Bill Johnson talks about the only thing that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them. The disciples were so marked by Jesus’ lifestyle of prayer, that it was the only thing they asked Him to teach them. Prayer is more than a moment of conversation with the Lord, it is to be a lifestyle in which we learn His heart and live from that place of communion with Him. This is an excerpt from Bill’s message “Moving From Defense to Offense”. You can find the full message here:    • Moving From Defense to Offense – Bill…   Subscribe for weekly videos: https://bit.ly/bjmYoutube Connect with Bill Johnson Ministries: Website: http://bjm.org/ Facebook: https://bit.ly/bjmFacebook Instagram: https://bit.ly/bjmInstagram Mailing List: https://bit.ly/bjmMailingList Additional Resources: https://shop.bethel.com/collections/b… Scripture References: Matthew 26 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-17 Proverbs 4: 23 2 Kings 6 John 15 Bill Johnson is a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit. He is senior leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and is passionate about seeing Revival and God’s Kingdom established and revealed in the lives of individuals, families, communities, and nations. Bill’s teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, hosting the Presence, and the renewed mind has helped thousands around the world to step into their true identity in Christ, God given purpose, and walk in a supernatural lifestyle displaying both purity and power. #BillJohnson #BethelChurch #Prayer

the disciples only asked Jesus to teach

them one thing if I were in the

disciples shoes I might have asked them

how to raise the Dead how to heal the

sick or how to do any number of

extraordinary things the disciples the

12 who were with him constantly were

actually

moved by Everything Jesus did and said

but they were rocked by one thing and

one thing alone

[Music]

Matthew 26

the disciples only asked

Jesus to teach them one thing now he

taught them many things

if if I were

in the disciples shoes from where I

stand now I might have asked them how to

raise the dead or how to heal the sick

or how to do any number of extraordinary

things how can you do that food

multiplying thing you know

there would have been a lot of things on

my list I would have loved for him to

teach me but though the disciples the

twelve who were with him constantly were

actually

moved by Everything Jesus did and said

but they were rocked by one thing and

one thing alone

above everything else that was Lord

teach us to pray

they they somehow knew

um I think through observation

they knew that whenever Jesus left them

and went up onto a mountain things were

different when he came down

there was something in in their ability

to observe how he functioned how he had

handled stuff for example the scripture

tells us that you know he had such great

admiration for John the Baptist his

cousin the greatest of all prophets he

prepared the way for Jesus himself to

come

and the Bible tells us that when he got

news that John had been beheaded

he left the crowd and he went up to pray

you can

I don’t want to read too much into it

but there’s obvious obvious in some

measure in his Humanity he was rocked by

the one he admired so much who really

laid down his life for Jesus himself

he just he had to get along get along

and pray

our prayer life is defined by so many

things we we um we tend to learn

we tend to learn to pray fervently or

passionately out of pain

uh maybe a loss maybe a crisis uh we we

uh we do reactionary defense praying

uh

fairly well

um there’s a crisis maybe somebody’s

dying we’ll call it fast none of that is

inappropriate those are appropriate

things but we tend to learn to pray

focused fervent prayer out of pain or

out of crisis of some sort

Jesus the disciples

um were with Jesus in mark 9. and they

tried to bring Deliverance to a child

this Dad brought his son to them and and

they tried their best and and you have

to remember that the disciples are the

most experienced people in Deliverance

of any group of people to ever live on

the Earth

up to that point there was no one more

experience that Deliverance than they

were except for Jesus

and so they tried everything they had

done before previous on this child that

was brought to him and they couldn’t get

him free

and Jesus came up and brought

Deliverance

and when they asked Jesus they took him

aside privately

and they asked him how how come we

couldn’t and you could

and Jesus didn’t give the answer that

that the church would give

the church would say well Jesus Is God

and you’re you’re just human but that

wasn’t

that wasn’t the logic Jesus functioned

with

because he knew he was functioning out

of his Humanity dependent on God which

is available for every disciple of Jesus

so his answer was different he said he

said well this kind only comes out with

prayer and fasting

and then he brought Deliverance

which means he neither prayed nor fasted

see at the beginning of Jesus’s Journey

beginning of his ministry he fasted 40

days he wasn’t fasting for a problem he

was fasting into a lifestyle

we tend to pray defensively reactionary

we got this crisis we’ve got this

challenge we’ve got this opportunity and

we pray to it not wrong not wrong at all

but because of that we’re always we’re

often playing catch-up

catch up

not Heinz 57 Ketchup

catch up

sorry I’m in third grade mode this

tonight

expect more it’ll come

so we’re always playing we’re always

just a little bit behind trying to catch

up and think I always it’s too big of a

word it’s not true but frequently we’re

behind the game in certain areas and

we’re having to fight our way back to

the front

so the disciples asked Jesus to teach

them how to pray so that moves me

because it was the only thing they asked

to be taught

out of all the things I saw him do

so somehow that tells me that was

for those who watched him that was the

key to everything now go in Matthew 26

we’re just going to take one verse

it’s verse 41.

Watch and Pray

lest you enter into temptation

the spirit indeed is willing but the

flesh is weak

treat it again Watch and Pray

lest you enter into temptation

the spirit indeed is willing but the

flesh is weak this is our first verse

we’re going to bounce around so please

keep your Bibles in front of you Watch

and Pray lest you enter into temptation

so then that tells me that

prayerlessness or weakness in prayer

exposes me to Temptation I didn’t need

to face

it not only allows exposure to

Temptation I didn’t need to face is

sometimes exposes me to temptation

that I may or may not have the grace to

overcome

he goes on to describe this thing of

praying so that I don’t fall into

temptation

he’s not I I don’t believe he’s saying

pray this way oh God

please don’t lead me into temptation I

don’t think that’s what he’s addressing

here I think he’s saying a prayerful

life insulates you from temptation

a prayer-filled life a life of ongoing

prayer

a few weeks ago I talked to you about

first Thessalonians 5 Rejoice always

pray without ceasing and everything of

things

and I mentioned in that message three

things about that about that verse that

I felt the Lord spoke to me it was in

the middle of the night it was about two

two and a half months ago now

I was awakened in the night uh Friday a

Saturday night before coming here early

in the morning

and awaken me with this phrase and in

the Jer in this dialogue I had with him

or I shouldn’t say dialogue in my uh

searching my heart and mind for

explanation for what he spoke to me this

the passage Rejoice always pray without

ceasing and everything give thanks came

to my mind

and as I began to think over those

verses I felt as though the Lord spoke

to me and said the key to mental health

is is giving thanks and everything

the key to Mental Health

I then remembered hearing a psychologist

on talk radio once saying that um

something like I forget the exact number

now something like 90 percent of all

mental illness can be traced back to the

attempt to avoid pain

so there’s something about embracing

your moment surrendering it to the

sovereignty of God knowing that he and

he alone is good and giving thanks in

the middle of it

and then I felt like he spoke to me and

said the key to emotional health is to

Rejoice always

see before you were a Believer you only

rejoiced when you had Joy but once

you’re in the Kingdom you get Joy by

rejoicing

so the measure of joy in my life is

actually determined by me

so if I’m locking Joy it’s just evidence

of my choices

and then the last part of that verse is

to pray without ceasing and what really

hit me on that was that kind of

Lifestyle pray without ceasing is the

key to heart health

what is heart health about

Jesus said

adulteries murders all this horrible

stuff comes out of your heart

but then on the other end of the

spectrum he said blessed are there pure

in heart for they shall see God

so the the management of the heart is

vital for how well we do in life

one of my life verses that a dear friend

of mine gave to me goodness it was be

1972.

um he he gave me this verse out of

proverbs 4 23 that says watch over your

heart with all diligence because from it

flow the issues of Life all the issues

of life flow from the heart

so think about this heart health is

praying without ceasing by keeping my

heart in touch with God’s heart

the right things flow from it

when I allow distance to come between

the heart of God and my heart

I have to fight

to do the right things it doesn’t come

as natural as it would

if I shared his heart does that make

sense I’m not sure if I’m saying it

perfectly but you get the point

just work with it until it sounds right

okay all right

now here it is again Watch and Pray

unless you enter to Temptation the

spirit is willing

but the flesh is weak what what’s that

about the spirit is willing to do what

to pray

the flesh is weak about what

prayer

so the strength of my prayer life is

according to the strength of my spirit

over my flesh

a week prayer life is a dominant flesh

the Holy Spirit lives in your spirit

there’s perfect communion there

they function well day and night but

there is something that will sometimes

take master master Mastery over your own

spirit and that is human weakness

Frailty flesh appetite desire

that is very natural and can become very

very carnal

the issue of Mastery over flesh is vital

to an effective prayer life

yeah that went over well all right

um

let’s see where else should we go

Let’s uh go with me to Acts chapter

um

yeah let’s go to no let’s go to second

king six

King six

we’ll go there first then we’ll go to

Acts 3 then Isaiah 59.

now the purpose of Prayer

you know we could probably make a list

of a hundred things and still fall short

so I don’t want to over over simplify or

or Rob the part of prayer that is the

most important to you

but let me try to summarize at least

from my perspective here tonight the

purpose of prayer is not merely for me

to talk to God about doing stuff

it’s really about obtaining his heart

because the more I obtain his heart the

more I pray

not parrot prayers

but the product of relation

of relationship

relational product called prayer

see it says in John 15 uh servant does

doesn’t know what his master is doing

the friend does

the servant is accustomed to responding

to commands

and that’s not wrong

the most basic part of our our initial

time of learning to walk what Jesus is

responding to command

but what he’s what he’s looking for is

an interest in us about his heart so

we’re not just waiting for command

we’re looking for his values his

intentions those are the things that

move us

see when you pick up his heart you start

praying what he would have prayed if he

were in his shoes

is that it’s that co-laboring the goal

of prayer is to co-labor where his heart

is revealed in the earth not because he

commanded us to reveal it or gave us

recorded prayers to recite

but instead becoming a people who in

seeking him not just prayerful outcomes

but seeking him

we mirror his heart and his nature in

our prayer relationship and our

co-laboring relationship

see touching the heart of God gives us a

unique advantage that I’m hoping in this

next phase this next season of our life

as a church family we can move into more

aggressively