By Ighomuaye Lucky. O
The general overseer and founder, God’s Greater Grace General Assembly, Intl Incorporated, Benin, Rev Sunny Akenbor, said believers must leverage on God’s given opportunity to get to their destinations in life.
He disclosed this while speaking on the topic:”Opportunity for greatness” during the Sunday church service in Benin City.
Rev. Akenbor, taking his scripture reading from the book of John 5:7, said the man by the pool of Bethesda explained his inability to get into the water when it was stirred by the angel saying, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another stepped down before me.”
Akenbor said the verse highlighted the man’s helplessness and his inability to access the healing waters for 38 years adding that, such golden opportunity was missed for such a number of years until Jesus showed up in his case.
He said some believers are in where they are for years because of their inability to recognize and utilize their opportunity.
The clergyman said this shortcoming has also made them keep using their physical strength and other wherewithal to ensure things work out, yet, the outcome is very insignificant compared to those who saw, identified and utilized their opportunities.
“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all”, Ecclesiastes 9:11.
The clergyman pointed out that there are certain things that can be done by a believer if such wants the floodgates of opportunities to be opened for him.
He said believers must shun stinginess and embrace the act of generosity like the woman of Zarephath who gave her last meal to the servant of God.
He said God sends prophet Elijah to her home in Zarephath (a town in Sidon, outside of Israel) during a drought, instructing her to provide him with food, even though she is preparing her last meal for herself and her son (1 Kings 17:7-16).
He said despite her dire circumstances, she obeys, and in return, God miraculously provided her with an endless supply of flour and oil, sustaining her and Elijah through the famine. Later, her son dies, and Elijah, through prayer, resurrects him.
He also talked about Abraham who entertained strangers without knowing they were angels.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it”, Hebrew 13:2
He said the duo took advantage of the opportunities to help and were rewarded bountifully for it.
He further said to be at the right place at the right time and saying the right words at the right time are some of the vital ingredients that spur up opportunities, therefore, christian faithful must take cognizance of those essential elements for their own good.
