President John Dramani Mahama has urged Ghanaians not to dwell on the challenges facing the country, but see and take advantage of the many opportunities those challenges present.

"In death Jesus suffered adversity but he saw the opportunity of salvation for you and I and he took it. So it is with the life or every person and every nation but it is up to us to see the opportunities," he said.

He was speaking at the Good Friday Miracle Service of the Lighthouse Chapel International, held at the Independence Square.

President Mahama had earlier set the Independence Square agog with his surprise appearance amidst thunderous shouts and applauds from the ecstatic mammoth crowd of worshipers.

In what he described as his Easter Message for all Christians in Ghana, the President noted that the death on the cross was one that everyone would want to avoid but Jesus subjected himself to it in order to save the souls of men.

He said every family and nation also go through times of adversity but there is no value in people dwelling on the challenges instead of seeing the opportunities they present.

"No matter the challenges facing Ghana today, the country has great potential but we the people need to come off the complaints about the challenges and take advantage of the potential," he said.

President Mahama said as a leader, he is often faced with a myriad of choices, some of which would bring adversity today but present a great opportunity for the future. 

"In doing so, I agonize sometimes but I ask myself what is the alternative - and more often than not the alternative may bring comfort today but a bigger adversity tomorrow," he said.

The president said, "in the spirit of Easter one of the things we must cancel as a nation is a self-doubt because that is the only thing that stands between us and success."

He said Ghanaians tend to talk a lot about how some previously smaller economies like Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and others have made significant progress but forget that those countries developed because their citizens believed their countries could be great.

President Mahama said Ghanaians use a lot of time to say things,  "like we can't do it, we can't go forward, Ghana is a basket case and Ghana is condemned to..." which he said would impede the country's growth "if you keep this self-doubt attitude."

President Mahama is, therefore, urging Ghanaians to count the country's successes and celebrate them one after the other so that it will serve as an incentive to achieve more successes.

He also used the opportunity to assure Ghanaians that God has covered us with the blood of Jesus and so this year's election will not be a violent one.

"We have done it successfully six times and this is going to be the seventh one. I believe that with the intercessory prayers of our religious leaders we will have a violence-free election this year," he said.

The President urged all qualified citizens not registered to do so when the register is opened in April so that they can exercise their franchise come November 2016.

"Voting is important for every Christian so once you qualify you must exercise your right to vote and let God determine who should be the leader of this country," he said.

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills was full of gratitude to President Mahama for joining the Good Friday Service.

He said he was glad the president came in early to listen to the preaching and also stayed to witness the miracle healing session.

"I can understand that the toughest job in this country is the presidency so we need to keep praying for our president and not just criticize him," he said. 

He recalled that President Mahama first became president by default and that was a tough position for anyone to be in so he deserves all the support and prayers.

The Bishop assured the president that the church is like the military - it supports anyone and everyone in power - once the person is declared as the one in power, he or she has the support of the church so the president could count on the support of the church.

He also said in spite of all the criticisms against this and previous governments, "Ghana is the best and most civilized country in West Africa right now and that is something Ghanaians need to be appreciative of."

Bishop Heward-Mills, however, reminded President Mahama, that when he was in opposition he also went on radio stations criticizing the then government so it is only fair that he takes criticisms in good faith as president.