Recently,
I visited the 2016 Holy-ghost Congress Service a yearly camp
program by The Redeemed Christian Church Of God, which had it's
theme as “COMPLETE RESTORATION”. Though I had not planned to
attend this end of the years program but a turn of events redirected
my movement with a group of friends as we set out to witness a life
changing experience of divine complete restoration.
After
a hectic four to five hours journey that witnessed heavy traffic, we
finally arrived at this hollowed mountainous ground with over a
million worshipers seeking for divine miracles to their perceived
problems.
We
quickly settled down to get acquainted to the environment whose
program was heralded by worship and praise from prominent gospel and
fast rising artist. Nathaniel Bassey's “Onishe Iyanu”
reverberated gloriously through the camp as he performed to his
expectant fans and worshipers.
During
the evening hours before the acclaimed General Overseer, named Enoch
Adejare Adeboye, who is known for his amazing simplicity mounted the
pulpit, I couldn't help but notice a certain woman who was amongst
the myriad of church workers positioned on the camp ground ranging
from ushers, security personnels, and sanitation members. She kindly
instructed us to drop our plastic bottles in a waste bin after we
have drank it's content.
Her
devotion to gather this plastic bottles awakened my instincts and a
closer inspection of the badge behind her vest read “TEAM
NEHEMIAH”. Her colleagues milled around her once in a while to
co-ordinate gathering of plastic bottles thrown carelessly on the
camp ground by worshipers.
A
quick calculation and estimation of their activity for just a night
would have resulted in the collation of over thousands of plastic
bottles ready for proper recycling and use in other aspects, which
would finally result in some sort of fund raising.
Restoration
and recycling of waste products seemed to have a productive meaning.
The
bible chronicled various examples of notable stories of divine
restoration like the Healing of Naaman, Captain of the Syrian army
whose leprosy was restored to the glory of God (2Kings 5:1-19), the
amazing story of the restoration of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14), and
the devastating story of Job who was later restored in a double fold
(Job 42:10-17) highlighted the power of divine restoration.
Anything
you have lost will be divinely restored in a hundred folds in the
mighty name of Jesus.
Wishing
you a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year of divine
restoration.
Words by: Josag Femi