Bill Johnson - Return to First Love
Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! Yeah, they work so hard for us all the time. There we go. Oops! How many of you would say the Lord has been speaking to you in recent days and weeks about first love, making sure that you have returned to your first love? That’s been a theme. If you raise your hands and those who are watching by Bethel TV, just join with us in this. I feel like the Lord is going to take us back to some of our beginnings and, in some ways, our teaching realm has grown bigger than our heart realm, and the Lord wants to keep us current and fresh. You can’t discover your significance until you’ve discovered your insignificance. Nobody came to Jesus because they were powerful; they all came to Jesus empty, and it’s vital to maintain that. The crazy part of this life with Christ is that we give Him everything, and then He returns it to us many times over. That’s not where it’s supposed to stop. We give everything again, and then He returns, and we give everything again. It’s a cycle of life that we live as believers. We choose where to level off when we become consumers only and not givers. Does that make sense? Chief makes perfect sense to me! I’m saying amen to myself. Amen.
Here’s what I want to do. I want those of you who are sitting to lay hands on those who are standing. I just want you to lay hands on them, and there’s a good chance that those of you who are sitting need this prayer too. So while you’re praying for them, pray for yourself as well. Those of you who are standing together, some of you are standing. There are many people who stood side by side, back to back. Just lay hands on each other. Here’s what I want you to do: I want you to pray that a spirit of breakthrough would come upon us as a people, that we would be restored to childhood, that we would be restored to the simplicity of devotion to Christ. I’m going to ask you to lift your voices. I’m going to ask for no passive prayers right now. Those of you who are standing, I usually have you remain quiet while people pray for you; this time, I want you to pray as well. Lift up your voices as well. Returning to first love, returning to first love—pray those specific words. Reignite in us, God, first love. Jesus' instructions were to return to the deeds we did at first. Lord, I pray for a refreshing of the heart and mind to the simple deeds of devotion to Christ. May every person be touched by this truth, by this reality. Don’t stop praying; this is not a two-minute prayer. Those of you who just received prayer, I want you to lay hands on the people that prayed for you. I want you to pray the same thing for them. Just pray, «God, ignite in them first love, first love.» Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
Okay, go ahead and sit down. We’re going to pray again in just a moment, so don’t get too cozy. We need to go after this a little bit more, and I’m just going to kind of try to feel my way through this. I’ve just been really provoked and stirred up. If you could picture what a grain of wheat is like, you have the stem, and the wheat grows, and around each grain of wheat is chaff. All success has chaff, which basically means every bit of progress we make has something to be discarded. Not knowing that causes us to actually embrace things that the Lord wants to free us from. They’re not evil things; they’re just unnecessary things. And I can just feel it. I wish I had better language, but it won’t leave me alone, so I’m going to keep talking until I say something. That’s what Larry Randolph used to tell me: «I’m going to keep talking until I say something.»
I believe that the Lord would bring us into a place of personal intimacy and personal breakthrough tonight, not someday but actually right now, tonight, in a way that’s fresh for every one of us. There’s a door to freshness. It doesn’t mean where I was was wrong; it just means there’s more, and I have to leave something behind to get there. See, you can only live where you’ve died. So when He invites us to come deeper, there’s an abandonment that we come with. We come with that abandonment, that surrender. It doesn’t necessarily mean that anything is wrong; it just means that sometimes we hold onto things that are simply unnecessary in the purpose and plan of God for our lives.
In Revelation chapter 2 is the passage about first love, and the Lord speaks to the church in Ephesus. He compliments them first for what they’ve done right. They were a church that understood spiritual authority, unusually so. They were able to spot false apostles; they could bring adjustment to order and structure. They did it well. But in the structuring of things, they lost the passion. They had good order and a good understanding of government. But there’s this strange thing about government in the Bible: government’s not bad; it’s absolutely righteous and ordained of God. However, one of the unusual pictures of government in the Bible is when the book of Revelation has this unusual, strange picture of the bride coming down out of heaven, four-square: fifteen hundred by fifteen hundred by fifteen. It’s just the most unusual picture, and it gets kind of confusing until you realize that all structure is supposed to come out of romance. It’s keeping things tender; it’s keeping things simple.
The Apostle Paul talked about the simplicity of devotion to Christ. It’s one of my most favorite phrases that he uses: the simplicity of devotion. The problem with maturity is you can become impressed by your own growth. It’s still all by grace. On my best day, it’s only by grace. It’s all by grace, and there’s something about remaining childlike. I’ve been talking—I have a message for tonight, but I may just scrap it. Well, we’ll see; I don’t know, no promises yet. But I’ve been talking a lot in recent days about longevity. It’s really been on my heart. I’ve been noticing these people in Scripture; some did well, and some didn’t.
Some of you perhaps were here when I talked about Hezekiah. I’ve done it quite a few times in recent months. He did so good; he was one of my favorite reformers. Perhaps my two most favorite reformers in all of history, yet he ended so poorly. Something happened where he lost the tenderness; he lost the fire. He still maintained the routine; he still, I’m sure, gave the sacrifices to the Lord. They still had the songs; they still had the worship, because he restored Davidic worship. But something happened when he has a history of crying out to God during a crisis. They were surrounded by enemy nations, absolutely about to be destroyed. They cried out to God, and God gave them prophetic direction. They took it, and God delivered them. Isaiah told him he had a disease from which he was going to die. He cried out to God, and God brought a word to him: «I’m going to add 15 years to your life.»
But when he became complacent, he misbehaved, and the Lord brought a word that there was going to be great difficulty for his own descendants. Specifically, his own sons would be carried off to Babylon and made eunuchs. He had a history with God: he cried out to God, and God met him; there was deliverance. He cried out to God, and God met him; there was deliverance. But he received the worst possible news in his life at a time when he was complacent, and he failed to respond with childlike faith to get a breakthrough. Sometimes we grow past our passion; sometimes we grow past that fire in us, and I’m saying most all of this as a personal confession of determination to ensure that I keep things simple.
Here, we didn’t get to the place we are because we were intelligent. I believe in intelligence. Sanctified intelligence is glorious. I have friends whom I admire so much for the brilliance that God’s given them. I look at some of the teaching gifts that we have in this house, and I’m stunned by the brilliance that comes out of their lips week after week after week. I’m thankful for insight; I’m thankful for intelligence; I’m thankful for revelation knowledge of the Word. But what I can’t afford to do is to let this get bigger than this. And I can feel it; I can feel it’s at hand for me. My heart right now needs to expand at a faster rate. He’s wanting to give me more insight; I know He is. I know His heart is to satisfy the quest that we have to perceive His ways, to perceive His purpose and plan for why He has brought us together from the four corners. There are many places around the world in which God is moving, and this happens to be one, and I’m so thankful. But none of it is because of any of our significance.
I remind you, the Lord spoke to Israel and said, «I chose you because you were the least.» Run that over in your head a few times. The moment you start becoming impressed with your success, remember: all success has chaff. It has good, but it also has something worth burning. I’ll do it again later when I get my act together, but right now I’m just bumbling through this. I believe that tonight we’re to have an altar call in which all of us come. To make it work, I may just bring the altar to you. I do believe we’re supposed to pray into this next—I want to say season, but for me it’s this next moment. I’m not thinking about my potential; I’m not thinking about my goals or my vision. We’re supposed to carry those, and that’s the bulk of what we emphasize here. We talk mostly about our identity and where we’re headed—the assignment God’s given us. We’re here to shape the course of world history; I believe all that. But in this moment, all I am is a son that needs a Dad, a Father, a wonderful Father.
I was thinking earlier today about this statement Jesus made in Matthew 6:33. He said, «Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.» Say that with me: «Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.» Say it again: «Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.» Let me tell you what that means to me: it means that every action, every thought, every ambition, every possession, everything about my life, I am to seek first the absolute dominion of a perfect loving Father until His own nature flows in and through me. Seeking first His righteousness—His very person, His very being, His very nature—is evident and seen in and through me. It’s not that we’re to decrease or disappear, but His significance is really the only place I have found significance.
So I want us to just pray into some adjustments. I’m not sure how to do it; we may pray for five minutes and do something else, and then, again, this may be it. So I want you to stand again. I realize this might be awkward for those who are watching on Bethel TV, but if there is a group of you together, I would encourage you to pray into this. I just have this sense; I believe the Lord will give us better language in the weeks and months to come. But I’ve got this sense that Jesus is awakening something in this. Let me tell you something: as long as I’ve got you standing, I have said I rarely—in the 40-some years of ministry—when I’m going through something personal, when I’m having a challenge or trial or whatever it might be, I avoid like the plague assuming that what I’m facing everyone else is facing. Because sometimes the Lord just deals personally, I’ve heard people prophesy stuff, and I can tell they’re in pain—they think all of us are in pain too. You know, it’s like they’re trying to share their misery. Sometimes we just do that.
I’ve avoided that like the plague because I learned early in life that God deals with us uniquely and differently. But I’ve been talking to many friends and I’ve come to a conclusion that, at least for me and those I’ve talked to, the strongest battle over thoughts and the mind has been fought in the last 12 months—more than I would say in any ten-year period of my life. The answer isn’t greater intelligence; the answer is to return to first love, keep it simple. Let the Father protect the other things too—what to think about, what to dwell on, what to pray for. I get all that, but it starts with just returning to simple devotion to Christ and not adding Him to our agenda, but once again laying all agendas down and watching what He adds life to.
So grab a hand; yes, we are feely touchy people. Some of you aren’t, and it’s your cross to remain here with us. I want you to pray for yourself out loud—no wimpy prayers. I want you to pray for the ones on your right and left. I want you to pray, «God, help us, help us, help us return to the simplicity of devotion. Help us in every single way to return to first love.» We’re going to do this for a couple of minutes: return to first love in every possible way. Thank you, Lord God. Thank you, Lord. Just keep praying, but get into groups of two, three, or four people and pray for each other. Just keep praying. Just lay hands on one another. Pray—pray in groups of two, three, four people. Keep it small, but just pray; lay hands on each other and pray, «God, awaken us, awaken us to first love, first love, the simplicity of devotion to Christ.»
Terrific. So, um, thank you, Lord. Thank you, thank you, Lord. Some of you actually feel the need to come to the front and just pray, and I’m going to invite you to just come to the front and pray. You felt it earlier when I mentioned the altar call; just follow that. Not everyone needs to, but if it’s in your heart, just come to the front and pray. It feels like we’re supposed to go after this tonight more than anything else. Oh, come, let us adore Him! Oh, come, let us adore Him in Christ! Oh, let us—for You alone are worthy. For You, we give You all the glory. We give You, He cries. Oh, here I will give You all my worship; I’ll give You all my praise. You know I want to.
I want to ask some of the staff that might be able to just start laying hands on people. Just pray. If you’re having that moment with the Lord, you go ahead and just do that. But if you’re otherwise able to join us, some of our third-year students, some of our ministry team, if you’re able to join us, just start praying for people. We just want to pray. You know what? Let’s do this. Let’s just pray for a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit—a fresh baptism, a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God upon people, every person, every person in the rows, those who have come up front, every single person— that Jesus would give a fresh touch, a fresh touch. The Lord is giving us access to a whole new season, a whole new season, a whole new period of time. I want to go in like a child; I don’t want to go in like an expert. Thank you, Lord God. Thank you, thank you, Lord God.
Yeah, those of you that are able to just help us and pray, help us and pray for people. We pray for this, Lord. We pray for a mighty, mighty outpouring—a mighty outpouring to begin even here, right now, with us in this moment. Bring about the increase for Your glory, God. Bring about the increase for Your glory. Show us Your ways; teach us how You move. Teach us how You move, Lord, especially those who have come to the front to pray. I want to encourage you to lift your voices. Lift your voices and ask very specifically of the Lord what you’ve come forward for. Many of you have been touched by the Lord just by a prompting to cry out for Him. Lift your voice up; lift your voice up to bold prayers, bold answers. Thank you, Lord God. Wonderful Jesus, wonderful, wonderful God. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord. Some of our ministry team can even help us too; if you’d like to just start laying hands on people around you, I want us just to be immersed in this time of prayer before we do anything else. Immersed in this time of prayer before we do anything else. God, help us to be fresh; help us to be current, not just living off of yesterday’s breakthrough, not just living off of yesterday’s obedience, but to be current and fresh in our ongoing surrender to You for the glory of the name of Jesus, the glory of the name of Jesus.
Thank you, Lord. Wonderful Lord Jesus, wonderful Lord Jesus. Now, I want to ask you to do something that’s somewhat awkward to do, but we’re going to try it anyway. I haven’t asked this in a lot of years; I want everyone to leave your seat and try to come toward the front. We can’t all fit; I get it. But I want us to try, and I’ll tell you why in a moment. You can get up on the stairs, but not the stage. If you want to move up on those stairs, that’s fine. But I just feel like we’re supposed to get in close, stand together. Just squeeze in close if you’re able to stand. If you can’t, that’s all right; stay where you are. Some of you that were in the back rows can move up into the second, third, fourth row. We just want to get in close here. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, except sometimes you need to move to have something happen; it’s the truth. Why do you think Jesus told the blind man to go and wash in a pool? There was no magic in the water; he just needed to leave where he was, and sometimes I’ve watched for years—sometimes just getting people from where they’re seated to the aisle is where their healing is. It’s very simple, but sometimes movement is necessary.
You know, if you want to crowd around up here, that’s fine. I don’t want to get in the way of the TV and instruments, but just moving close. The first time I did this here was 22 years ago. A few months later, the church was tired; they had been without a pastor for eight months. Penny and I and the kids just showed up; we could tell they were tired. I asked everyone to come to the front like this; they crowded around the front, and I invited the Holy Spirit to come. He came in power upon one person right here. What He did for one person, Benny and I looked at each other and said, «We’ve got it. It is now unstoppable.»
Refuse to be impressed or discouraged by size or amounts; feed from what He’s doing now. I’ve got you right where I want you—best altar call I’ve had all day. Never mind, I made you come to the front; that’s all right. Now, listen to this: if you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? If you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. All growth is rewarded with pruning; that’s the chaff. All success has something that needs to burn. His discipline isn’t punishment; it’s preparation for even greater breakthrough.
Now, here’s what I wanted you to hear: Jesus said, «I’m the true vine. My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes.» Guess what that is? Discipline. Pruning. Smile at me; He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. Now, if you catch this next verse and what it means, it can change the rest of your life. Jesus then turns to the twelve and says, «You are clean already.» The word «clean» there is the word «prune.» He says, «You are clean already because of the word I’ve spoken to you.» Pruning does not have to be hard circumstances; if you’re listening to God, pruning is listening.
You came forward tonight because you’re listening. I mean honestly, we’ve been sensing this stirring—first love, making sure that we’re current, fresh in our simple devotion to Christ. What is that? Listening! What is He doing? He’s pruning. He’s trimming back the parts in our thinking, our values, our ambitions, our plans that are just not necessary. He’s reducing us to the simplicity of devotion to Christ, because that’s where our strength is. That’s where our strength is!
Oh, come, let us adore Him. Oh, come, let us adore Him in Christ. Oh, let us—for You alone are worthy. For You, we give You all the glory. We give You thanks, Lord Jesus. If you can see that the Lord is touching someone close to you, just put your hand on them; bless them. I can just see the Spirit of God touching so many right here. Just touch her; just pray one for another. Yeah, just touch her right here; bless the Lord, Jesus. Talk to the Lord, Jesus.
Yep. Thank you. Lift up a spiritual song to the Lord; just lift up a spiritual song. Lift up a spiritual song. Oh, of us—oh, know in and out—you know, oh! So, sing that song with me, «Turn your eyes upon Jesus.» It’s an old, old hymn. «Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim.» Sing it again. «Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth,» and the things of earth will grow strangely dim.
One last time! «Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.» One of the most favorite quotes I heard in this past year was, «If you want to know how popular the church is, look at the attendance Sunday morning. If you want to know how popular the pastor is, look at the attendance Sunday night. If you want to know how popular God is, look at the attendance in a prayer meeting.»
It’s for that reason all that is in my heart tonight is just to simplify everything and all the anxious stuff set aside because of the one thing. So lift your voices again; just begin to pray.
God, painful, um, um, um, um, um, uh! Okay, we have fires burning in that direction. Turn and face in that direction and ask God in His mercy to stop the fires, to protect the firemen and protect the property. I want you to ask the Lord in His mercy to do what is naturally impossible in the same way that Jesus spoke peace to a storm. I want you to speak peace to this firestorm that is decimating this part of the country. Jesus spoke peace to a storm. Speak peace to this storm. Speak peace to this storm. We speak peace to you in Jesus' name! Peace to you in Jesus' name! Peace to you in Jesus' name!
Thank you, Lord. Peace to you in Jesus' name. Take just a moment longer. I feel like we’re supposed to wrap things up with this. I want you to pray concerning this firestorm—just peace, just peace. Pray in the spirit if you can—just peace, peace! Thank you, Lord!
All right, you did good. Go ahead and turn around; face me, and we’ll wrap this up in just a moment. It’d be appropriate for me to find out if there’s anyone here that would just say, «Bill, I need to get right with God.» You either have never committed your life to Christ before or you’ve been doing your own thing for so long that you know you just need to renew your confession of faith to Christ. If that’s anyone here, put a hand up, because we’re just going to make an agreement right here. Just right over here, another one right there. Those of you that are around them, I want you to pray very specifically. Those of you that are around these, I want you to pray very specifically; lead them into a prayer of repentance. I want us to gloss over this.
Was there anyone else? There are three here that I could see. If I missed somebody, then you that are around them, it’s your job to pray them through right now. Thank you. Now the rest of you, I want you to put a hand on somebody’s shoulder, and I want you to pray that in their heart of hearts—listen carefully because you’re going to pray a scary prayer—in their heart of hearts, God would become popular by their hunger for prayer meetings. I’m very serious. Listen to me carefully; sometimes it’s our own vision that makes us restless when it’s time to pray. Sometimes it’s our own ambition that makes us restless when it’s time for corporate prayer. Dial it down; return to the ambition of the Lord. Return to the heart of the Lord. I want you to pray that for one another. Take a couple of minutes for this, then we’ll wrap it: the ambition of God to be our ambition, the rest of God to be our rest.
Wonderful, wonderful Jesus! Wonderful, wonderful Jesus! Now just ask the Lord to double the anointing on their lives. Double portion time for double portion; time for double push. Go for it; double, double, double! Thank you, Lord!
All right, that’s the best message I never preached! That’s right; sometimes it’s just time to pray. I really am thankful that you’re willing to move with the Lord in that, because sometimes it’s just time to pray. Sometimes all I want to do is lay on the floor and just cry, you know? Sometimes, yes, enough said.
So we’re going to do a fire tunnel tonight, and that’ll be very powerful because it’s so thick up here right now. I can hardly wait to do this. So here’s what I’m going to do: somebody’s in charge from this point on, and I’m going to have them come up here. Let me ask you to do this: if you need to go, obviously you’ve been free to go all night. But if you can return to your seats, Gabe is going to come up here and give instructions. Ministry team, come to the front, and we’re going to start setting it up for— we want to lay hands on people. I really feel there’s a breakthrough anointing here. I would just dismiss you, except it’s tangible. It’s tangible right here, so let’s go for it!