Month: March 2020

The Hands

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Good Morning, Good Afternoon, or Good Evening wherever you are! As you know, today’s blog is a PKE or Preacher’s Kid Experience. This time, it is fairly recent. Specifically, this yesterday or Sunday if you live in the US.

Typically, I have some trepidation about sharing, but that’s not what PKE is about. It’s about being vulnerable with y’all as Christians and revealing the inside of my life.

Moving on, at the beginning of this month, my pastor reached out to me with a question I haven’t heard him ask in about a year. He said to me…

Do you mind preaching the 4th Sunday of this month?

Now, my first human instinct was to say, “Oh no no no!”. But, before I could voice my no to his question, I said “yes, I will”.

Why would I do this?! Who knows! However, God was clearly about to use me to give a word prepared for His people.

I will say I am a procrastinator at heart (God is still working on me with this), but when we’re on God’s timing, He reveals the word whenever he sees fit. I was just unaware. As Friday rolled around, God got me in a quiet place away from all distractions to show me what needed to be said.

He led me to Haggai 1:1-13 and 2:1-9.

*insert long pause here so you can go read those verses*

Haggai 1:1-13 highlighted many things for me:

  1. Where are the priorities of the people?
  2. God will purposefully do things to get our attention.
  3. After the Word of the Lord goes forth, we must decide to either obey or suffer more consequences.
  4. Fear God and know that He is with you.

When I applied this to life now, I was speechless. Sometimes we get so caught up in our fleshly self of beautification or distractions around us, we ignore the spirit man dying inside of us. That in verse 5 & 7, there was a reiteration of serious thinking about where our priorities lie. With the revelation of us neglecting our spiritual man, God gives us instruction on what to do and after that we should obey.

However, how often has God tried to get your attention, given you clear instructions, then you ignored what you should do? Where does that often lead us? Still in the same spot.

So, once we obey and rebuild our temple, then what?

In Haggai 2:3-4, the people still felt that the temple being built paled compared to that of the one Solomon built. Now, I thought, “well God, isn’t that like us sometimes.”

We dive deep into our faith, establishing a deeper relationship with God, then suddenly we compare ourselves to others. Asking ourselves, “well why can’t I do that yet?” or “they are closer to God than I am.” But that is not something we should do. Everyone of us has an individual walk with God, and different relationship, and different gifts from Him. As I told the church on Sunday, “you can’t compare someone’s chapter 35 to your chapter 1”. So don’t get discouraged. God reassured the leaders and all the people of the land in verse 4 to “Yet now be strong…and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts;”. That means to persist in building up what you have. Stay committed. Do the work.

So what Haggai 2:1-9 highlighted for me:

  1. Don’t compare your walk with others. Your rebuilding won’t be the same as someone else’s.
  2. Be Strong. Stay persistent and committed to your walk of faith.
  3. God will shake heaven and earth to carry out what needs to be done. That’s God’s sovereignty.
  4. When we commit to rebuilding what we have, it can only become greater than what was previously.
  5. God brings peace.

So at the end of reading this, I feel like now this is a call to action. Not just for myself, but everyone. That we need to “strengthen the things which remain,” and rekindle our relationship with God (Revelations 3:2). That starts with a heart of repentance. In asking for forgiveness, we also must change our behavior or perish (Luke 13:3,5). In Romans 10:13 KJV, it says, “For whosover shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And that means anyone.

So I encourage you all, as you sit at home, practicing social distancing or if you are one of the few warriors out there still working, to also be reminded of the spirit man inside of you. To strengthen your faith in this time of turmoil. Whether it be fasting, praying, seeking God’s face, whatever it may be, just…

DO THE WORK.

Song of the Week

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Morning, Afternoon, or Evening wherever you are! How are y’all feeling out there? I know with all the pandemonium around; I wanted to remind you that God is still in control!

6 Don’t be anxious about things; instead, pray. Pray about everything. He longs to hear your requests, so talk to God about your needs and be thankful for what has come. 7 And know that the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the Anointed One. (Philippians 4:6-7 The Voice (VOICE))

Moving on, we’re still focusing on living above and beyond just existing.

So how are you living? Are your actions matching up with your faith?

Well, just like in February, we had a heart check. In March, we’re checking for the fruits of the Spirit!

The Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22 KJV):

  1. Love
  2. Joy
  3. Peace
  4. Longsuffering
  5. Gentleness
  6. Goodness
  7. Faith
  8. Meekness
  9. Temperance

The Fruit of the Spirit aren’t just listed for fun. These are to teach us how to conduct ourselves. There are nine of them and I encourage you to study more, but the Song of the Week helps with learning them.

Kevon Carter’s “Check Their Fruit” is an easy-listening, message-giving song about the Fruit of the Spirit. The song highlights that the actions we do are more telling of our character than our outward appearance. “We should identify people by the things that they do.”

I hope this song encourages you to: Check. Their. Fruit. (And yours too.)

Don’t forget to like, subscribe with your email, or comment on this blog! I would love to hear your feedback!

Be Blessed!

–Chan

Q&A with a Pastor!

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I wanted to do something different this week outside of the typical. From the title, this blog is Q&A with a pastor! However, I didn’t ask questions about their position specifically, but their highs and lows as a Christian.

For this post, the featured pastor is:

Pastor Annie Green!

[HOAPK/Me]: Thank you again for doing this interview. I appreciate it. I know in my blog it’s usually geared towards removing the stigma from PK’s and younger people but mostly finding purpose. So, how did you know your purpose in Christ? Not just as a pastor, but as a Christian?

[Pastor Annie Green/AG]: First started out, I was a PK kid. We had to go to church no matter what. As I was going, I got some understanding of what it was all about. Then I didn’t know my purpose still because at the time I was 15 when I really got saved. My purpose as a Christian was that I knew that I had a gift, yet I didn’t understand what it was all about. I knew I could see things, hear things, and dreams and visions. Therefore, later in life, that my purpose was a prophetess.

As a pastor, I grew into being a leader when my mother passed away. She was our head pastor. When she passed, my husband and I took the mantle. From there we had to learn some things like how to be a leader, how to conduct yourself, how to love and embrace people despite anything that they were going through. We had to embrace and love. That was the first part of being a pastor.

From there, I just followed along with my husband. Beside him, the things he can’t see, I see. The things he can’t hear, I hear. So it made a difference to walk beside him and help with what we needed. Pastoring became not something that I chose, but what God chose for me.

[Me]: And that is a recurring thing that I hear from pastors all the time. “I didn’t want to choose this myself, but I can’t ignore the call.” Even with running from it, did you ever find yourself running from your call?

[AG]: At first I did, because I felt like I wasn’t ready. It’s not what we think, it’s what God thinks. He will prepare us for the position, if it is for us to have it. That is pretty much what he did for me. He prepared me as a little child. I didn’t know what gift I had, but as I grew up, prophecy is nothing but preaching. You just have a gift that goes along with it. Different things that go along with it. So it made it easier. I began to understand that I can’t run.

No matter what I did, I was turned back to that in my spirit. Even when I was raised in church, turned 15, and moved from there to Bryan, everything was a different story. I decided to just… I’m done. I walked away, yet God still had his hand on me. I couldn’t do some things, I couldn’t just say anything, I couldn’t hang around the crowd I wanted to hang with. Therefore, He finally just turned me back.

[Me]: That feeds into our next question.

I know that sometimes I have that mental block when it comes to things outside of the church. Like “I don’t want to do that” or “I don’t find joy in that”.

What was the toughest part about being saved at first?

[AG]: When I first came into holiness, they told us we couldn’t go to moves, we couldn’t go to parties, we couldn’t wear makeup, we couldn’t wear pants, etc. I thought that was… okay. That’ s part of my life, what are you doing. You’re taking away part of my life. As I lived on, I understood things to where God opened it up better. It’s not what you wear, or the place you go.

Like if you go to a dinner party for someone, you don’t have to interact if there is drinking or something like that. With makeup back in the day, they said that was what set you apart. But that’s a part of a woman for me. The makeup. I never felt condemned for that or pants. It’s about how you do it. You don’t want pants like skin on us. You want to dress nice and modest; covered. There is nothing wrong with it.

It is the spirit that’s on the inside. It is your soul God is worried about. This ole body is not going back when we go back. It’s the soul. It was different for me when I first started out, but now I understand better.

[Me]: Well, besides the toughest part. But what is the easiest part about being saved?

[AG]: The easiest part about being saved is just knowing that Jesus is your head. Knowing that he can conduct and lead you, he is a healer; you know. He’s all these different things. If I say he’s a healer, I know what im talking about. I’m not just saying. He healed my body many of times. I was stricken with lupus in 1986.

It was devastating to me. I was in a lot of pain. I lived in the hospital. They knew me by my name. Once I began to start thanking God for healing me, even though it wasn’t there yet, I thanked him. “God thank you for healing my body. God thank you for healing my body”.

In ’07, He did it. He healed my body. I haven’t dealt with lupus since then. NO medication for it. The doctors are amazed. My platelets are staying in place. Im good. Thank God for that.

[Me]: *I’m in shock at this point* Wow. Just wow. Well, God is a healer.

[AG]: It’s a simple thing to know that He is real. It helps you to just stay in line.

[Me]: Wow. Alot of times I know for younger people, and some older people, sometimes we are around others who are still not yet saved. Sometimes they’ll offer you things and say “you can just take a little” or “you can just do some of it”. What happens when you give in? What do you do when you feel yourself going back? How do you come back to the faith?

[AG]: By experience, when i first got saved, that following Monday my family was gone to work and school. I remember I had some weed under my couch. The enemy said, “Well, you know, that’ll be the last you have. Nobody is here but you. It would be fanned out by the time anyone gets home.” That’s what I was hearing in my spirit!

And I thought, not today, devil! I decided to turn my life over to Jesus, and with that I’m not turning back. But yes, the temptations come. When they come, we’ve got to recognize who is doing the temptation.

The devil will never give you anything good. He is not going to tell you nothing good. Therefore, we have to recognize and weigh it out. Do I want to fall into this and I know I can repent, but how many times do we think God is going to continue to forgive us when we know what we’re doing? We have to weigh that out. Do want to continue to keep doing wrong, thinking “well God knows my heart”? Yes, He knows your heart. He also knows that you want to continue to do this. So, you have a decision to make: do you want to stay in or stay out?

Sin is always around. We have to live in this world, and it’s here. But it’s up to us.

[Me]: Yeah, even so people will say, “This is my last party” or “This is my last drink”. But is it really your last party or drink? What happens if that last party is your very last? What if that’s the last drink–

[AG]: On the way home. You get in an accident, you’re gone. It’s a choice you make. Set yourself apart. If somebody offers, you can always say no. You don’t have to go into your history of being saved. You can just say no, thank you. We have to work around people who are unsaved all the time, but we have to maintain ourselves. We know who we are.

[Me]: Amen. Once you understand temptation, sin, and become fully devoted to God, what happens when you lose that momentum you had when you first became saved? The dry season? How do you get out of it?

[AG]: The dry season faith… it comes and goes. You’re saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost, but we have some days where we feel like “God, where are you?” “Have you left me?”

Sometimes we can’t pray. Being in that position, it is so much on you that weighs you down, you may not know how or what to pray. Your spirit is in the ground. Therefore, our leaders/heads, they are who we can always go to.

If we feel like you and I, where it’s our parents, we can always get somebody else that we know is living for the Lord. Because we don’t want to feel like our parents will say “oh, it’s going to be alright”. You know what I’m saying. We don’t want to be embraced that way. We want to be told the truth, for real. Sometimes, it may take us to go talk to someone else and just lay out. Open up. Saying, “Hey, this is what is going on with me. I feel like I can talk to you because you’re going to open up to me the way I need it”.

So, the dry seasons can make us feel like we don’t know which way to go. We know that Jesus is our head. We know to have faith, but sometimes it isn’t there the way it needs to be. You know. It seems like it is never coming, or it’s never happened. And God, I need this right now, but it’s not showing. Yet Jesus is still there. We can always talk to him like we talk to each other. Just to tell him the way we are feeling, which He already knows. Sometimes, he wants us to open up too.

Not saying our parents won’t tell us the truth! Mine especially would tell me! Some things I felt like I couldn’t tell her. I couldn’t talk to her about it because I didn’t feel comfortable, but I could go somewhere else and just open up.

[Me]: So, who was usually that someone else for you?

[AG]: My godmother in Amarillo, Texas. Yes, my godmother. I met her when I was 15. When I got saved, we were in their church. We didnt know them when we first moved up there, but somehow or another, God led them to us. They began to be close to us. Her kids and our kids…we just all came together. If we were in need of anything, they were there for us. Even today, I still go back and forth to Amarillo to see about them.

She was a strict one. She was the no makeup, and still that way. But I can open up to her and talk to her about anything.

[Me]: That’s extremely important. To have someone that holds you accountable. Now, after all this, you know what you’ve been through and experienced since you have been in ministry a while. What is one snippet of wisdom that you would give to somebody who is a younger Christian? Not saying in age, but someone who is just starting in the faith?

[AG]: Grab hold and hold on. Mhm.

It is not a simple thing to deal with everyday because life is different. You never know what life is going to throw at you. Being saved, some people will say, “I can’t do it” and they back up. You have to go forward. Look at what Jesus did for us.

When He went on that cross, and they nailed him, and he never said a mumbling word. He did that for us. Because He did that, I can look back and think well Lord you did this. So, I need to do what I need to do. Sometimes that means dealing with people, but you have to get in it and go.

You experience things when you are over a lot of people. Everybody is not going to have the same attitude. Therefore, you can’t love everybody the same. Love them at their level. So, if anything, just grab hold and hold on. Get in and stay in. For the long haul.

Pastor Annie Green is a co-pastor at The Way, The Truth, and The Life Ministries Inc. Her husband, Pastor/Bishop Oritz Green is the senior pastor. Their church is located at 1104 East Martin Luther King, Bryan, TX 77803.

Weekly Soap

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Hey Y’all! It’s already week 2 in March and for some (me) it’s also spring break! Although it is my vacation, the work doesn’t stop.

In the previous blog, I mentioned going above and beyond just existing in this world and in church. But what does that look like?

All last week, God impressed upon me to fast from Monday to Friday. Now my first thought was “Now Lord hold up! You know it’s around the first and I like to take myself on a date?”. My second thought, “Lord, I am content with things in life right now. Why do I need to fast for more?”.

Little did I realize that I had much to learn this week as a Christian.

First rule of God calling a fast: It doesn’t matter when or what. Just do it. We all know obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22).

Second rule of God calling a fast: It is normal. It should be a regular part of your lifestyle. It allows you not only to turn down unhealthy food, but it draws you closer to God. Not only closer, but it allows us to see what more God has in store for us. God’s vision goes far beyond man’s (Isaiah 55:8-9).

From Monday to Friday, God dropped gems in my lap that I never even asked for, but I needed. He blessed me with so much clarity and focus that entire week that it left me speechless. And not just in days, but minutes. I heard God speak clearly about my lifestyle choices, my purpose, the Bible, and much more.

I just want to encourage you to fast as part of your daily walk with God. Whether it be for 5, 10, 21 or 40 days, fasting is so necessary for growth in God.

Scripture: 16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18 NIV)

Observation: Fasting was originally an outward expression to the public by the tearing of clothes and smeared ashes to show repentance to the Lord. However, in this context, Jesus was talking about those who did it not genuinely. Now, those who fast should go about it normally. Dress normal. Look normal in fasting. Even though your fasting is between you and God in secret, there will be a reward, openly. It is not done in vain.

Application: Fasting is a normal duty in our Christian walk. We should not go around saddened or make others aware of what we’re doing. God sees us, and our actions in drawing near to him. Fasting is an act of humbling ourselves so that God can step in and take over our lives. Notice in verse 17, that Jesus said to his disciples when they fast, so it is expected. Our relationship becomes stronger, we dig deeper in Christ, and we are rewarded publicly.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for not only the responsibility of prayer and petition but also for pray. Lord, I understand that as I fast, it is an action of humbling, consecration and bonding that draws me closer to you. Forgive me for not fasting as regularly as I should. God, don’t let my fast be in vain, but let it be in your perfect will. I understand that what I do in secret will be rewarded, openly. I thank you for the many blessings you are sending my way through this duty. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Song of the Week

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We’re back at it again with a new month and more purpose!

However, I want to be transparent right now. Usually around this time, I find myself either getting stuck in rut or routine or losing focus since the start of the new year. March is the within the first 90 days of the year, and sometimes the goals we’ve set aren’t met. Sometimes there is a loss of passion which leads to feeling unaccomplished, ashamed, or less than. It feels like we’re just going through the motions.

This March, I have decided a theme: Maintenance March! We’re doing tune-ups, check-ups, etc. to make sure that we aren’t just going about life existing, but we’re living beyond it!

So, Let’s. Get. Into. It!

I ran across this song early February and I was so…shocked! I had to do a double listen because I did not think it was CHH (Christian Hip Hop), but here we are!

The track starts with this eerie guitar riff reminiscent of an early 2000s emo song. However, instead of honing in on dark lyrics of sadness, despair, and angst. Hulvey’s “Motions” presents a reflective look at life at its highs and lows. In an emotional chorus repeating the phrase of “tired of being tired”, the only escape is a turn toward Jesus. We shouldn’t miss out on our purpose by getting distracted. This life is not our own and we’re not just living for ourselves, but for others.

“Where we’re at is not the whole scope of our entire life.”

So when you’re bopping along to this song, remind yourself: God provides an oasis in the desert!

Hulvey-Motions

We, Christians, are called to be fruitful/productive. So, when we’re not producing, what should we do? What do you do when you want to escape living through the motions, to live beyond just existence? In the following weeks, let’s unpack together what this means.

Starting with this Song of the Week, throughout the month special posts will be published highlighting questions that many of you may have.

So please comment below what questions you want answered.

Don’t forget to like, subscribe with your email, or comment on this blog! I would love to hear your feedback!

Be Blessed!

–Chan