Bill Johnson - Keys to Influence, Walking in Both Divine Wisdom and Supernatural Power
When the people of God realize that what He has done is sufficient to change our capacity to shape the course of history, suddenly kings come to our light and nations to the brightness of our rising. What’s happening? The Solomon effect is taking place. I don’t mean that people come to you and me because we know everything; it’s that people see such favor on your life. They see that there’s a God element in you that has changed how you live. Thank you. As we approach this subject, I want to put it into a context of revelation. When the Lord gives us new revelation, that phrase is offensive to some because they think we mean in addition to scripture. No, it’s that He opens up what we’ve been reading all the time.
How many have had that happen? You’ve read something a hundred times, you read it again, and suddenly you see it in a new light. That’s what I’m referring to. Whenever the Lord gives us fresh understanding of His word, of His purposes, of what He intends to say and do, He never reveals it so that we can abolish what He showed us previously. When the Lord gives new revelation, He always puts it in the context of the prior or previous revelation. An example of this would be what I’ve quoted too often when this subject comes up, and that is, «I no longer call you servants; I call you friends.» It’s as though the previous revelation becomes the setting for the diamond—the diamond being the new revelation. So we have, «I no longer call you servants; I call you friends,» and that servitude actually becomes the context for the ongoing learning of what intimacy and friendship with God looks like. Never was a servant abolished; in fact, the Apostle Paul identified himself proudly, if I can say that in a righteous sense, as a servant—a bondservant of the Lord.
So when we come to this subject of wisdom, there is ongoing revelation in scripture about this issue of wisdom. For example, in Solomon’s day, when the Lord gave him this gift, the Scripture says every king from every nation left their post, if you will, and traveled whatever distance it was to come to Jerusalem simply to sit at his feet and receive from his wisdom. That tells me a number of things about the work of God. I believe very strongly in the «go» of the Gospel. We go into all the world. In fact, we’re going to be sending our students out—couple thousand people to I don’t know how many locations around the world. There’s going to be a real push because we believe in that «go» of the Gospel. We have Michael and Channel lead our missions ministry, hitting the nations day after day, year after year after year; it’s something we’re intensely committed to. But there’s another part of the Gospel that is equally important, and that is that the Lord, in wisdom and experience with Him, in friendship and intimacy with Him, teaches us how to do life.
In learning how to do life, we create successful communities. By successful, I don’t mean just prosperous businesses, although it includes that; it’s families that work well, where husbands and wives know how to do life. It’s where children get raised into their purpose and destiny, and business ideas thrive. There’s not this crash and burn thing that happens over and over again to people; instead, there’s really the blessing, the favor of the Lord that rests on their lives, and we just learn how to do life. It really is the meaning of the word «proverb.» In a sense, the word proverb means riddle, saying—things of that nature—but it comes from a word that means to rule or to reign. So if you think about it, these wise sayings, these statements of profound revelation, are to equip us to rule—not to rule over people, but to reign in life. So that affliction that once used to chase you all over the planet, you now reign over, and that thing gets broken in Jesus' name. The poverty that has reigned in your family for three or four generations gets broken because we learn how to reign in life. No longer does indebtedness rule us; instead, we rule over resources. The Lord has summoned us to experience what success looks like in following Him.
I think some of us have some real changes that need to go on between the ears about what the Lord wants to do with us. So many people have set themselves up. Let me put it this way: sometimes we have attributed evil things happening in our lives. The church has attributed so much to the dealings of the Lord that we’ve lost the ability to discern when we’re under assault. Sometimes, I don’t know if you’ve heard this before, but sometimes the church lives in this place where difficulties come, and the church has been so accustomed to attributing difficulty to the discipline of the Lord that we’ve lost the ability to discern the demonic assault that takes place in our lives. I could say it again, but I won’t.
So the Lord then is positioning us to reign in life. But anytime you and I get a victory—let’s say it’s in marriage—let’s say that things are tough, and you learn how to do life together, you learn how to thrive in your relationship with your spouse. Every breakthrough you get gives you authority to pass that on to someone else. It was never intended that you just sit in your world and enjoy breakthrough; it was always intended that whatever breakthrough you get, you impart to someone else. You mentor, you pray; you do something to bring people into increased breakthrough.
So here we’ve got this issue where the Lord is raising up a covenant community that becomes the city on a hill, the people come to for refuge—the people who, in the same way they sought out the wisdom of Solomon, would seek wisdom from us. The intention of the Lord is that you and I would live in that realm of reigning in life, where things happen to us that are challenging and difficult, but because we know how to do life—because we know how to resolve conflict, know how to pay our bills, know how to do the things we need to do to gain breakthrough—we carry that divine favor of God. What happens is you and I become positioned to attract people into our lives. I don’t know another way to say it.
I’ve taught on it before in this series, so forgive me for the repeat, but I need the context today to wrap this series up because I think it’s so vital. I think it’s so important that the Lord is raising up covenant communities, families of believers that become the city set on a hill—a place that someone who is lost can find their way and seek refuge. The intention of the Lord is to create something that people can belong to. This whole notion of personal relationship with God, while it is true, is overemphasized dramatically in the Western world. We have a very self-centered lifestyle—a very arrogant, self-centered approach to life—and we have to force ourselves to think in terms of family or community. A statement that was made weeks ago that I heard elsewhere has really impacted my life, and I’m still processing it: the disciples belonged before they believed. That’s amazing! They belonged. They were actually brought into the tribe, if you will, and they were there before they knew what was going on. It wasn’t until later in the journey they arrived at the place where they said, «Well, Jesus, you’re the Son of God, you’re the Messiah, you’re the Most High.» That was after a while!
So they actually belonged. They were brought into relationship, into a process of doing life together, and it was in that that they learned who Jesus was. I’ve got a feeling that the Lord is not going to dumb down, stall, or take away from the «sending into all the world,» because it’s so vital. But I feel like He wants to add an element of presence and power to how we do life at home, so people can actually be brought into a community setting, a family setting, where we learn to do life together, and in the process, they’re actually being discipled and mentored in the things of the Lord.
I don’t know if you realize this, but it’s already happening in our community. One of the bizarre things that’s happening is we will have business people who want to hire employees for their work, and they will say something to this effect: «We want to hire someone from Bethel because they change the atmosphere in our business.» Now, I’m not expecting someone who doesn’t walk with the Lord to know what it is—they’re wanting the presence of God. We know that. All they know is there’s a good vibe on that person; all they know is they smile a lot, and we need that in this business. However they put it, what’s happening is that you being in their life and bringing this presence into their environment, you know what you’re doing? You’re actually discipling them in adopting the supreme value for the presence of God.
They don’t have the theology yet, because you don’t have to have the theology to start with. The disciples didn’t. This is almost scary: the disciples didn’t have the theology, and they still got people healed and delivered. It’s like when my brother Bob, years ago on the streets of San Francisco, was taking groups—there were young people there that he had been training. He was sending them to different parts of the street ministry, and he was just giving them assignments. What he didn’t realize is that he grabbed somebody walking by who was a law student and who was just walking by. Bob’s six foot six; you tend to listen to him when he says, «Hey, you! Come over here!» So this law student got drafted; he got put in this group that was sent over to preach, and he just went with them. This is a bizarre story! He went with them, and God used him!
I know it doesn’t fit our theology, but God used him! People got healed! People got set free! It was so powerful! So he came back and gave his life to Jesus! He belonged! I mean, it just upsets the whole apple cart. The whole thing gets ruined on how you get people saved and disciple them. This thing of belonging—what happened here is the Lord is into cities, communities, family. Our Father—not my Father; we have the mind of Christ—not I have the mind of Christ. There’s something about this overlapping grace that we carry when we’re together that means nothing can slip by, because we have grace, we have anointing, we have faith, we have people that are functioning in their gifts, and together we are incredibly strong.
The Lord is raising up a company of people that actually know how to reign in life. Is anybody else tired of circumstances dictating how you think and how you feel? That is what He’s dealing with here, wisdom—and it’s supernatural wisdom, by the way. I hope that you… let me take a little detour just for a moment. Wisdom is prophetic in nature. You look at that wall over there, all you see is sheetrock; you see paint. Wisdom knows what holds the wall up. Wisdom sees the wood behind it, the steel beams—whatever is there. Wisdom sees beyond the obvious into the internal structures that hold things in place.
So when we’re talking about divine wisdom, we’re talking about the ability to perceive with God’s eyes and be involved in divine reasoning—not only of what exists, but in discovering what the solution and answer are for that particular challenge or dilemma. So when the Lord summons us into wisdom, He is actually summoning us into a lifestyle where life works.
All right, that was a long introduction, and I still have more, so just bear with me. What happens here with the kings that come to Solomon for wisdom tells me that if the mind of God is accessible, all the leaders of the world have an inbuilt grace and gift to pursue it. Do you understand? The king of a nation that travels a great distance to sit at Solomon’s feet didn’t do it because someone commanded them to; they did it because they had an appetite. Where did they get the appetite? The appetite came with the position.
Think about the ramifications: when someone comes into position as CEO of a corporation, they run a major part of industry, life, a government—mayor, governor, president, whatever it might be. These people who lead areas of entertainment and sports and these realms of influence, the doctors that run hospitals—they all have this thing in them that comes with the position; it’s called a grace that hungers for wisdom. I’d like to suggest that the cry of the heart has been unanswered for a long time because the church has had this idea that it’s us over here who are spiritual and it’s them over there who are doing «secular work.» Thankfully, in recent years that line is being erased, and we are becoming awakened to the fact that they have a God-given hunger for something you have access to.
All right, see what else… Okay, I think that’s probably enough to get going. Open your Bibles to the book of Exodus 31 and let’s see if we can… nope, I still have some more, but just open anyway. So I’ve tried to set the stage so that I can talk, I guess. I’m talking so that I can talk—like Larry Randolph used to say, «I’m going to keep talking until I say something.» So that’s what I’m working on here.
The concept of new revelation being like the diamond put into the previous revelation—which would be the setting—what I’m going to do right now is, it’s going to look like I’m changing gears, but I’m actually not. I want to talk to you about being full of the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, we know what that means; we know that Jesus told His disciples, «Don’t leave Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.» There was this baptism, immersion in the Spirit; there is this fullness of the Holy Spirit. You know, a bottle or a glass is not really full until it overflows. So fullness of the Spirit is always measured in overflow; it’s not measured in what’s contained. We are not containers; we are vessels that He flows through. So fullness is measured in overflow.
So when we look at the subject of the fullness of the Spirit in the New Testament, which would also be the new revelation—the diamond—it is «The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me to bring release to captives.» The Spirit of the Lord comes upon us so that disease is destroyed, that people get healed, people get delivered. I just got a testimony this last week. I was just in Atlanta at our church plant there, and a gal came up to me. She said, «Six years ago, you prayed for me; I had bladder cancer, and Jesus completely healed me.» This particular kind of cancer is the kind that comes back frequently, that just reoccurs, and she has gone back for six years, and there’s just not the slightest sign—no trace at all.
So the Spirit of the Lord comes upon us to destroy that threat against that individual’s life, to break off the torment that keeps people in fear and anxiety and all the stuff. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon us for this. So the fullness of the Spirit is for power—that’s the diamond. But I want you to see this setting. The setting is here in Exodus 31:1-3. «Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.'»
I absolutely love this passage! This goes on and has to do with the building of the Tabernacle of Moses, but what you need to catch is this: the first time anyone was filled with the Spirit is here, and the initial revelation of the fullness of the Spirit is this: it’s wisdom, it’s understanding, it’s the creative expression of work, the testimony of divine nature through artistic labor. Work is something that everybody in this room in some way contributes to the well-being of your community. Every one of us is alive and assigned to do work, to do labor, to live for the well-being of the people around us. Every leader worth their salt makes life better for everyone they influence. It’s the purpose of leadership; the purpose of leadership is not to draw to ourselves; the purpose of leadership is always to make life better for anyone who is under the influence of our leadership.
So this original revelation of the fullness of the Spirit has to do with wisdom. I don’t think this is a stretch. Do you remember when the Apostle Paul, in Acts 19, insisted on the privilege of doing work for his own ministry, and he had a tent-making ministry? Here he is, in his tent-making ministry, walking in responsible work as a laborer. People would notice that his ministry time was so powerful, they would come to him and take headbands, sweatbands off his head that he used while building tents. They would take aprons off his body—things that he would use while making tents. They would take work elements to the sick and the tormented, and those people would get delivered.
The point I’m trying to make is they weren’t prayer cloths that were prayed over; they were fabric material that was used while he was working. It’s the merging of the wisdom, creative element, the responsibility element with the power element. These two together caused even work clothes to be supernaturally powerful for casting out demons and bringing healing to people’s bodies. I’m just telling you, the Lord has this intention of merging these two worlds. The first revelation of the fullness of the Spirit is wisdom, understanding, creative workmanship; the second revelation—the diamond put in that setting—is power. And then you have Paul working on tents and people getting healed from his clothing. I think the Lord wants to merge the two.
I think He wants to create a company of people that knows how to live in both worlds—knows how to live in the business world, knows how to live in the economic world, the marketplace world, knows how to live in the educational system, the medical system—but still knows how to live in power, to work in power. Thank you. I feel like… yeah, I mean this is not new for us; we’ve been harping on this for a long time. I understand that, but at the same time, I feel like every time we declare this, there’s like this fresh fire, this fresh anointing—it’s like the Lord is taking mindsets that have existed in many of us as believers, those mindsets—and it’s like a big cruise ship. You don’t get that thing to pull a U-turn in a few minutes; it takes a while to get that thing turned around. That’s what He’s doing with our thinking.
There are so many people that interpret the day we live in as tragic, hellish, horrible, etc., and feel powerless to do anything about it; the opposite is true! Because the enemy works hard to keep us conscious of his success so that we lose sight of our assignment and call. He doesn’t mind; in fact, he likes being chased by us. Maria Morello told us years ago, «The devil will enter a bar of soap if you’ll worship it. All he wants is attention.»
Now let me open your Bibles to Isaiah 60. This is a portion I’ve already taken a little bit of time to study with you in this series, but I need to do this again today; I just need to be able to close this thing up. I’ll feel better if we look at Isaiah 60. I’ve shared with you before that I had two major encounters with the Lord in my life—many, many encounters, but two that changed everything. One of them was very, very physical—very violent in a sense—not violent as in He was going to kill me, but it sometimes felt like being electrocuted. I’ll just let you wonder about that one. The first one actually came in a revelation; it touched both mind and heart, which wisdom unites.
The Spirit of a person with the intellect of a person began to speak to me. It was on a Thursday in May of 1979; He began to speak to me out of Isaiah chapter 60, and it changed my life. Every single day of my life since that Thursday in May of 1979 has been different because of what happened in that moment. I want to show you a few things that… what I’m going to do is I’m going to almost out of context read a few verses in 60, 61, and 62, and then I want to talk to you and see if we can tie it together. You ready to go on a little journey? We’re in a helicopter flying over the city.
All right, verse 1: «Arise, shine, for your light has come; the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.» For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people. But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. Gentiles will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. When do we remember kings coming to anyone in the kingdom previous to this? It was Solomon, and it was the issue of wisdom.
I would like to suggest that Jesus Christ, in 1 Corinthians 1, I think it’s verse 30 or 31, Jesus Christ is our wisdom—the person of Jesus. Maybe it’s 2 Corinthians—I fogged out here; it’s in one of those two places. Just keep reading; you’ll find it. Jesus is our wisdom. I’d like to suggest to you that the light of God, that Jesus—who is our wisdom—rises upon us, and once again, kings come to our light—kings come to the brightness of our rising.
Lift up your eyes, all around and see! They gather together; they come to you. Your sons come from afar; your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Jump to 61. Isaiah 61, verse 1: «The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because He has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor, sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and opening a prison to those who are bound.» Jump to verse 4. «They shall rebuild the old ruins; they will raise up former desolations; they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.»
62:6. «I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.» All right, I just read a series of verses randomly. Now let me walk you through them.
Isaiah 60 gives this commissioning call: «Arise and shine.» What does it mean? Because the light of God has come upon you, you have the capacity to shine. You and I do not reflect the light of God; we shine with the light of God. The way things work in the kingdom: when light touches you and you yield to it, you become light. I don’t mean you are the light—Jesus Christ, of course, is the light of the world—but Jesus Himself said, «Tag, you’re it.» Actually, He said a little differently: «You are the light of the world.» Same thing!
So whenever God touches us in a particular way, it changes our nature and our capacity to live. So I’m sitting here in total darkness. Jesus comes; I see that He is the light of the world. Now what happens? Not only do I reflect Him, but He has taken residence in me, and I now shine. So He says, «Get up.» Why? Because don’t expect another light to come—I’m the light! Shine! And then He goes on and He says, «Deep darkness covers the world, but my light appears on you; my glory rises on you.»
Now this is vital because in the very next scene, when the people of God realize that what He has done is sufficient to change our capacity to shape the course of history—when we realize it was enough and sufficient—we get up. Suddenly, kings come to our light and nations to the brightness of our rising. What’s happening? The Solomon effect is taking place. I don’t mean the Solomon effect in that people come to you and me because we know everything; it’s not that. It’s that people see such favor on your life; they see that things just work for you. They see that there’s a God element in you that has changed how you live, and they’re hoping to get some—they’re hoping to stand under the shadow of your safety, of your protection.
Jesus instructed us in this; He said, «Let your light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works but glorify your Father who is in heaven.» That’s what Isaiah 62 said. All right, let me walk you through it again. I’m sorry. Isaiah 60: Get up and shine; you’ll attract the kings of the earth.
All right, 61: The baptism of power—the spirit of the Lord God is upon me to bring release to captives. The next scene: the broken people are now the builders of the city. So what was the target from the beginning? Get up and shine; use what you have; you’re going to shape history! They’re going to come to you for answers; the Spirit of God is going to come upon you—the people that you heal, that get set free—the broken get restored—they’re going to be the builders of the city.
What was the intention? Communities being restored—redemptive communities restored to God’s design and purpose. Then what happens is we take no rest for ourselves, and we give Him no rest until those communities of the redeemed are used by God to stir up the praise in the nations of the earth. Taking a rest for yourself gives Him no rest until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. What does that mean? It means the community of the redeemed would live in such a way that everybody observing them just stands in awe and glorifies God.
It’s not a time for applauding you or me; it’s saying, «I see that God has worked on your behalf, and life works for you!» Because of that, I’m going to give glory to the one who has inspired you, empowered you, and changed your life. There’s this cycle where the wisdom of God gets married to the power of God, and those two together create a ministry tension—in a positive sense—over an overlap that makes us qualified and capable of ministering in any situation. It’s overt and covert ministry, is what it is. Overt is the bold preaching of the Gospel; covert is subtly being worked into the system.
Whatever you’re strongest at reveals what you’re in greatest need of. We have many in our culture that are very good at boldly preaching, and I’m their biggest fan because I love the bold preaching of the Gospel. But what happens then; that company of people in that school of thought—we have to teach another part of this Gospel of the Kingdom: be willing to get sprinkled into a system to transform culture and society. Amen to that because I love that stuff! But I want to introduce you to the God of power because you get to confront devils; you get to break off the stuff that’s been tormenting people’s lives.
I don’t think this is a random journey. I skipped over a lot of stuff; I’ll let you read it on your own, but the issue of the light of God coming to you and qualifying you to be one who stands is profound. Then having you, as one who stands, becoming a light—the city on a hill—the people seek refuge in—that’s profound.
And then you add the New Testament element of power to that wisdom. Suddenly the most broken people in the city become the builders, and we will only be successful in the restoration of cities of the earth to the degree we value the most broken among us. Now we’ve got those who have found the Lord—their wisdom—people come to seek counsel. Now we’ve got the power element—we have the most broken among us becoming the builders. What happens? Now we start praying globally. We’re saying, «God, we’re going to take no rest for ourselves, and we’re not going to give you any rest until you make the community of the redeemed a praise in the earth.»
I don’t know if you’ve thought about this, but it is possible—and actually an assignment—that your life would release others to give God praise. That’s not just words to a song; it’s not just a cute little chorus; it’s not just an inspired thing you put on a card. This is a mandate from heaven to live in such a way that people are released into glory because they are so delighted in what they see in your life. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
I’m wondering in this last day’s revival, in this billion soul harvest that we’ve been summoned to, how many of them will be saved because they were drawn to the spirit of God on another believer’s life? They saw that they reign in life. They may not realize they should long for the presence; all they know is your countenance makes a difference in their work, and you’re, without them knowing it, discipling them in values.
There’s this interesting verse I found recently in the Passion Translation; it translates it so powerfully. It’s talking about this giving of a gift, and he says, «When you give this gift to this person…» Listen to the phrase: «you awaken their conscience.» This is amazing! I’m sitting at the table; I’m at lunch, I’m eating at such and such a restaurant, and I just said, «I’m going to go overboard today; I want to really bless this waitress.» So I’m going to give a gift that is not typical; it’s going to violate standards and expectations. What have I done? I have just initiated a process in somebody’s life that awakens a conscience!
Wow! Wow! Awakened conscience? What does that mean? «Awaken people to divine values.» Let your light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works but glorify your Father in heaven. I wonder how many people are going to find themselves standing—giving honor to God—because of you, and find that they just stepped into faith for their own salvation.
See, what I’ve been dealing with for these weeks is the intentional lifestyle that says, «Yes! I want to confront disease; yes, I want to confront torment; yes, I want to bring people into the Kingdom. But I also want to be sprinkled into a city, into a community, where everybody gets to belong before they believe.» And in that process, I’m in this for the rest of my life—20, 30, 40 years, whatever it is—because I want to see a transformation from within, from the inside out. I feel like that’s the two edges, if you will, of the Gospel: the «go» and the «abide,» in a sense, that attracts—both elements are necessary for what God’s about to release into the earth.
So why don’t you go ahead and stand, and let’s pray. You know, I was thinking this last week, a couple weeks ago. I said about when Jesus told the few disciples who were fishing, and He told them to cast their net on the other side, I’ve always thought of that as a very, very cool story—God just showing His kindness once again. I never thought of it in this light: these guys that are fishing are fishermen; that’s their business. He was giving them business advice!
Now how many know, if you’re the guy that throws the net on the other side and your net starts breaking, and everyone else who has been at sea with you and all the other boats caught nothing, you may attract attention. You may have people that come to you and say, «I want what you have,» and then you just tell them, «You just cast your net where I cast it.» The Lord knows how to do life; He knows where the fish are. And if there are no fish there when He tells you to cast it, He’s going to create the fish! It’s like the guy said, «I crawled out on a limb, I cut off the wrong side, and God made the tree fall over.» However it works, I’m happy!
But I want you to pray right now. I’m going to pray for you, and I want to pray for this wisdom as we wrap up this particular part of our series together. Father, I’m asking for grace to be released over this household, over this family of believers, where we just think more consistently with how You think—with a refusal to ever be impressed with the devil, even to the point of intimidation—never being intimidated! I pray for that grace. I ask as well, Lord, for that wisdom for life and that everybody in this room would get to mentor someone. Where You’ve given each one authority, we want our city to be blessed, and we want them to be blessed because of You. We want them to be blessed because You just told us where to cast the nets! You’re the one who said the fish are over here; You’re the one who said the breakthrough is here. I pray for this grace to come upon this body right now, in Jesus' wonderful name. I ask, Lord, that our lives would ignite in the hearts of people a passion for God! That’s our bottom line.