Bill Johnson - How to Step Into God's Promises
Well, hello! Happy New Year! My goodness, this prayer time thing we have coming up is so important. You know, last year when we spent that week together, morning after morning, it was honestly one of the highlights of my 28 years here. It was one of the most satisfying experiences for my soul in ways that are hard to explain. It was a joy to meet with you in prayer, and this year, I’m celebrating it by going to Korea. I am so bummed it was scheduled while I am off in Korea, so I will not be eating kimchi. I did that during my first several years just to show them I love them, but now they know I love them, so I don’t have to eat it anymore. Sorry to those of you who love it; I know who you are.
All right, a three-year-old named Rees prayed, «Our Father who does art in heaven, Harold is His name. Amen.» A wife invited some people to dinner, and at the meal, she turned to her six-year-old daughter and said, «Honey, would you like to say the blessing?» The little girl said, «I wouldn’t know what to say.» The mother replied, «Well, just say what you hear Mommy say.» The daughter bowed her head and said, «Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?»
One more story: a mother was preparing pancakes for her sons Kevin, age five, and Ryan, age three. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. The mother saw an opportunity to teach them a lesson. She said, «If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake; I can wait.'» Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, «Ryan, you be Jesus.»
Grab your Bibles if you would; we’re going to open to two portions of Scripture: Deuteronomy 8 and Joshua 1. What I’m doing is I realized at the beginning of December that I had three times to speak this month, and I wanted to seize this opportunity to talk to you about something that stirs in my heart often: the story of the promised land—Israel leaving Egypt, a place of bondage, into a place of liberty and fulfilled dreams. It is a picture of the Christian life, and I feel like it is going to become more and more important to us in the years to come. We need to learn what it looks like to live a life that illustrates the kindness and goodness of God. Lack is not humility; lack does not illustrate humility. Managed abundance illustrates humility; abundance for the purpose of blessing the people around us illustrates humility.
There are some things I feel the Lord really wants to teach us. He’s been working on us for so long, and I have a feeling He will be working on me for quite a bit longer, but there are things about His way of thinking that are different from our good Christian backgrounds. We don’t always think correctly about certain things, even though we try hard. I feel like the Lord is really visiting us with this concept of the promised land. The promised land is not heaven; the promised land is a fulfilled Christian life. I call it the kingdom lifestyle. Jesus illustrated it when He went into a situation where there was no food for thousands of people; He was able to provide food for them. His world of reality permeated this one until there was abundance. The point is that His world is one of abundance, but He releases it to us according to our capacity to manage and steward well.
Last week, I talked about how Israel followed the presence. The presence of the Spirit of God in our lives is absolutely central to all advancement, progression, and growth for every one of us in the Kingdom. It isn’t just us following principles—principles are significant and huge, but it is about following the actual presence of the Lord. Romans 8 says those who are led by the Spirit are the ones actually born of the Spirit. The illustration of our right standing with God is our ever-increasing sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, where His thoughts, ambitions, desires, dreams, and words for us are constantly increasing in our minds.
I’m going to go back to a scripture that I’ve quoted maybe a dozen times or more this last year: John 15:7. «If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.» The ambition is not to raise a generation of self-centered Christians who get their way; the ambition is to be so immersed in the presence of God and the word of God that He can trust our desires to influence the course of world history. Our position of prayer would move the heart and hand of God in such a way that anything we dream of or ask for—if it is consistent with His heart for us—would release His hand in a miraculous fashion.
I love the miracles of healing that we see; Randy coming next month is going to be outrageous again, and I never tire of the stories of blind eyes opening, lame walking, or cancer disappearing. But I also get just as excited when I see a marriage healed, when children who were wayward return to Christ, or when a business that was failing receives a fresh breath of hope and begins to thrive. Those stories are so exciting—when you see a neighborhood once known for drug trafficking transformed into a place with healthy family life, all of that goes on in that neighborhood now. Those kinds of stories are just as significant—and sometimes even more significant.
I expect the cancer to go, but when I see a transformation of that nature, that is actually the promised land. That’s where He says, «Every place the sole of your foot treads, I have given to you.» It is the promise of God to occupy every space we inhabit. So think about that—what does it look like for Him to occupy whatever we occupy? That we are actually there representing Him in character, in purity, in presence, and in purpose—all these things permeate our lives so that the people around us benefit from the blessing of the goodness of God in our lives.
Something I haven’t said to you for a while, but I will say it again because it’s important: if you don’t want more, then you are being selfish. If we can live in an environment where there’s so much need and not ache to be a part of the solution, then we are too caught up in our own agendas. There is a requirement from the Lord to have a godly appetite for Him to use us in ways that are significant and life-changing.
One last comment I’ll make before we go to Deuteronomy chapter 8. What we’re going to do today is different from last week; I talked about the presence, but I also talked about the devastating influence of complaining and criticism. I know you didn’t need to hear this, but many of your relatives whom you just shared Christmas with needed to hear that word. Complaining and criticism are how fear talks. Complaining and criticism do not coexist with a thankful heart. Thankfulness is what protects us from entitlement.
Entitlement is almost the name of the game these days in our culture—it’s frightening. We all hate entitlement in others and are sometimes way too slow to recognize it in ourselves. It’s the idea that we constantly feel we are owed something, and when it doesn’t happen, that’s when the complaining, anger, resentment, and blame start. This has become such a stronghold in our culture that people like you and me have to rise up with an aggressive posture of thankfulness. This morning, Steve mentioned this as a weapon. An aggressive posture of thankfulness: when the scripture says «Rejoice» or «In everything give thanks,» He is giving us the tools to live unaffected by a movement that is becoming so deeply entrenched in our American culture. Thankfulness actually insulates us from the influence of that spirit and helps us defeat entitlement, really changing the language of our lives.
When our lives are filled with complaining and criticism—always pointing fingers, finding blame—those things are devastating because they give permission to unbelief to thrive. When I complain and criticize and point fingers, I am actually fanning the flame of unbelief, giving it permission to increase because faith—real biblical faith—and complaining do not coexist. If you knew someone very wealthy and kind, someone you knew well enough to trust completely, and they came to you this morning and said, «I had a dream about you last night. Come to my office this Friday; I’m going to give you $100,000,» how many of you would wait until Friday to rejoice? You wouldn’t; you would start rejoicing right now. Why? Because you know it’s as good as done.
When the Lord says, «I cause all things to work together for good,» the one who is incapable of lying has just given a promise to turn a bad thing into a good thing. When does the rejoicing start? If there’s faith—legitimate faith—then it starts the moment you hear it. All right, let’s take a look at a couple verses in Deuteronomy 8. Are you there?
Verse 2: «And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart—whether you would keep His commandments or not. So, He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.»
All right, stop right there. When you’re in a position of need, a position of lack, or you’re praying for breakthrough—whether it’s personal, for your business, or for your family—that place of need is supposed to lead you to the confidence that we live by what He says. He said, «I let you be hungry and fed you with manna.» What was the lesson? We live by what He says. How is that represented in the manna?
He didn’t say, «I let you be hungry and fed you with manna so you would have confidence in the manna.» The place of need is to take us to the person who speaks. Why is that important? He spoke the worlds into being. When He talks, He creates. «Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.» Even faith itself is imparted through hearing.
When Jack Taylor was alive, he came here a few times to minister, and one time he impacted me so deeply. He quoted a passage out of Luke 1, and I share it often, so this isn’t new for most of you: «For with God, nothing shall be impossible.» That’s what the angel told Mary when announcing she would give birth to Christ. Jack broke down the original language, explaining how this verse could be translated. The word «nothing» is actually two words: «no» and «Rhema.» Rhema often refers to the freshly spoken word of God—the active word that God speaks into someone’s life. Then it says, «nothing shall be impossible.» The word «impossible» means «without ability.»
So, this is what he said: This verse could actually be translated like this: «No freshly spoken word of God will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability to perform itself.» Isn’t that amazing? You take a kernel of corn; the ability to produce corn is in the seed. It needs soil, water, and sunlight, but the ability to produce corn is in the seed. The ability to produce Christlikeness in you is in the seed called the word that He speaks. James chapter 1 says, «In humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your soul.»
Why? Because that word has the ability—the word has the ability to save your soul: salvation for spirit, soul, and body, the transformation of an individual life, the healing of the body, the forgiveness we experience, the transformation of the mind, the emotional healing—all of us are broken somewhere, and we are constantly being restored and refreshed and healed, but He does it by speaking to us. So, the test of the hour is to hear Him and receive what He says. The transformation of our lives does not come because we have determined to be transformed; it comes because we have yielded to the transforming word.
There’s so much responsibility that you and I have to yield to what He’s saying and doing so that He can do something in us that only He can get the credit for. All right, Deuteronomy, let’s go to verse 9.
He said, «This land, this promised land, is a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron; out of these hills, you will dig copper.» When you have eaten and are full, then you will bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
The very next phrase is, «Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments.» I like this chapter for a number of reasons. I like to go back and read it when I want correction. A friend of mine gave a sermon once called «Walking Through the Sword,» and this is how I pictured it: Jesus standing in front of me with a sword, the tip at my chest, saying, «Come here.» That’s what we do when we read Romans 8; we go, «Oh, yeah, okay.» He honestly just cuts deeply to make us aware of how His world works.
So here He announces, «This land I’m giving you.» Does it make sense to you that God wants more for your life than you do? His dreams are greater than our capacity to dream. But He doesn’t want to entrust things to us that will destroy us. The blessing can destroy. Here in this passage, He mentions the abundance of the land and warns us to remember Him. I’ve watched people pay a great price to be part of what God is doing. In becoming a part of that, they come into a place of blessing and become insulated from what got them there. Does that make sense?
During the pandemic, a word was given: it was time to return to the old gym—an illustration taken from a Rocky III movie that spoke deeply to us. There were hardcore decisions and sacrifices we made early on to see breakthrough, but then we forget. The Lord is saying, «Listen, you’ve gone without for forty years. Now you’re going to inherit, so don’t forget me because that blessing can insulate you from your awareness of personal need.»
This is significant. It’s not living with awareness of personal need to become self-critical; it’s about living dependent on Him. Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, the most spiritually sick people of the day, saying, «Only the sick need a physician; those who are healthy do not.» He was announcing their unawareness of their own sickness, meaning He had no place to bring health and healing to them. Awareness is key.
It’s stunning how religious leaders steeped in scripture did not recognize Him when He came, while those who struggled recognized Him right away. Awareness of personal brokenness helps you recognize the answer when He shows up. The first generation of Israel died out in unbelief, but the next generation, filled with faith and obedience, followed Joshua into the promised land and obtained this great promise. They did it through humility and obedience.
What He is saying is, «Don’t forget humility and obedience. Even in your blessings, you must live dependent on every word that proceeds out of My mouth.» Sometimes we need to get back to the old gym to revive the sacrifice that got us there.
Sometimes I think about the things I used to do—my investment in prayer meetings and various things. I need to stop and think: I’m enjoying blessings from the investment I made then; what investment am I making today that I will enjoy 20 years from now?
Verse 16 says, «He fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and test you to do you good in the end.» The theme we started earlier in prayer is that all things work together for good for those who love God, according to His purpose. If it’s not good, it’s not the end.
I think Chris reminds us of that often, which is a tremendous phrase. The Lord says, «I test you because I want to do good to you in the end.» The last verse we’ll read in this chapter is verse 18: «You shall remember the Lord your God; for it is He who gives you power to get wealth.» That is actually in the Bible: power to get wealth.
Now, if you would go to Joshua chapter 1—if there’s one chapter that has had the greatest influence on my life in the last 50 years, it’s Joshua chapter 1. I return to it often to provoke and stir my own heart. I want to ensure I maintain those right values, which is part of what is in this particular chapter.
Joshua 1:3: «Every place the sole of your foot will tread, I have given to you, as I said to Moses.» He gave that promise to Israel; the 12 spies went into the promised land but didn’t benefit from it because they didn’t act in faith. Verse 5 says, «No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and of good courage; for to this people you will divide an inheritance, the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.»
Verse 7 says, «Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.»
Verse 9 says, «Have I not commanded you? Be strong and very courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be dismayed.»
How many of you think we’re supposed to be strong and courageous? Here’s the part I want you to catch. If spiritual strength were only available through years of discipline and determination, it would be unkind of God to command us to be strong. If the only way to strength is through years of discipline, then His command would be cruel. Anytime a command seems unreasonable, fulfillment is within reach by choice. We can choose to be strong. When He says, «Be strong,» He made it available in the command.
Remember: no freshly spoken word will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability to perform itself. In humility, receive the word implanted; it is able to save your soul. So, He says, «Be strong.» Even when you feel overwhelmed, say, «I don’t know how I could ever pull this off, but I trust You! I know that You can do in me what I could never do for myself.» In that «yes» is the pathway for strength to be imparted.
Verse 8 says, «This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.»
Look at that verse again. I want this verse to really take root in our hearts this season. The book of the law—not leaving it in your heart but keeping it on your lips. If you keep it in your confession, it will penetrate your heart. There are times when a proclamation creates a pathway for your heart to follow.
I heard a phrase years ago: «You cannot change your heart; God will not change your mind, but if you change your thoughts, God will change your heart.»
That statement was much better than your response! The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you will meditate on it day and night. That way, you’ll be careful to observe all that He commanded you to do. Then you will make your way prosperous, and you will have success.
I know prosperity and success get abused a lot, and I get that a whole Christian culture thing can be self-serving. While I understand that, it’s still in the Bible, and I’d rather be successful than fail. Because of our desire to serve well and provide for people, I want everybody in this room to prosper. It is part of the way Heaven is; it is the nature of His kingdom.
Even though I empathize with the abuse that can occur, I believe extraordinary blessings can manifest in wonderful ways. In this particular passage, He says, «You will make your way prosperous.»
If I were to travel throughout this wonderful city of ours and interview, say, 10,000 Christians, and ask, «Who determines your income? Who determines your level of prosperity?"—almost every believer would say God does. I understand why, since He rules over all, but let me ask: who determines how many acres of corn a farmer will harvest? If he plants 100 acres, can he claim a thousand when he only plants 100?
The point is that in some measure, the farmer has a great responsibility for what will be harvested. Today, I feel like we are announcing promised land harvesting—a call for harvesting promises. I’m not entirely sure what that looks like, but I believe it is meant to be a message of breakthrough for everyone in this room.
He invites us through His presence to come and explore what belongs to us, to experience all that He predetermined for our lives and our adventures in the promised land—all about harvesting promises. I truly ache for this.
I’ve taken this subject seriously because of where I’m at and what I believe we are meant to step into. I want to dream like never before. I’ve been asking the Lord night after night for at least a year, maybe two years, to talk to me in dreams or visions. Job says He visits us at night, depositing things in our hearts that, if He were to share them during the day, we would become arrogant.
He sometimes works this subtle thing into our hearts that takes days to unpack and recognize. I feel like this concept of the promised land is going to capture a significant part of our future, so let’s stand and do this together.
Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to write down all the outrageous things we saw happen this last year? Some of us just need to get back to the old gym; that’s still a prevailing word for me.
Father, we give You thanks for Your promises—You are so faithful; You keep every promise. I pray right now that as we wrap up this year and step into the next, something will be birthed in us—this consciousness, this awareness, this appetite for promise—so we wouldn’t unintentionally enter this year but do so intentionally. I pray for the grace of John 15:7 to rest upon us so that our prayer lives actually make a difference in this world. Thank You, Lord.
I want to give an opportunity for anyone here who doesn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. If you don’t know what it means to be forgiven or to be brought into the family of God, but you would like to, if you would say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave until I know I have found peace with God,» just raise your hand where you are. I just want to acknowledge that commitment you are making to the Lord. Anyone at all? Right over here? I didn’t see that, but I see it now. Okay, great!
I bless you in the name of the Lord. I’d like to invite our ministry team to come forward, and anyone who is coming to Jesus this morning, we have people who we know and trust over here by this banner. So, just know where to go; they will talk with you, pray for you, and bless you.