It takes skill to lift people up. You don’t have to put people down, the devil already does a great job of that. The body of Christ is supposed to be lifting people up and giving them hope!

There are a thousand reasons to feel ashamed every day. Your thoughts can put you down, your spouse can put you down, your neighbors can put you down. Your past can put you down. Something you did can put you down, something you didn’t do can put you down!

A number of years ago I was preaching in Crimea. After a week of preaching my interpreter turned to me and said, “Kevin, when I listen to you, I begin to hope again!” I was a little worried by that…after a week of meetings my interpreter was just now beginning to believe what she was saying?

I told her that I didn’t understand what she meant, and she replied, “You don’t understand what communism did to us. It’s worse than stealing your house. It’s worse than stealing your car. It’s worse than stealing your opportunities for education or opportunities for advancement. They stole our hope. We were people without hope, but now we hear you and hope is beginning to arise. The God that you’re talking about, He will hear me, He will hear me!” “I’m going to pray,” she stated firmly, and I asked, “You mean you weren’t praying before?” “No,” she said, “I had no hope. I could not expect God to answer prayer. But now, I can expect Him to answer my prayer.”

She continued, “I’m going to pray for two things.” I thought, ok, I help. I’ll pray with her. She said, “No, I don’t want you to pray.” Curious, I asked what she was going to pray for. “I’m going to pray for a tape recorder because I want to hear this message again, and I’m going pray for a telephone because our family has been waiting 40 years to get one.” I said, “Larisa, I agree with you. You go pray.”

A week later she came to me, “Kevin! Kevin! Good news! Somebody gave me a tape recorder, and I know a telephone is coming!” Now, this might not seem important to you, but if you’d waited 40 years for something, it would be a very big deal to you.

A month later, I got a letter. “Dear Kevin, I want to share this wonderful news with you. You know what I was praying for. Last weekend a lady was born again and joined our church. I started to help her and gave her a bible study. One day this week she asked me, ‘Larisa, what can I do for you?’ I told her ‘Nothing.’ She replied, ‘I work for the telephone company, do you need a telephone?’  Kevin, the next day we got a telephone!”

The gospel has made us something. Once we were without hope, but now we have a covenant. We have God, and we have hope!

There is a difference between a person who has pride, and a person who is arrogant. We all know arrogant people who are brutish and loud, always having to put people down in order to feel lifted up. That’s arrogance. But self-pride is different.

If you have a mechanic you want a good mechanic. What makes a good mechanic? Someone who has pride in their work, right? You don’t want a mechanic who says, “I might fix it or it might break on you, I never know.” You don’t want to give your car to that person, you could get killed doing that! You don’t want to give your money to a stock broker who says, “Well, you know, I haven’t made any money yet, but give me your money because who knows? Maybe I can help you.” You don’t want to give your money to a broker with no confidence, you want a broker who believes in his decisions.  You wouldn’t want to go to a doctor for help and hear him say, “Well, most people die when I operate on them, but come on, I’ll give it a try.” No! You want a doctor who says, “Yes I can help you, you’ll be fine.”

We need people who believe in themselves. Sometimes the church creates unbelievers by leading you to believe that God is important, but you’re not. God is smart, but you aren’t.  God is holy, but you’re just a sinner. You walk out of that church thinking, I’m in trouble!

When Adam sinned he was filled with shame and hid from God, but Jesus came and filled us with dignity. Now you can believe in yourself because He lives in you and your sins are removed—you’re  a new person! You have a new spirit, you have a new relationship, you have a new revelation, you have a new authority. That’s the gospel! I’m not talking to a bunch of losers; I’m talking to the most successful people in the world.

If you can’t leave church confident and happy, then you’d better find a church that is telling you all the Good News!

Several years ago I had the opportunity to visit one of the most beautiful regions of the U.S known as the Red Rock Hills of the Sedona Canyon. My husband and I had gone for a peaceful drive through this beautiful area also known as a spiritual resting place for many Eastern Mystics.

On our journey we stumbled across a gift shop full of rocks, crystals and other spiritual images. I remember picking up a monkey statue and saying to my husband, “Isn’t it wonderful to know that we are created in the image of God and not a monkey?” Right at that moment the sales clerk leaned around the corner from her office and said, “I don’t know about that. I think it’s pretty good to be created in the image of a monkey!”

Immediately I thought of the phrase, “monkey see, monkey do,” the child’s game many of us played growing up. In other words, a monkey for the most part repeats what it sees. The monkey has limited capabilities and spends most of its time in repetitive, instinctive actions.

Educational systems based on rote memory or simple memorization have historically lagged behind cultures capable of processing information or thinking through complicated issues. You never see a monkey developing a better banana or better way of producing a banana! Monkeys are acting and living as they were centuries ago.

As I listened to this young woman comment on how significant it is to be created in the image of a monkey, I could only think that certainly God did not intend us to act or think like a monkey—He gave us His life and His nature so that we could live a creative, God-kind of life! As humans we cannot and should not except a dignity less than what God has created us for!

The most important opinion you will ever have is the opinion that you have of yourself.  You might say, “I wish I would have known that when I was younger.”  It’s not too late! If you’re 20 or 40 right now, it’s wonderful to know this and to practice it. It will take you to amazing places! Even if you’re old, you still can really benefit from this knowledge.

There was a man named Alfred whom the newspaper mistakenly published an obituary of.  Alfred read this obituary that told all about his life, and decided that he didn’t like what it said.

Alfred was the man who invented dynamite, and he didn’t like what the obituary said about him and his invention, citing all the people that had been killed because of it. So he made the decision that he would change his obituary. He decided that when he died, this would not be what people said about him.

Do you know what he is known for now? Alfred’s last name was Nobel, and he became the creator of the Nobel peace prize.

Alfred was the inventor of dynamite, yet most are unaware of this and instead know him as a man of peace. He decided to change his obituary when he was old, so you can change too! Begin to see yourself differently. This may require some time, but it’s very significant.  We’re not talking about becoming prideful. Self-pride is not wrong, self-arrogance is.

The most important picture that you can ever see is the picture is that you have of yourself. It’s not one that you see in the mirror, but it’s the one that you see inside yourself that’s important. The most important prophet is not a prophet you see on TV, not a prophet that will visit your city, but a prophet in your own house. You are the best prophet in your life. You are the most important prophet in your life because what you say about yourself is what people will believe. This is the truth: What you say about yourself is what people will believe! 

If you say nobody believes in you, you’re just telling me you don’t believe in yourself!

You have a self to live with. A lot of people don’t want to get out of bed because they don’t like themselves. You’ve got to discover who you are and be happy with yourself.  You can’t live somebody else’s life. You can only live your life.

The world tries to convince us to be somebody else.  But if we listen to the world, then we can’t be happy until we look like that other model or that actor. We can’t be happy until we wear those certain clothes or have that certain make-up.  Advertising also pushes on us, telling us that we won’t be happy until we take this pill, or lose that weight, or use this product.  In other words “We’ll make you happy because we entertain you.”

But after a while, you realize that in spite of all these things, you’re still not happy.

I refuse to let this world tell me when I can be happy. Don’t wait another day to be happy! Don’t waste time buying one more thing or changing one more thing to see if it makes you happy. Jesus came! He made us something!  It’s a revelation that the whole world is crying for.  The Apostle John said, “But as many as received him, he gave them power to become sons and daughters of God” (John 1:12).

We’re sons and daughters of God. We have a future! And when you have a future that’s secure, and a past that’s forgiven, you have a present that’s happy!

You have a purpose to live for! A purpose gives us passion. So many people wake up in the morning and don’t want to get up. They feel that life is better staying in bed than getting out of it. They dread seeing the sunlight. That’s not the way to live!

You should wake up saying, “Praise God, another day!” There are ideas to think, there are people to meet, there are things to do, there are books to read, there are talents to develop, there are places to go, there is love to give, there are things to create. You should be waking up saying, “Alright! Watch out devil, I’m alive and I’m making a difference!”

My ancestors came from Northern Ireland and owned a castle near the Mourne Mountains. They traveled through England, eventually arriving in Philadelphia. But they found things difficult there and weren’t having any success. They got upset and decided, “Right, we’re going back to Ireland!” So they all got on a boat to head back to London—except for one 14 year old boy. He said, “NO. I’m staying here.” Apparently he was being a real stinker about it and they didn’t know that to do with him. Finally they said to him, “Ok, stay here then!” When the rest of them arrived back in London, the plague had hit the city and within 30 days they were all dead. I’m a product of that feisty 14 year-old boy!

You might say it’s a miracle, but you’re the same product. If you were to go back into your family history, you would find a time where everybody else was dying, yet you got through.  You made it…you’re important!  You have a purpose to live for!

For many, salvation through Christ means an escape from eternal judgment. Often as I stand on the open fields of world evangelism, whether I am preaching or standing among the crowd, I find myself declaring the salvation prayer as if it were the first time I said it. Why? Because I understand the value of this word – SALVATION!

I am not simply uttering a religious prayer, but I am making a proclamation of my deliverance from fear, my redemption from sin, my discovery of healing, and the reality of God’s peace! This most simplistic Salvation prayer opens my heart and my mind once again to the reality of God’s promises for me—HIS CHILD!

I vividly recall a time when I was speaking to our partners via the internet, and I sensed such a strong presence of the Lord as together we made this simple salvation confession. Not an elaborate religious prayer—but a confession of the heart and a trust in the reality of Jesus and what He promised for me and for you.

I cannot explain how such a simple prayer can transform people, churches, and even nations. YET—I can declare to you that I have seen God respond to a simple heart desiring to know Him as Savior, healer, protector, deliverer, and comforter time and time again!

Let’s not make prayer difficult! Keep it SIMPLE! That’s how He designed it! Religion is the extra ingredient of unbelief added to the simplicity of Christ’s cross. Faith is the simple confession of a heart trusting in what He has done for us!

When the Church stopped taking responsibility for producing answers, then governments and other institutions started saying, “Look at us.” This relinquishing of responsibility for receiving miracle supply has caused the Body of Christ to slip into a corner of the world’s influence, when the Creator has said that we are to be center stage.

“The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence” (Eph. 1:23 Message).

God has given us all that pertains to life, and we have the answers. We have a source that cannot be controlled by other humans, economics, armies, or any powers!

Our own words will either justify or condemn us—so it really does matter what we say! An old friend of my family’s—a hard-drinking, cursing man almost all his life—experienced Christ gloriously in a church service and had a spiritual new birth. He was so sensitive to the presence of Jesus within him that when he tried to speak, all he could do was nod his head, because his whole vocabulary consisted of curse words. It took him six months before he could say a sentence without cursing!

We must be sensitive to what we are saying. Jesus said we bring up blessings or curses from our heart and release them with our words. People want to speak their minds. That’s a good thing unless what’s in their minds does not match up with their place in God’s kingdom, their rights as God’s children, their privileges as members of God’s family, or their love dominion based on their legal standing with God.

They talk as if they’re not redeemed. They talk as if they’re not free from the curse of death and the fear of injury, sickness, accidents, plagues, and evil men that bring death. Don’t waste your precious gift of speech by declaring that you are in agreement with evil, failure, depression, sickness, or fear!