Bill Johnson - How to Turn Your Adversity Into Advantage
The moment that seems, in my natural estimation, to be the most dangerous, cluttered, distracting, abusive—whatever it might be—is actually my finest moment because He prepared the table, the table of nourishment, the table of fellowship, the table of intimacy, the table of tenderness. He put the table, and He makes the devil watch. Please, be seated. Good evening! Glad you showed up; glad you’re here. How many folks are still here from the leaders conference this week? We had so many events this week, other schools, and conferences and stuff going on. I almost got confused trying to figure out what was going on around here. Anyway, it’s good to see you.
Who is it that has an issue with clogged arteries? I believe Jesus is healing and opening up clogged arteries. There’s also someone who has an irregular heartbeat that the Lord is healing. When I call your condition out, please stand up. Is there anyone here who has metal in the right ankle? If you’re able to stand, please do so. Do you have any pain or restricted movement, anything of that nature? Yes? Okay, a little bit. We pray for absolute liberty for you. Just pretend I’m a dyslexic W knowledge guy and get that for the left ankle.
There’s a missing cartilage and torn cartilage in knees. Who is it that has some sort of injury to the collarbone? I believe it’s on the right side. There’s some sort of injury right here on the right. Who is it? Put your hand up so I can see who you are. Is that you over here? Okay, oh, there’s another one. All right, yeah, the Lord is healing that.
There are plenty of people here who have broken bones from a long time ago—sometime in the past, even 50 years ago—but they did not heal correctly, and you’d love for the Lord to restore that. If that’s you, just stand up right now. There’s also someone here who has damage to the Achilles tendon on the right leg. If you have issues with the left, stand up anyway, but there’s some sort of injury there. I don’t know if it was torn or if there was surgery, but there are ongoing issues with that Achilles tendon on the right leg specifically.
There’s nerve damage on the right side of the body, specifically the right leg. This area here, but I think it may be more than just the leg. Is that you? There’s this issue of nerve damage I can actually feel; it feels almost like it’s weak. It’s a result of some sort of nerve issue—it’s weak, it feels hot or warm, or it’s numb, or it’s a weird combination of feelings. But I believe Jesus is restoring that tonight. Amen.
Let’s see—do you guys have anything else? Brian, you got anything? Do we have—someone help me take it to Brian here? If you guys have anything, the Lord gave me the number 12. I think it’s like a family size, and I saw a whole bunch of girls. Is there a family here of 12 with a bunch of girls? Yes? Right? That is true. You guys have a whole tribe back there. Is there a bunch of girls? Yes?
What do you have for them? I was asking the Lord what I was supposed to say to them, and He just said He hasn’t taken His eye off you. Just speak life, health, and vitality over you. Yep, beautiful. Then just stand up, and you get prayed for. There we go. They’re missing some too; there’s four missing.
I feel like the Lord just wanted to highlight you tonight. Good! Something about organs or premature aging—like, your organs in the body. Does that make sense to anyone? You’re aging, I mean, we’re all aging, but just something prematurely—it’s not right, and just the Lord wants to… does that make sense back here? Yeah? So that stops right now! That’s completely over.
Actually, I feel like the Lord wants to turn back the clock on your life, and He’s going to do it—you’re going to find yourself getting caught up in the realm of the Spirit, and you’re going to lose track of time. Beautiful!
Now there is a tear in the left Achilles. Is that you? It’s a tear in the Achilles tendon right now. So tonight, you get it on either side, and it’s all free.
Here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. Excuse me, all of you. Any of you guys have anything? Dave, did you have something? Yep. Sorry, just got real warmth in my left hip. I believe God’s healing hips, so stand up if that’s you, but specifically your left side. I can feel this warm presence in my left hip.
As for fingers, just like, I don’t know, it could be any fingers. But the finger I have on my right hand—I saw a ring or something going wrong, an injury, damage, a broken finger. So just take it for fingers being restored. Crooked fingers to anyone? Beautiful!
All right, yeah, I saw like a muscle in the left calf that hadn’t healed correctly. There’s something in the left calf right there. Great!
Then issues with gallbladders; I feel like you’ve gone in and they’ve sent you home, but it’s a continuing issue in the gallbladder. And then there’s something— I don’t even know, but I’m going to say left side. That’s what I got—left side, a chronic, uncurable issue right here in the left side. I’m going to leave it kind of open-ended on that. Does it make sense to anyone? Stand up? Okay, that’s you. All right, great!
Now if all of you who are standing put a hand up; for those of you sitting down—you’ve just been drafted. You are now the team that’s going to pray. Listen carefully; I want you to go to somebody, have them pull their hand down so I know they’re being covered, but don’t pray yet. Wait till I give you instruction.
Go to somebody whose hand is up. If you can’t reach them, at least stand and extend your faith toward someone who has their hand up. Okay? Look around—keep your hand up until someone comes to you.
Front row, we’ve got a couple still here on the front row, right? Did we miss anyone? Wave your hand at me if we did. Oh wow, that was amazingly fast! Good job!
I realize most of you know what to do, but just to make sure we’re all on the same page: number one, you’ve got to find out what the problem is. I don’t like general shotgun prayers; I like rifle prayers—very targeted specific prayers. Don’t shoot anybody; it’s just an analogy.
So, very specific prayers. You’ve got to find out what’s wrong. Secondly, those of you receiving prayer, don’t give them a big story. Just give them a target—honestly, keep it simple. When you burden the people who are praying, that’s not good. Keep it simple.
Thirdly, there are many ways to pray for the sick. One of the most common is the laying on of hands. So I’m going to ask you to put your hand on the problem if it’s an appropriate place to place your hand. If not, put your hand on your shoulder or something.
Finally, as you pray, speak to the condition. If there’s arthritis, if there is missing cartilage, it doesn’t need healing; it needs to be created. Be specific. If something is torn, it can be mended. If it’s missing, it needs to be created. When I pray for something that’s missing, I will pray specifically, «Lord, recreate right now. We just declare all things be made new.»
Let that cartilage be formed. In fact, I think it just happened in somebody’s knee as I was just modeling a prayer. So go ahead and turn and minister to these folks. Find out what’s happening and then pray your best prayer. The Lord is just wholesale healing those knees right now. Even while you’re receiving prayer, just start checking them out right now. There’s a creative miracle happening with these knees.
Okay, the conversation should be over. You should be praying by now. Holy Spirit, we ask that You would come now in power and glorify the name of Jesus through miracles, through signs, through wonders; glorify the name of Jesus through miracles, signs, and wonders. There are people being healed of arthritis even though it wasn’t called out. We just rebuke arthritis now in the name of Jesus—the affliction on the joints and tissue of the body. We declare this ends tonight in Jesus mighty name. Let cartilage be formed now in the knees.
Let there be restoration. We declare healing to the gallbladder. Ongoing affliction in that gallbladder be healed now in Jesus' name. Kidneys—the Lord is healing kidneys. Even though you’re praying for someone else, if you’ve had an issue with kidneys, just lay your hand literally on your own kidney; just put your hand on it as you’re praying for someone else. The Lord will honor that simple act of faith.
I know the people watching on Bethel TV oftentimes get miracles, and I just want to declare to you this is your portion as well. Those of you who are watching at home or in small groups, we just declare that healing grace of Jesus.
Okay, about 30 more seconds. Thank You, Lord. Okay, go ahead and end your prayer but stay with the person; just stay with them. Don’t do a hit and run; stay with them.
Now just give me your attention. Stay with the person you prayed for, though. Everyone, give me your attention, please. Stop praying.
Everyone that received prayer, this next moment I consider to be as important as the prayer—that’s where we put faith into action, into activity. I don’t want anyone to prove anything, but you need to discover. Only half the people we see healed feel it happen, which means the other half just receive prayer and are clueless that they’re actually better until they examine themselves.
So some of you could discover through a motion, a movement of some sort—whatever it takes for you to do right now, I want you to try to do that. The Lord is also healing people in the room who have issues with the gut; you have digestive issues. There’s something not right in your digestive system, and the Lord is healing that right now.
The phrase that goes through my mind is, «All foods are to be enjoyed.» So we declare that work; all foods are to be enjoyed.
All right now, everyone that just received prayer—examine yourself right now. Do it quickly. Examine yourself quickly. Everyone that is at least 80% better, wave both hands over your head. Wave both hands over your head. Okay, look around the room! Thank You, Lord!
Okay, stand please. Stand with me. Don’t let your faith sit down yet. If you let your faith sit down, we have to quit this. So stand with me if you’re able to. Everyone that just got healed, wave your hands at me like this; I want to see who you are.
All right, wonderful! Beautiful! Now, I want you to turn and pray again. Turn and pray again. If they’re 100% healed, don’t pray for them again because you might mess them up; leave them alone. But if they’re 80% or 90%, pray again. All right, go ahead. It’s the last time; then we’ll find out what happened.
Just about 30 more seconds. Speak to the condition. We declare healing grace now in Jesus' name. Thank You, Lord! Thank You, Lord!
All right, you did good. Go ahead and end your prayer now. You know what to do. Everybody examine yourself again. Even if it seems silly to you, do it anyway. Just do some kind of movement or something to see what the Lord has done.
Now, who was healed the second time we prayed? Wave your hands over your head because I want to see who you are. The second time we prayed—right down here, there’s another one—there’s another one there. Another one here, another one over here. Thank You, Lord! Beautiful!
All right, hug them. Do something nice for them. Bless them and be seated now. Okay, so we had five people healed in the overflow as well; that’s awesome!
Now, I want everyone that got healed tonight—we say 80% because there are times where a healing will actually start, and it takes 20 minutes or 30 minutes. We like to acknowledge what God is doing, and you have to create some kind of line. So we choose 80% as kind of a mark of what the Lord is doing.
If you’re at least 80% better on something that was prayed for, I just want you to stand because I want us to see who you are. If you got healed of more than one thing, put a hand up. Thank You, Lord! Beautiful! Wonderful!
Now, how many of you got healed of more than one thing? Wave your hand at me. Look at this! Is that great?
I want to hear from at least three or four people; something significant happened in your body. Every miracle—I don’t care if you had a headache and it’s gone; we celebrate everything that He does. I don’t like categorizing, but I do ask tonight that you’re able to test yourself and prove that Jesus did something pretty significant in your body tonight.
I would like to hear from at least three people right now. Just put your hand up. Right over here is one. All right, yeah.
It was my left hip. I had an injury to it a number of years ago; I fell off a ladder, and the ladder fell on top of me. Anyway, I’ve been going to the chiropractor every week for probably—I think like at least the last year or so. He has to reset it because it’s turned, and it’s painful off and on to varying degrees. I have no pain at all, and I can move and twist my waist. I can just feel freedom where it was restricted before. Thank You, Lord! Beautiful!
Wonderful! Someone else—I need to hear from at least three people. Someone else right down here—just stand up, tell us what happened.
Okay, I had torn my calf muscle right by the bottom of the calf in the Achilles in a basketball accident. I had this big knot for almost 20 years, and it’s gone! I can jump again!
Man, that’s beautiful! The knot is gone! Yes! Let’s have at least one more—just give testimony. We have one right over here. In fact, you know what? If we could have one or two more, come on up here—just come on down if you have something to share.
I saw—yeah, come on down. What did Jesus do for you?
A couple of years ago, I broke my ankle, and it never healed right. I think there’s still metal in it, but in the last two or three days, including tonight, I’ve gotten all kinds of more range of motion in it, and it’s gotten stronger.
That’s beautiful! Thank You, Lord! For that wonderful!
Okay, go, guys—go ahead and stand up. How many—let me ask the question: How many of you had a broken bone sometime in your life that never healed correctly and tonight Jesus healed you? Put your hand up—I want to see. We’ve got one here. Who else? Way back here, there’s another one—anyone else? Right over here, there’s another two more right there.
This actually used to be the most common miracle we had, and probably still would be if I kept calling it out. It’s just—I actually quit counting at—goodness, what was the number? I think it was like 2600 people had been healed of injuries of that nature, and this was about 10 years ago. I quit counting, so it’s just what Jesus is doing; you might as well get in on it.
All right, let’s find out what happened.
You called out an Achilles tendon, and I had surgery on it years ago, but it never healed right, and tonight the pain is gone from that, and I can feel I felt a release in my Achilles tendon. Also, two weeks ago, I had a heart attack, and I came in with—I’ve had a lot of episodes in the last two weeks and came today really by faith. But the pain is being relieved on my left side, right now, in my heart.
That’s wonderful! Thank You, Lord, for that! Wonderful, wonderful!
Pastor, I love you. We lived here five years ago, and we came back after five years.
Well, it’s about time! Yes, come on! You need to be here! My husband’s been at BSSM—U.S. standing up over here. Come on!
I wanted to crack you up because you said, «gut problem,» right? Yeah, I teach at Anderson Elementary. I was out of school this week for my first graders; I was on the stool. I’ve gotten eight times with a gut problem.
And then you just called out healing of the gut, and you said you could eat whatever you want. Right? I was standing outside you guys at the chip machine, and I got healed right there at the chip machine! So thank God!
I was experiencing pain today on my right side in my gut, and I was like, «Oh no, I don’t receive this.» And right there at the chip machine, I felt that pain just go away!
Right! It does say you could eat or drink any deadly thing, and it will not harm you. So that’s good!
What did He do for you?
So I had some pain in my hip, which I’ve had for years and just kind of put up with because, you know, you just do. And when I was walking in this morning, this evening, it was just really painful, and I actually had to sit down during worship. I was like, «You know, bummer, because I’ve come so far, and I really want to enjoy this moment.»
And when you did the stand-up for people with injuries, I was like, «Okay, well, darn, that’s me.» I stood up, and I’ve never had an experience of instant healing because, you know, I just haven’t. When people were praying, I could just feel this sort of great feeling, but the second time they prayed, it was like someone was massaging the inside of my hip, and I was like, «Wow!»
My leg started doing this; I was like, «You guys, that’s not me! That’s not me!» And as I was praying, you called out people with gut problems. I have IBS and before I came here, I was supposed to go and see the nutritionist because I’m not supposed to eat a really small amount of food.
I come from New Zealand where we have a lot of dairy; I can’t eat dairy. So when you said, «I’m going to eat dairy after this,» I believe it!
I believe it! So I’m excited! Thank You, wonderful!
What did He do for you?
I had nerve damage all down my side from acute appendicitis. It was really nasty and the pain went away when they were praying. They asked if there was something I could do to prove it. I thought, «There’s nothing I really can do,» but then I remember I used to be able to roll my stomach—so I can do it again!
That works!
What did He do for you?
About 10 years ago, I had a really bad joint problem that caused my kneecaps to just roam around because the ligaments were too long. It wore down the groove that holds the kneecap in place. So when you called out missing cartilage in the knees, I suddenly started feeling this grinding, popping, and tightness happening—wow!
Wow! My kneecap groove grew back on both legs!
Wonderful!
Let’s give a shout of thanks to the Lord! We give You thanks! Give You thanks! Wonderful, wonderful, Lord!
Beautiful!
You know, years ago, we had—in our school, when it was quite a bit smaller—maybe I’m guessing 100 people in the school or 100 per class. One of the older gals in the school was actually in this moment where she saw the spare parts room in heaven—body parts. I have met several people that have seen that room. I can’t give you chapter and verse; I just nod my head while they’re talking.
She was, I believe, she traveled with Chris toward the Bay Area, and somebody came up needing a miracle in their leg and made the comment, «I don’t even have a kneecap.»
Wow!
And she said, «Oh, I’ll get one for you!» She did—she said, «I’ll get one for you,» and she reached up like this, brought her hand down, and began to pray. Within 15 minutes, she had a kneecap created! Isn’t that amazing?
I said she had a kneecap created! Wow!
All right, I was going to do something much more extensive, but not now—it’s been a long, full, wonderful evening. So let me just kind of ramble for a few minutes and see if we can make sense out of a few things.
I’m going to read a verse for you out of Psalms 23. If you want to open that, it would be great—Psalms 23:1. What I’m finding is that I hardly know anything. I don’t know why, after all these years, it hasn’t changed. Seriously. I keep learning and catching glimpses of the fact that He thinks entirely different than I do—entirely different. I’m the one that has to change, and that’s what the renewing of the mind is. It’s accommodating to His mind and seeing through His eyes, thinking His thoughts because He just thinks differently.
I met with about 40-plus leaders this week in a private setting before our big conference, and I shared a story there that came back to mind tonight in wanting to talk with you. There was a pilot friend of mine who told me of this incident a number of years ago where a commercial jet—a 747, the big jet—was flying, I believe, over Canada. If I remember the story right, all the engines failed. The pilot was able to recognize the thermals, recognize the air currents. He was able to ride on those thermals and find a place to land and landed safely.
The airline that owned the plane ran tests, and they had all of their pilots in this airline company, all of their pilots get in a flight simulator to see if they would be able to land that plane. They found out that this pilot who landed the plane was actually also a trained glider pilot. He knew how to read thermals and what to do in that situation. So they put all of their other pilots in this company through that flight simulator, and every one of them in the exact same conditions crashed.
This guy knew how to ride the thermals!
Right outside here, we have a prayer house. I was over there, actually on this side of the prayer house one day, and I just—there was this hawk over the top of the prayer house; it just caught my eye. I just watched this hawk. He didn’t flap his wings at all; all he did was go in a circle above the prayer house. He got higher and higher and higher until he was almost out of sight, and then he just folded his wings and dove. It was just the coolest thing! I wish I would have had a video, you know, because he just rode the currents.
See, there are a lot of times we face adverse winds, and we don’t realize it’s those winds that give us access to going higher. We misinterpret the moment. When you misinterpret the moment, you won’t talk right, and the condition of your heart won’t be right.
The analogy that I usually use in this context is a sailboat. A sailboat can, by adjusting the sail and the rudder, actually advance—it’s called «tacking.» It can actually sail against the wind. It’s extraordinary. The sail is your heart attitude; the rudder is your tongue, your speech. By managing your attitude well and your confession well, we actually make advancements against adverse winds. Adverse winds are actually invitations for breakthroughs in the kingdom, but we tend to see them differently than He does.
If I’m not positioned well in my heart—my heart attitude—and if I’m not positioned well in what I’m willing to speak and confess and declare over my life, then I can actually partner in thought and in conversation with the enemy’s reason for sending the adverse winds. I actually empower what the enemy meant for evil; suddenly, it has an effect of destruction.
But the enemy has no authority over you! He can only get authority from those who have it—that would be you and me.
So back to this analogy of riding the thermals, something I’ve tried to practice for years: I remember Bob Jones—what a wonderful man and a dear friend to this house. He was a great prophet of the Lord. Personally, I miss him; he’s home in heaven.
But I miss him; actually, he’s probably here, but I don’t know. He was able to function outside of normal reality, but I remember he talked about eagles. Eagles have this special something that covers their eye lens, where they can actually, when there is a predator flying, chase them. They will actually fly toward the sun, and the other bird that wants to do damage to them cannot handle looking into the sun. But the eagle can.
So I’ve made it a practice for a lot of years—there’ll be times I’ll be driving down the road or maybe just in conversation or just walking around; this horrible thought or idea comes or accusation, whatever it might be. And I’ve tried to make it just almost like a reaction—as if you get something so ingrained in you that you react before you think.
What I’ve tried to do through the years is, anytime something like that comes, I lift my head up. The scripture says, «Lift up your heads, O your gates!» He’s the glory and the lifter of our heads. I don’t know if He meant actual physical posture or not, but I’m going for it.
So if I’m in that situation, I consciously will go—"That thought came; that’s not mine. I’m going toward the sun!» Where the enemy cannot follow, I’m going toward the sun!
This whole thing of riding the thermals—the adverse winds that the enemy sends our way, it could come in just personal issues, you know, discouragement or fatigue. Sometimes, if the enemy can’t get me to do wrong things, he’ll get me to overextend myself in the right things because there’s a fatigue that actually gives birth to unbelief, because it gives us kind of a jaded, resistant heart.
We become accustomed to activity in the place of relationship. And it doesn’t happen in a moment—it’s a very slow change where we learn just to live in the routine, and we allow a distance to be formed in that tenderness, that intimacy with the Lord.
And so what happens is we become if it happened overnight— it would be easy to spot. But it’s such a gradual turning with that busyness. You know, I just become more callous and jaded and eventually resistant toward the very thing I’ve been crying out for.
So here’s this opportunity that the Lord gives us, and I want you to look at this verse in Psalms 23, and I’ll just use this as a symbolic verse for the few more minutes that I want to talk to you. Psalms 23:1:
«The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.»
You know when I was sick a few years ago, I was really having a battle in my health, and I just would read this day after day after day, just meditate on individual words, on phrases, on statements till it came alive. You want to—let’s see, this is eternal; this is the eternal Word of God.
You want to give occasion, time, effort for Him to truly allow roots to go down into your soul where what God has said begins to affect your personality. He restores my soul, verse 3.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. «Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. You are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.»
Here’s the verse I want you to look at: «You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.»
Say this with me: «Goodness and mercy shall follow me, all the days of my life.»
That is absolutely true.
Now here’s the verse I want you to look at for just a moment: «You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.» It is fairly common when someone wants prayer to come—request prayer. Now, I’m not criticizing anyone who does this; I’m just trying to illustrate something.
Somebody will come and say, «I’m just being so harassed by the enemy right now.» Of course, I’ll pray for them, counsel them—whatever is needed in that moment. But because we don’t see situations as they are, we see the enemy’s attack; we hear his voice; we see the tension of the moment. What we often don’t realize is that it was in that atmosphere Jesus set up a banqueting table. He set up a place to feast in the presence of the enemy.
So I’m sitting here with Jesus, but I don’t realize I’m sitting here with Jesus because I hear the harassment coming; I see this tension coming. I’m feeling all this stuff, and I’m going, «I rebuke, and I bind,» and I do all this stuff. And what’s happening is I’m shadow boxing. I’m filled with Christian activity, but I’m exhausting myself because the nourishment is supposed to come from the meal that’s in front of me—the strength, the nourishment, the reinforcement of who He made me to be.
God intentionally threw the banquet where the enemy could see. Now, when the Lord says you’re hidden, you’re not hidden out of view—you’re hidden out of reach!
Oh! When He said you’re hidden—come on, you’re not hidden out of view; you’re hidden out of reach!
Come on! Because sometimes the moment we think is actually the darkest is actually the brightest, but it’s only dark because of whose eyes we’re looking into.
When you look into the eyes of the Father of Lies, when you are entertained by the voice of accusation or whatever it might be of the one who is the father of lies, there is really a constructing of that reality all around my life. But a simple turning of my attention toward what the Scripture says—there’s a table!
There’s a table!
It’s a table of feasting, it’s a table of goodness, it’s a table of encounter, it’s a table of delight; it’s a table where I am strengthened, I am nourished.
Jesus made this statement that has really rocked my life: «My food is to do the will of Him who sent me.» There’s something nourishing about just being in the center of what God is saying and doing.
So here you are in the middle of what you think is a hellish moment, that actually, by God’s design, is a heavenly moment. But it doesn’t become heavenly until I remove my focus on what’s working against me and I turn my focus to who’s working for me.
And listen—it’s the exact same moment!
Wow!
It’s the exact same moment! And all that took place was a shift in perspective.
It’s not pretending; it’s not denial. Denial doesn’t help any of us. Pretending something isn’t—yeah, I’ve got this maybe—a health scare or a financial crisis, or a relational thing—whatever it might be—this pretending it’s not there doesn’t help, but not letting it rule my heart does help.
The way I like to state it is that real faith doesn’t deny a problem’s existence; it just denies the problem a place of influence.
So you take the moment that you’re in. I intentionally will lift my head; it may seem silly. I don’t know, but I walk my property; I lift my head because I’m celebrated by a perfect Father who gave me grace. It was a gift I couldn’t earn; I couldn’t qualify for it on my own.
But Jesus qualified me—He qualified me! He took the exam for me, and I passed!
Come on! I wish I would have known that in school; I could have done a lot better! He took the exam for me, and He passed on my behalf, and He gave me the grace! It’s called grace!
And because of that, the moment that seems in my natural estimation to be the most dangerous, cluttered, distracting, abusive—whatever it might be—is actually my finest moment because He prepared the table—the table of nourishment, the table of fellowship, the table of intimacy, the table of tenderness, the table of genuine friendship.
He put the table, and He makes the devil watch. And the enemy can do nothing about it.
He can do nothing about it!
So I want you to stand. That’s all the picture that I see in my heart and my mind is like this chalkboard that’s got all kinds of writing on it, and the teacher comes along, and she just cleans it, and it’s just a clean slate.
Some of you carry the markings of this failure, this crisis, this difficulty, this problem, and this temptation. He’s just coming, and He’s just hosing down the board! He said, «Let’s do clean slate stuff tonight! Let’s do clean slate!
You say, „Well, I’ve tried this; I’ve tried this very thing so many times before, and I always keep falling back into fear. I always keep falling back into anxiety. I always keep falling back into something.“
Yeah, but that was then. Today is a different day! Today is a day when you are actually set up to be the one.
Yes, great!
Just set your eyes—the God-given eyes—with a lens that protects you from the fiery eyes of God but not the enemy who would try to follow you.
And we just ride the thermals, if you will, of the challenges that we face into that glorious presence.
I’ve got a feeling some of you will actually, for the first time in your life—honestly—be able to give thanks for a problem because it provided the thermals that just took you higher.
Does that make sense?
So put your hands in front of you. I just want to pray over you.
Father, I ask for a gift of grace, first of all, the clean slate thing. How many of you need a clean—just need to start this thing over? I’m not talking about your walk with Christ; I’m just talking about this part of our life where we become so anxious and fearful.
Just raise your hand and say, „I want to start this one over.“
All right, so Lord, I pray right now that by the Holy Spirit, literally a tidal wave of presence would go through this place and that tonight would begin a clean slate.
That we would just wake up tomorrow thinking differently, living differently—literally rising in the midst of difficulty, riding the thermals towards Your glorious presence, Your glorious face.
I pray this in Jesus' name.
Give a courage to us tonight, I pray—a courage, and that we would never again fall for that notion that because we can hear His voice, that He has any authority over us. The enemy has no authority!
I pray for that right now. Turn—put a hand on somebody next to you. Just pray for them. God, give them this grace. Let there be great grace given to them right now in Jesus' name—right now, in Jesus' wonderful name!
A great grace to rise above—to rise above these challenges, these difficulties, these accusations, temptations—whatever they might be. In fact, pray for their heart attitude!
God, help them to be tender in heart. Help them to be courageous with their confession—courageous with their decree. We pray this in Jesus' wonderful name.
Now, put your hand on your own heart. Pray this famous prayer: „Help me, Jesus!“
I really mean it this time. I mean it this time. „Help me, Jesus!“ Amen. Amen. Amen!