Giving Back to God

Alex Rabiee hopes to serve as chief of the Seminole nation of Oklahoma someday.   

He explains, “I have a dream in my heart that God put there, you know, several years ago to try to help my people, my Native people.”

Just over a decade ago, Alex needed help himself.  He was living with his mother and battling a methamphetamine addiction.

He confesses, “I just felt like the only way that I was going to get off the drugs was either by going to prison or by being killed.  You know, there was one evening that, you know, I said, ‘Mom, I don't have a fire anymore. You know, I've just lost my fire.’"

The very next morning while flipping through the channels, he came across Joel Osteen’s Lakewood church service.  

“The man on the TV said, ‘I'd like to talk to you today about getting your fire back’, he shares.  “And that’s how I knew that that was God speaking to me.  One of the things that he said was, ‘It’s not going to happen right away’, but it’s going to happen if I trust Him.”

At the time, Alex was struggling to find work and only had a dollar to his name. He’d heard about tithing at church in his younger years and knew that giving would be a way to show God that he trusted Him.  

“I took an act of faith,” Alex says, “and put it in an envelope and sent it to the church in Houston, Texas.  And I gave my – the last dollar that I had to God, expecting, you know, for a miracle.”

Within a week, he got a one day job that paid $100.

He recounts, “That was just the reassurance that God is listening.  That was 100-fold. And that's what got me to believe, you know.  Now I got this $100. Let me give 10% of that to God.  I just went in with the mindset if I continue to tithe, God will provide.  Even though I wasn't working steadily, my bills were always paid, my refrigerator never went empty.”

In time, God also set him free from his drug addiction.

He declares, “The desire for drugs was gone. I was completely healed. God just took it out of me.”

Alex got his fire back and his faith took off, as he prayed for a vehicle and a steady job, while continuing to tithe 10% off every odd job he did.  And when his tribe’s council voted to give every eligible tribal member $600 as a part of a mineral settlement, Alex went way beyond 10% and gave it all to the church.  

He explains, “I said, ‘I'm going to be a blessing to others, trust in God,’ just you know, because I'd seen it before when I gave Him that dollar.  I stepped out of the safe zone and into the faith zone.”

That very day, his mother helped him get a truck.  A month later, a job he’d applied for came through, and he started working as an associate at a national retail store.  Then, within six months, he was promoted to the bakery department manager, receiving a 50% increase in pay.  

He says, “Just by continuing to give and sometimes giving more than my 10%, you know, God was rewarding me with promotion.  And I see the law of reciprocity, you know, give and it will be given back to you.”  

In addition to tithing, he also started giving to CBN.

He remembers, “I was just trying to find a prayer line, you know, and that's where I found CBN.  Probably 11:00pm, 11:30pm at night, and there was somebody available.  And so, I began giving to CBN to be able to, you know, keep these people available, you know, keep that prayer line open 24 hours because, you know, you never know when you need prayer.”

Today, Alex lives on his own.  He’s now the overnight maintenance lead at work, making more than ever. Meanwhile, he’s getting his business administration degree through his company’s free tuition program and continuing to give to God.  

“I always tell God, you know, that if you could speak to me out loud in a voice, you know, that you would be telling me, ‘Alex, you haven't seen anything yet,’” Alex shares.  He concludes, “I'm just very humbled and thankful.  And I owe it all to God.  He’s never failed me.  And to think it all started with that single dollar bill.  If He can do it for me, He can do it for you. If you stay obedient and you give your 10%, it will be given back to you.”