Bill Johnson - How to Pray in a Way That Brings Heaven to Earth
Sometimes you just have to step outside of convenience; sometimes you’ve got to go somewhere, sometimes you have to walk on the property, sometimes you have to find the verse that God is breathing on, and you camp there. You make the decree of that particular passage, you pray that verse, and there’s just the unwillingness to back off from an assignment because heaven has not yet invaded Earth in that particular location. I remember what we would call our level of maturity—40 years ago, our level of maturity was quite small, but our prayers were very sincere. They were prayers of a spiritual child, and they moved heaven. I mean, I could take you to a location here in town where drugs were dealt pretty much in the open, and there’d just be a line of people there.
It was out in the open; you could get anything. We went down there one Friday night and cried out to God—about 25 of us. We just got in a big circle, and the guy at that location came out, mocked us, and called the police. The police came and asked what we were doing, and our leader said, «We’re praying for you.» The officer said, «Keep it up,» and left. But that place, which was a center of drug dealing in the area, never was again. It actually ended that night. I don’t know what happened, and I was able to compare notes with a friend of mine who was a heavy drug user during that time and later got saved. We were talking about this particular location, and he said, «Yeah, the strangest thing happened. I went there one Saturday night—now we prayed there Friday night—and I couldn’t find anybody there. There was no one there.» I said, «Yeah, we were there Friday night. That’s why,» and we were their friend.
Something happened. The Lord took the simple prayers of about 25 of us who just cried out to God to do something different there. Sometimes you just have to step outside of convenience; sometimes you’ve got to go somewhere, sometimes you have to walk on the property, sometimes you have to find the verse that God is breathing on, and you camp there. You make the decree of that particular passage, and you pray that verse. There’s just the unwillingness to back off from an assignment because heaven has not yet invaded Earth in that particular location. There’s an aspect of prayer that is the easiest to avoid. In fact, why don’t you do this? Go to Galatians 4 and Colossians 4. Galatians 4 is what we’ll read first.
Verse 18: «It’s good to be zealous in good things always, and not only when I’m present with you.» My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. There’s the phrase I want: «I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.» That’s a very strange statement for a man to say—I’m in labor pains. That’s what leaders do. See the weightier responsibility, the weight of your prayers. They’re not easy prayers; they’re not prayers of convenience. But you have to remember when you get up from prayer, put the oil on your face, so to speak, walk out to be with people, and don’t carry that heaviness with you as you love and care for others.
That’s the big deal. It’s not very complicated, but it’s challenging. It’s very simple, but it’s challenging to carry out where you get along with the Lord and you do business with God. I don’t know how to say it; nobody feels like they know what they’re doing. Nobody gets before the Lord and says, «Well, I know what to do. I’ll do steps one, two, and three, and then I’ll get the breakthrough.» No, it’s a relational journey, and you don’t know what you’re doing. So you get before your Father, you bring along His Word, and somehow you make it work until this breakthrough. You read to gain insight; you cry out to God, make your heart known, and in that place of vulnerability, He’s able to adjust your heart when it needs adjusting. Sometimes He’ll refine the focus; sometimes He’ll intensify it. It’s the prayer that says, «I am unwilling to be satisfied with the discipline of prayer. I must be satisfied with the breakthroughs of prayer.»
See, many people have faith in prayer. It’s kind of weird; it’s faith in God. Look at Colossians 4, and this illustrates it best. However you say his name—I never did get it—Epaphras, who is one of you, a bond servant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Do you see that? Always laboring fervently, and the word here is labor as in giving birth, in case you were thinking it was just diligence. I was with my wife when she had all three of my kids. If I wasn’t born again, I would probably worship her. I mean, when she went through my goodness gracious—honestly, that’s a joke—but you get the point. It’s stunning what they go through.
I remember when she was giving birth to our last child, Leah. There were others in the room, and I turned to have a conversation. I felt this grip on my arm that caused me to repent. I did not know we were in a moment where she needed my complete undivided attention. That’s what laboring prayers do; they are always unto something. Laboring prayers are not glamorous; they are not anything you want to talk about afterward, but you’re certainly ready and willing to celebrate the breakthrough. It’s the child—I remember when we first got married, anyone who had seven children, and after Eric, right after Eric was born, she wanted another. It completely rearranged her perspective, but it took a little while before she was ready to go again. So here’s this interesting statement: it says, «Always laboring fervently for you in prayers,» so that labor of Galatians could easily be described as efforts in prayer, that you may stand perfect and complete.