Bill Johnson - Receiving and Walking in the Power of the Holy Spirit
The real evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is power. Many people are satisfied with good theology and stop short of a divine encounter. The revelation of Scriptures should take us into an encounter with a person who transforms us. Power has two basic functions: one, the most obvious to us, is miracles. Impossibilities yield to people who walk in power. The second purpose of power is endurance. Many people waver in difficult times because they have not been baptized in fire. One of the most startling and sobering things for me to realize is that Jesus lived with limitations, even though he was God.
As God, he had eternally the capacity to do anything, but he actually chose to live with restriction. We know this because he introduced it. He said of himself, «The Son of Man can do nothing of himself.» How many understand that the Son of God can do everything on his own, but as the Son of Man, he can do nothing by himself? It is important for us to realize this because Jesus was setting a pace; he was establishing a standard, modeling something that could actually be followed. I know we repeat this somewhat regularly, but I state it again today, knowing it is important for us to pick up the slack in any area that the Lord would enable us to. This is one area in particular. God has called us to walk in equal measures of power and character; both are important and equally vital.
Now, I am as frustrated as anyone in the room with those who live a very compromised lifestyle and then pray for the sick, expecting miracles to happen. It annoys me to pieces, and I understand why a large part of the church has concluded that character is more important than power. I comprehend why, but it is a reaction to an error that, in itself, creates another error. I ask people the question: what is more important— to not quench the Holy Spirit or to not grieve the Holy Spirit? They both have equal measures of value and importance. We grieve the Holy Spirit with sin, wrong ambition, and selfish attitudes. We grieve him through wrong activities. We quench him by failing to cooperate with divine activity. To quench is to stop the flow; to grieve the Holy Spirit is focused on character, while to quench the Holy Spirit is focused on power. Those are the two legs we stand on. I want legs of equal length. It doesn’t make me a noble person to emphasize character and not power; you may get applause from the religious crowd, but it produces nothing that brings about transformation in culture.
I was teaching a class once, and a student raised his hand, saying, «When I have more character in my life, then I will pursue praying for the sick and healing and deliverance.» So I asked him a question, «Who gives you the right to decide when you’re going to obey God?» He said, «Heal the sick.» He didn’t say, «When you get your act together, heal the sick.» That felt like a good point to me, and I was very encouraged when it came out of my mouth. The point is, it’s not one or the other. The very fact that we think there is an option reveals the age we were born into. We were born into an age where it’s seen as an option, but it wasn’t for Jesus and it wasn’t for his disciples.
Jesus, in the Great Commission—which we’ll look at shortly—told his disciples to preach the gospel of the kingdom and declare that the kingdom is at hand. Then he said to teach their disciples everything he taught them. In Matthew 10, he taught them to heal the sick and cast out demons. So in the Great Commission is the responsibility to do everything Jesus taught them, and they are responsible for teaching their disciples and their disciples' disciples the same thing. It was supposed to be maintained as one simple standard throughout the church age until Jesus returns. We have been summoned and called to do greater things than Jesus. If it were not in the Bible, it would be the worst thing you could possibly say: to do greater things than Jesus. But Jesus himself announced it: «Greater things than these shall you do.» You can’t do greater until you’ve done the same.
Many believers today have greater faith for the return of Christ than they do in the power of the Gospel. What I mean by that is the return of Christ is beyond glorious; I never want to say or do anything to diminish that. However, what frustrates me is that many people have faith for the return of Christ because they believe the only thing that can fix this world is not the power of the Gospel we preach, but the return of a military invasion of God to set things in order. In other words, the confidence isn’t in the message we’ve been given.
Can an individual life that is absolutely in utter ruin be saved—not just forgiven; can it be restored to a place of sanity, with addiction broken off, a healthy family, and a healthy lifestyle? If it can happen for one individual, can it happen for their family? Can it happen for their family line? What about their neighborhood or city? The point is that the power of the Gospel is what’s needed to re-embrace, tuning our tuning fork to the one sound—the original sound—that said, «Do what I taught you to do; teach everyone under you to do the same.» We must not change the standard; get the tape measure out again and do it the way you were instructed. Lay hands on the sick; don’t worry about how well you do. Don’t stress about how poorly you do; just obey what he said to do.
I don’t have the right; I don’t have the luxury to change the assignment to what I know how to do well. Most people’s ministries are defined by what they do well. When people try to figure out what their ministry is, they often try to determine what they’re good at, not what they’re called to do. Now, I’m fine with you doing what you’re good at, but don’t do it at the expense of what you’re called to do. «Well, I pray for the sick, and nothing happens.» Find out why; just don’t change the assignment. «Well, I pray, and I don’t seem to get breakthrough.» Pray longer! Get up earlier; go to bed later; skip a meal; you won’t die. I shared this concept quite a few years ago and envisioned you and me coming together in this room with our teams, who are so gifted and anointed to lead us, to worship.
I love the instruments, and I love the vocals; I cherish all that. But, in reality, I won’t worship here beyond what I worship outside of here. There’s a sound that we carry into our city; it’s the sound of a yes—a melody of a yes to Jesus that is seen in your countenance. It is heard not because you sing over the fence to your neighbor, but because of your kindness. There’s a sound released because of the way you attend to that person in need. There’s something that happens in a city when this many people, multiplied by all the other houses of faith in our area, encounter the wind of God. It blows across the reed of that saxophone, releasing a distinct sound that causes people to stand who never would have asked the question; they stand and say, «What must I do to be saved?» How did they get there? I don’t know; there was a sound. There was a yes, with 120 that somehow became public, and it transformed the atmosphere of an entire city.
I believe God is creating a unique sound over the cities you represent. Every yes in private becomes a yes in public. In John 20:21, Jesus said to them again, «Peace to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.» When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, «Receive the Holy Spirit.» Let’s read those two verses again: «Peace to you! As the Father has sent me, I send you.» When he had said this, he breathed on them and said, «Receive the Holy Spirit.» It’s interesting to look at the four Gospels and see how the disciples were commissioned. The one we are most familiar with would be Matthew 28:19: «Go into all the world, preach the Gospel.» Luke’s Gospel has a little something different—not in conflict, but just adding something a bit unique. In Luke’s Gospel, he talks about going into all the world to preach the Gospel, and then he says to stay in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high. It is an interesting commission because he says, «Go, but before you go, stay. Go, but not yet; stay.» Because in your staying, you’re going to receive something that will make your going effective.
As we look through the Scripture, we see that in Acts 1, 120 people are gathered together in one accord; they pray. Jesus ascended to the Father after appearing to them for 40 days following his resurrection. Pentecost means 50, so Jesus appeared and reappeared for 40 of those 50 days. There were 10 days of nothing. They had 10 days to pray before heaven ever invaded earth. During those 10 days, they cried out to God, and while they were a devoted group of wonderful people, there was a lot of strife and conflict. They were normal human beings; the disciples argued about who was the greatest and faced similar issues. I’d like to suggest that when they came together to pray during those 10 days, they did not know what was going to happen or when it would happen. They just knew that before they could go, they had to stay. They would know when it was time to go because something would be given to them. The Scripture doesn’t record what happened, but it does say they were in one accord. So, they were people who were broken and divided, and when the Spirit of God came upon them, they were in one accord. They all had unique instruments in the orchestra, if you will, but they were all tuned to the same master tuning note. They all played harmoniously in the work God was doing. When the Holy Spirit was released upon them, they were clothed with power.
This baptism of fire, this baptism in the Holy Spirit, does a lot of things in a person’s life. One of the things it does is introduce you to what we would tell our children when they were small: it gives them their secret language, tongues. Each of our children received their secret language when they were four, and I believe this is one part of the outpouring of the Spirit upon our lives. When you see the 120, they are immersed in the fire and presence of God, responding to the Lord. Praying in tongues generally serves one of two purposes: either intercession or praise. The Bible teaches about the prayer of tongues and also talks about praise. In Acts 2:11, we find people from surrounding nations visiting Jerusalem during that time of outpouring, and they are stunned and mystified by what is coming out of this group of 120 from the upper room. As they converse, they remark that the group of 120 people doesn’t know their language, yet they are discussing the mighty deeds of God. Here they are, speaking in a language they didn’t know, but they are declaring the secrets, the mysteries, the wonders of God himself. They were doing it in a language they didn’t understand because their spirit grabbed hold of that language and began to declare.
I heard about someone this past week; when they would pray in the Spirit, it sounded like they were speaking Japanese, and they didn’t know Japanese. They brought some Japanese friends over to hear him pray in tongues. For a while, he would pray in high Japanese, which the wealthy, elite would speak. Then he shifted to middle-class Japanese and eventually to street language. Each time, he declared the same basic things—wonders and greatness of God. Stories of this nature are unusually great. We also had teams in Israel, and one of our young ladies was regularly used to pray in the Spirit, yet she was praying in Hebrew, and we had someone interpret for her. I have it recorded somewhere; I’ll have to try to find it. Speaking in Hebrew, the prayer language God gives us can be beneficial because sometimes our thoughts aren’t clear. In fact, the Bible says we don’t know how to pray as we should. The Holy Spirit in us does. It’s always best to start with his prayer, then pick up his heart, his mood, his faith, his perception, and add your prayer to his. It’s much more powerful.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit was meant, in part, for that reason. When he says in Luke 24 not to leave Jerusalem until you have received this gift from the Father, which was this outpouring of the Spirit, he defines it as being clothed with power. The real evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is power. Many people are satisfied with good theology and stop short of a divine encounter. The revelation of Scriptures should take us into an encounter with a person who transforms us. Power has two basic functions; one, the most obvious to us, is miracles. Impossibilities yield to people who walk in power. But the second purpose of power is endurance. Many people waver in difficult times because they have not been baptized in fire. The friends I know who have gone through the greatest trials and greatest difficulties, from imprisonment to beatings to all the horrible things we read about in Scripture and hear about in church news, are those who endured such things because they first had a great baptism of fire. There was something in that encounter with God that so deeply transformed them that they could hold the course amid circumstances that seemed to deny the promise.
What the Lord is looking for—I don’t believe he creates any of those conflicts for us—is a people who will hold fast to what he has said, regardless of circumstances. It’s not mental strength that enables us to do that, but the Spirit of God upon us that enables us. It’s not our self-imposed discipline; it’s not our vows; it’s not our promises that we’ve made like, «Oh God, I will hold true.» Look at Peter; he was in the middle of three and a half years of interaction with the miraculous and the Miracle Worker. He said, «I will never deny you.» His determination was the strongest of all of them. But determination itself cannot get us to where we need to go; it’s the grace of God. It’s the empowering presence of God; it is that fiery work of the Spirit of God upon a person’s life that enables us to bring the miracle and endure until it comes. We have been summoned under the Lord for this lifestyle.
What I just read to you in John 20 is a little different, though, because this is before the day of Pentecost. Just think with me about what this means. This is before the day of Pentecost, when Jesus has raised from the dead, during the 40-day period where he is still visiting his disciples, giving them words about the kingdom, providing direction about what he is going to do, offering them promises, and teaching them about the assignment they’ve been given. During that 40 days, he appears and instructs them; this is during that time, not the day of Pentecost. What did he do? He breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. We have to ask the question: was this symbolic of something that was to be released on them on the day of Pentecost? The group he just breathed on was also part of the 120.
This may not be significant to you, but it is for me, so I will take you on my journey. I’ve heard my whole life that the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost; okay, that may be true, but when were they born again? When were these 11 born again? It is in the receiving of the Holy Spirit. So, even though they were born again and the Spirit of God lived in them, they still needed this baptism of fire. This baptism of fire is not a one-time experience. Anyone who has that attitude has lost the flame entirely. It may be smoldering, and you may have the testimony of a past event, but when you’re on fire, you’re contagious. Fire creates an appetite for the impossible. If the appetite for the impossible is not there, then I suggest you get a fresh baptism. John the Baptist declared, pointing to Jesus, «Behold the Lamb of God,» and goes on to say, «He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire.»
I’ve already mentioned my turning my heart completely to honor and serve the Lord at 19. I will fast forward now to my days in Weaverville. I remember in February of 1995, I went to Toronto because I heard God was doing great things there. I was very hungry. We had seen the Lord use us, and miracles started breaking out in Weaverville in 1987. I was very thankful for that particular season and direction, but we were aching for so much more. I remember flying to Toronto, and there was a great outpouring happening there. I just wanted to see and participate. It was confusing, but sometimes God is not the author of confusion. You’re only confused because of your position; he is not confused, and sometimes you have to repent your way into the right mind so that you’re not confused.
I was in that moment, and I don’t want to go into that too much, but it was wonderful. There were 5,000 people there, and the presence of the Lord was strong. It helped if I closed my eyes because then I wouldn’t be offended by everything I was seeing. I would close my eyes, and I’d become aware of the same presence we were having in our prayer meetings at home. That’s how I knew I recognized the work of God—not by approved manifestations, but I recognized it by the presence, and that’s the safest way to measure anything. But you have to become familiar with him to be able to recognize him; you have to know, «I’ve seen this before.»
In this moment, I was there for four or five days, six days, whatever it was. I knew I had seen something that was to mark the rest of my life, so I flew home and began to pray. I started to ache for all the things I had read about in Scripture: to see the city of Ephesus completely transformed in Acts 19, where they moved from miracles to extraordinary miracles, where cloth could be sent from Paul’s body and deliverance would take place in healing, and the moment where every single person in Asia heard the Gospel. Every single person! There was this movement that became so impactful that all of culture itself had believers planted in Caesar’s household, among the leaders of government. That was just extraordinary.
I began to ache for these things to happen: the miracles, of course, we see in Scripture, and the deliverances and conversions. I started praying when I got home from Toronto: «God, I want more of you, and I want more at any cost. I’ll pay any price.» It wasn’t an emotional prayer; it wasn’t something like, «I feel really good, so let me pray the scary prayer.» It was calculated, because I know he tends to collect on his debts. It was a prayer that said, «I want more of you, and I’ll pay any price.» I became obsessed—if you can be a Christian and obsessed, maybe it was focused. I became very focused, and morning and night, while driving down the street, I’d pray, «God, I’ve got to have more of you.» It was almost like this hunger for him was a volcanic eruption. It wasn’t, «Oh, it’s time for me to pray.» It was, «I cannot help but pray. God, I must have more! I was born for more than what I’ve seen. God, I must have more, and I will pay any price. I’ll be the guy who pays any price.»
I prayed until it got to the point where I would actually wake myself up in the night praying. I didn’t wake up to pray; I woke myself up because I was praying in my sleep. Unless you discount that, I remind you that Solomon made the most incredible decision of his life in his sleep when the Lord showed up and gave him a choice: «You can have anything you want,» and it says it was a dream, yet the Lord gave him that chance because he was going to bed night after night with such an incredible resolve of purpose that he could trust the decision while he was sleeping.
It’s possible for you and me to go to bed never leaving purpose, never leaving the why we are alive, so that one of those divine moments comes. Covenants are made, and the course of history has changed. I would pray this day and night, and by October, we’d moved from February to the end of October. Dick Joyce, who was a dear friend of ours and has now gone home to the Lord, helped us more than any other visiting ministry. He would call to check up on me, and his encouragement and strength were so vital to our family. I met him through my parents, and Dick was in Weaverville; we had these meetings for several nights, and some of the craziest things I had ever seen happen.
God is a God of order—kind of like a maternity ward; he knows what he’s doing, and you don’t. People would occasionally ask how I knew if it was God or in the Bible. I would say, «It’s in Psalms 115: God does what he pleases.» So one guy got mad and left the meeting. I didn’t know until later that he had gone to the parking lot, laid out in the snow by himself, unable to move, with no one there to help him. I admit I was really happy about that—I’m not sure my motives were completely pure, but to this day, I enjoy that moment.
I had a friend I was praying for that night, named Thomas. I felt that God was going to touch him, and he was really struggling. I wanted to encourage him, so I said, «I believe God’s going to touch you.» It could be the middle of the day, and I said specifically, «It may be at 3 a.m.» During those meetings, you would go to bed very late.
It felt like one of those eternal gospels. One of our elders told us years ago that the only reason we bring our watches to church is to see if the date changed. There was a season where that was absolutely true; may we have that problem again. So I went to bed, of course late, and if you can imagine being completely asleep suddenly jolting to consciousness in a millisecond—that’s what happened to me. I was completely asleep, and all of a sudden it felt like a thousand volts of electricity went through my body, leaving me without control of my arms or legs. The only thing out of control was my head, and I turned my head, and it was exactly 3 a.m. I said out loud, «You set me up.» You know how, in a God moment, he makes sure you remember what you need to? Why would I think of my prophetic word for my friend? I wouldn’t, except he needed me to understand this was part of my journey.
So there I lay in this condition with a thousand volts of electricity; I had no control of my arms or legs, and I gripped them tighter. I was trying to process what was going on. I was embarrassed; I actually felt my face flush—like when you feel embarrassed. I could feel that happening. Benny was asleep, which was a miracle; it was a waterbed, which means tidal waves. It’s no longer a waterbed, but it was back then. It’s funny now, but it wasn’t funny at that moment. I was trying to process what was happening; I knew it was a setup, but I couldn’t figure it out.
The more I tried to gain control, the worse it got. I realized I was in a divine moment where I couldn’t control anything around me, and then images flashed before my eyes. I saw myself trying to teach in front of our church family while I was in that condition. I realized there was nobody who was going to believe this was from God. The next scene showed me standing in front of my favorite restaurant in town, realizing I would be mocked by the entire city. There was nobody who was going to believe this was from God.
I remembered that Jacob wrestled with an angel and limped for the rest of his life. Sometimes, the mark God places on our life from a divine encounter looks like a blemish to everyone else. You have Mary, the mother of Jesus, who had a child out of wedlock. These things happen in people’s lives; they’re not shortcuts to fame and all this other stuff. It’s the opposite; what was in my heart anyway, I’ve not been interested in the other stuff. When I said yes to the Lord, I didn’t know if I would ever own anything. I just didn’t care.
Tears were rolling down the sides of my face onto the pillowcase, and I’d been in this state for maybe 20 or 30 minutes. I still had no control and was trying to process what was happening. I realized he’d been reminding me the entire time. «Son, you said you wanted more, at any cost.» At that moment, I could tell he was asking for my right to dignity. After laying there for 20 or 30 minutes in this state that I don’t know how else to describe—the baptism of fire—after processing this, I said, «Okay, you can do anything you want with me if I get you in exchange. If it’s true that I get more of you, do whatever.»
I laid there for the rest of the night, enveloped in this presence, this power. It was not pleasant, but it was glorious. I got up the next morning; I don’t often tell this part, but it continued the next night and the third night. A couple of months later, we were here, and the Holy Spirit began to move. I started to see things—a lady back here who was born deaf suddenly able to hear pointing to the speakers in the ceiling. We started seeing things I had never seen in my life. A woman who had been paralyzed for 38 years got up out of her wheelchair over here. A thousand people left—good people! I have no animosity or criticism at all. But if you want to kill a pastor, pastors are weird; you just have to understand. We can have people who hate us leave church and we feel sad—that’s weird!
Many of them were friends, and one family, in particular, said, «We know this is God; we just can’t do it.» They left. I know it’s hard to imagine and hard to explain, but for me, it wasn’t hard. The part of me that would have cried in pain in that season died in the previous season. There’s something about a baptism of fire that purifies what’s important. All of a sudden, there are certain things that aren’t on your list anymore. Sometimes we experience pain only because we care about the wrong things. Sometimes we feel anguish of heart only due to the wrong set of values.
There’s something about the fiery presence of God that purifies; it changes everything. Everything has changed. I personally ache for a country; I ache for our state. I see the craziness going on—absolute insanity. Then I hear the Lord in Psalm 51, «Create in me a clean heart.» Because of purity and power, something will rest upon my words that will change the environment that I live in. Our power is not there because we’re brilliant; our power is not there because we have a great strategy for transformation. Our power is because we said yes in the secret place when the burning one came and purified hearts. The Lord is so creative; he sets the stage for us uniquely and individually. Where he may touch me in a certain way, he touches you in a different way. His method makes no difference; it may be an insight into Scripture that may be it for you. The outcome is all that matters: has the burning one touched these lips? Has the burning one ignited this heart? Has the burning one made it possible for me to live with clean hands and a pure heart and to be a living offering for a nation that is desperately looking for anchors? I don’t misunderstand; we’re not the anchor, but he is.
I ache for this; I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted. That’s what I ache for. When I heard that Friday morning when it was being read, I thought, «That’s it! I can’t get away from that. That’s it!» I feel like his word is drawing us into a divine encounter where there’s a fresh baptism available for you, whether you’re online at home, in your office, or in this room. It doesn’t matter to me; the Lord is setting us up for something that is beyond. I needed something beyond my control. It was vital for me to give up my right to look good and to be reasonable, to die at that place and say, «If I get you in exchange, you can do whatever you want.»
What I want to do this morning is ask you to stand. I want to pray for just a fresh baptism of fire. I mean, I don’t know what else to pray. We’re somewhat restricted in some of what we can do, just because we’re back to back to back services. I feel like it’s a God-given restriction, so I’m not complaining. Tonight, we’ll be more open-ended, but what I want to tell you is to come ready for a baptism of fire. It doesn’t have to happen here. For me, it was in the middle of the night at home; it may happen to you a year from now. We’ve had this happen here to a number of people, but the point is to be hungry for more than what you have. I don’t care what you have; there’s more! There’s more! There’s more! It’s vital that we live in a place of hunger, surrender, and thankfulness—thankfulness for what God has done and thankfulness for what he has given us.
So, I ask you to take a moment to pray. I want you to lift your voice and just request of the Lord, and then I will pray for you, and we’ll dismiss. Alright? Lift your voice and pray.
Father, I ask for there to be not only a baptism of fire individually but corporately—that you would do something to us as a church family! No distance whatsoever, whether it’s on the other side of the planet or the second row, I pray there to be such an immersion in the presence and the fiery heart of God. God, we invite you to turn your eyes of fire on us, and I pray you would ignite in us the kind of passion that brings purity and decision, purity in lifestyle, purity in impact. Let us be a people of true wisdom and power. I pray this for the glory of God. I pray this for the glory of God. My prayer is that God would set you up—he set me up. He would set you up.
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. Say it again: 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.
Father, I ask for the gift of hunger to be released to us as a family. The gift of hunger that changes everything. I do pray for a corporate and individual baptism of fire, and we ask that you would do so to empower our words in a fresh way, to see a nation, to see a state turned. We pray this for the glory of God.