One of my most important life-experiences came as I was helping Jean, a woman who attended our weekly feeding program. Our local city had issued a notice that she was to clean up her property or they would haul off all her possessions. What was so tragic is that although she owned a beautiful home, she lived on the front porch!  You could not even find a pathway through her home. Though she was a gentle soul with a love for nature and a concern for suffering people, she had a serious mental struggle.

Our local outreach group organized a team to clear her property—not an easy job since to her, everything seemed valuable. I remember sitting on the street curb, dirty from head to foot, picking up seeds that had just spilled from her pouch. At that moment a car load of young people sped by, shouting, “Look at the street people!” Then I realized—they were talking about me! But as my eyes caught Jean’s, I saw joy—because someone cared enough to help her pick up her little seeds.

I have carried that experience with me to over 60 nations! Why? A well-lived life is a life engaged with serving others! If you are sad or depressed, remember there is always someone else who is sadder and more depressed than you. So go out and get busy interacting with others! Then, as Jesus said, you will discover there is no greater love than to lay down your life for another (John 15:13).

True human value is not found in serving yourself, but in serving others!

Did you know there are cars that actually increase in value over time? Some of them doubled in value from the moment they left the factory, like the Ferrari Enzo. Of course we might look at cars and say it does not happen very often.

What about people? Are people doomed to lose value over time?  I don’t think so. Like cars, people can lose value and rust, wear out, fade or stop functioning; but it doesn’t have to be that way. When we were in Cuba, I was delighted to drive around in many cars from the 1940’s. There was a pride of ownership and a special attention given to each car. At a car show in Florida, I saw that it was the old cars that had the most appeal and attention.

Friends, your best years are ahead of you if you will just keep yourself up! You are gathering valuable information. You have time tested experiences. You have evaluated mistakes and gathered information so you will not make those mistakes again. You are time tested and trusted. Rise up in expectation, you are ready for your greatest challenges today!

Have you ever had the question arise in your heart of why something happened to you that you did not want or expect? Does God want our hearts to be broken or our energy diminished?  No, He does not. He said that in this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer, He has overcome this world. It is clear that the world with all its circumstances and people can throw unexpected curve balls at you, but be of good cheer!

All that you are is not based on all that you have. Your value is based on the image God has of you as His righteous, holy, empowered son or daughter. The great apostle Paul went through shipwreck, near drowning, and two weeks of being tossed like a ball on the ocean before he was finally delivered and made it to land. You would think angels would have started a chorus of praise as Paul arrived safely on the shore, but instead he gets a snake bite! What does he do? Should he get mad at God for adding insult to injury? No, he just shook it off! He had places to go and people to meet!

Whatever happens to you, SHAKE IT OFF!

“We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose” (Rom 8:28 AMP).

WOW! I get excited when I read this passage. God is a partner in our labor working things together for us! What a pleasure it is to trust in HIM knowing that he is working behind the scenes on our behalf. Today in prayer, I heard myself saying, “God, YOU are my partner and I have total confidence that you are bringing in the resources, people and establishing the plans in your time frame!”

Each one of are continually surrounded by change due to difficulties in this natural world; however, in this time of transition we use our faith and our passion to latch on to God’s will and the wealth that is available for transfer into the hands of those in the kingdom of God! We are not down, defeated without hope or alternatives BUT WE ARE UP, EXPECTANT AND DREAMING OF NEW POSSIBILITES IN CHANGING TIMES!

Thank you Lord for bringing in the people and resources and blessing all of our partners!

As a minister, when I walk up to the pulpit I think and believe that I am going to change the world. I know that what is real to me will be real to you.  The reality is that what stimulates you will stimulate others. What awakens your creative impulse will awaken and enlighten the spirit of mankind.

Who wants another dead preacher?  The truth is that pulpits are putting people to sleep. What excites you? What makes you happy? What puts a spark under you and a briskness in your step? This is what the world is hungering for.  They want a purpose greater than themselves that they can throw themselves into, and come alive in the pursuit of something greater than themselves. Jesus is offering it!

People are designed by God to be happy. Even those who carry the burden of leadership are called to do it with joy. Anybody can see the problems of life, it takes people of faith to see and rejoice in the answers!

The apostle Paul took on the mantle of leading the early church with all of its weaknesses and miscalculations, yet he said he planned to keep everything in a perspective that would cause him to finish his course with joy.

Acts 20:24
“But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

 Don’t let life make you bitter, but better!

As I travel it is interesting to see the number of people who have a sense of destiny in their heart, but a lack of clear direction to make that destiny a reality.

Jesus told us to pray “Our Father…..Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).  I am not looking for the best that the government can give on earth or the best that Wall Street can give on earth. I want heaven’s standard for my earth! Heaven is abundantly blessed and healthy, as well as full of wonderful trusting and loving people. That’s a good destiny for earth.

Scripture tells us that we are “ambassadors of heaven” (2 Corinthians 5:20). It’s interesting to note that an ambassador does not live by the standard of the country he is in, but the country that sent him. An ambassador is under the law of the country that sent him and is also financed from the country that sent him.

Those who have called on Jesus and received His life are sent from God’s country to not only inhabit this earth, but to occupy it until He returns. I like what General Patton said in World War II: “I don’t like to pay for the same real estate twice.”

We can see in many parts of the world where the church has done a poor job of occupying the land, they are now attempting to re-establish the kingdom of God where there was once a great reality of God’s presence and power. We are sending teams and tents to Europe to again evangelize in regions that once were a great voice for redemption and new life. Time and money must be spent to do what a failed church should have done.

We are given the destiny and opportunity to influence every sphere of society and be the salt of the earth. Bring truth to your world so those you influence can rest in assurance that heaven is their home on earth as well as the life to come!

Love is a much greater motivator for men and women than any dollar or any discipline.

Love inspires every creature to be more than just a creation.

Love believes—when all evidence says it should not.

Love sees a bright future, even when dark clouds suggest storms on the horizon.

Love is the power of God.

Love lays down its life for the unloved.

Love pays the price others will not pay.

Love—the weapon of God—has conquered armies, won nations and made disciples of the vilest of men.

There was a street sweeper named Boris in Far East Russia that came to one of our meetings. The doors had been open and he was outside the building sweeping in the bitter cold. He heard English being spoken and came in out of curiosity.

As he sat there listening he thought about the very serious decision he had made—the decision that today was going to be his last day to live. He had been thinking about all the Communist government had taken away from him, and then sent him to Siberia to sweep the streets. It was too much! “Who am I?” he asked himself, “What reason do I have to live? Today when I go home I am going to end my life.”

Then he heard the words being spoken to the crowd by my husband, Kevin. “Maybe you are a street sweeper, and maybe the government has told you that you have no hope, no future. But God has sent me to tell you that you have a hope and a future in Him!”

We didn’t know Boris was there, but we saw him at the end of the meeting when he came forward crying and smiling. He told us he was going to write books and be an author. “God told me today that I can write books!”  We both thought, that’s the strangest thing I’ve ever heard—you come to receive Jesus and the first thing you say is that you’re going to write books?

Fifteen years later we ran into Boris on the metro in Moscow where he told us that he had gone on to Bible College. Since that meeting we learned that he has become the head of a very large ministry and has, in fact, written several books!

All you need is one idea from God to change your life. He says, come to me for my burden is light and my yoke is easy (Matthew 11:30). Stop working in the strength of your own flesh, and work in His strength instead!

I can think of many testimonies where women have been delivered from the bondage of shame and fear. When I was in Kazakhstan we were conducting a very large woman’s conference, and at the end of the meeting this very little lady came up to me holding a gold chain. She grabbed my hand and put the chain in it saying, “Leslie, my husband is in prison for sharing his faith and I am all alone in my home. I have three small children and I have come from far away. I felt so ashamed and so alone—they closed up the church and the government is against us. I have always asked myself, what did I do to cause this to happen? What sin did I commit that might have sent my husband to prison?  But today you have given me hope and reminded me that it is the blood of Jesus that paid the price, and what my husband and I are doing we are doing because Jesus Christ has come to us. Now I know I do not have to be ashamed, I am not the cause of this! I now can come before God with an open face, and I am giving this chain to you to remind you that the women of Uzbekistan will never forget that they have been created in the image of God, and we can come boldly into His presence.”

She ended by saying, “Now I return to my country and I will lift up my head, for I am not ashamed that I am a Christian created in the image of God!”

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!