Bill Johnson - Loving God With Everything
I tell you the truth, I didn’t want to stop that one tonight; I just wanted to keep going. I was just concerned for Paul’s fingers that they might start bleeding or something. That was so good. Merry Christmas! Excuse me, Happy New Year! No, Happy Thanksgiving! Everyone who has any kind of food allergy that you want to get rid of, stand up. The Bible says that God created foods to be received with thanksgiving. Every creature of God is good; nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. So, I want you to extend a hand towards these. Honestly, I feel like sometimes we, oh goodness, get accustomed to things that don’t work right, and we consider that to be part of life. People, sometimes when they grow older, will have aches and pains; they just assume that’s a part of life. Let’s just say that’s not a part of life, so put a hand on one of these folks that are standing and make an agreement with them right now. Extend a hand towards them; if you’re close to them, put a hand on them, and if you want to tell them what it is you want to get free to eat and enjoy, honestly, it is about joy—that’s the issue. Just pray right now. Pray on your own. We declare that all foods are sanctified by the word of God in prayer with thanksgiving. We pray that you would heal the digestive system, the way our bodies react to food and environments, that you would recalibrate our entire system to dwell victoriously in this world you’ve planted us in so that all foods—we could say ourselves—all foods are certainly enjoyed by us with thankfulness. We pray for this in Jesus' wonderful and mighty name. Amen. I want you to just say, «I receive the healing.» Say that with me; say it out loud: «I receive the healing that Jesus bought for me.» Amen! Go ahead and sit down.
Um, this is just random. Tonight’s gonna be a random night, so put on your seatbelt. It’s random; you might need a crash helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads. I’m not sure; it’s gonna be a random night. This verse stirs me up for a lot of reasons. I’m not going to teach on it, but I am going to read it: «Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty.» Blessing received incorrectly leads us into pride and arrogance. All blessing—it’s not just money; revelation, knowledge, open doors, favor—all of it has the potential to launch us into purpose and destiny, but if it’s received incorrectly, it leads us into arrogance and pride. So, I said I wasn’t going to teach, so that was just an accidental comment—it was random, fits under the category of random—"Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches.»
Okay, I’ve asked you the question before: How much is too much money in a person’s life? It’s whatever amount replaces trust. For one person, it’s a hundred dollars extra; for another, it’s a hundred million dollars. The Lord is weighing us to see what we can carry. It’s not about money; it’s about caring, presence, carrying glory, carrying favor. It’s always for the sake of others. The moment I begin to embrace the blessing of the Lord as that which is needed for self-promotion is the moment I start to level off in my development. Random, random comments: «Nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God.» Here’s the phrase I wanted: «Who gives us richly all things to enjoy.» Everything that God does in us—I mean, we just had a goodness gracious time in the presence and in the glory—it’s all designed for our delight in Him. Any pleasure that separates me from my affection for God is illegitimate pleasure. Everything takes me to Him. See, God is love; we know this is true, and I was made in God’s image. I am at my best when I’m in love; I’m at my best, I’m at my finest. You can hammer a nail into a board with a crescent wrench, but it violates design. Many people function in life outside of their design, and they think that because they can hammer the nail in, so to speak, that all is well. It’s discovering design—what I was born for—that releases me into my potential, my eternal purpose.
Eternity is the cornerstone of logic and reason. Once we remove eternity from the equation, we lose all sense of wisdom, all sense of accountability, all sense of purpose. Many people do not have an appetite for eternity because they have so little invested there. We have an appetite for where we invest—calculated, deliberate investment in eternity. Tom did a wonderful job this morning talking about evangelism—sharing our faith as an investment in eternity. We just received an offering—investment in eternity; we just spent time in His glorious, glorious presence being recalibrated for eternity. In 1 John 4:19, it says, «We love Him because He first loved us.» I can only love Him in the measure I receive love from Him. Receiving the love of God gives me a capacity for love I did not have before. I was designed to be a lover of God—I was designed to be a lover of God with everything that I am, every part of my being. The scripture says I’m to love Him with all my heart, my soul, my mind, my strength. Everything about my spirit man is geared up and ready to love God completely.
I’ve heard, perhaps you’ve heard, the phrase, «So heavenly minded, they’re of no earthly good.» It’s impossible. The only way to be of earthly good is to be heavenly minded. Otherwise, you’re just shadow boxing. I’m to love God with all my heart, my soul. There’s an emotional capacity to love that must find expression in my relationship with God; that’s a lifetime journey. I never stop and grade myself; I only keep going forward. I’m to love Him with all my heart, my soul, my mind. The intellect is at its finest when it considers God, His wonder, His beauty. «The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'» There’s something there—a level of genius, if I can use that term, given to those who start with God and go from there towards life.
Whenever we remove the concept of design, we start by saying we’re designed for love; whenever we erase that concept—right now culture is trying to erase the whole thing of design. I mean, the things that five years ago would have had you an appointment with a psychiatrist are now applauded as noble. It’s insane. We can’t violate design; it’s not just about sexual orientation; it’s life itself. I was born to be loved by God and to love Him in return, and a part of that expression of my love for God must be measurable in my love for people. If I say I love God but don’t demonstrate it towards people, you have every reason in the world to question my love for God, because there’s no evidence; in other words, spiritual realities have to be measurable in the natural. The moment we get rid of the concept of a Creator—and that’s been the war of the last 150 years or whatever to remove the concept of a Creator—if there’s no Creator, then there’s no design, because you can’t have design without a designer. You can’t say the beaver has teeth designed in such a way as to chew trees. You can’t say design if there’s no Creator. There’s no such thing as random design. Design has to have a designer. So, if we remove the concept of a Creator, if there is no design, then there is no purpose; if there’s no purpose, there’s no destiny; if there’s no destiny, there’s no accountability.
This whole issue is to undermine the absolute necessity of wisdom, because giving an account of my life is at the heart and soul of true biblical wisdom—that I will stand before Him and give an account. Once that’s erased from the consciousness of humanity, then things become scary, frighteningly random, driven by self-absorption, self-protection, self-promotion. So I’m to love God with all my heart, with all my soul, my mind. Isn’t it amazing that our mind, the intellect, is an instrument of love in God’s world? David would intentionally talk about the night watches; there were apparently times in his routine and in others in scripture—in the Psalms especially—they would wake in the night just to consider God. Everything else was quiet, and they would just stop and think.
Next time you’re restless and just can’t seem to get to sleep, how about using your time well? Just maybe it’s an invitation to consider something of His ways. I ran an experiment once in a prayer meeting; I had ever—I think it was about ten people or so; there was in Weaverville days, and I just said, «I want everybody here to pick an aspect of God’s nature.» So, just pick something: His love, His justice, His purity—whatever it is. So, everybody picks them; this row right here—everybody pick something. I said, «All right, what we’re going to do is we’re going to stand; we’re going to give praise to God. I want you to do it out loud, and we’re going to praise God. I want you to only praise Him about that one thing,» and so whatever thing they picked, they couldn’t change the subject. You know, if it was God’s justice, they just had to say, «God, I pray…» and you know, it didn’t take long; they ran out of stuff to say. And so I just let them go; I just let them go, get beyond the reach of comfort into the realm of sacrifice, because that’s where the great discoveries are made. Discoveries in the Kingdom are made in the realm of sacrifice.
When we were through, as this went on for, I forget now, 15-20 minutes; it was a period of time. So, when we were done, I sat everyone down and said, «What happened?» Every person had the same story. They said, «I gave God praise for His love. I said everything I could think of about His love.» So that’s using the mind! I recalled everything I could think of about His love, and I spoke it and gave Him praise for it. As soon as I ran out of things to say, He showed me something new. In other words, they stewarded what they were given; it’s been in there for maybe for years, but they got into a moment where they pushed into a realm of sacrifice, and they began to give expression to that which they had known for years. When they poured it all out, He then lifted the veil and let every single person see something new about that aspect of His own person, His nature.
Stewardship and sacrifice—it’s not true because it’s in the Bible; it’s in the Bible because it’s true. This is Jesus in print! I gave an illustration a few weeks ago; one of the best—I love to go to fine restaurants, so if you think that’s waste, I’m so sorry for you; I’m investing in eternity! That’s what I’m doing. Excellence is an expression of wisdom. I’ll leave that alone right there. All right, so one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in my life—two of the main ingredients, I can’t stand! I’ve never been a fan of oysters; forgive me if you like them. Until this moment, I was never a fan of caviar, and I went to the French Laundry, my favorite restaurant in the world. Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Thomas Keller! And this was many years ago now; I sat down, and one of the first dishes they brought out was this thing called oysters and pearls. It’s oysters and caviar in this special thing that he made. I looked at it, and I looked at my—that you’ve got to understand—I don’t like either of those two things, and it’s got some something else, so I look at Benny and I said, «I’m spending too much money on this meal to not at least try it.» I took one bite; the hallelujah chorus, I’m sure, began to echo through the room as this—I actually turned to Benny and said, «Honey, I want a chili bowl full of this stuff!»
How is it that one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in my life has ingredients I can’t stand? There are things in here that make no sense to you; they’re bitter, some are mysterious, but they all go into the recipe of bringing life, healing, strength, insight, and clarity of heart and mind. I need to not just read the verses that make me feel good; I need the ones that cause questions; I need the ones that frustrate. I need every part of this because it all mixes together into the finest thing you’ve ever eaten in your life—it’s the Word of God! So, I’m to love God with my mind, but then it says I’m to love Him with my strength. Isn’t that interesting? Physical strength. I guess I doubt it means singing worship songs while you lift weights! I think somehow—well, here, let me just read a verse to you.
Go to Psalms 84. Psalms 84. Excuse me, excuse me while I gag in your ears. Psalms 84, verse 1: «How lovely is Your tabernacle!» The tabernacle is the dwelling place of God. «How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longs—it’s a hunger thing; my soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the Lord.» The courts of the Lord is a place of encounter; it’s a place of presence. Okay, there’s a tabernacle, and then you go deeper into the presence, and that’s what courts represent. All right? «My soul longs and even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.» My heart and my flesh—now listen carefully—heart and flesh—my body cries out for God. We know what physical appetites are; we know what it is to be thirsty. We know what it is to hunger for oysters and pearls, yes, Jesus! We know what it is to hunger for food, to pursue a meal. It’s possible to spend time in the glorious presence of God, where your body becomes recalibrated to hunger for what it was born for.
Every person in this room—every person on Bethel TV—was actually designed by God so that every part of us—our mind, our emotions, our will, every part of us—our physical body, our gifts, talents, everything—is at its finest in its encounter of loving God and receiving love from God. There’s something of perfect design that comes when I’m loving God well—completely. Every part of me is to burn for God; it’s the love for God. I can’t make that up, but I can receive love until that’s the only logical response. See, it says to know the love of Christ, Ephesians 3:19—to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. To know what is beyond knowing—to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. It can be translated this way: to know by experience what is beyond comprehension. Busyness is artificial significance; it insulates us from being still enough to be loved. I don’t mean He doesn’t love you when you’re running; I just mean you don’t realize or discover the true dimension of His love until there’s stillness. I’m not saying you can’t learn through hectic activity; all of us have. But there’s something about being still and knowing that I am God. That’s what He says: «Be still.»
There’s something about stillness. I come into a place of stillness. It’s the reason why so many in this room receive some of their best insights, inspirations, moments in God when they’re sleeping or just waking up. Defenses are down; anxiety hasn’t kicked in yet; your agenda hasn’t come to mind, which oftentimes our agenda for God is our greatest interference from God; it keeps us from God. Our agenda for God oftentimes insulates us from God.
See, it’s a lifestyle—it’s a journey of personal discovery—to know by experience, to taste and see—to know by experience what is beyond comprehension. Taste and see that the Lord is good! Taste is experience; see, perception—your experience will affect your perception. It’s interesting to me about the human body and how God designed us. He says in Hebrews 5:12, «He says, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. You have come to need milk and not solid food.»
Everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. So, what do we have here? The Word of God is divided into two categories in this passage: milk and the word of righteousness. Let me rephrase it: milk and meat. Milk is that which comforts and soothes; meat is that which provokes change. The word of righteousness, if I only search the scripture to find milk, I will live in comfort but will live in perpetual immaturity, because it’s the word of righteousness that provokes me and brings me into change—unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. Solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised or trained to discern good and evil.
Senses—physical senses: smell, sight, hearing, touch, taste—the senses that we have actually were designed in us to recognize God! I know it sounds mystical. It sounds, you know, like the mystics. People get angry at us sometimes for the use of the word mystics, because there have been cultic leaders that were referred to as mystics, and there were also wonderful saints of God that historically have been referred to as mystics. It may sound mystical to you, but it’s actually in Hebrews 5; the writer of Hebrews basically said that having your senses trained to discern good and evil is a requirement to be a teacher.
«For though you ought to have been teachers by now,» and then he goes on to describe that they don’t have their senses trained. It’s in there as an invitation to learn what it means. I only had this happen once in my life, but I look forward to it happening again. Benny and I were driving from Weaverville to Redding in our little Toyota Corolla hatchback five-speed; we thought we were kings of the entire earth with this brand new car that had AM/FM and a cassette deck. Yep, yep! And we’re driving from Weaverville to Redding, and we began to just sing in tongues, sing in the Spirit, worship God as we’re driving—Eric and Brian in the backseat—Leah wasn’t born yet; we’re just driving to Redding. All of a sudden, this fragrance filled the car. I thought, «Man, flowers!» so I looked outside and went, «Oops, it’s November; there are no flowers!»
I remember as we got by the Lewiston exit, this fragrance filled the car. I didn’t want to talk about it because I didn’t want to jinx it, so we just began singing. This is actually how it happened: we’re just driving, and I’m singing; Benny’s saying, «I don’t know if she’s experiencing this or not, but I don’t want to mess it up by having a conversation,» so we’re just singing, worshiping God. All of a sudden, I could taste it; it was exactly like granules of sugar put on my tongue! I tasted—we’d sing some more; this fragrance filled the car—we’d sing some more; I was afraid to stop and taste. I don’t know what it means; I don’t ever ask questions on—I don’t ask questions like that anymore: «What does this mean?» because I never get any answers. So, if it’s better for me just to embrace mystery and go, «This is awesome!"—what does it mean? I am clueless, and I like being clueless just to enjoy Jesus!
We got down by Whiskeytown Lake, and I said, «Honey, did you smell?» She goes, «Yeah, did you smell that?» And we just enjoyed this fragrance of the Lord. In heaven, everything has fragrance; everything has sound; everything has light. There is this intensely glorious harmony and melody woven into everything that exists in heaven—everything! There’s color, there’s beauty, there’s sound, there’s light, there’s brilliance; everything has divine purpose. There are colors there that have never been thought of here; there are sounds there. I think worship leaders more and more are going to be hearing glimpses of sounds, melodies there that God has kept hidden; you could put a computer program together that could discover every possible melody, and God would hide it from that computer, because it only exists in His world. Occasionally, people catch a glimpse.
I personally think Handel’s Messiah is one of those pieces where a man who was very obnoxious, very angry, very impatient—not a godly man—was brought poetry by a young poet, and he had a soft spot. The one place he had a soft spot in his heart was for young poets. He took this poetry, and he began to read over it; he began to hear sounds. He began to hear sounds; he began to write. He would write non-stop; it was like he was obsessed with completing this project. The woman who cooked meals for him would come in to feed him, and he would turn away. He went through—I forget how many days it took—where he wrote Handel’s Messiah, this incredible piece of music, lyrics by this young poet, music from this master who tapped into heavenly sounds, and he penned something that is sung by unbelievers around the world. Only Jesus can pull that off.
When he was done, he was the most godly, gentle, gracious, kind man because he had heard the heavenly sounds, and he wrote them. I think it’s the ambition of all of our worship teams; we’re learning to hear—we’re going to hear sounds that maybe nobody’s heard before. Some of those are to be recorded here; some are just to be heard and left. I think whenever Jesus spoke, it says He only said what He heard the Father say. So, there were things being spoken in the heavenly realm; Jesus heard them, and He spoke them. Constantly, it says people were stunned by the words that came out of His mouth. «We’ve never heard teaching like this before,» they would say, because He was hearing a heavenly sound. When He spoke, it recalibrated the hearts of people. All of a sudden, people just began to adjust whatever they needed to adjust to make sure they were in line with what God is saying.
We’re not convincing people of a Christian philosophy; we’re introducing them to love. We’re introducing them to the One who is perfect love, and even the odd parts of the story demonstrate perfect love. Everything about me must be used to love Him well—everything! My physical energy. Some people, when they’re tired, just stay home; I think that’s when you should come and give an offering! I think that’s when you give a sacrifice. Our children learn what’s important to us by what we’ll sacrifice for. We sacrifice for their sports activities; we sacrifice for their music lessons; we sacrificed for so many things! I remember sacrificing so my kids could each have mountain bikes. You know, they learned what was important to me. What do you get up early for? What do you stand in a long line for? Some people stand in a long line to get a new iPhone—hey, amen! That’s a worthy line to stand in.
Some people stand in a long line—I remember when I was a kid; I was raised in Sacramento, L.A., then up here, and I’ve always been a San Francisco Giants fan. I remember in 1962 staying up all night, standing in line hoping to buy tickets to see the seventh game of the World Series. Sometimes you just suffer because the outcome is worth it! They lost one to nothing against the Yankees—I’m still a little bitter about that. So, you just stand in line, but some won’t stand in line for the house of God. See, we actually prophesy with our actions what’s valuable to us. We prophesy through our actions what’s important because what will cost me is what’s valuable.
The crazy thing is that what we have happening day after day, year after year, week after week is as we become accustomed to glorious things. When the glorious becomes overly familiar, do you know where famine comes from in the Bible? Misused abundance. So, we’re invited into this relationship where we become mature while remaining children. We become mature in insight, favor, anointing, breakthrough, clarity of heart, clarity of mind—all these things—while remaining incredibly thankful for the simplest pleasures from God. See, for some, maturity breeds entitlement; it breeds entitlement. I remember when the renewal first started, we had people, «Oh yeah, been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.» Really? Your life doesn’t look like it was changed. I thought we encountered God; you were changed. I’m starting to feel very ornery, and I think I probably should back off that one because I could dive right into a bottomless pit so easily right now, and I’m just not going to.
So here we are, Psalms 84: «My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.» Um, here, let’s do this: I’m to love God with my heart, my soul, my mind. See, the person who has no control over their thoughts has little ability to love God with their mind. The battle over the mind is to be clear enough to love God with your intellect. All the distractions are to keep me from tapping into that creative source, if you will, of God’s heartbeat, of design, of beauty, of wonder, of excellence—all those things that I get to be exposed to intellectually are supposed to be a part of my expression of love. But if I can get filled with fear, worry, anxiety, wondering what this person thinks, or wondering what that person thinks, suddenly I become disengaged from my capacity for love.
Sometimes I’ll sit down; I’ll go to my office or at home or whatever, and I’ll just sit in a chair. As best I know how, I put every concern, every responsibility, every vision, every dream, everything—all my calls—over to the side and just sit there and say, «Father, I’m here to be loved by You.» I don’t become anxious over what I’m seeing, discerning, or feeling. No, if He’s who He says He is, He doesn’t need my cooperation; He just needs my silence. Sometimes we get so anxious trying to discern how well we’re doing. I just sit there; I just say, «Hold all my calls for five minutes,» and I sit there with nothing to do, nothing to say, except, «God, I know You love me, so I’m going to sit here and just receive Your love.» Ten to five minutes in, something’s happening in my heart! I hope it’s happening in yours; it probably is—all of us together. But the Lord is teaching us how to be free in our affection for Him.
Paul made this statement; he said, «You’re restricted by your affections.» There’s restriction—excuse me, you’re restricted; there’s a restraint on you according to your affection. We were designed to have a heart that actually burns for Him—not to perform for Him. It is for Him; it is the wonder of Him; it’s the mystery of Him. It’s the fact that I can know Him and not understand Him. It’s the fact that I can be embraced by Him and live. It’s the fact that the One whose hands are nail scarred can hold me. Imagine this—you’re sitting face to face with Jesus, and you look into His eyes. All right? Looking into His eyes, and from His eyes come these words: «How joyful are those who love the Lord and bow low before God, ready to obey Him; your reward will be prosperity, happiness, and well-being. Your wife will bless your heart and home; your children will bring you joy as they gather around your table.» All this that I’m reading is the Word of God—it is Him; it’s the person. And when He looks at you in His eyes of love, His Word is being declared, prophesied into your soul.
I said earlier, it’s not true because it’s in the Bible; it’s in the Bible because it’s true. There are things that He is speaking, declaring, depositing in us that are like boundaries to property. You buy a piece of property, and there’s a stake here that says this is the edge of the property line. The Bible says, «Don’t remove the ancient boundaries.» It’s talking about this realm of God’s dominion. Don’t fudge on the boundaries; don’t make Him smaller than He is, and don’t allow things He doesn’t allow. Are you with me? Leave the boundaries there—you need them; we need them; I need them.
And so here, every time He speaks to us, He’s readjusting my awareness of where life is; life is inside the boundaries. The reality inside the Kingdom is bigger than everything that’s outside the Kingdom. The liberty in here is greater than everything out there combined. Discovering the love of God for me, discovering the love of God for you starts with just surrender: «I give myself to You completely.» Things start happening.
I’ve mentioned this before; I should wrap this up here soon. When I go to bed at night, I like to lay there until I become aware of Him. I don’t want to just go to sleep. I practice this in many different moments in my day. Years ago, I would shop at a particular store that was a little bit weird, but I really loved the people there. I would stop before I’d go into the store; I’d pause for just a moment. Just until I can become aware of Him. Once I become aware of Him, then I go into the store to shop. I don’t want to say He wasn’t with me before, but I do better when I’m aware of Him. I do better; I think better; my courage is greater; my faith is stronger if I can stay kind of connected to the fact that He’s with me. If I just keep that in my burning heart of affection—that’s how I recognize; I just turn my attention towards Him. What happens? I become aware of Him! My heart just begins to burn for Him.
So, I like to—when I go to sleep at night—that’s what I like to do. I like to take moments where I just become aware, aware of God. Sometimes I have a task that seems absolutely near impossible or something that makes me very nervous or anxious, and I just stop and become aware of Him. It’s God in me that makes this task possible. I had an experience—excuse me, this is a repeat, but I had an experience about two months ago where I woke up one morning, and I felt homesick. I didn’t know why I felt—it was the weirdest thing! Homesick! I’m at my house; my wife’s here. I just felt homesick. It was just weird; it’s a weird feeling. So, I thought back: «What am I sensing?» And I remembered night after night, I’d been going to sleep, becoming conscious of Him and burning in my affection for Him. What would happen is I’d wake up to use the restroom, or Benny or I—one of us would turn over, and the other would wake up. In that moment, I just immediately turned my heart back to Him—turned my heart back to Him—turned my heart back!
When I get up in the morning, I’m already burning in affection for Him; I’m already aware of Him. This particular morning, I woke up, did not think of Him, felt homesick, and realized two days in a row I did not wake up with Him as the first thing on my mind. I realized such a momentum had been created in the previous couple of months that not having that one simple little moment where you wake up conscious of God—not having that, I just felt homesick. I realized, «Oh! I just felt homesick,» and I realized that’s home! He’s home! He’s home! I was designed for love; so are you! I was designed to be loved—in order to be loved—and I was designed to give what I receive away.
As we become more impacted by the love of God, our eyes begin to burn like His eyes, and you look into the eyes of another person, and you have nothing but compassion and deep interest for their well-being. There may be a moment—that may be in a store; it may be greeting somebody behind you in a meeting like this—but it’s a moment that’s genuine and real and is marked with eternity, because we are alive with the love of God because He first loved us. Everything about us is designed for love.
Won’t you stand? Listen to these verses: Deuteronomy 6:5: «You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.» Now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Deuteronomy 10: «What does God require from you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.» Deuteronomy 30: «Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart.» In other words, there’s a refinement and a discipline of heart that gives me a greater capacity for love—the foremost is, «Hear, O Israel! The Lord your God is one Lord.»
You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. These words in this Bible, this Word of God, are not given to us as mere commandments. The main difference, to me, just an opinion, the main difference between Old and New Testament is Old Testament—you’re commanded to do things—In the New Testament, you’re empowered to do what you’re commanded! Law requires; grace enables. The law is holy, as someone said—it just can’t make you holy.
Put your hands out in front of you; just a prophetic act. We’ll pray. Just pray this with me: «Father, teach me to love You well; teach me to love You completely and show me how to receive Your love—unrestrained, complete immersion in the love of God. I want to love You with my heart, with my soul, with my mind, even my physical strength.» Amen. It’s quite possible there could be someone here who has never tasted of the love of God; you don’t know what it is to be born again. It means just change from the inside; it’s a relationship with Jesus. It’s not about sitting in a building like this. He invites every one of us to know personally what this indescribable love and forgiveness is like, and it changes us forever.
The Bible says, «Whoever confesses that Jesus is Lord will be saved.» And if there’s anybody in this room that would say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know that I have found peace with God,» then I want you just to put a hand up, and we’re going to pray with you. For you now, I want to do this before we do anything else—most important part of the night, right here! Anyone at all—just wave it at me if I miss you. Okay, right here. All right, wonderful one! Wonderful! Anybody else? Yeah, beautiful! If you can, Nathan, why don’t you go back to this young man who just put his hand up, and I want you to talk with him and pray with him, because I want him to know what it is to know the love of God.
Anyone else ready for increase in the love of God, or just experiencing the love of God, loving God freely, loving Him completely? You know what? If you’ll look into His eyes, you’ll hear words come out, and they will forever change you. So we just say this: «Lord, we welcome You to speak, to declare Your Word over us, God. We give You thanks. Thank You, Lord. Amen.»