Bill Johnson - How to Move Forward in Your Faith
I want to talk to you about the way of faith. You know faith—faith is supposed to be normal for a believer; that’s why we’re called believers. Amen. It’s actually in our nature, in Christ, to believe in the one who’s perfectly faithful. The Spirit of God took up residence in us and exudes confidence in the Father, and all of our relationships with the Holy Spirit lead to faith and confidence in God.
Unfortunately, we have images of hype; we have images of control; we have images of many other things that have nothing to do with faith. But I want to talk to you about pure and simple faith. It’s vital and must be important to us because faith is one of the two absolutes that heaven anticipates in the heart of every believer. The two absolutes are love and faith. We know that there’s faith, hope, and love, and love is the greatest of these. But we also know in Hebrews 11 that without faith it’s impossible to please Him. I know there’s a part of life where we don’t have to do anything to please God; He actually delights in us for who we are as we are made in His image. I get that, but we can’t discount the fact that faith pleases Him. There’s something about our response to who He is that brings great pleasure to His heart.
Some of the stories that move me the most in the New Testament are where Jesus interacts with individuals who demonstrate a level of faith that no one in all of Israel has. For instance, there’s the centurion who demonstrates a faith greater than any in Israel and the Syrophoenician woman who wants her daughter healed and delivered. Jesus explains to her that he has ministered to the Jew first and not the Gentile, and she rises above that into a place of faith, which stuns Him. I don’t know what you do with this, but for God to be in awe of you is amazing. For Him to stop in His tracks and say, «Wow, I’m impressed,» is extraordinary. He was so moved by the offering of Mary, who poured out a year’s worth of income in ointment over Him, that He announced this act would be spoken of forever. This story of her offering and sacrifice will be on record and talked about for all eternity. It should matter to us that there are things we can do that touch His heart in unique ways. It’s not about Christian calisthenics or performing to earn His love; we can’t cause Him to love us any more than He already does. However, there is this element of bringing pleasure to the heart of God that is so special.
I just bless the children, and don’t ever feel bad if you have a child in here that cries; I don’t mind. It’s part of life. In fact, I was reading earlier that D.L. Moody once had a meeting where only mothers with babies in their arms could attend. I’m sure it was chaotic, but God showed up. Chris ended up with gray hair in that meeting—it went totally white! Don’t feel bad. Faith is actually the most normal response to the discovery of who He is because all it is is confidence in His nature and in His word.
Unbelief creeps in when we are unsure. Yes, if you don’t have questions in life, you’re intellectually brain dead; we’re supposed to have questions. It’s vital to have questions, but questions raised in the atmosphere of trust lead to revelation, while those that arise from mistrust lead to unbelief. We see this with Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. When the angel announced the great news that his wife would have a son, he asked, «How can I know this is for sure?» Gabriel responded, «I’m Gabriel; I stand in the presence of God,» like that should be enough evidence. The Lord made Zechariah silent for nine months, probably to prevent him from messing up the miracle, because many miracles are thwarted by what we say.
Here’s this question that held God hostage to an answer. Questions are normal for the believer because you can’t develop trust without questions. You have to have mystery or you can’t build a life of trust. There’s really no need for trust if there are no mysteries or questions. It’s vital to live with the things you can’t control or explain—some things you don’t like, and some your overwhelmed by beyond anything you could ever earn or deserve. You live in the middle of this mystery; that’s where trust is cultivated. Without those elements, you cannot possibly develop the life of trust He desires from each of His own.
Faith pleases Him. If you look with me at 2 Corinthians 3, we’re jumping into the middle of the subject. I don’t want to go into the broad topic being discussed; it will take too much time for this morning’s session. Paul talks about how there is a veil over the eyes of the Jews preventing them from seeing the reality of Christ. We’ll jump into the middle of that, but the principle that applies here also applies to us. Verse 14 says their minds were blinded; until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now listen to that last verse because it provides insight for us on the life of faith. Faith has to matter to us because our entire life is about bringing pleasure to the heart of the Lord. Our dreams are fulfilled when we fulfill His dreams—just as Joseph’s dreams were fulfilled when he fulfilled Pharaoh’s. It’s really the life we’re called to. This is what seeking first the kingdom is all about. All these things will be added; there’s a domino effect. And whenever we reverse that order, we lose both.
Verse 16 again: «Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.» That’s fascinating because you would think the veil would be removed so a person could turn to the Lord. But the point being made here—and also in chapter 4—is that there’s a veil of deception that lies over the eyes of people, diluting their understanding of who God is, what He has said, and what He has promised. There’s this realm of deception over the minds of people. In chapter 4, it states, «He has blinded their minds.» The implication is, «minds.» He’s blinded their minds to reality, to truth. Yet it says when they believe, the veil is lifted. The veil isn’t lifted so they can believe; why? Because faith doesn’t come from the mind; faith comes from the heart.
No matter the level of deception that exists, there’s always enough Holy Spirit activity in the spirit of a person to yield to the Lord so that deception is removed. The point is: Faith comes first, understanding comes second. In Hebrews 11, it says, «By faith we understand that the worlds were framed out of nothing.» Faith comes first. Why? Because the Lord is looking for people who yield and surrender from their hearts, not just from their minds. He’s not asking us to adopt His principles. He’s not urging us to embrace biblical principles to lead successful lives; He’s urging us to embrace the principle «One"—the Lord.
Faith is a result of surrender, not striving. You don’t work your way into faith. One of the biggest enemies of a life of faith is busyness. It’s not that busyness is wrong; it’s just that without a quiet place to anchor the soul in who God is and what He has said, we become easily persuaded and swayed by popular opinion or the movements of the day. That anchor of the soul must find rest in God’s nature and His word. That’s where the element of trust gets developed in the middle of craziness and chaos.
This verse goes on to say in verse 17, «Now the Lord is the Spirit.» That’s an interesting statement: «The Lord is the Spirit.» The Holy Spirit is the Lord; where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Another way to put that is wherever the Holy Spirit is in charge, liberty is the evidence. The evidence of the presence of God is not just felt in the room. He can be in the room, and I can resist Him, not yield to Him. So it’s not just the presence of the Lord in this sense; it is the presence of the Lord in the sense that He has had an impact of lordship over my perception, over my thinking, and over my heart.
There’s a place of tenderness and yieldedness. My life’s goal is to be tender enough to the Lord that He can touch me with His fingerprint and leave His imprint on my heart. I want to be so soft and tender that even a gentle breath of God moves my thoughts and actions. We really do play to the audience of One. We live to please One, and the moment I lose that is when I become frustrated with Him.
In fact, the way I like to put it is this: If God is your servant, you will constantly be frustrated; He will never measure up. But if you are His servant, you will always stand amazed, overwhelmed by how good He really is. There’s a shift in posture. If I fail to make that shift in posture, I will think I have a contract to make demands of God instead of realizing He gave Himself to me as the contractor, so we could co-labor to see His purposes carried out.
Faith really is the result of being overwhelmingly confident that He is who He says He is. It’s normal; it’s in our nature as believers to have faith. But it’s our nature as human beings to hear from God. People will say, «Well, I just don’t hear God speaking.» Well, then you couldn’t be born again, because our conversion is in response to His invitation; it’s never initiated by us.
It’s interesting; you can have a gathering like this and preach on evangelism, and people will come to Christ. I don’t know that any of them would say, «I clearly heard the voice of the Lord,» but they became aware of their unsaved condition and their need for God. What is that a result of? It’s a result of hearing from God. Comprehension is not the evidence we’ve heard. We tend to put God on the same level as other humans who are talking to one another. Yet, God’s language is so diverse, and oftentimes He speaks things that are deep and profound, beyond anything we could grasp. He speaks to our spirit man in a way that makes a deposit which may take days, weeks, or even months to unfold.
Many times, in business, you make a brilliant decision that turns out to be gold, and other times, for a family member, you give an unusually timely gift without being aware of it. You make the phone call, and that decision is actually the product of God’s voice preparing you for what you didn’t know was coming. How many of you have been in seasons where you’d say, «I just don’t hear from the Lord very well in this season, but I sense His presence»? That’s His voice. He is the Word. When the Word shows up, His effect is voice. We don’t always interpret it as voice, yet it is as clear as anything we’ve ever heard.
He speaks by presence. In Luke chapter 4, Jesus quotes a verse from the Old Testament: «Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.» We are alive because He speaks. You sitting there, doing nothing but listening to me talk, is evidence that He speaks. If it were possible for someone not to have the ability to hear from God, the moment He spoke, they would!
Why? Because He creates when He speaks! He spoke the worlds into being. In Romans 10, it says, «Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.» Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes from the word of God. Why don’t you quote that with me? «Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.» I grew up hearing people teach on that, and the most common thing I would hear is that faith comes from hearing the word of God. That’s not what it says; it says faith comes from hearing. Hearing comes from the word of God.
So we listen to God’s voice not to find something in addition to Scripture, but to clarify what has already been written. A while ago, Warley gave us an illustration where God spoke to Abraham to sacrifice his son. As the sword was coming down, the Lord spoke, «Never mind.» He emphasized how happy Isaac was that his dad kept listening to the Lord. Many Isaacs have been slain because people listen to what He had said but not to what He’s saying. It’s the present tense voice that’s the cause of faith. The very nature of faith implies, «I am hearing.»
You could have a situation arise, and you just believe God for a breakthrough. How did you get it? He spoke! I hope that what happens as a result of today is that we broaden our perception of how God speaks to us. We’ve talked before about the multiple ways God speaks. The stories are fun; we all have unique experiences with the voice of the Lord. I’m not wanting to go into that today, but I will say it’s bigger than you could imagine.
What I want to emphasize today is that you have already been designed to perceive and to hear—it’s already in your design. The passage in Hebrews 5 states, «Having your senses trained to discern good and evil.» Human physical senses can actually be trained by immersion in the presence. They can be trained to recognize good and evil.
You already know this, but when they train people who work in banking to recognize counterfeit money, they only study real money. They never study counterfeit money. They become so exposed to the genuine that the counterfeit stands out. They may not even know why, but they just know something is wrong with that. That’s how you discern good and evil: you don’t discern evil by studying it; you become immersed in the person, and anything that doesn’t fit there is evil.
It’s immersion in His presence. One primary emphasis I want to make today is that presence is voice. I’m not always ready to understand or move in what he’s saying to me. That’s why you be in a time, like we had this morning, where the worship team leads us, and there’s just an unusual awareness of His presence. Don’t be quick to figure out what He’s doing; just be pliable like a sailboat with a sail, moved by the wind. We just catch what God is doing.
I don’t discover Him through analysis; I discover Him through surrender. It’s not that understanding is wrong; He commands us to pursue wisdom and understanding, and that’s vital. The problem arises when we only obey what we understand because then we have a God who looks a lot like us; He’s our size. What He’s looking for is a people yielded to Him who say «yes» before He speaks. If I remember, the «yes» before He speaks is actually what attracts His voice.
We have this statement in Romans 10: «Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.» God will not speak inconsistent with His written word; that’s why exposure to this helps us recognize what is outside His word. I heard a funny story; I may not have all the details right, but it’s close enough for you to get the picture. This family is driving on a mountain road, and their little boy, out of nowhere, declares, «There’s a big rock in the road right around the turn.» The father was stunned by this and drove around the corner a little slower than usual. Sure enough, there was a huge rock in the middle of the road. They were so impressed their child could hear from God that they asked him, «What else is He saying?» He replied, «We need to stop at McDonald’s when we get to town.»
That sounds typical for all of us! «I got it right once; let’s see if I can extend my will into this.» I’ve got a great plan for your life. So faith comes by hearing, but the capacity to hear comes from exposure to His word. If it was just the recording of His word, I have multiple translations on my phone; I could play it all night long. By the end of the week, I’d have the faith of Wigglesworth if it just came from hearing Scripture. I don’t want to downplay that because I do love listening to the word of God, but faith comes from hearing the living voice of the One who is ever-present. In that moment, I may not know what He just said, but I can tell that He deposited something in my life.
The Lord might speak to me about giving sacrificially or taking this bold direction in my life. I take that step of faith, and I pursue obeying the Lord to see Him do what only He can do. I know what it is to have that word come and to have that conviction of heart, to take that risk, and then see God follow through. But what I’m looking for, and I don’t know if I’m making this clear, is that faith is supposed to teach me how to see—not just in the moment when I’m facing a challenge or opportunity but actually teach me how to see.
Faith sees! In John chapter 3, it says, «Unless you are converted, you cannot see the kingdom of God.» He’s not merely talking about what you will see when you die and go to heaven; that’s not the reality of the kingdom. He is speaking of the kingdom’s reality that is seen when someone is healed, delivered, set free, or breaks through into healing and health in our families—whatever it might be. It’s the touch of God’s lordship—His dominion—that is practically experienced in somebody’s life.
Jesus identified it this way in John 12:28: «If I cast a demon out of you by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.» If I cast a demon out of you, here’s a person who is tormented—they were abused as a child, living in torment day after day. We gather around to pray for them, and when they are set free, what happened? The kingdom came upon them! We saw freedom. But how did it happen? It came because the superiority of another world drove out the inferior world of darkness, drove out the inferior world of torment.
The point I’m trying to make here is that when you’re born again, you’ve been given the capacity to see the kingdom of God. The kingdom is not visible; Romans 14:17 says, «The kingdom of God is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.» The kingdom is in the spirit. It’s in the unseen realm. You can’t see righteousness, peace, or joy, but you can see the effects of righteousness, peace, and joy. You can see a person who has peace all over their life. You can see the joy that someone has.
My personal definition, which I don’t have a verse for, is that joy is quiet peace, and peace is joy out loud. They’re so similar—they’re so similar in their felt condition and are partners. You see them frequently in Scripture: peace and joy; righteousness is the nature of Christ through right standing, where His nature becomes illustrated in how we do life. So righteousness, peace, and joy can’t be seen, but that’s the kingdom.
He says, «If you’re born again, you can see the kingdom,» which means you can see the unseen realm to partner with it. This is what we need when we’re looking at a barren field. It’s what we need when we’re looking at a field where there is no natural way it can produce or grow. There are a bunch of us in this room standing at different points in our lives—perhaps a relational challenge, a health issue, or business. We could fill in the blanks with a million different things, but you may be standing before a barren field, and there is no natural solution.
There has to be a way of thinking and seeing that is different from what we’re accustomed to. My personal conviction is that the Lord works on renewing our minds every single day of our lives. I’m not sure we’re always aware of it; in fact, I’m sure we aren’t. I’m not sure we’re always picking up the kinds of things He wants us to adjust to. When I obey in faith, He is taking me into an experience that teaches me how to see. More importantly, He’s teaching me how to think.
How is it that Jesus, with absolute confidence, can take a child’s lunch and feed 10 or 15 thousand people? It’s extraordinary! I’m impressed by the miracle, obviously, but you have to think differently. Yes, you hear from the Lord, but remember the experience of faith teaches us how to think and how to perceive.
The challenge for all of us—myself included—is to experience these things in the Lord and appreciate them. The video tonight is extraordinary. I’ve seen so many miracles like that happen. Let’s applaud and give thanks; give Him all the credit. He alone did it. But then, when it’s over, I shouldn’t just continue to see the next problem as if nothing has changed.
Miracles are to teach us about the unseen world. As Paul said, «What you can’t see is eternal; what you can see is temporal.» This tells us the unseen is superior. It’s not the shadow; this here is the real, and that is the shadow. Until we make those adjustments, we don’t realize that faith enables us to live from what’s unseen toward what’s seen.
Faith doesn’t come from the mind; it says with the heart man believes. Great faith doesn’t come from great striving; it only comes from great surrender. We yield our way into faith; we don’t work our way into faith. He’s already done the work; He’s already created the momentum. Picture yourself standing by a stream that’s continuously flowing; you can dip into it any time. That’s the nature of the kingdom; it is present, it is real, and it’s within reach. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; it is within reach.
So learning how to take what He has made available by faith is a huge part of our walk with Christ. Faith then doesn’t come from the mind; it comes from the heart. What fascinates me is that the renewed mind—if you read through the gospels—there are so many stories where a person’s understanding revealed their faith. This almost feels contradictory to what Scripture says: faith doesn’t come from the mind; it comes from the heart.
We need to look at it this way: there’s the carnal mind, the natural mind, and the renewed mind. Faith doesn’t come from even the renewed mind, but the renewed mind creates the context for faith—much like the banks of a river create a context for water to flow.
So when the centurion comes to Jesus and says, «My servant is dying,» Jesus responds, «I’ll come and heal him.» The centurion, a Roman soldier, says, «You don’t have to come to my house. I’m a man under authority; because I’m under authority, I have people under me. When I say to them, 'Go do something, ' they go and do it. All you have to say is the word, and my servant will be healed.» He understood how authority worked; he understood an unseen reality.
How does this Roman soldier step into a divine perception like that? It was an absolute gift of God, but he had it; he functioned it and communicated it. Jesus didn’t honor his intelligence; He honored his faith because the renewed mind created the context for the gift of faith to flow.
The point is that we must learn to extract the nutrients from our experiences in God. Let me explain it this way: it is possible—indeed it happens all the time—for us to eat foods and not benefit from the nutrients. Sometimes it’s common combinations of foods that don’t work well together, or one food needs another to be effective. Sometimes it’s just our own ill health that stops us from extracting the nutrients.
It’s possible to have a very nutritious meal—very healthy, very organic—and have it pass right through you without affecting your health. That’s what happens in the miracle realm. We experience these things in God; they have all the nutrients necessary to bring us into a transformed mind, yet they don’t produce the effect God intended.
I’m just processing with you about faith. Here’s what I’ve noticed: faith unchecked becomes entitlement. If you could picture any work that God does in our lives as a plan, Jesus illustrated this profoundly in John 15, saying, «Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes.» The concept is that pruning follows growth; growth is a response of grace to the person who has obeyed.
Pruning is never punishment; it’s always positioning us for greater increase, greater manifestation of purpose, and greater demonstration of who God is in us and through us. God is much more concerned about what He’s building in us than what He builds through us. This grace work that God is doing in us needs refinement to prevent us from moving into entitlement.
The definition of hope, for example, is the joyful anticipation of good. Anytime you find people growing in hope, breakthroughs begin to happen, and hope becomes the birthplace of faith. You’ll see breakthroughs occur, and we start to see what God has promised us in Scripture.
If we’re not careful, we may move from faith into entitlement because we believe we have a role in bringing about our own destiny instead of recognizing that it is the working of God’s grace. Hopefully, this all makes sense by the end.
The salvation that keeps us in check, or keeps us healthy, is being poor in spirit. Poor in spirit is the key to maintaining health as we become blessed. Very few people throughout history can manage a life of increase or blessing. What happens is that when people move into blessing, they end up sabotaging their own maturity because they can’t handle the increase.
Why? Because increase leads to entitlement. And the only thing that can keep us safe in progressing from glory to glory, as Bishop Garlington tells us, is to remain poor in spirit. Poor in spirit is not self-criticism; that’s just stupid because you’re partnering with the devil; he’s the accuser.
Being poor in spirit involves maintaining the perspective that He gives me credit for what He does through me. It’s maintaining the perspective that everything done in and through me is a gift of God’s grace. I lay hands on someone, and a miracle happens—blind eyes open. Where did that faith come from? It came from Him.
It’s a privilege and an honor to be one of the redeemed, but nothing originated with me; it all originated with Him. Consequently, staying mindful of our potential sinfulness does not breed proper humility; staying mindful of our need for continuous grace keeps us poor in spirit.
Here’s something that baffles me throughout Scripture: how often God gives His best to the least deserving. You would think something as grand as the resurrection of Jesus would first appear to the faithful eleven remaining disciples, but that’s not what happened. His first appearance was to Mary Magdalene, the one out of whom He cast seven demons.
When Jesus was born of a virgin, the first to touch Him was the Virgin Mary. After His resurrection, which is also called a birth—the first one to touch Him was Mary Magdalene, out of whom He cast seven demons.
Why? Because the message has shifted from contamination by whatever touches you to the power of righteousness that now touches you to change you. The Old Testament principle was that if you touched a leper, you became unclean. Jesus now touches a leper, and the leper becomes clean.
There’s a reversal in the impact of things. In fact, we’re going to read a story that states Jesus said, «He who comes to me and drinks, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.» In fact, He says the drink will become a fountain. Just follow this with me: the nature of what you touch changes who you are. A drink becomes a river. In the Old Testament, you were contaminated by anything dark or evil; in the New Testament, you are transformed by anything righteous that touches you.
Let’s do James 1:2. «My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.»
Let’s read it again: «My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.»
Why can he say «count it all joy»? Because he’s describing the outcome: lacking nothing. We pray for so many things for God to fill our lives with anointing, breakthroughs, favor, and open doors, and He’s saying, «That’s exactly what I’m doing.» That’s why you can get excited when facing a problem—because it’s the shortcut to lacking nothing. It’s the only way you can be trusted with lacking nothing.
I don’t believe that the Lord orchestrates negative problems to shape my life, but He planted us by nature into a world that we were to redefine. That’s why He put Adam and Eve in a garden where the devil already existed on the planet, because their assignment was to infiltrate the system until there was a transformation of the entire planet—delegated ones representing God, extending His government. We still have that mandate; it’s our responsibility to take this yieldedness we enjoy with the Holy Spirit Himself, to God Himself, and extend the boundaries of His kingdom until this world is reshaped to look like the one where there are no problems.
God uses problems for our benefit; I don’t believe He orchestrates them, but He uses them. He’s able to maneuver and position us so we end up going through trials and come out at the end qualified to lack nothing.
As far as my appetite, my hunger, my goals, my visions, and my dreams, I want bold faith. That’s what I want; I want to see bold faith come from my life. But here’s the secret I’ve found: bold faith stands on the shoulders of quiet trust.
I doubt there’s a person in the room who wouldn’t line up for a bold faith impartation because that’s what we live for: bold faith, breakthroughs, and impossibilities. But sometimes, we don’t know as much about Him as we think we do, and we can only know that by facing something for which we have no answer but simply trust. I wouldn’t wish—I don’t think you have to go through anything I went through. Some of you have endured things far worse than anything I’ve faced.
I’m not waving the martyr flag here; this is my journey, and in this journey, I’m more convinced than ever of His goodness. I’m more convinced than ever that He only does wondrous things. His nearness is what impresses me. I didn’t have a word at all; just an abiding peace and presence—we are so thankful.
It’s like the predominant feature I feel over my life is a tangible peace. He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. But that path doesn’t always go where I’m thinking it is going. It says, «Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.» Why? Because He’s there! I found Him there.
I have Him on the other side of the shadow, but I found Him in the shadow. There’s a strange thing in Scripture where the Lord sometimes veils Himself in darkness—not in evil, but in darkness. I remember reading a devotion to my grandmother. In her final years, she could hardly read at all, and eventually couldn’t read at all. She was just a saint—a real saint! So she asked me to read to her.
She had certain chapters of the Bible memorized; she loved to quote Psalms 91 and would have me read it to her just to stay current. I remember reading a book, the author being Corrie ten Boom. How many of you have heard of Corrie ten Boom? My uncle was a friend of hers. My grandmother’s oldest son was a friend of Corrie’s. She wrote in this book, «Sometimes the Lord hides us under the shadow of His wing, and sometimes it’s only dark because He’s so near.»
I’ve got really good news for you: sometimes it’s only dark because He’s so near. There’s something about that shadow; He’s just covered Himself. That’s why I honestly lean towards discovering presence, not answers. Now, I like answers; don’t misunderstand me, but God’s never on trial with me. I’m not going to withhold my love until He explains Himself. I’m not going to withhold my obedience until I understand, and I’m not going to withhold anything from Him. I don’t need explanations.
The bottom line of my life, especially in the last 15 to 20 years, is I have discovered the goodness of the Lord in a palpable, tangible way. He said, «Taste and see…» So I’ve found out that you can see what you taste, but you have to taste first. That was free; I’m going to charge you for the next one!
Taste and see. When you experience it, your perception will increase. But sometimes we want to perceive before we experience. There’s something about His goodness that I hope will inspire you—a family of believers like you—could become so possessed and immersed in His goodness that the revelation of His goodness becomes contagious.
Imagine if a neighbor who has never thought about God suddenly experiences something favorable and stops to thank someone, not even knowing who they’re thanking! That’s something about your life that sets the stage for an entire city to taste and see that He is good. It would be palpable—you could smell it! You could see it in households, see it in businesses, see it in schools, and see it in the eyes of people who used to be at war with you. We live from this place called the goodness of God.