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!

What is Jesus looking for?  When He returns will He find faith? (Luke 8:18)

Faith is what Jesus is looking for!

If we take scripture at face value, it is clear that faith is God’s expectation of humanity.  An active trust in God’s Word is based on the finished work that Jesus Himself accomplished. When a man with an epileptic son came to Jesus for a miracle, the man asked if Jesus could do anything.  Jesus immediately responded, “Everything is possible for one who believes”(Mark 9:23).

The problem is not with Jesus! He is able. He is willing, and He is ready, but He wants to know if you believe He will do it.

“For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love” (Galatians 5:6, Message).

This faith works within the framework of love. Love is the foundation. GOD’S LOVE provides the motive for our confident belief. We trust God because we know He is a loving God.

Love was here long before contracts and covenants. Love is a selfless willingness to do good and right for all. The impossible can spring from this foundation!

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!

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!

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 we get to heaven we will see things as they really are. Right now we must evaluate through many different lenses what we think we are seeing. If we’re wise we will strive to get the eternal picture so we can live in the present with a proper perspective.

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”   1 Corinthians 13:12

Life began in the embryo. For 9 months that was your world. Some people probably spent all their time in the embryo trying to keep it clean and orderly. Others just thought life was an entitlement of free food and a warm bed where they could go to the gym and kick and punch all day long with no rules!

Then one day life changed dramatically and you popped out into a whole new atmosphere. You no longer were top dog and king of the hill. Now you were low on the totem pole and had to scream to get some attention. You looked back and realized you had life all wrong. You had to adjust your thinking of what life really was like.

In the same manner, soon you are going to pop out of this earth suit you are wearing into another totally different environment where real life begins. Eternal life.

That day is coming. Prepare for it. The manual for real success in the next life is in the Book!

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!

My husband tells an interesting story. Two weeks before his conversion to Christ, he was given a special silver ring by the athletic department. The ring turned black when he put it on his hand.  Several attempts to polish it, have a jeweler clean it, and even place a special coating on the ring could not keep it from tarnishing.

Right after Kevin invited Jesus into his heart, something amazing happened; he noticed the ring had returned to its natural color.

He often tells this story because it is a vivid picture of the internal change that took place in his heart, and the new life that came into his physical body.

When the life of Christ comes into you, something changes in your chemical make up! New life now inhabits your body; eternal life co-habits with mortal flesh. Christ replaces the stain of sin in your life. Peace now dwells in your heart (Colossians 3:15), and the Spirit of God dwelling in you gives life to your mortal body (Romans 8:11).

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!