Pastor John Gray returned to the pulpit at Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, after suffering from a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.

“It’s been close to two months since I’ve stood here. … And I’m not the same; which was the purpose of the season,” Gray said.

His wife, Aventer Gray, shared periodic updates on social media regarding her husband’s condition while urging her followers to pray for a miracle. As reported by Greenville News, she was visibly emotional when Gray went up to the pulpit.

Before preaching, Gray said a prayer, acknowledging that he now has a renewed perspective on God’s sovereignty and protection.

“The devil cannot do anything in our lives without express permission from God, God will not allow demonic things to happen to His children unless it’s meant to be for [heir good,” the megachurch pastor said.

“People used to say a lot; ‘the devil should have killed me when he had the chance.’ I mean it and he missed,” Gray said. “I’m not just talking about me. I’m talking about you, he missed. You and I should have been cut off, but he missed.”

Gray also shared that doctors told him that he could have died if the blood clot shifted in any way.

Gray said in another prayer in front of his congregation, “Lord Jesus, get the glory from this moment in a way that you never have before. And I thank you for bringing me back to this place. It was not guaranteed. It was at one point highly unlikely that I would be carrying or holding a mic again.

“What was scheduled in Hell, [was] for me to be in a coffin, … but I’m on this platform right here because You willed it to be so. And for this and every other blessing, I say thank you,” he added.

“And to the people of God that have prayed and interceded, pushed and fought and cried and banged on the doors of Heaven and was like: ‘Lord, not him, not now and not from this,’ Thank you.”

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