Bill Johnson - How to Discern the Movement of the Holy Spirit
How many of you are here for the Leader Advance this week? We’ve got that event going on, and bless your heart, I’m glad you’re here. You came a few days early, and I have another gathering that starts actually tomorrow. So, we just found a spot where we could actually take a breath and thought we’d put a meeting in there. My staff was laughing at me at our staff meeting Wednesday when I announced what I was doing. I said, «Well, I did that so you would understand the rumors of my wisdom have been exaggerated.»
Oh well, we’re going to have a great time. How many of you are here for the Advance? Once again, put your hands up; I want to see who you are. Welcome them, folks, would you? From all over the world, we’ve got the room packed to the rafters with guests from all over the planet, and it’s a great thrill for us. Also, tonight Sean is leading worship, right? He’s releasing a new album, and he’s doing worship here; the debut is released here, and it’s incredible! So guess what? Oh, don’t come. We really don’t have the room; it’s going to be good. Sean is one of those rare gifts on earth who has really given himself to impact nations, so it’s pretty special for us to have him here tonight.
All right, you guys ready? I’ve had an interesting week to say the least. We had a situation come up. I don’t usually take time for this on a Sunday; if there’s a problem that comes up, we’re usually able to deal with it separately. But we felt as a staff and leadership that I needed to alert you to something, and then I’m going to do a teaching kind of a spin-off from that. I met this week with our students, our student body, and I think how many meetings did I have? I think I had four meetings. Three meetings? Four. I had four meetings this week to talk about the same thing: to give a warning about an individual whose life and ministry have become horribly deceived and contaminated. So I’m throwing up alert signs.
You know, some people say, «Well, judge not that you be not judged.» That’s true; I don’t have the right to ever condemn. But Paul said, «Do we not judge within the household of faith?» It’s a word of demarcation. The Bible talks about the defilement that takes place through bitterness and resentment, that many become defiled. You’re to mark a divisive man. In 1 John, it says don’t even greet a person who denies the teachings of Jesus. You can’t partner with somebody who diminishes Jesus from the role of absolute Son of God to just a good man; you can’t do that.
We have a lot of toleration for uniqueness around here—that would be the understatement of the century. I was flashing back this morning to some of the experiences we’ve had. I’ll never forget this Sunday when we had a young man who was just inspired to be courageous. He painted half his face blue, got a wooden sword, and ran across the front of the sanctuary yelling like Braveheart. I thought, «Well, that’s cool.» We’ve had a lot of interesting experiences through the years. We had a guy doing cartwheels during worship, just doing flips and cartwheels. I watched him go back and forth about three or four times. He looked at me, and I went, «One more!» I was afraid there was going to be a broken neck, and I’d have to pray for healing.
We have a fair amount of toleration for differences. We fellowship with a lot of people who have unique values and personal disciplines, and theologies. I remember one of our own came in a wedding gown and combat boots at least on one occasion, right? Yes. So we’ve had our share of unique expressions. This is not the absence of toleration; this is an absolute burden and concern to put out walls of protection because of the impartation that is actually demonic, impartation that is taking place. For that reason, I’m just saying, don’t try to fix them. There are people in place that can help bring great restoration and healing, and that’s what we long for.
All right, why don’t you open your Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 2? We’ve got a fairly lengthy portion of Scripture to read, and I’m going to talk through this about more of God at any cost. One of the reasons I’m actually doing this is because one of our students during the four times this week I had to talk with our, to make sure I covered all of our students—the poor second-year had to hear me three times. I felt like they needed a break just from listening to me talk for three days in a row. But anyway, at the end of each session, I would give them an opportunity to stand and ask questions, and it gave me an opportunity to speak to the issues or concerns they had or things they picked up.
One of the students asked me a question about—I don’t remember the exact question—but it basically had to do with this: he represents our quest for more. That cry for more of God at any cost is something that is very personal and very meaningful to me. I remember in February of 1995, I began to cry out to the Lord day and night for more. My prayer was, «God, I want more at any cost. I’ll pay any price.» I prayed it day and night. In fact, it became such an expression in my heart—I don’t think it would be wrong to describe it as a volcanic expression because it would come from deep within me unplanned at times, as I would cry out to the Lord for more at any cost.
There were a number of occasions where I woke up in the night praying. I didn’t wake up to pray; I woke myself up because my spirit man was crying out to the Lord for more at any cost. I’ll never forget that season in my life because it ended with an encounter with the Lord—a visitation of God that lasted three nights, and it started at 3:00 a.m. on one particular morning. I’m not going to go into the description of the event; I’ve done it many times here, but I don’t want to go off track from what I feel I need to talk to you about today. I will say that the power of God was upon me physically—a powerful encounter with the Lord—and I knew that He was looking for one thing from me: He wanted to know if I meant it when I said I wanted more at any cost. What He did is He actually, I had no control of my limbs. The power of God upon me was so strong that there was no question who it was. It was not pleasant, but it was glorious, if that makes sense.
The Lord was looking to see if I meant it when I said I’d pay any price for more, and He paraded circumstances in front of me. He reminded me that Jacob wrestled with an angel and limped the rest of his life. Mary was the mother of an illegitimate child all her days. He paraded scenes in front of my eyes where I remember trying to teach to the church in Weaverville while we were still there, attempting to minister and teach from the Word, and realized I had no control over my limbs. I looked like I should be locked up somewhere. Realizing there was no one there that would believe this was the Lord was quite sobering, and realizing the stigma that is often involved when God does something deep, profound, and sometimes new.
Then the scene changed. I saw myself standing in front of my favorite restaurant in town and realized that not only would our entire church family not believe this was God, but I would be a laughing stock to the entire city. The Lord just kept pressing, «Did you mean it when you said you wanted more at any cost?» I remember lying there with tears streaming down my face for I don’t know—didn’t measure the time. I’m guessing 20 minutes, 30 minutes—where the tears streamed down my face onto the pillowcase. As the Lord would parade the scenes, He would want to know, «Did you mean it when you said more at any cost?» When the scene stopped, I was left with just the presence of God upon me and the realization that although I heard no voice, He was asking the question, «Did you mean it when you said you wanted more at any cost?» I said, «Yes, I’ll pay any price if I never function as a normal human being the rest of my life; that’s fine. If I am mocked or misunderstood, it doesn’t matter to me.» That went on all night long—the next night, the third night, three nights in a row.
It was this encounter with the Lord that prepared me for what would happen here just a few months later when we moved here. This was in October; we became full-time pastors here in February of the next year, and a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit came, and it was glorious. It was wonderful. Things I had wanted all my entire life that I could recall began to happen. Yet, a thousand people over the course of several months just got up and left. It would have been devastating had I not first had that encounter, where I laid down my right to ever be successful, to ever be respected, to ever be recognized as having dignity. All those things literally died over three nights—they just died. When I came, I was given something so precious. I felt like the luckiest guy on the planet, being involved in an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The fact that it backfired in a sense of support and favor and those kinds of things didn’t matter at all—at all, not one bit. We just felt like the most blessed people on the planet. That process was vital and extremely important for us because we had to answer that question, «What price are you willing to pay?»
Some might say, «Well, you know, Jesus paid the whole price.» That’s true, but there’s something about suffering with Christ. That suffering with Christ is not physical illness; it is not torment; it is not being locked in sin. It is being opposed for standing with Him. The most painful people to oppose you are going to be your brothers and sisters. It’s one thing for the world system to do it. Strangely, this revival has been opposed by so many different groups. But it continues. When you go to a country like Mozambique, where the only opposition to the exact same move of God is the witch doctors or Islamic groups—when that’s the only opposition, it thrives. When the only opposition is the devil, it thrives. However, when the opposition is the devil and the church, it always compromises the effect of what God’s doing.
Anyway, that’s not the subject today, but I did dump it on you, didn’t I? I hope you feel edified. It’s funny how that one snuck out. This journey has been—I’ll never forget Benny and I standing right here. This part of the platform wasn’t here; it was just stairs, and we spoke from up there. I remember Ben and I standing right here. We invited everybody in the room to come down to the front and crowded around the front. It was one of the first Sunday nights we were here, and we invited the Holy Spirit to come in power. The power of God fell on one person—one person out of the hundreds that were here. Ben and I looked at each other, and we went, «We got it; it’s now unstoppable.» There wasn’t an ounce of discouragement that the power of God didn’t fall on a mass of people. We were the most encouraged people I knew because He came on one, and we knew it was unstoppable now because now it’s not just us; somebody within the tribe, within the family, has been touched by God.
Come on, this cry for «More at any cost» has been a theme of this particular movement, and I have to say it certainly didn’t start with me. I just heard it echoing through the hearts of people in Toronto, Pensacola, and various places. It certainly didn’t originate with me, but I would echo in my heart what I heard people saying. This move of God is marked by that kind of passionate cry. However, in this particular context, I need to add an additional phrase to «more at any cost.» It’s «more at any cost within biblical parameters.» The question was presented to me—not incorrectly at all; it was a very good question—because this particular individual or these kinds of movements represent «more,» but they’ve left the safety of what I will talk to you about—the basics that cannot be compromised.
What do you do with the person of Jesus, the absolute authority of Scripture, and the accountability among the body of Christ, where you live as a family? When people separate themselves, Proverbs says they seek their own desire. Paul said to mark a divisive person. Anyone who has that root of bitterness will infect and affect countless numbers of people around them. They drop a bomb in the middle of a room, and there’s collateral damage all around the room. That has happened throughout history. There are those three things—there are probably more that I could address, but those things stand out to me right now: What do you do with Jesus? See, every cult in the world has failed at this one question: What do you do with Jesus? For some, He’s the ascended being; He became a Son of God. He’s not the Eternal Son of God. For others, He’s just a good prophet or teacher. They fit Him in somewhere because you have to do something with this significant person in history, Jesus Christ.
What do you do with Him? The answer to that one question actually determines what kind of spirit you will be welcoming into your life as you quest for more. Once you fail the test of what do you do with Jesus, you’ve just opened yourself up to an angel of light who will come and visit you and reveal things to you, but there is a partnership literally with the demonic realm. What about the Scripture? The absolute authority of Scripture? See, once you replace this—once you remove this—you’re basically saying your opinions matter more than what’s declared. Your view on a subject is more important than what the Word of God says. I don’t understand that. Interestingly, my biggest problem with Scripture is not what I don’t understand; it’s with what I understand.
The Lord has made this demand on our life because of His declared Word. This book was written to be understood relationally, not separate from Him. It was never designed that we could be removed from God, study the book, and come back understanding how to do life. This book is actually written in a way that it depends on an ongoing relationship to have understanding. I give you examples. Jesus showed up to the disciples, you know, on the day of the Great Commission, and He says go into all the world. Sometime later, the Apostle Paul wants to go into Asia, which is biblical—he’s going into all the world—but yet the Lord shows up and says don’t go into Asia. It would be easy to argue that, well, I was commanded to go into all the world. The Lord said not Asia. Finally, he had a dream of a man crying from Macedonia, crying for help, and he realized, «Okay, the command is to go into all the world, but I need the relational aspect to know specifically where I’m to pour my time and my life.»
Another example is from the Book of Proverbs that I throw at you the most often, where he says, «Do not answer a fool according to his folly lest you be like him.» The very next verse says, «Answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own eyes.» So, what is it? Because in one verse, he says, «Don’t answer the fool,» and in the second verse, he says «Answer him.» I love that about the Word of God. I love the fact that you can’t read it separate from Him and know it to do. I love that it’s frustrating, but it takes me to Him. That’s what He meant in the first place.
He wasn’t trying to give us an owner’s manual that we could read apart from Him; He was trying to bring us something that we would need Him to know how to walk through—that’s the truth. It’s just the absolute truth. And then because of the nature of the body being members of one another, I remember my wife is an animal person. I was going to say freak, but that wouldn’t be nice. I am, too. I like animals, right next to the potatoes and corn. My wife is a great animal person, and I do, too, but she’s extreme. I remember one period in our home when friends asked her if she would like to help raise a little lamb, and she said yes. So, this little lamb thought Benny was Mom and followed her all over the house. This little lamb followed her everywhere. It was like a dog, except more dependent—the opposite of a cat. Yeah, forgive me, all you cat lovers, but I don’t get it.
So, this little lamb is in her house and follows her everywhere, thinking she’s Mom. I didn’t know sheep are born with long tails. I didn’t know that; every sheep I’d ever seen had a short tail. I didn’t know they eliminate the tail, and what this rancher did is he put this tiny little rubber band about this far up the tail, puts a little rubber band on it, and leaves it there. It just cuts off all life flow, so eventually, that end of the tail just gets rotten, dies, and falls off. It’s rather gross, but it illustrates something that Paul talks about. We are members of one another, and then he says that we stay alive according to what every joint supplies. So, here the supply was cut off, leading to death.
Here’s another strange part of that story: we found out that if, in the process, you were to cut the rubber band and change your mind on what you wanted to do with the tail, the six inches left that contain the poison from that dying part of the tail would go back into the body and kill the lamb. It illustrates what resentment and bitterness do. It causes a separation in which poison enters the heart, and if it’s not dealt with, it literally defiles many; it brings death.
Look at Acts chapter 2, and let’s see if we can make some sense out of this. It’s happening here: Acts 2:1. We’re going to read quite a few verses, so have your Bibles open, or the church bulletin or something. All right, verse one: when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. When this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language. They were amazed and marveled, saying to one another, «Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?» Jump down to verse 13.
So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, «Whatever could this mean?» Verse 13: others were mocking, saying, «They are full of new wine.» Here’s the fruit of revival for those of you who think it only comes squeaky clean, where everybody gets happy because God showed up. This is what happened: verse 6, they were confused; verse 7, they were amazed; they marveled; they were amazed, perplexed; and others were mocking. So if you see those things happening, just know you’re in the middle of a great move of God. I just want—I’ve come to encourage you, that’s all. I just want you to know that these are signs of a great move of God.
I mention this for a reason because there’s this thing that goes around where people say, «Well, you have to examine a move of God by its fruit.» Well, that’s absolutely true—an apple tree will give apples, and that’s how you know the nature of the tree. But there’s been a mistake made throughout history when it comes to examining the fruit of a move of God. A move of God occurs, and a church will split. Some will go with the move of the Holy Spirit, and some will say, «God’s not doing that today.» People will say, «See, it split the church; that can’t be God.»
You can never judge God or His work according to the reaction of people. Come on now, if we do, then we would say, «Ten lepers Jesus healed, and only one came back,» which means the effectiveness of Jesus’s ministry only really touched one person out of ten. That’s not a good sign. You can’t judge the move of God by the outcome or the reaction of people. That’s not the identification. What is the sign? The ten lepers being healed. What is the sign? That was a move of God. They were healed. If they go back into sin, do whatever, that’s not a statement on the validity of God’s touch in their life, right?
Yes, that’s the absolute truth. So, the move of God is never evaluated by people’s reaction. All right, so when somebody says, «I saw this happening, and it made me feel uncomfortable.» Well, you know, welcome to the Kingdom! My goodness, He makes me nervous! I’ve seen people shake violently under the power of God. I’ve seen them shake violently under the power of demons, and I’ve seen them shake violently because they needed attention, and it all looks the same.
My wife shook violently when we were in Toronto. I’ll never forget; it was one of the most violent things I have ever seen in my life. We were walking out of the building, and the power of God hit her like a cannon went off; I had to let go of her to save my arm. Seriously, to this day I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more violent. You say, «How could that be God?» All I know is I went to church that night with a lamb and walked home with a lion. There was a dramatically different change in that one half hour, unlike anything I’d ever witnessed in my life!
Wow, that’s awesome! You don’t judge it by how it appears! You know, I love the gifts of the Spirit. I love that Paul gave us nine of them! I love the fact that they fit into three sets of three, so it helps all of us who like outlines and PowerPoint to look like we know what we’re doing. You know, we can break them down into three sets of three—it makes us feel somewhat knowledgeable. My grandmother, when she was baptized in the Spirit, actually wrote in perfect Chinese; she didn’t know Chinese! My aunt did as well. It happened to a number of people in our family. They wrote in perfect Chinese not knowing it, and then a missionary came through town, looked at it, and read it. It was all praise to God.
Well, what were the tongues here in Acts chapter 2? Look at verse 11; they said, «Are they not all speaking of the mighty deeds of God?» Well, tongues are either prayer to the Lord, intercessory prayer, or it is praise to God; that’s the point. So, in this particular case, it was praise to God. All right, now here’s my question: was that manifestation of the outpouring of the Spirit of God on my grandmother, my aunt, and others in our family, where they wrote worship and praise to God, exalting His name and writing in perfect Chinese—was that an act of God? Yes! The devil’s not known for giving Him praise!
So, you’ve pretty much got to reduce the options here. They either got really lucky with how they wrote—no, it was the Lord! But here’s the problem: it’s not on the list now. So, this is the challenge. The challenge is we have to have the absolute authority of Scripture, the centrality of Jesus, the Son of God, and the invaluable relationships where our spirituality is proven through covenant with people. Those three elements have to be intact, but the absolute authority of the word of God is not seen because you’ve experienced something that’s on the list.
It’s that what you’ve experienced is consistent with the list. Here’s my point: I said all that to say this: the lists in Scripture do not contain God; they reveal Him. The list in Scripture does not corral Him; they are not His parameters through which He must work. He’s bigger than His book, but He doesn’t violate His word. How do we know this? Take a look at verse 14: it says, «Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said, 'Men of Judea, all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you; heed my words! '»
These are not drunk as you suppose, since it’s only the third hour of the day. The day began at 6, so it’s 9:00 in the morning. Verse 17: «It shall come to pass in the last days,» says God, «that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy; young men shall see visions; old men will dream dreams. My menservants and maidservants, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on the earth beneath.» Stop right there.
Now, just think with me: what was mentioned as evidence of the outpouring of the Spirit of God in the first several verses of Acts chapter 2? We have wind, fire, tongues. How many of those things are found in Joel’s prophecy? None of them! What was in Joel’s prophecy? Dreams, visions, prophecy. How many believe the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible? Was He confused, or did He find a proof text for what was happening? The outpouring of the Spirit came. What was there? Fire, wind, tongues.
The Holy Spirit says, «Here’s where I talked about this.» Joel prophesied it. He said, and then He quotes Joel: there would be prophecy, visions, and dreams. None of what’s in Joel 2 happened in Acts 2, true? None of what happened in Acts 2 was prophesied in Joel 2. But according to the Holy Spirit, He put the two together and said, «See? It’s a perfect match!» So here’s my point: if that’s true, if we don’t think that way, we’ll miss what He’s saying because He says it’s a perfect match.
There’s another thing in that passage: during Jesus’s ministry, whenever there was a crowd—remember when Jesus multiplied the food? It would say, «He fed the 5,000 men besides women and children.» At the day of Pentecost, it was men and women who were counted. This is very significant; catch this! Because the outpouring of the Spirit is the great equalizer! Come on! In the outpouring of the Spirit, in Joel 2, what’s quoted here in Acts 2, you have the sex barrier broken: menservants, maidservants; you have the age barrier broken: young men see visions, old men dream dreams; you have the class barrier because you have slaves involved in this pouring.
So you’ve got the class barrier, race barrier—you’ve got every barrier that people have raised up demolished in the outpouring of the Spirit. And from this point on, it’s men and women counted together. Good. It’s important to realize because you’ll notice that wherever there’s a mighty outpouring of the Spirit, I don’t know of any place in the world where there is an earth-shaking outpouring of the Spirit of God where women are not intensely involved in what’s happening.
You only see their exclusion where He’s not moving. I just felt good to say that. I feel like the worst thing that could happen would be if a fear of asking for more would cause us to back off. I feel like it’s time to upgrade the cry for more. I saw a Kenneth Hagin video this week—oh my goodness gracious, from 1994! It just makes me ache for the more! But I want it to be clear and understood: it is more within biblical parameters.
You know, I laugh a little bit when people say, «Well, we only want what’s in the Bible.» Have you read it? Are you taking comfort in that statement? If that makes you feel safe, open it again! Do you know that Daniel at one point was nauseous because he was carrying a prophetic word that he hadn’t given? How many of you want God to really move? How do you know? «Oh, because I feel like throwing up!» I mean, that’s just not on the list of acceptable. Daniel was so powerfully touched by God that his bones shook to where you could hear them! How do you shake so much you hear your bones rattling together? That, I’m not sure, is on my list of pursued manifestations!
What about Ezekiel? God grabs him by the hair and literally lifts him up off the planet. If that happens in here, you better listen to anything I have to say. Most of what I’ll have to say is, «Help me, help me!» But you understand what I’m saying. Read! This is scary—the way He deals with His people. It’s always good; it’s always under something wonderful, but it’s not always reasonable to us. It’s totally reasonable to Him!
This is logic to Him: tongues, fire, wind, prophecy, dreams, visions—that’s logical! They’re the same! So we’re going to pray, and I tell you, I have it in my heart to upgrade the cry. You should know by now, hopefully, I don’t know if today was even necessary in that regard— I want more at any cost within biblical parameters. I’m not sure that additional phrase is even necessary for almost everybody in the room, but just in case there’s one, I’m not interested in unusual spiritual experiences; I really am not. I really am interested in Him, though. I want to see Him clearly. I want to hear Him clearly. I want to represent Him well!
At the end of the day, the mistake that is made historically—and is being made in this particular situation that I have addressed today—is that if I lay hands on someone and their blind eyes open, do you understand that this is not God’s mark of approval of me? The mistake made historically is that a sign can happen. I can know something; I can give you a word of knowledge, prophecy, or whatever—that is never a sign of God’s approval for me. His approval for me is found in the fact that I answered His call when He called my name. My conversion, my yielding to Him—that’s where my approval comes from! It’s in the eyes of the one who called me; it’s in the voice of the one who called me.
What has happened historically is that people have prayed for people, and they got healed, but the night before, they were very seductive and promiscuous. They think, «Well, the Lord understands,» and He obviously—He’s not that worried about this part of my life that’s devious or sinful, or whatever it might be. So that’s God’s mark of approval on my life? And the value system slowly degrades, degenerates, until they’re in absolute denial of the Lord in their lifestyle, and yet they can still practice miracles! Why or how can that happen? Two reasons: Number one, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable; He doesn’t take them back.
Number two, if God heals somebody when I pray in Jesus’s name, it’s not His approval of me. It’s Him responding to prove His word! He values His word that says that person should be healed! And so when He does something—have you ever heard of this happening? I know of a situation in town that happened a number of years ago where a woman—godly woman—her husband was just kind of a rascal. Have you ever heard of that combination before? It’s happened at least three times in all of history—yeah, three million times. He was a rascal.
Somebody at work, knowing his wife walked with the Lord, came to the husband and said, «I want to know how to meet Jesus.» So he led him to Christ! The guy who’s not saved led the person to Christ! That’s weird, would you agree with me? That’s weird! If the Lord only worked through us when we were perfect—yeah, it really shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that we would watch Him use someone who’s imperfect because we all qualify for that, right? Does that make any sense? I hope so.
Why don’t you stand? All right, that was a hodgepodge. I feel like we’re supposed to pray for a couple things. I know we have a lot of guests here today—I’m glad you’re here, and I’m sorry you’re here, but I’m glad you’re here. I think how we walk through these difficult situations is important. We need to learn what to do and how to manage ourselves and to protect how we view someone who has fallen and is in a bad place.
But I do feel like we’re supposed to pray for a couple things together. The first, I feel, is to pray for the protection of the work of God in our city. Really, that’s been the biggest thing for me: the jealousy over the grace that has been functioning in our city. But here’s the big thing—I want us to pray for two things. Number one: discernment. Does anybody feel like they need an increase in discernment? I feel like we’re supposed to pursue that in prayer because, to be honest with you, some of this situation has been easy to spot; it hasn’t been difficult. Increase discernment!
But here’s the big deal for me: I want us to pray for more of God at any cost. I don’t want my reaction to this difficulty or problem to soil my passion. In fact, I want it to fuel the passion for more! So take just a moment, put a hand on the shoulder of the person next to you, grab their hand—do something! I want you just to pray for them. God unleash the appetite for more! Increase the appetite for more! Increase the appetite, the passion for more! Increase the appetite, the passion for more, the passion for more! Divine encounters, Holy Spirit, that You would come with such power—You’d come with such power into people’s lives and hearts, such power!
Increase this on us, Lord! Increase, God! We want to relearn what it is to give You first place in everything at every level. But I also pray, Lord, give us a discerning heart, not only on us but for those even on TV right now who have partnered with us at various levels. I just pray the same—throughout that there would be not an antagonism, there would not be spitefulness, resentment, or religious retaliation, but nothing but compassion.
But I also pray, Lord, give us a discerning heart so we can see clearly. We can recognize agendas that the enemy has set up for failure and collapse. We pray that the work of God in our city, the work of God in our own hearts, would be protected. We pray all of this for the honor of the name Jesus. Amen.