 Well, I love the presence of the Holy Spirit, and I know you do too. This is why you're going to love my guest, evangelist Michael Lovato. He'll be ministering on this edition of Spirit Church. But first, Stephen MacAzuma is here with us as usual. Prepare your heart in worship, and then we're going to get right into this interview. Here is Stephen MacAzuma. Well, I want you to prepare your heart today because I have a guest with me who wants to talk to you about the presence of God. In the presence of God, there is transformation. In the presence of God, depression turns to joy, confusion turns to clarity, and torment turns to peace. And I believe that as you're watching right now, that it's not by accident that God is going to do a work in you, and that the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit are going to transform you. You're going to experience a touch from heaven today, and I want to welcome my guest, evangelist Michael Lovato, to the broadcast. It's a pleasure to have you on my friend. It's a pleasure to be here. Well, we've been talking about the presence of God, and I read many of your writings, and I've seen some things from your ministry that blessed me. And I'm happy that you're here, and I know our guests are going to love you because one of the things I love about your ministry is that you love the presence of God. And here at this ministry, we love the Holy Spirit, the presence of God, the supernatural. Because I knew you were a perfect fit, kindred spirits. Absolutely. And so I know that there's so much going on that we're going to be talking about, but before we get into any of that, why don't you just go ahead and give us a little bit of a breakdown. What's God doing in your life in the ministry? Just tell us a little bit about the ministry right now. Well, my wife and I were doing a lot of missions work. God called us to Mozambique to be with Heidi Baker, and Roland Baker's ministry in Mozambique. I met my wife there. We were doing, you know, we were just, you know, living, you know, in our passion and our calling. And doing a lot of traveling overseas, doing a lot of missions work. But while my wife and I, you know, we got married. God called us to Cambodia. We were there for a period of time with Iris. And then God began to give us a heart for America. And I saw a vision of fire spreading all across America, and then shooting all across the nations of the world. And so we're overseas, you know, we're used to going, you know, around the world preaching the gospel. And then God begins to give us a burden for America. So we moved to America, and God just began, he's just opening so many doors, you know, in New Jersey, we're in a very dark part of New Jersey, an area called Perthamboy. A lot of poverty, a lot of drugs, a lot of brokenness. My wife and I, we're doing outreach there. Every month, we're soon, you know, we're going to be doing it every week. And God has us traveling all around the US just preaching the gospel, igniting the church. We just want to see people fall madly in love with Jesus because he's beautiful. And we're seeing people's lives transformed in the glory of God. And, but our heart is always to hit the streets, to go to the darkest places and to share the gospel and to see lives transformed. So now I know my viewers, and I know they want me to ask you, if they're watching this, tell me about that vision before we get into the, what we were going to, the subject matter today, the vision you saw. Well, I was in Mozambique, and man, the glory of God was just pouring out so powerfully. And there was a speaker there, and he was just laying hands on people. And I was in the back, and I didn't need anyone to lay hands on me. I was having an encounter with God myself. And as I was there, I was just feeling his presence just so strongly. And then I just saw a map of the US pop out before my eyes. And then I just began to see his fire spreading from state to state to state to state. And I'm realizing that God's hearts on America as well as the entire world. You know, we're like, we're pursuing God, we're traveling around the world. But he began to highlight, you know, his church in America, how he wants to awaken his bride. He wants to ignite holy passion in his church. And from that place, he is pushing us and compelling us to get out of the four walls of the church with this gospel. Did you happen to see which state was lit on fire first? Oh, man, I don't remember. All I remember is a blazing fire going all across America. Well, that's powerful. Nonetheless, I believe what you saw is prophetic. And I am believing that this is going to be the greatest move of God that this nation in this world has ever seen. Absolutely, I agree 100%. I'm excited about what the Lord's doing there. So you had an encounter with the Lord and it transformed your life. Tell us about how you were before you met the Lord. Well, I grew up in a Christian home. My mother was a believer. You know, I always heard her speaking in tongues, you know, forced to go to church, all of that stuff. All I really knew though was religion because I grew up in Catholic church. My dad wasn't a believer. My mom was, you know, speaking in tongues, all of, you know, charismatic. But my dad, you know, he wasn't a believer. So we were forced to go to Catholic church. So I just had a very bad twisted view of who God was. I just thought he wanted to take away all my fun. I thought he wanted to send me to church service every Sunday, you know, forced me to do good things and all this stuff. But I want to meet the wrong people, you know, and I wound up getting involved with drugs. I wound up drinking. I wound up getting hooked on some really strong drugs. I was taking ecstasy on a regular basis. People call that the love pill because it just, it amplifies your feelings and sight. It makes you feel bold and it makes you just want to just love people and just be friend people. So I was hooked on ecstasy. I was taking acid, mushrooms, drinking almost every day, smoking weed almost every single day of my life. I was a hedonist. I was a pleasure seeker in all the wrong places. I had no clue about the presence of God, about hearing God's voice. People would tell me, you know, you could hear God's voice. You could feel his presence, but I just thought they were crazy. I never experienced God like that before. So I just thought they were jokes. I thought they were Jesus freaks, you know? And then sin for a period of time is fun. You know, I had reputation. I was making money. You know, I was going from girlfriend to girlfriend. It was good for a period of time, but the wages of sin is death. It just, you know, it doesn't deliver what a promise is to deliver. So I went through severe depression, like really strong. I tried everything to get myself out of the depression. You know, in Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon said, you know, I had money. I had, you know, I had all of this stuff. I had wisdom and knowledge. He goes, but at the end of the day, vanity of vanities. And I felt that way. I tried more money. Every time I got what I wanted, still empty. I tried more girlfriends. I tried more drugs. I tried more hobbies. You know, I played music. So I tried, you know, playing more music. I was trying to get involved, trying to fill that void on the inside. But at the end of the day, still broken, still empty, still unhappy. So I got in my room and I had this dusty Bible in my room that my sister bought me, hoping that one day I would open it up and read it. So a couple years later, I'm in my room and I open up the Bible. And it wasn't just a history book in that moment. It wasn't just writings, you know, from thousands of years ago. I opened it up and God was just speaking directly to me. The words were just jumping off of the pages. And one moment I was alone in the room, or at least I thought I was. And the next moment, the presence of God, his manifest presence just filled my heart, my fear, my anxiety, my pain just lifted. And I felt his love. I felt his forgiveness. I felt his acceptance. I felt to just wrap his, like just literally the tangible presence of God just rushing down my back. And it was then that I heard God speak for the first time. And it wasn't a booming voice. It wasn't, you know, angel with the trumpet. It wasn't anything wild. It was the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. And he said to me, son, first of all, son, you know, I was a rebel. I was a God hater. I wanted nothing to do with him. And he called me son and he said, I have plans for your life. And from that moment, I left that room a completely changed person in love with God, wanting to follow him, wanting to tell everybody about him, just a lover of his presence. I went from a drug junkie to a presence junkie in a matter of just one moment, one encounter with God. And so you had even told me about how there was some effects from the drugs that still lingered, but that as you began to seek the Lord, that there was some transformation. Talk a little bit about that. Yeah, because, you know, I encountered God now he was in my life, but I still had some issues, you know, some persisting issues. I still had some baggage specifically with ecstasy. They say it puts like huge holes in your brain, you know, if you take it enough and I was taking it a lot. So I began to even develop like a minor stutter and I just wasn't thinking coherently, you know, my my creative, you know, flow with music and writing. It just it just wasn't the same. And I knew that it just took a huge toll on my life. And so I began to seek God for restoration in different areas and he began to do it family restoration or relationship restoration. I paid people back that I stole money from. I apologize to girls that I used and they would just sit there and they would cry because they've never, you know, no one's ever apologized to them for using them, you know, but God began to put these things in my heart just to just to bring restoration in like every area, but specifically with drugs. I must have been safe for probably only a month. And I was alone with the Lord, read in my Bible, praying, worshipping. And then I began to feel just this this sensation just just going through my brain and I knew it was God. I just knew it was him. So I just closed my eyes. I I just said Father, Daddy, I receive whatever whatever you're doing right now, the healing that you're doing. And I can't tell you how many times it's happened since, but it's happened at least 10 to 15 times. So I'll be praying, I'll be worshipping. I'll be in a meeting and I'll just feel this this tangible just like pulsating in my brain. And I knew it's God restoring my brain from all the damage from all the years of abuse. And since then he didn't just restore me to my ability that I had before. It's gone way beyond. He's increased my ability to think my ability to articulate writing. Just it's just increased, you know, so he doesn't just restore. He also increases these gifts on arms. And so that presence transformed your life. You now steward that presence. You're traveling the nations, you're ministering God's word and you're seeing a lot of mighty things. You're seeing people transform in that same presence, aren't you? Oh, absolutely. Everywhere. Tell me about that. What are some of the things that are happening? Man, well, my heart is always to carry the presence of God. You know, I wanted to be high every moment. And then when I got saved, I wanted to experience his presence every moment of every day. And it was a journey, but it's a presence of God that heals and restores people's lives. You know, when my wife and I were doing missions and everything, I went to the Philippines a couple of years ago and I was there for a month just doing several meetings and a lot of evangelistic outreaches. And one night specifically, there were some youth that came over to the pastor's house. We were staying there and it was like 10.30 at night. We already did like several meetings, very tired, fatigued. I know you know how that feels. And so the youth come over 10.30 at night. They want to draw from me and my friend because they're just hungry. They just want more. So me and my friend, we go downstairs and they're like asking us questions. You're just like, so tell us more about your life and your ministry. And so we begin to answer questions and then the spirit of prophecy just hits and the presence of God now is just manifesting so powerfully. So we begin to prophesy over. There's about 15 of them, 12 to 15 of them. We begin to prophesy over them and just they begin weeping, just weeping in the presence of God. Another person is just like so just encountering the Lord. And then I look at my friend and I'm like, we got to do something about this here. So we stand up and we all lock hands and then the power of God just crashes in on that place. One person's on the floor weeping. Another person is getting filled with the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues for the first time, having a vision of the nations. You see him on the ground pointing and I'm like, what is that person doing? He tells me later, God was showing different nations that he would go to another young boy. He was looking his eyes were transfixed. Like he was just had this had this look on his face. Like he was staring right at Jesus. I find that later. That's exactly what was happening. He was having an open vision of Jesus Christ. So what I thought was just going to be another meeting. I was fatigued. I was feeling weak, but in our weakness, his strength is made perfect and he just came in so powerfully with his presence and with his glory. And now those youth, I find out now I follow him on social media. I find out now their missionaries they're going to surrounding countries, you know, Thailand, Philippines, Laos all over the place. So it's just powerful what God does. There's so many more testimonies from that trip. I could share another one. There's, we're going to this indigenous people like tribe in the middle of nowhere in South Philippines and we had the drive a long road to get there and I'm just practicing the presence of God. I'm stealing my heart. I'm turning my heart to him and as I'm practicing his presence, I hear him say something to me. The Holy Spirit says, I cleanse lepers. You know, I grew up in America. You know, I've never encountered a leper for, you know, a leper, you know, at all in my life. So I'm thinking to myself, yeah, God, cool. You know, I believe that it's in the Bible. You know, I know that you cleanse lepers. And then so we're going to this meeting, me and a friend of mine, and there's this little hut and it's packed out and there's people on the outside. They're just hungry. They're just, they just want to touch from God. They're on the outside looking in and my friend preaches a message on the cross and on healing. And now the glory of God is just breaking out. People are coming up. They have heaviness. They have dizziness. There's just a severe demonic oppression in that place. People coming up with fractured bones. We're laying hands. We're seeing God touch them. Everyone's saying that, yeah, I'm healed. Yes, the dizziness left. Yes, the pain left all this stuff. So faith is just rising in the atmosphere. And then I get a tap on my back and is a translator. And she said, this woman right here has leprosy. Oh, wow. And in that moment, I was just like, that's why God spoke that to me before I came here. And then I just looked at her and I just felt the compassion of Jesus. You know how it says in the scriptures when he saw people like sheep without a shepherd, it says he was compelled with compassion. I just felt the compassion of Jesus. And I looked at her and I told her what God spoke to me before the meeting and I grabbed her hands and I didn't jump. I didn't shout. I'm not against that stuff as God leads, but I just grabbed her hands and I said, be healed in Jesus' name. And then I literally felt the power of God flow through my body, through my hands and into her body and she began to shout and dance and rejoice. And she was speaking her language. She was saying something in her language. I didn't know what she was saying. And the translator was saying, I'm cleansed. I'm cleansed. I'm healed. And you know, that's the kind of stuff that happens in the presence of God. But I truly believe because I took the moment to practice this presence as we're going up into the meeting and to be attentive to the voice of God. I was able to hear that word that imparted faith into my heart and I was ready in that moment to see a miracle happen. Michael is a perfect example. Many of you have heard me say this before on the broadcast that a single moment spent in the presence of God can transform your life. But a life spent in the presence of God can transform the nations. And you are an example of that life spent in the presence of God. But there's somebody watching saying, I want that. I'm hungry for that. How do I walk in the presence of God in that way? I mean, obviously the Lord is always with us. We're talking about a manifestation. How do they find that manifestation? You know what I would, there's so many things that I could say. But I really believe that believers need to be intentional to develop and cultivate intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit in the secret place but also every place that they go. We have access to him now because of the finished work of the cross. You know, what Jesus did for us, he removed sin and he removed what hinders our relationship with God. So we could just approach the throne of God boldly and confidently to receive from him. So I, you know, believers understand this. Yeah, read my Bible. Yeah, pray all this stuff. We understand it, but we get so busy. We get so distracted. We neglect that secret place with God. You know, Mary of Bethany in the scripture, she's honestly besides the Apostle John, the Apostle Paul, King David. These are some of my favorite people in the Bible. But Mary of Bethany, she's three times in the scriptures. The first time she is seated at the feet of Jesus, hearing his words, looking into his eyes. You know, when everything, you know, it's smooth, it's calm. Nothing is going wrong. But she's there, she's hungry. And then you see her in John 11 and her brother dies, you know, traumatic situation. And it says she falls at the feet of Jesus and she gets vulnerable with him. She asks him hard questions. And then you see in John 12 that, you know, Lazarus is now alive. The breakthrough came and now she's anointing the feet of Jesus and the fragrance fills the place, fills the place. So we see her, she's seated at his feet. She's falling at his feet. And then she's anointing his feet when the breakthrough comes. So she understood this place of his feet, this place of surrender and humility and desperation and then this worship, this just gazing at his face. You know, it's just so essential. So we need that in the secret place. We need to develop that as believers. Not just talk about it, but actually do it. And then on top of that, we need to learn how to pursue him even while we're driving our car, where, you know, walking the dog, where, you know, at the house, we're with friends to just constantly just yield our hearts, turn our hearts in faith to him in every moment, have an attentive ear, have our heart quiet and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit in every situation. You know, the Bible says in Ephesians 312, I believe it is, that we have confident access to the Father through faith in Christ. And it says in Hebrews that with sincerity of heart and full assurance of faith, we can approach God. So we need that heart of first surrender, like Mary of Bethany, but also of faith to turn our heart to him to look into his eyes and to say, Father, do you have something to say to me in this moment? How can I be a blessing to this person next to me? How can I carry your presence well today? How can I not only be one who experiences your glory in the secret place, but one who ministers it to a world that's in need? I love what you pointed out about Mary because it demonstrates very clearly that she understood that in any moment, in any circumstance, no matter what the situation is presenting, you're in surrender. And it's that moment-by-moment clinging to the presence of Jesus that you're talking about. That is so beautiful the way you put that. Well, I want to pray for those who are watching and maybe they're watching, they have these addictions or struggles or habitual sin, whatever it may be, whatever it is, we know the presence of God is the answer. Absolutely. So I want you to take a moment and just look right at that camera and minister to that one who's believing God for a touch of His presence the same way you've experienced it. First of all, I believe there's people watching this right now. You felt dry, you felt fatigued. Maybe you came out of a really hard season and you're having difficulty connecting with the presence of God. I want to let you know that He is right there. He's with you and He wants to pour out His love on you. He wants to reveal Himself to you more than you want to even encounter Him. So I encourage you. You may be feeling dry right now. You may be in a really hard season, but just one moment in His presence. And I'm going to pray that. I'm going to pray that for you. That the atmosphere of heaven will just crash in on you. That your heart will come to that place of surrender and faith where you can receive from the presence of God right there in that room. And whether you're struggling with addiction, healing, just like David said, the presence of God is just going to fill that atmosphere where you are right now. I'm going to pray for you. Father, in the name of Jesus, I just thank you, Holy Spirit, for your kingdom, that your kingdom is here and your kingdom is in our midst. Your kingdom is even within us, God. So I thank you right now in the name of Jesus for manifesting your sweet glory right now in Jesus' name. To fill the room where this individual is, God. I just thank you, Lord, for the pain, for the fear, for the doubt, for the lies that just come crumbling down right now and for faith to fill the heart in Jesus' name. I speak healing to your heart. I speak healing to your body in Jesus' name. Depression, go in Jesus' name. Jesus' name. Pain, leave in Jesus' name. Healing, come. I just thank you, Jesus, for your beautiful ministry right now. I just see him touching your heart. I see him pouring his love into your heart, stirring that passion, renewing that passion on the inside of you again for his presence, number one, but also to be used by him to touch the world around you. So I just thank you right now, God. In Jesus' name, stir up their hearts with a holy passion in Jesus' Christ's name. I just thank you for the anointing that is on their life right now. And I just thank you, Lord, that you're bringing such a miracle breakthrough in the name of Jesus Christ. So Father, we thank you for your presence. Jesus, we ask that that one receiving this prayer would become so aware of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to them like never before. I pray, Father, that they would see you near. Lord, you're seeing us right now. You hear us right now. And I thank you, Father, for that nearness. And we pray in Jesus' name, in agreement that every bondage would be broken in Jesus' name. Lord, that every heart would be turned toward you in Jesus' name. Father, we rebuke sickness now. We, the servants of the Lord, command that sickness to leave. We thank you for the transformation taking place in your presence. We thank you, Jesus. I want you to say, if you agree, say, say amen. Well, thank you so much, my friend. Very anointed words you have. Now, I really do appreciate your ministry and all that you do for the Lord. And again, I love that you have such a kindred spirit. That's partly why, partly why, mostly because it was the Lord. Partly was, I love your love for God's presence. And I know that our viewers, you'll love his ministry connecting with it because he really does emphasize the presence of the Lord. He believes in the, it's the full gospel. It's the preaching of the truth, the truth, not something for itching ears that being passed around as the gospel. It's a whole different topic we could do for a different day. But he ministers the gospel. He's an anointed man of God. He's an evangelist, travels the world. I want to encourage you in whatever way you can connect with his ministry, whether you're a pastor or you're considering bringing an evangelist to your church. Why not evangelist Michael? And if you're someone who's looking for somewhere else to support the gospel, you're saying, I want to additionally support other ministries. This is a good ministry. And so I bring them on. I trust you'll be blessed by his ministry. And I want to make sure I get this right. Liveportoutinternational.org except international is not spelled out fully. It's I-N-T-L, correct? That's right. And so you'll see that at the bottom of the screen. Get connected. Look at the, look at the ministry website. What will they see on the website? We have events on the website. Our whole heart for the ministry. I'll have, you know, products up there as well as just a whole bunch of stuff, a giving page. But it's just really, especially if you connect with us on Facebook at lifeportoutinternational.org. Oh, and you do live broadcasts on Facebook? I do live broadcasts every single week. I speak with ministers and missionaries, people that just have a message that are transforming the world. We talk about very relevant subjects that are a blessing to ignite the church. Look guys, you know me. He's right in our vein. I'm telling you. And so I encourage you. Let me just encourage you. Let's be a blessing to him. Let's really come under and lend him a helping hand in what he's doing. And I know the Lord will bless you in return. So thank you again, my friend, for coming on. Pleasure to have you. God bless you. Well, I pray that that interview blessed you. Usually at this point we would do the comments, but we've been at a conference this week. So I wasn't able to gather the comments together. But I want to welcome the new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. We love you. We are praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. If you like information on how you could join the Spirit family, use the information at the bottom of the screen. That's davidhernandezministries.com slash Spirit Church. Become a member today. It's free. We'll send you a weekly email with the teaching in there and you can reply for prayer support. And it's again, absolutely free. 2,000 people over 2,000 people from all around the world have joined the Spirit family. And I'd like you to join us as well. And I want to talk to you about our building campaign. Many of you know right now we're raising funds for our new facility, the Encounter TV production facility. It's going to be a next level move. I'm telling you. So help us get there. We do it for souls. Ultimately, this next move is going to help us win more souls than ever before. We need monthly support. We needed 1,000 new $30 a month supporters. Here's where we are right now in the campaign. You can see that progress up on your screen. And these are people who've committed to sign up to become $30 a month supporters. So do that today. Help us get into this new facility so that we can produce more content for you. We can do it in higher quality. We can broadcast live from studio and even bring you down to join the studio audience. We'll also have a 24-7 prayer room. And on top of all of that, the finance will also help us to do more events in more places than ever before. Help us win more souls and expand the kingdom of God. So do that today. If you're watching this on YouTube, then at the very end of this video, you'll see a link up here that you can actually click and you can support sign up. If you sign up to become a $30 a month supporter today, I'll send you either carriers of the glory or 25 truths about demons and spiritual warfare. I'll sign it for you. And that will be my initiation thank you gift. If you're watching this on the app, you're just going to close this video and you should see where it says partner with David. Well, thank you for listening. That is it for this edition of Spirit Church. Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God.