Bill Johnson - Praying From Presence
Good morning! Eric says hi and sends his love. He’s on his way back from Portugal. We have been organizing events in the UK for quite a while. It’s called the European Leaders Alliance, and I have one that I’ll be doing in a couple of weeks in the UK, but this recent one was in Portugal, and Eric was able to attend. I’m thrilled; I just love Portugal. I saw a great sign at a church; the marquee out front said, «It’s too hot outside to keep changing this sign.» I thought, «Man, maybe they’re from Reading.» Underneath it just said, «Sin bad, Jesus good. Details inside.» That’s one of the best church marquees I’ve seen. «Details inside,» it’s awesome!
The pastor dies, and he’s waiting in line at the pearly gates. Ahead of him is a guy dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, a leather jacket, and jeans. Saint Peter addresses the cool guy, «Who are you so that I may know whether or not to admit you into the Kingdom of Heaven?» The guy replies, «I’m Dennis, a retired airline pilot from Florida.» Saint Peter consults the list; he smiles and says to the pilot, «Take this silk robe and golden staff; enter the Kingdom.» The pilot goes into Heaven with his robe and staff. Next, it’s the pastor’s turn. He stands tall and declares, «I’m Pastor Bob, pastor of Christian Life Center in Anaheim, California, for the last 30 years.» Saint Peter looks at his list and says, «Take this cotton robe and wooden staff; enter the Kingdom.» He says, «Wait a minute! The pilot gets a silk robe and a gold staff, and I only get cotton and wood; how can this be?» Peter responds, «Up here, we go by results. When you preached, people slept. When he flew, people prayed.»
This is the second week of a series on the subject of prayer. I think we’re doing three or four weeks on it. My wife started last week with a wonderful message on prayer, and they asked if I’d do the second one. I love talking about many subjects, but perhaps the one that rocks me the most is prayer. When I was growing up, entering early adulthood in my late teens, I hated reading. I read one book my whole life through school. I faked every book report. I did—I hated to read. I read one book in the eighth grade about hot rods. Go figure! I still remember details of that book that marked my life just once. But I remember when I said I was abandoning all for Jesus, I became an avid reader immediately, which was a miracle by itself. I consumed books, especially on prayer. I remember reading seven or eight books back-to-back, just continuously reading about prayer. The issue of prayer, the privilege of communing with God, and making a difference in history is a huge part of life.
I’ve taught on many things over the years, but I had three different topics chosen to speak about this morning, and I flipped a three-sided coin to decide which one to do. When it came time to speak in the first service, my heart turned towards one thing. It’s not so much a teaching as a conversation; it feels like a fireside chat—we could go outside, and it would absolutely feel like one because it’s hot out there.
About a week or two ago, I had an interesting experience, along with another experience a week or so before that. Let me take you through them. About a week ago, I woke up in the middle of the night. I don’t remember if I used the restroom or not, but I began to ponder a particular problem that concerned me. If you’re anything like me, the wheels get going, and it’s hard to get back to sleep. I was locked in awake mode. The crazy thing is, when you function like that, all you’re doing is messing with problems you can’t fix. It’s got to be the worst waste of time ever. Anyway, I was contemplating that, and just couldn’t get back to sleep. Finally, it was maybe 20 minutes before it was time for me to get up that I dozed off. When I woke up, I immediately had this thought that my worship was replaced by worry.
Let me give you some context. Something I learned to do quite a few years ago was this: if I were to reduce everything that I am and do down to one thing, I would say probably the strength of my life is my affection for the Lord. It’s my adoration. What happens is you find your heart burning for Him in ways that don’t require works. It’s not a song I sing; it’s not my hands raised; it’s not kneeling; it’s just a burning heart for Him. King Solomon made this statement in the Song of Solomon; he said, «Though I sleep, yet my heart is awake.» A number of years ago, I learned that as I was going to sleep, I could lay there and turn my heart of affection towards the Lord. In that moment, there would be this engagement with Him—a sensing of His presence. I began to discover that you have a better day if you have a better night. In Genesis, it says in creation, «There was night and day,» which made up the first day. Biblically, our day actually begins the night before; that’s when it starts.
I learned that I could just turn my affection towards Him, and in that presence, such peace comes over me. It becomes very easy for me to go to sleep. It doesn’t matter if I’m on an airplane, at home in bed, or in a hotel—wherever I might be, that’s what I do. I turn my affection towards Him, and as soon as that presence begins to settle on me, I just go to sleep. If I wake up in the night for whatever reason, I don’t want to say it’s 100%, but the majority of the time, when I wake up in the night, I instinctively turn my affection back towards Him.
This particular night, I didn’t. When I got up in the morning, I felt like the Lord spoke to me, saying, «Worry replaced worship.» I’d probably done that a thousand times in my life, but it was the only time I recall Him speaking into the situation. It would be like sitting at a table of worship, and instead, I chose to give a seat to fear, anxiety, and worry. When the Lord speaks to you, things become clear that have been cloudy forever. Suddenly, in that moment, I knew, and it helped me understand something that happened a week or two before that.
If you can imagine with me again, I’ve already said I don’t do this 100% of the time, but it is a dominant part of my life—the sense of affection for the Lord in the middle of the day. Whether I’m driving down the street or sitting in my office, it doesn’t matter when; I consciously turn my affection towards Him. He’s such a lover, and He’s just drawn to that. I don’t know if He comes or if I go, or if I just become aware—I don’t care; I’ll let the theologians figure it out. Right now, I just enjoy turning my affection towards Him.
I love that song by Martin Smith from Delirious, «My heart burns for You.» That phrase is one of my favorites in all of church music history. If you can imagine doing that day after day for an extended season, I remember waking up one day. It’s hard to explain, but how many of you remember as children when you first spent the night at someone else’s house and felt homesick? Or went to summer camp and were just dying with homesickness? I remember that. Perhaps some of you were just glad to get out of the house, but a few of us struggled with homesickness.
I woke up that morning, and it was hard to describe—inside, I felt homesick. At first, I wasn’t sure why I felt empty. I began to ponder and realized that the night before, I hadn’t turned my affection towards Him. It’s hard to describe, but His abiding presence feels like home. I woke up with that homesickness feeling, but thankfully, I could see it clearly, so I knew what to do. The point I want to make is that there’s something about this affection for the Lord. The subject today is prayer, so we’ll get there, but what I’ve found in my own personal life is that being a worshiper positions me to pray effectively.
How many of you remember back in the caveman days when there were cassette tapes? Even before that, eight-tracks? I remember getting a cassette tape of a teaching by Derek Prince, a great man of God. I remember listening to this tape where he talked about worship and prayer. He made this statement: «If you have only ten minutes to pray, take seven or eight of them to worship.» Then he said, «You can pray for many things in two minutes.» As crazy as it may seem, that statement changed my life because it marked me with a value—if I have ten minutes or an hour or two hours, whatever it is, let’s say I have an hour to pray, I still take 40 or 45 minutes just for worship. You can pray for a lot in a short period, but I would rather live from that connection of presence.
In that moment, something happens where you subconsciously become aware of the heart of God. It’s not striving in prayer; you pick up the heart of God. You instinctively find yourself praying His heart with insight into what He wants. Sometimes our prayers are even shorter and briefer. I remember years ago, my aunt Helen talked to me once and told me to study the prayers of Nehemiah. She called them «rifle shots.» If you go through Nehemiah, you’ll find quite a few prayers in there, but they’re all one-liners. When you’re outside that bubble of presence, you pray long; inside, a few words change everything.
Complaining is prayer in reverse. Complaining reveals that I’m losing the battle over my thoughts. It’s a reflection of losing the battle over my thought life. Say this with me: «Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will.» Say it again: «Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will.» That’s 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18. Let me read it in the Passion Translation: «Let joy be your continual feast. Make your life a prayer. In the midst of everything, be always giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus.» Any situation where I cannot rejoice or give thanks, I’m losing the battle over my thoughts.
One of the problems for us is that the angel comes to us as an angel of light. Look up here—an angel of light. What does that mean? It means he always comes to us differently than what he’s trying to accomplish. In other words, he never shows up with a red rubber suit, horns, and a pitchfork. For example, an offense will come into a person’s life because they think they’re functioning in discernment. Many people in prophetic ministry will be angry and bitter, but they’ll call it the burden of the prophetic. It’s true. I’m so thankful for our team because they don’t function that way, but we’ve been exposed to that for years. It gets justified because the enemy has come in like an angel of light.
Our gifts determine what we’re most susceptible to, and the enemy comes as an angel of light, sneaking in something that works opposite to what we’re buying into. This notion of being discerning can actually open us up to a spirit of offense and resentment. These things, if not dealt with, actually reveal we’re losing the battle over our thought life.
What rejoicing and thankfulness do is dismantle that mindset. They expose once and for all the root system that the enemy has—the lie he has used to persuade people. If I choose joy and rejoice, it changes everything. Rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks cultivate an effective prayer life. Just take a moment to reevaluate—if you’re in the middle of a conflict, a situation you don’t like, you wish you could change—until you can honestly move into a place of surrender, celebrating joy, and giving thanks, you’re losing the battle over your thoughts.
What happens to a person who learns a lifestyle of joy? A Catholic priest from many years ago, Father Lawrence, wrote a book called «Practicing the Presence.» His ambition was to stay conscious of God 24/7. He never claimed to have arrived at that, but his point was that whether he was washing pots and pans or praying in the prayer house, his awareness of God didn’t change.
There’s something about the presence; there’s nothing in Heaven separate from the presence of God. In essence, God Himself is the person of Heaven, and we are seated in Christ. It is a foretaste of eternity. I’m not saying He leaves us or we leave Him; I’m saying there are times when my affections and thoughts are anchored in inferior things. It doesn’t mean He’s left me; it just means I’ve become aware that all the things I was born for seem out of reach until I repent and deal with wayward thoughts and affections.
Stepping back into that place isn’t about guilt and shame. I had a thought this past week, and I have to work on it. The thought is this: We experience guilt and shame in the same measure that we overemphasize our role in our own conversion. Anytime we overemphasize our role in this equation, we become more susceptible to guilt and shame. «Well, I found God.» Yes, but you didn’t; He found you first! «But I put my faith in Christ.» That’s right, but He gave you the faith to believe. «He called my name; I responded to His invitation.» He initiated. «I love God.» Yes, but He loved me first! Anytime we overemphasize our role, we become more susceptible to guilt and shame as a product of not being enough or doing enough.
As silly as it may sound, I wish we were known as the Church of the Burning Hearts. It’s a dumb name, but I love the meaning. Back in the '70s during the energy crisis, with long gas lines, I remember a man saying that his master bedroom was on the second floor, and it took forever to get hot water from downstairs to their bathroom. So, he learned to turn the hot water on a little before bed, letting it run all night long. That way, when he got up, the water would be hot instantly.
That’s what a burning heart of affection is like; you don’t have to work your way into the presence to pray effective prayers. You’re already there. Why? Because you carry a burning heart of affection. There’s a continuous stream flowing—a burning heart of affection. It’s not a works thing, although works flow from it. It’s not about singing the right songs; it’s about conscious awareness. If you do that for a week and miss a day, you’ll feel homesick. Things won’t be as clear in your mind, nor will your understanding of scripture be as sharp. It’s not that you did something wrong; it’s just that we were born for the glory, for Heaven.
If you have a problem with someone, get a breakthrough through thanksgiving. If you can’t give thanks, you’re losing the battle. You were designed to win. The job you have might be troubling to you, but you can either be the victim of bad circumstances or the victor. You can turn things around through the simplicity of rejoicing and thankfulness. Consciously bringing someone to mind that you’ve had conflict with and giving thanks can change the situation.
The Lord can use anything that comes your way. Look for the gift in that person’s life, especially when related to believers. The Bible says we should honor one another in the fear of Christ. My dad used to say, «Wash a person’s feet until you know why they walk the way they do.»
I remember being in a service not here, but far away. The worship was great, but someone close was making all kinds of noise. I found it annoying because they didn’t sing the same song. This happened once in another country where a gal sang in between the lines instead of the actual words. It was piercingly high, and two teenage girls in front of her tried hard to worship but kept breaking down and laughing. They fought hard to focus and yet couldn’t.
After worship, I had a conversation with a friend who pointed out that the annoying noise was coming from a woman who had been a prostitute for 35 years—isn’t that amazing? All that noise I found annoying suddenly became a symphony. She took the time to wash her feet and find out why she walks the way she does.
It’s a heart of tenderness toward the presence that helps us reach those conclusions more readily than others. There’s a silly idea that the church is made up of Marys and Marthas, and nothing would get done without the Marthas. Remember the story of Mary sitting at Jesus' feet while Martha was busy working? I’ve heard people say, «Nothing would get done without Marthas.» I’m pretty confident it was a Martha who made that up to justify their work for making sandwiches. Jesus never ordered that.
In the glory, things happen at a much higher level of efficiency. You can get done in one hour what might have taken days outside the glory. We need to cultivate awareness of that glorious presence. I know of situations where glory has shown up without presence—because of the adoration of worshippers. When those burning hearts come together, things can change.
In Matthew 14, I want to look at what impresses Jesus. Do you remember the centurion whose clear understanding of authority and unusual faith made Jesus stop and acknowledge him? Or the Syrophoenician woman who overcame offense at Jesus’s comment about giving the children’s bread to dogs? She stepped into great faith, and Jesus recognized her faith.
When Jesus was ascending to the Father after His resurrection, He encountered Mary, who had seven demons cast out of her. He was so moved by her love that He stopped everything to communicate with her. What moved Him was her love.
When John the Baptist was killed, Jesus faced a challenge. Herod sent and had him beheaded. His disciples buried him and went to tell Jesus. When Jesus heard it, He departed by boat to a deserted place. We don’t know what He was processing, but the Bible says He was tempted in all ways. So, He experienced some emotional challenges that day.
Right after that, He fed the multitude. What does He do? After sending them away, He goes up the mountain alone to pray. What’s the point? In crisis, we get along with God; in victory, we should still get along with God. It’s in those moments that the metal we’re made of gets formed. The great breakthrough followed prayer after victory. After prayer, anyone who touched His clothing was healed.
I believe today that the Lord wants to impart a heart of adoration in our church family. I know I’ve referenced it before and it’s not new, but I believe there’s an impartation happening—a burning heart that finds it easy to turn affection towards Him. From that place, we will see effective prayers.
I want to shape history with my prayers, like you do, but the strength of our prayer often stems from where we pray from. Father, my cry for us as a church family is that you would impart this grace right now. Help us find our hearts burning for you at unusual times—in the airplane, in a hotel, or while grocery shopping. We need to be Teflon people, where nothing sticks.
I pray that you impart this grace to us today. I’m going to let you go in just a moment, but I want to ensure everyone here has a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He came, suffered, and died, so everyone here—even those watching online—can know what it is to be born again.
This is the most crucial moment of your life. I need to ask people not to walk around during this precious time, except for those up front. If there’s anybody here who would say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave until I know I have found peace with God and what it means to be born again,» please raise your hand. I see one right down here, another right over here. Anyone else?
I want all of you to stand. If I could have those that raised their hands, and anyone I might have missed, come over here to my left. We have a banner and trusted people to talk and pray with you because I want to ensure everyone leaves with what you came here for. So just come on down, and church, why don’t you bless them as they come? Let’s have our ministry team come to the front as well. Bless you!