Bill Johnson - The Impact of Constant and Fervent Prayer
The Holy Spirit sees what’s going on, and He knows how to lead us into prayers that make history and bring about significance through answers. I have no doubt that thousands, if not millions, of people around the world were interceding and praying in that moment for just that kind of miracle. Good morning, good morning—glad you showed up. I received a letter this week from the woman who was healed after being afflicted for 38 years, mostly bedridden for the last 10 years. She and her husband sent me a note last week; they’re in Hawaii for their first real vacation in 34 years. They are just exploring life—what life looks like now that she has been healed. She was bedridden for pretty much 10 years and had been unable to function normally for 38 years due to ongoing pain issues from Lyme disease. It was just the coolest thing ever to see the Holy Spirit fill her body and flush that disease out—that’s exactly how it happened. I saw it happen. Finally, we had four others healed of the same thing within a couple of weeks right after that. So, if there’s anybody here with Lyme disease or any kind of autoimmune disease, please stand, or if you have a family member with that, stand up because we’re going to pray.
The good news is that Jesus has a track record of healing. We want to see that done now. Church family, please join with me now. Go to someone who’s standing and begin to pray for them. Those of you who are watching via Bethel TV, join us in the same way. If you have this affliction in your own body, we declare divine health over you in Jesus' name. Stand with us in faith right now. If you can’t reach someone, extend a hand, join your faith with someone who is standing. We declare that Jesus heals Lyme disease; He heals every autoimmune disease, fibromyalgia, and all those different afflictions. We declare this ends today in Jesus' name. Pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—literally for His presence to flood their bodies until every trace of affliction is gone. Just pray that over them right now until every trace of affliction is gone in Jesus' name. Thank You, Lord. Amen. Just proclaim over them, «The Lord Jesus heals you.» Go ahead and be seated. Please give us reports. We’re just going to tap this lightly this morning, but please send us a report as miracles unfold throughout your body or your family.
Is there someone here who has some sort of nerve damage on the right side of your body? Is there nerve damage on the right? Okay, there are a couple. The Lord Jesus heals. We’re going to pray together again for at least one more issue here in a moment. A number of years ago, I was in Germany, and while we were praying with the leadership before the gathering, I caught a flash of a picture of someone to my right who had arthritis from head to toe. In this flash picture, I saw them stand, and I pronounced over them, «The Lord Jesus heals you.» That’s not a magic pill; it’s only powerful if He says it first and you repeat what He’s saying. But that’s what it was. When I got up, the first thing I did was ask if anyone had arthritis from head to toe. A woman stood to my right, and I said, «The Lord Jesus heals you.» We didn’t pray for her or do anything; she began to tremble under the power of God, turned very red, and began to sweat profusely as the power of God was literally going through her body. In just a couple of minutes, I asked, «What’s happened?» and she was weeping, saying, «It’s impossible! It’s impossible! It’s impossible!» because she was completely healed through the declared Word.
I believe we’re going to see more of that kind of thing where we find out what He’s saying. Psalms 107:20 says, «He sent His word and healed them,» so it’s a big deal for you and me. Today, we’ll try to explore this subject a little bit—really hearing what He’s saying and then joining our voice with His and making that decree. I want to pray for those with nerve damage. Is there anyone here with cancer or any other terminal disease? Put a hand up, stand. You can stand in for someone. There’s somebody here who broke their right ankle and it didn’t heal correctly; is that you? All right. You broke it right in this area, and it just didn’t heal the way it should have. The Lord’s healing that right now. Is that you as well?
All right, so terminal disease of any kind, if you have a family member who’s dying of cancer or something, stand in their place. We’ve been seeing so many miracles by people standing in proxy; we’ve never seen the level of breakthrough that we’ve seen just in the last six months to a year. If you have a family member who is suffering, stand in their place. We’re going to pray together, and again, I encourage everyone in our Bethel TV family to join with us in this moment because this is a miracle moment. Bethel family, you’ve got people standing around you. Go to them and just join with them. Find out if it’s them or a family member, and just begin to pray right now. Again, for those at home, we make this decree that Jesus, the Lord Jesus heals you. If you can’t reach somebody, at least extend your faith for that family member right now in Jesus' mighty name that healing power would be released into their body. Nerve damage be completely healed and restored now; the right ankle that broke, bones be reset now in Jesus' name. Thank You, God.
There’s someone else who has some sort of numbness, especially in the right shoulder, in the back area. Just keep praying. If this applies to you, I need you to stand. Is it right over here? Okay, somebody lay hands on this gentleman right over here. Resurrection of that shoulder, nerve damage be healed now in Jesus' name. Just declare over them this ends today in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. All right, go and be seated. If we get any more of that throughout the meeting, we’ll jump on it.
Here’s what I want to encourage you: expect miracles during the preaching of the Word. I felt like the Lord spoke that to me a while back, and it just needs to be declared. Expect God to touch you anytime His Word is spoken because He sent His Word and healed them.
All right, I have something extremely important to read to you—maybe not as important as what we just did, but I have to admit there hasn’t been one single bacon recall in 2018, but there have been several vegetable recalls. Doctors are saying that each piece of bacon you eat takes 9 minutes off your life. Based on that math, I should have died in 1732. Here’s one I haven’t read for a while; it’s the hormone guide. I need to update the men every once in a while just to help you with your life. There are three categories: dangerous, safer, and safest. Dangerous: what’s for dinner? Safer: can I help you with dinner? Safest: where would you like to go for dinner? Dangerous: what are you so worked up about? I love feeling your pain. Safer: could we be overreacting? Safest: here’s my paycheck. Dangerous: should you be eating that? Safer: you know there’s a lot of apples left; that’s not much. Safest: can I get you a piece of chocolate to go with that? Here’s the last one: Dangerous: what did you do all day? Safer: I hope you didn’t overdo it today. Safest: I’ve always loved you in that robe.
All right, open your Bibles to Acts chapter 12, if you would please. It’s amazing, these friends that I just mentioned—the letter I got; they’re on their first real vacation in 34 years. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the children, who I’m guessing are in their low 30s? Can you imagine being children who’ve never had a healthy mom? They were there when she got healed, and suddenly she’s able to do everything. They sent me a video of her running around the pool in Hawaii, having a blast doing stuff she normally couldn’t do. It never gets old. How many of you have experienced a miracle in your body? Look around the room. Is that extraordinary? It’s amazing. Thank You, Lord—do it again and again and again.
Acts chapter 12—we’re going to read a pretty long portion of Scripture, so I need you to hang with me. My favorite parts of the Bible are the stories where the lessons are easy to get. You know, like David and Goliath. Anyone can get that one. You’ve got the little guy facing the big guy, and he wins. Daniel in the Lion’s Den—it’s just that trust in God that you see in these stories. Acts chapter 12 is actually one of those kinds of stories. The Lord makes a note of something that we had better take note of, and it’s concerning prayer. I want to talk to you about fervent, fiery, enduring prayer today because I feel the Lord’s summons over my own life, and corporately, I feel that summons to engage in a level of prayer that will be new for many people and certainly at the measure I believe He’s calling us into, which will be new for probably most of us.
So, let’s read the story. Verse 1 of chapter 12 of Acts: «Now about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. Now it was during the days of unleavened bread.» Stop right there because I want to draw your attention to something. Please notice that Herod was motivated by what pleased the Jews. It’s important to understand that both the religious and political spirits are governed by the fear of man. Both are manipulated by corporate public opinion. That’s why, as we pray and elect officials, we need to pray that they will have the courage to make decisions based on the values of God, not public opinion. It’s vital for church leaders, too. You’ll notice in Jesus' day, the Pharisees would have a discussion and say, «If we answer this, the crowd will say that. If we answer that, this will happen.» They actually made their decisions based on public opinion, and we need courageous leaders in the church and public sectors who know how to make decisions based on God’s values, on what’s right and what’s wrong.
So my speech is over, let’s move on. Verse 4: «So when they had arrested him, they put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.» Verse 5: «Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.» Please take note of this: constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. There’s no record of any prayer for James. I’m not saying there wasn’t prayer, but the Lord took note of the fervency and the consistency, the enduring nature of the prayers of the saints for Peter. Verse 6: «When Herod was about to bring him out that night, Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers, and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.» Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison. He struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, «Arise quickly!» and his chains fell off his hands. Then, the angel said to him, «Gird yourself and tie on your sandals.» And so he did. He said to him, «Put on your garment and follow me.» When he went out and followed him, he didn’t know that what was being done by the angel was real but thought he was seeing a vision. When they were past the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them on its own accord. They went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
When Peter had come to himself, he said, «Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from the expectation of the Jewish people.» Stop right there for just a moment. How many of you have read Brother Yun’s book, «The Heavenly Man»? In his book, he was in prison in China, and they had crushed his legs so severely that he couldn’t walk. He was in solitary confinement in the prison, and an angel came in and touched him; he was instantly healed and raised up, led through a series of doors out of prison into a waiting cab, where he got in the cab, the angel departed, and he was led to safety. The Lord still sets people free from prison. I don’t know what the prison guards did after they saw Brother Yun was gone, but let’s just say he’s a wanted man. He’s such a humble man—we’ve had him here a number of times. His story is so similar to Peter’s. Let’s read on in this story because I want you to see what else happened.
Verse 12: «When he considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. As Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate.» It’s interesting—an angel opened one gate, but it took a little girl to open the next one. So they said to her, «You are beside yourself!» She kept insisting that it was so. They said, «It is his angel!» Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. He said, «Go tell these things to James and to the brethren.» And he departed and went to another place.
To me, this is such a great story; I can relate to all the humorous parts of the Bible. Peter’s misgivings—all that makes perfect sense to me. So, Peter comes and knocks on the gate, and they’re praying for him to be released from prison. When he knocks on the gate, it can’t be Peter because he’s in prison! Our job is to pray for revival, not have one. Some people become so locked into what they’re praying for that they never become open enough to receive the very thing that God is releasing. That was the case here. So, Peter comes in, and of course, it’s the good news.
But here’s the part of the story that I want us to feast on a little bit this morning. My biggest concern, and I bump up against this wall quite frequently, this theological barrier, is that there are many who just assume that whatever happens is the will of God. They say, «Well, it wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for a reason.» Don’t misunderstand me. God can use anything, but it doesn’t mean He orchestrates everything. He is big enough to reverse the effects of martyrdom. We know that, throughout church history, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. There are several hundred martyrs a year for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in places all around the world. It’s astronomical—the number of people who are killed for their faith every year. There’s no question that that causes the gospel to increase in focus and intensity.
We know from our friends, the Bishop of Baghdad, how many people come to Christ. The percentage is very high for those who, after being baptized, will be martyred within just a few weeks of their baptism. It’s a crazy world we live in. But the point I want to make is that although God can use such a loss, as the death of James, when the church bound together in fervent prayer, Peter’s life was spared. I would suggest that oftentimes, what we are missing in the realm of breakthrough is because of the absence of fervent prayer. I’m glad that the Lord answers simple prayers, short prayers, brief prayers. I’ve told you stories before of how I’ve had a passing thought, a desire that I wasn’t even worthy to mention in prayer, and in moments, He answers it. I get so moved by His heart as a Father that He does that for me.
Years ago, I took on the challenge to study both Nehemiah and Ephesians because both of them are known for one-sentence prayers. I thought it was fascinating that Nehemiah could pray a prayer that was just one sentence in length that would affect the course of history over multiple nations. Extraordinary! I love the fact that you can pray from a place of pain and God hears. You can even be wrong and bitter and cry out to God and He hears. Just don’t stay there; whatever condition you find yourself in is a good place to start praying, but pray until you come to a place where you can sense and taste the heart of God, because that’s where breakthroughs begin.
So many people use prayer as just a complaint session. In fact, I met with a bunch of intercessors once and asked how many of them battled with depression. Almost all of them raised their hands. I said, «Well, you’re the ones who don’t pray!» You’re intercessors; you don’t pray because you’re supposed to. True prayer is where you come in and make an exchange. If you’re praying and there’s no change in you, then you weren’t praying; you were complaining. He said, «Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.» What is He saying? «Bring Me the heavy, and I’ll give you the light. Let’s make the exchange.» Prayer is supposed to be those moments of exchange where we taste and touch the heart of God.
All right, let’s move on. Here is this story where an answer came because of united prayer. First of all, united prayer is very difficult. The level of intensity we’re talking about here is very challenging. Let’s say I have 10 people together for a prayer meeting. We’ve got Tom, who works with the youth; we’ve got Kathy, working in the school of ministry; we’ve got Jay, working in counseling. We have all these different people who work with children’s ministry and with the homeless. Typically, what’s going to happen in a prayer meeting is that each person will pray for their area of concern and burden, right? Absolutely.
But here’s the problem: when we only pray what we brought to the table, we don’t recognize when the favor of God is released over a specific prayer. Why is that important? Because we may be praying along for God to provide for this youth camp or for kids who want to come but can’t afford it. God, we pray! It’s a right prayer! The next person prays, «Lord, we need greater breakthroughs with the homeless on the streets.» We pray that prayer. Then someone else prays for drug addiction in our county, and all of a sudden, this faith enters the room.
Every prayer that’s prayed is valuable, but when we learn to pray in unity, it’s because we’re learning to pray what He’s breathing on, what He’s adding favor to. What you do in that moment is you don’t repeat the prayer; you find another angle to be able to pray. Does that make any sense? If I just repeat the same prayer, then it does nothing. But I pray; I can sense the heart of God for this issue of drug addiction: «God, I ask that You would close the reading of the supply of drugs; that You would cause those who bring drugs into the area to be caught; that this whole procedure would be stopped in its tracks.»
Then somebody else prays: «God, we pray for those who are dealing drugs that, if they have any Christian backgrounds, they would come to a place of conviction for what they know is wrong and that You would deal with their hearts, that they would come to a place of repentance.» We’re aligning line after line, precept upon precept, layer after layer of praying consistent with what the Holy Spirit is saying and what the Holy Spirit is doing. That is a key to united prayer, and it’s very difficult because we all bring our own stuff to the table. What happens in united prayer is that everybody lays their agenda down to find out what He’s breathing on.
Years ago, my little brother, who was once actually little, was about 11 months old or so, and he came very close to death. I remember our whole family was concerned. He was in intensive care at the hospital; I remember the home we lived in. I can give you the address but I won’t—I’ll just say it was on Flamingo Way. But I even know my phone number then. My grandfather, my mom’s dad, went into the living room and knelt by the couch. I was about 11 years old, so prayer for me was «Jesus, heal Bobby. Amen.» That was about the extent of my prayer life. Grandpa went into the living room and was there for quite a while. I’ll never forget it—he got up and announced to the family, «Bobby will be okay.» Why? Because he prayed until there was a breakthrough.
I don’t remember how long he was there; it was so many years ago. But he was in there for a couple of hours, praying, and when he could tell there was a breakthrough, he got up and announced to the family, «Bobby will be fine.» Bobby was so close to death—within hours, I think it was 8 to 12 hours—that my parents went to the hospital, and the doctor said, «Something happened at 2 o’clock this afternoon,» which was when Grandpa got up off his knees. «Something happened and changed, and he’s going to be fine.» They just helped in the recovery process.
It’s that relentless prayer that has confidence because we know the heart of God. When you pray as a servant, you beg for the Master’s invasion; but when you pray as a son or daughter, you are joining in and collaborating to see His heart manifest and demonstrated in a specific way.
I remember how many of you remember—or are old enough to remember—when President Reagan was shot? I remember that day. It was horrible. I remember that day, obviously for that reason, but for another reason as well. That particular morning, I was sitting at my piano, singing this little chorus: «I just want to see Your face.» While I was singing this phrase, I looked up on the piano, and we had a picture of my grandparents sitting there. When I came to that phrase, «I just want to see Your face,» I looked at that photo, and the Lord spoke so clearly to me. He said, «That’s your grandpa’s desire; I’m bringing him home today.»
It shocked me! I stopped playing the piano. It was that clear. I thought it shouldn’t take too long to find out whether that was from the Lord or from pizza or something else. I continued to play, and just a little while later, my mom called to say, «We just received news that Grandpa went home to be with Jesus today.» It happened that day, that moment. A little while later, we got the phone call that President Reagan had been shot.
So, of course, we didn’t want that to happen to anyone. We began to pray for him, turned on the news, and watched the reports. I remember watching for a little bit, then I would go back into my bedroom and kneel next to my chair and pray, interceding for God to spare his life. But something happened during that time—I would be praying for President Reagan, and every time I tried to pray for him, my heart would turn to pray for James Brady, the press secretary. I couldn’t figure out why.
So I would pray for President Reagan; I’d pray for him like you’re supposed to. You’re supposed to pray for your leader. We were interceding for God to spare his life, but my heart was being pulled into prayer for James Brady. I would pray for him a little bit; I didn’t hear much news about him, so I would go back in. One time when I went back in, Eric had gone into his bedroom and was kneeling next to his chair. I’m not sure if he knew what we were praying for, but he was just a little guy, and he was in there praying as well.
So that was good. I went back in, praying, and my heart again would turn from President Reagan—I’d pray for him—but I especially felt grieved and burdened, might be a good term, to pray for James Brady. So I prayed throughout that day; that was my routine throughout the day. Of course, we got the news that President Reagan was going to be fine. Fast forward several years—I don’t remember how long, 2, 3, 4 years—Dick Mills, a wonderful friend of ours who’s home with Jesus now, came to service frequently in Weaverville and did the same here in Redding. He came to the church in Weaverville, and he told us a story. He knew someone—I don’t remember if it was a friend of his; I think it was a friend of his who was in the emergency room when Reagan and Brady were brought in.
Brady was covered with a sheet because he was gone; there was no help for him, and they put him off to the side. They were working on the president, and somebody looked over and saw some sort of movement. They went over and were able to resuscitate him, and life came back to him. I don’t know the extent; they just had just given up. The point was that the Holy Spirit sees what’s going on and knows how to lead us into prayers that make history and bring about significance through answers.
I have no doubt that thousands, if not millions, of people around the world were interceding and praying in that moment for just that kind of miracle: for God to restore life to this man who had been shot—who was President Reagan’s press secretary. The point is that I have an opinion on how to pray, but when I get into the presence, I tap into His opinion on how to pray. That’s the whole deal: to learn how to pray from the one who is directing traffic, from the one who knows the ins and the outs and the real issues.
You may be praying, for example, for someone who has an obvious problem. Let’s take drug addiction again. You start praying for them, and every time you start praying, you actually end up praying for their relationship with their father. You don’t know why, but you keep going to that, and eventually that reconciliation takes place, and the drug addiction was only a symptom of what was actually happening. The point is that in prayer, He brings us behind the scenes to see what’s actually going on.
A good scripture for this is John 15, where Jesus says, «I no longer call you servants; I call you friends.» Then He adds a clarifying phrase: «Because servants do not know what the master is doing.» What is the point? There is a point in a relationship with God where the Lord lets you go behind the scenes to see His motives, His heart, His thoughts, His ambitions, His dreams, His desires—all that becomes exposed.
Now, let’s change it from friend to son or daughter. When you get into that position, you start feeling the heart of God for something in a way that you know there is an answer that is available, and it’s possible, but it must be pursued with relentless prayer. I believe the Lord is about to give us a pretty extreme upgrade. I’ve been feeling this for months. I’ve mentioned it here and there, but I feel a strong mandate that He’s going to give us access to some new things in Him. Is anyone else ready to learn some new things and make some adjustments in prayer?
I pray for that; it means changes in order. You can’t come into that kind of breakthrough without making some changes. The fact that we have said yes means we are willing to make whatever adjustments and changes are necessary, so amen to that. Now, before we dismiss, I want to give the opportunity for anyone here who would say, «Bill, I don’t know what it is to be born again. I want to be forgiven of sin. I want to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be adopted, brought into His family. I want to know what it is to be changed from the inside out. I want to know what that looks like. I really desire to have peace with God.»
If there’s anybody in the room who would say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know I’m at peace with God,» then I want you to put a hand up right where you are. We’re going to make a quick agreement with you. Put your hand up if that’s you. Don’t pass this moment where you can know what it is to be forgiven of sin. Real quick, is there someone? A hand is raised right over here? Okay. Is there anyone else? Put your hand up if that’s you.
I want you to go ahead and stand. I just want to say, I never want to have a meeting where we don’t have the opportunity for people to come to know Jesus. If anyone raised their hand and would say, «Bill, I really want to be right with God,» then we have a team over here that we trust. I’m going to ask our ministry team to come up to the front, and Tom, are you taking this now? Ministry team, if you’d come up to the front, we really want to agree with you and believe for miracles right now. So if that’s you, in just a moment, Tom will release you. And you still owe me four minutes and 48 seconds.