Bill Johnson - God's Design for You
Once we’re born again, we’re designed for a seamless heart-to-heart connection with God. The reason the Lord deals so vigorously with fear and all its relatives—bitterness, jealousy, and those things—is because they throw a monkey wrench into that seamless connection. You can’t have design without a designer, and in our culture, there’s a lot of celebration of design with tremendous effort to ignore the designer. That’s not the message today, but it’s important to remember that design comes from a designer. We were designed with certain capacities, abilities, and opportunities that were actually written into our code, into our DNA, and into our spiritual design. One is that we were designed to hear God. The reason the enemy targets fear—the number one command in the Bible—is that not learning to fear less is what trips us up in our capacity to hear. Anxiety and fear dull our ability to listen, and we often say, «It’s so hard for me to hear from God.» That’s not true; we’re just listening to too many other things. It’s like 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 what God is saying, it actually increases the flow of His voice in my life. But here’s the thing we must remember: we were designed to hear from God. Some people will say, «Well, I pray, but all I sense is His peace.» That is His voice sometimes. All you need to know is He is present, and He is peace. We don’t always need new concepts and insights; what we need is the stability of a relationship that says all is well. In that 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 that 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, 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, which is to join with His creation in an intimate way that cannot be found in any other part of His creation. Sin messed it up, but Jesus came and fixed the mess. Sin sent 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, but it would be interesting to see how, through church culture, «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, but something completely different than how we’ve understood it. The word «helpmate» means one who is fully qualified to stand face to face, making up for anything lacking in the other. One who is fully qualified. All the women got happy on that one, and that’s what I’ve been saying—I knew it!
The point is that 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, yes, it’s marriage, but I’m not just talking about that; I’m talking about you, Jesus, and the church—His people. The point is we were designed, once we’re born again, for a seamless heart-to-heart connection with God. The reason the Lord deals so vigorously with fear and all its relatives—bitterness, jealousy—is that these things throw a monkey wrench into the seamless connection. It’s not rejection on God’s part; it interferes with design, capacity, and the airwaves, so to speak. It’s not seamless as 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 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. There’s this aspect of maturity where we develop an awareness of His voice and heart. I can tell there are times where, when I’m talking to a friend and sharing something, I can sense in the conversation when 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 something he’s saying. Jesus only said what the Father was saying. It’s like the guy who comes to Jesus and asks, «How do you obtain eternal life?» Hey, evangelist! That’s what you call an open door. That’s what you call an open door. How do you obtain eternal life? That’s when you preach the gospel. But not Jesus. He says, «What does the law say to you?» The man quotes a few commandments, and Jesus says, «Do that; you’ll be fine.»
Why would He do that? Because Jesus won’t add revelation to what the man is not already obeying. Instead, He takes him back to what he already knows so that his obedience will give him momentum into the new things that God wants to speak into his life. It’s the mercy of God to withhold information.
We were designed for a seamless connection, for a seamless design. The third thing I want to talk to you about is that we were designed to be fruitful. This is about a thousand times more important than you think. God is significantly invested 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 it a few years ago and planted about 25 trees. When I walk among the trees to check them out, they’re finally at a place where they’re starting to grow. I don’t hear any of them saying, «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 nonsense. That’s what we do, but that’s not what a tree does. The tree just drinks the water we give it, absorbs the nutrients from the soil, 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 His disciples about the talents—sums of money—one had five, another two, and another one, each were rewarded except the one who 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, who is God 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 see Jesus inviting us into a relationship where He basically says we can ask for anything. But what I want you to see is that behind this invitation to pray, there is a driving motive, and the driving motive that ignites the heart of Jesus to open up the floodgates of possibility to His disciples is His desire to see the 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.
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 and on the ground, just trying to kill him. The father, obviously, is overwhelmed with concern and love for his child. He brings the child to the disciples, who I remind you are the most qualified demon-delivering group of people to ever live—except for Jesus—up to that time. They have a history of breakthrough. Because of their reputation, the father brings this child to the disciples, but 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 didn’t function in the authority that I was called to. It’s not about guilt and shame, but it does mean that 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.
So here, this child is brought to the disciples, and they can’t set him free. The dad sees Jesus and brings the child to Him. Jesus has a brief conversation and brings deliverance to the child. The disciples watch all that, knowing their own anguish, knowing their own difficulty. Oftentimes when the devil makes a scene—the child throws himself on the ground—it 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, I’m assuming, became fearful because of the external manifestations. I only say that because I know my own personal experience. They brought the child to Jesus, who said, «Be free.» The disciples see this and take Jesus aside, asking, «How come we couldn’t do it?» Jesus goes on to give them 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. 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’s a proper conclusion, but for me, the profound lesson of that story is that 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 is we just kind of bury it with debris and move on. «I’ll see if it works the next time. We’ll see if it works next time.» Instead of slowing down, getting along with the Lord, and saying, «You designed this to work. I know the problem’s not You, but I thought when I did this, prayed this, or said that, I was being led by You and supposed to bring breakthrough. It didn’t work. So I’m here as a child. All I want to do is glorify You, so teach me.»
It’s taking Jesus aside and finding out. It may be that prayer and fasting bring 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, beliefs, or declarations that fit that situation better, perhaps, than prayer and fasting. That’s just a thought.