Bill Johnson - Strategies for Transformation
Beautiful, good morning! It’s great to see you here. We have a few people in the room, which is kind of cool; that way, I don’t have to talk to empty chairs. By faith, I see all of you out and about. I love the fact that this is a weird season, let’s be honest, but it has been amazing to see how many people can be impacted through video. So many people who I don’t think did anything online prior to this season are now becoming professionals; they can dial up anything, and that’s really refreshing for me. The encouraging thing has been the measurable impact on individual people’s lives, on homes, and honestly, on cities and nations. This past week, I spent some time with leaders from Iran—Iranian leaders—ministering to them. What an honor it was to talk with these folks, share with them a bit, and pray together! You wouldn’t have been able to do that a few months ago, but now we’re geared up for it, and it just works. There’s no space, no distance with God; there’s just no distance. Living with that realization helps us grab hold of our moments.
Right after I was through with the Iranian leaders, I got to minister to a whole bunch of leaders from the UK. So I had an international trip and got no miles for it! I have no fatigue, and it was just wonderful. I didn’t have to eat any of the weird food on the plane. Although they’re trying to get better, I’m just thankful for all kinds of things.
All right, a funny story I heard a while back involves a highway patrol officer who pulls over three little old ladies in their car. They’re going 35 miles an hour on the freeway, and he pulls them over. He says, «Hey, you can’t go this slow.» The driver replies, «I was going the speed limit. The sign said 35!» He starts to laugh and says, «No, that’s Highway 35! The speed limit is actually 70!» Then he asks, «By the way, why do your passengers look so terrified?» She responds, «Oh, because we just got off Highway 105!» That makes a lot of sense.
I want you to open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16. Last week, I had the chance to talk to you about prayer and some critical things for us. I postponed something that I’m going to begin to crack open today. For those of you who did our small group study on my book, «Way of Life,» you will have touched upon this subject in that book. I think one of the most important books of this era is by a dear friend, Ed Silvoso, called «Ecclesia.» It’s profound insight into scripture and a profound strategy for bringing transformation to this world. In some ways, I feel like it’s the most important book of this particular period of time. He has stirred up some stuff—we have grown up in an environment where we knew that the church was not a building. The church is much bigger and different than that. I grew up with my dad saying all the time, «The church isn’t a building; it’s not a denomination; it’s none of that. It is actually the people of God who have gathered together in His name.» However, there are some very specific things that, if we keep them in mind as we go through life, change everything.
For example, the Great Commission states, «Go into all the world and preach the gospel.» Did you know that the active verb in that verse is not «go»? It’s actually «to disciple.» The word means «as you go.» In other words, you will be going here and there throughout life. It’s determined that you’re going to travel on vacation to a certain city; as you do business, you’ll be going here and there. It’s determined that your life is one of going, so as you go, do this. When you see the weight of authority and responsibility that God places on the people of God, I don’t know what happens for you, but when I realize, «Oh, this is my responsibility,» I suddenly become very sober-minded about the opportunity before me. I live with a heightened sense of responsibility, and I pray that over all of us—not the burdensome kind, but the challenging, invitational kind that reminds us that this belongs to us. We are to go occupy and take care of this, and that has been the mandate we’ve been trying to live for goodness, 20-some years now. We keep trying again, learning another lesson, and coming from different staff members with another layer of this truth upon another.
Anyway, this is what’s on my heart today. I believe that the Lord is, I’m going to use the word «forcing"—it may not be the kindest word, but work with me—he’s forcing us to learn the strength of the church. He’s forcing us to learn where the strength is. I love the large gatherings; I have ministered to groups of up to 60 or 70,000—that’s fun! I love when we get together with just a thousand crammed into this room and overflowing. I love it all, but what’s happening right now is the Lord is forcing us to discover that the strength of the church is actually in the two or three gathered in His name. The large gathering is critical; it is very important because it creates identity. It’s huge; we belong to something much bigger and more significant than our little world of influence, and there’s also a prophetic sense of direction that is given in the corporate setting that I never hear in the smaller setting. I’m not saying it can’t happen; it’s just there’s something about people coming together in large groups with that prevailing word over them, that prophetic sense.
Since I first started in ministry, I recall going to Weaverville in 1979. I remember we had a little business card when I was on staff with my dad for five years. I wrote a note on the back of my business card from Bethel, and I kept it on my desk for about all of the 17 years I was there. It said, «Whatever feeds me, feeds them.» The responsibility was for me to be well-fed in the things of God and then give away whatever He gives me, ensuring it processes through my lifestyle first—through my own experience, through my own devotion to Christ—and let it filter through that before offering it to those I love, care for, and serve.
Matthew chapter 16, we’re going to read a bit from here and jump over to chapter 18, and I think we’ll end up in John 15 just to keep you busy. Matthew 16:13: «When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, 'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? '» So they said, «Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.» He said to them, «But who do you say that I am?» Simon Peter answered and said, «You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.» Jesus answered and said to him, «Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.»
Let me take verse 19 again. The New American Standard says this so much better; it has a footnote in my Bible. It says, «Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.» It mirrors that reality. This is the overall theme of Jesus: «When you pray, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven; Your kingdom come.» The backbone of the commission for every believer is learning how to partner with God to bring the reality of His reign and dominion into the specific areas of our human experience.
Let’s go back through this particular portion of scripture. I’m going to read that verse again, but I’m going to read it the way I think it should be written. How’s that? Let’s go right to verse 15: «Who do you say that I am?» Peter answered and said, «You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.» Jesus answered and said, «Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.» This wasn’t a slap or a put-down; Jesus was acknowledging that he heard well from the Father. He was pointing out, I used to do this with my kids. My kids would be playing on the floor, and one of them would treat the other with unusual kindness. I would stop and say, «Hey guys, stop! Eric, do you know what that was?» He would look at me like he was in trouble, you know? I’d say, «Son, that was a fruit of the Spirit; that was kindness.» That’s what Jesus is doing here. He’s stopping the procession and saying, «Peter, you just heard from the Father—that’s what it sounds like when you’re hearing from the Father. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!»
«For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to you that you are Peter.» Peter is actually a word that means «rock,» but it’s a small rock. «Upon this rock"—that word is the massive rock—"I will build my church.» I personally, I do not believe that Peter was the rock upon which the church was founded; it was an illustration. The rock it was founded on is verse 16: «You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.» It’s the revelation of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, that the church is built on. Think about it: the church is built upon revelation. The essence of your faith is that you heard God speak and you responded. There is no salvation apart from hearing God speak. People say, «I just don’t hear from God.» Well, you must have heard something because that’s how you got born again. It’s the only way you can enter in—there’s the acknowledgment that God has spoken. «I am convicted of sin.» He has given me the gift to turn from this way of life to follow after Him, and it is that invitation, if you will, or compelling exhortation by God that enables us to turn in faith to Him. Every part of our life is hinged upon that willingness and ability to hear from God.
Every time we say, «I just don’t hear,» we’re shooting ourselves in the foot instead of acknowledging what we do hear. We point to what we don’t do well. «I don’t hear as good as this person. This person has open visions; this person has the slightest impressions; I just don’t hear that well.» Well, you must have heard something because you’re alive! «Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.» There is life continuously flowing in us and through us because we hear from God. It would be much wiser for us to say, «I hear from God, but not as well as I want to. I’m improving. I’m on a journey to increase my capacity and my ability to perceive when God is speaking.»
His first language is not English or Spanish or whatever other language you speak; there is this whole world of impressions, pictures, and things that are otherworldly, which is His language. It’s how He actually teaches us how His world works. Another subject, but you get the point. Here, this revelation of Jesus as Messiah is the foundation of the church. Look at verse 18 again. He says, «Upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.» I’ve never heard anybody say that the gates here were the gates of the church that kept us protected from the devil, but somehow, when I grew up, that’s how I saw the verse. I thought God was going to keep our gates strong to protect us from that big, bad devil trying to break in and steal, kill, and plunder. That’s not it at all! It’s the gates of Hades that will not prevail.
In other words, the demonic kingdom—and gates in scripture refer to positions of authority—so we’re not just talking about gates like to a city or something that get torn down; that’s figurative, but it’s in the picture. The gates of a city are where the authorities would be seated to make decisions. When we talk about the gates of Hades, we’re referring to the hierarchy, the Ephesians 6 principalities and powers. We are talking about the hierarchy of the world of darkness that will not be able to stand against what? Against this prevailing group of people. I’m going to throw in something that is worthy of studying at another time: please notice it doesn’t say the gates of hell. We actually talk about hell as a place where the devil reigns, rules, or has influence. Hell is his place of eternal punishment. It’s not, you know, the gates of hell will not prevail; it’s this realm of darkness that cannot withstand a church that responds to the assignment and call God has given us, where we function as He has assigned us to function.
In these verses, He gives us the beginning strategy, if you will, for bringing transformation to the world around us. Here we have «will not prevail against.» In verse 19, «I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.» This is a very significant assignment Jesus now gives to every single one of us as individuals. Now jump over to chapter 18; the subject matter in chapter 18 is actually about correction for people who will not repent, and it’s given in that light. But there are principles in these verses that I would like you to grab hold of because they go far beyond the immediate application.
He says in verse 18 again, «Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.» Again, I say to you, and here’s our verse: «If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.» Verse 20: «For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst.»
All right, here’s the deal. When the Lord said, «I will build my church,» He did not use a term that would have been very commonplace for the Jewish culture that this was taking place in. It was not a synagogue; nor was it a temple. The word is «ecclesia.» It’s very important and boring for a moment, but stick with me. «Ecclesia» is a group of two or three people who are citizens of a particular country or government. Whenever they gather together, they represent the government of that country. So if you have Roman citizens in Greece who get together, say, at a bakery during lunch, they are actually representing the government of Rome. That’s the term Jesus uses here. He was known for using secular concepts. I don’t think He was borrowing from the secular world; I think He was taking back what He inspired them to think and do in the first place. He did this with «apostle,» which was a Greek and eventually a Roman term. He did the same with «ecclesia.» These are secular terms that refer to a gathering of two or three people who have the authority to make governmental-type decisions.
So when Jesus uses this term «ecclesia,» He’s using a secular term that everyone in that known world would be aware of because it was a part of their culture. When two or three of you gather, «I am there in the midst.» The presence of God is the mark of divine authority. The manifested presence of God upon a married couple, the presence of God that rests upon that couple in unity before Christ—they carry a governmental responsibility to represent Him and to bind here what is not free to rule there and to loose here what is already loosed there. It is a God-given mandate and responsibility. This is the heart and soul of how you and I were designed. We were designed and assigned by God to be on this planet as citizens of another world. As citizens of that world, I’m to look for the one or the two others with whom I can meet and come into agreement so that the manifested presence of God would settle upon our gathering together.
In that position, we make decisions that actually shape the course of history. Now, in John 15—I’ve been wrestling with these verses for so long—I don’t know if you’re tired of hearing me talk about them, but John 15 provokes me. Do you ever read a portion of scripture that blesses you so much, but you know you don’t get it yet? That’s kind of how I approach the subject of abiding in Christ. I know I get it and I know I don’t know what I’m talking about. I have experiences there, and I’m thrilled with what I’ve experienced, but I also know I’m in preschool; I have barely started this journey. That’s kind of how I feel with this whole subject.
So just take one verse. The entire 15th chapter is worth the read, but we’re just going to take this one verse: «If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.» It goes on to say, «By this, My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.» The fruit in this context, I believe, is answers to prayer. I owe God answers to prayer! The lack of answers to prayer is not on His end of the equation; the lack of answers to prayer is on my end of the equation, and it’s connected to my ability and willingness to abide.
The felt presence of God is the absolute key to continuous answers to prayer, and living apart from that—doing our best to mimic God’s will, doing our best to pray for things that we think ought to happen—it’s not that the prayers are wrong; it’s not that what we’ve requested is against His will. It’s just we’re missing the strength of abiding. When you have the manifested presence of God upon you, and you come before the Father with requests, there is this clout, if you will, that we have been invited into. «Abide in Me; let My words abide in you.» What is that? It is the acknowledged felt presence of God. It’s not just a recognition of the Almighty God being here, but it’s my engagement with Him.
Abiding is an engaged participation with a person—there is this encounter, this exchange, this fellowship, this intimacy. There’s a connection that is otherworldly. In that connection, I am positioned to think differently, to feel differently, to see differently. I’m sitting here with another brother, a sister, or a family member, and He says, in that context, the weight of the government of My world is upon your shoulders. For that reason, you can bind anything here that’s already bound there. In that position, we’re much more prone to see and discern the reality of that world.
We do okay with binding here what’s already bound there. We pray for that relative of yours or a close friend who’s addicted to drugs or whatever it is. You pray; we bind here what is already bound there. We’re familiar with that responsibility in measure. Our problem is on the other side of the responsibility: we’re supposed to loose what’s already loose there. Without heavenly encounters, experiences, and perception, we have no idea what we’re supposed to release in the place of what we just bound. The whole concept is I’m removing something and replacing it.
Jesus taught this in the Gospel of Luke when He said when a house is clean and swept, it must be filled with something or the enemy will come back seven times worse. Sometimes we have a perpetual problem because we bind but don’t replace. How do we know what to replace? It’s not, forgive me for the hunting analogy, that hunters shoot at a flock of ducks. That’s not how it works; you have to pick one out.
It’s not guesswork; it’s very specific, very strategic, addressing an issue, replacing it. There has to be ongoing increased understanding of how His world works and what our responsibility is. We are not leisurely coasting downstream; we are aggressively going upstream against the tide because we represent another world. We continuously run into things that He has nothing to do with—they don’t exist in heaven. Sometimes you’ll see a dear friend of yours become part of something that doesn’t belong here.
Sometimes I’ll see a well-meaning believer partner with something, and they have no clue. Most of the time, my responsibility is to go behind the scenes and pray, trying to break that thing. If they saw the spirit behind what they said «yes» to, they would never participate. Generally, a debate doesn’t convince anyone; it’s better to love the person, get behind the scenes before God, and bind and lose.
If you can see with me, I don’t think it’s careless to join these unique scriptures: Matthew 16 and Matthew 18 both carry the theme that whatever you bind here must already have been bound there. But then what about loosing? The increased heavenly perception—where does that come from? I think there are unique experiences that people have before the Lord. I’m actually reading a book right now about heaven that is just mind-boggling, and I love it so much. I’ll tell you what it was when I’m finished, maybe if I remember. I love seeing glimpses of how He works, how He thinks, and how His world works because every glimpse of His world, His ways, and His heart equips me to release His influence into the earth.
See, there are a lot of people who think His influence in the earth is going to come when He returns, and it’ll be this military invasion. Who knows what that’s going to look like? All I do know is that I have the assignment now. He didn’t give us authority to keep us busy until He returned; He gave us authority to make a difference in the world we live in. Most of the time, the stuff is not dealt with face-to-face with an individual. I’m not saying to avoid conversation; I’m just saying often the powers that be are demonic realities surrounding an issue, and that’s where we go to battle. That’s where we get on our knees. That’s where we make prophetic decrees.
We are not fighting against people. Every one of us has had a bad idea at some time, and we actually partnered with the enemy instead of with God. Every single one of us, and probably most of us more than once or twice. Someone was merciful to me, so let’s show the same mercy. The enemy is not people. There are powers behind realms of thought; there are powers behind even geographical areas. I don’t want to get weird and spooky on you, but I’m just telling you there are certain places that are dark because an individual has partnered with the demonic realm to such a level that that thing needs to be broken over that person’s life.
You see it with the man of the Gadarenes; Jesus brought deliverance to this one guy. Actually, the Gospels say there were two. The point is they got free. Jesus brought deliverance to one; the people got so freaked out it says that this demoniac—he had so many demons that his demons were possessed. He was set free, and it says he was clothed and in his right mind. The city was afraid. As long as the guy was writhing, breaking chains, and running around naked, everybody was fine. But somehow when he got free, people got concerned. You know, it must be that cult; it must be that church down the road. It says the people were afraid because there was a power that operated outside.
Listen, every people around you don’t mind a God who looks like them—they will try to reduce the nature of God to their nature instead of acknowledging that they must give an account to Him. The responsibility in this moment is that Jesus brings deliverance to this guy; the city gets afraid. It says they chase Jesus and His disciples out of the area. Sometime later, when Jesus came back to that area, every person from every village came to hear Him speak. What happened? There was one credible witness, one person upon whom the kingdom had come. Something was bound; something was loosed. He had sanity, engagement with people; he was a different person. When that leaven was put into the lump of dough, that entire region which had rejected Christ, when Jesus came back, they all wanted to hear what He had to say because something was bound and something was loosed.
David made this statement: «Daily, I set the Lord before me.» It’s a strange statement; daily I set the Lord before me. Just so you understand, you can’t grab a hold of God and put Him where you want. He wasn’t saying that. I believe what he is saying is since you can’t imagine a place where He isn’t, you might as well imagine Him with you. Is He everywhere? Yes! That means He’s here! What is abiding in Christ? It’s acknowledging the presence of God who is with you to the point of engagement. Relationship, awareness—something happens in that heartfelt connection with the presence of God, the Spirit of God who is with me and will never leave me.
Something happens in that heartfelt connection where I live more aware of what He wants. I live more conscious of His will. The way I like to describe it is I live more aware of His mood. I don’t mean He’s moody in a temperamental way—I mean I live more conscious of His mood; I sense how He feels about a given subject or person. We’ve talked before about how I remember years ago, not that long ago, maybe three years ago, when I looked through a magazine that had all these different conferences in it. It was horrible. When I got to the end of the magazine, I realized I had skimmed over every conference because I looked at the speakers with almost a disregard.
I thought that kind of complacency of heart towards another brother in the Lord is not healthy. So, I actually went back to the beginning of the magazine and slowly turned the pages until I came to a conference and looked at each speaker. This took me a while. I looked at each speaker until I could feel the pleasure of the Lord for that individual. When I could feel the pleasure of the Lord for that person, then I turned the page and went to the next one. I felt the pleasure of the Lord. When I did, something changed in my perception. I found that I was—can I say it this way? —I was careless. I’m embarrassed to even admit it; I was careless in my attitude towards those who were not part of our stream.
It wasn’t a conscious thing; I didn’t know it was there until I saw it surface. I felt embarrassed and ashamed when I looked at the speakers and realized I had been careless. I knew enough to not think critically, but the opposite of not being critical was just to ignore, and that’s not kingdom. See, the opposite of love is not hate; it’s complacency. Finding that pleasure—if you can feel, you can sense that heart of God for any given issue. It may be a politician or someone who is completely opposed to anything you believe in, their decisions, whatever. You just take that extra moment to realize here is someone made in the image of God.
I have the responsibility to treat them as one made in the image of God. Policy issues—that’s a different subject. They cannot color my approach or value prayer; they cannot diminish my felt value for an individual. It’s a deception. The religious spirit and the political spirit are both vying for our emotional condition. They are both vying for influence to impact my perception of people or groups of people to discolor it. If a person is repulsive to me, or if I want nothing to do with them, then I cut off my ability to demonstrate the love of Christ. He didn’t say, «Bill, you’re assigned to a few, and you can be mad at the rest.» You love this person and love that person, but you can hate everyone else. It’s silly.
It’s a fact that whoever He places before me, I have to be able to honor and celebrate. So here we have this responsibility: Jesus said the ecclesia, the two or three people working at such and such a grocery store, they take their lunch break together, and when they gather in Jesus’s name, they have this predetermined idea: «We will partner together for the invasion of God’s blessing and presence upon this business.»
I don’t own a business, but I am here as a representative of another world. The government of God is resting upon the two or three, but not just the government—the governor, the one who runs the government, is with us as we gather. If we had just a heightened awareness of purpose and the reality of presence, we would live, think, and pray differently. Our decrees would be much more intentional, and our pronouncements, our prophetic words that we release would be much more anchored in a faith that sees a possible outcome.
Paul in Romans 12 talks about people who would prophesy according to their faith. Faith is supposed to be the guiding power behind the prophetic—faith. By faith, I see what is naturally visible, so I perceive something that isn’t yet but is about to be because I’m about to speak it. So you take the ecclesia, you take the two or three, and maybe a husband and a wife in our homes.
I would encourage you to sign up for a Facebook page. It’s not about ministry; it’s just the ecclesia everywhere. I think it’s called «Ecclesia Everywhere,» and there’s going to be a website. Just sign up and say, «My house is an ecclesia; my place of business is an ecclesia.» Just let them know so that there are thousands upon thousands. I hope eventually we’ll get well over a million scattered all over this nation saying, «You know what? We’re tired of letting the enemy have his way. We are here representing another world. God Himself, the governor of that world, is here present with me.»
He says if I’ll just connect my heart to Him and live aware of Him, if I let the words that He breathes infect my soul until I think what He thinks, I want what He wants, I dream what He dreams. As that abiding presence becomes that kind of influence in my conscious and unconscious mind, I can ask anything. Anything! And you, as a majority, in that gathering, He says, «The gates of Hades—all the powers of hell known for killing, stealing, and destroying—they are no contest. No contest! We get so overwhelmed and impressed by the success of the powers of darkness, not realizing that all it takes is two or three.
But look at the movements that are destroying this, yeah, thousands and sometimes millions of people. Yeah, but two or three! God’s there! And when God is there, anything can happen to shift the focus, the direction, the flow of life in an entire nation! I think we’ve probably known or thought or talked about some of these things for quite a few years now.
So today, what I want to do is have an altar call—not where you come forward, but where you just acknowledge, „My house is an altar! My house is an altar! My wife and I, our kids, we are an ecclesia! We have made a covenant before God that we will learn to recognize His presence. We will learn to flow from that presence.“ My dream is to dream what He dreams; my passion is to think what He thinks. Do you remember that passage in Romans 8 that says, „All things work together for good“? Yes? Shake your head. If you don’t read your Bible, all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose. Great passage!
Right before that, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and right after that, Jesus intercedes for us. That’s why all things work. Learning what they are praying is key to our ongoing continuous breakthrough in prayer. It is supposed to be that the will of God invades earth because we prayed.
What you stand—I know there are people who participate with us online. I love this fact; there are so many who join us who are not part of the Bethel family. We’re just glad you’re here. We have people all over the world who consider themselves part of the Bethel tribe, the Bethel family. We’re honored to join with you in any way we can. But there are many who, for whatever reason, may have stumbled across us on a YouTube channel, Bethel TV, whatever it might be, and you are in this moment very much aware of your need for God.
I believe that the Lord Jesus Himself set this stage for you today to be able to step into life—for the simple faith, the measure of faith that every person has been given according to scripture—that faith to be placed in Jesus Christ as Lord and absolute Savior. We’ve got pastors online ready to talk and pray with anyone who would simply express, just write it in the chat box: „I want to know Jesus. I want to be forgiven of sin. I want to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus,“ because you were born for something much more significant than what you have known up to this point.
I remember many years ago, one of our dear friends in Weaverville, Chris, and I were still in Weaverville, and one of our dear friends, Buck Steele—what a great man! Such an unusual grace and gift on his life. But I remember he prophesied once that there would be an individual from a particular city in our county, Trinity County, who would be saved and would become a key to reaching many people in that city. He prophesied this word, and one day he was in the office when we got a phone call from the sheriff’s department. There was someone in a padded room who had just tried to kill himself. Buck was there; I said, „Buck, do you want to go down and pray for him?“ Buck never resisted a chance to go pray for someone—to lead someone to Christ or whatever. So, he went down there and did the most unusual thing: he found out this man was from the city I just prophesied about—that there was a key person about to be saved who would be key to touching that entire city.
He came in with this word that this individual was chosen for such a time as this, and all of a sudden, a guy who wanted to kill himself suddenly realized, „I have purpose! I have a reason—a reason for being alive. I have a chance to have a relationship with God and that He would actually use me to impact an entire city that I live in.“ How many know when you find purpose, you don’t want to end your life? You want to start your life! That’s exactly what anyone watching right now and everybody in this room needs. It’s engaging with divine purpose.
There is nothing greater—nothing greater! So I encourage you online, please just in the chat box do whatever, but get help because there are people who would love you and care for you. Father, I ask for an impartation, first for the realization of Your presence. Second, that in discovering Your manifest presence upon us, we would come to know more and more Your thoughts, Your heart, Your mood—what You feel about different things. That this partnership with the Almighty God and the two or three gathered in His name would allow us to see in this abiding presence, the will of God being manifested on the earth in ways that have been thought to be impossible until now.
Incorporate us into this last days plan to demonstrate the presence, power, and government of God into every aspect of society. I pray this in Jesus' wonderful and mighty name. Amen.