Bill Johnson - You Are Designed For Answers to Prayer
I was designed for a seamless connection; that’s my nature. I was designed to hear from God; it is in my DNA to produce fruit for the glory of God. Is it happening? If it’s not happening at the place where I’m laying down my life, then I need to take Jesus aside.
Childhood injuries: fell off my bike, skinned my knee, fell out of a tree. Adult injuries: slept wrong, sat down too long, sneezed too hard. The salesman at the furniture store told me this sofa would seat five people without any problem. I said, «Where am I to find five people without any problems?» If liar’s pants really did catch on fire, watching the news would be a lot more fun.
Okay, yep, yep, let’s just ponder that one for a moment. Yeah, one more, one more. This is a picture, and you can’t see the picture, but it’s animals surrounding the manger. So we have baby Jesus, and we have animals: Camel, I will bear him gifts. Donkey, I will carry him. Fish, I will pay his taxes. Cow, I will quench his thirst. Dove, I will bless his baptism. Sheep, I will warm him. Duck, I will feed him. Pig, I will let him fill me with demons; then I’ll jump off a cliff.
Alright, I didn’t finish it, so let me read it as it is: I will let him fill me with demons; then I’ll jump off a cliff. And wait, what? Uh, just wait, what?
On the announcements today, I announced a new e-course on my latest book, «The Key to Open Heaven,» and it is available. Is there anybody in here that would like to do the e-course and you don’t have the book? Right over here, right? You’re the—yeah, you’re the first one, so somehow I need you to get his information so that he can take the e-course, and then you’ll pick someone in the great room, and you’ll fit one in the dining room. There we go. And online, a pastor online will pick—you don’t ask me how that works, just trust me, somebody’s going to get it for free.
Alright, alright, they gave me all those things to do; that’s way above my capacity. I want you to know you just witnessed a great miracle. I had more than one thing on my list, and I actually completed it all from memory and reminders from the front row. So, alright, open your Bibles to John chapter 15. We’re going to start, though we’ve got quite a few verses to read, all in the Gospel of John. I’ll quote probably a couple others, but I want to talk to you today about design.
You can’t have design without a designer, and in our culture, there’s a lot of celebration of design with a tremendous effort to ignore the designer. That’s not the message today, but it’s an important thing to keep in mind that design comes from a designer. We were designed with certain capacities, certain abilities, certain opportunities that are actually written into our code, into our DNA, into our spiritual design.
One is we were actually designed to be able to hear God. Now, the reason the enemy—what’s the number one command in the Bible? It is to not fear. So why would that be the number one command? Because learning to not fear is what trips us up in our capacity to hear. Anxiety and fear dumb us down to hearing. We speak of ourselves, «It’s so hard for me to hear from God.» No, no, no, that’s not true; you’re just listening to too many other things.
It’s the word that Ben read earlier before the offering, «Be careful what you hear, because whatever standard you set, it will be measured to you.» So when I entertain wrong things in my hearing, I’ve actually welcomed more wrong things to follow. When I develop an ear for whatever God is saying, it actually increases the flow of His voice in my life.
But here’s the thing we have to remember: we were designed to hear from God. Some people will say, «Well, I pray; all I sense is peace.» That’s His voice. Sometimes all you need to know is that He is present and He is peace. We don’t always need new concepts and new insights; what we need is the stability of a relationship that says «All is well.» In that heart-to-heart connection, we discover the heart and mind of God for a given situation.
But number one, we were designed to hear from the Lord. There are probably thousands of things we were designed for, but I want to address three and mainly talk about the third. The second one is we were designed for a seamless relationship with God. We were made in His image for the purpose of relationship. Everything He created, He said it was good, but when He created people, He said it was very good. Why? Because here is the opportunity for Him to fulfill His particular dream and desire, and that is to join with His creation in an intimate way that can’t be found in any other part of His creation.
Sin messed it up, but Jesus came and fixed the mess. Sin sent through an obstacle into that seamless connection, but Jesus came, removed the obstacle, and restored the capacity for a seamless connection. Let me speak of marriage for just a quick moment. In Genesis, when God formed Eve from the rib of Adam, He made this statement: «I will make a helpmate for him.» I don’t know how it happened; it would be interesting to see, but I don’t know how it happened through church culture that «helpmate» has taken on a subservient role—a second-class support citizen—instead of what the Bible actually says. The word «helpmate» God uses to describe Himself with Israel at least 12 and I think it might be 13 times. God says He is Israel’s helpmate—not a second-class subservient role, completely different than how we’ve understood it.
The word «helpmate» basically means one who is fully qualified to stand face to face and to make up for anything lacking in the other—one who is fully qualified. All the women got happy on that one! That’s what I’ve been saying! I knew it! Fully qualified to stand face to face, making up for whatever might be lacking.
God with Israel—the point is, man and woman became one, illustrating in human terms the design of seamless function. Ephesians 5 uses some fairly graphic language in its original language to describe this. He says, «Yeah, it’s marriage, but I’m not talking about that; I’m talking about you and Jesus in the church; it’s His people.» The point is, once we’re born again, we were designed for a seamless heart-to-heart connection with God. The reason the Lord deals so vigorously with fear, and then all of its relatives—bitterness, jealousy, those things—is because those things throw a monkey wrench into the seamless connection. It’s not a rejection on God’s part for us; it’s the—um, it interferes with design, interferes with capacity, interferes with the airwaves, so to speak.
It’s not seamless like it was supposed to be, and it’s repentance that continually keeps us in that seamless connection to sense, to feel, to live aware of the heart of God. It’s possible to develop such a consciousness, such an awareness of the heart of God that you instinctively obey. In fact, I personally think that’s maturity. It’s not that I don’t pray anymore; it’s that my prayer is the occasion to celebrate His kindness and love for me—the fact that He welcomes me into His presence.
But there’s this thing with maturity where we develop an awareness of His voice and His heart. I can tell there are times when I’ll talk to a friend, and I’m sharing something. He asks a question, I’m sharing, and sometimes I come to a point in the conversation where I can tell by his mood—"mood» isn’t the right word, but I haven’t found a better one—I can tell by his mood that I’m about to overshare. I don’t mean share something that’s not true; I mean share something that he’s not saying. You can say something is true but have it not be what he’s saying.
Jesus only said what the Father was saying. Like, the guy who comes to Jesus says, «How do you obtain eternal life?» Hey, evangelist! That’s what you call an open door! That’s when you preach the gospel, but not Jesus. He said, «What does the law say to you?» and he quotes a few commandments. Jesus says, «Do that; you’ll be fine.» Why would He do that? Because Jesus won’t add revelation to what He’s not already obeying. Instead, He takes him back to what he already knows so that his obedience will give him a momentum into the new things that God wants to speak into his life.
It’s the mercy of God to withhold information. Alright, anyway, we were designed for a seamless connection—a seamless design. The third thing is what I want to talk to you about. Now, I see some of you bundling up. I didn’t tell them to turn the cooler on, but I am so thankful because I’m so hot. This is God answering my prayer and not yours, but that’s—that’s third. Great sense of humor kicking in again, sorry.
Alright, they’ll get it fixed, but for the moment, I’m enjoying this. The third thing is: we were designed to be fruitful. This is about a thousand times more important than you think. God is so interested in fruitfulness; He’s constantly thinking of increase. Why? It’s His nature; it’s in His nature. His kingdom goes from glory to glory, and of the increase of His government, there will be no end.
It’s not a hard taskmaster requiring increase; it’s just saying stay in the position you’re designed in, and you will automatically be fruitful. Benny and I have a little orchard on our property. We bought property a few years ago, and we planted I think 25 trees or so. When I walk out among the trees to check them out, they’re finally at a place where they’re starting to grow things. You know, I don’t hear any of them going, «I claim it! I claim it! I claim it! I am fruitful! Come on, apples! Produce! I declare it! I claim it! In Jesus' name, I will bear fruit to the glory of God!» I don’t hear any of that stuff going on. That’s what we do, but that’s not what a tree does.
The tree just drinks the water we give it, the nutrients from the soil and whatever we add, and drinks in the sunlight. The fruit is the automatic evidence that it is rightly connected. We are designed to bear fruit. In other words, we are designed for a rightful connection that is measurable. It’s such a significant thing that when Jesus told the guys about the talents—the sums of money—one had five, another two, and another had one, each were rewarded except the one because they didn’t do anything with what they were given. In other words, He said, «You at least could have put it in the bank and obtained interest.» What was the point? The landowner, in this case, is looking for increase.
Listen, if it matters to God, it had better matter to us, because He’s looking for increase from what He’s put at our disposal to be used for His honor. Now, in John 14, 15, and 16, we’ll look at four different passages there. In John 14, 15, and 16, we see Jesus inviting us into this relationship where He basically says you can ask for anything. But what I want you to see is that behind this invitation to pray, there is a driving motive. The motive that ignites the heart of Jesus to open up the floodgates of possibility to His disciples—what drives Him—is His desire to see His Father glorified. The Father is glorified when you pray and get an answer.
We owe the world answers to prayer! I thought so too; I thought it was a very good word. If there are not answers to prayer, the problem is not with God. If God opens up an unlimited realm of possibility in a covenant and it’s not fulfilled, it’s not because He lied. But let’s take the other end: guilt and shame won’t fix the problem either. It’s a relational journey.
I’m going to start with what I usually end with in this conversation. There was a man who had a demonized child; the story is found in Mark 9. This child, the demons would throw him into the fire on the ground, just to try to kill him. The father, obviously overwhelmed with concern and love for his child, brings the child to the disciples, who I remind you are the most qualified demon-delivering group of people to ever live, with the exception of Jesus, up to that time. They have a history of breakthrough, and so because of their reputation, the father brings this child to the disciples; they can’t set him free.
I had a horrible experience once where a mom brought a horribly demonized child to me, and I couldn’t get the child free. It wasn’t God’s fault; it was mine. I did not function in the authority that I was called. It’s not a guilt and shame thing, but what it does do is in your quiet time with the Lord, you bring that up and say, «God, you’ve got to do whatever’s needed to fix that because I know if that woman would have brought that child to Jesus, that child would have left free.»
And they didn’t, when they were brought to me. This is the relational journey we’re on. So here in this moment, this child is brought to the disciples; they can’t set him free. The dad sees Jesus, brings the child to Jesus. Jesus has a brief conversation, brings deliverance to the child. The disciples watched all that, knowing their own anguish, knowing their own difficulty. Oftentimes, when the devil will make a scene, the child throws himself on the ground creates a huge scene.
Whenever the devil becomes obvious, it’s not his best card; it’s his last card. But the disciples were unaware of that and became—I’m assuming now; it doesn’t say this—but I’m assuming they became fearful because of the external manifestations. I only say that because I know from my own personal experience. He brought them to Jesus with the word. Jesus says to the child, «Be free!» The disciples see this and they go over, and they take Jesus and bring Him aside. They say, «How come we couldn’t do it?»
Jesus goes on to give them instruction—vital instruction. He said, «This kind only comes out with prayer and fasting.» It provides us with a huge tool because Jesus neither prayed nor fasted in that moment. See, Jesus had already fasted into a lifestyle; He didn’t have to fast for the situation. We tend to fast for situations because we haven’t fasted into a lifestyle.
So anyway, Jesus tells them, «This kind only comes out with prayer and fasting,» and we walk away from this lesson saying, «I need to pray and fast.» That would be a proper conclusion, but for me, the profound lesson of that story is when the disciples didn’t get an answer to prayer, they took Jesus aside. See, what happens for most of us when something doesn’t work, we just kind of bury it with debris and move on. «I’ll see if it works next time, or see if it works the time after that,» instead of slowing down, getting along with the Lord and saying, «You designed for this to work. I know the problem’s not You, but I—»
I thought when I did this, prayed this, said this, whatever, I was being led by You; it was supposed to bring breakthrough. It didn’t, so I’m here as a child; all I want to do is do what glorifies You. So teach me. It’s taking Jesus aside and finding out. It may be that prayer and fasting brings the breakthrough for that child for sure, but maybe in another situation, it’s radical generosity. I don’t know; I’m just saying the Lord will sometimes show you different actions or things to believe or things to declare that fit that situation better perhaps than prayer and fasting. And that’s just a thought.
John chapter 15 is where we’re going to start. Oh goodness! Alright, let’s fly! Verse 1: «I am 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, that it may bear more fruit.» Say this with me, «God rewards all growth with pruning.»
How many of you are being richly rewarded in this particular season? That’s what I thought! Yeah! Every branch that doesn’t bear fruit, He removes; every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
The very next verse, verse 3: «You are clean already because of the word I’ve spoken to you.» I know I’ve taught on this probably a dozen times in 20 years, but I bring it up again because we sometimes have a misunderstanding of what pruning—the discipline of the Lord—looks like. Jesus is talking to His guys, and He says, «I’m the vine; the Father is the vine dresser; you’re the branches. Bear fruit!» He says, «If you don’t bear fruit, or when you bear fruit, you get pruned.» He said, «Now you guys are already clean.»
The word «clean» is the same word for «prune.» So He’s telling them, «You have to be pruned if you’re growing, but I’ve already pruned you.» And I pruned you by the word I spoke to you. That tells us then that circumstances don’t prune us; His word does. The circumstances help us to pay attention to what He’s saying. Some of you wouldn’t be interested in what God has to say at all if it were not for the pain of your circumstance.
Not you, but it’s that other church down the road! He gets our attention through a situation only so that He can speak that which will bring transformation. He prunes through His word. It can be said we live because He speaks. «Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.» We live from the word that proceeds from the mouth of God; we live because He talks.
Why does the enemy work so hard to cause us to lose faith in our ability to hear from God? Because we live because He speaks! He wants to separate us, if possible, from the very thing that keeps that flow of life steering in our own souls. Alright, go to chapter 14, and we’re going to race through three portions of Scripture here—four actually—four chapter 14.
I’m going to start with verse 11, not because I need to, but just because I like to. Because it would be considered heresy if it were not in the Bible. It took me too long to explain what I just said, so forget it! You got me, Ben? You got me! Alright, alright, Ben and I are flowing together here.
Verse 11: «Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.» That’s amazing! Here’s Jesus: just believe me; I’m in the Father, and the Father is in me. You can’t handle that? Well, then just believe for the miracles!
Why would He do that? Because that’s a sign that will bring you back to the love of the Father. If you can’t handle the giant step of believing «I am in the Father; the Father is in me,» then just believe for what’s right within reach now, and that’s the miracle.
Once you embrace that, you’ll catch another glimpse from another angle of the goodness of the Father. We owe the world the miraculous, because in many ways, it is the clearest illustration of God’s love for humanity. His love for us is not just philosophical; it is demonstrated; it is measurable in the miraculous.
Verse 12: «Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will also do, and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.» I hear people say, «That doesn’t mean greater, as in greater; it just means greater in number because we’re so many.»
It’s not what it says, though, and the desire is good. It wants to protect the beauty, the wonder, and the incredible nature of Jesus’s ministry on planet Earth. But you don’t protect His image by denying what He says. He said greater! They touched Jesus’s clothing; they were healed. For Paul, they took his clothing and sent it to another location; they were healed. For Peter, they just got in his shadow, and they were healed. It’s called greater!
Yeah, it doesn’t dishonor Jesus, because it couldn’t have happened without Jesus making the decree. Jesus declared it; it is what made it possible. Verse 13: «And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.»
What’s the point here? The ask for anything is in the context of greater works—yes—so that the Father may be glorified. See, Jesus has just announced to these guys, «I’m going,» and they’re going, «What? Wait!»
I’m sorry, got back to the pig there. «Wait! I’m going.» And then He says, «It’s better for you that I go.» I know they’re thinking, «Yeah, right, right, right! How could it be better?» And so now He’s setting them up. He says, «Listen, you guys are going to do greater things! I’ve created a momentum for you to step into that makes it possible for you to do greater things.»
And you will ask anything, and it’ll be done. And here’s the driving force—my driving desire behind everything I’m telling you is that the Father would be glorified. This whole plan of Me coming, dying, returning to the Father, releasing the Spirit is the Father’s design. He will be glorified by all of creation because His plan worked. When you pray and a miracle takes place, His plan worked!
All of creation stands in awe that what the Father orchestrated is actually happening—that fallen men can be restored and actually demonstrate the life, the love, the purity, the power of God in the broken situations of humanity. No part of creation thought that was possible, and they stand in absolute astonishment because it works, and they glorify the Father. And Jesus set the stage for that to happen.
We look at Solomon in the Old Testament, where God appears to him in the night and basically gives him a blank check. He says, «Here, you can ask for whatever you want.» It’s the high-water mark of prayer in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, that blank check is given to every believer every day. Thankfully, God reserves the right to say «no» to anything that will undermine my purpose.
Alright, thank you, Lord! Chapter 15, verse 7: «If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.» By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so you will be My disciples.
I personally am strongly convinced that the bearing much fruit of verse 8 are the answers to prayer in verse 7. I want you to see all of creation paying attention to a covenant with God in heaven and humanity on planet Earth—that is delegated authority—and they pray, and things happen because of it.
See, it started that way: Genesis chapter 1! Father, Son, Holy Spirit have a conversation, and they say, «Let us make man in our image,» the only part of creation created in His likeness. Why? For the purpose of relationship. He then commissions them; He says, «Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Be fruitful—be productive in your work.»
They were never assigned to sit on a cloud and play a harp and do nothing—our identity honestly is reinforced through work. Not working to obtain favor; working because we have favor. It’s healthy for us to work. The guy with five talents who was rewarded by God was rewarded with more responsibility.
«Be fruitful; multiply"—is to be productive in your work. «Multiply"—have children who have children who have children. Fill the earth; don’t all live in one house; don’t build a skyscraper and all live there! Come on, spread yourself out! Why? Land ownership is a part of authority and implementing the purposes of God on the earth.
It is what you occupy that you have authority over. Fill the earth and subdue it! «Subdue"—it’s military terminology. The implication is that you are created into a war! Through relationship with Me, learn to implement My purposes as delegated authority onto this earth until it’s transformed! Sin messed it up; Jesus came and fixed the mess, and we’re back to the same assignment now!
Jesus says, «Whatever you ask for…» I don’t think He’s saying «Let the Father program you to pray the right things.» Obviously, we want to pray the will of God, and I’m thankful that He holds the right to veto my stupid prayers. But I’m also thankful that sometimes I pray not out of a command but out of a relationship.
Man, there is a difference! There are times you do something not because He told you to do it but because you’ve sensed this overflow of His life into yours. How could I not? Paul says—Peter says—I cannot stop but speaking of the things that God has said and done, things that I’ve seen. I can’t stop; I can’t stop it. It’s volcanic in me, what I have seen!
It’s impossible to stop! There are certain things we do because of a relationship—not necessarily in response to a command. Obviously, the base for this relationship is we respond to all of His commands, but He invites us into a relational role where there are times we find ourselves dreaming and praying for things He didn’t direct us to pray for.
And it’s in those moments we start finding out the far reaches of His will and His capacity and desire and passion to answer prayer. It’s outside of just the simple commands that we’ve been given. We find out how far-reaching the command «on earth as it is in heaven» really looks!
John 16—we’ll wrap it up with this one. This is where Jesus is letting His guys know that their sorrow—the sadness of His departure—will be met with overflowing joy. Jesus is going to give a secret here. Did you know that Jesus is referred to as the most joyful human being to ever live? It’s in the book! It’s in the book!
It describes Him as having joy that surpassed all of His brethren. The language there—I haven’t studied it for years, but as I remember looking over that, it basically said His joy was greater than everybody else’s joy, joy put together. His joy was a greater, more full joy than everybody else around Him combined!
We just don’t see that in the TV shows about Him! «Chosen» doesn’t look better with that joy thing! He seems to be pretty happy, but I love it for that reason and more! But here He says, verse 23: «In that day, you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive that your joy may be made full.»
Say that with me: «That my joy may be made full!» Let’s make it personal: «That my joy would be made full!» Say it again: «That my joy would be made full!» So here’s God writing a prescription, and He’s saying, «I’m giving you a blank check. As these blank checks are answered, you will discover dimensions of joy in Me that you have only seen in the person of Jesus.»
Now I remind you what was the only thing Jesus—the only thing—the disciples asked Jesus to teach them? How to pray! He didn’t say—they didn’t say, «Teach us how to multiply food.» What do you mean? Cool! He didn’t say, «Teach us how to heal the sick.» They didn’t ask for any of those things. They said, «Teach us how to pray.» Why?
I believe there’s a connection here. I believe there was something written in their heart that they could see. There’s something about this time that Jesus goes up on the mountain; He spends time with the Father. His answers to prayer demonstrate a dimension of joy we know nothing about!
So when Jesus comes and gives them an unlimited set of blank checks, and He says, «Listen, this is how you get into that joy,» He’s inviting them into His own personal breakthrough that He lived on a daily basis—joy beyond all human reasoning.
And it was at least in part connected to His answers to prayer. Chris Gore told us years ago—we just released him to head back to New Zealand—but he told us years ago, «Jesus never taught on how to deal with unanswered prayers because He didn’t have any!»
That’s worth remembering! Jesus prayed and made a difference. So here’s the deal: if prayers are not being answered, it’s not God’s problem. Let me rephrase it: If there are not answers to prayer, it’s not God’s fault. If you’re praying and you’re not getting any answers, He’s not the problem.
But guilt and shame won’t fix the problem either. I was designed for a seamless connection; that’s my nature. I was designed to hear from God; it is in my DNA to produce fruit for the glory of God. Is it happening? If it’s not happening at the place where I’m laying down my life, then I need to take Jesus aside.
In other words, «Lord, I know You’re not the problem, and I don’t know what is, but I have said yes to a lifestyle that brings You glory through continuous answers to prayer. I desire to see the impossibilities of life bend their knee to the name Jesus through my lips; that is the longing of my heart. And the reason, as far as I can tell my motive is clean: I want You glorified. It doesn’t matter to me if anybody traces that back to my prayer.
What I need is to see that I yielded. You spoke through me, a miracle took place, and now all of creation and all of humanity celebrates the goodness of a perfect Father because of that answer to prayer. We owe the world around us answers to prayer! James talks about your prayers are not answered because you ask amiss. Who’s amiss? Don’t—don’t ask whatever you ask with wrong motives. You ask outside of His purpose and plan.
And I get that, and I’m thankful that He shuts down those prayers in a sense. But sometimes—does this make sense? Sometimes you pray the wrong thing for the right reason, and sometimes you pray the right thing for the wrong reason. Don’t stop. Keep pressing in until that prayer is purged and purified. Don’t stop. Don’t stop!
„God, it’s in Your word! I don’t know if I’m doing this right, but it matters to me to see what You promised happen before me, and it was not to happen through my hands. I’m fine with that. Just do it through somebody! But we’ve got to see this thing change! We’ve got to see this turn!“ Now I’m declaring Your word into this situation, doing all I know to do: pray and act.
Take time when you go to bed at night: „God, teach me! Teach me even as I sleep how to pray more effectively!“ All I want is the name of Jesus to be exalted in the earth. That’s all I want! I want the Father glorified because He thought of this redemptive plan to offer His Son as a sacrifice to restore people to an eternal destiny of representing Him on a planet until this planet is transformed!
It was Your plan; it’s perfect! We celebrate it now. Let it be implemented fully in and through my life for the glory of God! I ache for this! I ache for this dimension of prayer—for me and for you! Not that my will can be done, not for the building of my kingdom, but I was designed to fit seamlessly into a kingdom where God is forever glorified. That’s what I was made for! And prayer is my part to see heaven come to earth! Amen!
Alright, go ahead and stand. Prayer is such a huge mystery to me. Sometimes the most simple, off-the-wall, extreme, outrageous prayer, prayed only once, taking three seconds is answered— I mean, off-the-wall, crazy stuff!
And other things are labored for over great periods of time, and they just seem to meet with great resistance. Somebody had a dream of me that was sent to me this last week, and I won’t go through the dream, but there’s a prophetic picture that basically described the determined, focused walk. And as long as I keep walking, the enemy that is trying to destroy has to run to keep up.
I love that picture! They become exhausted, and we don’t! We just keep plowing! I just love the picture! I’m just kidding! What are you gonna do, Bill? I’m just not gonna quit! That’s all I know! I’m just gonna—I’m just not gonna quit! I’m gonna keep going in the direction I said yes to.
Yeah, but what about—? No! Don’t distract me! I’m gonna keep going! Why? The enemy gets exhausted trying to keep up with your walk! I believe it’s a profound picture! So Father, I pray again—I’ve prayed this many times in the last couple of years—take us into this kind of a season in prayer where we truly see the unusual—not for entertainment’s sake, but for the name of Jesus exalted in the earth for the Father to be honored throughout all creation because Your plan worked!
I pray for that—that You take every person in this room and launch us into a significance of prayer unlike any other season! I want to just real quickly ask, is there anyone here that does not have a personal relationship with Jesus, but you want to know what it is to be forgiven of God, to be part of a family? You want to know what it is—the Bible calls it being born again; you become different from the inside!
It’s a work of grace that He does in us as a gift. If you want that, you’re hungry for that—if you’re online, let a pastor know. If you’re in one of the other rooms, let one of the pastors know. If you’re in this room, raise your hand up in the air. I just want to see you right where you are, and I want to make agreement with you because we’re going to believe, God, that the miracle of a new creation for you starts today!
Real quick, is there anyone in that position? Alright. Alright! We’re gonna assume you’re all in! We’ve got our ministry team down here ready to pray for people! Are you coming up, Ruth? Come on up!