For many, God working through them is a dangerous adventure. The question arises, “Will God meet me at the point of my decision? When I step out to help someone in need will I find God ready to move through me?”

I remember my first public healing encounter. I was having lunch with a business associate and suddenly I heard a scream from the other side of the restaurant. Immediately, I blurted out – I have to pray! I found myself running across the restaurant. A crowd was gathered around this man who had just had a heart attack. I remember telling everyone that I must pray.

The paramedics had not yet arrived so I forced myself in among the crowd and stuck my hand on his chest. I remember praying, “Oh Lord, heal him!”  All of sudden, I heard these words as if they were audible, “REBUKE THE DEVIL!” What a foreign concept to this young Baptist girl – the devil? Do WHAT??  So in my quivering voice I announced, “I rebuke you devil in the name of Jesus!” To my utter amazement the man coughed and sat up. He was healed! I later learned that this man had had five bypasses. When they took him to the hospital they could find no trace of the surgeries—he had a new heart!

This one incident has made me a permanent cliff hanger for Jesus. Who or what is a cliffhanger? It is a film, game, etc. which is exciting and full of suspense. Why sit around and watch TV when you can participate in the game of life?

John Wesley, founder of the Methodists, said, “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” Prayer is the GOD-MAN vehicle for carrying out His will. We might say it this way, it seems as if God needs a person to agree, to be in harmony with His will, in order to act.

Now that God is in us, Jesus turns this privilege of agreement over to us by saying, “if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father” (Matthew 18:19). You are harmonizing your words. You are saying the same thing together with another individual. This prayer now becomes a PERSON to PERSON vehicle fitted together through the power of agreement, the consistency of our words and the like-mindedness of our asking.

Some time ago we held a “Festival of Music & Miracles” in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. There were two elderly women present in the meeting who had been friends for many years.  One of the women had eyeglasses with very thick lenses. She told me she had not been able to see anything without her glasses for forty years. The other woman said that she had suffered with pain in her legs for almost twenty-five years and could not walk without a cane. Both women listened as I shared this principle of agreement Jesus teaches us in Matthew 18:19.

At the end of the meeting they said to each other, “Okay, we are agreeing in prayer and asking You, God, to heal us. We believe that what You said is true, and if we agree, You will heal us right now. Father, in the name of Jesus we agree that our eyes and legs are made whole!  Amen.”

It was such a simple but powerful moment of commitment as suddenly both of them were healed! They started shouting right away, “I can see!” “I can walk! My pain is gone!” You could not miss the joy on their faces. They stood out like two beacons of light in a very dark corner of the world.  Jesus said, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them”(Matthew 18:20).

“God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth”  (Philippians 2:9-10 KJV).

Can a name really have power? If I were to tell you that Bill Gates, Microsoft genius and one of the world’s wealthiest men was ready to give you $1,000 worth of computer software, would you doubt his ability? Of course not, because globally the Gates name is synonymous with computer software. Even internet cafes in the most remote parts of the world have computers with Microsoft windows software. The Gates name has power in the software industry.

Jesus’ disciples discovered that His name had power in another realm. Two thousand years later His name remains synonymous with healing. I encourage you to speak the name of Jesus.  We can boldly declare, “Sickness and disease, in the name of Jesus, you must leave!”

I remember traveling to Mexico and working with the Oaxaca Indians in the remote mountain villages. After many days of outreach the time came for a brief break from our activities, so we headed to the city for a day of R&R. I awoke the morning of our city adventure with the room swirling around me. I couldn’t believe it…I had food poisoning! I finally had the opportunity to relax and WHAMO! I was fighting horrible symptoms.

Over the years I have learned that when symptoms attack my body, I begin speaking. My flesh wanted to be sick and stay in bed. But I got up and started declaring, “I am healed by the stripes of Jesus! I thank you Lord. You are touching me with Your healing power – right now! And body, listen to me… “By His stripes I am healed!”” (Isaiah 53:5 emphasis mine)

I declared His Word not once, not twice, but for nearly an hour. Suddenly, faith arose in my heart and as quickly as the symptoms came they disappeared.

One night in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, as we drove into a field teeming with hurting people ready to begin that night’s outreach, I looked out the window of my car at an elderly man laying on a makeshift cloth pallet. When I saw him, immediately my heart jumped; and just like Jesus in the bible, I was moved with compassion. Something inside me said he needed just a little encouragement to know that tonight was his night for healing.

I had quite a struggle getting my chauffer and interpreter to pull over. They said, “Mama Leslie, don’t you see this crowd? You can’t pull over you, will be mobbed!” I remember as a last resort opening my door as the vehicle was moving, edging closer to the door until finally they stopped the car.

There on the mat was a man who looked much older than his years. When I spoke to him of the love of God and the power to save him from his sickness, his eyes perked up and he sat up and began to move.

Later that night as I stood on the platform my interpreter ran over to tell me, “Mama Leslie! Mama Leslie, look! There’s the man you spoke to who was about to die! LOOK! He’s the first one to testify and he’s walking! It’s a miracle!”

This man who lay on that simple mat wrapped in a long piece of multi-colored African fabric an hour or two earlier had looked like a mere skeleton with no life. He had been the picture of death, yet, God saw something else.

Remember, Jesus is never too busy to come to you. Two thousand years ago He paid the price for you!

I remember the story of Zhanna, a young Muslim woman who suffered with terrible asthma. Her parents had taken her to every doctor in Kazakhstan and had even made the great expense of traveling across the vast tundra to Moscow to consult with specialists. Nothing helped this young woman. She suffered terribly, barely able to breathe, facing daily the life-threatening effects of severe asthmatic attacks.

Her parents, who were Muslim in their faith, were invited to one of our meetings. Someone had told them about a Festival of Music and Miracles being conducted in their city. Moved by what they heard in the meeting, the entire family decided to invite Jesus into their hearts.

Suddenly, an amazing thing happened. Zhanna began to take deep breaths! Something had lifted off her chest, and the weight that had bound her was gone! Peace had entered her body and she was breathing freely.

They had sought healing from all the experts in the best hospitals of that part of the world with no results. Yet, in just one simple prayer they asked Jesus into their hearts, and in that moment all signs of this debilitating sickness disappeared!

I remember traveling on a train across Russia several years ago. Laying in my bed, tremendous symptoms of sickness began to attack my body. I knew this was not the place to get ill, and I had many hours to travel on this train. My berth felt either too hot or too cold, and I could barely move about in the room I shared with other passengers.

I remember opening my bible to Isaiah 53:1, “Who has believed our report?  And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Suddenly it dawned on me, did I understand what Christ had done for me? Could I believe in the midst of this dark, cold, dreary Siberian landscape that two thousand years ago this Jesus was wounded for me?

As I laid there I considered the tremendous price paid for me, and realized that I had ignorantly overlooked Isaiah’s report. My bible slipped from my hand and I started to fall asleep. At that moment I remember the strength of God infusing my soul and I KNEW that I was healed. The next morning every ache, chill and pain had vanished from my body. Total healing had returned by no power of my own, but by simply believing the report!

The story is told of a man who purchased passage on a cruise liner for himself and his family, paying the full fare for their grand adventure across the ocean.

Each day he and his family huddled in their quiet little berth consuming the sparse provisions they had packed for their trip. One day a steward noticed their emaciated faces and asked them why they were not enjoying the banquet with the other passengers. The father told him that he had only purchased passage on the ship but not the meals.

The steward explained to the man that his ticket covered passage and meals for his entire family. After dining on mere morsels for days, the family joyfully sat down to enjoy what had belonged to them all along.

David tells us in Psalm 103:2-3, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”

Many people do not receive their healing because they do not understand the continuum of time.

I can think of many instances of this in our meetings from around the world, one particular woman in Kazakhstan comes to mind. She was a worker at the Italian embassy and had a vision problem, needing glasses in order to read properly. She had been attending the healing meetings during the week and was hopeful that something would happen, but so far had not noticed any changes.

We would serve tea on the breaks, and this woman came up in the line behind my husband to get her cup of tea. I remember this very specifically, she picked up the tea bag and when she did, she began to shout, “I can see! I can see! I can see!”

She had prayed for the healing for her eyes and though it did not happen instantaneously, later in the week she picked up the teabag and could read the fine print on that teabag.

When did her healing begin? Her healing began on the day that healing was ministered to her—on the day that she believed she received!

In every situation of sickness and disease, we have three witnesses. The first witness is the pain, or what your senses are telling you about the symptoms you’re experiencing. The second witness is the Word of God, which is the truth, if you will, that God gives to speak in your situation, that by His stripes we are healed (1 Peter 2:24).

The third witness we have is the sick person. The pain is declaring that the sickness and disease is not healed, the symptoms are still present and the Word is not true. The sick one, however, has the opportunity to declare the truth—“By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed.” If we line up and agree with that Word, we find the deliverance that we need!