Bill Johnson - All Must Prophecy
Numbers 11. Let’s get into the word, here. We’re gonna read a number of verses, here. Verse 24: «So, Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle». The tabernacle is where the presence of God was manifest. So, they surrounded the presence. «Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders: and it happened, when the spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again». Verse 26: «But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the spirit rested upon them. Now, they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle: yet, they prophesied in the camp».
Let me stop there just for a moment. I love this part of the story, because it shows what happens when you are covenantly related and connected to other people is you actually receive what they receive. There’s an inheritance that is actually not just given to individuals, but is actually given to families. We’ve got 70 guys surrounding the tabernacle. There’s two that, for some reason, didn’t get the memo. They didn’t show up. The Spirit of God falls upon they begin to prophesy. And yet, back at camp, simultaneously, these two guys begin to prophesy under the same anointing. Why? I don’t understand how this works, but I love that it does, the fact that you can be in relationship with people, and when they get a breakthrough, their breakthrough is yours.
There’s something about connecting with people in accountability, in relationship, in pursuit of the it doesn’t give us the liberty to withdraw and to be careless in not associating. But it does mean that for the spouse of the student in the school of ministry that isn’t able to attend the meetings, something’s happening in your life that is equal to the one who sits in the class every day receiving the impartation prayer. There’s something about the relationship that qualifies you to receive the same thing, even though you’re verse 29: «Then Moses said to him, 'are you zealous for my sake'»? I’m sorry, verse 28. «So, Joshua the son of nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, 'Moses my Lord, forbid them'»! Make them stop prophesying. «Then Moses said to him, 'are you zealous for my sake'»? It’s another way of saying: it’s not about me.
«Well, they’re crowding in on my gift». It’s not about you. It’s that the Lord is represented well in powerfully and whether it’s your time to stand on the stage or somebody else’s, or it’s your moment to lay hands on the person, or you’re the support person for somebody else, it doesn’t matter, as long as the function gets done, as long as the miracle takes place, as long as the breakthrough comes, as long as God is exalted. The tools that he uses will always vary. And we celebrate that God is being exalted through his mean, not that we got to be at the center of the story. Moses says: «'…Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them'»!
Here’s something to recognize: in the Old Testament, whenever you see somebody, where the Spirit of God comes upon them, it is almost always, if not always, evident in them speaking the word of the Lord. The prophetic comes through them. In other words, the sign of the fullness of the Spirit of God on a person’s life in Old Testament context was prophecy. I think it’s for that reason Paul, when he talks about the gifts of the spirit, he says lustfully pursue all the gifts, but especially that ye may prophesy. If you were raised in church, you probably have a picture of the prophetic as that which happens during a meeting. But I don’t think that that’s any more than 5 percent of the prophetic and I think it’s actually less than that.
The prophetic is a way that we function, it’s a way that we think, it’s a way that we see, it’s the way that we communicate to people. It doesn’t need to proceed or end with «Thus saith the Lord». It is speaking a timely word in a given situation. And if the word is from him, it will bear fruit in their life and they, in turn, will give God the glory. It doesn’t have to come with religious trappings. It just needs to be released. When we release the word of the Lord, it alters and changes environments. And we are in a season where we need, desperately, prophetic people to bring clarity to what’s happening in the world. We need it desperately because both the political spirit and the religious spirit are vying for your affections. And whenever there’s influence from either of those two realms, there is a, the word of the Lord becomes diluted and distorted.
And the Lord is wanting a clear word, a precise word, an empowering word to come to the cities and to the nations of the world. The point is is that to be a prophetically discerning people, we have to be able to recognize the difference between the true prophetic anointing and the counterfeit, which is suspicious, it’s agenda-driven, and it moves in the spirit of offense. It is one of the biggest challenges in life is to not pick up the offenses of the people you love and serve. It’s really hard. If you give yourself to the poor, it’s very hard to not be offended at the rich. And the depth at which we get to go in the anointing to impact the course of history and affect culture is, in many ways, determined by how well we can navigate this thing without being offended. That’s the truth.
Verse 21 of Isaiah 59: «'as for me, ' says the Lord, 'this is my covenant with them: my spirit who is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants, ' says the Lord, 'from this time and forevermore'».
Please notice, again, the correlation between the Spirit of God coming upon people and the word of the Lord being in their mouth. The evidence that the Spirit of God is resting upon us as a people, as a tribe, as a family must be, you know how much I love the healing, the miracles, the deliverance, all those things. It must be that from our mouth comes the word of the Lord. Jesus set a standard when he said: I only say what I hear my father say. Think about this: if there’s anybody that ever walked the earth that probably would have some pretty good ideas on his own it would probably be Jesus. But he was unwilling to come up with anything of his own. The gospel of John says: «He who speaks from himself seeks he who speaks from himself». In other words, «It all originates with me».
Seeks his own glory. In other words us unwilling to tap into what the father is saying is a subtle way to move into self-promotion. Acts 3, another real quick one. Verse 24 says: «'Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, „And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed."'»
This passage, Isaiah 59 was a passage given to the nation of Israel, but prophetically foretold the nation of the redeemed, which is the church. All right? But this one is clearly to the body of Christ. If you miss 59, this one, for certain, is to the body of Christ, in which he says: you are the sons of the prophets. You are the daughters of the prophets. Why is that important? Because of the covenant established that: I will put my word in your mouth, in your descendants' mouth, and in your descendants' descendants' mouth. The whole point is is that a distinguishing feature of being in the tribe of God who is carrying his heartbeat into the earth as if he has put his spirit upon us, manifested by every generation being able to carry and declare the word of the Lord.
Acts 3 says: you’re the sons, you’re the daughters of the prophets. In other words: you have an inheritance. It’s important for us to know the inheritance is. It’s important for us to discover what God says about us. Because you’re not gonna write a check if you don’t think you have the money in the bank. You’re not gonna withdraw from identity if you don’t realize it exists. You’re not going to live from something that is far above everything you could imagine, unless he reveals that’s who you are.
Once you realize who you are, your posture changes. It’s not arrogant: it’s not self-centered: it’s not even self-confidence. It’s a confidence in who God has pronounced you to be. And God says you are the sons, the daughters of the prophets. Because of that, you’re in line for an inheritance to carry the Spirit of God and the word of the Lord. They are one and the same. Jesus is the word made flesh, so the presence of God is the same as the voice of God. Whenever you sense the presence, the voice is in the presence. Whenever you hear the voice, the voice represents the face.
Now, let’s get back to Isaiah 51:12. «I, even i, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die, and of the son of a man who will be made like grass»? What is he dealing with here? He’s confronting the fear of man. I had people come to me: if I ever talk about this subject, people will line up and ask me to pray for them to be freed from the fear of man, which I do. But there is one basic cure for the fear of man. It’s called the fear of God. You can’t fear both. It’s just repent. Confess the sin of the fear of man. I’m not trying to do shame, guilt, you know. I’m not interested in that. But I am interested in people being free from the fear of man and turning from the fear of man to the fear of God is just, it’s just a short step. It’s just a short step. You turn from one to the other.
And here’s what he says following. This is actually where I wanted to go. So, verse 15. It says: «'but I am the Lord your God, who divided the sea whose waves roared, the Lord of hosts is his name'». Verse 16. «'and I have put my words in your mouth: I have covered you with the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, „You are my people“.'» listen carefully to this. I’ve put my spirit upon you. I put my words in your mouth. I put my spirit upon you. I’ve covered you with my hand. This is interesting. The Lord protects what he blesses. Do you remember this passage that says, «And his favor surrounds me like a shield»? That’s 'cause he protects what he blesses. He doesn’t bless and then leave it to be devoured, opposite. He blesses and then he surrounds with protection.
So, here we have the Lord saying: all right, I’m the one who put my word in your mouth. And what did he do then? «I’ve covered you with the shadow of my hand that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundation of the earth, and say to Zion, 'you are my people'». New American Standard says: «To establish the heavens». The word «Establish,» there, I looked it up in the New American Standard study Bible. «To establish the heavens» actually means to plant. So, I want you to think with me. I’ve put my words in your mouth. I’ve covered you with the shadow of my hand. Because I want, through you, to plant the heavens and build solid foundations on the earth. This is a Old Testament, warm-up for, «On earth as it is in heaven».
He’s revealing process. He’s revealing the tool that he uses to release the reality of one world to rest upon the reality of another. He says: I’m gonna build strong foundations here and then I’m gonna plant that world where there’s strong foundations. How is it done? Through decree. «I have put my words in your mouth. I have covered you with the shadow of my hand that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, 'you are my people'». Jesus talked about the prophets and the spiritual fathers of the Old Testament that long to see what we see. I’d like to suggest to you that out of the ache of his heart, Moses was prophesying about the day that you and I live in, where all the people of God would be carrying prophetic anointing that is not, number one, self-serving: number two, it is not to expose and tear down.
In this hour, it is to call out destiny. We’ve watched this, now, for years where somebody will be caught up in a lie that maybe they believed about their whole life. In fact, we see this happen often, now, to people who don’t even know the Lord. They don’t even know the Lord. And one of you will come along and just call out the gold in their life. And it completely changes them. It changes their entire life. Why? Because they’ve got this lie that they bought into with a lifetime, and somebody comes with one word of truth, and it completely changes their identity, where they start living from a different place. They move into, they repent, they turn from this unto this, embracing what God has said about them.
Every person in this room, the Lord has declared strong things, powerful things, positive things, corrective things, adjusting words, all these things have been declared over every one of us. And when we hear them, when we embrace them, they empower us to make changes that are impossible, otherwise. And the Lord is inviting us into being a people that hear the voice of the Lord. If there’s anything that is mocked in the earth, right now, it’s that you could actually hear God’s voice. It’s mocked. It’s mocked openly. It’s mocked. And I believe simply leaning in, every one of us have had the experience where we just randomly called a friend, and, come to find out, it was the exact moment of crisis and they needed help. And we didn’t know. I mean, it wasn’t this thundering voice. It wasn’t: «Bill, call this number». No, it wasn’t that thing.
It wasn’t a number appears on the wall and you punch that number out and you talk to her for… it’s not that. It’s not that. It’s the subtle leaning into a lifestyle of the presence of God, the Spirit of God, and you find yourself, day after day after day, bringing the word of the Lord till it becomes a lifestyle, where you think these thoughts, you declare his words. And it’s not the strain and the effort of, «Oh»! Trying to hear from God. I don’t hear well when I try. I don’t. I don’t hear good, at all, when I try. You know what I do? Sometimes in healing meetings, when I’m in other places, sometimes we’re in a healing meeting during worship, I will sneak around and find people that need a miracle and pray for them then. Because I know if we wait for the official time to be healed, they’ll try too hard. And faith does not become evident through effort. Hearing from God does not come through effort. It comes through surrender.
Faith is the product of yieldedness. It’s not the product of: «I’m determined to live for the glory of God». Yeah, sweat all you want. As soon as you get exhausted, you’ll hear from God. Soon as you finally say, «I’m done,» then, he speaks. Why? Because if he speaks while you are striving with effort, he will only reaffirm flesh and carnality and not the genuineness of who you are in Christ. Let me read this verse, again. It says: «'And I have put my words in your mouth: I have covered you with the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth and say to Zion, „You are my people."'"
I didn’t, prepare ahead of time to find this verse, and I apologize for that, but there’s a great verse in job where job talks about him declaring a word and it puts a Mark on someone for God to strike. It’s like, he throws out the word, and the Lord is attracted to that word. It’s actually the concept that we find in Ephesians 4, where he says: «Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth», which is a great standard for all prophetic people. «Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear».
What is grace? It’s divine favor. Think with me. Only speak edifying words that it might give grace. What is grace? Divine favor. You choose who to encourage and your word of encourage is something that God approves of and he pours favor into the person you’ve chosen to encourage. Grace. It’s the same concept. You put the word there. You come to somebody you do business with, the neighbor. You just go over, you just encourage them. You just give them an encouraging word. You just tell them: «This is what I see God doing in your life. It’s a beautiful thing». Or: «I just wanna encourage you. You’re so gifted in this area».
What are you doing? You’re just planting a word and God is going: put favor, right there. Put grace, right there. Pour the grace in, right there. Why? Because one of my own, distributed a word of encouragement there. Why don’t you stand? I wanna pray for this prophetic anointing. You guys would laugh. Do you know how we started the prophetic, in Weaverville, years ago? There was no… Zero prophetic. Zero. There wasn’t a prophetic mouse, there wasn’t a prophetic flea. There was, zero, when we moved there. So, I’d get men, sit around a table. And I’d turn to the one on my right. I’d say: if Jesus were to walk in the room, right now, what do you think he’d say? And he’d go, «Oh, I think he would say».
And I’d go to the next one and go all around the room. And after we got all around the room, I’d say: do you realize that you all just prophesied? And they’d go, «Huh, it’s that easy». See, when you strive is when you miss it. It’s when you relax in who you are, abiding in presence, abiding in his voice, it becomes very natural to speak words that are life-giving. Put your hands in front of you. Let me pray for this prophetic anointing to be released. Lord, I do pray for that. I pray that you would increase the mantle of the prophetic. God, help us. Help us, help us. Heeelp us! Help us to keep it pure, to keep it real, but to serve our city well. Thank you.