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I Pray and I Believe.

By Dustin W. Warren

Let me begin by saying, I am a Christian.

I believe in Jesus. I believe He was the Son of God, and the incarnate flesh of God’s Word. I believe He lived and walked on this earth to bring true love, and I believe he died on the cross for our sins. I believe he was buried and resurrected from the dead, but I do not believe he was killed, I believe he gave his life, as a sacrifice. And in that sacrifice, I believe he redeemed us from the errors of Adam, and reconciled our spirits back to the Oneness of God. 

I believe these things, and I accept Him as my personal Lord and Savior. 

I also believe that the wonders of God are infinite. 

I believe that in His ways He surpasses us in all understanding. 

I believe that He is universal and available to every human being on this planet.

And I believe that while there is only One God to serve, there numerous ways to serve Him; to praise Him, to honor Him, to call out to Him (or Her), to worship and adore Him. 

And that is why I’ve started this Blog. To discover all the ways that God’s people have chosen to praise him: One Word. One Spirit. One People & Divine. 

While we may all have individual paths, just as we all live individuals lives, we all share the same Faith in God.

This afternoon I had a conversation with my mother. I love my mother, she brought into this world by faith alone. After having up to 5 or 6 miscarriages, she relentlessly prayed and planted seeds so that I might come into this world. At the moment she was declared pregnant with me, she literally laid on her back for 9 months straight so as to keep me healthy and prevent me from dying the same way as the ones that had come before me. I literally owe her everything.

But as we talked, I heard this typical concern in her voice that you hear from a mother who only wants the best for their child and worries about the path we take. 

“We are Christians, Dustin. We don’t refer to God as ‘The One Divine’” she said timidly, “That word scares me a little bit. What is your end game here? What are you trying to do? I know you have a ministry in you but I’m concerned about what you’re trying to accomplish with this.” 

I respect my mother, and I tried to give her the space to work these concerns out for herself, but soon my aggravation came to a boil. “This is not about replacing the name of God, Mom. First of all, no one word could ever match the might of who God is, it pales in comparison. We may call him ‘God’, another ‘Jehovah’, another ‘Yahweh’ - But none of those are his name, he is the Great I Am, those are names we’ve given to each other to praise Him together as One. But ultimately, it’s these same words that have been used to tear his people apart. If we pray to the same God, then what difference is it what we call him?”

She got quiet, “Okay.”

I felt ashamed. I don’t want my mother to feel disrespected. But this is the problem. We live in so much fear of our righteousness that we save no room for our discovery.