Bill Johnson - Partaking of the Divine Nature (See Through Heavens Eyes)
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you too. Thank you! This looks like a happy place, a happy place. I don’t know how many of you were here this morning, but I was at our pre-service prayer time. We shared testimonies, and again, somebody had a testimony about double-yolked eggs. It’s just the weirdest thing!
So if you’re a guest, I’m sorry; we have weird things happen! Somebody opened 14 eggs in a row that were double-yolked, and I was marveling at that. The guy next to me said, «I opened up 12 in a row that were double-yolked.» Then I shared my story this morning. I made an omelet at home before coming, and the first egg I cracked open had no yolk at all. I thought, «Oh no! Everybody else gets double portions, and I get nothing! This is horrible!» Ben Armstrong said, «No, His yolk is easy; His burden is light. He’s giving you His yolk.» Then somebody else said, «No! We use the yolk as a measurement of abundance, and yours is immeasurable. There’s no limit; there’s no double.» So I don’t know if you get to choose your prophetic word, but I’m going with those words. I like those words, so I pray that on all of us.
Does anybody else like to take naps? How many of you like to take naps but have children at home? Here is a word of wisdom: if you want to take a nap while the kids are at home, just say, «Wake me up in 30 minutes so we can clean the house.» They will do literally anything to avoid waking you; you will have the greatest nap of your life! That’s a good word; yes, it is! I’m on my second guardian angel. My first one, Quinton, is now in therapy. I want to talk to you. I talked to you on a Sunday night just two or three weeks ago—it was real recent. I actually want to expand on what we talked about. I know most of you weren’t there, so I’ll just assume that you were.
Jesus makes this statement in John chapter 3. In fact, I’m going to have you look at a lot of scripture with me, so why don’t you just go right to John 3? We’ll start there, and we’re going to bounce around a bit tonight because I want to establish a foundation for where we’re headed. John chapter 3 has the most fascinating verse to me. It shocked me when I saw it. He tells Nicodemus in verse 3 of chapter 3, John 3:3, «Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.» Then in verse 8, He says, «The wind blows where it wishes; you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.»
What Jesus does here, first of all, let me say this: the Lord, when He begins to open up our understanding of what His world is like, what His nature is like, He starts with things that we relate to and that we understand. He starts with things like, «Blessed are those who show mercy because they will obtain mercy.» So what’s the point? Whatever you plant is what you’re going to harvest, right? Whatever you plant, whatever you sow, is what you’re going to harvest from. So He’s using natural things that we understand. If you plant corn, you’re going to harvest corn; you’re not going to harvest apples. Whatever you sow is what you’re going to reap. It’s a natural law that reflects, prophesies, and reveals, in a sense, the nature of the kingdom of God, the nature of His world.
So He starts with what we can relate to when He wants to build something in us, but He’s always building line upon line, precept upon precept. He’s always wanting to take us where we would not naturally go on our own. For example, He says, «I no longer call you servants; I call you friends.» What is He doing? He’s building upon revelation with greater revelation. Servanthood doesn’t go away when He teaches you intimacy and friendship; servanthood is the context, much like the setting on a diamond ring. The setting holds the diamond in place; servanthood holds friendship. Whenever He expands our understanding, it’s always to lead us into experience. He’s not interested in just building a good theology in us. There are many people who study the Bible day and night and can win Bible quizzes, but they can’t demonstrate the kingdom. The point is, we’re supposed to reveal Him. It’s not about our gifting. I’m glad for gifts and calls and all that stuff, but it’s literally about revealing Jesus.
So in John 3, He uses two things. First of all, it must be born again, so He uses natural birth to illustrate. Then He says, «Those of you who are born again are like wind; you don’t know where it comes from or goes.» So He uses two natural things to illustrate our faith, to illustrate our life in Christ. Then we jump forward to verse 12. He says, «If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?» Now that has me curious because He just talked about two earthly things—natural birth and wind—and He says, «If I talk to you about natural things and you’re not making the connection, in other words, you’re not getting the picture of a heavenly reality out of these natural truths, then how can I tell you about my world that has no earthly parallel?» If you’re not getting the natural things, if you’re not making the connection, then how can I talk to you about things that have no earthly parallel? Do you see where He’s headed? He’s wanting to establish understanding of the kingdom through natural things, but His desire is to take us to a place of understanding of His world.
Then He says, «If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.» I love this verse so much! No one has ascended. Now, we know that after Jesus died, He was resurrected, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and was glorified, okay? Resurrected, ascended, glorified—that was years later. This is early in the storyline, and Jesus says, «No one has ascended except for me, the Son of Man who is in heaven.»
I love this verse so much because it reveals to us how He literally lived from heaven towards earth. There is what some refer to as the ascended life. For most of us, our Christian life is living from earth towards heaven—in other words, we get into situations, and our cry is that God will come and deliver us out of that situation. And that’s a good place to start. But He’s wanting to teach us how He qualified us to be seated in heavenly places in Christ at the right hand of the Father. It was never meant to be reduced to a doctrine only. I mean, theology and doctrine are very important because that’s the essence of truth, but those things are supposed to lead us into a relationship, into an encounter, into an ongoing experience. It was never meant to be that we could just quote scripture and tell people what we believe and not demonstrate it. It does me little good to tell you God is my provider and have no provision, God is my healer, and see no healing.
So here in this passage, Jesus said, «Nobody’s ascended except for me.» Now, this is before His death. No one has ascended. So that tells us then, in His time with the Father, there is an ascending where He literally lives from heaven towards earth. When you live from earth towards heaven, you ask God to come and fix a problem. When you live from heaven towards earth, you co-labor with Him and declare the problem fixed, solved, or changed.
So then, I hope you don’t mind bouncing around because this is going to be very disorganized, and you’re just stuck. So I don’t know; there is a back door, but you know, if you get through before I do, just go home. All right, look with me at John chapter 5, and let’s take a look at something here that’s so wonderful. So just a couple chapters to the right. I love this. He says in verse 36, «I have a greater witness than John’s.» How many of you know John was the greatest prophet of all? One person knew that! It’s actually in the Bible; it’s in Matthew 11. John was considered the greatest prophet of all. How many of you know that? Now man, you’re making me nervous. I can see I’ve got an uphill climb tonight, I can see! I’m teasing.
«I have a greater witness than John’s, for the works which the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me.» Okay, now just think: the works that I do bear witness of me. What works? The word «works» is mentioned, I think, 21 times in the Gospel of John. It’s always good to study a subject in the context of that particular writing and/or that writer. So in the Gospel of John, the word «works» is, I think, 21 times. If I remember rightly, 17 of those times it’s without question miracles, signs, and wonders. One of those times, you may remember He says, «And greater works than these shall you do because I go to the Father.»
So what He is saying here is the works—the miracles, the signs, and the wonders—they testify of who I am. Now keep your finger in John 5. I don’t know if I should keep apologizing all night. Maybe I won’t; maybe I’ll just make you run through the Gospels. Keep your finger in John 5 and turn to John 10. John 10:37, «If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.» All right. John 10:37: «If I do not do the works of my Father, what are the works? The works are miracles, signs, and wonders. Those works testify of His identity. Yes, yes, I’m giving you the answer before I ask the question, so everybody should pass this test if you’re just listening. If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.»
The prophets announced who Jesus was. John the Baptist came and announced who He was. Nature—the star in the east—announced who He was. Angels showed up and testified to who He was. Jesus says, «You can ignore all of those if I don’t do miracles; if I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.» Wow! He said, «Greater works than these shall you do.» Now, I’ve heard people say, «What’s greater?» Because there’s more of us? No, no! That’s not what He’s saying! That’s a pointless illustration to be for Him to say, «I’m going to be followed by millions of people who believe, and they will do more than I did as one person.» That’s a pointless point! He is announcing greater!
A woman touches Jesus’s garment and is healed, but when Paul was in ministry, they took clothing from his body and sent it to somebody, and they were healed! It’s greater! You don’t exalt the Lord by exalting His works above His promise. Oh, that’s good! If I do not believe the works—excuse me, if I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.» Go back to John 5: «The works that the Father has given me"—verse 36—to finish, «the very works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me.» All right!
Jesus said, «If I don’t do the works, don’t believe me.» I’m looking for the church to stand before the nations and say, «If we do not do the works, do not believe us!» We’re not off the hook. John 20, Jesus said, «As the Father has sent me, I send you.» You don’t get to pick and choose what that looks like! John 5, you still all right? Yeah! Verse 37: «And the Father Himself who sent me has testified of me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.» Here’s an important verse: «But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent Him you do not believe.»
Okay, look at it again: «You do not have His word abiding in you.» So Jesus is making an observation. He’s got some Pharisees here; He says, «You don’t have His word abiding in you.» How do I know? Because you didn’t believe me when I showed up! What does that mean? The abiding word prepares us to accept what God is doing before He does it. That’s good! I want to use it as a backdrop for tonight’s message, and I’ll just—well, I might read it in a minute. I quote a lot of scriptures, and I’m finding I need to take you there so you see it in your own Bible.
But it’s a cornerstone passage on our existence, on why we’re here and what our assignment is. It’s in John 15:7: «If you abide in me and my word abides in you, you can ask whatever you want; it’ll be done.» It’s not about having our way; it’s about having our place of significance and purpose. I think it’s the Wesley brothers that said, «God does nothing in the affairs of men except in response to prayer.» I believe that’s true! If I own a home here in Redding that you are renting from me, even though I have the master key, I cannot enter that home without your invitation. Even though I own it, I have to be invited by you to come into the home.
Even though I own it, the scripture says God made the heavens for Himself, but the earth He made for man, and He put man and woman in charge of a planet. He comes at our invitation. Everything about this transformation of planet earth is our co-laboring role with Him. The first assignment He gave Adam and then Eve was, «Be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth.» It was «Expand the garden!» Your delegated authority—I put you in charge of a planet! Now take over! That was the assignment. When Adam and Eve sinned, they gave the keys of their authority to a serpent. When Jesus died, He rose again, and He said, «I got the keys back! All authority has been given to me! Therefore, go!»
So what did He do? He restored us to a place of co-laboring with Him. How is the co-laboring role realized? Number one: through prayer; number two: through obedience consistent with the prayer. Am I complicating things, or are we okay? All right, so He does not have us pray one thing and then live in opposition. He doesn’t say, «Pray like this» and then live the opposite of that! So what does He do? He says pray like this: «Your will be done; your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.» We want your world to influence this one. How does it come? Through the delegated authority, coming as co-laborers before the Master of the universe, inviting Him to enter our home, inviting Him to enter our place of influence. He says, «You do not have His word abiding in you because whom He sent, you do not believe.»
Here’s the verse I wanted; verse 39: «You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me.» Do you see it? Verse 37! Look at it: «You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. It’s these which testify of me.» Verse 40: «And you’re not willing to come to me that you may have life.» So what’s the point? If, uh, it’s like the scriptures is the launching pad, the diving board into the pool—the launching pad into encounter! The scripture brings you to the person!
Yes, there are many who are well-versed in scripture who can answer a lot of wonderful questions, but they have no ability to demonstrate the King in His Kingdom! Wow! Wow! You search the scriptures because you think your salvation is in print and not in a person! Come on! So revelation, God! Revelation—God opens our eyes to see things! It’s never just to make us theologically stronger, as valuable as that is. It always comes as an invitation. It always comes as an invitation!
He doesn’t reveal Himself as the healer so you can stay sick; He’s always asking us to come and to know Him in that particular way. Do you remember the passage in Proverbs 3? It says, «Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding.» Remember that? «In all your ways…» What is the next word? «Acknowledge Him.» Do you know what that word is? That word «acknowledge» means to come to know experientially! Yes! In all your ways, come to know Him intimately! Yes! Are you in business? He’s the greatest businessman! In all your ways, in that business way, come to know Him intimately and He will direct your paths. Are you a parent? He’s the best parent! Come to know Him intimately; come to know Him in that way!
So that you experience His fathering, His love for you as an individual, and that relationship that you have with Him, He will then flow through you to direct your paths and make them straight and effective. He says, «You search the scriptures, for you think in them you have eternal life, but these testify of me.» And he’s rebuking them. He says, «You’re not willing to come to me!» Now, go to Matthew 16. You still alive? You’re in trouble tonight because I made sure they turned the clock off! You’re in trouble!
You say that now! Yeah, I preach the eternal gospel! I tell people I only have one message—it’s just 500 hours long! You don’t know what part you’re going to get! All right, let’s get to this! Verse 15: But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, «You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.» Matthew 16, did I not tell you where? Okay, all right! Matthew 16, verse 17: And Jesus answered and said to him, «Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.»
And I also say to you that on this rock—I personally don’t believe He’s illustrating Peter as the rock; it’s the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God that is the rock. «It has not been revealed; flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.» Interesting to note, it’s not the gates of heaven that protect us from the attacks of the enemy; it’s the gates of Hades that don’t protect him from our assault. We’re the ones on the offensive!
Good gates are representative of authorities, powers. So when He makes the announcement, «The gates of Hades shall not prevail,» there’s a promise you can put on your refrigerator! The gates of Hades will not prevail! The authority that Christ has put in you is His authority. It’s not a second-rate anointing! His word through your mouth is as powerful as His word through His! The power is in the source; the source is Jesus. He only said what the Father was saying. Verse 19: «And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.»
Personally, I’m extremely frustrated with that translation. Some of you have a better one. The original New American Standard puts it this way: «Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.» It can be translated either way. Why do I believe the second is the best? Because Jesus taught us to pray, «Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.» Heaven is the model; earth does not shape heaven; heaven shapes earth!
So when I said earlier, Jesus doesn’t have us pray one way and live in another way. So He had us pray, «On earth as it is in heaven.» Therefore, when He says you bind on earth, you’re binding what’s already bound in heaven. But here’s the part we need for tonight: you loose on earth what is already loosed in heaven! The one with an ascended lifestyle knows what’s there that has no earthly parallel! Revelation was—was it Revelation 4:1? He says, «I see a window open in heaven.» And the Lord says, «Come up here!» If you find yourself trying to multitask during worship, you’re not coming up! There is no multitasking in worship!
The ascended lifestyle is not you leaving the ground; it’s your heart more and more being wrapped up in the Spirit of God with what He’s saying and doing. You’ve heard maybe you’ve heard the phrase «so heavenly-minded, no earthly good»? Yeah, I guess that’s possible. I prefer to look at it this way: I’m so heavenly-minded, I am finally earthly good! I finally can provide something that the planet cries for, that the people need! So when He says, «What have you bind on earth shall have been bound»? We know what to bind because we’re so familiar with death, loss, and destruction! The enemy came to kill, steal, and destroy, right? So we know what to bind!
When we see the disease, when we see poverty, when we see marriages breaking apart, we see conflict with parents and kids and all the stuff, we know what to bind! We know what to bind—the spirit of division! We know to bind that spirit of lust! We know to bind that spirit of addiction! We know the things to bind because we’re so familiar with this world that is out of order. Our problem is, we don’t know what to loose. We know what to bind, but do you remember the story in Luke where the Lord talks about a house that is clean and swept? But because the house was empty, the enemy that was once driven out has a place of reaccess because nothing was put in its place.
So we often bind but without heavenly encounter and experience, without perception of the reality of His world, in His nature, and the way He functions, we don’t know what to put in its place! And so the enemy comes back, as the scripture says, seven times worse! I don’t like the idea of bossing angels around. I know there are people who do it, but I won’t go there. I don’t want to touch that one. But I have no problem with when I’m praying, the Lord shows me, let’s say, a spirit of deception that is functioning in a particular person or household. When I’m praying for them, I bind the spirit of deception. What does that mean?
If you buy a car and you make monthly payments, and it’s a three-year loan, and 12 months in you decide you’re not going to pay anymore, the bank says, «You signed a contract! It’s a binding contract! We are going to hold you to what has been signed!» Does that make sense? It’s a binding contract! When you bind the devil, you are binding him to a contract that says you will trample on all the powers of darkness! You have authority over the powers of hell, and you are holding the enemy not to a contract that you signed but one that he signed! So when we bind that spirit of deception in that situation, I–I have been practicing this as much as I know how for probably 40 years, but I’ve been nervous to teach it! But I think you’re ready!
Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever taught this, and it may just be my issue, but I’ve been nervous about teaching because of sometimes selfish ambition, revivalists' ambition, Christian ambition that gets sanctified because it’s good but it’s not God’s timing—that stuff makes me nervous! Of empowering people beyond their maturity level! But I’m tossing caution to the wind and saying just, «Don’t be stupid; that’s all I’m saying!» The title of this message is «Don’t be stupid.» No, it’s not! It’s not! It’s not! So here’s the deal: I’m not into binding. I’m not into commanding angels! But here’s what I will do—so I bind that spirit of deception and then you work through discernment to see what is it that God wants to replace.
And so then I–I release the spirit of revelation into this situation: «Father, that you would give clarity of heart, clarity of mind so that people see what they’ve never been able to see.» So that stronghold of deception gets broken off of their life! The more you and I live in His presence, it really is our relationship with the Holy Spirit! The more you and I live in the presence of the Lord, we learn to extend the moments that we had tonight in worship. We learn to extend those moments. God gives us glimpses of lifestyles in corporate worship that can be lived out individually! Yes! Yes, beautiful!
He gives us exposure, insight; He opens a window to let us see something that is available as an individual lifestyle that we first experience in a corporate gathering! But it’s up to us to maintain! So we explore His presence; we explore understanding; we give ourselves freely in worship. We’re not looking for insight so we can impress people; we’re looking for insight so that that insight will draw me to the person who gave me the insight! And something happens in my life as I encounter the One who revealed Himself as the healer, the One who revealed Himself as a provider! It’s the encounter that changes me!
When you see the Apostle Paul, when he was Saul, rebelling against the Lord, really just seemed to it that believers died, he was knocked off his donkey. The Lord shows up to him. He’s got three days—I think it was—of blindness. He has this bizarre encounter! He has an encounter with the Lord! You don’t see him strutting out of that encounter saying, «Wait till you see all the books I’m about to write!» God showed him his life! It did not make him arrogant; it did the opposite! And people who say, «Well, we can’t seek experience»? No! You’re walking in arrogance! Stop it! Stop it!
The encounter with Him dials down that stuff in us that rises to fight for personal attention; it’s the opposite! So this Lord who reveals Himself to us and says, «Come up higher.» He’s saying to—in this place of affection and adoration, let Him just expose our heart to things we’ve never seen or known before! Obviously, it has to have its root in scripture, obviously, but there are so many things that are revealed in scripture that Christians won’t touch! We just want to get to heaven. We want to be good, upright, moral people. That’s a great start; we must be! But we’re here to make a difference! We’re here to make a difference! We have the right to invite the homeowner into His home to co-labor!
So He says, «If you abide in me and my word abides in you.» So here it is: it’s the relationship with the Spirit of God and the Word of God. Those two things done well introduce me to my purpose, which is to pray and have stuff happen! Remember my role as a co-laborer? I don’t make things happen, but I respond to His heart! I respond to His mission! I respond to His word and make the decrees! God spoke the worlds into being! Let’s look at it this way: God created the worlds we would live in through His voice. What world are you creating through your voice? This is a voice-activated kingdom! Things have to be said!
And part of the problem is Chris did a great message again this morning, but he made this statement: like 80% of most people’s self-talk is negative self-criticism, etc. If that’s what’s in my heart, it will come out of my mouth! And if that’s what comes out of my mouth, it will undermine the prayer that I just prayed! That’s good! I know there’s abuse here, but there’s only abuse because of its value! You don’t find counterfeit pennies; you don’t find counterfeit $20 bills! You find counterfeit $100 bills! Why? Because it’s not worth counterfeiting something cheap! So when the enemy tries to copy something and distort something, it’s God saying, «Pay attention because he just told you it’s valuable! He just put his stamp of recognition!»
This scares me, so I’m going to copy it and make something inferior! Does that make sense? So this thing of confession and decree, prophetic decree, learning to hear from God—we’re all learning! Sometimes we get it right; sometimes we don’t! You get it wrong, clean up your mess! Don’t blame it on the other person! Well, you didn’t get healed because you didn’t have faith! No! The Bible says the prayer of faith heals the sick! You prayed; it was your job! I–I did not mean to start a movement! Oh goodness! We’ll have a garage sale at the end of the meeting!
All right, let’s skip! I looked at these shoes, and I thought I’ve never taken my shoes off up here! I should probably do it! And now there’s a movement! All right, let’s get going because I don’t honestly want to hold you too long! But here, it says you bind on earth what’s bound in heaven, but you loose what’s loosed there! Heavenly encounters increase our instinctive awareness of what we have the authority to release! So good! The more you live in that place of glory, deep affection, adoration—I’m not saying that everything will come by this incredible revelation! What happens oftentimes is we become instinctively aware of what we have access to and what we have the authority to release!
Binding and loosing—that combination is like one of the most elemental parts of our life and ministry! It was revealed at the same level of the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God! It was in the same dialogue, it was in the same conversation! Peter says, «You’re the Christ, you’re the Son of the living God!» And Jesus introduces them to their responsibility. I first learned this—I mentioned earlier I’ve been trying to live this for a long time; never being really confident or comfortable enough to teach it, but I’m going to from this point on! Where I learned it was a friend of mine—I remember sitting in my office with my friend. He was going through a horrible, horrible lawsuit!
It was a lawsuit that the other party could afford, and they literally were using it to torment him because it was draining him of finances! He didn’t have the money; they did! And they were using it! It wasn’t a legitimate lawsuit, eventually—he’s going to win, but it’s just draining him! He was literally being tormented by this lawsuit! So we had prayed together about this! We had prayed. I prayed with him: «Father, just release your miracle; settle this thing!» And we prayed many times! It had been going on for like six months! Then I saw this particular truth! And he came in the office, I believe it was that afternoon, and we prayed again! I said, «We’re going to pray different! I’m going to bind the spirit of injustice, and we’re going to loose the spirit of justice!»
This is exactly what happened! We prayed together in my office there in Weaverville! We prayed! I bound the spirit of injustice, and I loosed the spirit of justice! I believe it was within two hours, he called me! He said, «The whole thing’s been canceled! It’s been dropped!» The whole time! So I obviously make a mental note then because we’re all trying to learn! And so I’m telling you now, pay attention! You don’t want to just clean sweep the house and get it cleaned out! Make sure that something of the Lord is put in place! Empty places invite the enemy!
That’s why Eastern meditation is so bad—because you empty your mind! In the Kingdom, you fill your mind! With meditation! Wow! All right, now let’s get to 2 Peter! So how much—when did I start? There’s the problem with no clock; I don’t know when I started! Yeah, yeah! Go with me to 2 Peter chapter 1 and let’s just take a little bit of time here!
Verse 2: «Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of our Lord, and of Jesus our Lord.» All right, I am going to quote a verse to you—it’s in Ephesians 1—I quote it often! I think many of you are familiar with it! The church at Ephesus had one of the greatest challenges! Chris actually referred to this this morning! The church at Ephesus was in a city that was so steeped in the demonic! It was famous for the demonic! And the church at Ephesus had such a massive, major revival—a massive revival! I think the greatest in the Bible took place in Ephesus!
The point being that when Paul was writing letters and epistles to these various churches at Philippi and Thessalonica and these different places, the only letter he ever wrote that did not have a word of correction in it was his letter to Ephesus! Ephesians! No correction in it! So I look at Ephesians, and I say, «All right, you ever have to give a gift to someone who already has everything?» My kids tell me I’m the hardest person to buy for! I’m not just go shopping with me; I can spend money like crazy in my life! I am the easiest person to shop for, but they don’t get it; they don’t get it!
So what do you buy for a person who has everything? What do you pray for a person who is already at the top of their game and experiencing a measure of revival influence unlike any other in the New Testament? What do you pray for them? Verse 17: «I pray that God would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him!» Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him! What is he praying? He’s praying that the eyes of their heart would be opened to see Him as He is! Not so they can walk away and tell people what He’s like, but so they would be drawn to that One and be transformed into His likeness!
Encounters with God change us! The scripture teaches two interesting concepts in this regard. It says, «As we see Him"—excuse me—"when we see Him speaking of a future time when we see Him—when we behold Him, we will become like Him.» But there’s a daily on-working part of that storyline too! As we see Him, we become like Him! Exposure to the glory is the manifested presence of Jesus!
So exposure to the glory is actually what transforms us! I believe in discipline; I believe in working hard; I’m all over all of that! But the bottom line is we are more transformed in the glory than in any other moment of our life! You can have an hour in the glory and more is accomplished than a year of hard work! It’s transformational in nature! So he prays that God would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him—of Him! Why? Because of the automatic fact that seeing Him, beholding Him, transforms us! It’s the encounter!
All right, so go back to verse 2. «Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.» «As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and virtue.» Do you realize what’s being said here? That He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness because of what we know about Him? God wants us to use our brain to discover Him! To reason! To consider! David would talk about the night watch, the third watch of the night. He would be up in the middle of the night thinking about the ways and nature of God!
Entertaining what He’s like! Fascinated by the fact that God used him to kill a lion and a bear! That God used him to kill Goliath! That God used him eventually to become king and lead Israel into the fuller realization of the promised land that they had been promised hundreds of years earlier! David is the one who introduced them to the fullness of the inheritance! So he’s meditating on the nature and the ways of God—the glory exposes us to aspects of His nature we could discover no other way!
Verse 4—ah, goodness, I hope this is making sense! Let me do verse 3 again: «As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, how? Through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.» Verse 4: «By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.»
All right, here’s the deal: lust leads to corruption; promises lead to divine nature. The promised land is obviously, in the Old Testament, was an inheritance of a geography. The promised land for us—God will give you a promise about a job; He’ll give you a promise that you’re going to have a child! He gives us so many different kinds of promises! But all of these promises introduce us to a transformational miracle through which we are partakers of His nature.
See if I can say it a different way: when you experience the fulfillment of a promise, it’s never just God doing something for you; He’s doing something in you! Acts 3—the lame man gets healed—he’s walking, he’s leaping, he’s praising God! Walking—physically healed! Leaping—emotionally healed! Praising God—spiritually healed! The promise, the fulfillment was a miracle, but he was healed and transformed emotionally and spiritually!
Let me put it this way: he became a partaker of divine nature! The fulfillment of promise gives us access to live at a level in grace that we did not have before the miracle! Have you ever had a gigantic, ginormous prayer answered that just absolutely messed you up so bad you could hardly function? I mean, big! After! Let’s just say—you had somebody! In fact, I had this happen—one of the most antagonistic individuals to the gospel I have ever seen in my life! The kind that took courage just to put on a prayer list—not hard to the gospel—an enemy of the gospel! Wow! And to see that person right over here hit so hard by the power of God that they went from an enemy to completely undone in the glory—in the presence!
How many know after you’ve seen that miracle, you’re ready for the next person? You’re starting to think different! You’re thinking, «Oh, there’s nobody off God’s hit list! There’s nobody outside His reach!» There’s nobody—you know, once you’ve seen one of those big ones fall! The biggest debt you ever had is wiped out! All of a sudden, you’re thinking, «Oh, you’ve got a financial problem? I’ll pray for you!» Why? What happened? Something happened of divine nature started to possess your soul, and you’re thinking differently because you’ve tasted of the promised land!
A fulfillment introduced you to a way of thinking that belongs to God! Only partakers of divine nature—lust takes us to corruption; promises take us to divine nature. I’m going to wrap it up. Let’s wrap it up by reading the remainder of this section in 2 Peter 1. He said, «Also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; to virtue knowledge; to knowledge self-control; to self-control perseverance; to perseverance godliness; to godliness brotherly kindness; to brotherly kindness love.»
«For if these things are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!» Please, just make a mental note—I have it underlined—the knowledge when the spirit of wisdom and revelation comes on you to know about Him creates in you a capacity for fruitfulness that you didn’t have otherwise! The knowledge of His nature creates in you an ability for fruitfulness that you didn’t have otherwise! That phrase out of 1 Corinthians 13, taking no account of a wrong suffered—love looks like something! Not keeping a record of who did what! The knowledge of what He’s like is to introduce us to a fruitfulness, a fruit-bearing capacity to demonstrate His love outside of human talent and even human devotion—to demonstrate what it’s like!
I told you a year or so ago this story that so marked me! Gave my son-in-law, sent me this video of a family that—there was a man who had a serial killer! He had killed so many people, so horrible! And the judge allowed the members of the family to say whatever they wanted to this murderer! And they said the most horrible things, as you can imagine! They were so angry because one of their family members was brutally, brutally murdered!
And this parent took the stand, had a chance to speak to this man, and said, «The daughter that you killed was the love of my life! But I forgive you!» And this guy that had all the defenses up necessary to be unaffected by the hateful comments of so many family members, so many things they would have in the natural the right to say, this one person broke through that shield that protected him, broke through with these words: «I forgive you!»
See, the knowledge of Jesus makes us fruitful where it’s impossible to bear fruit! Seeing Him as He is, coming to encounter this One who holds no grudge against me, who does not bring up the past—this One whose delight it is to say, «You’re forgiven!» Knowing Him creates in us a capacity for fruitfulness that is not human! Remember! «Partakers of divine nature!» That’s what promises do! Verse 9: «For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his own sins.» The implication is, is you can lose sight of what you got set free from! And losing sight of it affects your fruitfulness.
Verse 10: «Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble.» There’s a great verse in Jude, I think it’s verse 23 if I remember right, it says, «Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling.» But right before that, it says, «Keep yourself in the love of God.» You keep yourself in the love of God; He keeps you from falling!
I hope this is making sense! Let’s summarize it: read your Bible! I could have let you out a lot earlier by just telling you that! Read your Bible! But when you do, what do you see? Consider Him! Not just a concept! Not just a truth! The promise? Yes! But let it take you to the promise giver, the promise keeper! The world is crying out for something that’s authentic! And we illustrate Jesus, not just by sermons! It must be through a fruitfulness that is not human! It’s the ability to endure! The ability to love when not being loved!
The ability to have vision for someone who has no vision for themselves! The vision to take on the role of a servant instead of the taskmaster! Paul Manwearing, one of our former staff members—he represents us now in England. He was the head of a youth prison, and he wouldn’t give the guys assignments that he wasn’t willing to do! So when he would tell someone, «Sweep this walkway,» he would get a broom and sweep it with them! Here’s the prisoner, here’s the guardian, but they’re doing the same task! That’s you and that’s me! Coming in low to honor and to serve and to give an example!
So help us, Jesus! Amen! Help us, Lord! Why don’t you stand? I actually thought I was to do something earlier, and I totally forgot until right now! You have a few more minutes, right? All right, don’t worry! I’m not going to talk anymore! I’ll say something! How many of you have ever been injured in an accident of any kind, and you have remaining injuries that you’ve had for at least 10 years? Put a hand up! Put it up high! All right! If you’re next to them, find out what was hurt and pray for God’s miracle! Declare God’s miracle over their body right now!
Go to the person with their hand up, find out what was hurt, and begin to declare the healing word over them now! Is there anyone who doesn’t have anyone to pray for them? Wave your hand at me, and I’ll get somebody to you! I need someone to get to this gentleman back here! Somebody’s going to—okay! Wave your hand at me if nobody’s praying for you!
All right, Holy Spirit, we welcome you now—even now! Restore the destroyed, damaged parts of people’s bodies! Bones be reset now in the name of the Lord Jesus! Cartilage be restored! Nerve damage! There’s a bunch of people with nerve damage! We declare the healing of nerve damage right now in Jesus' name! Numbness goes in the name of the Lord! Numbness goes now in Jesus' name! Okay, I want you to speak to that part of the body and command it well! Command the affliction gone!
Okay, take another 30 seconds or so! Okay, go ahead and end the prayer! All of you that received prayer, try to do what you couldn’t do right now! Examine yourself! Examine yourself! And as soon as you realize you’re at least 80% better, I want you to wave both hands over your head like this because I want you to celebrate! Right here, right here! Another! There! Here’s another! Another over here! Back over here! Wow! At least 10 years! Wow! All right! Turn and pray again! Turn and pray again! Jesus ministered to a blind man twice before he could see clearly!
So I want you to lay hands on him, pray again, command it well! I felt like the Lord wanted to demonstrate His love and His power on old injuries! Thank you, Lord! Just another 30 seconds or so! All right! You did good! Okay, you know what to do! Check yourself out! Just start moving in a way that you couldn’t move! Do something to examine! And I want everyone who is at least 80% better to wave your hands over your head right now, like this! Wave both hands over your head! That’s amazing! Thank you, Lord! Wow, wow, wow! What did Jesus just do?
10 years or longer! 10 years or longer! How many of you got healed of something that you had for 20 years or longer? You just got healed! Put a hand up! 20 years! Wow! Come on! Anybody? 30 years or longer? 30—way over here! 30 years or longer? The oldest injury I’ve seen healed was 72 years! I was in Australia—Melbourne, Australia! I was in a meeting in the—we were at the Salvation Army facility! And it’s a place where Smith Wigglesworth used to have meetings!
And there was a woman in the balcony who was dropped as an infant—damaged her tailbone! She has had pain, and it was deformed for—she’s 72 years old—deformed her entire life! And the Lord healed it that night! It’s completely healed! Release of all—all healed! All pressure, affliction! Thank you, Lord! Well, I would love to hear a couple testimonies! I was going to let you go, but you know, we need to—something happened! You know what? When you give testimony, you encourage people! You prophesy! Is there anyone—I’d like three or four people to just come quickly! Just come quickly! I want to hear what Jesus did! Right here! What happened?
All right, hold on! Why don’t you sit down? Sit down! Sit down! Sorry! I was going to let you go, but not yet! Almost! This is actually the best part! So, yeah! All right! What happened here? Tell everybody!
My arm—I couldn’t lift it all the way up because it has tendinitis, and it’s hard for me to lift my arm straight up because it feels like I have a pinched nerve, so it was hurting today! And I got prayer, and I can lift my hand all the way up now! That’s awesome! How long? She had that problem almost as long as I’ve been alive—27 years! We were in an accident when I was a baby. They were in an accident when you were a baby! So almost 27 years she’s had this problem! For 27 years, she could have—it would go this high! And over the phone on FaceTime, she showed us—it goes all the way up! She could only reach to here! Come on, come on!
Wow! Her grandson, he accepted Jesus when he came two weeks ago with you! That’s awesome! I love that you had the faith to call on the phone! I was in a meeting in Brazil—woo! I beat you! I beat you! I won that time! I was in a meeting in Brazil where the percentage of people getting healed on the phone was higher than the ones in the meeting! Somebody would come to me for prayer, and I wanted to tell them, «Go outside and call me; the odds are higher!» So that’s awesome! Congratulations! That’s so beautiful! Let’s hear from Milton! What happened to you, Stephen?
Um, when I was in junior high about 34 years ago, I hurt my back on a four-wheeler, and it was always kind of tense! I’ve thrown it about three times since, and always had to be really careful with it! But it feels a lot looser, feels like—yeah, we’re going to be able—how move around is there? Something you can do that you—I mean I just—I had to be more careful when I moved than I do now! Yeah! So like I’m able to move more freely!
Yeah! Good deal! Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! All right, that’s good news! Now, you can stand! I’m going to pray over you, and I’m going to turn it over to these guys! How many of you got healed again tonight? Wave your hands! I want to see you! Look around the room! All of you that got healed, tell somebody! A testimony is a prophecy! All right! So, um, I talked to you tonight about promises that lead us to partakers of divine nature! So this is my prayer! Father, let there be rich fulfillment of promises in our lives unto the point where people see Jesus in us! Let it not be just the miracle of provision—although we’re thankful! Let it be that it takes us closer and deeper and nearer to Your heart, that we get to illustrate and demonstrate You more clearly!
I pray that this city and the cities represented in this room would have full-on revelations of who Jesus is because of how we do life. I ask this in Your honor! Amen!