Jesus gave a Roman centurion—a man who had no covenant with God—a higher compliment than He gave to any of God’s covenant people. Jesus told His disciples that He had not seen greater faith in all of Israel than what He saw in this man (Matt. 8:10). What caused this centurion to receive such a compliment from God?  He had evaluated the similarity of authority that He and Jesus carried, and told Jesus to speak the Word only and his servant would be healed.

This soldier’s understanding of how his own word of authority operated in the natural realm gave him perfect understanding of how Jesus’ words operated in the spiritual realm. This centurion had a revelation that words controlled both realms! If that is the case—and Jesus has given us the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16:19)—then what we say is the road map to our future. We are our own prophet; we declare our own future.

Can this power be abused? Yes. But it was intended to be used by people with a new, God-filled heart to bring about the desires of that heart.

I was once in the city of Ufa and had been preaching there for probably two weeks. At the end of one of my meetings a grandmother came marching up to the front of the platform. She was frustrated. “Pray for me,” she said bluntly. “I have pain in my legs; I’ve been coming to a lot of these meetings, and I still have pain. Pray for me!”

I smiled at her and said, “Babushka [that is grandmother in Russian], what will happen when I pray for you?”  She kind of shook her head and said, “Well, I don’t know. Whatever God wants.”

“Babushka, the question has already been decided.” I pointed to her neck. “What’s that hanging on your neck?” She lifted it up and said “A crucifix. A cross with Christ on it.” I said, “Do you see that cross behind me? Do you see that cross at the back of the platform? I walked all the way to the very back of the platform and said, “Babushka, do you see this cross? There is no one hanging on it. Do you know why?” Her eyes got real big and she looked at me.

I continued, “Jesus isn’t there anymore because He already paid the price two thousand years ago, and He has risen from the dead showing you that your sins, your sicknesses, and the devil have been defeated. Do you understand that it happened two thousand years ago?”

I walked back to the front of the platform and looked at her. As I got close to her I said, “Babushka, when were you healed?” She looked up at me with big eyes and said, “Two thousand years ago?”  “That’s right,” I replied, “Now do you want me to pray for you?”

Before I could pray a word, she lifted her hands to heaven and began dancing, saying “Oh, oh, I’m healed; two thousand years ago Jesus healed me. You don’t have to pray for me, the pain is gone; I’m healed!!”

“We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father.” Colossians 1:11-12 NLT

Strength from God for the journey will see you through life’s most difficult challenges. Having lived in Russia for approximately 10 years I learned how God can provide even our simplest request in the most difficult economic situations. I remember one winter in the early 90’s I wanted a pair of gloves to match my coat. No one was selling anything but Soviet-style grey and black gloves, and there weren’t a lot of those available. My coat was multi-colored and I wanted a pair of matching red gloves. To my missionary friend it seemed like a fantasy to desire a pair of bright red gloves in the, at that time, dull, dirty city of Moscow, but one morning as we emerged from the Moscow Metro (subway), there on the corner stood a grandmother selling an assortment of brightly colored gloves! My friend gasped and said “Look! Leslie, there are your gloves!” This was a tremendous testimony to this young missionary who did not have much income and who had no experience living by faith.

 “Have faith in God,” Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours… Mark 11:23, 24 NIV

Remember today that God provides strength for the journey! Have faith! He is with you even in the small things!

This is the eternal question asked by humanity all over the earth and especially in Westernized societies! Satan to this day is utilizing the only tool he has available…deception. He attempts to pervert the word that God has given us. Ephesians 6:11 tells us to be aware of the devil’s schemes. In fact, we are mistaken if we think we must fear the power of the devil! He has no power but that which we give him when we distrust God’s Word.

We are encouraged to take a stand against Satan’s schemes, strategies, deceits, wiles, and tricks. We are not encouraged to take our stand against his power. Satan has only one tool, and that is to pervert God’s truth and convince us not to believe what God has told us in His Word. Essentially the plan of evil has not changed from the first day until now!

God has given us who are created in His image the ability to transform others.  How?  By the creative power of the words we speak. We have seen multitudes of people change from sad to glad, from depressed to joyful, from sick to healthy, from lost to saved, from fearful to faithful, from worried to peaceful, and from every other negative state to a positive one. These changes occurred after they heard and believed the words and thoughts of God.

On the border of Romania in the Carpathian Mountains, we were holding tent meetings that were transforming every strata of society. The associate major was so touched that He gave the unused sports center to the church for their new building so youth could find Christ.

A gang of boys came in one day to break up our benches and disrupt the meetings. The leader was going to give the signal when to start the disruption, so they all sat, waiting in anticipation. Sitting there in the presence of the Word, they felt a strong pull to give their lives to Jesus. When the gang leader stood up to give the signal to start trouble, he instead came forward to be born again. The gang all came forward and three weeks later at the baptism service on the river, they all jumped into the river together to be baptized, then began sharing amazing stories of transformation with us!

God has given us all that pertains to life, and we have the answers (2 Peter 1:3). We have a source that cannot be controlled by other humans, economics, armies, or any powers.

People are excited when they hear the voice of God’s scriptures declaring that all things are theirs to enjoy. It is God telling them to enter the supermarket and fill up their basket as often as they like. They go into the store with joy, but they are dismayed when everything they want is packaged as bags of seeds. It’s not in the form they were looking for! God promises us apples, but He rarely, if ever, gives us orchards or even a single apple tree. He gives us apple seeds.

People want instant gratification. The seeds God gives will produce everything they want in life, but they must plant them. The seeds will produce the image they project. They will grow. They will multiply just like any other seeds. God’s words are self-fulfilling. Jesus’ words are pre-programmed to produce the images of you and your life that He bought and paid for. His words are self-fulfilling in your life.

A tomato seed is pre-programmed to produce tomatoes. It does not matter how much the tomato seed would like to produce potatoes or how long it tries to grow them. It can only produce what it was programmed for.

Whatever seeds from God’s storehouse we plant, we will have the same harvest as God Himself would receive if He planted them!

Healing is as basic a promise as salvation, yet many have not come to grasps with the reality of our redemption.

The book of Psalms, the Prophet Isaiah, the Gospels and the Apostle James all point us toward a comprehensive salvation that includes forgiveness of sin and healing of sickness. How can we ignore such precious promises that are available to each one of us?

I think for most, it is more of an issue of not living in the light of God’s Word than it is ever a question of “Does God heal?” Yet, when physical difficulties arise the blame is placed on God. How can this be? He is not the author of sickness and disease! In fact, the scripture tells us in Isaiah that it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him and to put Him to grief and to make Him sick (Isa 53:10 AMP). God provided the solution for our sin and sickness by sending Christ to the Cross. How can we deny such marvelous news?

We must place the light of God’s Word in higher reverence than the reality of our experience in order to see the promises of God fulfilled in our lives. I must tell you that you were not born again when you felt like it. No, you were born again when you confessed with your mouth and believed in your heart. Healing works in the same manner. Just as a new Christian learns to live the life of a born again, saved person, so does a young Christian learn to live the life of healing and health that is promised to us by God through the prophets, the Gospels and the letters written to the early church.

Don’t allow your experience to determine what you believe, but allow God’s Word to transform your heart. Find a bible experience that confirms Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. It works! I have experienced it myself and I have seen this healing grace among the multitudes for nearly 30 years.

Go for it! Dare to believe! What do you have to lose? It’s available and it’s free because of what Christ has already done!

It isn’t the loudness or length of speaking that produces change, it is the words that are spoken. For example, we were in the capital of Costa Rica with a marvelous group of leaders and believers as well as thousands of other people.

We conducted over 21 meetings. We met with the president of the country. The national Christian television station broadcast all the meetings across Latin America. Our time there was building to a climax, when my interpreter decided he was tired and wasn’t coming to my final meeting. Tired?? One doesn’t get tired in the middle of a campaign! I found myself at the meeting with the music playing, 40,000 people waiting to hear the Word of God and be healed, and no interpreter! What would you do? What you believe really comes out in moments like this!

I told the choir to keep singing, then stepped down from the platform and walked among the people, looking for someone who could speak English. I finally found an old schoolteacher. He had just a whisper of a voice, but he could speak accurately. I told him not to worry. “I will preach with heart,” I said, “just say the words, and Jesus will back us up. Only be accurate with the words.”

My faith was in Jesus alone, and it was very lonely up there with the multitude waiting to see Jesus. My dear new friend whispered the message, and I prayed with great vigor for the manifestation of the healing power of God to make the people whole. My friend whispered the prayer, and it brought a great thunder of faith from their hearts and miracles began to flow. Many canes and wheelchairs were thrust into the air. Arms were lifted, and a parade of hurting humanity gave witness to the living God.

The next day in the town where I was staying, I was negotiating with an art store owner for a particular painting. He greeted me with a big smile and called me Pastor. I had never mentioned that I was a preacher, how did he know?

He said his wife had insisted that he go to the mass miracle meeting the previous night, and so he had stood way in the back. When I invited people to lay hands on themselves where they would like Jesus to lay His hand, he could not think of anything wrong except the golf-ball-size bone deformity he was born with on his lower spine. As he touched it, he felt it dissolve under his hand. He was so happy that Jesus revealed Himself, and he found Christ on that field. I have the picture that we haggled over hanging in our home today!

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!

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!