Bill Johnson - How to Give God Control of Your Life
Those who see him, those who behold him, function differently than everybody else. Everybody else functions out of theory, out of philosophy. But those who come to a place where they behold him live from a different place, and because of that, they come into places of great victory. The issue of fear is—um—the command to not fear is the most frequently repeated command in the Bible. Why? Because it leads to unbelief. Complaining is the language of unbelief. Complaining only comes from a heart that has a lordship challenge, a lordship issue. Where the lordship of Jesus is being compromised, complaining will be the evidence.
Is there anybody else in this room? Don’t complain, though. Complaining is the language of fear. It’s the language of unbelief. Nobody complains who sees God’s role in the middle of their situation. Complaints only happen because we’ve lost sight of who he is and where he is. There are some fears that are natural fears, or can I say responsible fears—like putting your hand on a hot stove. Don’t tempt God; that’s stupid. Walking across the floor barefoot with broken glass? It’s not a smart idea. Voting for socialism? It’s just not. Just want to make sure you’re awake. I’ve been waiting all morning to say that—actually longer than that.
Verse 13: Moses said to the people, «Do not be afraid.» I’m sorry, but I don’t have enough time to take many detours, so I’ll just take one, and then this is the last one. I read this post that said, «When you have a conflict with your wife, just tell her she’s overreacting, and that’ll calm everything down.» That’s kind of what I thought of here. Moses comes to Israel, who was terrified, and says, «Don’t be afraid.» Oh, okay. Okay, there’s a good idea. I just won’t be afraid. But then he comes with the word of the Lord: «Don’t be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.»
It just hit me strongly in the Twin View service just a few minutes ago, and I feel the same here now. There are some of you who are facing ongoing problems, and I feel like I’m supposed to declare over you: You will never see those Egyptians in that issue. You’ll never see them again. Today it ends. That will not be a cyclical issue in your life. It ends today. But here’s the word that Moses brought to the nation of Israel: The Egyptians, who were trying to kill you, you will never see again forever.
Okay, move on. Verse 14 says, «The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.» Now, verse 15 is important. And the Lord said to Moses, «Why do you cry out to me?» All right. What’s happening here? In verses 13 and 14, Moses is prophesying: «Just stand still. God’s going to deliver you. You’re going to see him work on your behalf. He’s going to bring you to a place of great peace. Just hold your place.» And in the very next verse, we see God say, «Why are you crying out to me?» So, that tells me that after the prophecy, Moses is interceding. He gave this great word to Israel, and then he’s saying, «Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, do you see these people that I’m leading? Oh God.» So the Lord says, «Why do you cry out to me?» Apparently, there was prayer after the prophecy.
But what does he say? Verse 15: «The Lord said to Moses, 'Why do you cry out to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.'» Now, I don’t know if you notice this, but there’s a big difference between standing still and going forward. Moses sensed the safety and provision of the Lord. Let me say, it’s possible he assumed he was going to do it while we stood still. And the Lord brought one clarification to that prophetic word: «I’m going to do it, but I’m going to do it while you’re moving forward. You’re not to stand still.» And there are times, honestly, when you just take the position of rest, and there are other times when you just move in the right direction. God is not usually looking for great courageous leaps in movement. He’s generally looking for just movement in the right direction.
We had a staff member here years ago who had a very, very serious head trauma injury. Very serious. He couldn’t play with his children anymore, nor could he be in any room where there was any kind of—not even an argument, just challenging conversation. There were certain things he couldn’t see on TV because he was so traumatized by the injury to his head. He was actually over there in one Sunday night service in the men’s room, and the Lord just prompted him, «Bump your head against the wall.» That terrified him because that would send him—well, to bump his head against the wall. He said, «Lord, I can’t do that.» And then what he did is lean his head softly against the wall. Instantly healed. Completely healed of all the trauma from so long. Because the Lord isn’t always looking for great courageous leaps; He’s looking for movement in the right direction. Does that make sense?
Stop trying to be a hero. Just move in the right direction. Just move in the right direction. So he says, «Why do you cry out to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.» We move on down through the story, and the Lord begins to reveal himself as being with the children of Israel on this journey. I like this story a lot. It says in verse 19, excuse me, verse 18: «The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gained honor for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.» And the angel of God who went before the camp of Israel moved and went behind them.
This is interesting. So God’s in front of them, showing them where to go, and He’s behind them, protecting them from the Egyptians, right? So the angel of God who went before the camp moved and went behind them, and the pillar of the cloud went before them and stood behind them. So He went between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud of darkness to the former and gave light by night to the latter. Two manifestations of the same revival: a cloud in one case, fire in another. The same sun that melts ice hardens clay. The workings and dealings of God, the effect of those workings and dealings, have everything to do with the condition of our hearts, the posture, the position of our hearts. Am I saying, «God, prove it to me»? Or am I saying, «No matter what you say, my answer is yes»? Because those two positions are extremely different. It’s not a heaven or hell issue. It’s an issue of what measure of the promised land I will actually experience in my lifetime. We were all born to enter the reality of the fulfilled promises of God over our lives and our family line until it actually brings transformation to culture itself.
But I was looking for that breakthrough word, and it never came. What did come was overwhelming peace. After I looked back, I realized two things. First, bold faith stands on the shoulders of quiet trust. Bold faith stands on the shoulders of quiet trust. What He was looking for in me was not the expression of bold faith; He was looking for quiet trust. He was trying to build something deeper in me, where I had been working to illustrate, demonstrate, and pursue bold faith. He was looking to develop a rest in me that would allow for a quiet trust to be the platform on which another level of bold faith would come. Does that make any sense?
I hope so. Here’s the main point I wanted to mention to you this morning: He says, «Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.» I came to the realization that there are measures or manifestations of His presence that you can only find in the valley of the shadow of death. He manifests Himself differently in different contexts and situations, and there’s an aspect of His presence you can only find in that context. Why would He take you through the valley of the shadow of death? Because He believes in the work He’s done in you. He’s confident in the great work He’s done in each one of us. He’s confident enough that He can trust us in perilous situations. So good.
If it weren’t a true, sufficient new creation that took place inside of our hearts when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, if that were not a reality, He would never put us in that environment because we’d be devoured—in a heartbeat. But He enables us to go through those situations. He doesn’t create the evil; He doesn’t create the darkness. But where He wants to take us, we walk through there. And I’ll tell you what, the longest way through a trial is to try to do it apart from the lordship of Jesus. The quickest way through a trial is with Jesus as Lord. There’s only one shortcut: Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. That’s how you go through.
What I realized was that I didn’t have these thundering words, these thundering encounters. You know, it’s been years. I’ve hardly even talked about this. I just felt this morning might be good to talk about at least what I experienced. There was never that life-changing moment, but at the end of it, I could say I discovered an aspect of His countenance, of His face, that I could not have found anywhere else. And because that was the treasure I came out with, it was absolutely worth it. Absolutely worth it.
He goes on. He says, «You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.» Oh boy. Did you see it? Did you read it? «You prepare a table before me.» You prepare the table and put it in the middle of the enemies. What is the table? A table is a place of nourishment, a place of interaction, fellowship, family, intimacy. Remember Mephibosheth in the Old Testament? His legs were lame, but he was brought to the table of the king, so his lameness was covered at the table of the Lord. Wow. Here’s this table of deep fellowship, closeness, tenderness with God. And God says, «I’m going to put it in the middle of the enemies.»
What’s happened to so many believers is all they can see is the enemies, and they define their circumstances by the enemies they see instead of defining their circumstances by the Lord who is seated across the table. Come on. There is a place of intimacy and fellowship with Him that actually causes all these hellish things to dissolve and disappear. It’s not even that they’re gone; it’s just that they don’t matter. The Bible says, «If God is for you, who can be against you?» It doesn’t mean no one can be against you; it just means no one can be against you and be given a chance to vote.
No one against you ever gets to vote. They have no ability to contribute to a conclusion or decision that has been determined by the One who is the Lord. The Lord prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. One of the most frequent challenges I see people I love and care for go through is that I see they’re so aware of the enemies that are there and not of the Lord who is present. You know, in your darkest situation, it’s a table of fellowship.
Come on. See, most people don’t have a financial problem; they have a lordship problem. They don’t have a relationship problem; it’s a lordship problem. It’s not an anxiety issue; it’s a lordship issue. That’s really at the heart of many things. It’s when I try to fix things myself instead of remaining in that place of tender surrender. Do I make a mountain out of a molehill? Do I exaggerate the size and effect of something? And here the Lord is telling us, «Listen, I’ve set you up for victory ahead of time, and just to prove it, I’m going to take you through a dark valley. When we get there, I’m going to set up a banqueting table, and it’s going to be you and me sitting down.»
Basically, it means every time you say, «I love you, Jesus,» He puts it on the devil’s intercom. He just makes the devil listen to your affection and love for Jesus because He places the table in the presence of the enemy—not so the enemy can kill, steal, and destroy, but so that there is ongoing testimony of the nature of God and His redemptive purpose in fallen humanity to restore us to a place that reminds the enemy, «You did not win; you only set us up for a greater victory.»
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Has anyone ever had the chocolate sundae, a moonstone? Oh yeah. So good. Can you say will of God? Yes. Why? For those of you who are not enlightened, it’s a large goblet on a platter plate. They fill it with ice cream and then pour chocolate on it until it overflows and fills the plate. Will of God. Will of God. Overflows.
The outcome of this is your chocolate sundae will overflow. He says, «My cup overflows.» There’s more pouring through me than I could possibly contain. I am a fountain of resource and life for countless numbers of people because I’ve remained in a place of trust in the darkest of times. What’s happened in me is He’s created in me a fountain of life that will feed and nourish many. The result of the lordship of Jesus is that He can trust you with greater capacity, greater influence, simply because you found His presence in the darkness and caused that to be your feeding place. As a result, you will have more than you could ask for, more than is even necessary. Your cup overflows. Your head is anointed; your thought life is immersed in the anointing of the Spirit of God. And out of your heart flows rivers, rivers, rivers of living water.
He then ends it with this: «Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.» The Lord goes before me; I’ve got two angels behind me. Goodness and mercy pick up the slack. They keep going. They say, «Keep going, bro. Don’t stop now.» This is no place to stop. They pick up the things I drop.
But this goodness and mercy—dwelling in the house of the Lord. You were designed to live in the manifested presence of the Lord. Several years ago, one of our international staff guys was coming through customs in San Francisco. The customs agent had him at the desk. He’s international; he has a green card; he works here. The guy looks at him and asks, «Where do you work?» He says, «Bethel Church.» The customs agent responds, «Is that the church that has a prayer house up there that’s open?» He says, «Yeah, it is.» The agent then says, «Let me tell you a story. A friend of mine’s dying of fourth-stage cancer. He drove up to Redding, walked into the prayer house, and was completely healed of cancer.» He then drove back and looked at the pastor. He stamped his passport and said, «Welcome home.»
What happened? Somebody’s cup was overflowing. Come on, somebody’s cup overflowing. That lack mindset has got to go. A lack mindset is only the product of fear. It is not truth. It is not truth. I may be going through a valley of the shadow of death, but I am not a person bound by lack. I’m a person in process. I like outcomes; He likes process. I like end results—the breakthrough, the miracle, whatever. He likes the journey. We think differently. Yes, we do. I want the outcome, and He says, «Ah, but you get to trust me the whole way.»
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That doesn’t mean you come to church forever; it means that we live in His presence continuously, forever. Everywhere you go, the house of the Lord becomes manifest. The lordship of Jesus is what’s being fought over, and where we experience it in our lives, those are symptoms. The fight is over the authentic lordship of Jesus.
What happens to Israel? As they come out of the wilderness or out of Egypt into the wilderness, as long as they experience the bounty of the Lord, there’s great rejoicing. But when they’re thirsty, or when Moses doesn’t come down off the mountain in time, and they become anxious and worried, they create a golden calf to worship. They create another answer besides the one God promised.
What happens when we become anxious and fretful? When we become distracted because of conflict or whatever, we look for solutions. And often, while we’d never build a golden calf to bow to, we do create alternatives that are opposite to what God has promised. Not you. It’s a church down the road. Listen, we create temporary solutions that help bring a moment of ease to a problem that we face instead of being all in and trusting a loving Father.
This is an interesting portion of Scripture for so many reasons: «Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.» That military resolve, commitment, intentional commitment to absolute triumph and victory. Patience—that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If you lack wisdom—so apparently, wisdom and faith are essential parts of this journey that God has invited us into, this awkward journey to die.
You can only live where you’ve died, and to go through this narrow door of counting it joy when I’m facing things I don’t like, I didn’t ask for, and I didn’t sign up for. This isn’t according to what was promised. I’ve fasted, prayed, and done all these things, and still, there seems to be no yielding of these circumstances. But going through the door where I can genuinely celebrate with joy the goodness of God and His faithfulness, in that moment, somehow the enemy becomes disarmed. That which he used against me no longer works. It no longer works because I’ve given myself to what? To the lordship of Jesus.
I love the concept of the tithe. One reason I love it is that it says it’s to go into the storehouse; it’s not directed by us. It’s a test of lordship: «Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar; give to God what belongs to God.» The test of lordship. And it says this: «That there may be food in my house.»
I’ve traveled all over the world these last, goodness, many, many years—decades—and I’ve been to wonderful churches, struggling churches, churches in conflict, churches in revival. I’ve been to all kinds. And I can tell you one thing for absolute certain: I’ve never been in a church that thrived in what I would call revelation knowledge. In other words, the words that come forth for that house, that group of people, thrive on the fresh things that God is saying. There’s not a stale sermon; everybody on the team just exhibits such profound approaches to Scripture and impartation for transformation.
I’ve never been in a church with an abundance of the word of God that wasn’t equally generous financially. Somehow there’s a connection between the natural devotion to honor the lordship of Jesus with my resources that somehow translates into a revelatory realm. I don’t know how this works; I just know it does. I’ve been in churches of every brand you can think of—I’ve been in Catholic churches, Lutheran churches. I’ve loved every one of them. But I can tell you this: the most generous places, the ones who knew what lordship was over finances, were the ones that always had a revelatory word and relationships.
He says in verse 19, «So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.» Has anyone else ever been mad? I’m not through; I know you all qualify for that one. Have you ever been mad and completely convinced you were experiencing righteous indignation only to find out it was all you? Anyone else? Yeah, you were just being dumb. That’s all it was. You were being dumb. Here the Scripture says, «Be slow to speak and quick to hear.» Not doing that leads to unmanageable anger.
Hearing what another person is saying? Well, you actually have to be interested. A verse that profoundly impacted my life and the way I relate to people is Philippians 2, which says, «Look out for the interests of others. Don’t only look out for your own interests but also the interests of others.» Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus. So here’s the thought: looking out for other people’s interests means that part of my responsibility in connection to others is actually to take an interest in their interests. In other words, I’m going to work hard. I’m going to work harder to hear than I am to communicate what I know is God’s word for the moment.
I say that just to illustrate the effort to communicate our thoughts: the fight to be heard is often rooted in being impressed with our own opinions. And the double effort to hear well is what helps us to speak with wisdom when it’s time to speak. The self-talk issue—it’s a big deal. I’ve not faced as much warfare in my own life as in recent days regarding that one area—just the self-talk. The self-talk where you may be self-critical or don’t think something will happen that was promised, or whatever it might be.
It’s just the stuff that goes on inside. Let me tell you what’s really good about self-talk: every person I’ve argued with that’s not in the room, I was brilliant. I won every argument, brilliantly. I was a genius. If only the world could see how smart I was when I argued my point inside of me. You know, it’s just not healthy. It’s just not healthy. It’s not healthy to be self-absorbed in opinions.
It’s not complicated, but it is hard. It’s not complicated because Jesus is Lord, but it is hard because now I have to think what He thinks. And a lot of the time, He’s thinking differently than me. And I’m the only one who can change; He will not change. This lordship of Jesus is what’s being challenged in this hour in the people of God. I personally think it’s like if I’m under the umbrella of His lordship in that measure, I am so completely safe. But when I step outside of what’s actual lordship and I start doing wrong things, I start making my opinions heard more than the real heart of God in a situation.
The more I fight for my will or my identity, or whatever it might be, you get the picture: the more I step outside of that umbrella, the more I am subject to the elements. And the elements represent a spirit that twists what you say and ensures that you’re not understood because the enemy fears our connection.
All right, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces a military-like determination that will not quit in the face of any trial or test. But let that military-like determination have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. The lordship of Jesus is the most wonderful thing. You just have to surrender to enjoy it.
Every one of us is on this journey. None of us have arrived, but this is each of our journeys, where we learn day by day, «Oh no. Jesus is Lord; Your way, Your thoughts, Your response, Your heart, Your view, Your perspective—it’s all I want. It’s all I want. I don’t want to influence You; I want You to influence me. I want to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and completely resistant to malice, wrath, anger, and conflict—those things that war against the lordship of Jesus and our connection.