Join us as we hear from Pastor and Coach Ramel Moore in this installment of our Journey of Faith Stories.
We are talking about the different ways to view the "wilderness seasons" of our lives and how to hear God every step of the way.
Ramel is bringing his journey story to the mic and encouraging us to be still before we act, hear God before we decide, and always seek the kingdom of God.
Visit our Podcast page to listen online, Google Podcast Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify
Show Notes:
Get Connected with Ramel Moore
Get Caught Up with Season 2 Episode 5: Running Into God: A Journey Story w/ Britney Marie Harris
A Journey of Faith Story with Ramel Moore - Transcription
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Shekinah: Welcome to this week's episode of the Truths and Promises podcast. Today, we have another Journey of Faith Story to share with you all. And I'm looking forward to diving into today's conversation with my pastor, my marriage counselor, for Justin and I, and a really good friend, something like a big brother, Pastor Ramel Moore. So, welcome to the podcast.
Ramel Moore: What's going on? Happy to be here. So, so happy to be here.
Shekinah: Happy to have you. You all met him back in season one of the Truths and Promises podcast, when we did one of our episodes From The Walters's Couch, actually two of our episodes. And we did that with Shirley and Ramel Moore. So, this is one half of the Moore family right here, and we are so excited to have you. So Pastor Mel, if you could go ahead and introduce yourself, let the people know who you are, where you are, where you're from. Some of them are probably already familiar with you, but let's go ahead for our new listeners, include them in.
Ramel Moore: Well, I, I, as Shekinah already stated, I am Pastor Mel.
Most people call me Coach Mel or just Mel. I am a basketball coach and trainer. I am also, I hate using this terminology, but I am a life coach and trainer as well. So I do some life coaching and some basketball coaching. I like to say I am a personal pastor, so I am a pastor for the people and not just the people in the congregation, but for anyone that I come in contact with.
So I like, that's what I like to use, personal pastor. I am here in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. I'm from originally from Brooklyn, New York. I've been in Rhode Island for a long time, went to high school here, all that good stuff. So I am officially a Rhode Islander. But I'm originally from Brooklyn, New York.
Oh, I am the pastor of Fortified Life Church, and I'm the coach... Fortified Life Church. And I am the Assistant Coach at Belmont Hill Basketball, which is in Belmont, Massachusetts. Prep school out in Belmont, Massachusetts.
Shekinah: Nice. Well, I'm excited to dive into today's conversation. And if our listeners don't know the premise behind these Journey of Faith stories, pretty much it's to have real conversations about our personal journeys and God's glory, His faithfulness, and His never ending love.
During these talks, I invite our guests to share whatever God has placed on their hearts. I don't usually get a preview. So I have a good feeling that today's Journey of Faith story will be a journey in itself. And so they share whatever is on their hearts in the season, as long as it encourages us all to walk by faith, live in victory and above all else, obey God.
So I typically like to start these conversations off by asking what is one of your favorite truths or promises that we can find within the scripture.
Ramel Moore: Hmm. That's a great question. Matthew 6:33 would be kind of my truth scripture. Seek ye first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And I will add all these things on to you. I paraphrase it a little bit, but that's kind of the bulk of the scripture is just my, my life goal is to be a seeker. I just want to chase after God. Over and over and all the time and just be in His face and be in His presence. And that's really my life calling is to just be a seeker. And then the scripture clearly says that as you seek the kingdom, there's some things that are going to be added to me. So that's the promise, right?
I love that promise. The promises are very simple and clear. Agreement, seek and add. Those, those do those. I like, I wasn't the best at math, but I could put those two together and make some numbers out of it. So that that's my truth and promise scripture.
Shekinah: Yeah. I like that. Now, would you say you've always been a seeker?
Have you always been chasing after God? Has that just sort of been always your life heartbeat?
Ramel Moore: Not even close. I was, I was the complete opposite of a seeker. I was a runner.
I was, I was a Jonah. I was, I was a runner. I was a, I was a track-star when it came to Jesus. Like I would literally run from it. I met Jesus when I was roughly around 15, 16 years old. And. I, I was, I was heavy into the things of God and right around 18, 19. I kind of strayed away. I was one of those kids who was in church and I knew the scripture and all of that good stuff, but my, my, my eyes were out the window.
I was looking out the window at all the things that were enticing about the world. And then, at some point, I ran from my calling and ran to the things that I seen outside there. And that, that led me in a lot of dark places for a long period of time. But, but the greatest part about God is His faithfulness.
Right. Although I ran. Although I rebelled. Although I rejected. When I called for his. It was right there for me. Yeah. I feel like, I feel like the leper at the gate. I knew what my ailment was, I was rejected by everybody. But when I asked Jesus to heal me, not only did He heal me, but He reached out. If you read that scripture, I believe it's in Matthew 8. Jesus doesn't just heal the leper, but He touches him. Now the cool part about that is Jesus didn't have to touch him, but He wanted to make a connection. And I'm so glad that Jesus didn't just heal me, but he made a connection and that He touched me and that's truly who I am. I'm a leper or I was a leper and now I'm healed and I continue to seek after that connection.
Shekinah: Yeah, that's good. So can you tell us how you stood on this promise or any other promise that comes to mind through a wilderness season that you've experienced in life?
Ramel Moore: Yeah. So if I'm being, if I'm being completely honest, I mean, there's wilderness seasons, there's tough seasons all the time. Right. And this is actually a scripture that, I continue to eat off of, right. This is a plate that I continue to eat off of. And I use this scripture for my marriage. I use the scripture for my life. I use this scripture for every part of my life, every aspect of it. Because the fact of the matter is if I'm looking for something from God, I'm already going in the right direction.
Why? Because I'm looking for it from Him. I'm not looking for it from me, and I think that's one of the keys to, the keys and one of the hangups, of a lot of people, a lot of people try to find it within so many different places, right. Try to find it within themselves, seek internally. Right? All the, all of these different things.
When the scripture clearly says seek the kingdom. So I try to make sure that I'm clear in my perspective, and to answer your question, I literally keep the scripture in front of me for all parts of my life, all seasons of my life, ups, downs, valleys, storms. What have you? This is, this is one of the scriptures that I stick to. I mean, there's a bunch more, right? I will never leave you nor will I forsake you. He who waits on the Lord shall renew their strength. Right? You can go through the whole just about the whole book of Psalms and find scriptures to stand on. But being the seeker allows me to know that I'm already in the right place, so that's one thing. It's like a compass, the scripture is for me, it's a compass. When I know I'm seeking, it means, I know I'm in the right place.
Shekinah: Yeah, regardless of if you're in a wilderness season or not. I think a lot of people see wilderness seasons as places, the wrong place, or a place to get out of very quickly. But sometimes when you're seeking and God has you in that wilderness season, that's exactly where He wants you to be and you're okay because you're still experiencing His glory in that wilderness season, whatever it might be.
Ramel Moore: One of the things that I often say, and this is one of the, there's no strength without struggle.
So in my seeking seasons, or let me, let me rephrase that in my wilderness seasons. Those are always my seeking seasons. Those are always where I'm getting stronger. Those are always where I'm chasing after God. Here's the thing, the Bible says you overcome by the words of your testimony and the blood of the lamb.
There was no testimony, without the test, you know, but it's one of those quotes, those corny quotes that I, that you have to say. But those tests are your wilderness. And the only way to overcome your wilderness is by continuing to keep your eyes on God. That's what seeking is. Seeking is saying, no matter what season I'm in, no matter how stormy it is, I'm going to keep my eyes on you. And that's what leads us out of the wilderness. Right. Just keeping our eyes on Jesus. And that's one of the things that, that I try so hard to do. Yeah.
Shekinah: Yeah. Now I love that. I remember, oh, some time ago. This is probably while I was in my PhD program. A lot of people, you know, say "eyes on the prize," but God would just whisper to me as not on the prize, but eyes on me, and you know, so this what you're saying resonates so deeply with me because there were times where, you know, wilderness or promise land, however you see it, where when you are in this world and there are so many things happening around you and you have so many goals and so many things to chase after you have to constantly remind yourself to keep your eyes on Christ, to seek first the kingdom of God and then all those other things, those other goals, those things that you have to chase after those things are added to you. So, yeah.
Ramel Moore: Yeah, yeah. And that's, and so you, that was so perfectly what you said, that and in this world, they tell you, keep your eyes on the prize. The unfortunate part about that is when you have your eyes on the prize, that's when the tripping happens. That's when the wilderness happens. That's when, so you have your eyes on the prize, put your prize ain't going to help you with the wilderness. Your prize ain't going to help you with the tripping. Your prize ain't gonna help you with the stumbling. None of those things. That prize ain't going to do nothing. Sometimes the prize is actually what trips you up. You're so locked in on the prize that you tripping and stumbling over yourself, trying to get to this prize, but God makes it so easy. He says, keep your eyes on me. I'll give you everything else. I'll give you everything else. Keep your eyes on me. And here's where it gets crazy. You think you're going after the prize? God gives you the prize and more. He says, seek ye first, the kingdom of God and I will add all of these things. See there's things that you don't even know you want or need that God will add to you by keeping your eyes on him versus keeping your eyes on the "prize."
Shekinah: Yeah. Yeah. Air quotes "prize." No, that's so real. And I think that brings us right there to that 1140 story, because as our listeners, I hope know by now, and I know as you know very well Pastor Mel, because you've been connected to 1140 for years now. That 11 day journey really became a 40 year journey when they saw the prize, right? The spies go into the promised land, 10 of them bring back a negative report and because their eyes were on what this prize of the promise land look like, and they moved their eyes off of being on Christ and all of their faith was sort of gone in what God had promised them. Then they ended up spending 40 years wandering in the wilderness, unnecessarily, just because they took their eyes and their faith off of what God had already promised them. And so I typically like to ask folks as they're sharing their journey of faith stories, how this 1140 story resonates with them.
What meaning do you find and sort of this 1140 journey that we see the Israelites take through the wilderness to their promised land?
Ramel Moore: Yeah, I think, when I first heard about the 1140 glory story, I just thought it was such an amazing an amazing story, not only story, but an amazing opportunity, because the 1140 glory story is not a seasonal story.
It's a story for every season, right? The wilderness is not just this. It's not just a one-time one, one time spinoff. This is the sequel, like this, if you there's a saying that says, if you're not in one you're coming out of one and if you're not coming out of one, you're going into one. So the, the wilderness is so real for all of our lives.
And you hit the nail on the head. You said that they were putting their eyes on the prize, right? Or on, on the riches or whatever, they were putting their eyes on and they took their eyes off of Jesus. Okay. The 1140 story is so relevant to today because one of the things that God has been saying to me in this season is He said, I'm calling my people to have pinpoint accuracy. No longer will we be continued to take the shotgun effect where we just shoot and hope we hit a bunch of things and hope we hit the target.
No, no, no, no. God wants us to have pinpoint accurate. He wants us to see clearly aim clearly and hit our mark. The way we do that is by keeping our eyes on him. The way we do that is by continually seeking and staying in His, in His presence. Off to often times we, we are moving or we are going after certain things without first hearing from God.
Right. And it just leads us into a 40 day versus 11 day. Right. It leads you into yeah. It's, it's just, it's just, and unfortunately it's it's, it has been the way of the Christian, and when I say this, I mean, I hear God, clearly he said, I'm looking for the 11 day Christians. I'm looking for the ones who are sitting, seeking, hearing, and not moving until I say, being in the right place at the right time and moving according to the Spirit.
And I just, I just think that's so important for this. Because time is running out. I know we've been hearing that forever. I know it and when I say time is running out, I don't mean time is running out is like, you know, not, not only that Jesus is coming back, but I mean, like we're supposed to be doing some things and the things that we're called to do, are 11 day things. They aren't pinpoint accuracy things. They are not running around in circles, chasing your tail type of things. These things are, are that we're called to do are things that not only need to be done by us, through Christ, but He's calling us to do it in such a precise way. We're, we're not, we're not falling over ourselves for 40 days, were moving, almost militant. Right. We're moving so connected to one another, but also connected to Christ.
Shekinah: Yeah. Yeah. So you've seen that come alive in your own life and your own journey in faith, huh?
Ramel Moore: For sure. I mean, I can't even tell you how many things that have taken me way longer than it was supposed to take me because of my impatience and my lack of discipline to move and hear God. So there's just, it's just so many times you know, one of the things that I joke about it, but it's super funny. I met my wife and I married her three months later. Right. Because I heard and I moved according to what I heard. Right. I moved according to what I heard and I will, I always say this, but I don't think we would be here if I waited any longer to marry her. My obedience is what led me to the blessing. Hearing, moving, receiving, and just living in the blessing. So, you know, I that's, that's one, that's one way where I can say, you know, that could have took longer, but I was able to hear from God and move accordingly with, with some real good accuracy and thank God I was because my wife is such a blessing to me.
Shekinah: Yes. Yes. Dare I say she is the best thing that has ever happened to you.
That's right. So I do want to ask you, because you kind of keep talking about hearing God, right. And obeying God. And I think, you know, for 1140, we talk a lot about the importance of obeying God. But it's hard to obey God if you can't hear God. Right. And this is definitely a deeper conversation than what I think we have time for in this episode. But I want to see if you have some gems about how to hear God and how to know that what you're hearing is from God.
Ramel Moore: That's so good. That's so, so good. I'm actually, I'm in the middle of reading a book called Crash the Chatterbox by Stephen Furtick. And it talks about all of the different voices that go on throughout a day and all of the different things that we hear.
You know, you hear yourself talking, you hear the voices of others from your past and your present talking. And, and the question I get this question asked so many times, how do you know it's God? How do you hear him speak? And my answer will always be the same because it's the one that was given to me by my dad a long, long, long time ago.
Cause I had that same question and the answer was, God will never speak outside of His Word. So in order for you to hear God, you must also be able to connect with His Word. You may hear something being said to you and your head and your conscience. However you hear it. Your job is not to decipher is the if that's God or not. Your job is to let the Word of God decipher if that's God or not. The Word of God will always line up with what you hear, and if it don't line up, then it ain't God. And it's just that simple. He will never speak outside of His Word. So if he's speaking to you. He will also direct you where to find it in His Word. Confirmation is key. You know, confirmation is key. You have to also, you know, get, get things that you're hearing, confirmed. No, man is an island. You don't have to be all alone. You don't have to hear something that you believe is God and take it for what it is. Get it confirmed. Do your research. And I just want to be very clear. God, doesn't just speak audibly or in your conscience. Right? A lot of times you say, well, how do you know that's God's speaking? Well, here's the deal. Anything that's in His Word is him speaking number one. But he also speaks to people, right? He also speaks to pastors, to children through whatever. God can speak to them.
Again, the part that is probably the most important part is the word of God says he who has an ear, let him hear. You have to be in a place to hear God. What does that mean Pastor Mel? I'm so glad you asked. When you spend time with God, when your'e constantly in communion with God. He said, my kids know my voice and no other voice would they follow. Listen, you got to get so connected to God that when He speaks it's in you already. You know that's Him. Because here's where it gets crazy. Nine times out of 10. God is only speaking to the spirit inside of you. He's speaking to you through the spirit inside of you. He speaks to himself.
That speaks to himself, which is, which is absolutely amazing, but that's where we have to be connected to God so much and so, and so frequently that we're able to hear Him because we've been around Him so much. We're connected to him so much. Think about it like this. You've been married for how long? You've been married for a year and some change a year and some change. Been dating for a little while before. That you've been around your, your husband's soul long. And you've, you've, you've had so many, so much, so much intimacy with him as far as like, just hanging out and getting to know each other. If Justin was in the room and you couldn't see him and he yelled out your name. But it didn't sound like him. You would know quickly something's wrong. You'd be like, "Babe, is that you?" Yeah, but if it sounded just like him, because you've heard, you know, his voice. You're going to instantly and immediately respond. What we have to learn to do is in order to hear God's voice and know what his voice is, we have to get so engulfed in God and His presence that when he speaks, we know his voice and He don't even get to finish before we're moving and saying, yes, daddy. Yes, yes. Yeah. Whatever, whatever you say. Yes. So to answer your question and kind of sum it up. A few ways to know it's God's voice: number one, spend time with Him. So you know what he sounds like. So, you know, when He's speaking.
When God says something, you can, you can clearly say, Hey, that sounds like God. How does that sound like, God? I I've read that in His word. I just spend some time with Him and those two things connect. And not only that, there's people in my life that are connected to God, that, that's God. Those are just some ways, some quick tips on how to make sure that, you know, God is speaking.
Shekinah: Yeah, I like that. That's good. All right. So one of the last questions that I have for you,
Ramel Moore: I love this. By the way, I love this so much.
I love this because it's so challenging and it gets you thinking, and I'm a talker. And I love you. So, and I know, I know how your mind works, and I know that you, you, you you're, you're a thinker and you are an intellectual. So I just love having these conversations.
Shekinah: Yeah, this is good. We'll definitely have to do it more after. Let me ask you this. Do you feel like you are living in a promised land right now? And, or, you know, cause I had this conversation with someone recently of just, you know, we all see the promised land as one destination to get, but the Bible talks about how we go from glory to glory and so I feel like, yeah, we can be a one promise land and move into another wilderness and move to a whole new promised land. So, you know, do you feel like you're in a promised land or do you have a picture of another promise land that God has promised you and sort of, what does that look like for you?
Ramel Moore: That's such, that is such a loaded question.
Shekinah: That's what makes it great.
Ramel Moore: Yeah, because the truth of the matter is this. I'm old enough to know everything's perspective.
So to say I'm not living in the promised land would be false, but to say, I am living in the promised land would also be false. Because the fact of the matter is the journey is a part of the promise and I'm on a journey. And that is my promised land. The journey was promised to me. I'm promised to journey. And so I am in my promise then, because I'm on the journey.
There's like you said, there's glory to glory to glory. There's some things that have not been fulfilled in my life. And those things are also a part of the promised land. But there's some things that have been fulfilled in my life that is also upon a part of my promise land. I like to look at it like this I'm on a highway and between every exit is some, some good stuff. You know, there's some good stuff. So I'm experiencing the promise. I'm living in the promise. Yeah. So I would say I'm living in my promised land, but there's some big things to come for Pastor Mel, Coach Mel. And I get excited when I think about it. So I, I can't wait to be a deeper into my promise.
Shekinah: Yeah, I love that. Well, tell us what, what are some of the things that we can know now? What's popping in your life? Do you have any sort of things you want to share with the folks of how they can connect with you? What you're doing. How they can plug in to those things?
Ramel Moore: Yeah. So I'm actually in the process of writing a book called, Kingdom Kids. I believe that this book is going to be revolutionary. I believe that this book is going to change Christians' lives forever. I believe that this book is going to be something that, if you're a Christian and you think to yourself Sunday service, can't be the only thing I'm here for. If you believe that there's more to this walk than just three songs and three songs, two claps and, and I have a great day on Sunday. If you believe that there's more to life than just that, then this book is for you. This book is really showing us how that church is just a small part of the kingdom and God is calling us to kingdom and how we can we can live in the authority of the kingdom. And the fullness of what God is calling us to be and that's kingdom kids. So that's what the book is about. I wish I could give you more, but I can't um,
Shekinah: No, that's good right there, I think we're already hungry for more just hearing that. Yeah.
Ramel Moore: Yeah. There's a chapter in there and I'll give you this little piece.
There's a chapter in there called "Maximizing Me." And it's just a, it's just a really deep chapter, which just tells us about how God has called us and wants us to be the best versions of ourselves through Holy Spirit and how to really leverage our relationship with God. And, you know, not just think about life as I'm going to be the best Christian I can.
But I'm going to be the best entrepreneurial. I'm going to be the best father I can be. I'm going to be the best husband I could be. I'm going to be the best business owner I'm going to be. I'm going to be the best cryptocurrency. I'm going to have like all of these different things that, that God is calling us to do that we just don't tap into.
And it's just a really thought-provoking opportunity through a book. That's what I'm working on. I'm also just graduated John Maxwell. So I, I just, yeah, I just graduated in January. I'm actually headed to Orlando this weekend to walk across the stage and get my certificate and all that good stuff.
So more will be coming from that. I'm certified. I am a licensed and certified coach now. So there's going to be some speaking engagements that I'm going to be taking, some coaching sessions that we'll be doing. If you're looking for any of that, looking for some life, coaching from someone who is a practical coach, who is able to teach you and coach you right where you are.
You can jump on my website, coachmelmoore.com. It is up and running right now. coachmelmoore.com. You can find me on Instagram @coachmelmoore. Any platform is CoachMelMoore, So hope to hear from you all. That's what I have going on. My job on this earth is to pastor the people. So, no matter where you are, no matter what you're going through, no matter what place in your life you are. My job is to pastor the people. I had a young man called me today. It really changed, changed my, my mind and my heart. And it was just such a blessing. He called me today. And he said, literally said this. He said, should I call you Pastor Mel or Coach Mel? And I said, call me whatever you want, either one.
And he said, well, I have Pastor Mel question, but I also have a Coach Mel question. So I'm going to call you, I'm going to call you what I want to call you or what I need to call you, depending on the question. So right now let's hit, let's tackle the Pastor Mel question and it just warmed my heart because I want to be what God has me to be and to who He asked me to be.
And after he asked me the Pastor Mel question and we went through that stuff. He said, okay, now I have a Coach Mel question. And that's what it's all about. It's about wearing the hats that God has called you to wear and having to fruit to match.
Shekinah: Yeah, that's good. I think, you know, the person you were talking to, was also pulling on the different gifts that exist and because I've known you for a good long mighty time now, I also know that prophetic gift that exists. And I am going to ask you to actually go ahead and pray for our listeners that'll be hearing this and, and just cover us in prayer. And then I'll close out after that.
Ramel Moore: Absolutely!
Father God, we are amazed by you. We are in awe of you. We love you. We thank you. We honor you and we praise you. Your word says, enter into His gates with Thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. I want to be as close as I can be to you Lord. So I, I reach out with praise and thanksgiving.
Lord, I asked that that person was listening to this. I hear you. I asked that the person who's listening to this is encouraged. Understanding that their journey is also a blessing. That their perspective is important and if they can see their valley as an opportunity. If they can see this struggle as a way to receive strength, when the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against it. So, Lord I thank you for that standard. Thank you for the knowledge and understanding that the listener will have knowing your voice, knowing your Word, following and obeying your Word, having ears to hear. Lord, I just pray that the minds and hearts of your people will be open, that they would no longer settle for mediocrity, but they will get the fullness. That they would excel and exceed in every aspect of their life, because that's what you called us to do. That we will represent you at the highest levels, in all areas of life. In all of us fears of influence, we would represent you at a high level. Create in us a clean heart, renewing us a right spirit, that we may be kingdom kids here on earth as it is in heaven. And we may chase after you. Be seekers every day of our lives .Trusting in your will in Jesus name. Amen.
Shekinah: Amen. Well, as always, I'm so happy that you all could take a listen today. If you want to connect with me or at 1140 Glory, then head on over to eleven40glory.com. There you can find show notes under our blog.
Sign up for our Thank God It's Monday emails and join our online community. If there are topics that you want to hear covered here on the Truths and Promises podcast, connect with us and let us know. And lastly, if this Journey of Faith story has blessed you in any way, we want to hear about it in the comments of our show notes.
And of course, don't forget to share this with one family member and one friend. That's all it takes to change a life. All right y'all be blessed.
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