“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!

“Now…give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day…” Joshua 14:12a

The story of Caleb found in the Old Testament is an amazing picture of perseverance in the face of national disobedience and a 45 year wilderness saga. Only belief in the vision God had given Caleb kept him determined not to yield to the consequences of a complaining, disobedient generation of evil doers and an aging body that naturally would have weakened over 45 years.

Caleb was delivered from the hands of the Egyptians along with approximately 3 million Israelites. He saw God protect him as he partook of the Passover and saw this group of 3 million walk out of Egypt carrying the spoils of wealth.

Caleb had history with God!

Even so, when the children were on their journey to the Promised Land, something became very obvious. This group still carried the image of slavery in their hearts. When the opportunity to seize their promise arrived, they chose to remember where they came from instead of the One from whom they came…and they died in the desert.

Caleb, on the other hand, saw a land of possibilities, and although there were giants in the land, he understood that the God of Israel would deliver him once again!

What picture will you embrace today – the picture of your past or the picture of your possibility?

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.

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.

James says we show our faith by our actions (James 2:18–26). In our great meetings we have seen over and over that it was after a person got up and began to move, talk, see, hear that symptoms of deafness, blindness, and paralyzing weakness left.

In Chaco, Argentina, there was a young man sitting in his wheelchair way out on the very edge of the festival grounds. When we challenged the people to do what had been impossible for them to do, he slowly pushed himself up, then took 45 minutes to walk to the platform. To my surprise he did not testify but just walked slowly back. I didn’t understand it until the next night when he walked up the steps and told everyone of his 30 years of paralysis from polio. When I asked why he did not testify the night before, he said that he felt he could walk on ground but not on steps. He practiced steps during the day so he could testify!

We encourage everyone to act. Move! Stretch! Bend! Walk! Look! Talk! Do something to connect with your desire. My friend, your future is in your hands. God has already cast His vote for you. He paid for it all. He believes in you and is in you to see your miracle come to pass. He had a plan and picture of your destiny from the foundation of the earth.

Your faith decision mixed with His wonderful, unmerited, undeserved favor will bring it to pass. It is not based on what life throws at you, and the devil cannot stop you!

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).

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!”