Mike Self

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

And Miss Becky in this, in this, but I'll give you a little history of who I am and who we are and where we came from. Currently, at the point of this podcast, I'm 70 years old, live in the state of Florida. And when I was, I was born in 53 and my dad was in the Korean War at that time, he was overseas. So we lived with my mother's mother and father in Mobile, Alabama. That's where I was born and way back in the day.

And so from that point, while dad was overseas, I had the influence of a big mama growing up and big mama was totally sold out to the Lord. She was always taught a Sunday school class and did the children's church and every church that she was involved in. And all of our grandchildren are going to know John 3, 16, okay. And we grew up singing, Jesus loves me. And so from that point early on, that's probably the first words I ever said.

You know, but anyway, so at the, once daddy was out of the air force, he was an air traffic controller and was transferred to Jacksonville, Florida. And with the government, and we lived in the Jacksonville, Florida area since 1958. And in that time span, we attended churches, primarily two, two churches, both in the Assemblies of God denomination. Mama was a Sunday school teacher and in the choir, so was Daddy. Daddy was secretary treasurer. So every time the doors were open, we were there.

We were there physically. Okay. We were there physically. And I won't say I was there spiritually. All right. I could do the stuff and I, I knew the, knew everything. But it wasn't until I was 12 years old that there was an evangelist come through by the name of Vanderplug, and he was a Polish guy and crazy as anybody can be.

And I felt the Spirit of God and conviction at the age of 12, and I ran to the altar sincerely because in our church, though, it was small on Sunday nights, everybody went to the altar because you had to confess every one of your sins that you had done the whole week, you know, you, you felt that the power conviction in it, when you got up there, if you hadn't had a good scene, you lied, made up a scene, confess it, you know, so, so anyway, at the age of 12, I did that, but unfortunately the.

Like it says in Mark chapter four, the, in the parable of the seed, the sower, it says the cares of this world got involved. And so as I became a teenager, I went the way of rebellion, as it were, grew up playing baseball, as a matter of fact, little league. Junior League, Pony League, and then I was fortunate enough to make the high school baseball team, so sports was a good, good part of it, and riding our horse.

And here's the funny thing about it, in as much as that I was saved at 12, our church had a program where you became a junior teacher. And I was asked to, at the age of 14 to go back in and be a junior teacher with another gentleman with an older gentleman as a trainer to teach Sunday school. And it was a piece of cake. But you know what, when you start reading from a teaching standpoint, you actually start digging in for more information.

And I think that was the seed that was planted in me that helped lead me to where I am. As in the introduction that you gave me in the very beginning, I am a jail chaplain. Now I am in charge of a team for teaching juvenile prisoners who have made bad choices and they are in prison. And one of the things that we stress is teaching and mentoring these young men. And I'll, in my story, you'll hear how we get to that point. But at the age of 14, I think it's where.

The seed was planted to be a teacher. Now I did see daddy do it, mama do it, big mama do it. And it was modeled before me. And many times we become what we see and model, and in the prison system, I can say that over half, if not three quarters of the men and the boys that are in prison, uh, come from prison. Families who the father, the uncle, the grandfather, there's somebody in the family and it's in the prison system and it's been modeled before them.

And they become that drunks become drunks, watching other drunks drink before them, not thinking, not understanding how that alcohol can grab it. Same as smoking cigarettes and all that. You don't understand. You see somebody else doing it. But you don't understand the reality of how it can grab you and, uh, so we become what we see, so to speak. And so anyway, fast forward a little bit, I, uh, I, uh, in my rebellious attitude at the age of, uh, 15.

As bad as I hate to say it, I was kicked out of, in my sophomore year, I was suspended from school on December the 20th, 1968, because I was drunk at school. Now my, the story is, and I don't even think I've shared it with my parents. And so if my mother's listening, just plug your ears for a moment, but you know, that was the thing. So. I had a buddy of mine and he could get some liquor and so. He could pay an old drunk to run into the store and, and buy the liquor for us. And so he did.

So I decided to take a fifth of whiskey to school in my trumpet case. And believe it or not, I'm not a trumpet player. I was in the eighth grade band and there was four trumpet players and my music teacher had me sit in seat five. Because I was such a bad influence, but I used that trumpet case to carry that liquor in and there was several of us that got snookered over that liquor. And me and a buddy of mine were suspended.

Another guy was totally kicked out of school because he had been in so much trouble. But having said that, that is what led my father to realize that there was a problem with me. And he actually moved us into a little country town to get me away from that influence. Well, you can, you can take, you can take and move the environment, but it's the heart. And so there was still deception in the heart.

But anyway, went to a new school, did well in sports and football and baseball, had the opportunity to. try out or to at least advance towards some lower level of baseball and did not perform well. So it just wasn't in the understanding to do that. So anyway, I married my high school sweetheart. We immediately started a family. And as of this recording, we've been married 52 years. We have two sons, but in that I did the up and down thing as a father.

And here's how I came back to faith in the Lord. We were, I was in for a job change. I was working at a shipyard in Jacksonville and, and my in laws were, he was a retired postal, uh, employee. And he had, he was looking out for his daughter. He wasn't looking out for me, but he was looking out for the daughter and the grandchildren. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation like that, but anyway, he said, he said, you need to put your application in the post office. Well, I did.

And they actually took the test, passed the test and all that. Then it had to come to the decision of, okay. You know, show up for orientation and they gave, it was two weeks out. So that means that I was going to have to give my notification to my current employer. So I went to see him visit my father and mother and sister who lived in Columbus, Georgia, as a matter of fact, and went up there just to visit him and to talk with daddy and seek daddy's advice.

And at that time I was not a Christian. And the pastor of the church, dad moved up there after he retired to be a business agent for our former pastor, who was my childhood pastor. And this man, him and his wife are just great people. She unfortunately, well I don't say unfortunately, she is in heaven to this day. And he's still over in West Florida, which I go to see once every six months, if possible. And for sure, once a year, I go by and see him, see him.

But anyway, so he was preaching that morning, great message, great message. But our youngest son was sick and he couldn't go. He was just sick as a dog. Woke up that morning sick as a dog. So the wife stayed home with him and the rest of us all went to church. And in that altar, it was a great message, but you know, I'm, I'm who I am and I'm not going to budge. I don't know if you've ever been in that category that you want to stand in for. Come forward.

Well, I wanted my son healed because he was sick. I mean, he was sick as a dog. So I got up and went forward. And this is no kidding. This is one of those life moments. And as I was walking down the center aisle, you kind of understand there's about 800 people in this church. It was the biggest church, Assemblies of God church over in Columbus, Georgia. And it was huge. full of people. And so here I am walking down at center aisle and there was probably 2025 people.

I don't really recall the number, but the aisle was full and the pastor's wife was sitting on the platform and she saw me coming down there and she didn't take the steps down. She jumped down off the platform and met me at the altar. And she said, Mike, did you come down here and get saved? I said, yes, ma'am. You go figure. That was the furthest thing from my mind was giving my life back to the Lord in a productive manner. That was, that was it.

As soon as I said that, I started crying like a baby. Mm-Hmm. All of the guilt. All of the, all of the, you can't classify it as anything else other than guilt. Mm-hmm. Come flooding through my mind and my understanding every 'cause I, I knew the way, the whole nine yards, I could tell you each and every situation where I had went wrong and all that was cataloged in my mind. Yeah. And it just hit and it, and it just hit the expression button and buddy.

I was crying like a baby and snot where she had to get, she had to get a tissue and said here, you know, and all that. And I knelt down at that point in time and said a rededication prayer, a committal prayer. And I'm in it, I'm in it at that time. So we went, we, and here's the thing, this is, this is it. When we got back, when we arrived back at the house, Sean was outside playing. Wow. He was. Had you, had you gotten to the point of asking for healing for him? No, it was all about you.

I did say this, I did say this, after all, God, I, I, I, I did say I came forward to pray for Sean, and sister prayed a short prayer for him, and that was it, that was it, and so that was at the age of 27, when I made that commitment, and I would like to say it, and you come back, I changed jobs, things were new, went to work for the post office, and I retired after 39 years with the post office myself.

And, and that was that that was a trip in itself, but in that, when I recommitted my life to the Lord and all that, and my boys were young, I had always now look ever since they were small, even though I wasn't where I was supposed to be. We took the boys to church. We actually sent them to a Christian school in Jacksonville. And so I knew the right way. And so the boys at that time were, I think, seven and five years of age when I gave my life to the Lord. Then I became active in church.

Eventually became a Sunday school teacher and myself and then was on the church board and did all these kind of glorious things as it were. And then, and then they went on. I would like to say that my boys did well as far as following in the footsteps of The Christian father, but like me, they, they did just the, as it say, the left road instead of the right road. And they've had their challenges over the years.

And both of them now stand in a. Position of having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, which is good, but I will say that after they graduated and we became empty nesters and I started a construction company while I was working for the post office. And had a business going on one hand and working for the government on the other hand. And the scripture says a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. And so there's, there's challenges that come forward in every situation.

And I was able through the construction business and the roofing business to have extra income. And I provided the worldly. Things for the boys. Cars. The oldest one went to college. Of course he had to borrow some money to go to college. We didn't have all the money to do it. But we gave him the, the opportunities. In fact, he, the oldest one, did graduate with his master's degree from Oral Roberts University.

In psychology, but anyway, so through that, we had had the money and I wasn't paying attention and you have to remember this and this is a good instruction and through all of my challenges and I'm trying to keep this thing short so we can help out the listeners in as much as I'm going to get to. A section of understanding here that's going to for all you listeners out there as you listen.

I do want you to take notes when I give you the scriptures and write them down because what's going to happen is when you go back and you read the scriptures and understand my testimony will reflect back on you like Paul's testimony in the, in the epistles. About his examples and his challenges, and many of us refer back to what Paul did, what Peter did or whatever else. And we can find soltis and understanding and how we're supposed to move.

The words of Jesus written in red give us soltis and understanding of how to chart our course properly. But anyway, the old saying is this, no baby, nobody holds your baby like you do. And I got too big for my britches. Um, Always, always made a comment that I had a bad business owner and that's why I went bankrupt. Well, the business owner was me, you know, but I hired a fella and put my trust in him. And again, we were making money and he began not paying attention to the jobs.

In one week, one week, I lost two major contractors. They provided me with 6, 000 a month income one week. I lost both of them. And when you lose somebody, because they don't give a rip about you. They don't give you a second chance. I mean, that's it, you know, and I lost two, two contractors. And from that, so I eventually had to close the business down. I did not declare bankruptcy. I closed the business down and mortgaged my house, extra land.

And I paid off all of my suppliers that I, and I just didn't do any more business. And here's the, here's the part, I mean, this, that was a challenging thing. And it, and you've heard the stories about depression and. Now, Satan can challenge an individual and there may be people out there that have gone through some serious things. Now look, when you know, death is, is a tragic situation. It's a life changing moment for anybody.

They say divorce is just as traumatic as death, not only on the individual. getting the divorce but the children and those around them.

Well I tell you what when you pour everything into a business and that and you put your your identity in a business when you lose that it is death and buddy I went through depression and if there was ever a scripture that would have given you permission to commit suicide and still make it to heaven I think I would have done it but you can't and that's your pride wanting you to go in there and Do yourself in because of the way that you had things planned and it didn't work out. Right.

And, and if you lose your identity, like you mentioned, that's an open door to that kind of thinking. Oh yeah. I'm in prayer groups with professional athletes now with doctors and I'm in several different prayer groups and the athletes will tell you, you know, when they lost, when they lost their identity, when their physical body couldn't perform anymore. When they lost their identity, they were like a boat on the water without any power, just floating around and being tossed around.

Then I found myself in that position, but, and here's the thing. So I'm floating around in this and back when I was making money in the construction business, I joined the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship Association, which was a great, it is still, but what back then was a super, uh, organization was Deema Sukkarian is the founder of it.

But anyway, I met a man by the name of Stan Reed, who was a member of, and for those that listen to this thing, if you ever knew Dr. Homer G. Lindsay, Jr., who was the first, the pastor of First Baptist Jacksonville, uh, back in its heyday. I mean, and Dr. Lindsay was a great man. Well, anyway, Stan was his prayer partner, and Stan, as we come to find out later on, won the bronze star in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

He was about five foot, six, five foot, six and a half, maybe depending on what shoes he's wearing that day. And might've weighed 130 pounds, but he was a double black belt. And this guy, unassuming white haired grandfather, soft smoking voice. And the first thing he'd ask you is, do you know Jesus? Well, and I give you this update now. He also, I met him in the full gospel businessman. He also was the jail chaplain at our local county jail and been that way for years.

Well, anyway, so when I closed my business down and going through this depression time, I get a phone call from 1 of the contractors and said that a roof that I put on a lady's house that she had lost 100, 000 dollar paint because the roof leaked. And they were ready to sue me. So here I am with my tail behind me, having to go over there and meet with this owner who lost this 100, 000 painting because of water had dripped on it from the chimney.

Well, the short story of that, it was the chimney leak and not the roof. So I didn't have to pay for it, but I didn't know that at the time. So here I am, tail tucked between my legs. So to speak and I'm driving over to Fernandina over there to face the music so to speak and so There's a local Hardee's restaurant And I said, you know, I'm gonna give me an ice cream cone I had 25 bucks in my pocket a 20 bill and a 5 bill So I pulled in there and have you ever put out a fleece?

You know, this is what God if you want me to do this I'll do this, you know, you put these fleeces out and all so I said all right if I can If I can get that ice cream cone, it'll, it'll be okay. There won't be nobody in the drive thru. So as I'm driving down the road, I can see the drive thru over there, and there's only one car. I said, hey, I'm gonna pull in there and get me an ice cream cone. Pull around there, and there's six cars backed up giving their order. So I said, this ain't it.

So I drive around, and I say to myself, all right, if the second parking spot is open, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pull into that parking spot and go inside. Now, now, come on, you gotta hear this. So what happens? You get around the corner, second parking spot's open, so I pull in there in a park and go inside. And here's the point of this little short story. Stan Reed was standing there.

He didn't remember me from Adam's house camp because I hadn't been to a meeting in six or seven years, so he didn't remember who I was. But I had enough sense to know this, that the seed you sow is the seed you gonna reap. And so I had 25 bucks in my pocket. I took that 20 bill out and I folded it up and I gave him a Pentecostal handshake. You know, and I said, I said, here, brother Reed, this is, this is for the jail ministry. And that man grabbed my hand and I reintroduced myself to him.

He said, Oh yeah, Mike. He said, then he, he takes his left hand and lays it on my wrist. So now he has my right hand with both of his hands. And he says. Uh, what you doing Sunday night? And I said, well, I'm going to church. He said, come out to the jail and give your testimony. Well, his, his assistant chaplain was the mechanic that owned the local garage over there that I used to get my trucks and vehicles worked on and buy gas from as well.

And I knew that he was assistant chaplain out there. I said, okay, I'll come out there and give. And this is no kidding. As soon as I walked in past the vestibule into the confinement area, it is like somebody laid a trench coat on me. A coat, I kid you not, was almost like Elijah's mantle being placed upon Elisha, as it were, when he threw it down. But anyway, it was, it was almost that same presence. And even as I tell this story now, I can feel that man coming on me.

And I knew that I knew that I knew that I knew that I knew I was right where I was supposed to be. And as a matter of fact, that was 26, almost 27 years ago. And as I tell people often, I never went back to my church on Sunday night. Well, every Sunday night I was out there and then eventually they asked me to do the Wednesday nights. Because they had two different nights. They did it all. So I did Wednesday nights for years.

And then, when I retired from the post office in 19, I became the chaplain. Chaplain Reed, the older man, he eventually passed on and went to glory. And then, Chaplain Patterson, who was my mechanic, took his place. And he just recently passed away this past week. I was gonna ask you about him. I hadn't heard his name in a long time. Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, he went on to be with the Lord last Saturday, and it's not unfortunately.

But from a standpoint, I'm missing my buddy, but he's in glory, son, and I was with him four days before he passed away. And I know that some of the listeners out there don't understand and may not have an understanding of speaking in tongues and that relationship with, as Paul.

When only Paul said I speak in tongues more than you all will anyway, and the final moments of brother Patterson's life as I was sitting there, he would be talking to me and then all of a sudden he throw his hands up and start praising the Lord and start speaking. Well anyway, having said that about getting involved in a jail ministry here's here's the scriptures that I want to leave with everybody in your understanding.

From that aspect of being engaged in the chapel, uh, in the chaplaincy and running into guys that are at life's end of situation down, you know, lost everything you're in jail and I'll put in there. Here's the, here's the difference between jail and prison. Jail is when you're arrested. You hadn't been charged. You're waiting to go to court. You're trying to manipulate your way out of everything. You're coming up with all this. So you're all the time making excuses.

So you find a lot of people that get jailhouse religion. You know, they they've been caught and want to straighten up. They're looking something. So they're bargaining with God. They're putting those fleeces out. You know, God, you get me out of this situation and such and such, you know, there's two places in the world where there's more prayers prayed in the back of a taxi in the back of a patrol car.

So every one of these guys, they'll, they'll, they'll pray and come into a semi face with the Lord, but in through this and all my experiences, I started studying. And all of my life experiences led me up to be in the jail ministry. And the jail ministry has opened my eyes to a way far greater things than, uh, will occur. Now, if we go through to understand adversity, I want you to write this scripture down and I'm going to read it to you in the King James Version so that you can hear it.

And then as the listeners come back in, they can understand some of this. It's found in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 13 in King James reads, There hath no temptation. Taken to you, but, but such as is common to man, but God is faithful. Oh, is that true?

Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but with the temptation also make a what make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it now to shorten that up everybody right the rain falls on the just and the unjust okay life situation happens god doesn't throw anything on us To punish us or anything else. I want you to get that from an understanding. God doesn't punish us for anything.

We, we make the decisions and we put ourselves in situations and it is us that, that is the culprit of it. God is there with us all the time. Many times His Holy Spirit is trying to direct us away from making those bad decisions and we make a decision not to listen. Okay. Right, right. And so, and here's the thing. God never punishes people. He never chastises people. We bring the punishment upon ourselves. Okay, now the way of escape that this scripture is talking about is the scripture.

He's already answered our challenging situation in the scripture, and it is up to us to get in there and dig it and find it out. It's just like when you've got a problem with an automobile or any type of equipment.

You can go to the shade tree mechanic who has some general knowledge, but the OEM, the original equipment manufacturer has made a manual and you go to that manual and it is going to tell you exactly what to do, where to go, step by step process, and you're going to fix that car, that dishwasher, whatever it is, you're going to fix it through that OEM manual, and it's the same thing it is with the Bible.

God has already put everything that you and I need into scriptures, you're We just have to go to the manual and find it out. And he doesn't withhold anything from us. He says, when you ask of me, I will give it to you liberally. I will give you the information liberally. We just have to be patient. But here's the thing. He can see our heart. Am I trying to manipulate God just to get this answer and get myself out of a jam, you know, and all this other kind of stuff.

God can see what the intent is of our heart. In fact, that's why Lucifer was kicked out of heaven. It says that iniquity was found in your heart and boom, he kicked him out of heaven. See, God knows what the intent of our heart is. Many times he walks with us through that situation so that we can recognize where we are deficient. And how we need to approve. That's what a, an athletic coach trainer does. It sees where we're deficient.

It helps us to work muscle groups in different areas in order to strengthen our core, to strengthen ourselves. Many times we have back problems, shoulder problems, leg problems, and it's caused from a core problem. Your stomach muscles are not holding your skeletal frame right. And that's the same way it is in the scriptures and the understanding.

Having said that, one of the greatest, because time is growing short here, one of the greatest passages of scriptures that scripture that I have discovered is the book of Ephesians, the entire book, and I might say Mark chapters four and chapter five, and maybe at some given point in time in the future, we can have a part two and go into this, but into any kind of depth, but right now, Jesse's Uh, desire is for encouragement for those lives for you listeners that are listening to us now when I

was challenged as a custodian, I was working evening shift with the post office and, uh, in a, in a young lady that was a part time employee where I was at the post office. Said, said, Hey, aren't you my, my pastor's mailman? Aren't you, aren't you the mailman? What it was. I was a mailman for 13 years and there was a pastor of a church and I delivered the mail to their house.

And occasionally I would visit this church on Friday nights or whatever, as a mailman and everybody got to know me as the mailman, nobody knows my name, but I can go to that church that is day. 30 years later, and I'm the mailman. And so this girl, she says, you know, she says, we pray in the month of July, 24 hours a day at the church. Won't you come pray with us? I said, I, so I did in the first year.

It was good when I'd get off at work, 1130 at night, I'd go to that church and pray for 30 minutes to an hour. The second year that I went. I had an, my, our son had graduated from Oral Roberts University and Oral gave him a signed copy of his autobiography and I read the autobiography and in that Oral Roberts was told by God, he said, when he became a pastor, he said, he said, if you'll read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts on your knees for 30 days. are for a month.

There is where your ministry is found and there are the miracles that you will perform in your ministry. This is when Oral Roberts was in his 20s. He was just getting started in a ministry. Well, hold on a second. Let's say that, say the books again, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. Yes, sir. The first five books. You got to understand first five books. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the first four of the New Testament. And that's telling, giving, that is Jesus exemplifying everything.

Okay. He's giving the examples. He's showing. He's showing all of us the kingdom of God. And then the book of Acts is when Jesus is not around anymore. And then those that were listening had to ante up themselves and do the things of God. I'll ask you this little technical question. When is a child no longer a child, Jesse? When is a child no longer a child? When he's responsible for himself. No, you know the true answer to that? A child is no longer a child when the parents are dead.

Oh, but see, he sent, he gave, he, he gave a Holy Spirit, so he really wasn't dead. I mean, that's the way I see it. Well, no, I, well, yeah, but, but what I'm saying is a child is no longer a child when its parents are dead. Now the child has nobody to go back to, and they're grown up. They're on their own, you see, they're on their own. And that's what happened when Jesus left. Now, the disciples were on their own and then they have to start scratching their head. What are we going to do?

Peter said, I'm going to go back to fishing. And then when, when, when, when the price came back, he said, go get Peter and everybody else. And I huddled up and they, they had another 40 days of experience. And then he told them. Go to the upper room or go wait for the endowment of power of the Holy Spirit and they were there for 10 days. You have to understand 10 and what the significance of the number 10 is that was the day of Pentecost. That was the 50th day.

50 represents Jubilee in Scripture, and that means nothing missing, nothing broken, all things returned to the original owner. And anyway, Oral Roberts was told to read the first five books of the New Testament. The first five books, the number five in scripture represents grace. So in that grace, those five, what I've termed the five books of grace, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, you learn by example of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And then you, you do the own job training in the book of Acts. And there's where parents, educators. I'm speaking to the audience now. Let me tell you what you do the same thing and it will be revelatory to you. But back to my story, I remember reading that. So when I went to this church to pray, I got on my knees and I said, Lord, all right, what do you want me to read? What do you want me to do as a devotional during this time of prayer in the month of July?

And it come to me just like I'm talking to you read the book of Ephesians. So what I did is I had my Bible with me and they're on my knees when I would get off work and I would go to this church and pray at night that and I didn't stay long and just to make everybody feel comfortable. Sometimes when you pray and you're tired, what do you do? You wake yourself up snoring as you're sitting there praying. I don't know if anybody's ever done that.

And you, and you look down at your Bible and there's drool marks down there, you know, and it wasn't tear marks. So, anyhow, and so I would read, sometimes I'd fall asleep, but I'd usually spend an hour, uh, because what did Jesus say to the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane? Could we not tarry with me one hour? So the goal was always to be there one hour. Sometimes I made it, sometimes I didn't, just depending, but, but that was the goal.

So anyway, I was reading the book of Ephesians and let me tell you what, I did it. I read it during that time period. Every time I'd get off work, I'd go in. So five days a week for that, for that month of July, I read that tongue. And let me tell you what it opened my understanding. It opened my understanding. Many of us have situations in life. Many of us have families in life. Many of us have. Challenges. Look, life is full of challenges and it's how we look at them.

I look at them as a common thing that's fixing to happen to me. There's an answer for it. So I don't get stressed out over it. If I find myself getting stressed out, that means that I haven't done what Proverbs 3, says. Trust the Lord with all thine heart and lean not for thine own understanding. And I'll always acknowledge him and he will direct your path. Well, I hadn't done that if I get stressed out. But here's what I discovered in Ephesians.

And then after I discovered it in Ephesians, I began hearing pastors preach on it and and I'm telling you, this is something else. Now, this is Ephesians chapter 1 and this is in the King James and it's verse number 3. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who half blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That is one of the things that I just, I repeatedly tell the adult prisoners on a consistent basis, half blessed, half is past tense.

It's already done. Right. It's done. It's done. It's done. Half means past. And the last two words of that verse are in Christ. You have to be in Christ to receive all the heavenly blessings because it is for those who have the understanding of belief. You and I as men cannot, we can, we can have all the book knowledge we want, we can even teach on childbirth, but we cannot teach childbirth like a woman who has given childbirth.

Now you got to admit that, even though science is trying to change that today, we won't get into that. It ain't going to happen, I can guarantee you that. But you see, you have to be in Christ, and so you can't talk about Christianity, you can't talk about the things of God, unless you have Jesus Christ living on the inside of you, and that's the experience that you need. Now, everybody, I want you to listen to this. Now, we're reading from Ephesians. Chapter one, we've already read verse three.

Now we're jumping down to verse 15 and listen to how I'm going to read it to you the way that it is written. Then I'm going to come back and read it to you with the intent and the understanding. Okay. Picking up at verse 15, it says, wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ and the love unto all the saints.

Cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers that the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know.

What is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his, of his inheritance and the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand with him in heavenly places.

Far above all principality, power, might, and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which will come and has put all things under his feet and given him to be head over all the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. So that's what Paul was writing to the Ephesians.

Now, if you have to understand the Ephesus church and the situation and where it was at and all, he, Paul wrote this to the Ephesians church, but he's also writing this scripture for all of us, even today and all anybody that's, that, that is born hereafter for the future, the Lord, Terry, another thousand years, it's for everybody. But listen, when you take the pronoun and you put a. Now, in it, listen to what it says.

And for all you readers, I'm gonna make Jesse feel good because I'm gonna, I'm gonna put his name in there and listen to what it says. Wherefore, I also, after I heard of Jesse's faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for Jesse.

Making mention of Jesse in my prayers that the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ may give unto Jesse, the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of Jesse's understanding being enlightened that Jesse may know what is the hope of his calling. And what the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the saints now when he says when the when it's referring to his air is talking about Jesus and now picking up in verse 19.

And what is the exceeding exceeding greatness of his power price power to us word who believe, according to the working of God's mighty power. Which he wrote in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places.

Far above all principality, power, mighty dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and given him to be head over all the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Now, here's a little short story on this thing. Nowhere in the scripture does it tell us to pray for somebody to get saved. It never says it. There's no verse in the Bible that says you need to pray.

For such and such to get say what it does say right here is that we are to pray for the eyes of their understanding to be enlightened that the spirit of wisdom and knowledge come upon them. That's what it's saying. It says unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him. Who's it talking about of the him?

of Jesus, the eyes of Jesse's understanding, Mike's understanding, Willie's understanding, Carol's understanding, being enlightened, that they may know what is the hope of Jesus calling, God's calling, and what the riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints, Jesus inheritance in the saints.

Now, in conclusion, I want to say this much, people don't know this, but as I was telling you about how the demand will come up on me when I came to the jail, one of the experiences in the life that I had was, but Sunday school superintendent in my church, he walked up to me one Sunday and he said, Hey, Mike. He said, I got something I want you to pray about. He said, you know, we do this basketball outreach and this thing to this juvenile prison over there in Jacksonville.

And he said, we do it once a month on Saturdays. But we were thinking, man, the Bible says to make disciples. We were thinking about starting a Sunday school class. He said, don't you stop and think about that. I said, okay, I'll do it. No, no, you need to stop and pray, but I said, no, I'll do it. He said, no, you got to pray about it. I said, no, I'll do it. Because he knew I was up in the jail, you know, doing that. So I said, I'll do it. And he didn't know what to say.

He said, well, let me tell you what he said. You weren't our first choice, but the other guy turned us down. So I said, so come in second place. That's it. Now, look. Here he says this. He tells me this on a Sunday. So a buddy of mine was an educator, taught at a juvenile prison up in Nassau County. And at that time, it's no longer in effect there, but it was Nassau Halfway. So I called my buddy up and I said, hey, I said, do they have anything that they do for the juveniles over there?

He said, yeah. He said, there's different churches come out each week. And he said, they'll do something on a Sunday night out there. And I said, Hmm, I said, who can I find out if I can come over there? He said, well, and he gives me the director's name and by the way, his name was Duke as well. And, uh, so he gave me Mr. Duke's phone number and I called him up and said, I said, you know, I'm such and such, uh, blah, blah, blah.

And he, uh, I told him I went to the Nassau, uh, the jail up there. And so he said, yeah, he said, he said, I want you to come out when the Presbyterians come out. He said, there's a, he said, there's a couple there. He said, it's Jesse and Becky. And he said, they make a difference in the kids lives out of all of them. He said, I want you to learn under them. So people, I'm telling you the story of how I met Jesse and Becky. And this is no kidding.

So I'll go out there and I meet Jesse and Becky, and there's another guy that shows up by the name of Jeff Hall. And, and so we're there with Jesse and Becky and we see what they do and all that. And this is great. So I'm thinking to myself, man, I want to come back next week. Jeff and I had never met. I said, Hey, you want to come back next week? He said, yeah. He said, well, it's a different church. I said, yeah, but we'll learn from them.

So we come back the next week and the church doesn't show up and it's just me and Jeff there. And so I remember that. And so we started doing it. And that was the third Sunday night or third or fourth. I forget which one it was, but anyway, so we started doing it. So the next month when the Presbyterian and Jesse Becky rolled around, we were there to learn more, but that was the, the understanding.

And I'm going to close with this, with this, this statement, we were involved in at Nassau halfway house and we started giving gifts and we started doing the Sunday school there. So we would come on Sunday morning, Jeff and I did. He went to First Baptist Fernandina Beach, and I went to my church in Jacksonville. And we started teaching a Sunday school lesson to those boys and seeing their lives change, people. And here's, here's the thing that got us.

We would give, the director at that time said, Can you give some gifts to the boys? Can you give them Bibles? And so, yeah. So what we did is, we fixed up a shoe box, and put like toothpaste and socks and a knit cap in there. And it was a Christmas present and the very first year. And I wasn't there because I had to work. And Jeff said, when he gave out those Christmas gifts. There's one boy that would not open his gift. He just sat there and held on to that gift for a good four to five minutes.

Jeff said everybody had already opened their gifts, saw what they got. They were, and he's still holding it. And so Jeff went over to him and said, why aren't you opening your gift? Now, the average age of these boys are from 14 to 18 years of age, with an average age of about 15 to 16. This guy said, I have never gotten a wrapped gift in my life. This was the first wrapped gift he had ever been given. And he had to come to prison to get it.

And ever since then, we give out gifts in the juvenile prison. We give them basketball shoes. We give them all kinds of things. And the one thing that we give them to this day is a Bible with their name engraved on it. And these guys hold on to that Bible. Now you've got some that don't. But you have to understand the parable of Mark 4, what I said a while ago. So you people read Mark 4 all the way through, and you read Mark 5 all the way through.

Because it's got more Stuff in there that you can handle. But anyway, we give those gifts to those boys and those guys that get that Bible with their names on them, it means something to them. So anyway, that's my story. And you just have to wrap it up from there. Now look, you read out of the King James and you read it like you've read it a thousand times before. Now I want to read, just for the sake of our listeners, I want to read it from the NLT.

That's where, that's where young folks go, right? Yeah. I just, I just started using the NLT about three years ago. I like this. All right, go ahead. This is Ephesians 1, 15 through 23. Yes, sir. Now, this is Paul. Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God's people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you.

I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called, His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe in Him.

This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now, he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else. Not only in this world, but also in the world to come God has put all things under the authority of Christ And he and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church, which is us That's it.

And the church is his body It is made full and complete by Christ who fills all things everywhere With himself. So there you go. Now, that's the that's the NLT to just sort of Reiterate what you were saying, if we take the word you out and put in the name of the person we're praying for, you know, the prodigal child, the drug addict, alcoholic, anybody, that this is the most powerful prayer that we can pray for them because it's God's word.

And you know, it says, and I think it's over in Isaiah, that God's word never returns void. He's bound. By his own self, his own being, to perform his word. His word's not separate from himself. I think it's over in Ezekiel. It says he watches over his word to perform it. So his word in our mouth has got power. So when we pray, This Ephesians prayer for somebody. We're really doing something.

Now, for the benefit, since you brought it up, for the benefit of the listeners, grab your Bible and go back and turn to Isaiah chapter 55 real quick. Yeah. Isaiah 55. And, and, and here's the point that I want the listeners to grasp the word of God. Yeah, Isaiah 55, and then from your Bible, we're going to teach the listeners that God's word never fails. It cannot fail. Oh yeah. Ephesians can't, Ephesians cannot fail. Now read verses 8 through 11. All right. I love this. This is God talking.

Yes. My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord, and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit.

It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. Amen and amen and see and that and that's the guarantee from God himself that the inspiration that he gave the Paul to write those words that we were just talking about that whoever you and I pray for that. And when we put their name in there, they are going to come into the revelation and the knowledge of who Jesus is.

We may not see it in our lifetime because God told Abraham when he took him up on the mountain said see all the land and territory. I'm gonna make you your offspring greater than the sands of the sea. At that point, he didn't even have a child. He never saw the greatness of the Israeli nation, and he never saw that, but it came to pass. We may not see in our lifetime things and people for who we pray for, God's Word never, never, never fails. And it will come to pass, so be assured on that.

I want to just want to say that, you know, His Word never returns void. It accomplishes the thing for which He sent it. Now, that means that if we have His Word in our mouth, it accomplishes the things for which He sent it. Because when our words align with His words, that's, there's power in that. That's how we walk out of our faith, by using His words to accomplish His will. Amen. Amen. And, and here's the thing. Here's an example in Ezekiel chapter 37. It's the valley of the dry bones.

And you've probably heard sermons about the valley of the dry bones. And it says that the Lord took Ezekiel and put him in a valley of dry bones. And he's, and Ezekiel walked around, he saw the, the, the dry bones. It says in verse number one, he walked around and then it says, and then it says, God asking says, can these bones live and Ezekiel had enough for sense about him to know the power of God. But he also was showing his deficiency at that point because he told God, you know, Oh Lord.

Cause he knows that if God asked him a question, you know, a Lord, rather than to put a point blank, yes, yes. These bones can live. See Ezekiel wasn't sure within himself. And so, so God was given him the opportunity to confess in as much as that. I really don't know, but you, I know you can do it, but I don't, I don't know within myself. So he was letting Ezekiel know there was a little weakness there.

And then he says, okay, I'm going to train you in essence, what he was saying to him, I'm going to train you. So, so God gives him the overview of. Calling the bones together, calling the muscles, calling to sin you, and then calling the breath into him. He tells him what he's going to say and what he's going to do, and then he tells Ezekiel, say to the bones, right, he heard a and he heard a great rattle.

And that's just exactly what you said a while ago, Jesse, when we used the word of God in our mouth, it doesn't return. Voy and Ezekiel is the prime best example. God spoke, Ezekiel repeated and it happened and it wasn't. deviated from at all. Yeah. So when Jesus left his body, he gave us authority. To do all sorts of things that he did, and I think most believers just simply do not believe. Well, it's, it's been watered down through inappropriate applications. Yeah, yeah, there you go.

Inappropriate application leads to defeat and giving up. When we first must ask the Lord, trust in the Lord, ask the Lord, how do you want me to handle this situation? When we ask the Lord how to handle that situation, we learn. Everything that Jesse is, he learned from his parents. In the beginning and then other influences. So Jesse is actually learning from five generations back and you never knew your fifth generation grandfather or anything else.

And that's why that we don't have that power operating in our lives today, because people that didn't have great success is. You can't do this, you can't do that. Me, I'm still trying every time. It's like playing baseball. I didn't quit baseball when I struck out the first time. I eventually got the batting championship when I was 15 years old. But my batting average was 444 in my senior year in baseball. But, if I were to give up when I was 9 years old, I never would have that trophy.

But anyhow, that's why the correct application leads to correct results. Yeah, that's great. And never giving up. Never giving up. Well, I guess we'll wrap it up and I just want to thank you for this. Usually I will ask somebody to give a piece of wisdom for our listeners, but you've already done that. So I'm just going to ask you to pray for our listeners because somebody out there really needs exactly the prayer that God's going to give you right now.

All right, for all of you that have heard this podcast, understand God is with you. He's put you here and this podcast was for you to grow on and look, we only grow when we share. You see, and I'm in all sincerity, it tells us in Galatians, the seed you sow is the seed you reap. So what you want to do is sow for more knowledge and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's, let us pray. Let's bow.

Father God, creator of the universe, we come before you now and thank you for majesty and beckon how that you've impressed upon them and you've given them the wherewithal to do this, the media, uh, aspect of it, continue to lead, guide and direct them and all that. And now as they are sowing into people's lives, whom they will never meet. Father, in this podcast, this day, we have went over things, uh, that is strictly your word.

You heard a testimony of me and my walk of faith and walk of understanding and of all the situations. But Lord, I do pray the Ephesians prayer on each and every one of the listeners and that they may develop into who you have designed them to be. None of us are failures.

And I might add, if there are any on this podcast that have never accepted you as their Lord and savior, reveal to them the essence of who you are in Romans 10, 9, and 10, that they can come into a faithful relationship with you. Father, in conclusion. And we do pray that Ephesians prayer upon each and every one for their understanding their eyes of understanding to be enlightened for the knowledge and wisdom of who you are to come into them.

And according to number 624 through 26 the priestly the Aaronic blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you in Christ's holy name we pray. And everybody said, Amen. Amen. Thank you Mark for. for joining us today, and I really appreciate you doing this for us.

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.