Religion

The Favor of God Turned It in My Favor

Published

9 years ago

April 21, 2015

by Pastor E.A. Deckard
Special to the NNPA from the Houston Forward Times

“I have a motto on my bedroom wall: ‘Obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the goal.’ Giving up is not my style. I just want to do something that’s worthwhile.” – Chris Burke

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez,[a] saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

Forward Thinkers, many people will look at someone who has achieved a certain level of success and admire them for where they or for what they have, but I have learned to celebrate a person’s total journey. We never know all the hell someone had to go through to make it to this point in their life. The problem with admiring or judging someone is that we only see a small sample of their entire journey. Forward Thinkers, we come into contact with people at certain seasons of their life and try to understand them based on that season without taking into consideration their total life experiences.

Forward Thinkers, I’m still in awe of God when people began to talk about me in praiseworthy terms because, I remember my whole story and I know if it were not for the grace of God I would not be here. We should never forget the fact it was the Lord that gave us the ability to create wealth and success.

Forward Thinkers, as I operate in the favor of God I tell other Pastors and people who call me lucky during this season of my life yes you’re right, I am lucky. Forward Thinkers, I’m lucky enough to be lied on, lucky enough to grow up confused on why my parents didn’t raise me, lucky enough to have a church I spent years building up get flooded out with no flood insurance, lucky enough to have a daughter die while I’m up preaching, lucky enough to experience swine flu, acute arthritis, and vertigo all while leading God’s people. Forward Thinkers yes I’ve been real lucky.

Forward Thinkers, in spite of all that and that was the short version of my story, I never gave up because I always knew if a battery didn’t have a negative side it couldn’t produce any power to move anything. Forward Thinkers, everything negative you’ve experienced was not assigned to your life to destroy you but to empower you to reach your full potential.

Forward Thinkers, stop complaining and start moving into your season of success. The favor of God is waiting on you to move in faith so it can turn things around in your favor.

Forward Thinkers, let’s look back at verse 9 and rearrange it in the correct order of time: Jabez mother named him Jabez. The first thing we should notice here are Jabez humble beginnings. The Biblical meaning of the name Jabez is: sorrow and trouble. In Hebrew, the meaning of the name Jabez is: pain and in the Old Testament, Jabez was named so because he was born to his mother in pain. Jabez had a difficult start like many of us today but he didn’t throw in towel because in spite of it all he still believed it was not over for him. Forward Thinkers, there was a time in his journey that Jabez was probably voted most likely to fail and no one would have questioned him for giving up with the hand life had dealt him. Truth is someone reading this today is feeling like Jabez tired and weary from all the negative issues of life being thrown at them. Forward Thinkers, I’m sure there is a crowd reading this today wanting to cry out, “Why Me Lord Why Me Lord”.

Forward Thinkers, I’m encouraging you today not to give up but be encouraged that the favor of God has the power to turn this negative situation in your life around in your favor.

Forward Thinkers, I need you to notice Jabez showed us how to respond to a bad hand. Notice he does not cry out why Lord but he cries out Lord bless me right where I am. Forward Thinkers, Jabez had enough faith in God that he requested for the Lord to do something great/something big with his life while he was still in a negative place.

Forward Thinkers, I challenge you right now right where you are in life to declare Lord bless me and Lord use me to do something great.

Jabez also said Lord keep your hand with me; I don’t know about you Forward Thinkers, but I need the Lord’s hand with me all day every day.

Forward Thinkers, I need His hand to pick me up when I stumble and fall, I need His hand to push me forward when I feel like giving up, I need His hand to cover my mouth at times so I won’t respond to life the wrong way, I need His hand to hold my hand as I walk through the valley of the shallow of death, I need His hand to dry up my tears when life has me down, I need His hand to cover my eyes so I won’t lose hope in a evil world, and finally I need His hand to anoint my head with knowledge and wisdom.

Forward Thinkers, shout because the outcome of Jabez prayer was the Lord granted his request, shout because the same God of Jabez is your request granting God also.

Forward Thinkers, the favor of God turned it in Jabez favor and I’m living proof if you don’t let your faith fail you, God will cause His favor to turn your situation around in “your” favor. Jabez went from being called painful to being called honorable.

Forward Thinkers, remember the synonyms of Jabez, “painful, sorrowful, and trouble” but now the favor of God has turned Jabez into being called “worthy of honor, good, upstanding, illustrious, distinguished, eminent, great, glorious, renowned, acclaimed, prestigious, noble, and admirable”.

In conclusion, forward thinkers, God turned Jabez story around and today God is waiting on you to trust Him to turn your story around also.

Pastor E. A. Deckard is the Senior Pastor/Founder of the Green House International Church located, 16711 Ella Blvd. Houston, Texas, 77090. To contact Pastor Deckard for speaking engagements contact him at pr.ghic@gmail.com or the church website www.ghic.net.

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COMMENTARY: Prayer is Your Power

Published

1 year ago

February 6, 2023

Oakland Post

Prayer is about faith. It is believing that God hears us.

Faithful Utterances

By Dr. Froswa Booker-Drew | Texas Metro News

This week, a friend informed me that she was following the ambulance to the hospital with her husband. Her husband was going through a major health crisis. She wasn’t the only one who reached out—a friend’s mother had unexplained pain and another friend contacted me about her friend’s son who was hospitalized with pneumonia. Each of them asked that I pray for them.

I consider it an honor to pray for others. Prayer is powerful and I love that I have a group of friends who I can turn to that I call the “prayer warriors” that when I send a text to lift up the concerns and issues of others before God, they go into battle mode.

Prayer is a weapon and I think many of us don’t understand its power until we need it. For many of us, it’s a routine, something that’s more about religion than it is about relationship. We have gotten prayer twisted as some exchange solely for stuff. God is not a celestial Santa Claus dropping off gifts. Prayer is an opportunity to go before to God sincerely in relationship. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.

Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:5–8)

Prayer is about faith. It is believing that God hears us. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) I realize that my prayers are even more powerful when I am in relationship with others seeking God: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). It’s dangerous when we see prayer as a way to manipulate God into doing what we want. There is nothing wrong with bringing your requests before God but it’s important to check our motivation and intention. It’s also important to know that just because God doesn’t answer our prayers in the way that we want does not mean that God doesn’t love us.

It doesn’t mean that God does not hear us. It does not negate the omnipotence or goodness of God, either. We must believe that God is able. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) It’s easy to blame God when things don’t go the way we want them to—”the rain falls on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

Terrible things happen to good people often. We live in an unjust world with people making decisions that are informed more by profit than people. We cannot take those principles into our relationship with God. We must believe that “… all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) …. God is concerned with our hearts, with people and cares for us even when things don’t go the way we’d like. I can report that all of the individuals we prayed for had excellent results.

God is good! Yet, I realize that this isn’t always the case. Prayer is powerful. God wants us to have this daily form of communication. 1 John 5:14, tells us: “And this is the boldness we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” Don’t use prayer just when you need something. Just as all relationships require consistent communication for growth and results, the same is even more important in our relationship with God. Prayer is a powerful partnership with God that can move mountains when we believe!

Dr. Froswa’ Booker-Drew is the host of the Tapestry Podcast and the author of three books for women. She is also the Vice President of Community Affairs for the State Fair of Texas. To learn more, visit drfroswa.com.

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Black History

AFRICAN-ISH: The First Christmas Story

Both Joseph and Mary were of the lineage of David, Joseph descended from David’s son Solomon (and Bathsheba), and Mary extended from another son Nathan. Therefore, they were required to go to the little town of Bethlehem, in Judea and there, in a cattle shed Jesus was born. (Bethlehem is 70 miles south of Nazareth and 5 miles southwest of Jerusalem).

Published

1 year ago

December 26, 2022

Oakland Post

The four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John chronicled the full theme of Christ as the universal Savior.

By Simon Burris

The narrative of Jesus’ birth and proof of his Hamitic (Black) African bloodline* began in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis chapter 10, in the Land of Ham, located in southwest Asia and Africa. Three most prominent Hamitic personalities: Abraham, Isaiah and David.

People and places of Hamitic origins are underlined.

(1) Abraham the patriarch was Babylonian (Ethnic Ethiopian). Gen. 11:31; (2) Isaiah a prophet lived 750 years before Christ, predicted the virgin birth was a nephew of Amaziah a Judahite (Canaanite) king; and (3) David the great king of Israel was a descendant of Abraham, also of Tamar and Rahab (Canaanites).

The (Hamitic) Genealogy of Jesus Christ: Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-34

The Birth of Jesus: (about 6-4 BC)

Mary the virgin mother of Jesus and her husband Joseph the “foster” father of Jesus, a carpenter, lived in Nazareth, a town in northern Palestine.

At this time Emperor Augustus of the Roman Empire decreed that a census would be taken. Everyone in his domain had to go to his or her hometown to register. He probably ordered Cyrenius ( Quirinius ) the Afro Roman governor of Syria / Judeadistrict to take charge and supervise the mandate.

A short time later shepherds from the countryside as well as Wise Men (Magi) from neighboring countries Arabia, Babylonia,and Persia traveled to the nativity site, paid homage and worshiped the infant-Savior.

Now Joseph was warned by the Lord in a dream that Herod the Edomite king of Judea was plotting the murder of the child, fled with his family to Egypt, returning to Nazareth after the death of Herod.

Jesus had siblings, brothers Joseph, Simon, Epistle writers James, Jude, and several sisters. The last mention of Joseph occurs in the Gospel of Luke when he and Mary take the 12-year-old Jesus to Jerusalem. Mary played a vital role all through Jesus’ life, from the day He was born till the time of the crucifixion.

Conclusion: The four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John chronicled the full theme of Christ as the universal Savior. *Descendants of Ham’s sons Cush (Ethiopia), Mizraim (Egypt), Put (Libya) and Canaan (Ancient Palestine/Israel). Genesis 10: 6-20

Footnotes: Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25?

The ancient Romans celebrated the winter solstice on December 25 as the birthday of the SUN; the Babylonians and Persians -SON of the SUN. Some 300 plus years after Jesus’ earthly demise, Roman Emperor Constantine in 336 legalized this date as the birthday of the SON of GOD – JESUS the CHRIST! Originally: Christ’s Mass.

Eurocentric racism: Pope Julius II in 1508 commissioned Michelangelo, Raphael and other Renaissance artists and church scholars to portray and depict almost all major biblical characters as Europeans (Caucasians), save servants and slaves.

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Activism

SDA Churches Join Outreach Efforts to Find Solutions to Upsurge of Violence

the Northern California Conference of Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) held their annual Convocation at Grand Avenue Seventh Day Adventist Church in Oakland. Seven hundred people came together in celebration and worship. The theme was “Embracing Change.”

Published

2 years ago

October 16, 2022

Oakland Post

From left to right: Pastor Raymond Lankford, Elder Busayo Alabi, Pastor Damon Washington, Sister Rose Robinson, Pastor Garrett Anderson, Pastor Edwin Brown, Pastor Willie Johnson, Pastor Virgil Childs.

By Post Staff

On Oct. 8, the Northern California Conference of Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) held their annual Convocation at Grand Avenue Seventh Day Adventist Church in Oakland. Seven hundred people came together in celebration and worship. The theme was “Embracing Change.” The guest speaker was Dr. Myron Edmonds, who pastors in Cleveland, Ohio. He spoke about how Christ wasn’t a traditionalist, and the work isn’t being done because some in the church don’t wish to change and they tend to demonize new ideas.

Throughout the day, the Mobile Medical Health Van operated by Immanuel Temple Seventh Day Adventist Church out of Oakland sat in front of the church and provided health screenings and community resource information to the general public. The Medical Van, which was gifted to the church by Pastor Raymond Lankford of Healthy Communities, has provided free health care services throughout Alameda County for the last few years. The prayer of Pastor Damon Washington of Immanuel Temple Church, who was ordained during the afternoon program, is for their health ministry to partner with the other providers like OPIC and Oakland Workforce Agencies and to combat the ongoing health disparities and violence within the city and beyond.

They have pledged to work with the Chaplains, the OPIC and the Formerly Incarcerated Giving Back, who want to make amends for the damages they have done to harm Oakland.