When I go over to Russia and look into their eyes, feel their emotion and see where one van could reach one thousand villages or one evangelist with one hundred dollars could fill a tent with a thousand people each night, I am stirred to find money for the harvest. God never intended for anyone to be lost and spend an eternity in a hell designed for the devil. He gave the greatest gift of his Son for the salvation of people. He is constantly looking for men and women to get involved in his plan of redemption.

Every lost person is a mission field, and every Christian is a missionary. GOD NEEDS YOU! 

Without you His hands are tied, His voice is silenced and His feet are sunk in the sand. He has  not given His great Gospel plan to angels to proclaim, nor allowed His Son to walk on the earth like He did for forty days after the resurrection. He has entrusted to us the Gospel and believes that we can get this most important job done!

Joseph, the man appointed second in command of all Egypt, could not be denied prosperity because he kept his heart right. If God could make a man like Joseph, who was in the chains of slavery, prosperous, then surely he can fill your life with success.

Joseph is a study in right attitudes and right believing. In the midst of tremendous trials he never lost sight of the dream established in his heart. Joseph started in a pit, thrown there by his brothers. He landed in prison when falsely accused, but he didn’t finish there.

It doesn’t matter if you start in a slum, an orphanage, a lousy home or no home at all. What counts is where you are going! And what you are doing with the dream that God has placed in your heart!

Jesus started in a manger, but he didn’t stay there!

Rome did not fall because of war, but from boredom and avarice. Alexander the Great did not die in battle, but from boredom in a drunken stupor. We are not designed to live in the safe harbor, but on the high seas. The pastors and leaders of society that fall today do not do so in the effort and struggle to succeed, but in the boredom of their success. Do not allow the hardships you may face today to reveal a crybaby within you, but rise to the task at hand and discover the way to overcome.

The great businessmen of yesterday were not those who waited for retirement and watched a clock.  We don’t remember the great spiritual institutions of a different era, but we do remember and are inspired by the men and women who pioneered them in the heat of battle. There is no life marked solely by success, but by failures which rose to success.

Friends, do not dream of a safety net, but of a net that can catch fish. Your safety is in your courageous heart to pioneer new projects and new dreams. Some of you will be the tip of spear in the battle, and others will be the force behind the spear that gives it power to thrust forward. All the positions are important when you go to war.

Jesus did not pay a price for you to be weak.

Jesus did not become your substitute so you would fear.

Jesus did not fill you with His spirit for you to run from the battle.

This is your greatest hour. This is our time! Do not let the winds of adversity howl in your ears driving you to hide behind safe doors. The world is waiting to hear your voice speaking peace to the storm!

If I were to put a bunch of apple seeds into your hand, you would probably get a picture of what could be produced from them. The same is true if I filled your hands with turtle eggs.

If I were to put the seed of a human into your hand, try and think of the possibility!

We look at the Japanese bonsai tree and admire its artistically dwarfed size and shape. Most of humanity has gone through an unseen process much like the bonsai tree. Humans have been restricted, confined and twisted to a shape of another’s liking.

It may have been through religion, family criticism, personal inferiority and fears, or the example of others that you feel dwarfed and twisted, but Jesus came to set the captives free!

Each of us has an ability to dream of the possibilities in our future.  It is a risk to go beyond the parameters, but no one will ever know the height that you can grow to until you allow yourself to reach. God has put a future in you that reaches into eternity. Stretch for it today!

Did you know there are cars that actually increase in value over time? Some of them doubled in value from the moment they left the factory, like the Ferrari Enzo. Of course we might look at cars and say it does not happen very often.

What about people? Are people doomed to lose value over time?  I don’t think so. Like cars, people can lose value and rust, wear out, fade or stop functioning; but it doesn’t have to be that way. When we were in Cuba, I was delighted to drive around in many cars from the 1940’s. There was a pride of ownership and a special attention given to each car. At a car show in Florida, I saw that it was the old cars that had the most appeal and attention.

Friends, your best years are ahead of you if you will just keep yourself up! You are gathering valuable information. You have time tested experiences. You have evaluated mistakes and gathered information so you will not make those mistakes again. You are time tested and trusted. Rise up in expectation, you are ready for your greatest challenges today!

James 3:4
“Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.”

There are very few Christians that would blatantly ignore the will of God if they knew what He wanted them to do. Does God speak to people? Yes! Have people heard His voice? Yes, I believe they hear His voice. Why then do people often say they knew what to do but just didn’t do it? The problem is not in the speaking or in the hearing—the problem is in the doing.

If we believe that the God has a destiny for each of us, then it is important to connect with Him and not waste our time. Once we connect it is important to hear the direction, desire, peace, word, counsel reading, or whatever other way you picked up His signal. The third part is the hard part: acting out that direction.

James the Apostle says we are like ships at sea. When we get instruction on where we are to go then we are to set sail for it. But if the rudder on our ship is broken, then we are at the mercy of the wind and water. Most people live at the mercy of the immediate circumstance. They rarely reflect on where they want to be 10 years from now, or what their heart is calling them to be.

We must fix our rudder in order to reach what is in our heart. What is the rudder? James says the tongue is the rudder of your ship. Broken rudders speak of today’s problem and today’s bad news. Use your rudder (tongue) to guide you to your destination. Shipwrecks are not in God’s plan!

As a young person my father would often take us on hikes into the forest. I was always intrigued by the difference in the landscape of a northern and southern exposure on a hill or mountain. How could it be that this same mountain had such different types of vegetation or such different climates? Hiking up the northern slope was complicated because the paths were laden with slippery moss and wet rocks while the southern side was typically dry and easy to maneuver. As a child, I remember that I couldn’t wait to crossover from the hot, dry, southern exposure to the lush, cool, green northern exposure. It was refreshing and provided an entirely different perspective.

Embarking on a new opportunity may be like navigating a slippery northern slope. It’s worth the climb, but it will take concerted effort to enjoy the journey. Today, are you willing to stretch beyond your comfort zone? Will you take a hike up a different side of the mountain? You may discover a new exposure that lies just ahead of you!

Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob was a dreamer. In his heart he carried a vision beyond what anyone could see. Joseph’s dream was a God given idea that would take many years and much perseverance to obtain.

Dreams clouded by life’s circumstances may look like storms on the horizon. A wise old Proverb says, “Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick.” Only the God-factor keeps hope alive in the heart. Hope, the picture of what could be!

The scripture tells us that the Lord was with Joseph and greatly blessed him! Whether Joseph was in a pit, a palace, a dungeon, or in charge of an entire nation, he found hope in the GOD FACTOR – the One who was with him!

Today, I pray with you my friend that“the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Rom 15:13 NIV

“We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose” (Rom 8:28 AMP).

WOW! I get excited when I read this passage. God is a partner in our labor working things together for us! What a pleasure it is to trust in HIM knowing that he is working behind the scenes on our behalf. Today in prayer, I heard myself saying, “God, YOU are my partner and I have total confidence that you are bringing in the resources, people and establishing the plans in your time frame!”

Each one of are continually surrounded by change due to difficulties in this natural world; however, in this time of transition we use our faith and our passion to latch on to God’s will and the wealth that is available for transfer into the hands of those in the kingdom of God! We are not down, defeated without hope or alternatives BUT WE ARE UP, EXPECTANT AND DREAMING OF NEW POSSIBILITES IN CHANGING TIMES!

Thank you Lord for bringing in the people and resources and blessing all of our partners!

“Now…give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day…” Joshua 14:12a

The story of Caleb found in the Old Testament is an amazing picture of perseverance in the face of national disobedience and a 45 year wilderness saga. Only belief in the vision God had given Caleb kept him determined not to yield to the consequences of a complaining, disobedient generation of evil doers and an aging body that naturally would have weakened over 45 years.

Caleb was delivered from the hands of the Egyptians along with approximately 3 million Israelites. He saw God protect him as he partook of the Passover and saw this group of 3 million walk out of Egypt carrying the spoils of wealth.

Caleb had history with God!

Even so, when the children were on their journey to the Promised Land, something became very obvious. This group still carried the image of slavery in their hearts. When the opportunity to seize their promise arrived, they chose to remember where they came from instead of the One from whom they came…and they died in the desert.

Caleb, on the other hand, saw a land of possibilities, and although there were giants in the land, he understood that the God of Israel would deliver him once again!

What picture will you embrace today – the picture of your past or the picture of your possibility?