, the theme for today's service is Covenant Day Of Long Life, and the Communion Service specifically for longevity! If you think God is not interested in the small details of your life, you are thoroughly mistaken.

Since 2012, I have prayed that my first child should be a girl, for no particular reason. When she comes, she shall be named Emmanuella Amariah! This shall be part of my continuing thanksgiving to an amazing Father: Emmanuella, to celebrate God's presence in the life and family of him who was most undeserving and Amariah to remind me of God's integrity towards me in spite of me.

Make no mistake, the God who has shown me this amazing grace is Jesus, by whose blood I live; whose life I now live having exhausted mine a million times over.

On this day I pray that the Council of Heaven cast down their crowns before the Great I Am, forty hearty times!
I pray my friends and family to celebrate Jesus with songs of praise, for all the glory belongs to Him! And the shout in the land shall be grace, grace, grace!
Thank you Jesus!!!
Halleluyah!