Brooklyn Tabernacle!

Last Sunday I visited The Brooklyn Tabernacle for the very first time. I had this strong feeling in my gut that I was supposed to visit and I couldn't quite explain why it was that church, but I decided to go for certain the night before. I went on to their website to look up the service times and the directions, saved the information in my phone, charged my phone and my portable charger (android battery life sucks) and went to bed pretty early!

The next morning I woke up to snow on the ground and I thought, "seriously!!!ughh". The news said that it would probably snow some more later that day and I began to tell myself, "Just stay home, don't go, you can always go next week etc." Not to mention that once I was dressed it began snowing lightly again. Despite that I was determined to shut down my thoughts (and the devil, im convinced he didnt want me there 1:nto 0:satan) and head to Brooklyn by myself. I said a prayer before leaving that sounded something like this, "God, I don't know why you want me attending, but I will obey you, protect me, guide me and let me get there safely please. amen"

I honestly thought I would end up lost but, to my surprise I found the church with ease (GO ME! :) ) I stepped in and thought "Wow, this is pretty big!" as I looked for a seat. The ushers were nice and everyone seemed excited and anxious to be there which only increased my excitement. I was so ready to pour my heart out to Jesus during praise and worship. I will admit, I was looking forward to hearing the choir sing and yes they killed it as usual! The entire atmosphere was filled with God's holy presence. I truly felt it. I never felt anything like it. Hands raised, glorifying God, I felt the Holy Spirit in my body. I thought maybe God wanted me here to hear the choir, give my offering here or something.

That was before Pastor Cymbala preached. Yes, the praise and worship experience was amazing and it gave me an opportunity to worship with a church community, but the sermon was for me. God wanted me to hear that. He preached on Ephesians 6:10-12. Now Ephesians 6 is special to me because when I first began walking with Christ intentionally and decided that I needed to experience God's love on my own, I had a dream that I was bound in chains on a chair, monsters and demons all around me and all I kept screaming was ephesians 6, ephesians 6. I had no clue what it was about, so the next morning I woke up and read it and I was in tears. Paul instructs us to put on the full, FULL armor of God to withstand the devil's attacks and to live here on earth until Christ's return. It was an answer to my question the night before because that night I got fed up of how I was feeling I cried out to God, "How do I do this?" I cant do this! Show me!

Fast forward to recently again. Recently I've had questions about spiritual warfare and why does God even allow his people to go through it. You know I posted earlier "Lord do you care?" As much as I had a smile on my face and I was encouraging others through tweets etc. a part of me began questioning lately if God really loved me. This christian walk is not easy. Temptations fly at you a mile a minute!! It's easy to fall back into sin. I have my dark moments too, I just never talk about it...to anyone, including my friends. The sermon spoke about this and the reasons behind it and how we can conquer etc. When he began preaching, most importantly when he said what he would be preaching on, my eyes began watering. It all made sense. He wanted me there for this very purpose. I had been asking him and I was expecting the answer to come in the form of a dream because that's what happened the first time.

I won't go into details about the sermon because I do not want this to be too long, but I am pretty sure they post sermons on their website and I encourage you to check it out and listen to it. It may speak to you and be just what you need as well. However, my point in sharing all this is to tell you don't limit God to your expectations. He works in mysterious ways and he works in different, unusual ways. You know we get so caught up with how things worked in the past that we are afraid to try something new. We get so used to God handling our problems in one way that when he is trying to use a different, better way; we lose our blessing because we miss it or simply don't want to believe it. I expected to get my answers and peace through a dream, God wanted to use someone and my experience at Brooklyn Tabernacle to speak to me instead. Don't doubt the way he speaks and the people in your life, strangers included, that he can use to get to you. What a mighty God we serve. I just love him! He is awesome!! I am in awe when I think about how powerful he really is. Do you guys realize he created the universe by speaking?!!! Who does that?! Insane! There is nothing he can't do. Nothing is impossible for him. As i say all the time, You might not think it's best for you, but God always knows best. And as BIG as he is, as POWERFUL as God is, sometimes he speaks to us in the most simplest ways. He was a gentle whisper to Elijah...and to me he was that indescribable gut feeling that told me to go to church in Brooklyn that day and he spoke through Pastor Cymbala as well. How is he speaking to you?