Bill Johnson - Tests You Will Face as You Pursue a Life of Faith
This is the day that the Lord has made. Whatever day you’re in, it’s a day that He designed and planned. He’s got nothing but victory in store. I really liked what Chris was saying during the offering about the way we think. It’s not like mind over matter in the sense of the power of human thought actually having an effect, but the strength of proper thinking comes when you tap into the way God thinks. Then you don’t just have your effect with a positive attitude on a circumstance; you have the entire backing of heaven in the way you think. The Lord is always looking for agreement. That’s the whole point: glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men. The whole deal has always been about the cooperation of heaven and earth. When there’s that partnership, there’s an attraction.
The Lord is attracted to everybody, but He’s not moved by everyone. It sounds almost cool, but if you think it through, it’s not. He was moved by human need and provided Jesus as an offering, but the offering has been made. He’s actually not moved by human need; He’s moved by faith. If He were moved by human need, then countries like Haiti and Mozambique would automatically become the wealthiest countries in the world because He’d be moved by that need. Instead, He’s moved by those who use faith and obey the principles of His kingdom. He’s looking for those who will agree here for how He thinks there, creating a partnership and an invasion that can happen anywhere. We need people like Ronald and Heidi and others who are invading those various countries of the world that have been so broken and so poor. They’re coming with the gospel of salvation, yes, but they’re also coming to save the whole person, to get people thinking the way Jesus thinks and valuing what He values.
This means immediate, short-term conversion but also long-term transformation. Long-term is the target, where a momentum is created that lasts for many generations. That is the heart of the Lord: to impact the way people think, the emotional and mental momentum of a culture, so that the ministry of the gospel becomes very open, very easy, and very effective. There aren’t as many hurdles to jump over when you minister to people who are already geared up for something impossible to happen. Come on, forgive me for repeating, but that’s all we do here: repeat, repeat, and repeat. If I own a home here in Redding and you are renting from me, even though I have the master key, I can’t come in anytime I want. I can only enter by your invitation.
The scripture says, «He made the heavens for Himself, but He made the earth for man.» Yes, He owns it all, but He’s entrusted it to people. He’s looking for a display of people who think like Him, who carry Him in an atmospheric way into a culture where decisions and values are made, where life simply works. The goal isn’t just to get everyone in town saved; if everyone were born again tonight, we would have poverty in the morning. We’d have marriage problems in the morning, children in rebellion in the morning, and drug addiction that didn’t get broken. It is about getting right with God, but it’s also about adjusting and changing life so that His dominion becomes realized.
That’s right, His heart has to work. Life has to work; cities have to work; politics have to work; government has to work. It has to function in a way that doesn’t steal from people but actually empowers them. All government, all rule, has two primary purposes: to protect and empower. All government—whether it’s the president of a country, the CEO of a business, a mom and dad, or a pastor of a church—doesn’t matter what it is; the primary function is to protect and then empower people. Empower people to become something; empower people to step into destiny and purpose. We’re not being trained to sit on a cloud playing a harp and singing for eternity.
If you want to do that, you’ll be able to, but heaven is a very industrious place, extremely creative. Things don’t shut down when you get there; they are actually exponentially increased. Those who write here will write there. Those who sing here will sing there. If you play golf here, I don’t know if you’ll play golf there or not. I did hear about two guys arguing about whether there is golf in heaven. One said, «Well, listen, whoever gets there first, come back and tell the other one.» He said, «All right.»
So his buddy died, and he came back a short time later and said, «I got good news and bad news. The good news is there’s golf in heaven. The bad news is you’re teeing off in the morning.» You’re being trained now; we’re all being trained for eternity. See, there’s a lot of things that the Lord does just to shape our will. I don’t know if this makes sense to you—Jesus actually died to protect the sanctity of your will. Yes, he died for sin, obviously, but he died to protect the uniqueness of the human will. I don’t want to say it’s the one thing, but it is one thing he does not want to tarnish, mark, blemish, or change—the human will is one of the most beautiful, perfect parts of his creation.
So why, when we worship, doesn’t Jesus show up on the stage in all his glory? Why doesn’t he just show up like he did in Revelation chapter 1: eyes of fire, hair white like wool, feet of burnished bronze? Why doesn’t he show up in that flaming display? Because then everybody would worship, but there would be no choice; there wouldn’t be an option. There is a commanding presence in which everything bows; everything bows—the devil himself bows and confesses, the entire demonic realm bows and confesses. Everything—why? Because the presence is so commanding that there are no longer options. He withholds himself so that our will is actually shaped by values.
The Word of God says that he inhabits the praises of his people. So we have a picture of a covenant where we come before him, give him thanks, rejoice, and celebrate his kindness. We put his nature, his character, into words. It’s more than songs; it includes songs, but it’s more than that. It’s actually thought; it’s actually people who have thought, using their intellect to think about what his nature is like, then to take that nature, put it into word form, and declare it, sing it, proclaim it, yell it, scream it, bow, confess it. But the whole point is that there is an expression of who he is in word form, and when that happens, he is drawn through his covenant with people into that environment. Faith will always discover that, because faith is anchored in the presence of God. Faith will always discover that which is manifest.
I’ve got a dream—a dream about a city being saved. Obviously, in state, nation, etc. But first things first—baby steps. I don’t know if you wonder about this, but I wonder what it would look like to have a city saved. I don’t mean all the citizens saved; obviously, we need that. But what would it look like to have an economy saved? What would it look like to have family life saved? What would it look like for relationships to be saved? What would it look like for government to function out of the concept of honor, discovering the treasure in the city and empowering it to succeed? What would it look like for people in leadership not to be threatened by those who are rising? What would it look like for a city to make room for its own children to rise, to succeed, and to surpass the impact, the significance, the success of their moms and dads?
What would it look like for people to walk the streets at 1 or 2 in the morning with absolute confidence of total safety, where there are streetlights, and where there are no streetlights, because there’s just such a peace that permeates the air? What would it look like to walk into a business, have a question, have a problem, and have the entire attitude of the business be, «Nothing’s impossible. We don’t know how to fix your problem, but let’s think about it; we’ll figure it out.» What would it be like—just simple attitudes of hope, attitudes of «There’s nothing that’s impossible»? What would that look like?
I love the thought in Romans 5:17: «For if by one man’s offense, referring to Adam, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.» So there’s the deal—death reigned through Adam; now life reigns through Jesus. Here’s the phrase that I like so much: «We, you and me, will receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, and as a result, we will reign in life.» I love that statement so much; it’s messed me up for a lot of years. I can’t say that I understand it; I don’t understand anything totally, but I really need help on this one. But it makes my heart sing—not because I want to rule over people, because if you know anything about reigning in the kingdom, it’s never over people; it’s over circumstances, it’s over difficulties, it’s over challenges, it’s over problems, it’s over virtues, it’s over the heart, it’s over the mind, it’s over words. If you watch what you think about, you won’t have to watch what you talk about.
Reigning in life is that posture; it’s that position of managing life well unto a perfect, beautiful, righteous ending. If we were to think in terms of royalty, which is hard for us as Americans to grasp—those of you from the UK and from other countries that have royalty in your political system, in your way of life, this is a little easier for you. But in royalty, royalty is able to make certain things work because they’re in charge. They face problems, but they don’t face a problem that overwhelms or overtakes them. They are able to use the resources of the nation, the resources of the people, to bring about a positive end or conclusion. To reign in life is just that: it’s tapping into all the resources of heaven to bring about a righteous conclusion. You don’t always control how well the car works; sometimes it breaks down at an unexpected time. In fact, it always breaks down at an unexpected time. It’s never convenient, and it’s never positive. That’s why I started buying newer cars, so that I wouldn’t have to deal with bitterness. Chris used to work in his shop, and I can’t imagine how much money he spent repairing my cars and just keeping them up. I think he was praying I would get a newer car too, because he would repair them and fix them, and I was in a tough place. Once, I needed to get a car; we had to sell one, and we got this car and rebuilt the motor and everything.
So here’s our family car for a season, and then it breaks down really badly—it just needs to be shot and buried, is really what it came down to. And Chris came to me and said, «Man, I feel so bad. I thought we’d actually make money on a car for you. We actually lost money on this.» I said, «Oh, Chris, don’t feel bad; that’s the lowest amount of money I’ve ever lost on a car. This is beautiful. I mean, we’re making progress; we’re going the right way; we’re going in the right direction.» You know, reigning in life is where none of those circumstances are fun, but there’s always a kingdom approach with kingdom resources to handle anything that comes our way. The challenge in life is for us to learn how to access what God has made available for us, and that’s what faith does. Faith grabs hold of what God has made available for every believer. I believe we will learn this before it’s over—what it looks like to live with unlimited resources, not unlimited resources to build personal empires and kingdoms, but unlimited resources to accomplish everything that he has put in our heart to accomplish.
All right, here’s one of the lessons that I feel like the Lord would have us learn. I want you to go to First Kings chapter 19. Goodness, I actually was going to start by praying for people; I guess we’ll just end by praying for people. I just got talking, and now I’m so far in I can’t pull out; I’m committed. First Kings 19—there are a couple of stories in this regard that have been on my mind in recent days, and I’ve been looking for an opportunity to just talk about them with trusted friends, which is what I’m going to do tonight. One of the things that you hear a lot about—many of us write books. We address the subject in the books; we do them in conferences; we do them in various Sunday night sessions—and it’s this subject called «the culture of honor.» Honor is such a huge part of our life here; really, it’s just unfortunate. It stands out; it should be normal because it is the normal Christian life. It is the value you put in another person; it’s the fact that Paul said, «Submit to one another in the fear of Christ.» In other words, I’m going to respond to you as I would respond to Jesus.
I wish I could say I’ve done that well all the time. I have not. I have succeeded some, and I have failed miserably other times. But this is what we’re learning; we’re all on this curve to learn to actually respond to one another as we would to the Lord Jesus. When you do that, you bring greatness out of people. We’ve had people ask us to come to teach on the subject of honor—people specifically, various leaders—because they want to be honored more. The report they give is that, «My people just don’t honor me well enough,» and «There’s a lot of disrespect and dishonor,» etc. And we really need that teaching on the culture of honor. The worst thing in the world to do is to try to create a culture of honor so that you’ll be honored, because you will be disappointed. But if you create a culture of honor so that everybody around you thrives, then you can succeed. It is a doable quest.
This concept of creating a culture of honor so that we are applauded will backfire because it’s nauseating—it’s gross! But honor is the atmosphere in which people become their best. The reason to pursue the culture of honor is that it is an atmosphere. It’s more than an act. Every once in a while, I’ll have a pastoral friend call or send me a note and say, «Hey, we took an offering for such-and-such a place. You know, how’s that for honor?» And it is; it’s a wonderful thing. There may be a family in crisis or another church in crisis—they’ll receive an honor and a generous gift to help them. I love to see others respond that way to the needs of the community and world conditions, etc. But an act is not a culture; it’s a step towards developing culture. Culture is actually a way of thinking, and it becomes an atmosphere. It becomes something that’s tangible—you can almost taste it.
What happens in the culture of honor is that people are celebrated for who they are instead of stumbling over who they’re not. There’s a value for gifting and graces—one of the things that I think we’re going to be learning in the next ten years, this is a side note, is that we’re going to be required—not in a law sense, but just for advancement’s sake—we’re going to be required to learn how to know people after the spirit. The discerning of spirits isn’t just the recognition of evil spirits; the discerning of spirits is a discernment of the spirit realm and to recognize one another after the spirit because some people would slip past easily, and yet they’re supposed to have a significant role in your life. If you don’t recognize what they carry in God, you’ll never stop long enough to receive what they have because they don’t come in a package that appears to be acceptable to you.
One of the challenges that we have in this culture of honor that we’re working on—one of the big challenges—is that we unintentionally create a system where people are looking to be honored. In fact, if they’re not honored, if they’re not celebrated, then they’ll go somewhere else. That’s just stupid. I don’t know another phrase for it. Just say with me, «That’s dumb.» That’s just dumb! It is because the Lord will often arrange the greatest treasure—the thing that we ache for, the thing we long for the most—he will actually package it in the most offensive context. No, he will! Because he needs to know the resolve that we have in our heart. It’s not an issue of punishment; it’s not like he mocks those who are weak in heart. What he’s looking for is looking for people that can carry the weight of his kingdom because his kingdom is a glorious kingdom, and the word glory is heavy or weighty.
So he’s looking for people that, when they carry a greater measure of kingdom, a greater measure of presence, a greater measure of responsibility and authority, they don’t crumble under the weight of what they’ve been given. And so the Lord is constantly testing us to see what we can carry. The test is not to humiliate or to punish; the test is just to see what can I entrust to them. The lesson of the miners and the talents—the faithfulness of the one who used the one mina and earned ten miners more—they were put in charge of ten cities. There was a weight of responsibility given to the one who acted with the greatest character in carrying their assignment. They were given responsibility for management, influence over cities.
The point is that God is always testing the metal, so to speak, to see what the strength is, to see what our resolve is, how easily can we be distracted. One of my favorite stories in this regard is Elijah and Elisha. So let’s just get into it and we’ll take a little bit of the story and see if we can make some sense of this. All right, you doing all right? Good—all twelve of you! That’s all right, I worked with less. Just messing with you. Verse 19 of First Kings 19: «So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Sheaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelve. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him.»
Now, the mantle is the sign of an office that Elijah had as a prophet, but it also represented the anointing, that sense of presence that was upon him. All right, Moses had a rod of authority; Elijah had a mantle of anointing. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, «Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.» And he said to him, «Go back again, for what have I done to you?» Elijah’s response to Elisha—Elisha comes to him and says, «Let me kiss my mom and dad; tell them goodbye; I will follow you.» Elijah says to Elisha, «Go back again; what have I done to you?»
Imagine a wonderful prophet of the Lord standing in this pulpit here tonight, and he’s just one of these guys that just gets unusual detail about people’s lives. Then he has an incredible grace to impart significance, anointing for breakthrough—things just happen whenever this prophet ministers. Let’s say he called you by name; you’ve never met before; he called you by name and let you know your address. He did all this stuff just to confirm to you that he knew what he was talking about. Then he prophesied some significant role over your life that you would carry his mantle and impact nations of the world. You’re overwhelmed; you’re weeping, sobbing, laughing—you don’t know what to do, you’re dancing inside and maybe on the outside, you know, a little hopping time there in the row.
The meeting gets over, and you see him down here, and he’s about to be taken out and taken to his hotel room. You run after him; you want to connect with him. You come to him and say, «I’m so thankful for the word you just gave me.» And he says to you, «I didn’t do anything; just go back. That meant nothing.» What do you do? Because see, the person that Elijah is looking for, more importantly, that God is looking for, has to be able to recognize a divine moment when nobody else does. Elijah says, «That meant nothing.» Where is Elisha going to end up? He’s going to end up carrying this mantle of anointing; he’s going to stand in that office, and if you’re familiar with the story, he’s actually going to carry a double anointing.
That’s where we get the double anointing concept—from Elisha’s request to Elijah. He’s going to end up with this two-fold anointing of the greatest—that’s probably the greatest prophet. I think the greatest prophet in the Old Testament, besides John the Baptist, who was also Old Testament, but John the Baptist walked in the spirit and power of Elijah. So Elijah set the standard for authority and power in prophetic ministry. So Elisha is now going to carry a double portion. That’s where he’s going to end up, and he’s got to go through school. The first school is can he be discouraged about his call? Can the guy who summons him to his destiny conflict with him in a way where he feels sorry for himself and goes back to plowing fields?
It’s important because many people don’t make it through that first phase. No, they just didn’t honor me; they just didn’t recognize the grace on my life; you know, they did one moment, then they didn’t the next, and I don’t know—I just think there’s just a spirit of Jezebel involved here somehow. There’s always some conclusion where that person’s an idiot, and you’re totally righteous and right instead of just a baby, a child, an infant that doesn’t know how to deal with disappointment. Because if you don’t know how to walk through disappointment, you can’t be trusted with what you’ve asked for. It’s not punishment; it’s just actually mercy. It’s mercy that the Lord would not release over us all that we’ve asked for, and he has to take us through this journey.
I love what Chris—how many of you were here for Chris’s word this morning? That was such a great word. I really liked that concept that God has a purpose, not a plan. You know, I don’t know, I have a GPS—I’m about to go off on a rant here—I wish Apple made all the GPSs for all the cars, because the cars are a pain in the neck to program. It’s just my personal opinion, and I am right. All I have to do is tell Siri where I want to go, and she takes me there. But anyway, all right? So I’m driving home from our hunting trip here just a couple of weeks ago. We’re driving home from Sacramento airport, and there was nasty traffic, so we knew of a little shortcut. We get off the road, and they’ve got it blocked. So now we have to work our way back into the same traffic we were just on, and we lost our place. You know what I mean when you lose your place? I mean, you can’t lose your place. You’re in a pecking order; there’s only a matter of time until you’re delivered. To be in that pecking order, you just—and we lost our place.
What I love about GPS is it just says, «Recalculating route.» You know, you do something stupid; God goes, «Yeah, well, we’ll have to—I already figured your stupidity into the equation, so we’re recalculating the route. We will now take you through this.» You know, as Chris was talking this morning, we’ll take you through the pit and through the prison to get you where I need to get you. But sometimes we choose those things just by foolish choices. So what is the Lord doing? He’s testing to see what we can carry. And so he puts somebody in front of you. We had this happen here in the early days. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this; it’s not that big of a deal; it just was something I had to walk through. I remember we would have people come, and they’d be so powerfully touched. They’d been to Toronto; they’d been to Pensacola. Here’s the test: they’d been to both places, and they came and they were touched powerfully here. And the person would say, «This is a greater anointing than Pensacola and Toronto.» Guess what? You just got handed an exam. Is it greater than both places? No, no!
What is the Lord doing? He’s encouraging. What are you going to do with the encouragement? Are you going to think more highly of yourself than you should? Are you actually going to get into competition with the other places? Are you going to live in comparison as to who has the greater anointing? What the Lord means for good, the enemy will always try to use for evil. If he can’t get you to do evil, he’ll get you to exaggerate the good. So here’s Elisha: the prophet throws his mantle over him, and he knows that that represents—you are the heir apparent. You are going to be now mentored, discipled, fathered by this great prophet. And it’s only a matter of time if you do things right; you will carry that mantle, that anointing. He goes up to him in response to the altar call and says, «You and me.»
And Elijah says, «Go home; what I did to you is completely insignificant.» What I’ve noticed is, in this kind of environment where we really honestly love to celebrate people, there’s almost like a weakness in being able to handle rejection. I mean, it’s never fun. You know, we’re not talking about the most pleasurable moment in our life, but it may be the most necessary. Yes, it may be the most necessary. Why? Because of where this guy is going. We have to know—can he handle the ability to recognize a divine moment, even when the guy that’s over him is denying the significance of that moment? Can he do that?
So you fast forward to the end of the story. Elisha is known throughout his life as «the man who washes Elijah’s hands.» That’s kind of his title. He comes toward the end of his life, and Elijah and Elisha are almost going on a journey, a trip together. Every city they stop in, Elijah says, «Why don’t you stay here?» And he’s basically giving Elisha an opportunity to receive his blessing, to pastor this church here, the school of the prophets. He’s able to anchor himself into the city and be recognized by everybody in the city that he’s being appointed by Elijah to be in charge, and Elisha isn’t interested in a position; he’s interested in a mantle. He’s not looking for a title; he’s interested in receiving a relational mantle that changes the rest of his life.
That’s what he’s focused on. Now remember, what was the first thing he faced? Oh, what I did to you means nothing. The challenge—can he recognize the divine moment in spite of his own master downplaying that moment’s significance? Can he do that? You fast forward to the end of his life; he takes him to several cities and says, «Why don’t you stay here?» Elisha says, «I’m not leaving you.» He’s like white on rice; he’s just with him the whole journey. In fact, part of the language of scripture actually talks about Elisha wouldn’t even let Elijah go to the bathroom by himself. I mean, he was literally with him, with him.
So here we are in this journey—sorry, here we are in this journey, and Elijah finally turns to Elisha and says, «What do you want me to do for you?» Elisha says, «I want a double portion of what you have.» Elijah goes, «That’s a hard one,» because that’s something he can’t do. You can’t give twice what you have. I have people come to me all the time, «I want twice what you have.» My response is, «So do I!» If it were that easy, I’d just lay hands on myself. So Elisha is actually asking something of Elijah that Elijah cannot do.
He’s asking for twice what he has, and Elijah receives from the Lord a way it could be done. He knew it would have to come from the Lord, so he gives him a test—he gives him a challenge. He says, «If you see me when I’m taken, then you can have it.» Well, that sounds like a pretty easy assignment, especially if you won’t let the guy go to the bathroom by himself. But there’s a problem—out of the sky comes a chariot of fire, and that chariot of fire separates Elijah and Elisha. So Elisha is standing here; Elijah’s right there. The chariot of fire comes. Some of the old hymns talk about Elijah going up in the chariot of fire. He didn’t go up in a chariot of fire—Bible says he went up in a whirlwind. What was the chariot of fire for? It was a God-sent supernatural distraction. Why? Because if he can be distracted from his assignment, he could not survive under a double-portion anointing.
He could not survive in what seems like punishment. The rejection from the master was actually a necessary school because if he can’t manage his heart in that kind of challenging moment, then he cannot step into what he was born for because it would actually crush him. And so here is Elisha: the chariot of fire comes down and separates the two, and he’s got his eyes on Elijah. The Bible says Elijah was taken up in the whirlwind, and this mantle falls down out of heaven. Elisha grabs it, and he goes over to the river and strikes the river, saying, «Where is the God of Elijah?» And the waters part. If you want to know what you have, find a problem. If you want to know what you have, find the obstacle between you and your destiny.
A lot of people tell me, «How about their great anointing?» That’s awesome—strike some water! Do something to the obstacle between you and your destiny. What’s the significance of this mantle that floats down out of the sky? Because this mantle couldn’t carry a double-portion anointing when it came from Elijah’s hands, so God had to take it first and then release it back so it had twice what Elijah ever carried. Elisha took the mantle, wore the mantle, and walked in a double-portion anointing. If you look at the miracles that were done through Elisha, they were exactly twice what Elijah accomplished.
The point is you and I have prayed—we’ve all prayed the great prayers, the bold prayers. We’ve asked for extraordinary things, and the moment you prayed them, circumstances around you begin to be set up for your examination. How many of you have prayed a prayer like, «God, I want every case of cancer that I pray for healed»? How many of you have prayed a prayer like that? The moment you prayed it, God began to position circumstances around you. Number one, can you face discouragement and still give him praise, or do you only praise him when things go your way? Do you know how to battle self-examination, self-criticism? Can you make it through that challenge?
Once someone comes to you and says, «I came to you a year ago; I was dying of cancer, and the moment you touched me, the cancer left my body. The Lord told me I was healed because a great man of God or a great woman of God prayed for me.» What do you do with the compliment, the celebration? Don’t deny it; that’s foolish. Receive it, but then give it where it belongs. You know the Lord allows us to taste of glory for our encouragement, honor, celebration, recognition—it’s an important part of life. But any honor, celebration, that comes to us that stays with us doesn’t reach its full impact. It’s supposed to equip me to give him even more glory because he gave me the privilege of co-laboring with him.
A simple agreement on earth—heaven invaded, and I got to share in the pleasure of his breakthrough. You take the compliment; you take the applause; you take whatever it is, you get before the Lord, and you say, «God, look at all this that I collected today; it all belongs to you; you’re the reason for every single bit of it.» So here is the making of a man of God, the making of the double-portion anointing. Just as a side note, in the New Testament, in the New Testament scripture, John the Baptist is referred to as carrying the spirit and power of Elijah. Now just think with me on this: Elijah, the greatest Old Testament prophet besides John the Baptist, comes along in this same anointing, considered even greater prophet than Elijah, but he’s called the man who carries the spirit and power of Elijah.
If John the Baptist is the greatest and Elijah set the standard, why doesn’t it say John the Baptist lived in the spirit and power of Elisha? Because Elisha had more than Elijah. Because heaven always honors the father, the mother, the people who started the breakthrough. The sons and the daughters will always be able to take it farther than the parents who got the breakthrough, but the ones who started the breakthrough, the ones who started the momentum for a family, for a tribe, will always be given that honor.
I look at those who are—I mean, I’m very thankful for my heritage. I’m a fifth-generation pastor. I can’t express enough how thankful I am. But I also know when I look at people like Chris and others who are really first generation. Guess what? There’s a whole lineage being shaped by the decisions of one person, and heaven records all the future victories back to the investment that one generation made. And here we have this story where God was looking for someone who would carry a double-portion manifestation of him into the earth, but to do it, he had to find someone who would not take it personally when his master didn’t celebrate him, and then could not be distracted by supernatural activity away from his personal assignment. The chariot of fire was not sent from the devil; it was sent from God. It was a God thing, but it was sent to see if the man who asked for a double-portion anointing would stay focused on his call instead of be distracted by anything that just seems to be happening.
I’m done——over—finish! Three! Now that was about as graceful an ending as you can get. I think I’m pretty sure we’re going to pray for a lot of people in a moment, but I want to pray for some who need miracles in their body right now. There’s someone who has—it feels like inflammation in this whole right shoulder area—just inflammation; something to do with the tissue, the muscles. Who is that? Just put your hand up. Well, you don’t have to stand just yet; I’ll have you stand in a moment. Just put your— all right, quite a few; there’s just that inflammation issue with the muscle, the tissue right here.
There’s also somebody who has a problem in the bone of the right leg. I don’t know if it was an injury, a break; it almost feels like something different than that. I had a hard time during worship trying to pick up what it was, but it has to do with the bone—a disease or something wrong in the bone of the right leg. The Lord is healing—is that you? I’d be curious to know what that is; maybe you can tell me later once you get rid of it.
There’s also at least one person that has like an infection in the lungs. There are many with breathing disorders, but there’s somebody—I don’t know if it’s like a fungus, an infection, something to do in the lungs—is that you? Over here? All right; breathing disorders, and there’s something to do with an infection or something in the lungs; it’s not like growths; it’s not like tumors; it’s actually some sort of a disease in the lungs, and the Lord is healing that tonight. So we have here; is there anyone up here? No, there’s nobody up here. All right. All right. And then there’s, um, the Lord is healing the pancreas, and there could be any number of diseases represented—pancreatic cancer; we know about diabetes as an issue with the pancreas. So any pancreatic issues, pancreatitis, any of those kinds of things, I feel like the Lord is just touching the pancreas tonight. So if that’s you, put a hand up high. All right, beautiful.
Do you guys have any words of knowledge down here? Anything going on? Yep, shin splints. Anybody have shin splints? Yeah, right—okay. Even if they’re reoccurring, it’s a reoccurring issue, and they’re not bothering you tonight; we just don’t want them reoccurring anymore. Just—we only—we only like the disease that goes. Yeah, an infection in the right eye—infection in the right eye. Who is that? An infection right here? Okay, all right. Yep. A growth—growth on the neck?
Okay, there’s a growth in the neck—some sort of a growth here in the neck. What was that? Is that over here? All right, all right—right over here. All right. Anything else? Colitis? Okay, anybody with colitis? I feel like—let me just declare something; I feel like there is a wave of anointing for healing in this house for digestive issues—from food allergies to Crohn’s disease to colitis—to that whole family of problems. We’re booting that family out! I feel like— I feel like you can just expect it. I feel like it’s just one of those things that you’ll be able to expect that the Lord is healing it.
A couple of years ago, we had a young lady with a child that had a wheat allergy, dairy allergy, and was autistic. She stood in proxy that we prayed for her, and she took her child to get pizza, and the child no longer had a wheat allergy or dairy, and then found out right after that he no longer had autism either—completely healed! So we’re thankful for that.
I feel like—I just want to prophesy this: that you will bring friends into the room who have various kinds of digestive issues, and when they leave, they will be fine; they will be healed. So I believe that’s going to be one of the ongoing miracles. All of you that raised your hands, go ahead and stand up if you would. There’s also someone that has an issue in the right hip—it’s not the joint; it’s right above the right hip; it’s in the tissue right above the joint. If you were to touch the joint, it would be like two or three inches above that. There’s an issue right there—some sort of an injury—who is that? I want to see who you are. Right back over here? Okay, we’ve got several. All right, there’s also conditions in the spine, and I know back problems are fairly common, and that’d be another thing just to whoop right out of here, but there are issues all up and down the spine that the Lord is going to heal. Right into the neck, there’s degenerative conditions in the neck—there’s somebody that has a problem right at the base of the skull and the top of the neck. There’s some sort of connection there that’s not right. There’s an injury or damage—something—and it’s just not right. The Lord Jesus—the Lord is healing you tonight.
All right, well, somebody’s got a problem like in their toes. It’s like a—I don’t think it’s arthritis, but something like—okay, there’s a problem in the toes. He doesn’t—Chris doesn’t think it’s arthritis, but it’s something like that. There’s an issue in the toes—gout, could be anything of that nature in the toes. All right? All right, yeah—go ahead and stand up if that’s you. This is the time to get well! Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what you are already doing. We thank you, God, that the healing word has been released. The Bible says he sent his word and healed them.
We’ve noticed in places, especially like down in Argentina and sometimes in Brazil, when they’ve been trained on what a word of knowledge is—a word of knowledge is God identifying what he’s about to do—come on! Wherever there’s people that have been trained in the power and wonder of the word of knowledge, a large percentage start getting healed when the condition is spoken. So I believe that some of you are already healed. So before we actually pray for you—actually, there’s somebody here who broke the right ankle. I can feel it in the ankle bone; you broke it some time ago; it didn’t heal correctly. You still have issues; it may have been a week ago, and it could have been fifty years ago; I don’t know, but there’s an issue in that right ankle. Who’s that? Real quick. All right, we got a couple.
All right, so what I want all of you to do before we pray for you—I want you to examine yourself to see what the Lord has already done. Do what you couldn’t do; move in a way you couldn’t move. If there’s any way to examine yourself, then do that right now. If there’s issues with breathing, then do what you can to examine your breathing. But don’t just stand there. Don’t wait to feel goosebumps, heat, tingles, icebergs, flaming balls of fire—don’t put God to the test; just check yourself right now. Okay, do it real quick, and as soon as you discover that Jesus has already healed you, what I want you to do is wave both hands over your head like this, so we can just rejoice and celebrate with you.
All right, check yourself really good, and as soon as you discover that you’ve already been healed, wave both hands like this—do it for about ten seconds so we can see you. Right down here? Right there? There’s another one here. All right, beautiful! We thank you for that, Lord. We thank you for healing people. We thank you—you know, one of the important parts of this—we’re going to pray, and the prayer of faith is really important, but one thing that I think sometimes is undervalued is the action that follows the prayer of faith. We know of people who have examined themselves for up to 30 minutes, just keep trying, keep trying until they were actually healed. There’s something about knowing that something belongs to you, and you’re just learning how to apprehend it; you’re learning how to move it from your account to your possession.
And so this is available for everyone. All of you that are standing—put a hand up if you would, and keep it there until somebody comes to you. Those of you that are sitting down, go to someone who’s standing up, but don’t pray until I tell you to, all right? Just go to them; put your hand down when somebody comes to you. I think yesterday, somebody thought they were having a heart attack. Is there anyone here that thought you were having a heart attack yesterday? You had pains in the chest—wave your hand at me if that’s you. You did? Right here—Brian, that gentleman right there—just crawl over the seats and pray for him.
Okay, is there anyone that had—you don’t have anybody praying for you yet, wait—okay, I need somebody up here in the second row to my left, I need someone about five rows back in this middle left section. Okay, anybody else? Wave your hand at me—alright, everyone’s covered. Most of you know what to do; for those that are new with us today, you’ve got to find out what the problem is, first of all. Those of you that need the prayer, just give them a target; they don’t need a story, just a target. Secondly, as you pray, lay your hand on the problem, if it’s a proper place to put your hand. If not, put it on the shoulder; pray— the anointing travels, all right?
And then, as you pray, speak to the problem; use the authority God has given you to break the power of that affliction on their body and release that healing grace, all right? Let me pray over you, then I’ll turn you loose. Holy Spirit, we invite you to come even now with great power and demonstrate the lordship of Jesus through miracles, through signs, through wonders. Amen? Amen! Go ahead and find out how to pray. Thank you, Lord! Increase, Lord! Increase this anointing for breakthrough. Increase the anointing for breakthrough here in Jesus' wonderful name! Yes, Lord! Let creative miracles take place, especially in the spine; we call for creative miracles that all things would be made new. Restore people in Jesus' name. Thank you, mighty God! Thank you, mighty God! All right, go ahead and end your prayer if you would, but stay with the person—just stay there with them, okay? All of you that receive prayer right now, examine yourself—try to do what you couldn’t do.
Just put faith into action; see what God has done. As soon as you realize you’ve been healed at least 80%, wave both hands over your head like this; do it for about fifteen seconds. Come on, wave your hands over your head like this, both hands. Yep, thank you, Lord! Right down here; over here—several more; yep—wave your hands over your head if the Lord healed you. Thank you, God! Right over here’s another one—another one there, another one down here. Thank you, Lord! Wave your hands over your head so that we—yeah, you’re testifying God has healed you. Right over here’s another beautiful—thank you, Jesus!
Okay, now we’re going to pray; we’re going to pray—I think one more time. Just a second. We’ve been doing this simple model in prayer for goodness—so many years, 15 years or more, I guess. Almost every time, if not every time, we follow with a second prayer, and there are always people healed the second time instead of the first time. The model for it is Jesus prayed for a blind man twice before he could see clearly, and if Jesus had to do it twice, we need to be ready to do it twice. So if the person you prayed for is 100%, you don’t need to pray again, but if they aren’t, turn and serve them one more time, then we’ll wrap this up.
Thank you, Lord! Increase the breakthrough, God! Bless the Lord! Lord, let creative miracles happen up and down the spine right now, that all things would be made new! Let this be restored to full health and strength! Thank you, mighty God! Thank you, mighty God! All right, everyone examine yourselves; see what the Lord has done. As soon as you discover Jesus healed you, wave your hands in the air till your arms cross over your head. Okay, look around you; do it for like 10 seconds or so, so people can see what God has done. Beautiful—thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! I love it! I love it!
Wonderful, Jesus! Wonderful, Jesus! Okay, go ahead and be seated real quick, real quick. Tom, would you get the mic? We’re going to do—have you run out in the audience a moment. All right, how many of you got healed tonight? Just stand up and wave your hands; would you? Just stand up—just—yeah, testify to us! Jesus healed your body! Beautiful! Yeah, we give you thanks! Wow, this was a hot section tonight—look at that! Wow, beautiful! I would like to hear just two or three testimonies of what Jesus healed—what did he heal?
Tell me this—what did Jesus heal in your body tonight? Just yell it out so I can hear you. My neck? Your neck? Whose neck? Right here? How long have you had the problem? I’d say probably—I’m going to guess it’s probably been four or five years. Four or five years? How did you injure it? Do you know? It happened a long time ago, and I fell on a—I was working, and I fell over on a dolly at work, and it messed my back up and my neck. I received healing, but there was this one spot on my neck that didn’t get healed apparently, and so it’s been giving me problems since then. And just now when we were praying, it was like the second and third time; it just kept getting better and better and better until it was gone!
Thank you, Lord! Yay, God! Beautiful, beautiful! How many of you had your neck healed? Yeah, beautiful! Beautiful! What else got healed here tonight? Just shoulders? Shoulders? How long have you had that? I don’t know—old football injury—not from last week! No, that’s right—come on, Jesus! That’s awesome! And it just got healed? Did you feel anything happen? Oh, just slowly—it’s—I think it’s something that’s just slowly letting me know that it’s been there for a while, but as years went on, it started getting a little—did you—when it got healed tonight, did you feel heat or tingling, or just all of a sudden—is it better? No, just as it’s progressively just got better all the time while we were praying?
Yeah, beautiful! Thank you, Lord—we love it! We love it! Who got healed of something? You just got healed of something real significant in your body tonight, and you’re just almost surprised—anybody? Just surprised by God’s goodness? We got a gentleman right here waving his hand—just get back in there—what happened to you? Well, I’m 80 years old, and I’ve played aggressive tennis for 66 years. Consequently, I’ve dislocated my right shoulder three times, which has given me lots of inflammation. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard anybody address inflammation like you did tonight.
I’ve never addressed it, and I don’t know that anything can be done medically for it; it’s just something that when you’re an old man, you have to put up with. But I also had that lung congestion problem, and you also identified a hip injury. Did those three things get healed? Did what—did those three things get healed? Yes! I don’t have this hip injury anymore—the hip is good, lungs are clear! Come on, beautiful! Let’s stand to give the Lord praise; can we just stand up? Lord, we give you thanks; we give you praise—beautiful! I love that—aggressive, aggressive tennis. He didn’t play tennis; he played aggressive tennis! I’m afraid to hear what that was like! Aggressive tennis, wow, 80 years old! Bless you—that’s awesome!
Oh, come on—let’s give another offering this time! We do honor you, Lord; we honor you; we bless you! Oh, so good! So good! So good! I know there are people online that got healed as well, and it always encourages us for those who are on the Bethel TV audience. By the way, Bethel family, when I travel, I think when most of us travel, one of the most common comments I get is, «Thank you for Bethel TV.» And we hear of great miracles, and so those of you that are watching on Bethel TV, if God did something great in your life, in your body, please send us an email or something; let us know. It’s always fun to hear what’s happening.