28th November 2019
CHURCH MEETINGS
David Abankwah
READ: 1 Corinthians 11:18
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
-Hebrews 10:25 | KJV
Once upon a time in my life, I used to be a very stubborn child. One of the things I used to hate in my life was the word called ‘church’. While my mother would be busy preparing herself for church meetings, I would also be devising strategies to leave the house so she can’t drag me along like a luggage. So when she calls ‘David, where are you? Are you ready?’, and there is no response, she knows that, I have done it again. David has left the house because of church. What was so absurd excuse for my absence on Sundays was that, I used to chase down lizards. At times I used to go to the riverside with my hook and line to catch some fish.
I didn’t like to find myself inside the church premises at all. I saw those who went to church as people who were wasting their time. It was not even church that I wasn’t used in attending but school too. Sometimes we had church services and all that in school, and I didn’t like that one. There was one time my head teacher had to send in some strong boys to pull me along. That day he put some sense at my back with a cane I will never forget. It is true what the Bible says in Proverbs 22:15, that folly is bound up in the heart of a child but the rod of discipline drives it far from him. I believe that was the beginning of a turn around in my life.
On one faithful Sunday as my friends and I were playing around as we used to, we saw one man approaching us. He called us and began to compel us to church. I accepted the invitation and went to church. The Lord was calling me at a tender age, but Satan also wanted to resist me with all kinds of rebellion and stubbornness. Satan knew that if he could make me busy every Sunday morning, he would succeed in blocking my chances of engaging in church meetings which would bring me near to God. The strategy of Satan is to preoccupy you with all kinds of cleaning, washing, cooking, resting, overtime or projects, he will get you to find excuses to defend your absence, when queried.
As I went to church, there came a time that, I was even awarded as the most punctual child the church has ever had. Because of church meetings, I got an opportunity of engaging myself in a Bible school which was purposely meant for the adults and at the age of 10 years, I had a level A Bible school certificate. There are so many benefits one can get for going to the house of God. That is what David saw and said that, it was better for him to spend a day in the house of God than to spend 1000 days elsewhere (Psalm 84:10). It is better to spend a day in the house of God than to spend 1000 years in the bedroom of your beloved you love so much.
Prayer Diary: Lift up prayers for the gladness of heart not to avoid or excuse yourself from any church meeting so you can benefit from the blessings that come from temple fellowships in the name of Jesus Christ.
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© 2019 David Abankwah
David Abankwah 