SUCCESS STORY?

blogging Genesis 32, 33

Jacob and his family were on their way.  They had cut the cord that bound them to Big Daddy Laban and his familia in Syria.  They had gotten out with their money and investments (sheep, oxen, cattle, camels, etc.).  Now they were on the way to Canaan, where Jacob would collect his inheritance and they would live the good life that God had promised.

On the way, a band of angels met Jacob.  It reminded him of the dream he’d had at Bethel when God had promised him land “to the west and the east, to the north and the south,” descendants as numerous “as the dust of the earth,” and a share in the destiny of Abraham that “in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed “ (Genesis 28:13-15).

It was a powerful moment for Jacob. When he’d left Canaan 20 years earlier he didn’t even have an extra bedroll to use as a pillow.  Now his family and possessions were twice the size of a typical caravan (Genesis 32:10).   “. . . And he called the name of that place Mahanaim” (Genesis 32:2). Mahanaim means double camp.

Jacob was so caught up in this double-sized moment because he sent riders 100 miles south to find Esau and describe how successful he had become.

You remember Esau, right?  The brother from whom Jacob had purchased, or extorted, or defrauded (depending on your perspective) of his birthright as firstborn.  Remember that the last time they’d seen each other 20 years earlier, he’d promised to murder Jacob?   Jacob the not-warrior leading a double-sized camp of women, children, and non-warrior goatherders sent servants to THAT Esau bragging about how rich he was and where his unprotected camp could be located. 

Clearly he didn’t think that through because when the messengers returned to inform him that yes, the brother who swore to kill you is on his way to your unprotected camp with 400 men, Genesis 32: 7 says “Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.”

He thought about running.

“ . . . he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies. And he said, ‘If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape’ “ (Genesis 32:7-8).

He tried praying.

Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord . . .  Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. (Genesis 32:9-12).

He tried bribery.

“So he lodged there that same night, and took what came to his hand as a present for Esau his brother. . . For he said, ‘I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.’ ” (Genesis 32:13-21). 

Night dragged on and Jacob sent his family away while he stayed where Esau knew to find him. He was waiting for Esau to kill him.  The attack came, but not from Esau. 

A Man, an angel, THE Angel wrestled with Jacob all night long (Genesis 32:24), and Job repeatedly lost, but he refused to tap out.

The “Man” dislocated Jacob’s hip but Jacob wouldn’t stop grappling.  He said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” The Angel replied, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:25-28).

The Angel could have dislocated Jacob’s shoulder or snapped his neck.  He could’ve just poof! disappeared.  Jacob didn’t “prevail” by winning.  He won by not giving up. 

“But he who endures to the end shall be saved^” (Matthew 24:13).

Now, compare your story to Jacob’s:

Has anyone believed greater for you than you believed for?  Don’t give up.

Have you gotten caught up in your family’s drama?  Don’t give up.

You ever been bullied?  Don’t give up.

Ever thought you were too smart to be played, but you weren’t?  Don’t give up.

Did you think they’d be happy for you, but realize they weren’t?  Don’t give up.

Ever press against God’s will even while you were praying for God to save you?  Left that one limping, didn’t you?  Get right.  Get humble.  But don’t give up.

You will face overwhelming odds.  You will be pressured to alter your path by people who don’t understand your destiny.  You will feel compelled to tell people what they want to hear.  Don’t give up.

Just keep going until all the world has been blessed by the life you live.

Oh, and don’t forget to praise God along the way.

“Then he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.” (Genesis 33:20)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

Click here to support this ministry with a donation.  Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

Taking the Lord's Name in Vain (Blogging the General Rules)

The First General Rule states:

It is therefore, expected of all who continue therein that they shall continue to evidence their desire of salvation, first, by doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is most generally practiced, such as The taking of the Name of God in vain

The first evil which is most generally practiced on Wesley’s list is The taking of the Name of God in vain. 

This happens to be #3 on God’s top 10 list of thou shalt nots (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5).  But it’s so common now (so generally practiced) that most of us don’t even flinch.   Christians do it, too.

When we exclaim, “Jesus!  Good Lawd! OMG, ”we use God’s name with grammatical irreverence.  When we use His name as an adverb for the degree of damn, as an interjection to express our emotion, or as an expletive or filler word to demonstrate our lack of vocabulary and imagination, it’s disrespectful and grammatically incorrect.

There’s also conversational vanity. 

“A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence?” Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name.

Yet you say, “In what way have we despised Your name?” (Malachi 1:6)

God is real and He hears our prayers (Psalm 65: 2).  When you yell, “Jesus Christ,” the actual living Jesus Christ hears you.  Being God transcendent and omnipresent, He can handle all of the prayers in the universe all at once; but ----- you ever have somebody call your name and after you stop what you’re doing and leave where you are to respond they say, “Oh.  Nothing”?    You know how irritating that is?  Now multiply that by 7 ½ billion.  

God is real.  If you’re going to call Him, have something to say.  Just basic conversational courtesy.

It’s common to take the name of God in vain grammatically conversationally and deceptively. 

The 9^th Commandment is  “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor;” (Exodus 20:16) or, as we often paraphrase, “Thou shalt not LIE.”

Now check this out.

The Hebrew word translated vain or in vain in the 3^rd Commandments (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11) is the same word rendered false in the 9^th Commandment.

To take the name of the Lord in vain is to lie ---- and put your lie on God.  It’s to be so vain that you speak for God what God hasn’t spoken.

When you declare and decree and prophesy that sowing a $200 seed in your service, or ordering the anointed bottle of holy water with the Dasani label scraped off, or liking and sharing that picture of stacks of $100 bills with a photo-shopped White Jesus in the background will force God to give them a blessing---- you are taking God’s name in vain.

And the Lord said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.” (Jeremiah 14:14)

How many times do you have to NOT receive what they declared and decreed before you stop replying, “I receive that, in Jesus name”?  

And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has NOT spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18: 21-22)

Make up motivational stories if you want to, but leave Jesus’ name out of it.

Grammatically

Conversationally

Deceptively

And (last one) relationally.

I am a child of God.  I am a follower of Jesus Christ.  I’m a servant of the Lord, indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  I wear the Lord’s name as a token of identity, purpose, and spiritual authority. 

But, I have these little quirks, these habits, these tendencies to do the evil that I don’t want to do.  I have a sin nature.  You do, too.  But, if I’m going to call myself by His name  then I can’t let what comes naturally define me.  I’m supposed to be a different.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5: 17)

So, I struggle.  I wage an internal war against my flesh.  And if I fall, I don’t use His name as an excuse.   No.  His name on my life compels me to  humble myself, and pray and seek His face, and turn from my wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7: 14)

We can’t just go, “Mmm.  Nobody’s perfect” It would be dishonoring the Name we bear.  We would be like the people Isaiah and Jesus confronted.

These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” (Matthew 15: 1-3, 7-9, referencing Isaiah 29: 13)

We can’t do that.   I know everybody else does.  But we can’t.  Not if His name means as much as it should.

 ---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com  

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter  @AndersonTGraves  

#Awordtothewise

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

WHAT IS YOUR NAME

Roots was a novel and television miniseries that defined the modern American image of slavery.  The most iconic scene is Roots posed a powerful question, a question that every one of us today has to answer, a question that not surprisingly the Bible asked first.

Find out what the saga of an American family has in common with the saga of  prophet named Daniel in a message titled WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

If... Then...

This is what He said:  "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7: 14)

This is what we hear:  "if people who call on My name will pray then I will hear from heaven, and will forget their sin and heal their land."

Notice the difference?   Read them again.

We expect----heck, some people stand up and DECLARE--- that God will fix what’s wrong for us.   Why? 

Why would He?

Are we called by His name? 

To bear His name is to be a member of His household.  To be a member of His household is to obedient to His authority.  Are we obedient to His authority?  Really?  Even when He authoritatively tells us to do what we don’t wanna and to quit doing what we enjoy?

Are we the people called by His name, or are we just the people who call His name when we want something?  Cause those people are houseguests, not member of the household. 

Do we humble ourselves?  Or do we exalt ourselves as blessed, highly favored, anointed, royal, etc., etc.?

I’m not saying that the saints aren’t all of those wonderful, Biblically rooted things.  I’m simply pointing out that when we focus on the exalted aspects of our Divine identity, we’re not in the place where God said He’d hear, forgive, and heal.

We pray.  Oh, we do pray.  But when we pray, do we seek His face, or do we seek His fortune?  Do we want a deeper experience and understanding of God for God’s sake?  Or, do we want deeper blessings from God for our sake?

Last questions.  Be honest, now. 

Are we turning from our wicked ways? 

Are we, or are we turning around looking for ways to justify our wickedness?  Do we come to Him weeping and confessing, “Lord, we have done wrong.  Lord, I have done wrong”?  Or, do we come to him with 3-ring binders full of reasons why what we’ve done shouldn't be called wrong and shouldn’t be held against us?

(It’s the White man’s fault. 

I was born this way. 

My parents gave me PTSD. 

My student loan is too big. 

My income is too small. 

Other people are worse than me.

Obama.)

How can you or I turn from our wicked ways when we don’t see what’s so wicked about the way we are? 

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Now here’s the hard part.

God will hear our prayers.

God will forgive our sin.

God will heal the brokenness and injustice in our land.

But first…

But first, we have to:

1)      Submit to His authority

2)      Genuinely humble rather than exalt ourselves

3)      Love Him and seek Him alone

4)      Be real about how wicked and stupid WE have been

---then He  will hear from heaven, and will forgive our sin and heal our land.

And if not, then He won’t; and 50 years after this movement we’ll be talking about how sad it is that nothing has really changed.    

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

GHETTO NAMES

From time to time, groups of African-Americans get into debates over which names we  should give our kids.  For Black people this is serious business because newspaper investigations, generations of personal anecdotes, and multiple studies, like the one conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, have shown that ethnic sounding names can be a hindrance to success in the corporate world.

What researchers call “ethnic sounding names,”  were once called Afrocentric names.   Informally, we now usually use the disparaging term “ghetto names.”  And African-Americans still pass those names to our children--- a lot.

Oh, wait.  You do know the kinds of names I’m talking about, right?  These are names typically built around the consonant sounds  q, r, and sh.    Multi-syllabic names with lots of a’s, long e’s, er’s, and ia’s .   Some parents take a common name and spelling it too phonetically.  For example, Airwreacka for Erica.   

Another way is to appropriate a brand name or a complex term and use it as a name, like calling a girl Alopecia Areata-- which is a skin disease that causes hair loss.   (Yes, I’ve met a girl named Alopecia Areata.)

In some cases, parents choose such names because they have a genuine linguistic translation into something significant.  Ashanti or Asante, for example, is the name of a Ghanaian tribe that once held a vast empire.

But most of the times, parents give their babies “ethnic sounding” names because the parents think they sound cute or look cool.

But, here’s the point of this post:  this whole debate over ethnic names isn’t new, nor is it unique to Black people in America.

1 Chronicles chapter 3 lists the genealogy of Saul, the first king of united Israel.  Verse 33 says that Saul named one of his sons Esh-baal.  Saul’s oldest son Jonathan named one of the grandbabies Merib-baal. 

Baal was a generic name for any of the pagan gods worshipped by the surrounding Philistine and Canaanite tribes.  So, Esh-baal means “man of Baal.”   Merib-Baal means something like “Baal Is My Advocate.”

So, think.    Why would two generations of good Jewish men from a good---- heck, from a royal---- Jewish family give their babies pagan, Philistine sounding names?

Cause they sounded cute.  Cause those names were cool.

At the time Saul came to the throne, Philistia was the dominant military and political power of the region.  Israel was like a minor, ethnic minority, tributary territory of loosely connected backwater tribes.  Heck, until Saul, “those people” didn’t even have a king.

To Israel, the Philistines would have been cool.  Yes, they were uncircumcised heathen oppressors, but they were powerful.  They had culture and money and their own blacksmiths.  I bet you that young Israeli girls wanted to wear their hair in Philistine styles.  I bet you that teenage Israeli boys wore their robes like the Philistines did.  (And if the Philistines had been sagging, the Israeli boys would have been sagging.)  Because that was swag back then.

After Israel became a “real” kingdom and Saul’s family became royal, it wasn’t cool anymore to have a Philistine name.  Kids with Philistine sounding names were considered less patriotic, less desirable to employ than kids with good, strong, Anglo--- I mean Hebrew--- names.

That’s why, if you follow the story chronologically to 2 Samuel, King Saul’s family doesn’t use those ethnic sounding names anymore. 

2 Samuel 2: 8 refers to Ishbosheth, the son of Saul.  He’s not Esh-baal anymore.

2 Samuel 4: 4 refers to Jonathan’s son named Mephibosheth.   They don’t call him Merib-baal anymore. 

Mephibosheth means “destroyer of idols” or “exterminator of shame.”    O.K., so it’s obvious how that name change reflects a genuine linguistic translation into something significant.

But his Uncle Ishbosheth’s new moniker means “man of shame.”  Not exactly a kingly title, but so what?  It’s a Jewish name, not an “ethnic” name.

It’s like a kid named Keniqua who decides to start going by Kennedy.  Never mind that Kennedy means “helmet head.”   Or, a parent who decides to shorten Porsheresa to Portia, nevermind that Portia means “pig.”  Or the Vietnamese immigrant who drops Ngyuen in favor of Nelson.

The way we beat each other up over names, hairstyles, clothing fads, etc. is nothing new.  It’s not unique to the American experience or the African-American experience. 

That which has been is what will be,

That which is done is what will be done,

And there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

All this stuff is just part of the age-old human experience.

Changing names may have made Mephibosheth and Ishbosheth sound more acceptable.  But the name changes didn’t keep the throne in their family.  Some kid out of nowhere named David still came to power.  The name didn’t make the man.

God made the man and the name followed.

…to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel.

 And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. (2 Samuel 7: 8-9)

My all Black household has a collection of the most anglo names in America:  Anderson, Sheila, Katlin, and Anderson III.  But those names don’t guarantee success.   Just like a ridiculously ethnic sounding name like, for example, Barack Hussein Obama, doesn’t preclude success. 

Each of us has to choose how we will relate or not relate to Jesus Christ.  Each of us has to choose how we will obey or disobey God’s Word.  Each of us has to choose whether or not we will live in line with or aligned against God’s will.  Because ultimately, 

God decides whether or not to pour out his favor and it is God’s favor that makes the man or woman A GREAT NAME, LIKE THE NAME OF THE GREAT MEN WHO ARE ON THE EARTH.

---Rev. Anderson T. Graves II   (email:  atgravestwo2@aol.com )

Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

MAMA, WHAT YOU CALL THEM---- THAT’S WHO THEY’LL BE

The Mother’s Day message is called MAMA, WHAT YOU CALL THEM---- THAT’S WHO THEY’LL BE.

Listen well.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer, and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church and the executive director of SAYNO (Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization) in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

You can help support this Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Or send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail should be addressed to:
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

Are You Asking or Telling?

“I can have this candy,” said my son.

But there was something about the way he said it:  arm extended over the candy bar, fingers already closing around the wrapper.

It wasn’t just the imprecise grammar of a toddler.  My son sounded------ casual.

Presumptive.

It affected me.

My head tilted.  My face tightened.  My eyebrows rose.  As I leaned toward him I could feel the rumble in the back of my throat riding out on the words.

I growled, “Boy!  Are you asking me, or telling me?”

My son paused.  At 3 years old he seemed to understand. 

This was the most important and dangerous question he’d ever been asked.

The toddler understood, but apparently the church doesn’t.

The other day, I heard a preacher tell his congregation to “Tell the Holy Spirit that you need a right now blessing!”

Tell?  And right now?

"This is what the LORD says-- the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:

Concerning things to come, do you question Me about my children, or give Me orders about the work of my hands? (Isaiah 45: 11, NIV)

God our Father wants to know:  Are we asking Him or telling Him?

How do we approach God when we want something from Him?   

Jesus said to them, “Have faith in God.

For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. (Mark 11: 22-24)

But somehow, at some point, we took a sharp, wrong turn with the concepts of believing and asking in faith.  We started acting like God’s promises to us had made God subordinate to us and we could make God do what we want Him to do.

We forgot basic protocol in the child-Father relationship.

…whatever things you ASK when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ASK the Father in My name He will give you.  (John 16:23)

ASK, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7: 7)

Children ask their Father.  They don’t tell Him.

We the children of God pray to our Father.  We don’t command Him.

I know.  I know. 

“But the Bible says that I can have WHATEVER I ask.”

Don’t forget to stomp your foot when you throw that tantrum.

Believer can have whatever they ask IN JESUS’ NAME.

That doesn’t mean that we simplistically say the magic words, ”in Jesus’ name” when we ask for foolishness and God has to give it to us.

God is not a genie locked in a bottle that you rub with prayer “in the name of Jesus.”

The Holy Ghost is not a familiar spirit summoned by your praise and held for your pleasure in a circle drawn by your will.

God is GOD!

“In Jesus’ name” means under Jesus’ authority.

We ask under Jesus’ authority because our requests are subject to His authority, meaning that our requests are subject to His “yes” and to His “no.”

Yes, all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. (2 Corinthians 1: 20)

But what has God promised?

He has promised to give us what we ask---- subject to His authority (and approval). 

He has promised to never give us more than we can bear/ handle.  (1 Corinthians 10: 13)

So, Would God withhold your request if He knows that you aren’t really spiritually ready to deal with getting it? 

Yes.

He has promised not to tempt us to sin. (James 1: 13)

So, you mean that even if I believe and pray “in the name of Jesus” God won’t give something that will lead me away from Him.

Let the church say, “Amen.”

The promises of God do not override the sovereignty of God.

If I promise my son that I’ll get him whatever he wants for his birthday, I’m still not going to get him a flamethrower or a box of rat poison no matter how fervently he asks for it.

What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Mathew 7: 9-11)

Daddy can say, “No,” if He wants to.

And if we were honest, we’d testify about all the times that God has told us, ”No.”  Because honestly, for each time you claimed it and received it there were a dozen when you claimed it and got----- nothing.

 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4: 3)

Daddy can say, “No,” if He wants to.

Today, some Christians talk about getting stuff out of God as though God has no choice in the matter.  As though, when one of us puny humans knows the right scriptures, we take away God’s control over Himself.

They’ve forgotten that God has free will, too.

They’ve forgotten that though Christians have authority in/ under Jesus name; Jesus has ALL authority and power in Himself. 

We’ve accepted the popular dysfunctionality of families in the larger culture and transferred that dysfunction onto our relationship with God.   The church thinks it can use the same disrespectful tone with God that church members allow their children to use with them.

Ya’ll forgot Whose house this is.

The Lord says:

I have made the earth,

And created man on it.

I—My hands—stretched out the heavens,

And all their host I have commanded.

I have raised him up in righteousness,

And I will direct all his ways;

He shall build My city … (Isaiah 45: 12, 13)

He is the Dadddy.  We are the children. 

Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. (Isaiah 63: 16)

When you speak to that demon, remember your authority and  COMMAND IT to come out. (Mark 3: 14, 15)

When you speak to that mountain, remember who you are and TELL IT to be uprooted and cast into the sea. (Mark 11: 23)

But when you speak to your Father in Heaven, also remember who you are----Ask Him.  Don’t tell.

For thus says the Lord,

Who created the heavens,

Who is God,

Who formed the earth and made it,

Who has established it,

Who did not create it in vain,

Who formed it to be inhabited:

“I am the Lord, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45: 18)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To listen to sermons and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can help support this ministry by clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

TRYING TO MAKE GOD MAD. Proverbs 26: 2.

Proverbs 26: 2 Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight. 

Proverbs 26: 2. Let’s be clear: Curses are real. They happen. People suffer under them everyday. Spiritual/ demonic affliction is real. People all around you (maybe you yourself) are really burdened by it.

But let’s also be clear on some mechanics of cursing:
When someone curses you (I’m talking about “cursing” not “cussing.”), they are invoking God (or some other spiritual agent) to do you harm.
When does that happen these days? When someone prays for the Lord to “smite thee” or when they “rebuke you in the name of Jesus” they are calling on the Lord to act against you.

Yeah. But, here’s the thing: No one can make GOD do anything!

You can spray a super-soaker filled with prayer oil mixed with holy water blessed by an apostle and a bishop, but it means nothing if God has not already decided to do something to your target.

God has a mind of His own. So no matter how saved you are (or say you are), just because YOU’RE mad at somebody doesn’t necessarily mean that JESUS is mad, too.

The disciples/apostles James & John were 2 of Jesus’ 3 best friends in the whole, wide world. In Luke 9: 51-56, they got mad at village of Samaritans who flat out rejected Jesus. James & John wanted to curse the Samaritans. Instead Jesus rebuked the 2 disciples.

Just because YOU’RE mad at somebody doesn’t necessarily mean that JESUS is mad at them, too.

How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?  (Numbers 23: 8)

Neither those who speak against you, nor you when you speak against someone have any real power to shut-up someone’s spirit, to put bad luck on them, to cut off their blessing, blah, blah, blah.

A person can--- hit you in the head, poison your drink, & lie on you to your boss; but they can’t put a curse on you unless God has already decided to judge you for your sin.

So, don’t waste your money on angel statuettes, medallions, prayer cloths, air fresheners with the Virgin Mary painted on the label, and all the other crap that’s supposed to ward of curses.

Just live right. Establish and grow in a personal, redeemed relationship with Jesus. Live so that God has no reason to curse you.

Everyone else can kick rocks.

Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To listen to sermons and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can help support this ministry by clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

HALLOWED BE THY NAME or “Moses & the Wet Rock”

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father Who is in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.  (Matthew 6: 9)     

The word hallowed means sanctified, set apart as special, holy.  Actually hallowed means to sanctify, to set apart as special, to mark as holy.    It’s a subtle but important grammatical difference. Grammatically speaking, the word translated hallowed is a verb of the passive voice in the imperative mood.

All that mumbo-jumbo means that “Hallowed be Your name” is a command, not a description.  Jesus wasn’t just saying that the name of God IS holy; He was also saying that it is our job to treat God’s name as holy and to make God’s name seem holy to others.

The opposite of the word hallow is profane.  So the opposite of hallowing God’s name is to use it as a profanity, a curse, an epithet, or an expression of perversion or filthiness.

You shall not profane My holy name, but I WILL BE HALLOWED among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you.  (Leviticus 22: 32)

O.K., but how?  How exactly do we hallow the name of God our Father?

The answer involves Moses and a wet rock.

The books Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, & Deuteronomy all record Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness.  For 40 years they walked in circles.  40 years of “Hey!  Didn’t we already pass this rock?”

For example, Exodus 17 and Number 15 records two separate incidents involving a rock at the same spot, Meribah,  in the desert of Zin.

Both passage begin with the children of Israel running out of water in the desert and threatening to revolt against Moses and traipse back to Egypt (“cuz Massuh gave us plenty water”).

The first time, God told Moses to grab his staff, get all the leaders together, and approach the big rock at Meribah.   Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink. Exodus 17: 6)

Moses did that, exactly the way God told Him to, and it was all good.  Verse 7 says that this miracle was God’s answer to the people’s question, “Is the Lord [really] among us or not?”

In the Exodus 17 event, Moses focused the attention on God. From the leaders to the last, everybody in Israel saw that it was God in His glory that opened the rock and gave water.  Moses was God’s instrument like the staff was Moses’ instrument.  God was exalted.  God was HALLOWED.

But then, in Numbers 20, the children of Israel are making another loop, passing by the same spot, spitting the same threats and complaints.  God tells Moses:  “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water...” (Number 20: 8)

Moses gets his staff, gets his brother Aaron, calls the people together again in front of the Meribah rock and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?”  Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly (Numbers 20: 10, 11)

Moses didn’t mention God at all when he stood in front of the rock in Numbers 20.  Moses talked about what HE & HIS brother were able to do.   In Numbers 20, God told Moses to SPEAK to the rock, but Moses HIT the rock--- twice.  After all, Moses had done this before.  He knew how to get that rock to give up its water.   Hitting the rock was the proven method, but it wasn’t the obedient method.   It wasn’t the method God had chosen for that moment to bring Him glory.

The people got water.  It took 2 tries, but the people did get their water.

But God didn’t get the glory.  God was not made the center of the people’s attention.  Moses acted as the bringer of water not as the servant of the One who brings water.  Moses exalted himself and his brother in ministry.  Moses didn’t hallow God.  He hallowed himself.

Moses and Aaron had successfully prayed for freedom from Egypt.  Moses and Aaron had successfully prayed for deliverance from enemy after enemy in the wilderness.  Moses and Aaron fervently and effectually prayed for water. 

But they didn’t hallow God before the people.

We hallow the name of God when we speak it with reverence.  We hallow the name of God when we refuse to use it as a profanity or punctuation mark. 

But the most important way that we hallow (or profane) the name of God has nothing to do with grammar.  It’s the way we respond to the promise of water from a rock.

When God does (or gives us the power to do) something awesome---like turn a desert rock into a spigot abundant enough to quench the thirst of an entire nation------ we can either use the opportunity to focus everyone’s attention on God or we can use the opportunity to focus everyone’s attention on ourselves.  We can either remember that our gifts come down from the Father and so our actions are subordinate to His authority.  Or, we can act like we’re the ones in charge, like we can make stones gush.

The name of God is hallowed in our conversations and in our actions.  Or not.

Our gifts come in God’s name.  The opportunities to receive and to achieve awesome things come in God’s name.  When we receive those blessings but we set our name in bigger letters than God’s then we make it look like we’re big and God is little.  And some people watching us will think that is the way it is.

For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written. (Romans 2: 24)

And that’s an unacceptable situation.  To correct it, God will make an example of us, His beloved servants.   

God told Moses and Aaron: Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.

Though their prayers were answered in an awesome way, their greatest blessing was denied.  The ultimate reward for their labors, the fulfillment of their destiny----- wouldn’t happen.

This second incident at the wet rock was the reason Moses and Aaron died without entering the Promised Land.

We are children of God, but we are not God Himself.  We are the beloved sons and daughters of the Father; but we are not THE Father.  When we understand our authority and power, we can request and receive some awesome things; but our blessing come with the condition that we give credit to Whom credit is due.  It is imperative (Catch the reference back to the introductory grammar bit?)----- imperative that we hallow the name of God.

If we don’t, then God will do it Himself. 

For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the Lord of hosts.  (Malachi 1: 11)

Numbers 20: 13 says that when God put Moses in check then the people understood.  Then Moses and Aaron gave God the credit He deserved.  Then He was hallowed among them.

So when you pray, already have your mind settled to praise God and not yourself for t the blessing when it happens. 

As you exercise your gifts don’t let cockiness over your past successes override awareness of how God wants you to move in this moment. 

And when you receive the answer to your prayer remember to let folks know that God did it.  Let folks know that you ask, you receive, but God provides.  

And in this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father Who is in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.  

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116