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!

Regardless of the state of the economy, I look to a different news report, one that is not tied to the stock market. It is God’s economy—one of listening and obeying.

Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written… so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go… (1 Kings 2:3 paraphrased).

First, we must walk. This indicates that regardless of how difficult the crisis is that you may be facing, continue! God will guide you in your everyday affairs. He is committed to you more than you could ever commit to Him!

Have you considered recently that He gave His Son to die on a cross so that you might be justified just as if you never sinned? This is amazing love.

Second, remember that you must keep His ways. God’s way is the LOVE way! What does love say? It does not remember a wrongful hurt. It does not seek its own. It is not easily provoked. It speaks no evil. Love does not envy. Love is kind. Love endures all things. Love is the force from which faith flows! No LOVE = no FAITH!

My faith works today because I have love. I do not have love because I have faith… I have faith because I love. I love because He first loved me!

“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?

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.

Hope always expects the next idea to make the difference!

Hope declares that despite all the contrary evidence, your future is secure!

Hope prepares for the unseen and unexpected opportunity.

Hope is the raw material of your faith. It is the laboratory where all great works of faith are incubated.

The greatest crime of an oppressive government is not the theft of individual wealth or the physical pain inflicted, but the stealing of a person’s hope!

HOPE exists because GOD exists!

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!