Graham-Kamondo-Morris Family Bible Study (Day 1)

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Graham-Kamondo-Morris Family Bible Study
Notes From Thursday, February 4, 2021 (Day 1)

Memory Verses

1 Samuel 1:27-28 King James Version (KJV)

²⁷For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him:

²⁸Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.

John 15:16 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁶Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Teacher (Mother’s) Notes

Notes by Shenica R. Graham, mother of Emanuel Cary Graham Kamondo (taken Friday, February 5, 2021).

From time to time, I had become challenged in finding new words to express the verses I was reading, going through the same Bible reading plan every year. Because of this and my sometime lack of sufficient study, there are gaps in my devotional timeline.

I recently received a new desire to eat the word, because my son wants to know about the God with whom he shares a name. And I am finding that he already knows so much. Thank you to the village that has been helping me to raise him. Thanks foremost to the Almighty God.

I have been leading anonymous online readers in Bible Study at one of my first ministry websites, http://wiseeku.wordpress.com for what I can document as at least 2008 (as of this writing, that’s 12 years. My son Emanuel is 11). From time to time, I had become challenged in finding new words to express the verses I was reading, going through the same Bible reading plan every year. Because of this and my sometime lack of sufficient study, there are gaps in my devotional timeline. I recently received a new desire to eat the word, because my son wants to know about the God with whom he shares a name. And I am finding that he already knows so much. Thank you to the village that has been helping me to raise him. Thanks foremost to the Almighty God.

Emanuel and I had a family Bible Study this evening (7pm Central) that highlighted the lives of Moses and Samuel. It was sparked because Emanuel came to me and stated that he felt attacked by the enemy. Even at age 11, Emanuel already has a relationship with God. Emanuel is known to pray about everything, is a faithful church member who also serves as an usher, and he even pays tithes on his allowance. When Emanuel told me days earlier that he had been having nightmares, I told him to rather than listen to cartoons or other entertainment while sleeping (he always had his Bluetooth on), he should listen to the scriptures. He testified a week later that since he has been listening to, “Fall Asleep With God,” he has not had any more nightmares.

This evening, Emanuel brought up in our conversation that he heard his name called in his sleep and it woke him. I began sharing the story of the child, Samuel, who was dedicated to God by His mother, and was called by God to be a Priest of God. As we dove into the scriptures, we began uncovering parallels between our lives and the lives of Biblical characters Hannah, Samuel, and Moses. Here is what we discovered.

The Biblical Woman, Hannah prayed for a son. She promised God that if He gave her a son, she would give the child back to God in the form of service to Him. God granted her request and Hannah gave birth to a son.

When I was pregnant with my first and now only child, I prayed for a son. Like Hannah, I promised to give my son to the service of God. God granted my request. During a financial valley, I did not have health insurance and only had two sonograms during my entire near nine month pregnancy. Before I ever saw proof of gender, I told the baby’s father that he would have a son.

When I was still pregnant, I created the announcement shown at the left, featuring the verses, I Samuel 1:27-28a, which read, “²⁷ For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: ²⁸ Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord…”

Emanuel has been having vivid dreams. He has also heard his name called in his sleep, waking him. Samuel, the son of Hannah, was called by God in his sleep. When Samuel did as he was finally told by His uncle Eli, the Priest, to answer the call by saying, “Speak Lord, thy servant heareth,” God began speaking prophecies to Samuel although Samuel was still a child.

Samuel grew up to become a Priest who had a talent for community organizing. My son, Emanuel’s father is from Kenya. This makes Emanuel the son of an American mother and an African father from Kenya, just like our 44^th President, Barack Obama. Emanuel’s father was also trained early in the Priesthood, and nearly took the oath, but was for some reason turned off (I think because at that time there was a rule of no marriage, and he wanted a wife). This is a “Levitical” type thematic reference that puts Emanuel into the service of God (as God chose the Levites to be his Priests).

And of course, we all know that the name “Emanuel” is one of the names of God, used to describe Jesus, and having the translation of, “God with us.”

Now, if you did not see the significance of this story so far, just wait…

When I graduated high school, I was given the Harriet Tubman award for what my teachers said was being, “The Black Moses of Her Generation.” So, I was seen as being a person like the Black Moses – also known as Harriet Tubman, who helped to free people from slavery. Moses was a prophet. Throughout my life when I walked with God (not saying I always did) I had prophetic dreams and visions. (We talked about how I once dreamed of a man whom I recognized at my cousin’s fiancé, at the wedding alter with a woman who was not my cousin. I told my cousin about the dream. We found out shortly thereafter that the fiancé was already married and dating my cousin at the same time.)

Moses’ successor in God’s prophetic ministry, was none other than Samuel the Priest, son of Hannah!

I told Emanuel how when he was less than a year old, he tore pages out of my Bible while I was giving a sermon. The scriptures he “presented” were about the same the topic on which I was speaking! These are the pictures I took that day.

Unfortunately, I had a low grade phone and the verses are not legible; and I lost that Bible when I accidentally left it at a conference I was attending. I went back for it, but it was gone. That Bible was given to my by my Dad, who was called in his days, “The Basketball Preacher.”

This night of discovery led to Emanuel and I connecting in a way that we will never forget. Together, we accepted the obvious calling from God, to learn and grow with each other by studying God’s word and praying together every day.

I know that God works through families of faith. The same way that He chose the Levites to be a family of Priests, God chooses families today to serve Him. When a generation is faithful to God, he blesses the next generation.

Now hear this… Who was the mother of Moses? Although Moses was raised as an Egyptian son, his birth mother was a Hebrew woman, a woman of faith, one of the Children of Israel – God’s chosen people. As a Moses, who is my mother? My mother is Deborah, named after the Judge and Prophetess in the Bible who led the army of who? The General, Barak! Most Bible students know that Deborah was the wife of a man named Lappidoth (or Lapidot). That is because it is written plainly in Judges 4:4. What you may not know is that Lappidoth was not his only name. Deborah’s husband had three names. One of them was Lappidoth; one was Michal, and one was… Barak! (https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/deborah-2-midrash-and-aggadah)

I shared with my son that whenever God speaks, He confirms His word. Is there now any doubt that my son, Emanuel Cary Graham Kamondo is anointed for God’s service? I count it confirmed. We shall see what great things God will do. We also talked about how on the day I went into labor, that morning, I had a vision – like a full HD movie in front of my face – of myself talking to my OBGYN. I was explaining that I could not have natural childbirth. Something was wrong – though I did not know what. Hours later in delivery, I almost died after my water broke. I had the “death rattle” of chills in my body. The doctor handed me a paper to sign, giving permission to have an emergency C-Section delivery because they could no longer hear the baby’s heartbeat on the monitor. The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck and there was no time to maneuver him out of it. The doctor asked, if there should be a question – If we cannot save both you and the baby, who do you want us to try our best to save? I said, “Save my son.”

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Image Source: 365 Seeds of Promise by Shenica R. Graham.