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In this message titled:Thanksgiving through Love, preached by apostle Benson Enakhena, a senior pastor at El-Shaddai Salvation Family Ministries, you would read about how wasteful is rendering thanksgiving to God with no love in your heart.

Enakhena addressed his members with focus on "The Family" (teleguided with relatable issues), on where thanksgiving begins and where it ends.

The revered servant of God who likened thanksgiving to a man preparing to farm in a year, stressed to the church the need to prepare their thanksgiving for fertility.

On the strength of preparing his members for God's blessing, he stressed further to the church that God's blessing does not come to dust, it does not go to where there is filthiness...you must prepare yourself for it.

Citing the issue of Cain and Abel, Enakhena brought to fore the need for love's existence in the heart of man.

Read the full text of the message below...

There is no thanksgiving to God without love...if you are here to give thanks to the Lord and there is no love in you...there is absolutely no need for the thanksgiving. You cannot wake up as a husband and wife there is no love, joy, peace in you, you frown your face head to the bathroom after that you dress up, carry your bag with a million naira inside an envelop, you are going to the church to give God thanks, you are only deceiving yourself. That woman and man that wore tattered clothes who are happy and showed love to themselves before coming to church, their thanksgiving is more acceptable. When there is no love there is no genuine thanksgiving. Our thanksgiving must start from our home and from our home to our neighbor then the church. The church is the bus stop of all thanksgiving. It is like a man who is preparing to farm in a year...you cannot let rain fall then you start planting. Are you going to plant in the bush? you clear the grass, till the ground, (if you have), pour fertilizer, you are preparing that ground for fertility....you need to prepare your thanksgiving for fertility...and how do you do that? you prepare your thanksgiving for acceptance. Do you know the reason why Cain's thanksgiving was not acceptable by God? God looked at the heart of Cain and find that his heart was wicked and a killer. He said no, I will not take this thanksgiving, your heart is wicked. You can kill and destroy. But he looked at the heart of Abel and said this is the heart I want. As you are here this day to give God thanks, what is in your heart? Towards your husband, what is in your heart? Towards your wife, what is in your heart? Towards your neighbors, siblings what is in your heart? Towards your children what is in your heart? As you are here in the house of God, what are your thoughts towards your neighbor sitting next to you? only the lord knows what is in your heart towards him or her. Check your heart so that your sacrifice will be accepted by God!

Most people will say; I am giving my tithe, I don't miss any of the services in the church but the Lord has not been blessing me, no no no, don't be thinking of the enemy always, go back to your drawboard! I am preparing you this day for God's blessing. God's blessing does not come to dust, it does not go to where there is filthiness. Let no man somewhere lie to you that God's blessing is easy, it is easy but you must prepare yourself for it. You look at your family you want to be the best, you don't want somebody else to be rich, you want everybody to come to you, then you are giving God thanksgiving saying oh God bless me...you think God will accept that your thanksgiving? The bible says think of others better than yourself. That your neighbor sitting next to you, are you sure in your heart, not your lips, you want him or her to be richer than you?

That love of thanksgiving must start in your home. As a man your wife washed your clothes and have it all ironed, you come back and all you could see is the errors, you never see anything good in your wife, you refuse to tell your wife thank you for doing this or that. I dropped thirty thousand naira for food in the house...look at the food is not tasty...I am not going to eat that food....You must give your wife thanks! Let it come from the bottom of your heart. Some men only speak good words to their wives the day they want to lay with them. And some women, when their husbands put money for food on the table, they announce it to their children with mockery...saying: your daddy don drop the ten thousand naira again? e don drop the same money again! after saying that you are moving straight to the church with holiness to take communion, you are going to sing for God and give Him thanks and you want God to respect you? The bible says your husband is your Lord. As the Lord is the head of the house, that is how your husband is your head. You have no iota of respect for your husband, you look at him with disdain because he is lagging behind in his responsibilities, there is no good job... you are going straight to church because you have a good job and you are better, then you think the Lord is going to accept your thanksgiving? no no no.

To the children, there are parents who use their children's school fees to drink, carry women, they tell their wives and children that there is no money. So when your father pays your school fees, learn to give thanks to your parents. A child should not finish his or her meal without thanking his parents (mummy thank you, daddy thank you). Back to the women, if your husband has been giving you N5000 and a day comes he gives you N2500, don't start with complains, give him thanks first! ah daddy thank you oo, you gave us N2500 today, it is well God will bless you oo before you can now say things are very expensive these days oo...We must learn to appreciate others. The bible says if you profess you love me when you do not love the man you see, you are a liar. You pretended into the marriage with no love for your husband, the day he tells you business is good it is that day he will be your honey but when he comes back broke you hiss at him and say this idiot. Know that when you call your husband bad names you are speaking evil into your head because he became your head the day you said "I do", to him. Your husband is your head, his decisions stands as your husband. Take it or leave it. The true reason our wives were created is to become helpmates. Helpmates are not supervisors. Don't become a supervisor in your home. Your husband is the director. You must respect that. Even if you are richer than him you must put that at the back of your mind. And you the men Jesus Christ said: Love your wife as I love the church. How many men here can die for their wives? is that not what the bible says? I repeat, "Love your wife as Christ loves the church", yes, Jesus died for the church on the strength of His love for it. How many men here can die for the church? Some men here can die for their money, girlfriends and concubines but they cannot die for their wives. How do you die for your wives? No one is asking you to go and take a physical bullet. You have only N200, you wake up in the morning you look at the condition in the house and say to your wife "darling please you and the children should manage this N180, let me hold the remaining N20, let me manage God will see me through am coming back", Why do you think your wife will not pray for you from the bottom of your heart? Again, how do you die for your wife? when its christmas, let your wife and the children enjoy the best part of the money. And you as a mother, you transfer the love to your children. When the money is too low, you transfer it to your children. When the money is N3000 and its not enough for you and your children, transfer it to them. When this thanksgiving is perfect in your home, if it is now 50 kobo you have left, you are dancing to the altar in thanksgiving, before you get there God has received your thanksgiving already.

Now that thanksgiving is perfect in your home, you show the love to your neighbors. You prepare N3000 in an envelop about to head to the church for thanksgiving and your neighbor is dying, they need N1500 and you say to yourself "this money is my offerring of thanks to the Lord I cannot touch it", then you are dancing to the altar waving your envelop so that people will see your envelop is fat, vanity upon vanity. That thanksgiving is not accepted by God! You must humble yourself! am addressing you this day not to quote the scriptures, we need to address ourselves. Some of us, clothes we haven't worn for over five to ten years are in our wardrobe and there are those who have nothing to wear, you know you are not going to wear them again, what are they still doing in your wardrobe? your neighbor at home has nothing to wear, people like you in the church have nothing to wear. Even some of us when we decide to give, we propagate it. See her, see him, that shirt, blouse he or she is wearing I gave it to him or her. You have received the reward already! Don't expect any reward from God!

Ephesians 4:2

For you to love that man don't expect him to do what you like! I want to divorce my husband because he is a drunkard, was he a drunkard before you married him? The one you will marry again, what do think that person will become? I don't like my wife again, her stomach is becoming too big. Was her stomach like that before you married her? These days, some men marry wrong wives and some women marry wrong husbands. Do you know why? Pastor I need a girl that is slim, tall, fair with a master degree...you are already dictating to God. And some women will say I need a tall huge man with six packs...you are dictating to God, you are making the highest mistake in your life!! What matters is the heart of the woman or man you want to marry. Can she cope with you? Can you cope with her? In a little while, when that person begins to show his or her true colour/self, that beauty or handsomeness will just fade away. Tell the Lord to choose for you.

Ensure you don't show that love to your husband with lips. You have never cooked fried rice & sallad for your husband but because one day he called you "darling do you know what? I have been awarded that contract or I have been promoted", that is the day you now decide to cook fried rice and sallad for him to eat, you are an hypocrite. The day he will call you to say "darling I have been suspended or sacked", is when you are supposed to prepare such a meal. Do you know why? To show him love and that we are in it together. A friend that eats or shares the better side with you and never cares about the wrong side, is not a friend. You love me, you only come to my house when there is food but when I don't have food you run away.

1 Peter 4:8

Do you know what is charity? It is when you give to someone that cannot give back to you. When you give without expecting something back, that is charity. These days, people use the social media to advertise their act of charity...when God was giving to you did he give you publicly? We are all sinners before the Lord, do you know the reason why you should always request for the mercy of God? What sin did Joseph commit in the house of Pharaoh? None. But inside the prison, it is written that the Lord was with him and He showed him mercy. The mercy of God supersedes all that is evil. Picture this, you work in a company played a game and stole N1m then you start building a house, there you find that one of the labourers stole a bag of cement...then because you have money you pay a mallam to kill the labourer...you refuse to show him mercy because he stole one bag of cement...what will happen to you that stole a million naira from the company?

Matthew 5:7

I need you to understand that if you want God to accept your thanksgiving you must prepare yourself for it. You say I will never forgive that man and you want God to forgive you, how? Ah that thing my husband did to me or aah my wife must park out of my house...at the moment you were angry saying your wife must move out, what if God requested for His soul back? all that you have been doing to your wife are very wrong, give me the soul, what will you do? Aah I will never forgive this person lai lai...some will tell you, I would rather drop my bible and finish this fight. If rapture takes place when you dropped that bible, what are you going to tell God? what kind of love are you showing today, is it love from the lips or inside you? I want to tell you this day, as a husband or as a wife, when you get home, let this very day be a day of restitution in your narriage. Go and begin to give your husband thanks for the years he has been keeping you in that marriage. My sister that gave thanksgiving to God for twelve years of marital life, have you given thanks to your husband for keeping you in that marriage for over a decade? This day, go down on your knees and tell him "thank you for keeping me in your house for all these years despite my shortcomings", do you think you don't have shortcomings that will make your husband to say am tired of this marriage, you are leaving this house? Then as a husband kneel down to your wife and thank her for putting up with your shortcomings for well over a decade you did not poison me, with all my negative attitudes you have pity cooking my food, adding the right salt and seasonings without poisoning me. The children are not left out in this, ensure you tell your parents thank you! Have you not seen it on the social media how parents use their children for rituals to make money? Have you been telling your parents thank you for taking good care of me?

Tell your husband thank you for trusting me. Tell your wife thank you for trusting me. I don't know whether you understand the meaning of marriage...it is a strong institute where certificate is given to you before you get into it and its till eternity. Some people love their children much more than their husband or wife...they say if not for the sake of having children, do you think I will get married? But the bible did not say you should enter that marriage because of children, it says a man and a woman shall leave their father and mother, cling together to become one. Did that statement add children? When your daughter will marry, your son too will marry, you will be left alone with your wife or your husband, at old age you will both help each other to ease yourselves. Put it at the back of your mind that in that marriage nothing else should come between it，don't let your parents come between your marriage. Some people let their mother and father control what happens in their marriage, especially the men. You let your mother come to your home to observe your wife for you. What your mother didn't put up with your father, she wants your wife to put up with you on it. Don't bring third party into your marriage. Learn to give thanks. Don't be seeing errors all the time.


Matthew 5:23-24

When you bring your gift to the altar and you remember that you are holding somebody in your heart, it says drop the gift and go back to reconcile. Am I the one that said that? Let your thanksgiving be acceptable unto God. Some people come to the church to give thanksgiving so that the pastor won't be angry,why should you please the pastor? Is the pastor the one that died on the cross of Calvary for you? eeh they will say in the church that I am the only one who doesn't give thanksgiving, are you doing it for the people in the church? When you do this with murmuring and complains there is no blessing attached to it. Do it because you are happy doing it. Some will say let me ensure I pay my tithe so there will be no excuse or reasons to justify why I am not being blessing by God...Know that the thanksgiving is a waste. You had better not pay that tithe.