Bill Johnson - Bold Faith Stands on the Shoulders of Quiet Trust
Bold faith stands on the shoulders of quiet trust. All God was looking for from me was just to hold the course and trust Him; that was it. I was looking for great demonstrations of faith; I was looking for great breakthroughs, and the only thing I had to do was be quiet and cultivate trust. Yeah, thanks! Sure, good to see you. Good morning! I just got back from Taiwan; it was wonderful. I let all our Taiwanese friends here know Friday night that I left it in good order. I didn’t break anything; the country is still running; it’s all still good. I had such a wonderful time! We have so many good friends all over Asia. I was in China a couple of weeks ago, came home, and then went to Taiwan just because I didn’t have anything else to do. But I surely had a good time. God is just doing so much all over that part of the world.
Do you know what the correct term is for gluten-free, sugarless, vegan brownies? Compost! Yes, amen! A scientific study was done that proved that women who add a few extra pounds live longer than the men who mention it. That’s a very reliable study! Being cremated is my last hope for a smoking-hot body; that’s just gross, isn’t it? If you see me eating a salad in a restaurant, I have been kidnapped, and I’m trying to signal you! Oh, I think that’s funny! It’s funnier when my wife is here because she just closes her eyes and shakes her head when she’s upset with me. When I hear my full name, it’s Bill Johnson; it’s not just Bill; I hear my last name, too.
Actually, it’s not that she’s upset with me; she doesn’t get upset with me. My love language is teasing, so yeah, sorry about that! One more: Two elderly couples were enjoying a friendly conversation when one of the men asked the other, «Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?» «Outstanding!» Fred said. «They taught us all the latest psychological techniques: visualization, association, etc. It was great!» «That’s amazing!» he said. «What was the name of the clinic?» Frank went blank. He thought and thought but couldn’t remember. Then a smile broke across his face, and he asked, «What do you call that flower with a long stem and thorns?» He responds, «You mean a rose?» «Yes, that’s it!» Fred turned to his wife and said, «Rose, what was the name of that memory clinic?» That’s pretty pitiful; that’s just plain pitiful!
All right, open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians, chapter 3. We’re going to read a few verses out of chapter 3 and a few more out of chapter 4. I want to give you context; I want to talk to you about the way of faith. You know, faith is supposed to be normal for a believer. That’s why we’re called believers, amen. It’s actually in our nature in Christ to believe in the One who’s perfectly faithful. The Spirit of God took up residence in us, and He exudes confidence in the Father. All of our relationship with the Holy Spirit leads to faith, leading to confidence in God. Unfortunately, we have images of hype, control, and so many other things that have nothing to do with faith, but I want to talk to you about pure and simple faith.
It’s vital, and it has to be important to us because faith is one of the two absolutes that heaven anticipates in the heart of every believer. The two absolutes are love and faith. We know there’s faith, hope, and love, and love is the greatest of these. But we also know in Hebrews 11 that without faith, it’s impossible to please Him. I know there’s a part of life where we don’t have to do anything to please God. He actually delights in who we are, as we are made in His image. I get that. But we can’t discount the fact that faith pleases Him. There’s something about our response to who He is that brings great pleasure to His own heart.
Some stories that move me the most in the New Testament include Jesus with a centurion who demonstrates a level of faith that no one in all of Israel demonstrated. The Syrophoenician woman, who wanted her daughter healed and delivered, heard Jesus explain that he was sent to the Jews first, not the Gentiles. She rose above that into a place of faith, and He was stunned. I don’t know what you do with that, but for God to have awe towards you is amazing! For Him to stop in His tracks and say, «Wow, I’m impressed,» is powerful! He was so moved by the offering of Mary, who poured out a year’s worth of income to purchase ointment over Him. He was so stunned by that act that He announced it would be spoken of forever; this story of this offering will actually be on record and talked about for all eternity.
So it should matter to us that there are things we can do that truly touch His heart in unique ways. It’s not Christian calisthenics; it’s not performing so that He’ll love us. We can’t cause Him to love us any more than He already does. But there’s an element of bringing pleasure to the heart of God that’s so special. I just bless the children, and don’t ever feel bad if you have a child in here that cries; I don’t mind. It’s part of life. In fact, I was reading earlier that D. L. Moody had a meeting once where the only people who could attend were moms with babies in their arms. It could have been crazy, but God showed up, and Chris got gray hair in that meeting; it turned completely white!
Yeah, that’s right! Honestly, don’t ever feel bad. Faith is actually the most normal response to discovering who He is because all it is is confidence in His nature and in His Word. Unbelief creeps in where we’re unsure. Yes, if you don’t have questions in life, you’re intellectually brain-dead. We’re supposed to have questions; it’s vital to have questions. But questions raised in the atmosphere of trust lead to revelation, while questions raised in mistrust lead to unbelief.
You see, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, when the angel showed up and announced that his wife would give him a son, said, «How can I know this for sure?» And Gabriel said, «I’m Gabriel; I stand in the presence of God.» You know, that should be enough evidence. But the Lord made Zechariah silent for nine months, probably to prevent him from messing up the miracle because many miracles are aborted by what we say. So here’s this question that really held God hostage for an answer. Questions are normal for believers because you can’t develop trust without questions. You have to have mystery to develop a life of trust. There’s no need for trust if there’s no mystery; if there are no questions.
It’s essential that you live in the middle of things that you can’t control, can’t explain; some things you don’t like, and some things you’re overwhelmed by. You live in the middle of this mystery, and that’s where trust is cultivated. So without those elements, you cannot possibly develop the life of trust that He is looking for from each of His own. Faith pleases Him!
If you look at me with 2 Corinthians chapter 3, we’re going to jump into the middle of the subject because I don’t want to deal with the broad topic; it’ll take too much time for this morning’s session. But he’s dealing with the veil over the eyes of the Jews regarding the reality of Christ. All right, so we’re going to jump into the middle of that, but the principle that applies there also applies to us. Verse 14: «Their minds were blinded, for until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.»
Now listen to that last verse because this provides insight into our life of faith. Faith has to matter to us because our whole life is about bringing pleasure to the heart of the Lord. Our dreams are fulfilled when we fulfill His dreams, just as Joseph’s dreams were fulfilled when he fulfilled Pharaoh’s dreams. It’s just the life we’ve been called to; it’s what’s called seeking first the Kingdom, and all these things will be added. There’s this domino effect, and whenever we reverse the order, we lose both.
All right, verse 16 again: «Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.» That’s fascinating because you would think the veil would be removed so that a person could turn to the Lord. But the point being made here and also in chapter 4 is that there’s a veil of deception that lies over the eyes of people. They’re deluded about who God is and what He has said, what He has promised. There’s this realm of deception that exists over the minds of people. In chapter 4, it says, «He has blinded their minds.» The implication is minds see; He’s blinded their minds to reality and truth.
Yet it says when they believe, the veil is lifted. The veil isn’t lifted so they can believe. Why? Because faith doesn’t come from the mind; faith comes from the heart. So no matter the level of deception that exists over a person, there’s always enough Holy Spirit activity; there’s always enough going on in the spirit of a person to yield to the Lord so that deception is removed. The point is that faith comes first; understanding comes second. We know that in Hebrews 11 it says, «By faith we understand the worlds were made out of nothing.» Faith came first. Why? Because the Lord is looking for people who yield from here, not just here. He’s not asking us to adopt His principles; He’s urging us to embrace the principle of yielding to Him.
See, faith is the result of surrender, not striving. You don’t work yourself into faith. One of the biggest enemies of a life of faith is busyness. It’s not that busyness is wrong; it’s just that without the place of quietness anchoring the soul in who God is and what He has said, we become easily persuaded and swayed by popular opinion and the movements of the day. That anchor of the soul finds its rest in the nature of God and the Word of God; that’s where that element of trust gets developed in the middle of craziness and chaos.
This verse says, «Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.» Verse 17: «Now the Lord is the Spirit.» That’s an interesting statement: the Lord is the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Lord. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Another way to put that is: Wherever the Holy Spirit is Lord, liberty is the evidence. The evidence of the presence of God— not just in the room. I mean, He can be in the room, but I can resist Him and not yield to Him, right? So it’s not just the presence of the Lord in this sense; it’s the presence of the Lord in this sense, that He has an impact of lordship over my perception, over my thinking, over my heart.
There’s a place of tenderness and yieldedness. See, my life’s goal is to be tender enough to the Lord that He can touch me with His fingerprint and leave His imprint on my heart. I want to be that tender, that soft and tender to Him, that any breath moves me, any breath of God moves my thinking, moves my actions. We really do play to the audience of one; we really do live to the audience of one, to bring pleasure to one. The moment I lose that is when I become very frustrated with Him.
In fact, the way I like to put it is that if God is your servant, you will constantly be frustrated; He will never measure up. But if you are His servant, you will always stand in amazement, being overwhelmed by how good He really is. There’s a shift in posture, and if I fail to make that shift in posture, I will think I have a contract to make demands of God instead of realizing He gave Himself to me as the contractor so that together we would co-labor to see His purposes carried out.
Faith really is the result of being overwhelmingly confident that He is who He says He is; it’s normal. So where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! We use that statement a lot—I like it because it speaks so much of the Kingdom—but it’s given to us in this context of blinded minds being released from deception. Seeing that liberty is actually seeing what we’re supposed to see. Why is it important to see? I’m glad you asked! Why is perception so important?
There are obvious reasons, but let me tell you the ultimate reason: This whole chapter is about encountering the glory. In fact, we should read this next verse; this will help it make more sense. It’s wordy, but let’s work through it together. Verse 18: «But we all, with unveiled face,"—in other words, the deception has been lifted—"beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.» Interesting way to put things: I’m seeing the glory of the Lord, but it’s like I’m looking in a mirror. What does that say about what’s happening to you? Hope you’re getting it!
We are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. So, where the Holy Spirit is Lord, He lifts the veil so that we can see Him more clearly. But what happens as a result? Beholding the glory of the Lord is the most transformational encounter a person can and will ever have! When the Bible says, «When you see Him, you will be like Him,» that is true; but the principle is also in the present tense. As you see Him, you will be like Him. Many people wait to see some image where Jesus shows up in the flesh, or we see Him in vision form instead of realizing that any time we consider who He is and what He has said and we quiet our hearts, that we just look in His direction.
There’s an imprint taking place in our lives of who He is. Everything gets recalibrated: our thoughts, our values, our decisions, our priorities in life—all of this stuff gets recalibrated. The more I become confident and aware that He truly is with me—not just as a promise that I haven’t realized personally by experience, but as a promise that I live in—I live in the experience of the abiding presence of Christ. In that context, faith becomes more and more normal, and I become changed into His image.
So the whole point is that beholding Him changes us. You know, with the way things are emphasized in the church, it would almost appear that it’s by our hard work that we’re changed. I do believe in hard work! I believe in really representing the Lord with great zeal and fervency, laying my life down to see Him use my labors. But there is nothing so transformational as beholding Him! Those things are important because I’ve beheld Him. In other words, I don’t do these things to obtain favor; I already have the favor. I do them because I have favor!
What are you going to do with what God has given you? You know, if we hold a little baby and look at that little child, that child doesn’t have to do anything. In fact, what it does do can be quite offensive! Yet we have such favor on that child; we just love that child. A friend of mine just had a baby recently, and their statement was, «I didn’t know I could love anything as much as I love this baby!» How many of you know that’s absolutely true? There’s nothing like it! That baby doesn’t have to do anything for me to love it any more than I do. But if that baby is still laying in the crib when it’s 21, you know, you might want to light the mattress on fire to see if you can get some motivation going!
See if there’s got to be some activity that comes from the love you’ve displayed. Poor example, but you get my point.
All right. Chapter 4, down in verse 3: «Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.» That just reaffirms verse 16 of the previous chapter.
Now I want you to jump over to verse 13: «Since we have the same Spirit of faith according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke, ' we also believe and therefore speak.» That statement, «I believed, therefore I spoke,» Paul is quoting an Old Testament passage here. What he’s doing is taking a principle established first in the Old Testament that made it through the cross unchanged and remains in the New Testament.
Some things ended at the cross, like animal sacrifice. Some things were changed by the cross, like the nature of the Sabbath. Jubilee is every year for a believer; it was every 50 years for Israel. Some things were changed at the cross, and some principles made it through the cross unchanged, and this principle is one of them: «I believed, therefore I spoke.» Say that with me: «I believed, therefore I spoke.»
Now, I’m sure you’ve run into horror stories of people who have tried to get their way by confessing whatever they want and announcing the power of their confession. You know, there’s a natural power in the confession of a person; you don’t even have to be born again. If you say the right things over time, it will have an effect on you. But the real power we’re interested in is the power of God, and that is released when we say what He is saying. Discovering what He is saying is the vital part of our life.
Jesus established the model for us. He said, «I only say what I hear my Father say.» All the words that came out of His mouth were words that He actually heard from the Father. So when we partner with the heavenly Father to declare what He is saying, all of heaven waits to ride on what came from the heart of the Father.
The way I describe it, my personal conviction is that the angelic realm—in a way that sounds a little strange—can smell the fragrance of the throne room when you say something that originated in the heart of the Father. I come to that analogy this way: We know that Satan is called Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies. Flies are attracted to what? Death and decay! I had a freezer die once out in a shed, and it was hell on Earth! It was bad; it was so bad! I don’t know how flies got in there, but there were more than mankind could count inside this freezer! We didn’t empty the freezer; we just took the whole thing to the dump!
So if Satan is likened to the Lord of the Flies, then the angelic realm would seem to be attracted by life—the breath of heaven; the very things that God speaks. According to Psalm 103, angels carry out the voice of His Word. There’s something about when we declare what God is saying that they are attracted to; they might enforce it.
It’s true! It’s just learning to partner with God the way that He wants to be partnered with. So here we have this statement: «I believed, therefore I spoke.» And then he responds, «We also believe and therefore speak.»
You know, if we could learn truth and lay aside every bad example we’ve ever seen, we would do a lot better. Oftentimes, there are touchy reactions to phrases, words, movements, etc., because in our mind we have the worst possible example of that idea. Many things have been rejected by the church. I remember years ago, one of the most amazing men I’ve ever met said, «Stay away from the prophetic because it’s caused so much shipwreck.» Well, he had experienced a number of tragic things, and his reaction was to stay away from that because it has caused so much damage in the church.
I had so much respect for this man, and he’s in heaven now, but strangely, his word excited me about the prophetic. It encouraged me because I thought, «Well, if the devil works that hard to counterfeit something because it has that much power, then the real must be all that much more valuable.»
You don’t ever hear about a counterfeit ring being busted where the counterfeit was a penny, you know? I mean, it’s not worth the effort! You only counterfeit something of value. Every time I see the enemy trying to distort a reality or truth, that actually encourages me; it motivates me.
What his warning did for me was enable me to take extra steps of caution and accountability. I remember with a team and others, partnering together to ensure we were doing this right, staying accountable together as we explored places where we didn’t know anyone else had gone.
Sometimes you just make that partnership together, saying, «This way of faith is important to me.» I realize I can make it about what I get; I can make it about how God uses me; I can make it about ministry instead of relationship. «Watch me, if you see that; correct me.»
The slap of a friend is invaluable, but don’t change the pursuit! Oh, I did it wrong, and then you quit? That’s foolish! If you were responding to something that God said to do, just keep responding to something that He said pleases Him. This lifestyle of faith—what we do is walk together, and the slap of a friend helps us walk correctly in purity but after the authentic.
So here’s this issue called «I believe, therefore I spoke.» This fascinates me because I’ve experimented with it through the years, and life for me is just one huge experiment. I remember being with Randy Clark in Colorado several years ago. I had been running an experiment for a while. Anytime I said at the beginning of a meeting, «It is normal for tumors to disappear in the presence of the Lord,» if I said that at the beginning of the meeting, by the end, we would check, and I remember this one meeting at Randy’s where by the end of the meeting, there were nine people whose tumors either completely disappeared or were significantly diminished—nine people!
Yet what I’ve noticed is if I don’t say that, chances are very high that it won’t happen. Now, is it the power of my speech? No! No, it’s just me cooperating with what He’s saying, and then His breath is added where the angelic realm enforces the very thing declared.
So what are you saying about your life? Sometimes our need for sympathy from friends in the middle of a problem, we find greater comfort from the sympathy of friends than we do in the comfort of trust and confidence in God. We talk down. I believe in transparency; I believe in saying, «I’m hurting; I need help,» having people around you; I get that, and I think it’s vital and important. So don’t misunderstand me!
But there’s another element to this feeding off the sympathy of friends that sometimes becomes more valuable than the place of confidence in God. I was in New Zealand this last August, and I do a particular conference there every year. I think it’s been about 12 years I’ve been going every year. I was there this time with Michael Maiden, who’s a wonderful man of God; I really want to have him here at some point. He’s a great prophet, and he’s ministered so deeply to me through the years. Anyway, I was in this conference, and it was the last night. He got up at the end and called me up and began to prophesy over me.
I’ve had a lot of good words through the years, and I treasure them. I record them; if there’s a video, I get it downloaded so I can watch it in my living room. I had a pretty rough year where I was really sick. Some of you might remember that. I couldn’t eat; I couldn’t drink water; I couldn’t do anything. I was in a rough place. Then, Michael Maiden called me out and said, «Pastor Bill, God won’t leave me alone on this.»
He said, «I wouldn’t do this otherwise,» and he began to bring this word. This is what he shared: «You’ve had a three-and-a-half-year period of unusual assault on your family.» I don’t know how many of you might know this, but my daughter was within a day, within 24 hours, of death two years ago this month. My mom was within three days, almost the exact same, within 24 hours, where I was overseas. That’s a rough news to get while you’re somewhere else, you know?
Then Brian went through a rough thing, and it seems like each family member went through something unusually weird and strange. You have to understand—I really do not live devil-focused at all! I know he exists, but he’s not worthy of my conversation. I only talk about him long enough to get the crosshair settled on his forehead! It’s true!
Anyway, Michael called me out, began to prophesy, and said, «You’ve been under this three-and-a-half-year period of assault, and it has ended.» Then he went on to say, «What annoyed the enemy the most is that in the midst of your darkest, deepest moments, you just laid on your bed and gave thanks to God for His goodness.»
That’s true! There was such an unusual grace. «Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,» there are measures of His presence that you can only find there. There are measures of His presence you can only find there—walking through! That’s where you find Him! And it was such a grace in that moment. I remember just laying in my bed or my recliner and unable to function for a season, just reviewing promises, reading through the Word—refreshing myself in God’s goodness, giving thanks for an amazing family—a church family, my natural family—just taking a moment to celebrate His kindness and goodness.
It does something to settle the fear. You know, I came out of the whole ordeal realizing it was all about trust. Bold faith stands on the shoulders of quiet trust. All God was looking for from me was just to hold the course and trust Him; that was it. I was looking for great demonstrations of faith; I was looking for breakthroughs, and the only thing I had to do was be quiet and cultivate trust. Brian, my son, says it best: «If all you’re left with is God, consider that a gift.» That’s the truth!
Discovering Him in those moments is everything. So what is He looking for from you and me? Each of us has issues—some positive, some challenges, some horrible—but we all have stuff. In the middle of that, maintaining a real quiet spirit in the presence of the Lord, where trust is constantly cultivated, bold faith will take its place. Just maintain the absolute confidence that God is who He says He is, that He is good, and that His promises will endure over any situation.
Somehow, maintaining that one thing has a domino effect on the rest of life. I love bold faith! I was raised in a house hearing the stories of Smith Wigglesworth and all these people in my family’s history. I loved seeing different friends of mine through the years, like Mario Murillo and others, that exhibited such bold faith. That’s always been my ambition: to live with and demonstrate bold faith. It happens!
But I found out what God is interested in; He’s interested in that quiet trust that does not move regardless of circumstances and does not fall into questioning, regardless of surroundings. So, Father, I pray for us as a family. I pray that once again, you would release grace over our lives—that quiet trust would become so deep and bring about such profound stability that nothing could challenge our thinking, our affection, or our confidence in you.
Thank you, Lord! Thanks so much! Whenever we come together, there’s always a high chance that, with this many people in a room, we have folks here who simply don’t know the Lord. The most important thing that could happen today would be for anyone here who is not certain about their relationship with Christ to pray a very simple prayer of faith—a prayer of surrender, a prayer of yielding, acknowledging who He is and surrendering to His lordship, allowing Him to rule over our lives in such a gracious manner, causing us to become everything He created us to become.
But it comes at that point of surrender, and I want to ask if there’s anyone here who would just say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave this building. I don’t want to leave this property until I know that I am right with God, until I know I’ve been forgiven of sin.» If that’s you, put a hand up right where you are. I want to acknowledge you quickly and let our eyes meet. Yep, wonderful! Amen! Anyone else? Real quick!
All right, go ahead and stand; we’re going to have a ministry team—if you would come up here. I’ve got friends over here that I trust, and I’d love to have them come pray for you. So just come on down here. Bless this one; it’s wonderful to have people! Yeah, right over here to my right. Anyone else who would like to? We’re going to have a team down here to pray for you—miracles in your body, whatever is needed. We’ve got a team ready to go, but specifically over here to my right we have what’s called the freedom banner, and people are there ready to pray with you to meet the Lord Jesus, to know what it is to be born again. Ministry team, come quickly! We want to give a chance for people to receive prayer and get their miracle.