How Have You Experienced the Power of God in Your Life?

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When or how have you experienced the power of God in your life? You know, the Bible says in Luke 5:15, but despite Jesus's instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. I've got my friend Jason Hamlet in the studio today out of Wake Forest, and this is a good friend of mine. He has experienced the power of God in his life. And Jason, if you want to get up to the mic, there's a few stories that you shared with me on the way where you have actually experienced the power of God in your life.

Is that right? Oh yeah, I've got good. I could tell you many stories there, Mike.

Well good. One of the best stories that I have is You know, I grew up in You know, I grew up in church and learned about Jesus. and was baptized, got saved as a young man. And um You know, then I started going down the the wrong road. And he got involved in drinking, drugs, you know.

And I w I was I was hooked. You know, it was fun to start off with, but It enslaved me. Mm-hmm. For 20 years. And towards the end of that twenty year experience, I was um I was smoking crack and shooting meth.

And Every molecule in my body New Got that if I didn't change that I was going to die or I was going to die and go to hell.

Well, I guess to make a long story short, Uh One night I was uh And I had gotten prayed for many times. Mom had prayed. Amen. I was kinda hopeless, you know, skin and bone. I was wondering why God created me that way.

Uh-huh. And my mom wanted me to go to a revival with her the next day.

Okay. Um. I believe the revival was actually in Winston-Salem.

Okay. I wasn't planning on going. I got online to play a little $3.30 Omaha high-low poker tournament.

Okay. And um I was down to like thirty cents or something like that and And I said, God, if If you let me win this tournament, then I'll go to that stupid revival with mom tomorrow.

Okay. And then I went all in. And I tell you what, I couldn't lose a hand. I uh I finished first place. And the next day, I went to that stupid revival with my mother.

Okay. And I walked in the place and I didn't expect much to happen. And I caught out of the corner of my eye, there was a fella wearing. like open-toed soccer shoes and sweatpants and a t shirt and I'm like Oh, God, anybody but that fellow to put pray for me.

Well, sure enough, here he comes on over, makes a beeline for me. Lucky you, right? But he prayed for me and he stepped back and he said. He said, I see bands around your mind restricting the way you think. And he commanded the bands to be broken in Jesus' name.

I'm sure he said other things, but that's what I remember. He was commanding in Jesus' name. And We went home at some point in time. I didn't feel anything. We went home.

And uh next day I didn't smoke any crack. And you didn't crave it. No, it was just unusual for me not to smoke crack. And then the next day went by, I didn't smoke any crack.

Well the third year came around I went and got some.

Okay. It didn't get high.

Okay. Oh, this is stupid. This is a waste of twenty bucks. Yeah.

So, over the next several months, every day would go by after this, this where I didn't get high. And I was, well, Jesus, did you set me free?

Well, after a year, and every day I'd wake up going, Jesus, did you set me free? After a year of not doing any drugs.

Okay. I finally realize that Jesus has set me free. Praise God. Praise God. And you've been clean for how long now?

I this happened 35. When I was about 35 years old, I'm 53 now.

So this was 18 years ago, and still no crack. I don't have any desire to to go back down that road. Yeah, well, I heard somebody say one time, Jason. They said that, they said, Do you miss your sin? Do you miss the old life where you were living in your sin?

And the guy said, No, he said, I took my trash out on Monday, and I don't miss my trash because it stinks. And I thought that made a lot of sense. We've got a Sarah out of Cary, North Carolina. Are you there, Sarah? Yeah.

How or when have you experienced the power of God in your life?

Well, one example is I've I'm a person that's had a diagnosis of Benign tumor of cerebral meninges, and I have had. five brain surgeries. And so I have to go back every Yeah. months and get an MRI to see if there is Any growth of the meningioma. And so, um, I was at a restaurant, and a friend of mine suggested that a lady he knew pray for me.

And so we were in the restaurant after they were having breakfast And so I just stood up in the restaurant, and she asked what I needed prayer for. And she prayed for me. And as she prayed, she put her hand Exactly where the uh spot where the tumor had been, and she prayed for me. And I felt the heat go into my head from her hand. the power of God going into my head.

And I said, oh my gosh, I feel the heat going into my head. And she goes, I know. I said my ha my hair is really hot. And she goes, my hand is really hot. And so she prayed for me, and I felt that, and she felt it.

And so then I went back and had a MRI about. I don't know, three months later. and the meningioma was not there. Praise God. That's a great story.

Evidence on the MRI. Praise God. And you're still feeling well today. Isn't that something else? If we just believe, and I'm going to read a verse and then I'm going to let Jason respond.

Luke chapter 1, verse 35, it says, The angel replied, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. There is power in the name of Jesus. Go ahead, Jason. Hey, Sarah, I got a quick question. When she was praying for you, did she ask Jesus to heal you, or did she command that sickness to be calm?

Do you remember? Um Don't I think she just declared scripture over me, and she just said in the name of I think she did command it to go. I think she did command it to go.

So Jason, why do you ask that? Um well because When I was younger, I would pray and ask Jesus to heal people. And, you know, we would have a prayer list in church. I didn't see really good results. And so as a man, and once I got set free, I started studying God's Word.

And I changed the way I pray just a little bit. and it's much more effective. Yeah.

And by the way, this is Michael Zwick, and this is Jason Hamlet, and Sarah's here. I did not give the number. If you guys want to call in, it's 866-34TRUTH, 866-348-7884. Go ahead, Jason. No, no, that's all.

I mean, I can elaborate just a little bit. Go ahead, go ahead, yeah.

So, when I started studying God's Word, I noticed that. Throughout the scripture, especially in the New Testament, Jesus is telling us, You're more than a conqueror. Put on the full armor of God. You know, you say to the mountain, be moved. You know, you cast out devils, you heal the sick.

And when I watch how him and the disciples did it, The disciples didn't pray and ask God or Jesus. They took authority. And So when I've kind of switched it and when I've spoken you know, life into people and Told even joints, muscles, ligaments, to tell it what to do in Jesus' name. I've just seen so much better results. I have better numbers that way.

Yeah, and you know, it's interesting when I'm looking at in Acts chapter 3 and in verse 6, it says, And Peter said, Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have, I give unto you. In the name of Jesus Christ, Of Nazareth, get up and walk. He didn't ask God to do it. He commanded, and it happened. And 866-34TRUTH-866-348-7884.

We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Bye. All right, guys, we are back. When or how have you experienced the power of God in your life?

866-34 Truth, 866-348-7884. I've got Jason Hamlet back here today, but the lady who just called in, Sarah, she said that somebody was at a restaurant with her and they commanded her head to be healed. She, I think, had a tumor or something like that, and she was instantly healed. But you said, Jason, what are some instances in your life where you have experienced the power of God?

Well, we had a situation like that happen similar to Sarah's at church.

Okay, what happened? I think this was about six months ago. A lady, she was supposed to go into surgery. Um to have some tumors removed. Mm-hmm.

And she came down for prayer, and the pastor anointed her head with oil.

Okay. And he allowed me to pray for her. And You know, it's really awesome because the next Sunday, she's supposed to go like. That week for surgery. The next Sunday, she came back and she said she went into surgery.

And they couldn't find, they ran a scan and couldn't find any tumors. Jeez.

So they ran another scan and couldn't find any tumors.

Okay. They ran six scans. She has all the scan, all the paperwork, and everything. Yes. They couldn't find anything to take out.

That sounds like the power of God.

Well, what else could it be? That sounds like the power of God.

And we've got a Cody out of Prospect Hill, North Carolina. Are you there, Cody? Thank you. Hey buddy, how you doing today? I'm doing good.

Hey, good, man.

Well, when or how have you experienced the power of God in your life?

Well, I had been pondering that, and I could probably stay on the phone for two or three days and tell you all the miracles I've seen. But the one that I felt the Lord leading me to share was About ten years ago Um I was mowing mowing a yard for a customer and Um The lady had told me that her son-in-law, who was about fifty, had been diagnosed with uh with a brain tumor and it was inoperable. And Anyways, I said, Well, I'll keep them in my prayers. And I went back to the lady's house two weeks later to mow again. While I was there Um The Holy Spirit just really went to dealing with me to pray for this guy.

And I'm just like. Caught between a place. I'm like, Lord, I've been praying for him. He's like, No, pray for him. And I'm like looking around, like, well, there's a car here that I don't recognize.

I've never. met the man, and I I seen him walk out on the porch, and I just Felt this. it just just in my soul that that guy was this lady's son in law. And so I wrestled this thing the whole time I'm mowing. I was like, All right, Lord, well lift these That's what you want me to do, I'll pray for him whenever I finish mowing.

An hour later, I get finished mowing, and it's like it has not let up. Like, I'm almost in tears. The presence of the Lord was so strong on me. And I'm like, well, if I get done weed eating, I'll do it. I'm not just going to go up to them and pray.

Well, anyway, so it never leaves. I'm not the the conviction and the urge to go and do this has gotten stronger. I'm like, well, if I finish. Weed eating. If he's still here, I'll do it.

Well, I finish up weed eating at the end of this lady's driveway. And here comes her son in law and her daughter down the driveway to check a mail. And it was just a clash. And I'm like, I ain't getting out of this thing, am I? And so I told them I asked the man, I said, I introduced myself and I said, Was you Diagnosed and he was like, Yeah, I'm I'm that son-in-law and said, Well, I really hate to hear that I said, But do you mind if I pray with you?

And so we stood there and we started praying and Um You know, I don't have a clue what to say. anything else. And next I opened my eyes, and all three of us are standing there, and we're all just sobbing. And I think it's a good idea. the presence of the Lord was just so strong with the Holy Spirit.

Um Just unexplainable. And so anyways, we all part ways and leave. And I go back two weeks later and the lady, she was in her eighties, she said, you're not going to believe this. And I said, what's that? And she said, my son in law went to the doctor this past Monday Um for another scan.

And they had already told him that he only had about two months at the rate it was growing. She said when they went back for the scan, they couldn't find anything. Yeah, so Praise the Lord, you know. And somebody asked me, why do we not see These miracles in our society today like is in the Bible, you know, and I'm like, well, maybe just our culture. We're putting more faith in man than we are the one that made man.

You know, you may have only been his only hope for life. That young mayor. Yeah, you never know.

So anytime Anybody out there listening has that? urgency to go and pray over somebody. The power is not you. It's just Well, and Cody, while you're there, we've got your friend Christy Real. I think she's out of Meben, North Carolina.

She's coming up here too. But anyway, so long story short, the thing that I was going to ask you is this: you said there was a time where you cut an artery. Is that right? Yeah.

Yes, sir. Twice. Um Someone had told me a scripture in the Bible and they said, Hey, look, if you ever get a cut or um go to bleeding, all you have to do is praise the pray the scripture. And I was just a kid. Um said, All you have to do is pray it and believe.

And Um I fell through a window and I've got about a foot-long scar between the two of them in my arm. And I was believing like stuck hog, as the saying would go. And there again, you know, the the Holy Spirit came to me. I was thirteen years old and couldn't remember a Bible verse if I was reading straight out of it. But um that verse just came to my mind and I hit my knees and started praying it.

Um And My grandpa went in, got called. Call my dad and comes back out and tossed me a wet hand towel. And he's like, You need to wrap your arm up and We just lived right across the street, so my dad was like two minutes away. Mm-hmm. And whenever I went to get in the car, Um that same soft, quiet voice was like, Show your grandpa your arm and uh For the time.

Often I looked and I said, Grandpa, look, and I was just astonished because I have a gash in my arm an inch and a half deep and a foot long. I'm not bleeding. I've got blood all over my arm, but I'm not bleeding. Yeah.

And it was it was a testament to everybody that witnessed it, I I believe. Including the doctor. Praise God. And I remember you said he was actually cleaning you out. And he couldn't believe it happened.

He said this was impossible that it actually happened. We've also got a Chris. Is it Chrissy? It says Chrissy out of Wilmington. Is that right?

Like that. Is this Christy out of Burlington? Oh, okay. It says Chrissy, C-H-R-I, or C-R-I-S-S-Y. It said Wilmington.

But we've got, no, this is our friend Christy Real out of Burlington, North Carolina. But her friend is Cameron Horner, and we've interviewed him several times on the show as well. Christy, when or how have you experienced the power of God in your life?

Well, I was at this Meeting in Florida and Reinhart Bunkey. I don't know if you know who Reinhart Bunkey is, but he's a powerful evangelist. And he was preaching, and he said, I have this burning on the inside to pass the baton to the next generation, but I can no more choose Jesus choose. And when he said that, a win came. And hit me in my chest and laid me flat on my back, and in that moment, The Lord reminded me of a prayer that I had prayed years earlier, standing at the end of my driveway.

And the Lord spoke to me and He said, What do you want me to do for you? And I knew it was too small a thing to ask for anything else. And I asked for the United States. I asked God for America to be saved because I didn't want to surrender our land to unholy devils. And God reminded me of that in that moment on the floor.

And I'm sobbing and weeping and then the next morning I wake up And I knew that it was like a fire, and the fire was just embers. And I felt the Lord saying to stoke the fire. And so I spent time in prayer and the word that morning. The Lord spoke to me, and he said, I want you to pray for everybody that you see today. And that day I pray, I saw 47 people, and 47 people were physically healed.

There was one gentleman, I was driving down the road, and he was sitting on a wall, and I'm like, dang, I see him too.

So I pulled over to pray for him. He was healed. I was walking to my car in the parking lot. There was a man sitting in his car. And Christy, I want you to finish that.

This is an awful day. When we get back from the break, 866-34TRUTH. We'll be right back right after this break. 47 in one day. What or how have you experienced the power of God?

You're listening to The Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Ah! All right, guys, we are back. And Christy Real kind of left us hanging in that last story that she was sharing.

Well, she didn't leave us hanging. We went to a commercial break. But, Christy, Jason, and I were over here saying, hold on, you said you prayed for 47 people in one day and they all got healed, Christy?

Okay. Every single one. Every single one. How long ago was that? It's been a few years.

It's been a few years back.

Well, I can tell you this right now, and this is what I know about Christy. I had always wanted to pray for people and see them healed and stuff like that. But several years ago, I'm going to guess it was 2023, I was over at Just Like Jesus Ministries over in Burlington, North Carolina, and Christy, I had invited her there for prayer, and we were all praying. And she said, Mike, I saw when you went to the front of the church and you were praising the Lord with everything that you had, that you said, you saw Jesus put a gift inside of my chest. And you said that when that when that happened, I went out and prayed for you.

Your back got healed, praise God. But after that, I started going out and praying for people and I saw it.

So you definitely saw that, but I'm sure you've seen some more power of God in your life other than that as well, Christy. Is that right? Yeah, I see it. And there's some noise in the background. I can't.

Christy, are you there?

Sorry. That's better. Go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, that's better?

Okay. So what I was going to tell you about the man in the car. Is when I prayed for him, I saw him. And I prayed for him, or I went up to him and he said he he had um debilitating Rheumatoid arthritis, and he said he physically couldn't get out of the car, and he had been praying for God to send somebody to help him. I put my hand on his back.

All of his bones moved under my hand. He was healed, got out of the car, praising the Lord, jumping and dancing, and went to the homeless shelter and started telling everybody what God did for him. I think that's pretty good right there. But we were at a meeting the other night, and it might have been two weeks ago over in Prospect Hill, but there was a lady with headaches. Is that right?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, God still heals today. And um Yeah, he does. That was a lady, and we were just talking about words of knowledge and how to hear from the Lord, and just giving some practical examples. And I gave an example of a word of knowledge about a headache.

And she said, I happen to have one right now. And so we stopped and prayed for her. She was healed. And what I didn't know till later is another lady in the room had a headache. And when we prayed for that lady, God healed the other lady too.

Awesome. Isn't that something? And Jason, you said you prayed for a lady a few weeks ago who had cancer and you saw her healed, but you said you've been waiting for 14 years, Jason, to see cancer healed. Is that right? That's correct.

It's been about 14 years since I was. You know, when Jesus set me free from drugs, I I started digging into the word and I got fired up and You know, I started reading the word. I asked God to baptize me with fire and the Holy Spirit. You know, I started studying His Word and And there was this couple, Charles and Francis Hunter, in Texas, and I went and studied with them. They have a really good ministry.

But I was on fire. My dad was on fire. I was giving my testimony in churches. We were seeing lots of people get healed. And then my mom died from chemotherapy and radiation as I was praying over her.

And so, you know, and I'll tell you, when when that happens, And if you nobody hears anything else, hear this. Don't get mad at God. Because I did that. You know, that's just not what you do. He's going to get you back where you need to go.

So you may as well just trust the Lord. All right, you know, he he's all knowing. Think about what that priest said when When um He found out that all of his sons were going to die in their prime. He said let God do what is right in his eyes. But I still have continued to pray for people, and I still continue to pray for everyone that has asked for cancer.

And so Finally. This was my first victory. And I remember Charles and Francis Hunter said if you do it once, you can do it every time. Mm-hmm. But just don't give up.

And if it's not working for you, try something different. But whatever you don't let the devil put those little thoughts in your head of You know, it doesn't work. or it's not going to work for you. Or, you know, you can't do this. You remember that sin you did the other day?

Remember what you did? You can't do this. Yeah.

Don't listen to that. Yeah.

Yeah, the Holy Spirit will talk to you. And I don't know if you can hear us, Christy. We kind of lost you, but the devil will try to speak to you. Yeah, the devil will try to speak to you as well. And when you were saying that, Jason, the Bible says in Proverbs 24:16, it says, For though the righteous fall, seven times they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.

And when I've prayed for people and I've seen the big things that God has done, and I see the big things with evangelism. I see people get saved. I see lives change, as Jason was talking about before. He was on drugs. He had no plan, no plans of following after God, but God took him right where he was.

And he took him out of that muck and that mire, and he lifted him out. And now he's using him as a son, or you, Christy, as a daughter of God as well. And so I think once we realize the mercy and the grace of God, and we realize that God is not mad at us, Christy, that. That we're okay. Did you ever deal with shame and condemnation, Christy?

I'm glad you asked that question because when Jason was talking, I really wanted to share this part about healing because I think sometimes we get really hung up thinking it's us. And we're not the healer. Jesus is the healer. And after I had a radical encounter with Jesus. I didn't even know God was a healer.

And then he started using me to pray for people. And the first healing miracle I ever saw was a dying boy live.

So, for a year, I saw radical healing miracles, and then people started telling me, Oh, you have a gift of healing.

Well, in that season, I was reading my Bible twelve hours a day and I was praying three or four hours a day.

So my confidence was in God, and I was doing the work. There was a grace on my life for a year for that. um that kind of time with the Lord. But then when the when I couldn't spend that kind of time in prayer, and the word, I started feeling like I hadn't earned it. And I stopped seeing miracles.

And then the Lord, and I'm like, I was struggling praying for people because I felt insecure that I hadn't earned it. Or I couldn't do it, and it was about me. And then the Lord spoke to me one day, and He said, You do not have a gift of healing. I said, Praise the Lord. I went and prayed for everybody, everybody was healed again.

Yeah, it's not about you, it is Jesus. Yeah, and Jason, I'm sure you would agree with that as well. 100%. When I was on fire many years ago, and this is when my mom was alive. My pride started to build up in me.

It really did. And I was trying to earn it: fasting, reading, praying, anything I could. You know, and being righteous. I was trying to earn it. Um But Christie's 100% right.

It's all Jesus. You know, those things, you do those things, you pray, you fast. It does build up your confidence. Yeah, and the Lord tells us to fast, but that's not where, you know, what does it say in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9? For it is by.

Grace that you have been saved. Through faith. Through faith. Through faith. It's nothing of yourselves so that nobody can boast.

And Christy, you know, and that doesn't mean we live like the devil. That doesn't mean we treat people poorly or anything like that. We do that because of the grace that God has poured out on us. But there are times, and this is what happened to me, Christy, is as I thought everybody would be excited about it. You know, hey, I'm doing what the Bible says, this and that.

But there were some people who were not too excited about it. But for me, Christy, it was the people who were the atheists or the agnostics. They were fine with it. But it was sometimes the religious people who gave it the toughest time. Listen, persecution does not come from the lost, it comes from the brethren, the same as Jesus.

The believers, the Pharisees, the people that were supposed to know God, those are the ones that didn't recognize Christ when he was standing in front of them. And what the word says is they hated Jesus, they'll hate you too. And the reason that it's persecution and it hurts is because it's from people that's supposed to love you. And it's the brotherhood. That's why that's so painful.

But it comes from the brethren. And it's really an invitation When you're persecuted into the heart of the Father, it's an invitation to know God in His suffering. And that He prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies. And so when you're getting pressed and crushed, it's just an invitation to know God and to let Him love you right there and to learn how to love people that are not really lovable in that moment. And the word says that all of creation is groaning, waiting on the sons of God to manifest the glory of our Father.

So when you look at people, just they're groaning, waiting on you to manifest the glory of God. Amen. And so they're waiting. But Jason, you said you had an experience where you started to pray for people and you said, I'm going to go to the churches and they're going to be excited about it, right? Oh yeah, I wanted when I when I first when I first discovered this.

I wanted everyone to believe this way. I want everyone to believe. And so, so, yes, and I wanted to start with the pastors because I figured if. I shared this with the pastors, that they could share it with their congregation. And you know, I had many, many instances where I would get yelled at and run out of the parking lot.

I had preachers yell at me.

So I stopped going to church. And I was like, Jesus, I think I understand why you didn't go to church much. You were out on the highways and byways. And I was doing construction at the time.

So most of the people that I prayed for were when I was at Home Depot or walking into a store and You know, the people that are just out in everyday life, they were much more receptive.

Okay. You know, but I but I also understand that that it can be difficult to transition and to to realize that maybe some of the things that you were taught as a child don't necessarily line up with God's word. Mm-hmm. And it was that was that was tough for me. There were certain things that And some are controversial.

And you said b to be patient with others because some are Slow to the faith, right? He said, Be patient with those who are slow to the faith.

Okay. So what does that mean to you, Christy? Or did we lose you?

Okay, so that's good. No, I'm still. No, I'm still here. I think that's so good. And somebody recently.

was talking to me about Some other Christians that did not believe or had not experienced some of the things that they had. And some people believe that God doesn't speak today. And I personally and you can accept it, reject it, but I can't unknow him. I know God. I know He still speaks today because I know Him.

And he speaks in a million different ways.

So I know that's true, that God still speaks today. And this person I was talking to was getting a little irritated because the person that said that. Um, knew that that was true for them, you know, and I told them, I was like, you can't. Be upset with somebody that's blind. Like, they don't, if they, you, you, if they don't know, they don't know.

Yeah, and and you just Yeah, and 866-34-TRUTH. We'll be right back. Christy, I want you to stay on the line if you can and finish that when you'll be back. You're going to want to hear this, it's going to be our last segment. We'll be right back after this break.

Truth. Don't You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, guys, we are back with the last segment. And one of the things that Jason was just saying, we've been talking about the power of God, but is Psalm 133, verse 1, it says, how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. And you were talking about being unified.

What did you mean, Jason?

Well, I think we're at a point right now. And what we were talking about is one person will believe this way and one person won't believe that way. Sure. All right. And so I see these little things they cause division.

And we've got all these denominations. And maybe just like over one thing, they don't agree. You've got the assembly of God and they don't agree with the church of God. Just one issue.

So, you know. If you don't hear from God, you know, I'm not going to argue with you.

Okay, I'm not, I don't want to argue, I don't want to debate. We need to come together. The body, I'm talking about us people, the members, we need to come together so that we can help each other, love each other, support each other, and encourage each other. Because, you know, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is coming, and we're right on the brink of really needing each other because the power of God is here, and the end times are coming. Yeah, yeah.

And Christy, you said you felt like the end times were coming soon as well. Is that right? Yeah, I feel like this is a season where God is ready in his bride, and he's coming back for spotless bride. And Jason, I love what you said about unity. And a few weeks ago, I was talking about something that was a little controversial.

In different settings, but I asked everybody in the room, I was like, can we agree that Jesus is Lord and that He died on the cross, He was raised on the third day, and on the point of the cross? And everybody agreed on that. I'm like, We can agree. And Jesus is the only one that can unify us. But if we can agree there, then we can stay in unity based on the cross.

And we I think we all need to be God can work that out. And if I think we all need to be in one accord. Because you remember what happened when they run one accord in Acts? Mm-hmm. That outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Fire on the tongues. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I apologize for interrupting, Christy. Mm-hmm.

And you know what else it says? It says, when the brethren dwell together in unity, God commands a blessing. That means we're getting blessed. Hallelujah. Right now.

I receive it. Jesus' name.

Well, Christy, I remember one of the things that you said to me a while back. You said, Mike, don't lose your zeal. Don't lose your fire. And sometimes I think we get discouraged when other people may not be as excited as we are. And, Christy, you said a little bit of that is the fear of man.

Is that right? Yeah, I think so. But you know, I think we spend a a little bit too much time looking at other people. And if we would just let God Crush us, change us, chastise us, if we would deal with our own soul. and let him rip the trash out, the abandonment, the rejection, the idolatry the Addictions, the lust that we fill our hole in our soul with, where we find comfort in other things than God.

If we would actually sit with God and let Him heal us and change us and transform us into. The likeness of Jesus, then some of these things wouldn't be an issue anyway because we would become like him. Yeah, and Christy. Love itself. Yeah, yeah.

And so, one of the things that you said is, Christy, you said at one time you felt like you always had to talk or whatever, but you said eventually what you did was you became comfortable. with the silence, and I've seen that as well, but can you explain that? I don't know. I don't know. Maybe.

I think we just try to fill that void. You know, we want. to fill that space because it's awkward. But if we just Sit in the awkwardness, God meets us right there, too. We don't have to perform.

And um Yeah.

Well, you know, I found it's my opinion. I found that. Whether you have an addiction to pornography, to To women, to drugs, to alcohol, to work, to exercise, whatever it is. You're just trying to fill a void that's a spiritual void, and it does fill it for a little bit, but it ends up empty. And the only thing that can truly fill Fill that void.

They can truly, truly fill that void that's in your heart. Is Jesus Christ? Yeah, that's right. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He says, Nobody comes to the Father but by me.

And so, when you were talking before about I read the Bible 12 hours a day, or I was praying for three hours a day, I think sometimes we look at this as, hey, I'm doing something for God. This is an accomplishment that I'm doing for God. You may be doing it for the wrong reasons. I'm not talking about you, Christy. I'm saying some people who just make this like a checklist that they have to do for God, or okay, I've done what I needed to do for God.

The Bible says in the Old Testament, it says that our greatest works are like filthy rags to God. And we realize, when we realize that it's all his grace and we understand that it has nothing to do with us, it's all about his goodness. Then I noticed that changed my life in a big way. And I heard a story years ago about a guy who was a poor farmer, and it was over in England many years ago. And he said that this poor farmer, uh, Actually, he got an audience with the king, and he got this huge carrot that he grew in his garden.

And he said, King, he said, I want to give you this carrot. And he says, The reason I want to give you this carrot is because I'm not worthy of a carrot like this. This carrot must be for a king. And so the king said, Okay, because you've done that good deed, I have about 60 acres right near you. I'm going to give you that 60 acres that is right near your land.

And so the king's nobleman overheard this conversation and he said, If that's what the king will do for a carrot, he said, I wonder what he'll do for a real gift. And so that night, he got his best horse and he brought it to the king the next day. And he said, King, this horse is not worthy of somebody like me. He said, This horse is only worthy of a king. You know what the king said to that nobleman?

He said this: He said, That poor farmer the other day, he said, He gave his carrot to me. He said, but you gave that horse to yourself. He said, you are looking out for yourself. And a lot of times, I think when we think we're doing something for the Lord, we have to be careful that it's not just to be done in front of men, to be seen by men. And I'm sure both of y'all know that too.

Well, yeah, I th I believe it makes a huge difference when you're When you're fasting, praying, reading the Bible, and you're doing it. For one reason. Mm-hmm. It's because you want to be closer to Jesus. When you're doing it for that one reason.

That's very effective. Yeah.

And so man looks at the outward appearance, but Christy, God knows the heart. That's right. When I was reading those twelve hours a day, I didn't start out reading twelve hours a day. I started out with a very sincere commitment that I was going to get on my knees before I went to bed every night and pray And I was going to read one chapter a day. And what happened in that commitment is that I sell in love.

And love Kept me in the word. I didn't go into it saying, I'm gonna read, but I couldn't get away from it. And I would be at school or I would be out. I'm like, I just can't wait to get home to you. It wasn't a chore to read twelve hours a day.

I couldn't get away from it. I would stay up all night in the presence of God and I would just weep reading as God was communing with me and loving me right there. Nobody had ever loved me like Jesus. And it was a joy and a delight to stay there. It wasn't like, oh, I'm reading my Bible 12 hours a day.

I'm like, no, I'm with my lover. Nobody has a problem being with their lover. Yeah, and especially when they first meet their lover. You know, Jason was talking about before he said he had a joke. He told me a few years ago.

He said, go ahead and tell the joke about the ring. Oh, no, no. I don't remember that. It's been so long. He said there's three rings in the marriage.

He said, there's the engagement ring. He said, there's the wedding ring. And then he says, there's the suffering. And so I think that's how a lot of people. I'm glad my wife ain't watching this.

And he said that that's how a lot of people see God. But see, when I read the Bible, one of the first passages that I ever remembered was this. And it was Revelation chapter 3, verses 15 through 16. He says, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. He says, I wish you were either one or the other.

So because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, he says, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, well, I don't have time to read my Bible. I don't have time to pray. I don't have time to share the gospel, pray for the sick, whatever it is for the Lord, but you've got time to scroll on your phone for three hours a day. You've got time to watch four hours of television.

You can watch your soap operas. And you got plenty of time for that. I think the real thing is: this: what do you prioritize, Christy? Yeah, and you know, it's not realistic if you don't read your Bible at all to walk into it and say, I'm going to read three hours a day. That's just not realistic.

But meet, I believe that God will meet us where we're at. And if And if it's one scripture, one chapter, one commitment, the word says that if you seek him with all your heart, you will find him.

So, if you seek him with a sincere heart, you will find him. Whether it's in one verse, one chapter, one glance of his eye, you'll find him. Yeah, and I remember when I was selling insurance, Christy, I was asking, I said, Why do some people try to kind of put you off or whatever, and you have to kind of work for the sale a little bit more, and you have to close them a few times, and they don't just come out right out and say it. And the president of the organization said this: He said, There could be some different reasons for that. He said, But I think some of them want to make you work for the sale, they want to see you work for it a little bit.

And I wonder, it's kind of like when you said with God, seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near. The Lord wants to see that your heart is really after him, and maybe that's why sometimes it's a little bit tougher because the things that are a little bit tougher, people appreciate and enjoy more. The girl who just goes right and says, Yeah, I'll go out with you, or I'll sleep with you, or whatever. A guy doesn't appreciate that. But if a woman says, I'm going to wait till I'm married and I'll.

Want to see what you're really about before I just commit everything to you. The guy says, Okay, this girl has something that I want, if that makes sense. Makes perfect sense. God's word says, Draw nearer to me and then I will draw nearer to you. You know, we see man having to do something first, or humans having to do something first.

He says, whatever you loose on earth, so you got to loose it on earth first, will be loosed in the heavenly realm. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. And my show, If Not For God with Mike Zwick, will be on tomorrow at noon on the Truth Network. Christy Real, Jason Hamlet, I want to thank you guys for coming on today. You guys have a blessed weekend and be a blessing to somebody else.

Enjoyed it. Thanks. Mm-hmm.