Kina Green

We'll be hearing the personal testimonies of all sorts of people who have one thing in common, Jesus has transformed their lives. Jesus used parables because he created us to learn best through story. And as we listen to how God has worked in others lives, we find encouragement and inspiration for our own faith walk. Whether you are already a believer or just a curious seeker, we believe that as you listen to these stories, you will be encouraged on your own faith journey.

We are sure that God can speak to you through one of these episodes and that you will see that our Heavenly Father truly works all things together for our good. When we simply love and trust him. If you are currently going through a trial, we believe that you will come to see that your troubles, heartbreaks, and failures are not gravestones, but stepping stones into new life in Christ. Here's Jesse with today's guest.

I've been married for 18 years to my, wonderful husband, Michael Green And I have one son. He actually just turned 30 on the 14th of July, and one granddaughter, she's. 10. She's getting ready to turn 11 on Thursday. So July is like a big month for me. And first, I want to, say, I want to thank you for this opportunity to be able to share my testimony and my story. And I pray that it encourages and helps someone else. And so I thank you for allowing me to be here this morning. growing up.

here in Jacksonville, my family, I have a close family and growing up as a child. my, my family, as I can remember, nobody went to church. And so we never went to church as kids. nobody in my family ever talked about church. far as my close family, as my mom, grandparents, uncles, all of them, nobody cousins. I just don't remember anyone going to church or even talking about it. And so I didn't grow up, going to church until elementary me and my mom and my two sisters and my brother.

I have two sisters. let me go back. I have two sisters, amazing mom, who is my superhero and a brother. And so I have three siblings. We all lived on the west side, and I can remember as a child in elementary school, the first time I went to church, we lived, in Lackawanna, and we lived on this house on the corner, and it was this other house on the opposite side of us on the corner, this little old lady knocked on the door, and she asked my mom, could she take us there? to church with her.

Her name was Miss Mary. And I still remember Miss Mary to this day because I tell so many people this testimony. And so Miss Mary knocked on the door. She asked my mom, could she take us to church? And my mom said, yes. And so my mom allowed me and my two sisters to go to church. So all three of us went to church with Miss Mary every Sunday. And so Ms. Mary, she had us in the choir. She had us singing solos and none of us sing. And, she took us to the altar to get saved as little kids.

And so I can remember that. And I was trying to remember if I could remember getting baptized. I believe I did, but I'm not totally sure. But, but she took us to church every Sunday and her old station wagon. I remember the station wagon and I remember her station wagon broke down. And so I remember her taking us on the church bus. And so she never stopped taking us to church. And so we got tired of going to church because we was like kids.

And so she would knock on the door and be like, Oh gosh, is that Ms. Mary? Cause we didn't want to go to church every Sunday. And and my mom didn't go to church, but she knew that. No, y'all went down to the altar. And so y'all are going to church. And so she made us go to church.

We would get up, we would go to church, and we would go in listening to a certain type of music that Bad music, I would say. And when we left out of church, we would leave out listening to that same music. And so nothing had changed in my life. We both got baptized at this church and whatever services the church had, we would go to the services, whatever programs, we would go to the programs, but nothing changed in my life. And now when I look back over my life, I realized it wasn't the church.

It was me. I wasn't changing. And it was this one Sunday. Afternoon, I can remember me and my son had went to church and we were coming out of Family Dollar. And so this older gentleman, he came up to us and he asked me, he was like, he tries to give me this brochure about Jesus. And I said, Oh, I already know Jesus. I go to church every Sunday. I don't need the brochure. That's what I told him. And he was like, he had to have the whole spirit to know that I didn't know Jesus.

And so he asked me, he said, where is Jesus? And I was stumped because I had no idea what he meant. And so he gave me a minute to think about it and I didn't, I had no answer for him. And he told me, he said that he's in your heart. And I was like, Oh, I didn't know So me not taking the brochure saying I know Jesus had no idea. I didn't know Jesus. And so of course I took the brochure and then I started to, I can remember reading my Bible.

I can't remember really, and still nothing changing in my life, but I still continue to go to church. And, leading up to what, caused me to be faithful in church is my testimony. And so what happened was I was still going to church. And it came this time in my life where I got like really sick and I didn't know why I was just like real, real tired all of the time and trying to get out my car just to go to work inside the work building.

It was like I was out of breath by the time I got to the job. I had to sit down. I was just feeling bad. And so when I went to my doctor, we thought it was something going on with my stomach. And so she gave me these pills, which made me sicker. And she set up this appointment for me. She said that she was, I can't remember what kind of doctor it was, but they put the, camera down your throat and they look inside you to see what's going on.

So she had set me up for this appointment and I was supposed to go to this appointment one morning, like 9 a. m. Some of the dates I might can't remember in the timing, but this was in 2009. And so she set me up for the appointment and I was supposed to go to the appointment nine o'clock that morning. And I can remember waking up like maybe 3, 4 a. m. that morning and trying to go to the restroom. And I just couldn't, I remember I couldn't.

My body was telling me to go to the right, but I was going to the left. And so I was like, forget it. And I just laid back down. And so the next thing I know, when I woke up, I was in the emergency room. And so my husband said, what happened was he tried to, I was on the sofa sleep. He tried to wake me up that morning to go to the appointment because he had to take me. They said I had to be heavenly sedated. So he had to take me to the appointment.

And when he tried to wake me up, I was unresponsive and unconscious. And so he called the ambulance and they came and picked me up. And when I got to the emergency room, they told my husband and my family that If I hadn't gotten better within a couple of a hour, I think they said then I was gonna die that day. And so my mom, who now was strong in the faith, she knew what to do. She knew to call her pastor, which was, lemme take it.

And so her pastor, when I was, younger, I did go to church, some with my mom when I lived with my mom when I was a teenager. And, The church that she was going to when I got older, I was like, Oh, they stay in church too long. I'm never going to that church when I get old. And so she called that pastor, which is my pastor now. And he was on his way out of town and he turned around to come back. To the hospital.

And when he came to the hospital, he said, let me go and pray and see what the Lord is saying. And so he told her that the Lord said that this sickness is not unto death. And so at that moment, my mom being this believing woman of God, she started believing it. And then, so by that time, my sisters, my sister was strong in the faith. Both of my sisters, I was playing church, they knew the Lord at that time and so they knew what to do.

So now the word, the Lord has spoken, the Lord has said this sickness is not unto death. And so what they did was they started praying, they started reading the Bible with me. They were on shifts. Nobody left me. They didn't let negative people come in. They didn't let, anybody come in that has anything negative to say, they didn't allow it. They were speaking faith over me. And so until this day.

I can, I believe that whenever you are in trouble that you need some people in your life that are not playing church, that are genuine and authentic and that they really know the Lord and they can get a prayer through.

And so my blood was low. But the funny thing is the, the emergency room doctor told me that my blood was so low that had I got up that morning and went for that procedure, it would have killed me instantly because They was going to heavily sedate me. And so she said it would have killed me instantly. And so the Lord did not allow me to make that appointment. had another appointment

I didn't know anything about faith, but I told him, I said, if you bring me out of this, I'll serve you. I can remember telling him that crying and telling him, if you bring me out, I'll serve you. And so from then on. I've been serving the Lord. And so I will say that was in 2000 in June, 2009. And I can say that my life didn't change right away because once we come to and give the Lord our life completely before I was playing church.

And so once we come and we truly give the Lord our life, it's a process. Things take place in our lives. Our lives change is a process. And so I can remember the first time that. A deliverance took him took place in my life past the healing because the Lord healed me and I'm so thankful for that. And so I can remember I started going to church every Sunday. I was getting up going to church every Sunday after he helped me. And but nothing changed.

I was still, I can remember just I had a real foul mouth. I cursed a lot. And so every other word was like a cuss word. And so I can remember getting up one Sunday morning, get ready to go to church. And my husband made me mad and I can remember just flicking all kind of F bombs be transparent to him, about three, I can remember. And I can remember going out to the house, getting ready to go to church. And oh my gosh, I felt so bad. I never felt bad before. I felt so bad.

And then when I got to church, My pastor was teaching on the tongue

sometimes shame will kick in and you won't go because you don't want people looking at you. But at that moment I wanted to, I didn't want to curse anymore. so I went to the altar and when I went to the altar, he prayed for me and I, and this was in 2009 and I never cursed again. So that day I was delivered from my mouth. And so when I think about that and I think about when, when we say, I want to change before I come to the Lord, we can't change ourselves. He do the changing.

And and it's a process, and so he delivered me that day, and that was the first of deliverances that he did for me, besides the healing.

I remember trying to, go back to work, but, I was like, no, I don't think I should go back cause I got sick at, when I was there. And so that my pastor, now he was like, no, I think you should go back to work. And I was like, no, I'm not going to go back. And so I quit my job. For two years, I didn't work when I wanted to. So it was a point where I wanted to go back to work, but I didn't work.

And so in those two years, I just was, reading my word and, serving him wherever I could, whatever I could put my hands to. I just remember just serving him. And, but I also think it was a humbling experience that sometimes we got to be obedient and Not doing things that we want to do, but be led by the spirit to do some things. And so it humbled me to know some things you don't, you just don't do because you don't want to do.

And after that two years not working, then I started to work at the post office, which I'm there now. I've been to the post office since 2011 and I was praying and I was talking to the Lord and I was asking him, what can I share? That is, significant and he wanted me to share my testimony about my son. And so what happened was in, 2010, he, he was a juvenile, he was 16 years old. And so this is the hardest thing that has ever happened to me in my life.

And the hardest thing that I had to go through. in my life. And so he was 16 years old and he got arrested and he was facing 11 felony charges. And so I was so sad because I did not want, I didn't know what to do. And I was, I'm still knowing the faith and just, not knowing what to do. And praying and, I can remember my pastor praying, not talking to him about it. And he, he said, I'll pray with you. And he prayed with me and he said, the Lord said that he's going to be okay.

And so I was like, okay. And then his attorney started calling me and telling me, once you get a word in. It just seemed like that word is not coming to pass. The other things are happening that tried to discourage you from the word that you got. And so his attorney would call me every time, Oh, they found something else. They found something else. And one day I could just find myself just boohoo crying. Lord, I thought he was going to be okay.

And. I can remember my pastor, I called him, I told him, they said this crying, pouring out my heart. And he said, Keena, if your son goes to jail to do some time, it's going to be because of you. And my unbelief, I was like, huh? And so I snapped out of crying. And at that moment, I started to. Believe I started to walk by faith because they still was coming and telling me all of these things, but I wouldn't let it affect me. And so he was facing 11 years in prison, 11 counts, 11 years.

And so everyone was telling me, Oh, you need to get an attorney. You need to get a pay for attorney. And I was like, no, the Lord's going to take care of it. The Lord's going to take care of it. And I know everybody's situation is different. And, The Lord will have everybody do different things. And so I didn't believe I was supposed to get an attorney. So we went with the public defender and so go on with the public defender. It's no, you should get an attorney.

You're going to make him do time. He's going to do time. And so what ended up happening was he ended up not. During the 11 years, I prayed. I was asking the Lord, I said, Lord, how long is he going to go away for? And he told me two years and I stood on that two years. And so at the end, what ended up happening when he got sentenced, he only was charged with two charges, not the 11 and he. Was charged with four years, but he only ended up doing two and there was not a, it was not a complete two.

It was, I would say two still, because he was, in the juvenile jail. And then, They sent him to a jail in Gainesville, which only house, kids 19 to 24. So he didn't go to a hardcore jail. And so he went there for a year, a little over a year, but the last six months he ended up in work release. So he wasn't even, it was two years, but he wasn't even Lord worked it out where I was able to go 45 minutes every Saturday to go and see him. He allowed, when I thought he was doing, he.

It was for me, but he needed it as well. So when I was praying, Lord, let him out. He needed it because it was some things going on that he needed to get rid of. so while the Lord had him there, I couldn't see it. At first when I was praying, Lord, let him go. But the Lord knew, and so the Lord was working on him. And so he got out in 2000 and, 14. It's never been back since. So this year is 10 years.

And so that was another thing that the Lord, helped me and brought me through and strengthened me because some things that we go through, we don't automatically get out of it, but he strengthens us through the process. And so

I had 5 and this homeless man, he was outside the store and he was asking me for money to get something to eat. And I was thinking, I ain't got the 5 and I was like, no, I don't think I'm going to give him my 5. And so I just knew I had to give him the 5. And so I gave him the 5 and When he was talking to me, it was like I couldn't understand what he was saying at first. I could understand the 5 for food, but I understood what he said to me clearly after that.

He said, Galatians 6 and 9. And I couldn't wait to get home, to get into Galatians 6 and 9, and see what did it say. And it says, and let us not be weary. And well doing, but in due season, we shall reap if we faint not. And so that has been sticking with me for years, because when I think about that scripture, I think about how, when it says, and let us not be weary, is that along the journey, some things happen in our lives that we do get weary. And he said, don't allow ourselves to get weary.

Don't get discouraged. in due season. We will reap if we fake not. As long as we don't give up, there is a season that we will reap. And when I was thinking about the reaping, it used to be where, when I can hear, the Lord's about to bless you, the Lord's about to bless you, you always think like monetary things, right? And so the spiritual things are better.

And so the in due season that you reap, I think about my life and I think about all of the struggles and the battles and the trials and the tribulations. I think about what he was doing on the inside of me. And I think about how, how he has brought me through so many things and he strengthened me in the midst of it, he still allowed me to have joy in the midst of them. Still allow me to have hope and walk in faith, in the midst of it, when it seems like. Everything was gonna, fall apart.

I'm still walking in hope and joy and peace and love and all of these things. And so when I think about reaping, I think about reaping these spiritual things, these spirit, cause that's what it's all about is the spiritual, not so much as the natural. Has he blessed me? Yes. he ended up blessing me with a good job, a nice home, all of these things, but those are not the best things. The best things that he has blessed me with. It's just precious.

Spirit, his precious strength, all of these things are things that he is so richly blessed me with. And so when I think about that, I just think about how good that God is. So that scripture is one that has stuck with me for years.

I can remember a time years ago, maybe about seven years ago, he told me to be still in a situation and be still. It's not like it's not don't do nothing right when we think about be still. It just means let him do what we cannot do. when I think about this deal, I think about let him do what we cannot do. And I think about, allowing him to work instead of us trying to work ourselves, but allowing him to work and to not move in the situation until he tells us to.

And I was just thinking about that resting, when he said resting was one of the hardest things, and I think when we're not resting, we're not trusting. And a lot of things that we go through is we're not resting because we're not totally trusting. And So that's one of the most challenging things that he said that I wrestled with over the years is not resting.

And I said, Oh, cause I don't see myself that way. I didn't at the time. And but I realized that to be strong means you're gonna have to go through some things that's gonna make you strong. And so we don't automatically have that strength, not that supernatural strength like that, unless we go through some things that make us strong. And so I asked, that was the first, I asked him three things. That was the first thing.

The second thing I asked him was, what do he see in me that I don't see in myself? And he said, triumph. I said, huh. Okay. And so my prayer to him was, Lord, open my eyes to see what Let me see myself as you see me. And then the third and the last thing I asked him was, Lord, what have you placed in me to give to the world? And he said, love. I said, Oh. And so I realized all of these things that he has placed in me and you and us It produces love in us.

So all of these things that we go through, it produces fruit in us. And we don't realize it at the time when we go through a lot of trials and tribulations we don't go, we go through. If we don't give up, if we stay focused, if we keep, serving, if we keep, our daily walk, if we don't give up, it's producing something in us if we allow it to. And so when I think about love and the Lord is the only one who can take a trial and place love in you.

So I can tell you honestly that in my life now I have nothing in my heart against anyone and Nothing but love and I know that only comes from the Lord because that's, that has not always been there. And so all of the things that I have went through in my life, I realized that it has strengthened me, but also it had placed these things in me that was never there before. And when they showed up, I don't know. I just know that they're there like forgiveness.

had some people that have really done me wrong, spoke bad about me, treated me wrong. And my response to that is to pray for them. have never done that before. so in our trials and in our tribulation, it produces fruit in our lives and the Lord is the only one that can do that. And so we can forgive and love and pray for people that we've never been able to do it before. So we don't realize that some things that we go through is producing a greaterness in us than we could ever realize.

And so how can I not as good as he's been to me? And when I look back over my life and see. see who I used to be and who I am now, how can I not forgive someone because God has forgiven me. So how can I be merciless to someone and he has not been merciless to me. And so that forgiveness is powerful. And when I was thinking about Jesus before he, he left the earth and, two things that when he watched the disciples speak that I saw that he instituted. was, serving and love.

And so those two go together, When I think about when I was in the hospital and I said, Lord, I'll serve you. I didn't know what that meant. And so I do, whatever I find my hands to do, I do it, cause we're serving him. We're serving. His people. And so we're serving people. We're serving the Lord because he doesn't really need us to serve him. He doesn't need any service from us, but who needs the services is people.

And so whether we clean the church, we're cleaning it, we're serving him because we're the people that's coming to sit down, they come sit in some nice, comfortable, clean place, or rather we're ministry. It doesn't matter. if we're, when we're serving him, we're serving people. And so when he before he left the earth, he instituted, humble serving and love. And so those two to me go together.

And I think when we're serving him and we're serving people, it produces this love in us that We don't know where it comes from, or we know where it comes from, but it just comes and it's like, where, when did it come. And so I think those things. So I think that, over the years, when I can look back over my life, I can say that God has truly been good. And I can say he has brought me from a long way and he has changed me in so many ways.

And when, I share my faith with other people and they share what they believe, if we're not believing the same thing, my thing, I would never, say anything about anybody else's religion, but what I will say to them is I believe what I believe. And. What I would tell them is just give Jesus a try. So anybody, my response would be is to just give him a try and see. taste and see. David said, taste and see. We taste and see for ourselves just how good he is.

And so if they can't talk, then, what I do at. and serving there is certain things that you can't do, you can't really, unless they say something about the Bible, you just can't, just start speaking your faith to them. But what I will do is I pray for them, rather than, If they allow me to outwardly, if they give me the opportunity, because if they start talking about Jesus, that kind of opens the door for me.

But if they don't, then inwardly, I'm praying inwardly, for them that the Lord bless them or whatever they need and that whenever they leave. It's let them not leave this earth would not have known you are accepting you into their hearts. And so I believe that everything that we, everywhere he sends us to serve him, it's a purpose for it. And so that's the main thing that I'm serving. right now I serve in my church. I, whatever I find my hands to do. So I assure clean the church.

I read for my pastor. I,

so we went and we started to, do the Christmas carols. And, of course the ones we did, they was pertaining to Jesus. And one guy came out into the hallway and when we got done, he was like, can y'all come in and pray for my mom? They said, she's not going to make it, within a couple of days or whatever it was, he said. And so we went in and we sung amazing grace over her and, We prayed for her. And so when we went in, she was like really stiff.

And so I didn't see it, but, I laid my hands on her and I prayed for her. And so everyone else who was in the room, they said, they saw her make a couple of movements. Like she, she got it, she, whatever it was that she got it. And so we felt his presence in there. And so that was the first time that I've experienced, his presence show up without, a person actually up and, able to say something. That first time that we recognized that, oh, wow, his presence was really in here.

Cause even her son had said that she hadn't moved and he don't know when.

And when I go in, whatever they need, the prayer that the spirit supplies, whatever it is that, whether it be salvation, whether it still be healing, because even though somebody else say you can, go within a Day is whenever the Lord says, so whether it be healing brother, whatever it is for, you know what they need and you know how to provide it. So I just go in like that.

And so I will say, never give up. I actually have a, when I was thinking about a couple of things, if it's okay, I was thinking about a few, three, three things. The first one was when I was a child and Miss Mary took us to church. And when the Bible says, train up a child in a way that they should go. And when they are old, they will never depart from it. Now we went to church as kids.

And I don't know how many years since Mary took us to church, but over the years when I got out into the world, I steered away, but I ended back up back in church. And so even my two sisters, so all of us that, Miss Mary took us to church. We're all in church. We're all serving the Lord. We all did our own thing for years, but we all ended up back in church. And so that is a scripture that has come full fruition in my life. Is that bring them up in church.

They know when trouble comes, they know when they need help, they know where to go, because it's when you don't know where to go, what do you do? And but when we're trained up in church, then we know that we end back up in that place. And so the next thing is that for people that are new in the faith is that we can't change ourselves. Only the Lord can do it. All He asks us to do is just come. And when we come, He'll do everything else.

And so he works in us and in miraculous ways, we'll never be able to understand it. And we'll, we know that, I know that when we do come to him is that, we won't change automatically. So when I first got. Actually, I, when I first gave my life totally to him, when I gave my life to him, I won't say totally to him. Cause that's, that was a process when I gave my life to him. When I said, I accept him as my Lord and savior, nothing changed in my life, but I continue to. Go to church.

I continue to seek him. I continue. And then over time it changed. Things start breaking off on me like so nothing. If I go to the altar on Sunday, everything that I did Saturday and years before. It had not changed, right? What changes us is Him. His Word changes us, His Word cleanses us, His Word purges us, and it heals us, and it delivers us. And so we just keep going, keep doing, and He'll do everything else. And so we can't change ourselves, allow Him to change us.

And then for us, The ones that do, I w the faith is to not give the faith and trust and b he says that all things w are good. So all things s like their good, but the Bible said it's working for our good. And so as long as we're in his hands, then everything that we go through is working for our good. And we probably won't see it now, but we will see it later because some things that, I went through, I didn't see it at the time, but what he has produced in me now, I can see it. I can see it.

And I'm so thankful and so grateful for it.

just having faith in that is, is just knowing that is, is faith producing, I think.

And so I, I can remember telling this young lady, she was saying that, she believed that, the, her ministry is ministering to young people, 25 to 30 years old, but she don't really like people and talking to people, but yet she has a 25 year old and a 30 year old. And so I told her, I said, just think about how you're saved. you want your 25 year old and your 30 year old to be saved too. They may not listen to you, but they may listen to somebody else.

And so you're praying that the Lord sends some people across their pathway that will minister to them. And so those people who's coming to you. Their parents could be praying the same thing that the Lord sent some people across my path, her pathway, that will minister to. So the Lord want to use you in that capacity. You got to be ready to be used because it's not all about us. And so if we can encourage and motivate and help other people, then that's what we're supposed to do.

It is what we're supposed to do. And

He puts it in, we have the Holy Spirit on the inside of us. For us to help us to live this life. But we have his presence upon us to help other people. And so we got to always be ready to help other people because that's what this life is all about to show others, his love and his grace and his mercy. Cause how else would they see it? You can't, they can't just, they can't physically see him, but. They can see us who say that we are disciples and we are followers.

And so we have to be able to go through some things. So some things can be in us in order for us to be fruit for other people, ourselves and other people.

And. And then, they were married for 19 years, and then when he was dying at home, and my brother and I would take turns sitting with him, and he was in a hospital bed in their master bedroom at home, and we would administer pain meds and just be with him, and he couldn't talk. But he just knew, he was present, it wasn't comatose or anything. the day that he died, I remember I was sitting there with him and I was holding his hand.

his daughter had come from North Carolina because we knew it was close. So my mom and his daughter were out in the kitchen and I was in the bedroom with Claude. and I just sensed that it was time and his breathing started getting further apart. further and further apart, and I was holding his hands, and, I just felt a presence in the room.

And all of a sudden, the verse, think it's John 14, 6, something like that, that where Jesus told his disciples, if, I'm going to prepare a place for you, and when I do, I'll come back and bring you so you can be where I am. And all of a sudden, that verse came to mind, And I called my mom and his daughter into the room and they held his hand and he breathed his last and that was such a blessing. But I'll never forget that because I felt like Jesus was coming for him.

taking him back to his mansion.

we led by the spirit to go and pray, cause like I said, in my testimony, if I had not had faithful people who believed in the Lord and was really, walking with him, they can get a prayer through. I don't know if the situation would have turned out. The way that it turned out. And and what I forgot to, I can remember is, two years before I got sick, I had a dream and in the dream, a doctor came to me and the doctor said, you got two years to live, that I had, some kind of brain issue.

And I had two years to live that dream shook me. And so two years after. It's when I went through the whole thing where I was about to die and all of that. But so the importance of people, showing up in a time of need is, when me and my sister, we went to, our, to hospice and it was a neighbor and He was unconscious. they said he, he couldn't talk or anything. And but we still prayed.

And so we held his hands and we prayed for him and we prayed that if he didn't receive salvation, we was just praying, Lord receive him and all of this. And he winked at us after the prayer, he winked.

He did as if to say he received it, you know, and and I learned this from, our friend, myself, it's because it's, over the years we grow, we grow in knowledge and I was asking him, I was like, because somebody asked me one time before, if someone's in a coma, do you think that they can receive salvation? And I was like, no, I don't think so. Because, yeah. They can't speak. They can't confess it with their mouth. And so our friend, Mike Selfie, shared with me that we're speaking to their spirit.

And so the spirit in them, here's what you're saying to them. And so we're talking to their spirit. And so when he winked at us, it's Oh my gosh, he heard. So we pray he made it in, I don't know, so it's just a presence and like he was. The presence and the power of God is that we don't know, with his presence, when we're, praying for someone, we don't know what it's doing on the inside of somebody. We have no idea. And so we're just charged to do our part and then let him do everything else.

And so that is another thing that, the Lord has, has me doing is that, hospital visits. When I find out somebody's in the hospital, I'll be ready to go pray.

asking the Holy Spirit to heal them, deliver them, and whatever it is that they need. Some people need a spiritual healing. Some people need, like in the Bible, a lot of times it wasn't so much as the physical healing, like the man at the Pool of Bethesda. He needed a spiritual healing. He got both. He got physical healing, but he needed a spiritual healing first. Because when the Lord asked him, did he want to be made whole? At the end of it, he told him don't sin no more.

And so it was sin that had him in that situation. So He needed a spiritual healing and then he got both. He got a spiritual and a physical. So I realized some people they could be spiritually need a physical healing. Some people spiritual, physical, they may need a spiritual healing, but they made a need a complete healing. You never know. So I'm always mindful and praying and asking the Lord to give them what He knows they need. I don't know.

I can look at a person and say, Oh man, they sick and in hospital. They need a physical healing, but that could not be what it is that they need. They need that spiritual healing, which can cause them to get a physical healing as well. And so always acknowledging the Lord before I do anything or go anywhere that he knows what a person needs. He knows us better than we know ourselves.

We can't transmit spirit to between ourselves and other people, like people that, like you say, are in a coma or something like that. they, they might not be able to physically respond, but. But through God's Holy Spirit, we do, we are able to communicate. And I think that's a blessing that God doesn't make us aware of that because we might get a big head about it. We might start thinking, we're God,

And I think that's why it's love is the greatest commandment because his love, when I think about, other religions, And I think about, being a Christian, the basis and the foundation of our faith is love, right? It's based on love. And so he instituted that and, it's the greatest commandment. And so where we're able to, show others love. Really from a genuine love, not just from lip service, but from the heart and people know the difference.

so when we're able to, from the heart, serve out of love, help out of love, it all comes from him. And it's that it's the only type of love that he can provide, that he can give and that, that, that he has placed on the inside of us to share with the world. so that's why. our, Christian faith is. The best faith, the only faith.

We thank you for allowing us to be a part of your salvation plan. And we thank you for using us for your glory. So father, I pray for the listeners. All of the ones who don't know you yet that will come to know you. I pray, Father, that, the day that they hear your heart, the day that they hear your voice, that their heart, that they hearten, not their hearts.

And for those of us, Father, that are walking with you and going through trials and going through tribulations, Father, give us the strength and, the courage and the help to move forward. To not give up, to trust you in all things and know that all things are working together for our goods and help us to, not lose hope because hope make us not ashamed because your love is shed abroad in our hearts and is by your precious Holy spirit.

So help us to move forward and help us to know that whatever we may face in this life, that there is a greater purpose and that, the things that we go through father, it helps us. It strengthens us and, helps us to help others. And we thank you. We thank you for all that you do in our lives, and we thank you for who you are in our lives. And I pray, Father, that the testimony and this call and the things that were said will edify someone. And, glorify you.

And I pray father that, I thank you so much. I thank you for allowing me to be able to have a conversation on your podcast with Mr. Duke's on this day.

Thank you for blessing him with such a blessed podcast that edify your people and glorify you and want to help your people, encourage your people, motivate your people, and to, Listen to the testimonies and how good and merciful and graceful, gracious that you have been to all of us and how you continue to work through us to help us and to keep us. So Father, I pray that millions want to give their testimony, not just a few people, but millions.

And they'd be multiplied father, those numbers that only you can do, and we know that you can. And so we say thank you and all of the ones that you want to give your testimony, father, help give us, help to give them courage and to, to come and give their testimony. And we thank you. Thank you for all that you are doing, and thank you for all that you are in Jesus' name. Amen.

You will probably never know how that small effort can make a big difference in someone's life, but our Heavenly Father knows. Speaking of sharing, if you know a Jesus follower with a story to tell, please send them a link to Faith and Purpose Podcast. It may encourage them to tell their story. That person may even be you. Our only criteria is that Jesus be glorified.

Most Christians don't share their faith because they mistakenly think their story is not interesting enough, or that it's self centered to talk about themselves, or that they are not competent to explain the gospel correctly. But none of that is relevant. If Jesus has changed your life, you have a story to tell. All of our stories are completely unique. No one has a story like yours, and you may be the only one who can reach someone else through telling your experience. So don't be intimidated.

A story is just that, a true account of your own experience, and no one can disagree with your experience. When we tell what Jesus has done in our lives, we are being obedient to his command to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It's not about theology, and it's not about how interesting or special you are. It's all about Jesus. So when you're ready to tell how Jesus has impacted your life, you can let Jesse know at his ministry website, jesseduke. net.

There you can download guidelines that will make it easy to prepare to tell your story. Thank you for listening today and Shalom.