Bill Johnson - How to Become One With God Through Prayer
Thank you, thank you, beautiful! Thanks, please be seated. Good evening, nice to see you. Well, I just showed up. If you see me talking to myself, please go your way. I’m self-employed and having a staff meeting. This is dumb. Imagine this one: imagine falling in love with someone and then finding out the clap when the plane lands. That’s so dumb. Jesus can walk on water; I can walk on cucumbers. Cucumbers are 96% water; therefore, I’m 96% like Jesus. I eat twice as much meat just so that one vegan who thinks he’s making a difference is actually making no difference at all. The fastest land mammal is a toddler who’s been asked, «What’s in your mouth?» I wish mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. Alright, grab your Bibles. You guys ready to get going? Let’s go to Matthew. We’re going to start; we have several verses we’re going to bounce around. So get your Gospel track shoes on, and let’s go to Matthew 26. We’ll start there. I really had some stuff dropped into my heart this morning in our staff prayer meeting at 7, and I had some things stirring in my heart then. I’ve been chomping at the bit all day just to be with you and talk, so I’m glad somebody showed up. Otherwise, it would have been Gabe and me, but I would have gone for it, Gabe. I would have gone for it! I’d have had an altar call at the end too, so just so you know, yeah, I would have.
Matthew 26: The disciples only asked Jesus to teach them one thing. Now, he taught them many things. If I were in the disciples' shoes from where I stand now, I might have asked him how to raise the dead or how to heal the sick or how to do any number of extraordinary things. How can you do that food-multiplying thing? You know, there would have been a lot of things on my list I would have loved for him to teach me. But the disciples, the twelve who were with him constantly, were actually moved by everything Jesus did and said. However, they were rocked by one thing, and one thing alone above everything else, and that was, «Lord, teach us to pray.» They somehow knew, I think through observation, that whenever Jesus left them and went up onto a mountain, things were different when he came down. There was something in their ability to observe how he functioned and how he handled stuff. For example, scripture tells us that he had such great admiration for John the Baptist, his cousin, the greatest of all prophets who prepared the way for Jesus himself to come. The Bible tells us that when he got news that John had been beheaded, he left the crowd and went up to pray. You can— I don’t want to read too much into it, but it’s obvious in some measure, in his humanity, he was rocked by the one he admired so much who really laid down his life for Jesus himself. He just had to get alone and pray. Our prayer life is defined by so many things. We tend to learn to pray fervently or passionately out of pain—maybe a loss, maybe a crisis. We do reactionary prayer fairly well. If there’s a crisis, maybe someone is dying, we’ll call a fast. None of that is inappropriate; those are appropriate things. But we tend to learn to pray focused, fervent prayer out of pain or out of a crisis of some sort.
Jesus, the disciples were with Jesus in Mark 9, and they tried to bring deliverance to a child. This dad brought his son to them, and they tried their best. You have to remember that the disciples were the most experienced people in deliverance of any group of people to ever live on the earth up to that point. There was no one more experienced in deliverance than they were, except for Jesus. So they tried everything they had done before previously on this child that was brought to him, and they couldn’t get him free. Jesus came up and brought deliverance. When they asked Jesus, they took him aside privately and asked him, «How come we couldn’t and you could?» Jesus didn’t give the answer the church would give. The church would say, «Well, Jesus is God, and you’re just human.» But that wasn’t the logic Jesus functioned with because he knew he was functioning out of his humanity, dependent on God, which is available for every disciple of Jesus. So his answer was different. He said, «Well, this kind only comes out with prayer and fasting,» and then he brought deliverance, which means he neither prayed nor fasted.
At the beginning of Jesus’s journey, at the beginning of his ministry, he fasted for 40 days. He wasn’t fasting for a problem; he was fasting into a lifestyle. We tend to pray defensively, reactionary. We have this crisis, we’ve got this challenge, we’ve got this opportunity, and we pray into it. Not wrong at all, but because of that, we’re always playing catch-up. Catch-up—sorry, I’m in third grade mode tonight. Expect more; it’ll come. So we’re always playing, always just a little bit behind, trying to catch up on things. «Always» is too big of a word; it’s not true, but frequently, we’re behind the game in certain areas, and we have to fight our way back to the front.
So, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, and that moves me because it was the only thing they asked to be taught out of all the things they saw him do. Somehow, that tells me that for those who watched him, that was the key to everything. Now go in Matthew 26. We’re just going to take one verse; it’s verse 41. Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Let’s read it again: watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. This is our first verse we’re going to bounce around, so please keep your Bibles in front of you. Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. So then that tells me that prayerlessness or weakness in prayer exposes me to temptation I didn’t need to face. Not only does it allow exposure to temptation I didn’t need to face, but sometimes it exposes me to temptation that I may or may not have the grace to overcome.
He goes on to describe this thing of praying so that I don’t fall into temptation. I don’t believe he’s saying, «Pray this way, oh God please don’t lead me into temptation.» I don’t think that’s what he’s addressing here. I think he’s saying that a prayerful life insulates you from temptation. A prayer-filled life, a life of ongoing prayer. A few weeks ago I talked to you about 1 Thessalonians 5: «Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.» I mentioned in that message three things about that verse that I felt the Lord spoke to me. It was in the middle of the night, about two, two and a half months ago now. I was awakened in the night, Friday or Saturday night before coming here early in the morning, and I was awakened with this phrase. In this dialogue I had with him— or I shouldn’t say dialogue, in my searching my heart and mind for an explanation for what he spoke to me—this passage, «Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks,» came to my mind. As I began to think over those verses, I felt as though the Lord spoke to me and said, «The key to mental health is giving thanks in everything.» The key to mental health! Amen!
I then remembered hearing a psychologist on talk radio once say something like, I forget the exact number now—something like 90% of all mental illness can be traced back to the attempt to avoid pain. So there’s something about embracing your moment, surrendering it to the sovereignty of God, knowing that he and he alone is good, and giving thanks in the middle of it. Then I felt like he spoke to me and said, «The key to emotional health is to rejoice always.» See, before you were a believer, you only rejoiced when you had joy. But once you’re in the Kingdom, you get joy by rejoicing. That’s good. So, the measure of joy in my life is actually determined by me. So if I’m lacking joy, it’s just the evidence of my choices.
Then the last part of that verse is to pray without ceasing. What really hit me on that was that kind of lifestyle—praying without ceasing—is the key to heart health. What is heart health about? Jesus said adulteries, murders—all this horrible stuff comes out of your heart. But then, on the other end of the spectrum, he said, «Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.» So, the management of the heart is vital for how well we do in life. One of my life verses that a dear friend gave to me back in 1972—he gave me this verse out of Proverbs 4:23 that says, «Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the issues of life.» All the issues of life flow from the heart.
So think about this: heart health is praying without ceasing by keeping my heart in touch with God’s heart. The right things flow from it. When I allow distance to come between the heart of God and my heart, I have to fight to do the right things. It doesn’t come as naturally as it would if I shared his heart. Does that make sense? I’m not sure if I’m saying it perfectly, but you get the point. Just work with it until it sounds right, okay? Alright, now here it is again—watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. What’s that about? The spirit is willing to do what? To pray. The flesh is weak about what? Prayer. So the strength of my prayer life is according to the strength of my spirit over my flesh. A weak prayer life is a dominant flesh. The Holy Spirit lives in your spirit; there’s perfect communion there. They function well day and night. But there’s something that will sometimes take mastery over your own spirit, and that is human weakness, frailty, flesh, appetite, desire that is very natural and can become very, very carnal. The issue of mastery over flesh is vital to an effective prayer life.
Yeah, that went over well. Alright, let’s see where else we should go. Let’s go to 2 Kings 6. 2 Kings 6—we’ll go there first, then we’ll go to Acts 3, then Isaiah 59. Now the purpose of prayer—we could probably make a list of a hundred things and still fall short, so I don’t want to oversimplify or rob the part of prayer that is the most important to you. But let me try to summarize, at least from my perspective here tonight: the purpose of prayer is not merely for me to talk to God about doing stuff. It’s really about obtaining his heart. Because the more I obtain his heart, the more I pray, not parrot prayers, but the product of a relational product called prayer. See, it says in John 15, «A servant doesn’t know what his master is doing; the friend does.» The servant is accustomed to responding to commands, and that’s not wrong. The most basic part of our initial time of learning to walk with Jesus is responding to commands. But what he’s looking for is an interest in us about his heart. So we’re not just waiting for commands; we’re looking for his values, his intentions. Those are the things that move us, right?
See, when you pick up his heart, you start praying what he would have prayed if he were in your shoes. Wow, that’s good. See, it’s that collaboration. The goal of prayer is to co-labor where his heart is revealed in the earth—not because he commanded us to reveal it or gave us recorded prayers to recite, but instead becoming a people who in seeking him, not just for prayerful outcomes but seeking him, we mirror his heart and his nature in our prayer relationship and our co-laboring relationship. Right? See, touching the heart of God gives us a unique advantage that I’m hoping in this next phase, this next season of our life as a church family, we can move into more aggressively.
In fact, what we’re going to do is we’ll go to Acts 12 after this one. Second Kings 6:8: «Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel. He consulted with his servants, saying, 'My camp will be in such and such a place, ' and the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, 'Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.'» Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God told him. Thus, he warned him, and he was watchful there— not just once or twice. Therefore, the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, «Will you not show me which one of us is for the king of Israel?» One of his servants said, «None, my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.» It’s the advantage of knowing God! He knows stuff ahead of time, and if we’re listening, we could pray in advance to prevent a disaster or pray so that things are in place for the disaster. When we don’t use that advantage, we have to respond or react to things as they happen.
I remember one of our couples in Weaverville—there were two young kids in the back seat kind of whispering together. The mom turned around and said, «What are you doing?» They said, «Nothing.» She said, «What did you do?» They said, «Nothing.» She said, «Okay, I’ll ask God.» And she turned around and said, «You were playing with matches.» And they freaked because they had started a fire that they had to put out close to their house. It’s cheating, but it’s not! You have the advantage to pray in advance of something or to know where to step into place to aggressively pray or to serve. How many of you have had just a subtle impression? You wouldn’t have glamourized the moment by saying, «God spoke to me.» It’s just a thought—"I’ll call somebody,» and it happened to be the exact moment they needed a phone call. See, the Lord’s voice sounds so much like ours that, because he speaks most often to us internally—internal thought, internal impression, inspired thought—and learning to lean into him is a huge part, is a huge product of effective praying. It’s that you pick up his heartbeat without trying. It’s not this groaning and travailing to have the heart of God; it’s just simply, «You’re all I want. You’re what I’m interested in. I want your heart to shape mine.»
And that really is the outcome of prayer. Jesus said, «Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.» The real point of prayer is that prayer is a time of exchange. Come to me with your weighty stuff; I will give you my light stuff. There’s an exchange, and if you come to Jesus and you leave feeling the same way you came in, you weren’t praying; you were complaining. Prayer makes an exchange; prayer takes on the heart of God and sees a matter from his perspective. That’s the whole purpose of prayer, and it’s not just to leave us in that problem with his perspective; it’s so that we can pray as co-laborers to see things changed, effectively changed. That’s good! He’s invited us into a relationship.
You know what we call the Lord’s Prayer? The prayer «Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name.» In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches that prayer in response to the disciples' question, «Lord, will you teach us to pray?» So imagine you’re one of the twelve; you’re watching Jesus. Things just happen when he does stuff. You see him run up to the mountain, and he’s there overnight. He comes down the next day, and, you know, stuff just takes place. You finally have this moment, and you say, «Teach us to pray.» And then he gives you a prayer that is the greatest commission—in my thinking, and I’m sure I could be wrong—but it’s just my opinion. The greatest commission is to pray on earth as it is in heaven because the whole world—the whole going into all the world to get disciples—is a part of the «on earth as it is in heaven» prayer.
So, think about this: they say, «Jesus, teach us to pray.» And he gives them a tool that is to cause the collision of two worlds. This is not a minor thing. This is not a philosophical thing! This is not an invitation to dialogue with God so that you feel good. It’s about literally shaping the course of world history through your communion, your conversation, intelligent conversation with Almighty God so that you know ahead of time what he wants! He wants «on earth as it is in heaven.» So then we pray; we press into these things so that we see it manifested in practical areas of life.
«Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day…"—now we break it down into the practical parts of life. There’s no lack in heaven, so there should not be lack here. So there is the confident request for the provision of bread. Some people, when they translate that verse, they’ve actually said we’re not praying for today’s bread; we’re actually praying in advance of tomorrow’s bread—that tomorrow’s bread would be released today. Wow. Wow! «Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.» That’s the nature of heaven over our personal issues, our personal life. «Lead us not into temptation; deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the power, the kingdom, the glory forever.»
Everything else in that prayer is a manifestation of the first part. Wow! So imagine being one of the twelve, and Jesus gives you a tool, and he says, «Here, you can actually impact the entire globe with this one tool.» So here’s a prophet that hears what an enemy king is saying in his bedroom. Actually, I have a friend of mine; he was having an argument with his wife, and there was a prophet who was a friend of theirs that they both knew who was hearing the conversation—not naturally, but spiritually. This is a true story. He was hearing them argue, and so when he met my friend, he said, «Your wife is right.» He didn’t like that! So, you know, it’s just cheating!
Alright, go to Acts 3. Forget Acts 12; we’ll do that next. Go to Acts 3, then Isaiah 59. You guys alright? I do hope so! This will help. If we can make it all the way through it—Acts chapter 3. Here’s an interesting verse. The Lord is speaking, of course, to all the believers. In verse 25, he says, «You are sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made to our father, saying to Abraham, 'In your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'» The part I want you to capture is he announces to every believer, «You are sons of the prophets.» Why would he say that? Every believer is to live with a prophetic anointing. That’s right! There are few prophets, but there are many who are to be prophetic. If I can be really practical, there are few evangelists but all of us are to be evangelistic. That’s right! There are few who are pastors, but all of us can be pastoral in our care and compassion for people. Apostolic, this is all across the board. The point is that these graces are to be functioning in us according to how we’re influenced by these kinds of people in our lives. We pick up their graces, not so that we can get a title. What’s the purpose of a title? The function is what’s important.
Here, to every believer, if this were happening right now, the decree would be made to each one of you: «You are all sons of the prophets.» Now Isaiah 59 expands on that concept, and it’s in verse 21, the last verse of chapter 59. «As for me,» says the Lord, «this is my covenant with them. My spirit who is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor the mouth of your descendants, nor the mouth of your descendants' descendants,» says the Lord, «from this time and forevermore.» The Lord has just identified the way his giftings work in a family line. He says, «You hear God; you tell people what he says.» Good! Now your kids are going to do the same! Come on! And your kids' kids. Come on! Everyone after you is going to inherit the same grace to hear from God and tell people what he says.
Now the prophetic is simply that. Let’s forget the title for a minute. I believe in titles, but they’re completely unnecessary in this context. The important thing is that everybody in this room has the realization: I can hear from God! But we have to learn how he speaks because he doesn’t always speak in English! In fact, he rarely speaks in English. I love how he talks to me. It’s a lifelong adventure to discover his voice. What I found is if there’s a willingness to hear, there’s a willingness to speak. If there’s a willingness on my end to hear what God is saying, there’s a willingness on his end to actually speak. There’s a passage in John 7 that says, «If anyone wills to do his will, he will know concerning the doctrine whether it’s from God or whether I speak on my own authority.» Jesus is talking. He says, «If you’re willing to do his will, you’ll know whether I speak on my own or from him.» What’s the point? You don’t know till you’re willing to obey. It’s that illustration we’ve been given through the years: sign your name on the bottom of the contract, and then he’ll write the contract.
Alright, Acts 12. Am I out of time or did it just never start? Never started? I haven’t gone that long? Alright! I’m not stopping! Wild horses couldn’t stop me! Alright, this is such a great chapter, but there’s a real sobering part to this chapter. So let’s talk through this beginning with verse one of Acts 12: «Now about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. Because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the days of unleavened bread. So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.»
Peter, verse 5, «was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.» When Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers, while the guards before the door were keeping the prison. An angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison. He struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, «Arise quickly!» His chains fell off his hands. The angel said to him, «Gird yourself and tie on your sandals.» And he did so. He said to him, «Put on your garment and follow me.» He went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. You know, it’s got to be weird to be in one of those moments— you don’t know if it’s real or if you’re watching TV. You just don’t know! The moment has so caught you off guard that you don’t know what’s real and what’s not real.
Verse 10: «When they were past the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord.» They went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. When Peter had come to himself—don’t know where he had been—but when he had come to himself, he said, «Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and delivered me from the hand of Herod.» Verse 12: «So when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.» What were they praying for? For his release!
As Peter knocked on the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice because of her gladness, she did not open the gate. It’s interesting: the angel opened the gate out of the prison, but a little girl was to open the gate into the house. Some things God will do for you; some things you have to just keep knocking. She did not open the gate; she ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. They said to her, «You are beside yourself!» She kept insisting it was so. They said, «It’s his angel.» Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door, they were astonished. It’s just a fun story! It’s amazing to have the answer to your prayer knocking at the door, and you’re saying, «Oh, no, it can’t be Peter; it can’t be a revival! Our job is to pray for revival, not have one!» But go back to the beginning of the story: James was martyred; Peter was prayed for.
The Holy Spirit orchestrated the organization of these two stories. James was arrested and murdered. What was the will of God in that situation? God can use tragedy so good that people think he sponsors the tragedy. His ability to turn the effect of a tragedy into a positive thing is so masterful that others look at it and assume it must be God who wanted martyrdom. Wow! Perhaps you’ve heard statements like, «Martyrs are really the foundation of the church. They are the seed of the church where there’s been great increases and multiplication.» Absolutely true! Absolutely true. But if you look at 1 Timothy chapter 2, there’s instruction to pray for those who are in authority so that you can live a peaceful life. What is the will of God? A peaceful life!
Yeah, what did James experience? Martyrdom. Slight difference! I don’t know if I can say this right; I’ve tried to teach it before, and I never felt like it came out right, but it’ll just fit into another one of my heresies in the category of heresies. Okay, I’ve got to get a running start on this one. Is it possible that the will of God in a particular situation is determined by what we’ve become? Yes! Whoa! Is it possible that the will of God in a particular situation is determined by what we become? The non-praying church had a friend who died; the praying church had a friend who was delivered to them. See, prayer shapes us. The main thing about prayer is not me persuading him to do anything; the main thing about prayer is that it shapes me.
You know, faith gets answers, but enduring faith gets answers with character. Delayed answers gain interest, but they also prune the soul. They also prune the heart. And what I have watched take place in many people’s lives is there’s a great hunger for the breakthroughs of God. But that hunger—I’ve watched it for the last 25 years; I’ve watched some people with great hunger, great desperation, but it leads them into unbelief. I know that sounds awkward and strange, but it does! It does! If I can phrase this better: desperation either leads to breakthrough or to unbelief. That passion of the soul that is dependent on an answer to be satisfied usually leads to unbelief.
The passion of the soul that leads to a person ends up different. I’m seeking for this miracle, but the number one ambition of my soul is to discover who he is. Moses said, «Let me know your ways that I might know you.» Every time God reveals an aspect of his nature, it’s not automatic that I’ve encountered him, but it is an invitation: revelation of his nature is always an invitation for encounter. That’s how he works! He showed Abraham that he was Jehovah Jireh. What was the point? Abraham needed provision, and he showed him a possibility. He showed him what was available, and he came to know the God of provision.
That story can be repeated countless times throughout scripture. The point is, when God reveals his nature, it’s always an invitation for relationship— for encounter! He doesn’t show us stuff so we get smarter. I mean, intelligence is part of it, but it’s a byproduct; it’s not the goal. The goal is encounter with a person because the more I see him, the more I am like him. Amen? You know that passage that says, «When we see him, we will be like him?» That’s true! But it’s also a progressive part of our journey—the more I see his heart, the more I see his nature, the more I become transformed in my own soul, in my own heart.
I started by saying we learn passionate praying out of pain, and it may be a crisis; it may be a need. But the point is, we’re desperate, and so we don’t just do «Now I lay me down to sleep» kind of prayers. We don’t just do «Bless the food and the people who made it» kind of prayers. We’re actually praying to make a difference in something; we get our heart and soul into it. Either we learn to pray out of pain, or we find somewhere else within us to learn passion for prayers. Because prayers that don’t move you don’t move him! You know, the token stuff that we do—I’m not going to say he can’t or won’t ever answer; I’m not going to tell you what he can do! But we can see in scripture the things that move him are when people put their life on the line and they cry out!
This verse I read a little bit ago out of Matthew—excuse me, Matthew 26—keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing; the flesh is weak. I didn’t know this till this evening; I was looking at this word «the spirit is willing.» This word «willing"—there’s an interesting combination of words used in the New Testament about the will of God, and I was wondering what category this one fell into, but it missed both of them and created a new category of its own. This word—the spirit is willing—actually comes from two words. One is «before» or «ahead of.» It’s aggressively moving ahead— that kind of a word. The other word that this word willing comes from is «passion.»
So the word then can basically be translated: «the spirit is in eager pursuit.» It’s not just willing in the sense of, «Well, if it happens, I’m good with it.» You know, it’s not that kind of willing. It’s not, «I hear the pastor say I want revival; I’m willing if God so chooses.» He knows my address, kind of thing! It’s not that kind of willing. We just bought a new house—actually, not just; a year and a half ago we bought our new house, and we’ve been remodeling. We left our furniture at the other house that we sold, but in that house, I had a massage chair that was the will of God for my life. I believe in body ministry! That chair just did it! I was sitting there; I’d push the buttons and get a whole new release in my prayer language right there.
And Benny would say, «You want something to eat? I’m going in the kitchen.» I’d go, «Yeah, I’m starving!» I wasn’t starving enough to go into the kitchen myself, but as long as you’re going in there, I’ll take cheese, a banana, an apple; it’d be great! So she comes back with a little plate, and the starving person is eating while never moving from his body ministry chair. Absolute will of God. And many people are willing to move in the things of the Spirit that way. «If you bring it to me, I’m ready!» But that’s not the nature of this one. The spirit is willing; this is saying your spirit has an appetite and is in pursuit of something, but your flesh can shut it down.
So here’s what I was thinking about, and I’m thinking, «Here’s what I’m thinking about.» You’re probably wondering, «What is he thinking about?» and I’m about to tell you. I think there’s a measure of prayerfulness that we can learn where we spot a disaster before it happens and can prevent it. I don’t want to get weird with this; I believe in it very, very much. Nobody could talk me out of it. It’s too strong in history! There’s a prayerfulness—let me back up; either we learn to pray passionately out of pain or we start learning to pray passionately out of hope. Something has to replace the classroom. The classroom for us is problems.
Very few people can move into a measure of hope that causes them to burn. Hope remains a concept, an idea, «Oh someday it’s going to be better.» «Boy, I look forward to when our whole city is saved!» But it’s not a burning thing. It remains a concept; it remains a principle, an ideal. But when that ideal starts working into the fabric of who we are, suddenly we learn to pray from a different place because we’ve seen what’s possible! We’ve seen what’s possible. And it’s in those moments of hope we start picking up his ideals, his thoughts, his ambitions. We start seeing ahead of time strategies of the enemy. Now, I’m not a devil-conscious person; I don’t—people make me nervous that always talk about the devil. It annoys me to pieces! I don’t like it; it’s not healthy for me when I’m around people like that. I usually just kind of check out. You know, anything that happens is a demon, and they measure their success by the attack on their life.
I don’t—I just don’t like that! The devil’s real; he’s there. You know, I want him in the crosshairs long enough to pull the trigger; that’s just about it. He’s not a part of my conversation; I don’t create theology around him. I’m on a journey; my responsibility is not to react to the devil; it’s to respond to the Father. We have one of two ways to live: there’s a false sense of spirituality by learning to react to the devil because you’re spiritually minded, but we become devil-minded. We become reactionary instead of offensive. We’ve got to move from defense to offense. Having said that, when the king is making his plans in his bedroom and God lets you hear the conversation, it’s always that something bad doesn’t happen without your action.
And while I never want to be overly devil-conscious—I don’t want to make him my study—but I don’t want to be ignorant of the kinds of things he does. The Lord already knows in advance! The devil’s predictable; he’s only got a couple cards in his hand. He uses accusation, intimidation, and mockery. He’s only got a—he’s only got a couple tools in his toolbox. Tragically, those tools have worked pretty well, but the Lord, I believe, through this prayerfulness that I’m talking about, «Watch and pray.» Keep your eyes open; just be alert! Watch and pray so that you don’t enter into temptation. Prayerfulness, being spiritually alert, will enable you to see the environment you’re in to where things that would have caught you off guard won’t catch you off guard, and things that would have put you on the defense are now null and void because you’re on the offense.
And things that would have appealed to you now are like a third shoe—you have no place to put it. And when the heart of a person is connected to the heart of God, wrong things are not appealing; they’re not appealing. Jesus in John 17 said, «I gave them my glory that they might be one.» Unity is not the product of us working hard to have unity. I believe in working hard to have unity, but I’m just saying you’re not going to get there at the level Jesus is talking about by mere human effort. He said, «I gave them my glory that they might be one.» What is that? It’s the manifested presence. It’s hard to be in the glory and be mad at anyone.
Two of our great heroes of the faith, actually it’d be three—it was John and Charles Wesley, his brothers, the theologian and the music writer, and then George Whitfield. They were great leaders and great men of God in the Great Awakening. I think it was Charles Wesley who wrote a letter to John. They were opposite theologically; their emphasis was so different. One was very Calvinistic; one was very Arminian, and they just were in opposition theologically. Yet they were both used in the same move of God! It’s crazy! Because throughout history, people would have a certain belief, exercise it with great confidence, and there would be people saved, and to them, that confirmed they were right. Well, then the person on the opposite end of the spectrum used their theology, which is the opposite, and would preach the gospel. People would be saved, and that would confirm to them they were right. It’s supposed to just confirm the power of the gospel!
Charles Wesley wrote a letter to George Whitfield and said, «We had more love when we knew less.» Man, that’s a sobering statement! We had more love when we knew less! Thankfully, that’s not a predetermined outcome. It’s not like there’s no other option. But when your knowledge doesn’t lead to encounter, it trains you to argue with those who differ. Knowledge from the scriptures is to take us to the person. And if it doesn’t, we’re just getting more calloused to assert our correctness over those who differ.
Back to the main subject—I’m sorry; I’m all over the map! Get back to praying. Just pray! Okay? Just pray! And pray passionately! You know, I know probably for most people in this room, the thought of praying for two or three hours is quite foreign. Just do it every once in a while. I don’t care! Once a month, once every six months—I don’t care! Just do it. Sometime just create something in your day where you just go alone and you pray. Don’t wait for great inspiration—just obey! Lift your voice and pray strong prayers. «Well, I don’t feel like it.» Yeah, the flesh is strong! So get that rascal to submit and pray according to your spirit, not your flesh!
The flesh will make you very appealing to humanity; the spirit will make you stand out. It’s not about putting on a show; it’s getting alone with God! But the point is, you take time and you bare your soul. Every one of us needs these moments with God where we truly bare our souls, and we just pour everything out! I’ve had times walking through the woods where I’m just weeping before the Lord. I’ve got such consternation of soul; I’ve got such difficulty that I’m facing. I’ve got to have a miracle; I’ve got to have a breakthrough! And I just walk where the mountain chapel is now, up in Weaverville. That property—I started walking when we were in a little sanctuary that seated—I don’t remember—80 people or something. We were busting at the seams, multiple services.
I started walking on this piece of property thinking this would be a great place to build. I didn’t know it was actually two lots and not one, and it was owned by two different owners. But I just started walking on it, and out of nowhere, they both came up for sale. So I went to the board; I said, «We’ve got to build! We need to build, and this property up here is for sale.» A couple of the guys were real estate, so they began to research it, and they came back, and we were just not in a place financially to do it. Then somebody prophesied that morning, Sunday morning, we were going to have a meeting that Sunday afternoon. Somebody prophesied Sunday morning that, «If you wait for all the conditions to be right, you’ll never plant a crop.»
And so, as a team, we heard that word; we went, «Alright! Let’s do it! Conditions aren’t right, but God is!» We felt it wasn’t a careless random decision; it was a prayed-into decision that we lacked the courage to pursue aggressively. In other words, we prayed for an open door. He opened the door. Now we’re going! «If this be your will…» You know, one of those things: «I need another sign!» I chuckled; George Mueller was the ultimate man of great prayer. He had over 10,000 recorded prayers and answers in his lifetime. He was asked by a reporter towards the end of his life, «Have you ever had a prayer that wasn’t answered?» And he said, «No.» Then he said, «One is not answered yet, but it will be.» «How can it be any other way? I’m still praying!»
How can it be any other way? I’m still praying! And then he said, «It’s for the salvation of the son of a dear friend of mine.» That young man was converted at George Mueller’s funeral—the final check on his list of prayers! He was in prayer one day, and he caught this picture of a building he was to build. He built and ran this orphanage, and he just did everything by prayer. He didn’t do anything by human promotion, stuff like that. Just everything prayer! So, he caught this picture of a building he was to build, and as he was walking from the prayer room across the playground, a child comes up to him and gives him the equivalent of a penny and says, «Here, this is for the new building.»
Mueller took it, lifted it up to heaven, and said, «Thank you for the confirmation!» I prefer checks of about $100,000 to confirm things for me! I need a little extra confirmation! This is a fun journey we’re on! And the way you get more answers to prayer is to pray more. It’s the fact that nothing’s off limits; it’s that I pray without ceasing! And it’s that connection to his heart that keeps my heart in a right place. What he’s looking for—I’ve said this before, and it sounds—it just sounds wrong, so give me a moment. The Lord disciplines us so that His blessings don’t kill us, right? But here’s the one that sounds worse: the Lord disciplines us so that our will will be done!
Now let me just say, I’m not interested in talking God into anything. I’m not trying to demand my way! I like for him to tell me what to do; I love his will! I’d just rather him talk to me! But what I found out is he wants my interaction, and he’s the one who invited—four times in John 14, 15, and 16, four times in three chapters, he invited us, «Ask for whatever you want, and it’ll be done!» So how does that happen? It’s not by being robots or a parrot that repeats scripted prayers; it’s by interacting with him so deeply that he trusts our hearts. It’s out of that heart connection that we actually find ourselves praying the things that please him.
Watch this! Now, I think this kind of praying is something that every parent in the room should ask God to teach them. Because what happens is it enables you to pray ahead of a problem. And I don’t want any—you know, I don’t want to create any shame if you’re facing a crisis or something. You know, shame won’t help us deal with it. But I do think sometimes we could avert certain things by just praying ahead of time! Pray so that you don’t enter into temptation! Pray because there are certain situations coming your way that you don’t need to face—and if you pray, you will keep yourself insulated from those things! Amen? Amen, amen!
Bill, that’s a very good point! Amen! Alright, I remember a guy talking years ago—back in the 70s. I know most of you weren’t born then. But I remember a guy talking who lived in a second story of a home. When he got up in the morning to shower, it just took forever for the hot water to get from the opposite side of the house downstairs up to where his bedroom was. So every night before he went to bed, he would go to the shower and just turn it on, barely, to where it would just drip hot water all night long. Now, that would be heavily frowned upon today! So, just pretend you’re in the 70s! He kept it so the hot water was just always available, is what it meant. So when he got up in the morning, he turned the hot water on; it was instant!
When you pray without ceasing, a crisis comes—you’ve already got fire! You’ve already got the heat to deliver to that situation! You don’t have to warm up! You don’t have to, you know, go off and fast and pray for 10 days! You’re already boiling! Because you’re birthing answers continuously! We don’t pray just simply because we feel inspired in the moment! We pray because this is our life! This is what we do! Prayer is not something I turn on and off! Prayer is who I am! I am one who communes with God. It happens—Brian wrote a song years ago—my son, out of a song of songs, where he says, «Though I sleep, yet my heart is awake.» Your spirit man is in continual fellowship with God. So learning to shut the flesh up and listen to the Spirit means there’s this continuous bent toward communion with God.
Alright, I’ve pretty much worn my mouth out, so we’ll just stop right there. Let me just pray for you. Put a hand on somebody’s shoulder next to you. Take a moment and just ask the Lord to impart a fresh grace for prayer—simple, easy, continuous flow of interaction with the Almighty God. Thank you, Father! Increase the grace for prayer, the communion with God. Wake us in the night, Lord! I do pray for that—that you’d actually wake us with this burning heart for you, this affection for you, that it would be not just during the appropriate song, but it actually surprises how often we just find ourselves leaning into who you are, leaning into what you’ve said, leaning into your invitation for us to pray.
And I do pray that this year would be the year of the most extraordinary breakthroughs and answers to prayer! I do ask as well—you said we are the sons of the prophets, and you have sealed up in our gift mix the ability to hear your voice. So I’m asking tonight that you would alert us to things happening before they do, so we know how to pray. And that we would find ourselves hearing the secrets of the enemy king of what he speaks in the bedroom at night—that we would hear those words and not live devil-conscious, but live proactively to bring protection and safety to the flock, to the people of God. I ask this in Jesus' name! Amen! Amen! Go ahead and drop your hands. I’m going to turn it over here in a moment.
Sorry, one more thing! There’s always a chance with this many people in the room— I’m sorry; I’ve got a frog or maybe a whole tribe of frogs in my throat! Sorry! I was giving an altar call once, Gabe. Were you here when I did this? This was a lot of years ago. I was giving an altar call once, and I burped in the middle of the altar call! I did! I went, «Oh! There goes one right there!» So I shouldn’t have done that, but I still think it was funny! So I just killed the moment here. There’s always a chance with a crowd this size that there could be people here that don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. That’s the big deal! You know all the other stuff—it’s all add-on! But the big deal is, why am I alive? What was I born for? God created me for his pleasure, and for me to learn my absolute perfect delight in life is with him.
He is here to forgive us of our sin and to truly bring us into his family. The disciples followed him; they became followers, disciples of Jesus. If there’s anybody in the room that would just say, «That’s me! I don’t want to leave until I know what forgiveness is like! I truly want to follow Jesus!» If there’s anyone in that category, put your hand up, because we just want to celebrate what God is doing in your life. Is there anyone? Okay, I’m going to ask Joel, may be you could help me with this? Go way back there in the corner, and the individual will find you; he’s coming your way because he’s going to bless you and talk with you. There he goes; he’s in the aisle!
Bless you! Yeah, I’m so glad that you watched this video! I do pray that it’s a great, great strength and encouragement to you. And I’ve got a verse that it really is my cry for all of us, and it’s Psalms 20:4. «May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans.» That’s my prayer! That’s my prayer! Is that this would be the season of rich, rich fulfillment! Thanks for joining us!