God is dope!

WHat's up fam???? So the other day I was reading Gods holy word about Abraham sending his top servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. And to make a long story short the servant goes as commanded and he prays to God a specific prayer and directly after he finishes God answers his prayer in the exact way he prayed it! He is invited into Rachels house by her brother Laban and her mother and welcomed for dinner and to spend the night. Let's read what happens next from here:

Genesis 24:34-51

The servant said, "I'm the servant of Abraham. God has blessed my master—he's a great man; God has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, servants and maidservants, camels and donkeys. And then to top it off, Sarah, my master's wife, gave him a son in her old age and he has passed everything on to his son. My master made me promise, 'Don't get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live. No, go to my father's home, back to my family, and get a wife for my son there.' I said to my master, 'But what if the woman won't come with me?' He said, 'God before whom I've walked faithfully will send his angel with you and he'll make things work out so that you'll bring back a wife for my son from my family, from the house of my father. Then you'll be free from the oath. If you go to my family and they won't give her to you, you will also be free from the oath.'

 42-44 "Well, when I came this very day to the spring, I prayed, 'God, God of my master Abraham, make things turn out well in this task I've been given. I'm standing at this well. When a young woman comes here to draw water and I say to her, Please, give me a sip of water from your jug, and she says, Not only will I give you a drink, I'll also water your camels—let that woman be the wife God has picked out for my master's son.'

 45-48 "I had barely finished offering this prayer, when Rebekah arrived, her jug on her shoulder. She went to the spring and drew water and I said, 'Please, can I have a drink?' She didn't hesitate. She held out her jug and said, 'Drink; and when you're finished I'll also water your camels.' I drank, and she watered the camels. I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' She said, 'The daughter of Bethuel whose parents were Nahor and Milcah.' I gave her a ring for her nose, bracelets for her arms, and bowed in worship to God. I praised God, the God of my master Abraham who had led me straight to the door of my master's family to get a wife for his son.

 49 "Now, tell me what you are going to do. If you plan to respond with a generous yes, tell me. But if not, tell me plainly so I can figure out what to do next."

 50-51 Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is totally from God. We have no say in the matter, either yes or no. Rebekah is yours: Take her and go; let her be the wife of your master's son, as God has made plain."

So here goes why I give you all this, we have bumped into a few roadblocks with our ministry, and was seeking some guidance from God on it. It's funny because I got a email the other day from one of my mentors and he said, "we should go the non profit route......" And I took my phone out of my pocket to call my wife and talk to her about it. As soon as I flipped open my phone to call my wife I get a text from my wife and it reads, "we should do non profit.... pray and think about it...."

I was floored because the first thing I thought about was the passage that I had just read earlier. I called my wife and has the same response Laban and his mother did! "This is totally from God. We have no say in the matter, either yes or no." It was a no brainer! God was obviously already planning on doing it and doing it!!!!

That was a good and encouraging moment seeing scripture play out for me like it did in that story!!!! I just praised God for blessing me with an encouraging experience like that! 

God is dope!!!!!! God is dope!!!!!

Israel 

Prayer

Yep Yep, What it is!!!!!

So peep this peoples, about 8 or 9 months ago I took a exam and about a third of the classes tests were lost. And I prayed when it was announced that God allow the test to be found. In the mean time we had to set up another date to take the exam over, that was set for the next week. The morning of the re take (if that's even a word! lol) I was struggling on whether or not my prayers are answered, or even heard at all! I was struggling with my faith and the assurance of my salvation. I cried out to God that morning in despair and asked for help.

As the day went on and I went to go take the exam I just 'knew' that they had found them, which by the grace of God AND answer to prayer they did!!!!! I was overjoyed and encouraged at this which didn't last long. Soon after the enemy rushed in with the doubts: "that was just coincidence, that has nothing to do with your prayers, they would have been found either way yada yada yada." And this dampened my spirit and stifled my joy. Needless to say I was defeated........

Another situation, as I've been walking in and by faith I've struggled with and been attacked with the notion that I'm not 'praying' enough about the stuff I'm doing and it isn't 'God' behind it  and so on. Well as I was reading through my journal from 2009 when I was on a missions trip in Nepal I was praying about the exact stuff I'm doing rght now and I believed God was showing me then what He wanted from me which is what I'm doing now. This was like wow! Because I'd forgotten all about it! I was amazed at seeing what God was showing me years ago and what I prayed then was being rolled out today without me even recognizing it!

Now the fun part!!! As I was reading C.S. Lewis today God spoke to me and ministered to / encouraged me sooo much!!!! The book in reference is Screwtape Letters, it's a book where a high ranking demon is coaching/discipling his nephew an in experienced younger demon on how to tempt/ manipulate and secure the soul of the human he is assigned to. The first passage that hit me reads as follows, ".....he (the human) will probaly continue such crude prayers whatever you do. But you can worry him with the haunting suspicion that the practice is absurd and can have no objective result. Don't forget to use the 'heads I win, tails you lose' argument. If the thing he prys for doesn't happen, then that is no more proof that petitionary prayers don't work; if it does happen he will, ofcourse, be able to see some of the physical causes which led up to it, and therefore it would have happened anyway and thus a granted prayer becomes just as good a proof as a denied one that prayers are ineffective."

This refers to my first story. I was attacked with the argument it would have happened either way, it was a coincidence. So that granted prayer that God providentially set up to happen that specific day I was struggling to encourage and affirm me was used to discourage and defeat me because of the tactics of satan. WHOA!!!!!! Crazy huh?

The second part refers to the second story, " If you tried to explain to him (the human) that men's prayers today are one of the innumerable co ordinates with which the Enemy (referring to God) harmonises the weather of tomorrow........."

This was crazy because my prayers 2 years ago played a part in what is going on now. My prayers then were used by Our Great God to harmonize the weather for today! That is dope!!!!!!!! SO what God did to me/in me with this is affirm some stuff and confirm some stuff. He gave me some insight for future battles and He gave me a incredible confidence and new faith in the power of prayer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yessir! I'm on my 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Praying without ceasing!

You should be tooo!

God is dope,

Israel  

My faith has been greatly increased!!!!

So last night I was talking to a 62 year old lady who loves the Lord sooooooo much! This lady was our neighbor in our last neighborhood. The interesting thing about this lady is that she is a shut in. She has NEVER been married and has never had any children. She is all alone, stuck inside of her 3rd floor apartment and can't even leave. She has very bad physical health issues and only is able to leave 1nce or twice a month. She has never traveled outside of Lynchburg, in fact she has never seen the whole city of Lynchburg!!!!!!! That's crazy as small as this city is!!!!!! But this woman is a great woman of faith, who just prays for people and the neighborhood all the time. 

Me spending 40 minutes with her on the phone last night has greatly increased my faith, as she was telling me testimonies of her life and the power of prayer. The conviction and power of her words alone were filled with the spirit of God that I just wanted to cry! Even as I told her how great of a woman of God and faith she was she humbly told me how she only has faith the size of a mustard seed. And how she has been sick and in constant pain, non stop for the past 28 years and has in the last few years struggled with why God would allow that when He has given her a heart to want to serve so much. (She said she would love to join a church and even clean bathrooms and scrub floors in the church!) and other people who don't even care or think about Him are healthly but living in debauchery. I was thinking that alone is a testament of faith in that she would still trust and serve God faithfully for 28 years despite all the hurt and pain!!! INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!! She kept saying this is the only way satan cn attack her, being that she has nothing and no one else that he can use to get to her. 

Anyway she told me how she rests in that God has comforted in her in that even in the midst of her disability God has used her greatly to minister to others, just like me last night! Now, I doubt she has led anyone to Christ, but I am not as naive to believe that she will not be richly rewarded once she gets to heaven. I got off the phone with her last night encouraged, renewed, stregthened and infused with a new deeper faith!!!!!!!!!

I was skceptical, unbelieving, fed up with "christians" and our overly spiritual, self righteous selves and God used this little old lady who many have forgotten to pour into me greatly and to stand me back on my feet! OH WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so thankful to God for His faithfulness!!!!

This is just a testimony or shall I say praise report people!!!!! Praise Him for He is good and He is worthy of it!!!!!

1 Thessalonians 5:

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your wholespirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

God is dope,

Israel

Pray for her as you remember her, her name is Ms. Phyllis Thomas

Go People

Missions???????????????

Send me I'll GO! These are the words of rapper Lecrae, the exact words we should be crying out to God because He has told us to go into ALL the world and make disciples... This should include your immediate neighborhood, work, the inner city, and the world at large.......... Yessir! So, I want to encourage all to examine themselves and see what God would have them to do missionally..... The fact of the matter is this, we ALL should be involved in local and international missions, whether through prayer, financial support, or serving there. There is NO way out of it!!!!!!! So below is a recent video that I did for a missions group that serves in Central Asia, they serve the Muslim people there and are in need of missionaries, especially people of an urban background and of minority ethnicities. Check it out then check them out!!!!!!!!!

www.gowave.info or

www.gopeople.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72lXlphZ09g

God is dope,

Israel