Where is your Terenbith Tree?

I hope that everyone is enjoying their spring break, I know I am!! I got back to Houston Friday night and was so relieved to be home; to see my family, eat food that doesn't taste or feel like cardboard, and  you know the usual. 

As I woke up this morning at the amazing time of 7:00AM I started worshipping God. I listened to a song by Bethel Music that talked about expecting God in a different way... Experiencing God in a different way... Meeting God at a different place. After the song was over the Holy Spirit told me to go outside and walk. I was given no destination, no coordinates, no map just told to walk. As I started to obey him I got really sick. There was an excruciating pain in my stomach and I started sweating. Oh God, it was horrible! 

At that moment I honestly thought about not going outside at all, I just wanted to lay down and go back to sleep hoping the pain would go away. Then I prayed and asked God to take away the pain... And it was gone. The funny thing is that I was surprised because I've never experienced God to be a healer for me.

Could it be that we downsize God and don't expect Him to do anything? So, He doesn't... 

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV)

But let me get back to the real topic of this blog the Terenbith Tree... 

So after I was healed I went outside and just started walking, still had no idea where I was going but I knew God was trying to tell me something. Eventually I ended up here:

And without any explanation I just sat down at that place and started worshiping.

Then God spoke to me, and said He led me here because this was my Terenbith Tree. (If you want read about Hearing From God Check out this blog http://danieluncensored.blogspot.com/2014/12/hearing-from-god.html). 

 The Terenbith Tree is a tree that is common in the region of Israel and Palestine. They are sometimes also referred to as "Great Oaks", "Oaks of Mamre", "Great Trees", and "Sacred Trees". A Terenbith Tree is simply just a place where you encounter God. It can be at home, in your car, at your job, at school, etc.

It says that the Lord appeared to Abraham at the Terenbith tree (Genesis 18:1). When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon the Angel was sitting under a Terenbith tree (Judges 6:11). 

What God revealed to me as I sat under that Gazebo is that sometimes when I come to a place that's comfortable, like home, I start to fall into old habits; not studying the word as much, not praying, falling into old patterns of sin, etc. 

Sometimes we just have to get away from the noise and the calamity in our lives and just find that place where we can experience God! Expect Him to move in a different way today and find that place where you and Him are one!

Live in Love! Live in Peace! Go in Freedom! 

-Daniel

My Testimony

So God has been telling me to share my testimony. I've never really shared the whole thing and just last night a friend of mine asked if I would share it with her over the phone. As I was talking to her I realized how much I had been through and what God has done in my life.

I have the common story of the little boy who grew up in church. Every Sunday morning I was dragged out of bed and lugged to church, because "that's what I was supposed to do." It was expected of me. Monday-Friday I had school, Saturday I watched cartoons like Pokemon or Power Rangers, and Sunday I had church.

The majority of my time in church as a 4-7 year old was spent in Sunday School: playing games, eating snacks, or watching Veggie Tales. I remember the bible stories we would always be taught: Jonah, David and Goliath, and Daniel in the Lions Den. However, I honestly can't recall what I felt about church. To me church was just an obligation like learning my ABC's or going to school or cleaning my room and the stories were just stories, nothing more.

There are a lot of things from my childhood that are really shaky in my memory (people say I have a really bad memory...I agree haha). But there are a few things I remember. At around the age of 7 or 8 I remember being in the kitchen with my Mom sitting at the dinner table and she told me about salvation. That night I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, or so I thought. I was really excited about it BUT I DID NOT KNOW WHY. I did not understand what a Christian was or what it meant to live for God, I wasn't old enough to understand. I did eventually figure out what salvation was but that's a blog for another day.

Fast forward a couple of years to my 6th grade year. I'm 11 now and going through that weird awkward phase where my body is changing, my voice is cracking, and a bunch of other embarrassing things are happening. Yup middle school days were my glory days (said no one ever). But on a serious note middle school is where I was introduced to sexual temptation, specifically pornography.

I remember going to my friends birthday party for a sleep over... Sorry let me rephrase that, I meant to say an all-nighter. Guys don't have sleep-overs.... So I'm at the all-nighter right, and we're doing typical 6th grade boy things: playing video games, watching Adult-Swim, (had to be 14 to watch that, rebels) eating everything in sight. You know the typical stuff boys do. One of the boys got onto the computer and began surfing the web for porn. I remembered watching it and thinking about how wrong it was. And then I was taught how to masturbate which changed everything. I didn't think about it being wrong anymore I just thought about how good it felt. My thought process was, "If it feels good it must be right."

That one night led to an addiction to pornography. I had to have it everyday. I was trapped in my sin and saw no problem with it. At around the same time, I joined a youth bible study at a church across the street from my house. The youth pastor was great and he had an amazing desire for God. Most of my spiritual growth happened within that youth group, but I was still a slave to sin (John 8:34). I was trapped! Funny thing is, I knew I was trapped and this time I wanted out but I couldn't get out. My flesh and my Sprit were battling each other (Galatians 5:17) and for 8 years of my life the flesh was kicking my Spirits butt!

As I went through high school, and my freshmen year of college, I got caught up with many other things: using marijuana, drinking, partying, thoughts of homosexuality, suicide, as well as going deeper in sexual immorality. I started creating soul ties with multiple women throughout my freshmen year of college. I was seriously messed up. Then one day God told me enough is enough. He said it was time to get back to loving Him. He wanted me to pursue Him and love Him. Not partying. Not drugs. Not women. Not alcohol. Just Him. I didn't fallout at the altar or get prophesied to, God just let me know that I needed to make a conscience decision to stop living in the world.

So here I am today, trying my best to focus on Him. And my urges to fall back into my old ways aren't gone, they're always going to be with me as long as I'm alive. However, sin is no longer my master (Rom. 6:14). As a child of God, I know that I have the power to overcome sin because Jesus had that same power when He was alive.

My prayer for all of you is that you continue to pursue God. If you feel like you are stuck in sin know that there is a way out, but YOU must make that conscience decision to repent.

I hope that you were inspired by my testimony. Please take time out to share this with someone who might need it.

Live in Love. Live In Peace. Go in Freedom.

-Daniel

If I Ain't Got You

Hey everyone haven't posted on here in awhile and I'm so sorry about that. I've been doing a lot lately! Winter break came and I was spending lots of time with family eating, laughing , and just having a good time. I also just got back from Baylor University in Waco, Texas for Baylor's Gospel Fest. I play Bass in the University of North Texas Voices of Praise Gospel Choir. It was such an amazing experience and I met so many people who just genuinely loved God.

Anyway, I feel that God is leading me to do these blog posts more often so I'm making a commitment now. I will post a blog every Monday (you guys hold me to that!). The topics will vary depending on what God is leading me to write about. It might be long or super short but I promise to post something.

Today I'd like to talk about being content in God. Being totally fine with having Him and nobody else. Ever since I was like 12 years old (I'm 19 now) I knew I loved music. It was all I did all day everyday. From practicing my flute, watching YouTube videos on how to play guitar, or banging on the piano in my house. Music was apart of my life 24/7 and still is today. Just this morning I started thinking about my goals and dreams; what I wanted to do in my life.

And then I stopped and said, "You know what God. If you take music away from me, including my desire to play it... Listen to it... Experience it. I would be okay with that, as long as I have you." Someone from the Bible who says something similar is David.

I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.".... Lord, you ALONE are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. (Psalms 16:2,5)

Is God enough for us? A lot of times we want God and something else; we want our mess, our addictions, our sexual relationships, and God too. But you see God doesn't work like that. Of course He will take you with all of your baggage, Romans 5:8 says that even when we were in sin Christ died for us (and would probably do it again quite honestly). God wants YOU and He wants YOU to WANT HIM!

Of course it's not going to happen over night but realize that it must happen. There has to be a point in the Christian walk where we say that God alone is our portion.

Live in Love. Live in Peace. Go in Freedom.

- Daniel

Hearing From God

So, I ran into a problem the other night. I was getting ready for my prayer time with God, and as I knelt there on my knees I just could not get close to Him. I couldn't hear His voice at all. I tried singing praise and worship songs, being still and listening, I even asked Him to give me a sign so that I knew I was still in His will. Nothing was working.

I don't know if you've ever not been able to hear God, but it's a scary feeling. I felt disgusting and wrong. I felt like God didn't love me. I felt like He had given up on me.

As I was about to give up and go to sleep, something in the back of my mind started to push me to open up my bible (A.K.A. the Holy Spirit).  I did the "open up to a random page trick", and I landed in Psalms, specifically Psalms 25. I studied this chapter before so I still had a few things highlighted. "To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You...Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed...Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation..." (NKJV)

Reading these verses began encouraging my spirit. I became hopeful again. Then God revealed something to me... myself. He told me that these feelings of loneliness, hurt, anguish, and desperation were birthed out of my little time spent with Him. He told me that things in my life were taking up to much time from Him. Our God is a loving God, but he's also a jealous God! (Exodus 34:14)

God told me to write this blog about hearing His voice, I had other plans for blog topics but this one is urgent. I'd like to focus on three points on how to hear from God:

1) Read your Bibles .

The best way to know someone's voice is to spend time with them. Recognizing God's voice comes with reading about Him and how He has spoken to others in the past.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

In the scripture above Paul is saying that EVERYTHING within those 66 books is meant to teach us how to govern ourselves: What to wear, what to eat, how to speak, how to teach, how to love others. The Scripture is not just a bunch of words written by random men, they are LIVING and BREATHING. They are God's way of speaking to His people. This is a hard concept to grasp but think about it for a second; scripture says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God. (John 1:1)

Also, it is important to read your Bible because God does not always speak in the same way. He uses a variety of outlets in order to speak to us. Sometimes, He speaks to us with a still small voice/gentle whisper like he did with Elijah (1 Kings 19:12). Other times, he uses other people to speak to us, as he did with Jonah (Jonah 1:1-2, Jonah 3:1-2). He may even speak clearly and audibly as He did when He spoke to Moses through the burning bush (Exodus 3:2-4). 

However it is that that He speaks to you, pay attention.

2) Check what you hear with the Word.

If what you hear  is really from God and not your flesh/demons/evil spirits then it should line up with the Bible. The Bible says that Satan himself turns into an Angel of Light in order to deceive us (2 Corinthians 11:14). Gods Word is consistent and true: "Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away" (Luke 21:33). God will never tell you one thing in the Bible and then tell you something different in an impression. That impression could be your flesh because God is no liar.

A few weeks ago I was witnessing to two girls in one of the dining halls at the University of North Texas. The Holy Spirit led me to say things that in other peoples eyes could be viewed as radical. I noticed however, that when I said a certain thing one of the girls shut me out completely. At that moment I just thought it was because she was being convicted and felt ashamed; but later on God brought to my attention that what I said was being said out of my flesh.

At that moment I was not letting the Holy Spirit lead me. I was being disobedient to the will of God, something that we as people practice all too well. In 1 John 4:1 we are told to not believe every thing we hear but to test the spirits.

As Christians we must be careful of what we say. Words hold the power to encourage and the power to discourage. Even as I write this blog I'm constantly trying to focus on what I say and how I say it. If I can't find a Word to back up what I write, then I probably shouldn't be writing about it.

It is extremely important for us to memorize and meditate on the Word of God so we can know when He's truly speaking. Lay down your selfish desires when you come to God in prayer and learn to discern between the Holy Spirit, your flesh, and the spiritual forces of evil. 

3) OBEY OBEY OBEY

This is the most important step in the whole process of hearing from God. If you truly believe that God is telling you to do something (or to stop doing something), whether it be by conviction or affirmation from another source, obey whatever it is He's saying. 

"But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22).

Too many times I've found myself in the position where I wanted to do things my way. Where I've wanted to continue with my sin and add God to the picture as well. I was like the Israelites, always complaining and disobeying God (Numbers 14, 16). Wonder why you can't find what God has promised for you? Wonder why you heard God clearly once and then never heard Him speak again?You probably aren't following His will. We have to constantly examine ourselves to make sure that we are being obedient to everything that God says. 

The kindness and patience that God shows to us is intended to lead us to repentance, not to further dis-obedience (Romans 2:4). God has so much for us here on this Earth. He loves us and He wants us to prosper in all aspects of our lives. We must obey His commands in order to keep hearing from Him. 

Hope you all learned something you didn't know before from this post. Sorry if it was a bit lengthy haha. I'll try to cut them down in the future. Stay blessed everyone!

-Daniel 

Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright

Have you ever worried about something? What job will I have in ten years? Where will I attend college? How am I going to pay my rent? When will I find that special someone? How am I supposed to deal with the loss of my parents?

These are all questions i've asked my entire life, and I'm pretty sure you have too. Worrying is a disease that plagues the mind. It eats away at our hope, our expectations, and our faith. But most importantly:

Us worrying makes God look bad!!!

(When I say us I mean Christians. Those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior AND have repented of their sins, constantly pursuing a love relationship with Him). 

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?" (Matt. 6:25-27)

When we worry about the things of this world we doubt God. We belittle God's power and all that He's done. How could we ever doubt a God that is the author of creation? Scripture makes it perfectly clear that God is perfectly capable of taking care of all the things He's created.

"But what if I'm just concerned about my future? I have goals in life I need to plan ahead?!"

I understand this question completely. I just finished my 3rd semester at the University of North Texas (CAAAWWW) where I'm studying Music Performance, specifically classical music.

Since music is such a skill based field auditions are always necessary. Unfortunately good paying jobs within symphony orchestras are scarce due to musicians having tenure. This means they have their job until they die or decide to leave. For the musicians with the jobs tenure is great, but for the ones just coming out of college it isn't so great.

I listen to so many of my friends who aren't pursuing music degrees talk about internships they have lined up after college or about how many jobs are available in their particular field. And when I was asked what my plans were after college I used to just make up elaborate answers that sounded good. I was always worried about how I would provide for my family. Would I end up becoming a street musician begging for money on a corner? The truth is I had no idea what I wanted to do after school. To be completely honest I still kind of don't. However, as I started to pursue God more and actually try to have a relationship with Him my fears and worries started to go away. It wasn't that I did not care about my future, it just didn't become the number one thing on my mind. God became the number one thing on my mind. Pleasing Him became the number one thing on my mind. Understanding Him became the number one thing on my mind.

Jesus says that we must seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness and he'll take care of the rest. He doesn't say we have to find the kingdom of God we just have to earnestly search for it. 

But what does seeking the kingdom of God look like? 

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

 Prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving. 

These are the tools we need in order to actively seek out the kingdom and His righteousness. If we make sure that we are continuously in communion with God (remember prayer is a two way conversation He should be talking back) then we should be fine. His peace will cancel out any anxieties we may have. 

Doesn't that make you just smile? If we serve a God who's able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we could ever ask then why fret?

God knows what you need!!! Let Him take care of it!



- Daniel