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!

Yesterday the world recognized the Christian holiday of the Lord’s passion and death on the cross. At the time of his death there was no recognition. There was resignation from His followers. There was revenge from the religious leaders. There was retribution by the Roman government for crimes against the state.

Then they saw Him as a criminal hanging among criminals. Now we see Him as a substitute slain from the foundations of time for the sins of mankind!

Then they cried out of loss of a leader, friend, and source of blessing. Now we rejoice in His eternal friendship, blessings, and guidance!

Then they felt the earth shake and the sky turn black. Now we feel our lives shake and our sky turn bright with expectation of a better day!

Then He was recognized as a prophet. Now He is recognized as God and the Savior of the world!

Then He laid down His life for the world. Now He lifts up the world with His resurrection life!

This is Good Friday, and there is a good God to celebrate as we recognize the price that was paid so we could be free!

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!

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!

Can there be a more important decision than the one that determines where we spend eternity? Every other decision seems trivial at best when compared with this one. Yet billions, myself included, have made assumptions about salvation that we would never make about any other decision!

Here are three mistakes you can make:

1. Not reading the contract for yourself. For 22 years I assumed that the leader of my church had everything under control. He read the contract for us and told us what to do. He read it but never signed it himself or had any of us sign it. We were never told what was required to guarantee a relationship with God and ensure us a place in heaven.
2. Not understanding the conditions. I was told I was a good guy, so I assumed I was going to heaven. I presumed that was enough. Millions of people compare themselves with others and believe they are not so bad, so they think they will make it to heaven. I belonged to a big church, so I supposed they could not all be wrong. I thought my church membership would get me in! This is folly. Without a relationship with the living God, you cannot be sure that you are going to heaven.
3. The third mistake people make regarding salvation is not knowing a clear path to God exists. My last assumption was that no one could personally know for sure where he or she would spend eternity. Now I realize that if you do not know, you will not go! My greatest moment in life came under an elm tree at Michigan State University in June of 1978. That’s when I made my connection with God. For the first time I knew my past was forgiven and my future in heaven was secure. If I never knew anything else, that alone was enough to enable me to die a happy man!

There is a choice to make.

The power of choice determines your future. Though God loves you and has provided you with a wonderful life on earth and in the time to come, accepting what He has provided is still your choice. Even though God knew you before you were born and provided a purpose and provision for your life, He cannot choose that for you. You must choose it for yourself.

This question can be one of the most informative or one of the most destructive questions we can ask. When it comes to discovery, this question has opened the door to fabulous inventions and modern technologies; however, when it comes to life and death the question “WHY” causes many a soul to sink to levels of depression never before experienced. Some aspects of the question “WHY” which pertain to death, dying and destruction will never be resolved until one day when we stand before the creator of humanity.

How do we come to grasp with these issues of “Why?”?  First, understand that God is not the creator of evil, but it issues forth from the heart of humanity that is separated from God by sin. Second, recognize that from the very beginning of time there has been a force of evil (Satan) determined to destroy the very creation that God holds as the apple of his eye. Third, realize that it was only the deepest love that created humans different from all creation giving us the faculties of reason, will, humor, imagination, words and decision-making capabilities—and with these abilities come great responsibilities for life, family, country and even our earth.

So today let’s turn our Whys in life into a Why Not?—turning the negativity of depression into the positivity of expression! If you’re down and don’t understand, choose to release this situation to the Lord and find the good that remains in the life or lives around you!

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit (Prov 18:21 NIV).

Just who is Yahweh, our salvation? Listen to these titles for Yahweh, or Jehovah:

The first name is Jehovah Jireh, translated “the Lord will provide.” So even in man’s desperation and separation because of Satan’s deception, we see that God reveals Himself as the Lord who will provide. In other words, He wants us to remember that He is our source and that He provides a covenant sacrifice that will pay the atonement for our sins. He paints a picture of it for us. We have a hope, a future, and an expectation that God will do something for us.

Next we discover that He is Jehovah Nisi. This name means “the Lord our banner.” Remember this is in the context of those eight hundred pages where we are living under the power of Satan’s deception. And we do not yet have an encounter with the living Jesus, who brings us to the reality of this new life. But during this time when we are without God, He reveals Himself as our salvation, as our banner. He is our victory. Even when sin separated us, God had a plan, and this plan connects us to the victory He desires for our lives.

We also see Him as Jehovah Shalom. Jehovah Shalom means “the Lord is our peace.” This word shalom literally has the essence of nothing broken, everything fixed, everything being repaired. Shalom is total restoration and total peace for all that we need. So again, in those eight hundred pages of God reaching out to us, He reveals Himself as Jehovah Shalom, our peace. This is God extending Himself to humanity saying “I love you.”

Then we see Jehovah Shamah, or “the Lord who is present.” When sin entered in and mankind was banished from the garden (because of Adam and Eve’s original sin), we were also banished from the presence of God. Why? Because sin cannot stand in the presence of a holy God. Here again God reaches out to us and reveals Himself as the God who is among His people, the Lord who is there. As you read these words I want you to connect with the reality of how God has reached out to you. Even though sin created a wall of separation, God still had you on His heart. 

Look at these other titles; it’s fascinating for us to discover this God who so loves us: Jehovah Tsidkenu, “the Lord our righteousness”; Jehovah Rohi, which means “the Lord our shepherd.” In Psalm 23 we discover that He leads us beside the still waters; He causes us to lie down in green pastures because He is our shepherd and He is with us. We know that He is Jehovah Rapha, or God our healer, the one who repairs that which is broken.

It’s exciting to think that when we were still separated from God because of sin, He still had you and me on His mind!

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!