We were preaching in India a few years ago, and at the end of the service a young man rushed onto the platform with his mother. The mother was dressed in a black hijab covering her entire body. Suddenly, while standing there in front of tens of thousands of people, she ripped the hijab off revealing an elegantly dressed young woman who immediately began to preach to the crowd. She was full of faith, and pointing at her son she exclaimed, “This is my son! Look at my son, he can talk! Look at my son! I know who the real Messiah is, I know who the real prophet and God is!” She gave the microphone to her son, and he began his story.
He related how he had been coming to the mass meetings for several nights, and each night as he watched and as we prayed with the people, he would see crosses come out of the sky and sit on the heads of people who were scattered across the field like a sea of faces. He began to notice that whenever the cross rested on someone they would begin to shout and just a few minutes later they would be the one up on the platform testifying.
On the night this young man came forward, his mother told how he was hardly able to speak above a whisper and he struggled with fear in everything he did. That night as he said the prayer all of a sudden the cross came to him out of the sky. And as that cross approached him, out of that cross came the face of Jesus with His arms opened wide. “At the moment Jesus came to me, I was healed” the young man said. “I am different, I am transformed!” He and his mother looked at that crowd and declared to them, “We know who the Healer is—this Jesus who went to the cross and who died for us!”
In Jesus’ day when the people saw Him hanging on the cross perhaps they remembered the woman He had loosed from a spirit of infirmity (Luke 13:11) or the lepers who were healed? Most likely what they didn’t see as he hung on that cross was that every person who would ever look and believe was loosed from the spirit of infirmity that day! Maybe you’ve been watching from afar and wondering if Jesus would heal you! We want to encourage you that this same Jesus who died 2,000 years ago is appearing to His people today! He will come to you! Reach out and embrace the power of the cross today!
In 1991 we were preaching in the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia, and two Muslims were saved and healed. They made the decision to follow Jesus and their hearts were immediately opened.
Just as quickly as they accepted Jesus, they took out their wallets and said, “You must go to our home city of Baku, Azerbaijan, and tell our people what you have told us. We will buy your plane tickets, a sound system and whatever else you need!”
They saw the precious gift God had given them and quickly thought of all their loved ones who did not have this gift. When Jesus comes into your heart, the world comes with Him!
Most people are aware that they have 5 senses. Some become greatly skilled at one or more, but have we developed our 6th sense? With this sense we touch the unseen realm. With the 6th sense we see what others cannot see and expect what others think is impossible.
The 6th sense is the FAITH sense. Jesus encouraged people to use this sense. He said, “Only believe,” all things are possible to those who believe.
The unseen God is a faith God. Without using faith we cannot please Him, but it is possible for all to please Him. Your heart knows things your hands, taste, eyes, ears, or smell cannot understand. Before you die make sure you see at least one miracle, but really go for it and see one a day!
I’d like to share a story with you about a man from the Congo who was only one step away from a very tragic decision in his life. However, in just a matter of moments his world was changed instantly.
How? He heard words. Simple words of Good News opened the door to a new world. Do you need doors opened in your life? Today is your day!
In one of our meetings in the Congo, a young father was distraught and very upset about how life had treated him. I don’t know what situation you are facing—maybe you find yourself like this young father.
He had just purchased poison at a local pharmacy and was on his way home to take his and his family’s lives that night. As he walked, he heard words in the distance over loud speakers and decided to see what was happening. As he listened, he heard a new idea. The words began to penetrate his heart, and he had an overwhelming sense of God’s love and presence.
This young father later made his way to the platform to tell the audience what had happened. He stood weeping before 100,000 people, telling them the evil he had planned and how God had freed him and forgiven him. Suddenly, the crowd began to part as a woman with several children made her way to the platform. She was crying and shouting, “Honey, honey! We are here too!”
The couple embraced on the platform, forgave each other and committed their lives to the LORD. In an instant the question of who God is was answered—God is love! God is forgiveness, peace and restoration!
Do you need God’s presence? We have seen Him touch the masses around the world. Jesus is here for you right now. Wherever you are, just stop and turn your thoughts to God. He loves you. He believes in you. And today, He offers you forgiveness!
It is as natural for a human to pray as it is for a fish to swim. We see that strong atheists are more a product of unanswered prayer than of intellectual conviction. It is to our benefit to discover how we can tap into a spiritual source for all we want to accomplish in life, rather than rely on the whims of man or the limited knowledge we have.
Let me encourage you to ponder one thing. We are without a prayer without the blood of Jesus shed for us. His blood still speaks for us from the mercy seat of heaven. God looks at that blood shed by God the Son and will respond. How can He not respond to what Jesus did? He washes our sin with that blood. He heals our body with that blood. He keeps us from the accusation of guilt that our enemies use by the blood. We are without a prayer if we don’t understand that HE established the way, not us by our goodness, piety, or eloquence.
Do we pray? Yes. Why? Because God answers.
Why does He answer? The BLOOD.
Think about that the next time you pray!
As we approach Easter to celebrate the resurrection, let’s take a look at what happened afterward.
For 40 days Jesus stayed on the earth and taught in His resurrected body. What did He do and teach? Here are a few things He did not do. He did not raise the dead. He did not heal the sick. He did not deliver anyone.
Why not? What was the first thing He did do?
He appeared to Mary.
John 20:16
“Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
What does this mean? It means that Jesus is personal. I believe He makes Himself known to each of us in a personal way. He knows your name and He comes to each of us on a personal basis.
For example, at one of our meetings in Guntur, India, a young Muslim man and his mother were attending the night meetings for 5 nights. On the 4th night he came forward and testified that he had seen a cross coming to people each night and when it got close to the people, it turned into a man. On the 4th night that cross came to this young man and turned into Jesus. He gave his life to Jesus and his mother was healed of tuberculosis. The extreme shyness left him and he boldly spoke of this new personal relationship with Jesus!
For everything God created is good…1 Tim 4:4 NIV
Today we begin another great week with expectation of what God holds in store for us! Looking into the scriptures I find 224 references that include the word GOD and GOOD. Have you taken time today to remember that God is the author of good? It is our enemy the devil who is the author of confusion, hatred and strife! As we begin this week let’s pray that our attitudes reach the magnitude that Jesus set when He said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27 NIV
Friends and partners, we are praying for you to experience God’s goodness and God’s guidance!
Many years ago, my husband and I went to the Philippines where I preached to a large congregation. I remember how during the sermon the Holy Spirit urged me to repeat again and again, “Jesus saves! Jesus heals! Jesus saves! Jesus heals! Jesus saves! Jesus heals!” Then I suddenly stopped. My husband looked at me and whispered, “Leslie, say something else.” I replied, “Kevin, Jesus saves! Jesus heals!”
Suddenly something started happening—the kind of things that Jesus did when He was here on earth, as it is written in the Scriptures: “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matthew 9:35). Suddenly, a woman shouted, “I can see! Jesus heals! He healed my eyes! I was blind and now I can see!”
“My tumor has disappeared!” another woman shouted. Someone else cried out, “I can hear! God opened my ears! For the first time in my life I can hear my child’s voice!”
Nobody touched them! Nobody laid hands on them! But GOD was present at that place. HE was there. He touched people and healed every sickness and disease.
God does not play favorites, He loves everybody. Those people in the Philippines are the same as you. God healed them, and He wants to heal you!
How do you picture God? Do you envision Him as distant? Angry? Vengeful? Cruel? In truth, He is none of these. God is good. Our God is a God of joy, a God of love. He wants all people to know that He is alive and desires to heal everyone.
We have hosted tent festivals in many cities of Eurasia and Africa and have seen thousands of people being healed. God wants all people to be healthy and that is why He not only desires but also is ready to heal any sickness. God’s Word says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, God delivers you from sins and sickness. God loves all people equally and He does not have favorites. The Scriptures tell us that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that each person would be saved (John 3:16). This applies to every one of us.
No matter what your problem is or what it is that you need, God sent His Son Jesus so that you and I could receive life!
James says we show our faith by our actions (James 2:18–26). In our great meetings we have seen over and over that it was after a person got up and began to move, talk, see, hear that symptoms of deafness, blindness, and paralyzing weakness left.
In Chaco, Argentina, there was a young man sitting in his wheelchair way out on the very edge of the festival grounds. When we challenged the people to do what had been impossible for them to do, he slowly pushed himself up, then took 45 minutes to walk to the platform. To my surprise he did not testify but just walked slowly back. I didn’t understand it until the next night when he walked up the steps and told everyone of his 30 years of paralysis from polio. When I asked why he did not testify the night before, he said that he felt he could walk on ground but not on steps. He practiced steps during the day so he could testify!
We encourage everyone to act. Move! Stretch! Bend! Walk! Look! Talk! Do something to connect with your desire. My friend, your future is in your hands. God has already cast His vote for you. He paid for it all. He believes in you and is in you to see your miracle come to pass. He had a plan and picture of your destiny from the foundation of the earth.
Your faith decision mixed with His wonderful, unmerited, undeserved favor will bring it to pass. It is not based on what life throws at you, and the devil cannot stop you!
