Bill Johnson - Wisdom Has No Adversary
Is it possible to have a sense of manifest presence that is so ingrained in how we do life, conversation, excellence, and work, all the gifts activated as worship unto God in community life, where there’s a celebration of every individual person and gift? Is it possible for life to be lived in such a way that there is no adversary? I’ve been conducting a study that I’ve wanted to do for years and finally have been released to pursue this area of study, just as of about a month ago, maybe five weeks ago. It has to do with the life of Solomon and the absolute need for supernatural wisdom, divine wisdom for the shaping of culture and society. The Lord has a strategy for impacting humanity, of which heart wisdom is fundamental. When Solomon asked God for wisdom—remember the story? The Lord appeared to him in a dream and asked him what he would like to have. He actually said, «I would like a hearing ear,» and the Lord said, «Because you didn’t ask for the life of your enemies, wealth, or fame, I will give these to you, plus I will give you what you asked for.» Then the Lord interpreted what he asked for, saying, «So I give you wisdom.» But what he actually prayed for was a hearing ear. This should emphasize something to us: divine wisdom actually has to do with hearing; it has to do with the breath, the thought, the heartbeat of God, which we learn to hear and recognize.
The Lord is positioning people throughout culture and society to bring transformation—not just outward transformation where things look nice and prosperous, but down to the heart of the matter. What people are hungry for is the kingdom of God. Probably an evangelist some years ago came up with a brilliant example, stating that at the heart of every human being is a God-shaped vacuum, and only a relationship with God can fill that vacuum. I would like to suggest that perhaps, at the same time, the absence that exists in the hearts of people worldwide is a desire for the kingdom of God. I say that because Abraham, in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 10, sought a city whose builder and maker was God. There was a drive in him to look for something, which to him looked like a city, a community. We have to shift our language, thoughts, vision, and view from merely having individual needs met to God-thinking that is citywide and nationwide; He thinks in terms of cities and nations.
We see the rebuke that Jesus brought to three cities—Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum—in Matthew 11, because He thinks in terms of entire cities moving with Him or against Him, in which case correction comes. Look at Nineveh when the Lord sent Jonah the prophet; it was to a city for transformation, change, and repentance. The Lord thinks in terms of city so much so that the bride for His Son is a city; it’s actually called the New Jerusalem. I love biblical metaphors because they are beautiful on one hand and completely defy logic on the other, and I relish that combination. Here is the bride coming down out of heaven, a city that’s square—it’s a cube. That’s not a normal-looking bride, but the Lord is trying to communicate something. What is that square? It’s perfect structure, which tells me that divine order comes out of romance.
So many times we try to figure things out on paper and through human reasoning instead of realizing that it’s the intimacy and the yieldedness to God in which He unfolds His purposes and plans. Back to the heart of the issue: the Lord created within us a need to live in supernatural divine community, as He describes the kingdom in relation to Abraham’s quest for a city whose builder and maker is God. When Israel left the land of Egypt for the promised land, the promised land was a prophetic picture of the kingdom of God. It wasn’t heaven; it was a picture of kingdom lifestyle here on Earth, where things work naturally with great practicality, yet the Lord was King over all. The Lord used a nation to illustrate the kingdom.
What I’m trying to do is jar us from having a singular focus on the kingdom that says it’s how God touches me as an individual—it’s healing in my body, it’s my family doing well, it’s our local church—instead of realizing that the Lord is constantly equipping us with blessings to be a blessing to culture and society. The Lord describes us in several ways, but there are three that I want to highlight as I try to rev up this motor and move toward where we need to go today. He describes us in three very unique ways.
Number one: He says we are the salt of the earth. Then He says if salt loses its flavor, it becomes tasteless, worthless, and is thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Then He goes on and says, «You are the light of the world; a city set on a hill cannot be hidden.» Interesting two illustrations or metaphors illustrate how He designed us and what He designed us to be. The third one doesn’t speak to you and me as individuals or as the body of Christ, but instead refers to the kingdom when the Lord says, «The kingdom of heaven is like leaven.» Leaven works because it is worked into the system of dough.
I would like to suggest to you that your neighbors, the people we work with, and those we love and care about throughout our city and all our nations—these people are crying out for something they don’t have language for, and I suggest that what they are crying out for is the kingdom, the king’s domain, the realm of the perfect Father’s dominion over the hearts and lives of men and women. The impact of a life transforming, when Jesus started teaching about the kingdom, we know He illustrated it with power—there would be deliverance, healing, setting things right, and divine justice on the tormentor who came to plunder and steal from people. Therefore, there would be a power display, but then He would also teach about it saying, «Blessed are the poor in spirit"—the beatitudes—the attitudes that enable us to be filled with the citizenship attitudes of heaven, the way His world functions.
It’s a piece of His own nature that He breaks off and shows us: «Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,» and He begins to teach us on the internal values. Thus, this kingdom is one of power display and yet is accompanied by internal structure and instruction that get built into how people think, live, and perceive reality. The Lord is working on us in two realms: the power realm and the wisdom realm.
Now something interesting just came to my attention that I hadn’t realized all these years: when Jesus says, «You’re the salt of the earth,» and «if salt becomes tasteless,» that word tasteless is actually the word foolish. It’s not just one among a dozen translations; it’s quite literally the word foolish. When salt becomes foolish, what is foolishness contrasted with? I would suggest that it is contrasted with wisdom. You are the salt of the earth, but when salt becomes foolish, the implication is that there is a pattern, a process in life in which the wisdom of God through a people whose nature it is to have a hearing ear gets sprinkled into culture and society—not as those who have dominion in the sense of ruling over people, but as empowered servants.
We get sprinkled into culture and society and are fully equipped to bring solutions and answers to the heart’s cry of those around us. The Lord is working on how you are the light of the world, and He illustrates this by saying, «A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.» What does He mean? He’s saying, «Listen, I’ve made you light, and I’m going to put you in a position where people will see you and be drawn to you.»
Here’s a part of the Gospel that isn’t always emphasized in our particular circles. Perhaps my favorite chapter in the Bible, for personal enjoyment, is Isaiah chapter 60: «Arise, shine, not reflect, shine, for your light has come; the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, deep darkness the people, but His light will appear upon you; His glory will arise upon you.» Then He says this: «Kings will come to your light and nations to the brightness of your rising.»
God’s purpose is to position you and me with light; to be positioned where people will come to us. While I believe in the sending of missionaries—we send people all the time around the world, and it’s a vital part of the Gospel—there is also this aspect of the Gospel that, in the season we’re in, it would be wise to emphasize. That is to have something happening among us so that the light becomes a city that God places on a hill, where kings, if you will, and nations will come to the brightness of our rising. In other words, our light shines before men in such a way that they see our good works and glorify the Father who is in heaven. It’s not just about coming to see how smart we are to get answers for life; it’s about recognizing how amended we are from our own brokenness and then coming to receive the answers, thereby connecting people to the Lord—not just to you and me.
The Lord is raising up a revived people, people He is using as a city set on a hill. The scripture says that kings will come to your light, and nations to the brightness of your rising. We go to a garden; the garden doesn’t come to us. We go to a spring to drink water; the spring doesn’t come to us. There’s a certain part of life in which God has instilled His nature, placing us in a position in culture and society where people start coming to find shelter amidst the storms they’re experiencing, to find solutions and answers.
I suggest that part of what Solomon created through this supernatural gift of wisdom was an environment in which city life thrived at a level never before achieved and never since accomplished. We’re going to look at a couple of verses that are quite alarming. I want you to open your Bibles to 1 Kings—1 Kings, we’ll start with chapter 4 and then we have a great bonus verse in chapter 5.
1 Kings chapter 4, we will randomly read a few verses to give us a picture of community life. First, verse 20: «Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea in multitude, eating, drinking, and rejoicing.» Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea. Having lots of children was the goal and ambition of our spiritual fathers. Things have shifted in attitude in the world system around us today, but this was a mark of divine favor that they would have children that would live and that they could feed and support. It was a definition, description, or illustration of great prosperity throughout the land.
Jump down to verse 24: «He had dominion over all the region on this side of the river, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, and over all the kings on this side of the river. He had peace on every side all around him.» The end of verse 27 says, «And there was no lack in their supply.» Verse 29 reads, «God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand of the sea.»
How many of you can feel God trying to birth into you a largeness of heart? You find yourself caring for things, whereas a year ago, you wouldn’t have given it a second thought. And yet we start getting moved and rocked by things, as the Lord gives us largeness of heart. Verse 34 states, «And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.»
There’s something here, folks. We’ll get into chapter 5 in a few moments, but to be honest, I’m not sure how to communicate it. I just feel it: there is this wisdom that the Lord is imparting. In the New Testament, wisdom is the person of Jesus Christ. So there is this wisdom, this hearing ear that the Lord is joining to His people, making us so effective in any environment.
I would like to tell you: we do our best when we’re in over our heads. It’s very tempting to function out of human reasoning when we’re in an environment we understand, but when we get in over our heads, there’s an automatic dependency on the voice of the Lord and on the ear. I feel like the Lord right now is just working us like leaven into that lump of dough because He’s ensuring we are evenly sprinkled across all parts of culture and society.
As I mentioned, I think last week, when Benny used to make bread at home, she would work the yeast into the lump of dough, and we always lived in a cold environment in the winter because we only had wood heat from a wood stove; we had no other kind of heat. She would take that lump of dough and place it by the wood stove, where the heat would activate whatever was in the dough. Suddenly, it would begin to rise. There is a heat in the land that is activating whatever yeast is within us, and the Lord is working Kingdom wisdom into you and me.
Here’s something else I did not realize: the word «Proverbs,» the title of the book, which, by the way, I have felt for nearly a decade holds the secrets for city transformation. The word «proverb,» of course, means riddle, a kind of hidden truth in a statement. However, there’s another meaning for the word «proverb» that I never knew until Brian Simmons, in his Passion Translation of Proverbs, brings it out in the introduction. The second meaning for the word «proverb» is to reign or to rule.
This is absolutely incredible. Listen to this verse: «Those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.» Think about that: to reign in life—what is wisdom for? What is that voice that gives us play-by-play instructions for how to do life? It’s because the Lord is trying to raise up people who know how to reign in life. There are families out there that don’t know how to do life. They don’t know how to get along with their spouse. They marry in covenant; it was their dream come true, but they just don’t know how to resolve conflict.
They don’t know what to do with the child that says no. They weren’t raised in an environment that taught them how to resolve conflict, how to live in peace, how to live in unity, or how to walk in forgiveness. There are many things you and I may take for granted, and there may be people in this room who don’t know how to do those things. This is reigning in life.
The Lord has given us access to a gift where these enemies of our personal lives become so thoroughly defeated that God can position you as a standard, as an example, proclaiming, «This is how you resolve conflict in your marriage; this is how you work for a disloyal boss.» In every environment, each one of us gets sprinkled into, the Lord is trying to use the hearing ear, the gift of divine wisdom, the heavenly blueprint, if you will, to sprinkle us into life.
So let’s move on to chapter 5 for the bonus round. Solomon is preparing to build a temple. He hasn’t even built it yet. By the way, the amount of gold in this temple is somewhere around five billion dollars. He had over 180,000 employees, so do the math on that for how much it would cost to feed that many employees just for the building of the temple. Nothing like it has been built before or since. But, I don’t want to downplay its beauty and wonder; I’m fascinated by the building of community life.
Something extraordinary happened during Solomon’s reign, in the life of a community, that I don’t think has occurred before or since. Verse 3 states, «You know how my father David could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars which were fought against him on every side until the Lord put his foes under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence.»
I just read something outrageous. That word «adversary» is the word «Satan.» Solomon is writing to a friend of his father’s asking for help; he needs cedar wood from Lebanon sent for building the temple. He writes to hire his dad’s friend and describes, «The Lord has given me peace all around; there is no Satan.» Is it possible to have such divine order in life that the enemy can’t break through?
I was just talking with one of our congregants who comes from a very bizarre, scary background. The Lord has so healed her heart, and she told me this week, during one of our meal times at the conference, that she used to go to the prayer house because she could see the demonic all the time. She would visit the prayer house knowing they couldn’t enter there, and it was her safe place. She could literally see them outside, but they could never get in.
Is it possible to have a sense of manifest presence that is so worked into how we do life—conversation, excellence, and work—all gifts activated as worship unto God in community life, where there’s the celebration of every individual person? Is it possible to live life in such a way that there is no adversary? I realize this is an extreme idea, but you know what? Solomon and Israel accomplished this without being born again. You’re not truly born again until Jesus shed His blood, enabling the blood of Jesus to wipe away sin.
In this unusual setting, wisdom was so impactful in their lives that Solomon described it as not having an adversary nor evil occurrence at all. I don’t like snakes. I don’t care if they’re non-poisonous; I don’t like them. I know they serve a purpose in God’s creation, but I want them to serve that purpose somewhere else—that’s my view. We used to backpack quite a bit in the Trinity Alps, a gorgeous wilderness area. My kids are wanting me to go again, but the problem is it’s all uphill, and you have to carry stuff. If they can find a horse dumb enough to carry me, I might consider it as long as they’ll carry me and my stuff.
In the wilderness, there’s a Timberline where trees don’t grow any higher. There’s just no more trees. But there’s also a snake line; there’s an elevation at which snakes don’t exist. Wisdom will take you there. The hearing ear and the things that have followed you all the days of your life to taunt and torment? No, there’s a place in God where the enemy loses his voice.
Strangely, in the same way, the Queen of Sheba became breathless when confronted with divine wisdom. The wonder of it all took her breath away. I believe it’s time for the word of the Lord to come forth through people who know their God and can stand in any adverse situation and bring the word of the Lord.
The answer is not the destruction of nations. The political spirit will try to stir up animosity between people groups, making us think the real answer is destruction. In fact, the Lord has a plan for every nation and every group of people. He has a heart for people. Jesus didn’t die for some and ignore others. His death was a payment made for all humanity.
We are positioned at a time of great world need and emerging crisis for a reason. I believe the Lord is guiding us through a process of rapid expansion, development, and increase. Although I don’t know what this is about, there is a time limitation, and much must be done in a short period. The Lord is raising people, sprinkling us into the system as salt, light, and leaven.
I’ve always taught that salt was a preservative, which it was; they didn’t have refrigerators in biblical days. However, Jesus didn’t teach salt only as a preservative; He spoke of salt as that which flavors something. Your life is intended to add flavor to community life, flavor to culture, flavor to where you work. There’s something about you that is supposed to add the spice of life to wherever you serve—the neighborhood you live in, influencing and affecting all that comes under your influence.
This is the position of the Lord for every believer. The answer is not destruction; the answer is not being rescued and whisked away. The power of the Gospel must be fully displayed. To me, it’s offensive to find something higher in the Old Testament than what is achieved in the New Testament. The Old Covenant, the inferior covenant, is not meant to provide superior blessings.
When Benny and I came here 17 years ago, we stood at the second stair of this platform. The church was tired; we had just become pastors, and it had been eight months without any leadership. You could feel the fatigue in the air. One Sunday evening, we invited everyone forward. There were several hundred people crowded around the front, and we had come hungry for a real outpouring of the Spirit of God—this is why the leadership of this house brought us, because of what we had experienced in Weaverville, an hour west of here.
We stood on those stairs and prayed a simple prayer: «Holy Spirit, just come in power—touch these people.» The power of God fell instantly on one person, and that one person was enough to make us ecstatic. We looked at each other and knew, «We got it; it is now unstoppable.»
It’s like the prophet said: there’s a cloud, the size of a man’s hand. What I have cried out for, prayed for, studied, and preached for, for almost 40 years, was a dream until about five years ago. It was entirely a dream—I could see it; I could feel it; I could smell it; I could taste it—but I couldn’t point to it anywhere. I can’t say it wasn’t happening; I’m just saying it wasn’t happening in my world.
In the last five years, I’m starting to see that cloud size of a man’s hand. I see things changing in culture and society. I see you getting sprinkled with this passion, this presence, this power. I see God taking your life and my life, sprinkling us into places of influence in the city—not to run things but to serve.
I see things coming into shape that I’ve been used to dreaming about but not used to seeing, and now I’m seeing it. It’s this idea that this man, a son of David, received the ability to hear from God and implement that wisdom into culture and society, ultimately leading to the transformation where everyone had a lot of children, silver piled up in the streets counted as nothing, and he could spend billions building a house for God without touching his personal treasury.
This is about the extreme, lavish heart of God for humanity, poured out in an Old Testament context to draw us into some promises we never knew or thought were possible. I’m not talking about building personal empires or wealth. I’m talking about the impact of humanity, the impact of benevolence, the impact of purity of character, the impact of passion for God—the impact of His presence.
Do you know what Solomon inherited? He inherited this heart for the presence of God. Tragically, he lost it along the way, but he started with that passion for the presence. The Lord God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence. This was during the time of David’s Tabernacle, and it is wise for us to recognize what stopped at the cross, what transformed through the cross, and what continued beyond the cross.
One of the few things that continued through the cross was Davidic worship. It became a pattern for New Testament Christianity, as we know from the prophecy in Amos 9, where it says, «In the last days I will raise up the ruin of the fallen Tabernacle of David,» which was 24-hour worship, continuous engagement with the presence where the glory dwells. This is the New Testament mandate, privilege, and worship.
Then we move to Acts 15. James quotes Amos 9 and states, «This is now; this is what He’s doing.» Here’s this Davidic worship centered on continuous engagement with the presence, which is the chief value of everything. Everything rotates around this connection and the value of the presence of the Spirit of God, given liberally to the people of God, that, in a time of peace, shapes a culture in which no adversary could exist.
I would like to suggest there’s something in that for now. I pray that the Lord would release to you and to me the wisdom of the sons of Issachar, who knew the days they lived in and how to navigate them. I believe we can find random instructions throughout scripture, but it’s wise to hear what He is saying now. I believe there are open doors and opportunities to serve humanity in ways we’ve never had before, and favorable assignments are coming to you that you’ve never dreamed of.
God is doing something in the hearts of His people where things are forming and taking shape, appearing almost too good to be true. These are blueprints for how to do life, how to reign in life. Many of you have had a hellish time in your lives economically, and yet the Lord has reversed that, turned it around, and positioned you before people who know your history and see what God is doing in you.
He is summoning the cries of your friends' hearts to come and find a piece of the blueprint for how to do life, how business thrives, how families actually get along. How is it that we see honor in a household even amidst the terrible twos or during the teenage years? How do we navigate broken relationships, where there was significant betrayal or misunderstanding? People are watching us to see how we handle the most difficult situations in life because they seek someone who knows how to reign in life, someone who is bigger on the inside than their outward problems.
They are looking for someone with answers and solutions that are as practical as dollars in your pocket or houses you live in. The Lord is releasing a wisdom for life.
I love what Chris shared earlier: the Lord only leads us into a conflict we are equipped to win. I believe that so strongly. There’s a humorous passage in Psalms 105 that states, «And the Lord made Israel stronger than their enemies.» The very next verse states, «And the Lord worked on the enemies to hate Israel.» That’s strange.
There are impossible situations in our city and nation—impossible situations people will face, difficult circumstances. National leaders have told us, «There are no answers for the problems we are facing.» That is true in the realm of human reasoning, but I have a Father. The Lord is taking people who know how to hear, hear first, speak second, and He’s working us into situations that appear impossible.
He intends to showcase His wonder-working power and wisdom to heal the brokenness of cities, families, individuals, and nations. You are a city set on a hill; that city does not move. It doesn’t go anywhere; it just shines. Part of the Gospel goes beyond mere inclusion; it becomes everything in the context of community that you can become—not an exclusive club, but people ready to give away everything for the benefit of those around us.
I believe the Lord is releasing strategies in the realms of society I might not have knowledge enough to give counsel about, but there are people here where the Lord is taking you. There are people watching on Bethel TV, and they are sprinkled into various positions and places throughout culture and society.
In recent weeks and months, I’ve discussed the process of reformation and awakening; all moves of God start on a grassroots level. They typically start with the poor, if not the poor economically, at least the poor in spirit. Culture is shaped by those in the upper echelons of society—those are the mind molders, the influences. Oftentimes, they are ungodly people. But what happens when you have a move of God start affecting culture and society at this level, where God begins promoting them?
Through their own excellence, they begin launching into positions of influence outside their typical sphere, leading to a grassroots movement that creates transformation for those who shape culture and society. That is reformation and awakening, and it’s what I believe God is summoning us to. Not to rule, but to serve, to come into position and say, «Mr. President, Mr. Governor, Mr. Mayor, Mr. CEO, Mr. Entertainer—whoever you are—God has a plan for you. I have covenanted with God to stay with you and pray you through into the blessing and bounty of God’s plan for your life.»
This plan is beyond your human ability: human capability, human understanding. It’s a purpose and plan that has life in it, peace in it, bounty in it, and all the things that we ache for in our hearts. Everyone is looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. Everyone has a vacuum—a city-sized vacuum—in the heart that is crying out for the Kingdom of God.
In closing, I long for a kingdom of principles without the value of presence, as it is to seek a kingdom without a king. It is the value of the Holy Spirit—who is God on Earth—that connects everything. My value, my treatment, and my honor for this wonderful Holy Spirit is my connection to wisdom. It’s His value for me that positions me. Nothing is impossible.
I don’t believe you can look at a Moses with his face shining in the glory of God and then say we can’t have that now. I don’t believe it’s illegal to look at a city that was dramatically transformed and say, «Well, that’s not possible now.» The Spirit of God has been given to us.
I find myself praying for the need for power and wisdom, this combination that makes us effective in every situation. I pray for you, I pray for me, that together as a family, the Lord would give us holy spirit insights that enable us to be effective in every environment—serving well, loving people for their sake, not for ours. People hate being a project; they dislike being the object of outreach.
Nobody wants to be a number or a notch on the back of a Bible or another goal. Somehow, wisdom must bridge the gap between us and them. We must be willing to get our hands dirty to love and care for people. I believe the Lord is doing such a transformational work in our city that it will have a lasting effect—much like what Calvin did for Geneva hundreds of years ago, which still exists today under the weight of that blessing.
God wants to release transformative initiatives into cities all over the Earth. It is possible to live above the snake line. It is possible to look to the heavens and see things shaping up, and while it isn’t the full-blown thing we’ve prayed for, it is the cloud the size of a man’s hand. We better head for cover because God is about to do a work in the Earth.
I had this experience in a prayer meeting in Vacaville, California, with friends at the mission—a great church down there. I met a man that day, Mike Civello from Utica, New York—a wonderful leader. The worship was extraordinary, and as I prayed off to the side, Mike leaned over and said, «Bill, God is looking for a city. A city that would belong entirely to Him. Once He gets that one city, it will domino across the nation.»
Later, I was next to a lovely lady named Jean, and I was just standing there worshiping, and she leaned over and said, «Bill, God is looking for a city.» And she said the exact same words I had heard 20 minutes earlier.
When the Lord talks about harvesting a city, I don’t think He’s just saying, «I want everyone born again in that city.» I’ve been a pastor long enough to know that just because you save everyone doesn’t mean you’ve obtained the kingdom. You can have people with fire insurance who don’t know how to do life. The Lord is searching for a city that comes under the influence of a King—a king who is a perfect Father, more extreme in His love and benevolence for people than we could possibly imagine.
Bobby gave us an invitation years ago: «You have God’s permission to try to exaggerate His goodness.» It cannot be done wrongly or perverted, and it certainly cannot be exaggerated.
I believe the Lord is seeing into the Earth through intentional people who cry out, «God, infiltrate my heart with divine wisdom. I want to be a spring of life. I want to be a part of a city that people can run to for shelter.» I want to be part of a company of people who communicate the wonder of Your rule, the wonder of Your kingdom, Your delight in people, and Your delight in us having pleasure in You and one another. Help me to be a standard-bearer of that kind of lifestyle.
I believe the Lord has given us cities of the earth to see transformation. I have seen it in vision form for many years, and now I’m starting to see the cloud the size of a man’s hand. It’s time to head for cover because the Lord is about to release something in and through you that we have never even had the foresight to ask for.
Now let’s stand and pray. We will have our ministry team come down in a moment. For those of you who need to meet Jesus, if you’ve never given your life to the Lord, today is the day. Don’t dare leave the property without addressing that number one issue.
I want to pray right now because in this room are transformational people poised to live in a wisdom greater than Solomon’s—a wisdom that encompasses not just intelligence or answers but a wisdom that comes with the presence of a person.
Father, I pray for this contagious sense of divine wisdom to capture hearts, to capture hearts and ruin us for anything else. God, I pray that our friends from other cities and nations together would rise infected with hope for our city and nation—not just dreams but the passionate cry from our hearts to see our cities transformed, that we could present to You the treasures of the earth—transformed cities that represent Your world well. I pray for this in the mighty name of Jesus.
Now, I will conclude with a thought, recognizing I’ve closed once or twice already, but this is the final thought. The Lord’s prayer, «On Earth as it is in heaven,» is specifically called an apostolic prayer—apostolic because it refers to the leader of a military group sent to transform a city, like Philippi, to such a degree it becomes a mirror image of the culture and nature of Rome.
When the emperor of Rome would travel from Rome to visit Philippi, he would feel at home. When we pray «on Earth as it is in heaven,» it’s an apostolic prayer that says, «God, we want this world to be as comfortable for You to walk the streets of this city as it is in heaven.»
That’s the prayer and the mandate God has given us. So, I pray that you go forth in Jesus' name, praying apostolic prayers and bringing transformation to this apostolic city.