Bill Johnson - How to Walk In and Steward Your God-Given Influence
Wow, wow, wow! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thanks! You’re going to make it! Yeah, are you all right, you guys? Yeah, thanks, good. You probably lost 20 pounds tonight, Drummond, but you don’t have it to lose, so never mind that. Wow! Yeah, walking up there is a little dangerous. I’m actually—wow, yeah, that’s good. The only thing I can think of right now is, «Wow.» Yeah, I’m trying to get past that, but it’s the only thing that comes to mind. I’m serious; there’s like electricity happening in the presence a lot. Uh, it’s just this… Sheesh! I remember my brother was sitting in the second row here once, and the fire of God hit him. He jumped over that road, ran around the building, and then told me, «I’ve always heard people say there’s this verse in, I think it’s in Jeremiah, 'fire shut up in his bones.' People always say that’s an anointing for evangelism.» He said, «No, it’s not. It’s fire shut up in your bones. It is fire in my bones!» Ah, some things are just hard to explain! In fact, just don’t even try.
Well, I think the Lord’s going to continue to do wonderful things tonight! Here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to pray for some folks, and I think I’ll talk—probably, we’ll see how that works out. I do have some things I want to say, but they may not be important to Him, so we’ve got to figure that out first. I believe there are going to be some very significant miracles. I’ve had it on my heart this evening; I think it started this morning, but it all blends, so I think it started this morning or perhaps this afternoon at home.
I was thinking about, uh, Chris, remember that Sunday night you gave that word that somebody had been hit in the head, and there was some kind of terminal disease or something that they had as a result of that? It’s a night we’ll never forget because it was such an extraordinary miracle. I’ve asked the guys to see if they could find in our archives the testimony; it’s a great story. Then we have the one that we just watched. You know, I’d like for you to queue that up and get it ready again. I want to watch the one we already watched. I’ve seen it four times today; a fifth time won’t hurt me at all!
I’ll tell you what: I want you to listen so that you can find an excuse to get healed. The last time we took any time just to play some video testimonies, there was literally a wave of healing miracles that went through the room, and I’ve been sensing that tonight. I’ve been sensing that the Lord was going to heal people with head trauma, perhaps brain disease, aneurysm-type stuff. I don’t know. I don’t know what to label it, but all I know is it’s up here. I just believe, you know, we’ve had waves of that through the years; we’ve had an unusual amount of people healed of dyslexia, various kinds of learning disorders. I’ve seen different kinds of damage to the brain because of an accident, and their facial features get restored. One young lady, her mom was there, and she said, «You look like you did before the accident.» The accident was several years earlier, and the Lord just, over a period of an hour or two, just completely restored her appearance.
I just feel like the Lord is going after the head thing. We had the start several years ago, and occasionally we just do it because I feel there’s an authority there. Let me explain something: when you see a miracle consistently, it’s almost like God gives you real estate. You actually have ownership in that area. We’ve experimented with this; it’s all I know to do. It’s just one big experiment, and we’ve tried to find times where we can just choose to bring that up, give the testimony, and we’ve watched people get healed. It’s happened for years.
But tonight, I believe, is a word of knowledge. Tonight, I believe, is a word of knowledge. I feel like we can bring it up anytime because we have authority there. I feel there’s weight on it right now that the Lord is going to heal head trauma. You heard early on, maybe it was one of the baptism testimonies, that somebody was healed of dyslexia. I feel like that’s going to happen. I just saw it, I think it was Friday night in Orlando—healed. We had just, goodness, I don’t know how many. I didn’t count them, but it was probably at least 150 people or so who were healed, and a number of them had head trauma issues. So I just feel like the Lord’s going to do that tonight; so watch the testimony to find an excuse to get well.
All right, just see what the Lord might be saying to you. You guys ready for that one? Do that one, and then we’ll do Adrian’s again, if you would— the muscle one. All right, just look for what He healed to see what He can do for you. All right? If you need a miracle anywhere connected to what she talked about—doesn’t have to be the same disease, but an issue of the brain, memory, or any of those kinds of things—could be unrelated, but somehow it was alluded to in that story—stand. Learning disorders were not mentioned in that, but I want to include it because we’ve seen so many. I just feel like the Lord had a young lady come to me Friday night saying she had just been dramatically healed, and she was just beside herself with joy at how the Lord answered the cry of her own heart.
She had her friends there who were just as happy for her because they saw what she could do and they knew what she couldn’t do. Just a great, great testimony. I want to throw this in: there are those who have certain conditions in the neck; I think it may be like arthritic or it may be some other problem. You have ongoing headaches because of the issue in the neck—if that’s you, stand up. This devil called headaches is going to get broken off, and we’re just going to believe God for an absolute miracle for you. Yeah, yeah, thank you for this, Lord Jesus.
All right, there’s somebody who has a pain issue on the right side of the head, which goes down into the neck, shoulder area, collarbone area. Some of the ones standing have that—any of you sitting down, make sure you’re standing. There’s also someone here who broke the right ankle; it was not just a sprain, but it was actually a break in the bone of the right ankle, and I’m assuming it didn’t heal correctly because I feel like the Lord’s pointing to that. Who is that with the right ankle issue? Is that you right here? All right. Is there ongoing pain? Is there restricted movement? What is it? Is it all of the above? All of the above? All right, well, tonight’s your night!
Let’s do this, man. Yeah, yeah, King Jesus is in the business of restoring people! So, Lord, we do welcome You as the Healer. We honor You as the One who paid the price; You made it possible for us to be well. We declare that divine health is our inheritance. We thank You that we don’t have to persuade You; You’ve been trying to persuade us. So we say, «Amen.»
Now, if you’re sitting and we’re close to these, go to them, find out what needs to be healed, and if it’s a proper place to put your hand, lay your hand on it. Those—hold on just a second, I’m sorry, one more moment. If you’re praying for head trauma, please remember in the story, she said there was the rebuking of the spirit of trauma. Don’t be traumatized by that, but I really want to encourage you to do that as you pray for the individual with a head issue. I want you to pray that the Lord, through your ministry right now, would break off that spirit of trauma from them, and just literally lift it off. All right, go ahead and pray.
Go ahead and pray; find out how to pray, lay hands on them—let’s watch what the Lord does. Memory loss—the Lord is restoring those who have had memory loss. There’s someone who was in an accident and it affected your ability to do maps, geography, numbers, and that sort of thing. The Lord is restoring that part of your brain that was damaged. The healing grace of Jesus is being released into this room right now. Let’s not have any spectators—at least join at a distance in your faith with somebody who’s receiving prayer. Just join your faith with them that the Lord would bring His mighty miracle into their body right now in Jesus' name. This is good for folks at home too, watching online, watching on TV, Bethel TV—just respond to the same thing.
I believe the word of the Lord releases that healing grace for people at any distance around the world. I just encourage you in that—receive that; just put your hand on your own head, whatever the issue might be—receive the healing grace of Jesus! Yeah, Lord, we ask You to rewire the brain where there’s that learning disorder— that You would just rewire things—things would be correctly connected. I thank You, Lord, for the healing of the broken ankle; we honor You for that! There’s somebody who, because of the trauma to the brain, you have headaches behind your eyes and it actually affects your eyes at times. It may be a migraine-type issue. If that’s you, just let the people know that they’re praying for—that’s me—and let them just pray for that.
We just break off that assignment of the enemy to affect your reasoning, affect your sight. We declare this ends tonight in Jesus' name. This ends tonight! Beautiful, beautiful! Thank You, Lord! Arthritis, we command you to go! That trigger thing that happens in the neck that sends pain up into the head, we just command that to go. Spirit of infirmity, loose them now in Jesus' name!
All right, go ahead and end your prayer, but stay with the person. All of you who received prayer, just look at me for a moment. This next moment is really vital because this is where you put faith into action. Don’t want anyone to do anything crazy, but I do want you to find out what He has done. In order to do that, you have to move in a way you couldn’t move. Examine yourself and do that right now. As soon as you find that you’re at least 80% better, I want you to wave both hands over your head, and I want us to be able to rejoice together in what the Lord Jesus has done.
Back over here, over here, there—you—back over here, another one there! Bless the Lord! Yeah, three more right over here! Okay, just look at me—everyone who just got healed, wave your hands at me; I want to see! Just be standing! Stand up and wave your hands! Stand up and wave your hands! Look, look around the room! Yeah, we give You thanks, Lord! Beautiful! All right, if the person you prayed for is 100% better, then you can leave them alone unless there’s something else to pray for. Although that, I want you to pray again! Jesus ministered to a blind man twice. We have to be ready to pray at least twice. Beautiful! Now, make sure as you pray for them, command the infirmity to be gone! Speak to the problem!
We don’t need to persuade God to heal; He’s already paid the ultimate price for us to be well. Thank You, Lord! How’s he doing? The ankle? Good? Yeah, come on! That’s so cool! Wow! All right, go ahead and end your prayer! Always, when you’re praying for people, help them to find out what the Lord has done. Never pressure them so that they feel somehow like you’re looking for a certain thing, so they feel pressure to tell you all is well. Don’t ever do that. Just work with them to see what God has done. It’s entirely an issue of discovery.
Okay, all of you that received prayer, one more time—examine yourself, and as soon as you see Jesus has healed your body, wave both hands at your testimony. The testimony encourages people, wave both hands over your head to let the people around you know what God has done. Bless the Lord for that! Thank You, Jesus! Wonderful, wonderful! Go ahead and be seated. Wonderful! Jesus, wonderful! If you got healed, stand up! I just want to see who you are; if Jesus healed your body tonight, stand up! Stand up! If you got healed, come on! Yeah, bless the Lord! Bless the Lord!
All right, here’s what I want to do. I want to ask for three or four testimonies—something that the Lord did! Let me ask the question: how many of you had some sort of a head trauma issue healed tonight? You can tell it’s different; you can tell it’s gone. Put your hand up—over here! There, beautiful! Did anyone have a—like dyslexia or something that the Lord healed you? You can already test it, and you can tell that Jesus healed your body. Put your hand up; I want to see who you are. Is it right over here? That’s awesome! What’s that? Chris, would you go over here and find out what… Yeah, I’m sorry, I can’t hear you, so I’m going to send Chris over, and he will talk to you. Right back over here; find out what’s going on there.
I would love to have at least two or three others come that the Lord did something significant for if you tested significant—not just what you want to have happen, but it happened! If that’s you, come on up here if you would! Yep! All right, right here! Okay, anyone else? Come on down! Thank You, Jesus! All right, I like it—that’s two or three! I like it! I like the way that works for me! Yeah! Beautiful! What did He do? What’s up with the ankle?
Yeah, I broke my ankle in college playing basketball. How long ago? I was in 2017 playing basketball, and just ever since I’ve strained it playing all sorts of sports. It healed for a little bit; I had tons of prayer for it, so many times, gotten it called out, and a lot of people in here prayed for it. And yeah, tonight you called it out, and I felt my wife kind of pushed me to stand up. I’m like, «God, I’ve gotten this thing prayed for so many times, but yes, Lord, tonight it’s going to get full healing.» Chuck and Angelo just put their hands on, and I just felt heat going straight up! Come on! Yeah, just every time they kept praying for it, less and less popping. Usually, I’ll move it, and it’ll pop, pop, pop. It was like 75%, and they said, «No, that’s not enough; let’s keep going!» Right now, it’s just so light, and when I step on it, I can’t feel anything! Usually, I just kind of do this…
So come on! Bless the Lord! Bless the Lord! I love it! What did Jesus do for you?
So, I’ve never been able to afford to go to a doctor to get it tested. I used to struggle with anxiety, and for years I would get kind of these flinches in my brain, and my whole brain would just buzz and the room would spin, and I would lose memory, and I wouldn’t be able to focus. It would just kind of come and go for months. I posted in my revival group just for prayer because it came again, and it was really scary. My family said, «You should go on your anxiety medication again,» and I was like, «No, I just won’t take it.» So on the way to church, I said, «God, will You please take this from me?» We prayed for this, and I just felt heat. I also got headaches stemming from my neck. I just felt heat coming from my neck up into my head. My whole body is still hot, and I could just really focus on what they were saying; I wasn’t forgetting words; I was just there, and I feel clear. I feel good! Come on! Thank You, Lord!
So good! Beautiful! Come on! What did Jesus do for you?
When I was little, I was assaulted by my mom, and my last boyfriend I had, I was assaulted on the side of my head—and I blacked out. When I got older, I had memory loss, I was stuttering things, but my temple… I unfortunately missed dinner yesterday because of my head, and what happened to you tonight?
I had a bad headache, and he prayed over my temple and the top part, and I feel like I have a new top of my head right here, and my stuttering’s gone down on my temple!
Yeah, thank You, Lord! Beautiful, beautiful! Wow! The Lord’s healing—not only physically; He’s healing your heart too! I remember Chris pointed out years ago of the man in Acts who was walking, leaping, and praising the Lord. Walking because he’s physically healed, leaping because he’s emotionally healed, and praising the Lord because he was spiritually healed. The Lord touches every realm of us when He touches us, and I believe He’s doing a great work in you. This is beautiful! Thanks for sharing that!
Go ahead! What did Jesus do for you?
I have bipolar, and so tonight I was struggling with a lot of anxiety and confusion as I came in. Sometimes it’s hard to stay in the room, but two BSSM students came up, and I stood up, connected with the testimony, so I stood up, and they just prayed for me. Now I feel like a peace, like a cloudy peace, and my thoughts are able to flow! I feel good!
Yeah! Stretch your hand! We just declare that this entire cycle of affliction on the brain ends tonight in Jesus' name! In Jesus' name! Yes! Amen! Amen! That’s awesome! What happened to you?
So during the summer, I was at home, and I hit my head on the garage door, and it was really painful. I was laid out, and I woke up a few seconds later, not too sure what was going on. But since then, I’ve just had severe pain in my head. I haven’t been able to focus with bright lights; I couldn’t look at them at all. I was just standing here enjoying all of this, and I was looking up at the lights, and I can look up, and there’s no strain, there’s no pain at all! I got healed tonight!
It looks like you’re still getting messed with here! Yeah! That’s good! I can feel it over here! That’s good! What did He do for you?
I was diagnosed on Friday with being bipolar, with extreme highs and extreme lows. My wife can testify; it’s very radical in one way or another. Standing there as they were praying, I felt like there was a sheet on my head that covered, which was just pulled. And I can actually feel where it was, and I figured that was some useful information. Focus right here!
As they were praying, within moments it’s gone completely! And then it felt like there was not just my head but weight in my entire body. I just felt lighter, like there was just weight off! I feel different—it’s weird; it feels completely awkward!
So come on! That’s awesome! I want a couple of you guys just to soak him really good—just pray for him. There’s more! There’s more here! That’s good! Woo! My hand on—oh, goodness gracious! Go ahead! What did Jesus do for you?
A year ago in October, I was driving with a friend, and all of a sudden, I started getting floaters across my right eye. I didn’t know what was going on. Anyway, I ended up going to the doctor, and he said, «Well, I’m sorry to tell you, but you’ve had a TIA, a minor stroke, and you’re going to have to live with it for the rest of your life.» I lost all my peripheral vision, and it’s kind of a problem because everyone wants to walk around you, and you run into them because you can’t see them coming! Right?
So tonight the Lord took all that fuzziness out—is that right? You can see, and it extended my vision! It was all fuzzy from about here, and now it’s all clear! Come on! Amen! Come on! Wow! That’s incredible! Thank you! Bless the Lord! Someone bless Him a little bit more, too!
Some of you guys! Yes! Bethel TV, Jesus heals TV people! Come on! Okay, what happened?
Well, I’ve had tension in my neck—really, really tight—for about 15 years. Lately, it’s really been causing a lot of headaches. So that’s what you called out. A couple of BSSM students came around and laid hands on me, and immediately I just started feeling the presence super, super strong. I said, «I don’t feel any difference yet, but God’s doing something. Keep praying!» So they kept praying, and then I did this, which I do all the time. It’s really annoying, but when I did it, it cracked like three times, and suddenly it’s like, 80% of the tightness has gone away!
Yeah! Thank You, Lord! I’m believing for the rest of the 20! Amen! But that’s like incredibly significant! Thank You, Jesus!
Yeah, thank You, Lord! Amen! Good news! Thank you! Oh my goodness! Why don’t you show the Adrien video again? We only saw it once tonight, right? Yeah! But this time, I want you to not be entertained by that! I want you to be prophesied over! Anyone with a degenerative muscle condition, digestive disorder, a problem in your immune system—what were some of the other things that were covered in that video? Anyone remember? The muscles? Any kind of muscle disease, disorder, digestive issues, immune system—what’s that? Terminal! That was something completely different! Get in on it because they didn’t think He would make it here on the plane, and so that’s why they backed off from pursuing that until the Lord really made it clear.
So anyone who has any of that stuff alluded to or mentioned in that video, stand up because we’re going to pray for you. There’s an anointing of faith in the room for miracles in these areas! Thank You, Lord! We give You thanks already, and we thank You in advance for what’s about to happen! In fact, just all of you that are going to receive prayer, just be real still because some of you, I think, will sense the presence of the Lord upon you, restoring you even before anyone prays for you! Just be aware of that—that healing anointing is being released!
I can feel a burning in my left hand! There’s just that healing anointing for this right now! Church family, go to those who are standing! Find out what they need! Pray accordingly! We don’t need to beg God; we’re going to cooperate with Him. We already know His heart! Thank You, Lord! We thank You that the testimony prophesies that You’re no respecter of persons! What You did for one, You’ll do for another! So we declare that healing grace into the muscles, into the digestive system, into the ability to absorb nutrients—terminal is not a threatening word to You! We declare an end to that terminal decree over people’s lives in this room! We commit health into Your bodies in Jesus' mighty name! Let that fire of God come and literally burn at the root system of that infirmity that has been tormenting people! We declare torment ends tonight! Spirit of trauma is broken off of people tonight!
We’re only going to pray once for these, but I want you to take just another moment to pray that they would be completely saturated with the anointing that breaks the yoke! The anointing that breaks the yoke! We thank You, Lord God, for miracles! Anyone with cancer, make sure you’re standing—receiving prayer! If you’re not, stand up, and I’ll get someone to you! We just declare cancer is defeated in this building in Jesus' name!
Once again! Yeah, just a moment longer! Just a moment longer! Invite the Holy Spirit to come and refresh them! Spirit, soul, and body! In fact, pray that the Lord would restore now everything that’s been stolen from them, from strength to emotional energy to physical health to finances—that the Lord would restore and vindicate fully in Jesus' wonderful name! Thank You, Lord! Beautiful! More, Lord!
Okay, you got about 30 more seconds, and we’ll wrap it up. Now, you might as well just pray for refreshing on them! Just double it, Lord! Just increase the refreshing! Thank You, Lord!
Okay, you did good! Go ahead and be seated! How many of you that received prayer? I realize digestive issues and that kind of stuff has to be tested with a meal. I’ve sent people out to eat before; I’m not going to do that tonight. But muscle issues, they have to be tested too. But how many of you can say you actually felt something happen when they prayed for you? You just received prayer—put a hand up! Because we have about half the people that get healed feel it happen, which means there’s another half that we’re clueless about! And then they discover it’s the craziest thing! Sometimes they’ll say, «Well, nothing happened,» and then an hour later they’re completely well! So it’s just a fun journey to see what He’s about to do!
All right, I’m going to talk to you. I’m going to make it real short! We’ve already been here forever, so I’m going to talk to you for a few minutes! Why don’t you open to Proverbs chapter 16? What I want to do is I want to give you an abbreviated talk about favor. I want to talk to you about favor, but it’s going to be an abbreviated talk because it’s from a different angle. I think perhaps abbreviated means shorter. I know you people of unbelief—no! I’m serious! What I’m going to do is skim across the surface of something with the subject of favor, and then perhaps in the coming months, I can take a week or two to talk about it. Favor is a pretty critical thing!
It says of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, it says in, I think it’s chapter two, «And Jesus increased in favor with God and men.» I want you to listen carefully! He increased in favor with God and man! Here’s what I want you to catch: it’s possible for you to increase in favor with man separate from the favor God gives, but to do it, you have to cooperate with the spirit that is governing the system you’re trying to impress. For those who have been here a while, you may remember a teaching we’ve done many times where there are three basic influences in the world: there’s the religious system, there’s the political system, and there’s the Kingdom of God. Both the religious system and the political system want control. The Kingdom wants influence!
When the Kingdom is talked about, it’s talked about with terms like light, salt, and leaven—all those things give influence. The political system is humanistic in nature; it has man at the center of everything. The humanistic system doesn’t mind a belief in God; just don’t bring Him into the everyday affairs of life where it can mess with business, politics, education, and relationships, etc. The political system is very cruel, as is the religious system. Both systems are fighting for control! I’ve talked to you in times past about how I can tell what people are influenced by. The way I can tell is I just take a controversy, throw it into the middle of a group of people, and I can tell by their reaction.
The reason is because a political system does what Pilate did: he washes his hands to distance himself so that, in the minds of people, this individual is not connected to that controversy or that problem. The religious system is much different; it’s what we see with the woman caught in adultery. The religious system picks up stones because they want to show their position through judgment. They pick up stones to kill the woman caught in adultery. So you have two completely different reactions to a problem.
One is distance, and just think with me: the political system creates distance and creates association. Distance from one, association with another. So, how then do you gain favor in the political system if it’s not a God-given gift? It’s by distancing from some, associating with another. Remember: the various systems of the world—the religious and political systems—are looking for control. That’s why you’ll find manipulation at the root of both the religious and the political systems. In the governments represented in this room, I would say probably in everyone, manipulation is a common tool to bring about a specific outcome. If you don’t join me in passing this bill, then I will not support you in your bill. Do you understand the process? The process is not an honest response to issues; it is, «I have to cooperate with you on this one so that I can get you to cooperate with me on that one.» It is manipulation, and manipulation—when you boil it down to its root form—is witchcraft!
Manipulation is always looking for control. «I want to control the outcome of a specific situation.» And the way that you gain favor in that environment is by cooperating with that system, with that belief system. This is why the most radical revolution that’s ever going to hit this nation and the nations of the world is going to be when Kingdom-minded people—people with the mind of Christ, not just in the sense of healing meetings and revival meetings, but actually how God thinks about a matter—is put into the educational system, political system, so that they do not live with the fear of man. They could care less about political correctness; instead, they think about heaven’s correctness and institute the kinds of things into life that causes everybody to succeed!
See, the thing about the Kingdom is that it only wants influence; it does not want control! Jesus actually suffered and died to protect the uniqueness of the individual so that every person would remain alive with a free will, choice, and the ability to think for themselves. There’s never been one attempt from heaven in all of time to control our outcome! Wow! He has fought for your ability to think for yourself! But He’s invited you into a relationship. Relationship with Jesus always empowers!
Every system of the world has been given God-ordained authority to do two things—whether it’s the parent at home, the CEO in a corporation, the principal of a school, or the president of a nation. It doesn’t matter what it is: the two primary responsibilities that each of those individuals have are, number one, to protect, and the other is to empower. It’s actually alluded to in a passage here in Peter, if I can find it quickly. But if you think with me about this issue, listen to this verse: «Governors are those who are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do good.» Punishment of evildoers—what is that? Protection. The praise of those who do good—what is that? Empowerment!
I lost it—1 Peter 3:14, I think. Are you guys all right? I am trying to make this real quick. It’s too big of a subject obviously for me to do much with here. It’s verse 18—no, no, no! No, it disappeared on me! Oh, here it is! It’s 1 Peter chapter 2:14.
So here’s the deal: the favor that you get in the Kingdom—remember, Jesus increased with favor with God and man! Please notice what’s first! I don’t think it’s an accident, because when you obtain favor from God, He makes sure you get favor from man! This is a great verse for us in Proverbs 16:7. He says, «When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.»
So here’s the first thing on the list: make sure that we live in a way that is honoring, glorifying, and pleasing to the Lord. Why? Because then He fights on our behalf to make sure we have favor where we need it—even to the point where those who are our enemies now extend favor towards us! Now there’s another principle in Proverbs that says, «The Lord adds blessing—He adds wealth to a person’s life, but when He adds it, there’s no sorrow to it.» That’s a very, very important statement! Because there are many people all over the world that are extremely «blessed.» They have everything they’ve ever wanted, but there’s a lot of sorrow in the process! They lost their marriage, their children hate them, they run a great corporation, but nobody in the corporation trusts them, they have no friends; these people with multi-billions of dollars have no one in their environment that they can fully trust! Why? There’s a lot of sorrow to what they’ve obtained!
When Jesus adds the blessing, there’s no sorrow with it! So what’s the point? When He adds the favor, you don’t have to guard it! Wow! See, if you got it, you have to protect it. I don’t mean that we’re supposed to become careless, because we have to remember the influence that God’s given us, where every one of our lives is like a boat that creates a wake. We have to pay attention to the wake we create.
So when He says He adds wealth, let’s just say blessing—He adds blessing to a person’s life. It could be favor, it could be health, it could be finances, it could be any area of life: emotional, mental health, peace of mind! How many of you once lived under such torment, and now you just live with absolute peace of mind? It’s just an amazing thing that Jesus did for you! Where there was constant war, there is now peace! It’s an incredible thing! You are wealthy! And guess what? That blessing came with no sorrow! There’s nothing you have to do to pump that thing to keep it alive because it was a God-given grace; it was a God-given gift!
And the reason this is kind of awkward during the Christmas season is that this has nothing to do with Christmas! Oh yes, it does! Jesus increased with favor and favor with God and man! So we’ll just twist that a little bit—it was in His early years! Think about it: it was in His early years—He, as a child. He wasn’t doing any miracles, so it wasn’t favor by His performance. It really was favor by His «yes» to God!
Here’s what I started to say a moment ago: to increase in favor with man the way God intends you get it—not by pleasing man, but by saying «yes» to God! You get it by saying «yes» to God! And here’s the deal: when you say «yes» to God and you obtain favor, here’s what’s possible for every person! Favor is fun! It can be scary, but it’s also fun to be liked! Here’s the problem: when you obtain favor through saying «yes» to God, He will often require another «yes» where you put at risk all the favor He just gave you! All right, we’ll do this fast. I know I’ve promised you many times tonight I’ll be fast!
Oh yeah, I’m fast! All right, go to Esther chapter 4! If you’re not familiar with the story of Esther, let me just put it in a real quick nutshell: she was a Jew in exile in a foreign land. The king got rid of his wife—bizarre story—wanted another one, paraded a bunch of beautiful women before him for quite a period of time. He liked her; he picked her; she became his queen!
I think I want to watch that video, but maybe not. It may be rated too high for my eyes—I’m not sure, but it’s a bizarre biblical story! But it’s amazing what the Lord uses! So here she is, queen! So what has she been given? She’s a Jew, first of all, basically despised by that culture. She is beautiful; she obtains favor through her appearance! The Lord will sometimes use the weakness of another person to be attracted to something you have, and their shallowness will want something you have, and it will open the initial door for faith.
But to shape the course of history, the favor she needed had to go beyond her appearance. So she was in the palace; she makes the statement—Mori says, «Listen! There’s been a threat on all the Jews! The King has just made unknowingly an agreement to kill all the Jews!» And so Mori, the uncle of Esther, comes to her and says, «Listen, they’re going to kill all the Jews! You need to go before the king!»
And she reminds him, verse 11 of Esther 4: «All the king’s servants and all the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court of the king, which is where she has to go, who has not been called, he has but one law: to put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go in for 30 days.»
Where is she? She’s in a place of favor! What does she need? She needs another level of favor! But she has to put at risk the favor she has! If she were to live to protect what she’s obtained, she’ll make a bad decision! Often times our progress in the things of the Lord requires us to put at risk the favor that God’s given us—not through foolishness, you understand. I hope I’m not giving license to foolishness, carelessness of any kind, arrogance— all that stuff stinks!
So Mori, verse 13, told them to answer Esther! He couldn’t talk to her himself: «Do not think in your heart that you will escape the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews! If you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place! But you and your father’s house will perish! Who knows whether you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this?»
That phrase, we quote a lot, «Who knows whether you’ve come into the kingdom for such a time as this?» It’s a great phrase! We use it a lot! I love it! It’s a great prophetic decree! But this was a scary time! This verse was given at a frightening time because she was about to go in before the king, and historically she doesn’t have high odds of surviving this move!
So she is putting her favor at risk because there is a higher purpose that she was born for! She was not, let me put it this way; she was not born to live in the king’s palace with comfort, with favor, with applause, with great fanfare! She was called for such a time as this to make a difference in the outcome of the history of the nation of Israel! And to do that, she had to move from her place of comfort and joy, being applauded and appreciated, to being a world changer!
And that required her to put her favor at risk to obtain another level of favor. She did; she went before the king; he extended the scepter—the rest is history! I love what Mori said: «Don’t think you’re going to escape! If you don’t use the favor for the right reason, you’ll die in the palace! But God will raise up somebody else to deliver us!»
I mean, there are some things that God wants so bad—you say no, He’ll find someone else! Kathryn Kuhlman insisted she was God’s third choice! I just heard an incredible story this week about Reinhard Bonnke! Reinhard Bonnke—the Lord gave him this vision in the 1970s: «Africa shall be saved!» Some years later, he met a man who used to—he was the premier evangelist for the continent of Africa—and he found out through conversation he’d become discouraged and pulled away.
He said, «In the exact year that guy canceled his stuff that he was doing for the transformation of the continent of Africa, at that same time, God then went from that man and visited Reinhard Bonnke and gave him the vision for the continent of Africa!» The whole point is there are some things that are so deeply in the heart of God, they will be done! They will be done! By the way, it’s just a side note—Africa is experiencing extraordinary transformation!
And Reinhard hasn’t been to Africa for five years because the Lord spoke to him, «America shall be saved!»
Let’s stand! Let’s stand! All right, I think we’ll mess with that sometime when I can take more time with you. You know we’ve got festive celebrations and holidays! Might as well talk about martyrdom and favor— all that! Oh, it’s been a long night! It’s been a good one, though!
It’s 9:11— I used to see 9:11; it would always make me nervous, like, «Oh no!» 9:11! I was at a hotel once—I forget what country—but it was a kind of a different place, and I wanted to get a massage. I walked into the massage place, and I saw the clock on the desk at 9:11. I turned around and said, «That’s enough for me! I don’t know, this is probably a weird place; I’m not going to risk it.» So I just walked out. But now when I see 9:11, I remember this verse: «On that day, I will raise up the tabernacle of David which has fallen down, and I will repair its damages and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does this.»
It’s a book about worship triggering massive harvest of evangelism—that’s Amos 9:11! I like that one better! So now when I see 9:11, it’s a happy time! All right, let’s have the ministry team come on down to the front!
What’s that? 9:11? 9:11! 9:11? Yeah! Yeah, you came here; you were supposed to leave on 9:11, right?
How many of you were here this morning for Paul’s messages? One of the three services—it was just so good! Paul, thank you so much! It was just so, so good! Paul and Sue were moving here 15 years ago on 9:11, and then, of course, the tragedy happened. So they waited a couple of days and came anyway, and the rest is history!
How many of you can say favor has been increasing on your life? Why don’t you pray with me? I want to pray for you concerning this favor. Father, I thank You for favor that’s increasing. We give You thanks together, and we just want to use it well! We’re not looking for the palace; we’re not looking for the place of comfort! We’re looking for the place of transformational influence! We thank You that the Kingdom influences; it does not control!
We look for that opportunity in and through our lives for the glory of the name, Jesus! Everybody said, «Amen! Amen! Amen!»