Bill Johnson - Praying for Revival; Resistance, Persistence, and Breakthrough
Sometimes we are an arm’s reach away from the breakthrough we’ve been praying for, but because we fail to persist in prayer, we don’t fuel the heavens with the reinforcement that is needed to bring the solution and answer that was actually released to us the moment we started praying. Oh, good morning! Nice to see you happy people—yes, yes, good! Me too! I have some amazing newspaper headlines here: Police begin campaign to run down jaywalkers; something went wrong in jet crash, expert says; pretty good chance war dims hope for peace—it could have that effect if strike isn’t settled quickly; it may last a while; miners refuse to work after death; red tape holds up new bridges; new study of obesity looks for larger test group; astronaut takes blame for gas in spacecraft; local high school dropouts cut in half—that’ll teach them; and the winner is: Typhoon rips through cemetery, hundreds dead! I think it’s funny.
Why don’t you open your Bibles to Daniel chapter 9? I have an enormous amount of material to cover in a short time, so I’m going to go quickly and skip around, and we’ll just need you to follow fast. So are you ready to listen fast and follow fast? You ready to do that? Good! If not, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s going to be a quick one. We’ve had a good morning—a full morning—but I do have a very specific word to share. Just hold your paper or something in Daniel 9; we’ll get to it in just a moment.
On April 9, the Azusa Street Revival began with a small handful of people. A one-eyed black pastor visiting from Houston came out; he lost the eyesight in one eye due to smallpox. He was the son of a slave and was passionate for a Pentecostal experience. At various places around the world, there were simultaneous outpourings of the Spirit, all happening really close to the same period of time. It happened in Norway, it happened in Korea, it happened around the United States; actually, it happened in 1900—I forget right now—in Topeka, Kansas. My mom’s parents—my grandfather was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1901 and my grandmother in 1933. This outpouring of the Spirit that started in Azusa Street went on for about nine years and became the largest evangelistic movement to impact the harvest of souls of any movement in the history of the church.
Experts tell us there are about 600 million Pentecostal believers around the world today, and it started with really a small handful in Pasadena, California, and Azusa many years ago. After that explosion of the outpouring of the Spirit, they were heavily criticized by church leaders of their day and heavily criticized by the Los Angeles Times, which mocked them regularly. It’s interesting that probably most everyone in the room knows the names John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, Smith Wigglesworth, Amy Simple McPherson, and William Seymour—all these heroes of the faith—but they were all outnumbered by critics. You probably couldn’t tell me any of their names because history doesn’t remember the names of the opponents to revival. You have to research to find them, and that’s worth thinking about right there.
From that movement, another explosive outpouring started in 1948. Many call it the Healing Revival. I had the privilege of sharing a meal with Judson Cornwall, who was a personal hero of mine back in the—I guess it would have been in the 70s. He’s home with the Lord now. Whenever I had a chance to meet with some of these heroes, I didn’t have many questions, but I had one good one: «Talk to me about revival.» Judson told me that back in the early 50s, there were gospel tents where they held revival meetings. There were over 350 of them at one time moving around the United States. Great gatherings took place, and miracles such as the world had never seen—certainly since the time of Jesus—were extraordinary.
There was a massive harvest of converts, people coming to Christ. But, you know, it just got soiled. People began to compete; some of the evangelists began to compromise in personal areas of their lives—not all of them, but some did. The Lord just literally lifted the anointing off of that movement because it was so compromised. The purpose for which they were given the anointing—the harvest of souls and the transformation of a country—failed to reach that place of impact. Revivals have to touch those in the upper echelons of society that shape the thoughts and the value systems of a country to really experience an awakening; it failed to do that, and it did so because the Lord lifted the anointing after compromise and sin. It was a great outpouring, and extraordinary miracles took place during that period of time.
Following that came the Jesus People Movement, which was an amazing season in the world. In fact, we have Georgian and Winnie Bonoff here; they’re going to be here tonight—it’s going to be a party again! So glad you guys are here! Converts of that Jesus People Movement—Georgian got saved because they fed him. That’s his testimony! He takes food everywhere to feed people because they fed him for two months and he got saved. It was an amazing season because you could almost walk up to someone and say «peanut butter,» and they would want to get saved. There was such an anointing in the air for bringing people to Christ. But then, of course, that soiled a bit as well. The Charismatic renewal was glorious. In 1994, the Toronto outpouring began, and the longest protracted meetings took place in Toronto in all of church history; the longest protracted meetings for years never been duplicated—no one’s ever come close to it in history.
It’s interesting to me that there can be sparks of revival, but it needs a place to happen. Azusa Street is a great example because there were places around the country where the Spirit of God would fall upon people, but it needed a house—it needed a location where the Holy Spirit could be hosted. They say that they could get off the train station in Pasadena and head towards the Azusa Street building and see the glory from a great distance. They would ask for directions, and somebody would say, «Well, just keep walking. You’ll see it. You’ll know when you see it.» There would be just this manifestation of the presence of the Lord. Some of the things that took place in these revivals over the last 100 years were just beyond description. William Seymour, the pastor who helped ignite and host that revival, began to preach the outpouring of the Spirit before he experienced it, which caused him some problems. He started preaching something he hadn’t yet experienced, and they padlocked the doors to the church so he couldn’t get in the next week because he was preaching something that he hadn’t yet experienced. It takes courage to speak something that you haven’t experienced yet, but you know it’s true.
Oftentimes in our preaching, we’re trying to strike oil; we’re trying to find something that the Lord will highlight for us. He prophesied in that era that in a hundred years there would be another outpouring that would eclipse that outpouring. If you can imagine 600 million souls saved since then—what could possibly eclipse that? Well, Bob Jones had a word back in the 80s; I don’t hold him to the date, but for a number of years, he was bringing us words here from the late 90s on about the coming one billion soul harvest of youth—not counting adults, a billion soul harvest of youth!
Paul Cain has had, as a uniquely gifted prophet, this seeing gift. Chris has had this experience a number of times that I get very jealous about, but we’ll leave that aside. They actually see with their natural eyes things that are in the Spirit as though they were in the physical. Paul Cain has had over 100 of these experiences, seeing the same thing over and over again. It’s been called «Stadium Christianity,» where stadiums around the world are filled with people 24 hours a day for multiple days on end. There’s no key speaker or key anything except that God is there. One will say another has been raised from the dead, and they will describe the miracles that are taking place in that stadium because it’s not an anointing that rests on an individual; it’s an anointing that rests upon the people of God, which is what the Lord has been targeting for years. Randy Clark is such a champion of that message and modeled it for us again this week.
This word has gone forth about stadiums being filled. Paul Cain has even seen in the spirit news clips on TV where broadcasters would come on the air and say, «We don’t have any bad news to share with you tonight,» and they would show clips from these stadiums. Lou Engel is a dear friend of ours here; we have championed his prayer ministry, unparalleled really. In fact, I call Lou Engel and Mike Bickle the two most important people alive because of their covenant to pray. They have raised up an army with the exact same covenant, which has spread through thousands and probably millions. Lou Engel’s covenant to pray and gather millions of believers together around the world to pray, fast, and seek God for the healing of our nations has led to an unprecedented movement.
This last summer, Lou was trying to track me down. We ended up missing each other in Amsterdam by about six hours. I was landing as he was taking off, and only Divine Providence could arrange this. We ended up in London a week or two later at the exact same time. I happened to have a break in the afternoon, which is extremely rare on these trips. Lou found out I was there, and he rushed over to the hotel, and we sat down in a coffee shop. He shared with me something that the Lord had been speaking to him through a number of dreams and prophecies. We don’t have time to go into detail, but I felt like I had just been summoned by God for a specific task—that’s really what it felt like. He told me about an event he felt we were supposed to do on April 9th, the 110th anniversary, to rent out the Coliseum in Pasadena, which seats 110,000 people. He put his house on the market to pay for the thing. With passion, he didn’t want to do it unless we were involved as well, because his heart was that we were to seek for a double portion of what happened in the 50s. We were to contend for that kind of breakthrough in that Coliseum that could quite possibly ignite the stadium Christianity thing that Paul Cain has been prophesying about for decades.
As Lou Engel talked with me, I looked at my schedule for April 9th. I was supposed to be in South Africa. I was going to fly down to South Africa after being in Nigeria a few days previous, and I realized, «Sorry, South Africa, we’ll have to make it up later.» So I rescheduled and said, «Lou, I’m there! We’ll be there.» I shared with Chris, and of course Lou came. We have mission trips every year for our students. We send a couple thousand of them to 70 to 80 different locations around the world—it’s an incredible undertaking. The miracles that take place through these teams that go to these various places around the world are really book of Acts-type miracles. It’s extraordinary what happens; it’s just mind-boggling when you hear how many blind, deaf, and lame are healed; even the dead have been raised.
I talked to Chris, and I said I’d love for all the students to be able to join us in Pasadena after their mission trip. Their team started working on it, trying to figure out how to make that happen. Finally, it just became obvious that it was like trying to hammer a round peg into a square hole; we were having to force it. Chris made a call that I didn’t expect and didn’t ask for, but I felt it was the word of the Lord. After he told me this, we decided we’re canceling all the trips this year and taking the entire weight of the school and Bethel Church, aiming towards this one window of opportunity.
Let’s read, and then I’ll get back to it. Alright, Daniel 9—again, I will explain after we’ve read it, but I just want you to see it in the word.
Verse 2: «In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplication, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession.»
Stop there. I want you to move over to chapter 10.
Chapter 10, verse 2: «In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.» This is that fast: «I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled.»
Now jump over to verse 10: «Suddenly a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. He said to me, 'O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.' While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. Then he said to me, 'Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days, and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.'»
Let’s stop right there, and let me give you a brief overview, then I’ll get back into the application for today.
Daniel set himself to fast. This particular fast is what’s been called a Daniel Fast—a vegetable-only fast, turning away from sweets and wine and meat and those sorts of things. He set himself to fast and seek the Lord because he had been reading in the book of Jeremiah where God declared that Israel would be held captive in the Babylonian system for 70 years. At the end of those 70 years, they would be released. So Daniel’s reading this and realizes he is living in the 70th year when it’s supposed to happen.
He doesn’t retreat and say, «Well, it’s going to happen; we’ll just get ready and get happy!» He realizes that the people of God had not yet deeply repented for the reasons for their captivity in the first place. They hadn’t taken care of the issues of the heart. So he began to cry out to God and fast and pray. I love this story because he didn’t become careless. So many people become careless regarding promises, just assuming that everything is going to happen as the Lord said without their involvement.
There are occasional words the Lord speaks and releases that He will manage completely; it’s like you couldn’t mess it up if you wanted to; this is a done deal. But in my life, I have noticed that the majority—by far the majority—I would say at least 70 or 80%, if not 90% of the words spoken over my life actually require my involvement for their fulfillment. Larry Randolph told us years ago that the Lord will fulfill every word He said over you, but He’s not obligated to fulfill your potential. Some of the words are contingent upon us reaching our potential—the place of assignment that God has opened to us.
Here’s this profound story where Daniel prays for three weeks, and he gives us the only place in Scripture that I can think of where he gives a detailed picture of the unseen world. While he’s praying, the messenger angel—which I assume is Gabriel, although it doesn’t explicitly say it—he’s usually the angel that brings messages from the Lord. He is sent to Daniel on the day that Daniel started fasting and praying. In other words, God answered Daniel’s prayer the first day he prayed. However, the messenger angel was held up in conflict by the prince of Persia.
The term prince here is used of principalities. The messenger angel says then, «The prince—excuse me, then Michael came and delivered me from the prince of Persia, and so I was able to bring you the answer.» Michael is one of the three archangels; there are Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer, of course, who was kicked out of heaven with a third of the angels. So with Michael, we see the warring angel; he comes to assist Gabriel in this conflict. Sometimes we are an arm’s reach away from the breakthrough that we’ve been praying for, but we fail to persist in prayer and don’t fuel the heavenlies with the reinforcement that is needed to bring the solution and answer that was actually released to us the moment we started praying. This picture gives us insight into an unseen realm, where if you don’t see that, you can become weary in well-doing and miss out on the breakthrough that God actually promised and intended for us in the first place.
It’s a profound story! One thing I want you to notice before I wrap it up—I have just a short video to show you—is I want you to look at verse 3—the one I mocked earlier—of chapter 10: «I ate no pleasant food,» which seems to imply everything other than meat. I’m sorry, I just can’t leave it alone, can I? The other night, I was at a restaurant with a pastor couple; he was a meat eater and his wife a vegetarian. In this beautiful steakhouse, you could just smell the steaks—prime beef! I turned to her and said, «You don’t smell vegetables!» She still likes me—it’s amazing!
Alright, I ate no pleasant food—no meat or wine came into my mouth. Stop right there! The word «pleasant» is the Hebrew word «shuda,» which means desirable. Look at verse 11: «And he said to me, 'O Daniel, man greatly beloved.'» The phrase for «man greatly beloved» is «shuda.» Daniel denied his right to desirable things here and became desirable there. He already loves us, there’s no question of that, but there’s something added to the favor realm by saying, «I know I have a right to this, but for this season, I’m going to say no. I’m going to say no because I’m pushing into something that is greater.»
Can you play that video for me now? Lou and I were just in Korea together, and he shared that dream with me just a couple weeks ago. I was in Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Singapore, and he was there. I asked him if I could put it on video to show you because any word given to me is given to you. Please notice he said «Beth"—he just didn’t say «Bill.» Whenever I pledge money, it’s always our money, not mine, so just understand that as I speak as one with you all.
The word is very specific. It’s a few things: it’s prayer and fasting; there’s a small window of opportunity. We emphasize—and rightly so—that God is the God of second chances. In fact, most of us are alive because of second, third, fourth, or fifth chances. But in this, there’s also the reality in Scripture, this tension, really, of the kairos moment concept that some things you only get one chance at. I believe the Lord is calling upon us as a church body, as a church family. I know many of you have moved here from all over the world just to be a part of what’s happening here, and we are so indebted to your courage and faith to come.
I feel like just standing in front of the whole family to say, «Right now is the time where we buy into this thing and say, 'We will settle for nothing short of a double portion anointing of what God did so many years ago in Southern California and places all over the world through that healing revival.'» We currently have another opportunity for prayer and fasting. I think we have about 75 days or so between now and April 9th. We are rallying our entire school down. Hundreds—from five to six hundred, maybe eight hundred—of our church family will be going down, starting days ahead of time just to begin having smaller meetings and breakthrough meetings.
I am aiming at the event, but to be honest with you, the event isn’t my main concern; it’s what happens after the event, what it will spark. I feel like the Lord has summoned us. I feel like He’s called us to respond to an opportunity given to us to see something so profound rest upon this time—not healing evangelists becoming the heroes but this time upon the body of Christ taking this thing into the houses, the highways, the byways, the shopping malls, and various places of commerce around the earth. This is a moment where we get to just say, «Yes, Lord! Yes, Lord!»
I want to encourage you; we’ll be talking about it occasionally between now and the 9th of April, but I feel we have this divine moment to say we will not settle short of anything but a double portion anointing of what happened once; we want to see it again, but this time not just through key people, but through entire church families. Why don’t you stand with me? I love prayer; I don’t love fasting. It’s better for me just to go without food entirely than to just eat vegetables, actually. I’ve done both, but I feel like the Lord is actually giving us a gift—a gift for prayer, a gift for fasting, a grace for a season to pursue breakthrough.
I want to ask you to just put your hands in front of you and pray briefly. We’ll have Tom come up here and get ready to wrap it up, but I just want to pray over you. How many of you can just say you’re in? You’re in? Alright, let’s put our hands in front of us. Father, I ask that you would once again release a gift of grace for this season. You’d wake us in the night with dreams, encounters, prophetic words, and the things that help to fuel our hearts. God, we trust in the prophets' word; we are thankful that You are generous with how You talk to us. But I ask now that You would impart something for this season, that we would indeed see a breakthrough that would spread like the greatest wildfire of all time through the cities and nations of this world. We pray this for the honor of the name Jesus. Everybody said, «Amen, amen.» Alright, just hold your places, if you would, except for a ministry team. If we could get you down to the front, that would help us a lot, but just hold your places and listen to Tom.