My name is Moses Uvere. I’m born and raised in the city of Dallas, Texas.

I’m the oldest of six. Both of my parents are from Nigeria. I’m the first from my village, from my people to be born in America. Growing up as a kid, I always had a very vivid imagination. I always believed in superheroes. I believed that things could happen that were out of our normal. I always believed it. And when I take inventory of my life and think about the 33 years I’ve been given, there have been multiple times when miraculous, unbelievable, undeniable, unexplainable things that would just happen–supernatural.

So I, so my origin was I believed that that could happen.

I didn’t know where that belief came from, until I gave my life to God. And He helped me realize that He had been walking with me throughout my entire life, and helped me realize that the origin of my belief in the miraculous and supernatural came from Him. So I gave my life to God when I was 21. I was in college. I had, which is asking all the questions that every kid would ask, like, Who do I want to be? What do I want to become? What do I want to do with my life, and at the point in time when I gave my life to Him, I remember having the feelings of fear and anxiety because I realized that two of my very good friends were going to prison.

I realized that I had made some really bad decisions that could have got me in trouble, but it didn’t exist. So that brought me into a deep sorrow that led me to giving my life over to God and deep repentance. I heard about God all my life. I always knew He was real. I was always open to believing that there was something supernatural out there. But I didn’t know, I didn’t know Him. I didn’t know Him. So when I gave my life to Him, He met me with this peace that has been governing my life since that moment.

So then, we fast forward, I go to Bible college. I ended up dropping out of Bible College for a little bit because I made an album. I wrote, I wrote a hip hop album that talked about that particular moment of me giving my life to God, a particular moment of peace. And I just wanted to tell people. I wanted people to know that this was real. I wasn’t trying to be a quote unquote, Christian rap superstar or anything. I just wanted to talk about my experience, you know, and I was blessed with the opportunity to be able to do it through art, through poetry, through rhythm.

It was such a gift to me, to put it out to the world. I ended up dropping out of Bible College because I started getting all these requests to travel and speak and share my music with people from all over the nation. But I remember coming to a point where, and I remember this distinctly, it was in Dallas, the city had a massive snow sleet storm that happened in February. And I remember I got an opportunity to go share my testimony at a juvenile facility in Fort Worth. At the time I lived in North Dallas, and I didn’t have a car. I didn’t have a car to get there. Up until this point, I had been borrowing my dad’s car or using my friend’s car, or getting rides to places to do music and to share my gifts. I was so grateful for it, but the night before I laid in bed and was like, “God I don’t understand why You’ve given me literally 80 different organizations, 80 different churches, 80 different places that want me to come rap and share my songs. You give me all these opportunities to be there to share, but it’s embarrassing to be showing up and I ain’t got no car, and I’m having to borrow vehicles and take a bus and take a train.” I just got very frustrated with God and was like, “I don’t want to keep doing this if I have to carry this kind of thorn of not having a vehicle.” Because I just couldn’t afford one. We didn’t grow up with money, and I never saw what it was like to own things that were my own. I’ve always had to share them. I grew up with six siblings. So sharing it was omnipresent. And so um, I remember distinctly praying that prayer out of just sheer frustration.

I showed up to this juvenile facility and I took two buses, and a train to get there. I got there late. I remember showing up literally right on time when I’m supposed to give my talk and give my portion of the event. First thing I said was guys, I’m really sorry. I’m here, but I had to take two buses and a train to get here. I’m sorry. So I shared my songs, shared my story. Um, and there was a guy in the audience who was well dressed, well groomed guy, he saw me and he said, “Hey, where do you live?” I told him where I lived. He was like, “Bro, I live five minutes from there. I’ll take you home.” I didn’t know the guy from Adam–didn’t know him at all. And I was like, “Well, okay, let’s go.” So we get in the car and he–He’s sharing his life with me. He’s sharing his testimony about how he met God, and gave his life to God.

He drops me off. The last time I see him, he tells me, “Hey, I hope you get a car someday, or hope you can get your car fixed or something like that, along those lines. And a couple days later, I start having these wrestles again with God where I’m literally not praying, I’m just arguing with Him about, like, “Why in the world do I not have this need met in my life?” And I remember sharing it with my dad. My dad said, “Well, the Bible said that there’s some things that just come through prayer and fasting. So I want to challenge you to pray and I want to challenge you to fast.” So I took his advice, and I did, I prayed and fasted for an entire month, believing God for a car specifically. At the time I was working a part time job at a security spot. So I was working there part time and then traveling on the weekends to do ministry. That was just all I was doing. And I remember at the end of that month, that guy called me again, out of nowhere and said, “Hey, Moses, I just want to check in and see how you’re doing” and I was like, “Man, I’m doing great. I’m actually about to go to Los Angeles to go do an event out there, I’m really excited. I’ve never been to California before.”

He was like, “Hey, well, I want to share something with you. I know this is kind of awkward. But he said, since I met you, for an entire month, the Lord would not allow me to stop thinking about you for some reason. So I spent an entire month praying about you, praying for you and asking God, what do You, why do You keep bringing this guy to my mind? And then I realized this morning, that God wanted me to give you something.” And I was like, “Okay, what is, what is it something?” He said, “Well, I have this 2010 Toyota Scion TC that’s just been sitting in my house. I don’t drive it and I don’t know, I feel like the Lord’s asking me to give you this car.” And I had just got done with doing my fast. And that was the end of my fast. I told God I was gonna give him a month. I’m gonna fast for an entire month and I want at the end of the month, and I want this car. And even during that time, fast mind you, I was telling God out of frustration that, “God I want the car for free, man. Like, come on. I’m doing Your work here.” And out of frustration I’m saying these things throughout the entire month. So this man calls me and tells me, “Hey, I have the Scion TC. I want to give it to you.” I was like, blown away. I was like, “there’s no possible way you want to do this for me. There’s no way.” That was my second conversation I was having with this man. So I said, “Okay, look, I want you to think about what you’re saying. I told him to wait. I said, I’m going to Los Angeles. Let me go to Los Angeles and come back and then we’ll have this conversation. I want you to be very sure you want to do this.” So I go there, come back on a Monday and I had to bum rides to get to the airport. I had to bum rides because Uber wasn’t popping back then. So I had to bum rides. I ended up coming back home. 

He called me Monday morning and was like, “Hey, I’m, it’s clear. I have to give you this vehicle.” And he said, “I’m going to come pick you up and I want you to come see it.” So sure enough, he comes, he picks me up from my apartment. And he shows me the car. And it’s a beauty. And I’m like, Wow, I can’t believe this car’s like brand spanking new. I open the car up and it’s got the new car smell still . It only had less than 20,000 miles on it. I was like, there’s no way. I looked down. And I see that the car is a standard. I say, “Hey, man, I’ve never driven a standard in my entire life. So, thank you, this is awesome, but I can’t take this car. I can’t even drive it home.” He said, “God’s telling me I gotta teach you how to drive a standard. So I have to give you this car. He will not allow me to rest. I literally am not able to sleep until you take this car from me.” So we spent the entire evening him teaching me how to drive a standard. I drove the standard home that day. I just remember weeping because I could not believe that God was …Sorry. It’s been a long time since I’ve talked about this. 

I was very undeserving of such an incredible gift. And I remember the day I was driving home in the car. I remember telling my dad that I fasted and prayed like he told me to. I said, “God gave me a car from a guy I barely knew.” And my dad was like, “There’s no way!” He came and saw that car. And he just like, grabbed me and hugged me and was just weeping. And I just remember being able to sit in the vehicle. And God very clearly spoke to me, “Now go and live and do what I’ve called you to do.”

What I didn’t mention was, when I was a kid, I talked about imagination. I used to dream about a car like that. I remember seeing that car in commercials and being like, man, I want that car. And I remember, I would literally have dreams about a silver Scion TC. I didn’t know that God had that waiting for me. And it gave me so much confidence to go and do what He’s called me to do.

At that point in time, I just signed a record deal and people were really ragging on me for being a rapper and trying to talk about Jesus. It kind of felt like it was an oxymoron. Like, you can’t be a rapper and talk about Jesus. But it gave me confirmation that God was calling me to do both in this season. And it was a miracle that came through prayer. It came through prayer. So now I still drive it to this day. I’ve had it for almost nine years. It had 20,000 miles on it. Now it’s got over 200,000 miles, still driving it, still driving it. And I’ve been everywhere in the nation in that vehicle, spoken at, Rap at, declared the gospel. That vehicle literally got me there to those places.

So I used to say, “Don’t get your hopes up. Expect the worst, hope for the best.” That’s what I used to say. Because what it did was it buffered the letdown for me. If I were to get let down. And it caused me to have zero faith, zero belief that a greater outcome could happen. Now my prayers have been, “I have great expectations now, of whatever God may have for me.”

So it might be that this situation may not be favorable to me, but I have the greatest expectation that a situation that might not be as favorable as I like, means I still have to cause my thoughts to become agreeable as to His will. And that He has a will for me that is not in this present context–is not in this present situation. But my posture has been, now my faith is up, my expectations are up. In every situation, in every circumstance, that I believe that God is going to manifest His absolute best for me, because He loves me. Just that simple.

Instead of saying, “Well, God, I hope for the best.” You know, having that posture of like, whatever You want to do, God. And the reason, and where this came for me, is kind of centered around scripture. Because I kept catching moments where Jesus would say, “Because of your faith, you were healed; because of your faith this happened to you.” I think about the woman that had the issue of blood. Jesus did not pursue her. It was her faith that healed that woman. And He made that clear. The Roman centurion soldier. He was very intellectual about it. He said, Hmm, this guy heals people. My guys need to be healed. So I believe that this guy could probably do it. It was literally that simple. And Jesus said, okay, because of your faith, be it so unto to you. That inspired me to think that what if I start upping my expectations–upping in my beliefs that God can produce favorable outcomes for me because I’m His child. It’s, that’s still hope, like having that perspective is still hope. But I think when I said that phrase, well, I hope for the best, I think I’m lying in that phrase. I think what I’m saying is, I’m expecting it to suck. So okay. I’m saying this so it isn’t going to hurt me as much. That’s what I think I’m actually saying when I say that language. So you might be able to get away with saying, “I hope for the best, I expect the worst; I hope for the best.” I might be able to get away with that language. But I think my heart posture was one without faith.

So I don’t want to say that language anymore because it still reminds me of my former heart posture. I’m willing to develop new language because I look at my life now, as every day is Isaiah 43. That God is bringing forth a new thing. And then He poses this question, “Don’t you see it?” Like, don’t you see He’s doing a new thing. And I’m inspired to believe that is true, because He gave me breath today. So therefore, something new must manifest. Something. And so I’ve been trying to shift my mentality, my posture, in that place. That’s a faith posture. I’m having to believe in something I don’t always see. And I’m having to look for it. I bought, so I have a journal now where I write down every amazing thing God does in my day, to remind myself that I’m living, I’m living in Isaiah 43 right now. What God is doing is growing my expectations of Him, so I can start expecting more–expecting bigger from Him.

That’s something He’s just personally asked me to do–is just be willing to ask Him for big things. And actually believe it because Mark 11:24 says, “Whatever you ask for in prayer and believe it will be so unto you.” And the key word there is “whatever” and “believe.” And I started to discover that faith is the gasoline to my belief. Me applying faith to my life is what then is now building my beliefs. That belief then begins to drive what I do on a day-to-day basis. Then as a result, my physical will begin to look different. And I’m realizing that that is the process that the Spirit is leading me through, not my intellect. My intellect tells me I need to do the sure thing. My intellect just tells me to do the right thing the way it’s always been done.

The Spirit tells me to thrive and to explore. Spirit tells me to draw near to God with no expectation other than expecting He’s going to meet me–the only expectation. It’s not a lot of strategy to do that. Not a lot of depth. So that is scary. Because I am a person that wants to know every step before it happens, unfortunately. Maybe that’s the way I was raised. Or maybe that’s just the way I process information. I’m not sure but, I’m an individual that wants to know the whole scope before I, before I say yes. Jesus does not operate that way. He just says to draw near to Him. And then He says, “that all these things will be added unto us.” I don’t even know what all those things are. And that is what’s intriguing to me now–is what I’m thinking when the Bible says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all these things…” I’m thinking all these things are riches, or vacations. What I’m discovering is, whereas I’m seeking the kingdom of heaven, it’s actually redirecting my desires. So, my prayers have become different. And my prayers have become, first and foremost, Father, have my thoughts become agreeable to Your will, before I even talk to You. Before I even ask You for anything, right, and come to You, have the things that I’m about to say be agreeable to Your will. 

That’s what the Spirit does when you draw near to the Spirit. It redirects you from flesh, because the flesh belief system is satisfying, gratifying thyself. But as I’m drawing near to the Spirit, there’s fear and apprehension because I’m having to let go of a belief system that I believed. Where I said it was okay to satisfy myself. But as I’m drawing near to the Spirit, I’m getting satisfied in actually surrender. The surrender has become so sweet. And I just didn’t know that. Wasn’t ever told that. Wasn’t ever communicated that in such a way that surrendering my ambition is actually kingdom–that is actually advancing the gospel. And that what I’ve discovered is when I surrender my agenda and say, Okay, I’m just going to be late because I’m going to spend a little bit more time talking to this person about how good God is, I’m realizing that this person’s giving, is about to give their life to God. But if I, if I stick to, well, my intellect tells me I need to be done right at a certain time, because I got to go to my next meeting, then I can miss an opportunity to lead someone to a sweet surrender. That happened to me recently, where I almost missed it. Because my intellect was telling me you need to hurry up because you got to go. But that’s not what God was calling me. God was calling me to slow down. And I got a lot of time to be with God. I can be with him for an hour longer, for 30 minutes longer, just so I can allow my thoughts to become agreeable to His will and to reprogram my belief system, which then is fueling my faith, which then is manifesting beautiful things in my life.