Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Thursday he would continue to appreciate the Almighty for his numerous blessings and opportunities given him.
He said He made him a force to reckon with all over the world.
Obasanjo stated these at a mega Thanksgiving Service held in his honour at the Chapel of Christ the Glorious King located within the premises of Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta.
He was installed as the Asiwaju Onigbagbo of the Christians in Ogun State at the service organized by the Ogun State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
He said the only thing that the Lord wants from all His creatures is thanksgiving and appreciation of His abundant blessings on us.
He said: “I believe that thanking Him and giving testimony must go together, thanking Him and giving testimony of what He has done for you, for me must go together.
“But some people get it wrong, they say giving testimony is boasting but here, it says ‘let the nations know, let the world know what He has done for you.’ That is not boosting, that is praising Him.
“That is explaining or heralding what He has done and that is why again, I cannot thank CAN, Ogun State Chapter enough for organising this special thanksgiving and you have said it will be an annual event, I can’t agree with you more.
“Any day, any time that we gather together to thank the Lord is worth it, it is what we should do and it is a good thing to give thanks to Him. It is a good thing and anybody who doesn’t want to do a good thing, it is up to him and his Lord.
“For me, I want to do good things. I want to do what will please Him, I want to do things that will make Him shine His face upon me, I want to do things that will make His presence go with me wherever I go.
“I thank all of you. I just want to read one passage, the passage I’m reading is from 1 Chronicle, chapter 16 verse 8: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name, make known among the nations what He has done.’
“The Lord has done a lot for me, I don’t know about you, He has done a lot for me.
“Those of you who know where I was born, how many of you know Ibogun-Olaogun? The village where I was born is so small that no matter how large you make the map of Nigeria, Ibogun-Olaogun will never appear.
“And yet, somebody born in that village of pure illiterate parents will have the opportunity that I have now, to reach the stage that I have reached, to be used to achieve whatever I have been used to achieve, I cannot thank Him enough.
“I always say this, whatever I have achieved, whatever I have done, I thank the Lord because it is not me alone, there are those who have worked with me, some of them are dead, some of them are still alive and without them, I will not have been able to achieve much. I thank the Lord for their lives.
“On an occasion like this, let us just thank the Lord and keep thanking Him.”
Vanguard
