Faith brings answers to prayer, but enduring faith brings answers with character. Bill Johnson encourages us to always pray aware of who God is. In return, we will become more like God and not react to the devil but respond to the Father.

well good evening

well i love you too thank you

thank you just like there’s so much love

in this room

one of these days i’m going to try to

pull off a group hug

see see if we can manage that without

killing anyone you know

sorry i’m now i feel better

i should have done this earlier

two blonde girls were working

now please don’t be offended if you’re

blonde my

wife is blonde my daughter my daughter

sometimes blonde

changes every few weeks

if i remember right it’s red right now

but it’s naturally blonde so just

adjust

two blind girls were working for the

city public works department one would

dig a hole

the other would follow behind her and

fill the hole in

they worked up one side of the street

and down the other

moved on to the next street working

furiously all day without rest

one girl digging a hole the other

filling it in

an onlooker was amazed at their hard

work but couldn’t understand what they

were doing

so he asked the whole digger i’m

impressed by the effort

you two are putting into your work but i

don’t get it why

do you dig a hole only to have your

partner

follow behind and fill it up again the

whole digger wiped her brown side

she said well i suppose it probably

looks odd because we

normally are a three-person team but

today the girl who plants the trees

called in sick

yep i have a blonde guy one too

you wanna you want equal time

you just don’t want blonde ones at all

all right

a friend told a blonde man christmas

is on friday this year the blonde man

respond responded

well let’s hope it’s not on the 13th

two blonde men find three grenades they

decide to take them to the police

station

one asked what if one explodes before we

get there

the other says we’ll lie and just say we

only found two

a blonde man is in the bathroom his wife

shouts did you find the shampoo

he answers yes but i’m not sure what to

do it’s for dry hair

and i just wet mine

uh

[Applause]

just one more there’s many but just i

can’t handle them anymore

a blonde man spies a letter lying on his

doormat

on the envelope it says do not bend he

spends the next two hours trying to

figure out how to pick it up

oh sorry

how many of you have ever been in an

accident this is not a joke now

jokes are over i know you’re expecting a

punch line but

how many of you have ever been in any

kind of an accident could be automobile

could be

maybe a sport injury fall off a ladder

doesn’t matter

and no matter how long ago it was you

actually still have effects

from from that accident oh my goodness

stand up

wow

how many of you those those effects

if you were healed right now you would

know it

for how many of you it’s a pain issue

put a hand up

for how many of you it’s a mobility

issue but end up

for how many of you it’s both put a hand

up

all right and there’s other uh ways to

be able to tell well here’s what we’re

going to do we’re going to pray for

these folks

um we had a period of time

where i would pursue accident victims

being healed

like every week somewhere and this is

probably 15 years ago i quit counting

at i think it was 26 or 2 800 people

had been healed and that’s 15 years ago

and so we see it

constantly since then so it’s literally

several thousand people

here’s what we found we found that

sometimes now

please catch the word sometimes

sometimes

an accident the effects of an accident

is sustained

by a spirit of affliction

in other words our bodies were designed

to heal themselves god created us that

way

and there are times where there’s

actually

the either the trauma of the accident or

the ongoing pain

people unintentionally learn to live

with pain

and the enemy sees that as an

opportunity to move in and sustain it

what i don’t want to do is freak people

out and i’m not trying to

i’m not trying to over emphasize the

demonic i’m just saying

there are some of you that all it’s

going to be

is we’re going to rebuke that thing and

it’ll be gone tonight

because uh you’ve just been given

permission

to get well

an ongoing affliction is not his design

for you

not his design and the spirit of

infirmity i just call velcro demons you

just pull them off

others of you actually need like a

creative miracle

and it doesn’t matter what it is uh he’s

not only capable it’s his heart to do so

so we’re going to pray for you i’m going

to add uh one more

how many of you uh in this room have had

any sort of head trauma

in uh could be some of you that are

standing but

um any sort of head trauma and it has

affected

either uh perhaps like migraines

headaches that sort of thing

or i’ve seen it affect facial features

um eyesight a hearing

i’ve seen uh head trauma affect

things like memory we actually saw a guy

up in

oregon uh with complete amnesia

restored we’ve also seen partial amnesia

learning disorders maybe not even caused

from

a traumatic experience maybe it just was

something that

you discovered in early childhood it

doesn’t matter what it is

it has to do with any kind of head

trauma who

who is affected by that put your hand up

okay

all right now just let me see the hands

of those just that are still sitting

how many of you that are sitting down

this affects you all right

i i want those to stand too

we’re going to pray for these two areas

tonight and i feel like

to be honest with you i feel like the

lord has given us

so many years of experience in this the

we have ownership i moved so many years

of

miracles in this area that has just

become normal and common

so what i’m going to ask you to do is

those of you that are sitting down you

are now the ministry team

and i don’t know the percentage i would

guess probably about 95

of the miracles we see happen actually

happen when the people of god

get in to do the prank and i i believe

in ministry teams and all that we we

work hard to train folks

but in this context it’s generally the

people of god so all of you that are

standing i’m going to need everyone to

help me with this

all of you who are standing in a moment

i’m going to have you raise your hand

those of you that are sitting down

you need to go someone with their hand

up that has a hand up

pull it down for them so they don’t

stand there with their hand up

and and then but i don’t want you to

talk to them or pray

do you hear me i don’t want you to talk

or pray until i tell you to

the reason is there’s so many people

standing i want to make sure that

everyone who is standing has somebody

ready to minister to them

this includes those who are watching on

bethel tv i want to make sure that you

have an opportunity at home

to receive your miracle all right all of

you that are standing put a hand up

all of you that are sitting please find

someone and uh

and just have them put the hand down and

i’ll give you instruction in a moment

good job almost everyone is covered we

still have a few more hands up

look look around you we still have hands

okay

if the person you’re about to pray for

still has their hand up please pull it

down for them

all right i think that’s the first

miracle of the night right there i think

we covered it more

wave your hand at me if we miss you

honestly

i don’t want anyone to sometimes people

get discouraged because they get

overlooked

i don’t want that going on i want to

make sure that we serve everyone

here’s what i need you to do just a

second here

all right i’m better now this is what i

need you to do we’ve got to find out

what’s wrong is it a head

issue a learning disorder migraines that

sort of thing

if it’s another part of your body that

was injured in an accident

and it has stayed a problem

let them know where it’s at please don’t

talk a long time

keep it very just all you need to do is

say i was in a car wreck i hurt my

shoulder it’s all they need to know they

don’t need to know the color of the

truck

all right all right so here

i want to pray over you and then i’m

going to turn you let’s find out the

issue

and we’re going to pray all right so

father we ask right now that the

wonderful name of jesus

would be exalted through miracles

through signs wonders

holy spirit we invite you to come now

with power and display

the wonder of the miracle working power

of jesus

in people’s bodies in jesus name now as

you pray

find out how to pray as you pray rebuke

affliction

lay hands on her head watch uh headache

pain leave

and right now find out how to how to

minister that person

thank you okay should be praying by now

speak to the condition

those of you that are praying for head

trauma

i want you to pretend there’s a steel

band around their head

and i want you to lift it off carefully

and declare over them this ends tonight

i want you to be very specific we lift

that off of you we declare this

ends tonight in the mighty name of jesus

learning disorders healed now dyslexia

goes

bipolar goes now

in jesus name epilepsy

goes now in jesus name

if there was a broken bone that didn’t

heal correctly

if it’s a proper place to put your hand

lay your hand on that bone

speak to it command it to reset

correctly

we’ve had many many many bones reset

increase this anointing for breakthrough

lord

okay you’ve got about 30 seconds

okay we’ve got about 10 seconds

amen amen all right you did good

stay with the person please don’t leave

them

don’t don’t leave the person all right

now most of you obviously you know you

know what to do but

we always have new people come in so i

want to walk you through the simplicity

of this

everyone that received prayer right now

i want you to examine yourself

about half the people we see healed feel

it happen

which means there’s another half that

don’t even know what happened

until they examine themselves maybe it’s

trying to do something you couldn’t do

maybe it’s examining to see if that bone

is still out of place whatever it might

be examine yourself

now as soon as you see that you’re at

least

80 percent better i want you to wave

both hands over your head like this

till your arms cross do that right now

wow that’s wonderful thank you lord

[Applause]

beautiful

all right give me your attention shh

just give me your attention obviously

when you’re on your own you take as much

time to do this but

because we’re working corporately we

have other things to do

i want to ask you let’s just work in

tandem as a team

how many of you jesus just healed your

body put a hand up right now

i want to see how many there are isn’t

that wonderful look at that

now

so let me ask another question how many

of you couldn’t say

he has healed you yet but you can tell

he’s at work but you’re in it

all right all right good

how many of you you couldn’t even tell

he was at work but you’re still

you still want to be healed put your

hands up

that should cover everyone all right

here’s what i’m going to ask you to do

jesus minister to a blind man twice

before he could see perfectly in that

particular case

it was a progressive healing first

his blind eyes were open but he just saw

uh figures shapes he said i see

men as trees walking in other words i

can’t tell the difference between the

two

but i can see shape and so jesus

ministered again

and it was clear if jesus had to do that

only one time be ready always to do that

all right

we want to make sure that uh everybody

gets what jesus intended

and so i want you to turn i want you to

pray once again

lay your hands on them if it’s a proper

place to put your hand

let me tell you why with your hands we

don’t lay hands

as a as a symbolic gesture

we don’t lay hands on people as a

massage

treatment it’s because the spirit of god

is

in you and a point of contact is for the

release of power

so lay your hands on them again and

let’s pray

increase the anointing for breakthrough

lord we pray

right now increase increase this

anointing for breakthrough

if that person suffers with migraines i

want you to rebuke it

you don’t ever speak kindly to

affliction we have

zero reverence for sickness or disease

we value people but we don’t show

reverence

for affliction we just declare this

cycle

of migraine headaches ends tonight in

the name of jesus

yeah lift that thing off their head

again if that’s

if there’s still something just

literally just lift it off

i like prophetic acts i think i think we

need to do more of them

they’re not magical but they demonstrate

something and there’s a point of contact

for our own faith

okay 10 more seconds

thank you lord all right go ahead and

end your prayer stay with the person

again shh

the reason i have you stay with him is

sometimes you can help

a person find out what god’s done

listen to it we don’t ever want anyone

feeling forced to pretend

that all is well if it’s not that’s

that’s important that we know on

honesty and truth but sometimes if

somebody for example has an issue with

hearing

you can help them to discover what’s

happened maybe it was a frequency range

you just want to be a part of their

discovery that’s all

of you that were prayed for check

yourself out one last time

examine yourself one last time

check yourself real good

[Music]

now everyone

that has that is at least 80 percent

better

the second time we pray i want you to

wave your hands over your head like this

the second time we pray okay look that’s

why

right there isn’t that beautiful thank

you lord god

thank you lord wonderful

good be seated

go ahead and be seated

i i want now

first let me say there are times where

we see

when i say 80 because we’ve come to

realize

that some healings actually take

maybe 10 15 20 minutes sometimes they

take several hours

i even know of cases where like a deaf

ear didn’t open for a day or two

and uh so we always want to position

ourself

to anticipate god completing what he

initiated

but tonight we’re looking for those who

who are able to say i’m at least

80 percent better i just want you to

stand up if you’re

at least 80 percent better tonight just

stand up

yeah thank you lord it’s beautiful

now wonderful

now those of you that are standing

if you got healed of more than one thing

put a hand up

now that’s awesome look at that that’s

beautiful come on

excellent excellent go ahead and be

seated how many of you

it was an accident uh that you were that

you were healed from

an old injury how long how long ago

september

26 years ago 26 years

somebody else how long ago right

18 years ago isn’t that amazing right

there

52 years ago come on

tom run back there with the mic i want

to hear 52 years

i wanna the oldest injury i knew of that

was

that that i’ve seen healed was 72 years

a woman was dropped as an infant

and it caused damage on the tailbone

and it it was deformed her entire life

and it was healed in melbourne australia

and it was in it was in the salvation

army

a facility where uh smith wigglesworth

used to preach

and uh and she was up in the balcony

i’ll never forget she was healed

after 72 years of an issue with that

tailbone so what did jesus do for you

tonight

well when i was 10 i fell off a bike and

landed on my face

knocked out my teeth caused whiplash and

i lived with the pain of that for

a long time it’s gotten better over the

years but

i’ve always had tension in my neck and

lately

numbness in my hands and

my neck feels like actual muscle instead

of

tight ropes

[Laughter]

how’s your hands

the hands get numb when i do something

for any length of time so i won’t know

until i start driving tomorrow

okay well normally i’d send you in the

parking lot just drive in circles but i

won’t tonight

that’s wonderful good news good news

somebody else i would love to hear from

a few more

folks what god did for you yes right

right here it was first

how long ago 30 years 30 years why don’t

you stand up

what happened uh from a bicycle accident

i

uh hyper-extended both my knees oh

goodness yeah

and i’ve had issues with bending

stooping standing

what happened tonight did you feel

anything happen i didn’t actually feel

anything to happen until i bent down and

i was able to stand up without pain

oh come on thank god 30 years beautiful

right right down over here is another

one what what did

yeah what did jesus do for you okay so

i’m kind of tripping out right now

because

i got something healed that we didn’t

even pray about um

so i was in an accident in september my

kids and i were in a head-on collision

with the truck

and all of my left side got affected so

my

mouth was all locked up and my neck and

like she said so now my neck

is it feels like a neck is supposed to

and not all locked up and tense

yeah i’ve been in physical therapy and

it hasn’t been helping at all but today

i am in absolute no pain i’ve been in

agonizing pain

ever since september which

i’m like oh my gosh like i’m tripping

out about that

but the thing that’s really blowing me

out of the water is

i looked around um after they prayed for

me

and i realized i could actually like

make out the details of the faces of the

people in the back of the church

and i’ve had issues with my vision

for over 10 years i was a paramedic and

um was working a call and i got um

somebody’s bodily fluid in my eyes while

i was

running a code on them and it burned off

a few layers of my eyes so ever since

then i couldn’t see

like the details of people unless they

were right up on me and so today

like i absolutely

bless the lord

i i want you to do so i want you to do

something i want everyone to stand

this layers of the eye

randy clark’s son joshua clark

has had an issue with the layers of his

eye just in the last couple months

and has actually gone blind in one eye

and the other eye is seriously uh

afflicted

uh from this it’s a issue with the thus

i think there’s six layers of

of on the eye of skin or whatever they

call it

i want you to pray for that miracle

right now i’m going to film you praying

only because i want to send it as as a

prophetic as a prophetic act

um but just uh if you would put your

hands up

i want you to pray that the lord would

restore every skin layer

uh to uh to joshua clark

i want you to pray right now for joshua

clark

that the lord would restore the skin

layers

as he did for you right there

let a creative miracle come

the testimony of jesus the spirit of

prophecy

we declare right now the healing of

joshua clark’s eyes

in the name of the lord

we declare that healing word over his

body in jesus name right now

thank you lord amen amen thanks for

doing that

go and be seated

i’m going to watch you stand up because

i’m going to send you a picture just

stand up

stay yeah you step just just one sorry

all right excuse me here there we go

all right

all right i got to send that to randy

yeah we see so many things happen

through uh

through testimony so i i’ve been praying

for josh

and uh and hearing that testimony of the

lord restoring

the layers of the eye very very unusual

miracle and it’s perfect for them so we

declare it

um how many others have you got healed

from something you’ve had for at least

10 years

is that right look at that is it is

there anyone else that would like to

give testimony

i would love yeah you’re right here all

right yeah tom you only thought you were

done

right there yeah i like to keep tom busy

it’s one of my goals

in life just to keep him active hi

what did jesus do um well first of all

i was sitting there and i had a bad

migraine and my back was hurting

and before you even spoke it he took it

away

yeah wow and the people that were

praying for me they kept praying for me

and i saw a crown when you said

like lift off the migraine i saw a gold

crown and i saw it go all the way to

heaven

wow wow and you know my son i was

pregnant with him when i was in a

rollover like 20

he was born in 91 so i think i got the

how old he is wrong

but don’t tell him and um

the doctor he said to me when i was six

i was six weeks pregnant he said

you know you don’t um i can take care of

this you don’t have to

keep going with this pregnancy because i

was having pain and issues

and i said no no i want him yes and you

know what

he is the best thing in my life i can’t

even tell you

thank you lord how wonderful it is for

that child to be born amen

and thank you jesus and thank you that’s

awesome thank you lord

well let’s just give a shout out thanks

to the lord can we we do give you

thanksgiving

we give thanks mighty mighty god

all right if you would open your bibles

to luke 18

luke chapter 18.

uh

this friday is a good friday service

really a big deal just get a whole bunch

of the family to go

there’s three uh service times four six

and eight

and it’s such a such a privilege i this

is

one event i’m actually absolutely locked

into every year

and arranged my schedule around that one

event

so if you’re in town this weekend just

pick one of those time slots

and show up it’s such a privilege to be

in a city where there are so many great

churches

i’m thankful for what god’s doing here

but it doesn’t take long to figure out

this isn’t the only place in town where

god is working there are some great

great churches great leaders here

and it’s a it’s a wonderful time for us

to celebrate

the grace of god upon a city so show up

all right luke 18 verse 1. i want to

read eight verses and then we’ll back up

and talk

then he spoke a parable to them that men

always

ought to pray and not lose heart i want

to read that first verse again

then he spoke a parable to them that men

always ought to pray and not

lose heart saying there was

in a certain city a judge who did not

fear god

nor regard man now there was a widow

in that city she came to him saying get

justice for me

from my adversary and he would not for a

while

but afterward he said within himself

though i do not fear god

nor regard man yet because this widow

troubles me

i will avenge her lest by her

continually coming

she weary me though

i met that lady

then the lord said hear what the unjust

judge said and shall not

god avenge his own elect to cry out day

and night

to him though he bears long with them

and i tell you that he will avenge them

speedily

nevertheless when the son of man comes

will he really find

faith on the earth i know that this is

a pretty well known story and it ought

to be because it’s

one of the times the lord talked to

people about prayer

if you look at all the things the

disciples could have

asked jesus to teach them

the only thing i remember

was they asked him to teach

them how to pray it has to

be the result of them watching him

engage with the father and coming

and capable able to display

heaven on earth as a term i’ll use they

break through in this disease that

disease

we find him uh retreating if you will

sending the crowds away

going up on a mountain to pray and when

he came down there was something

upon him it wasn’t that it wasn’t there

before but they must have been able to

visibly see something going on in

through jesus’s life

that would cause them to ask jesus

please teach us this

one thing this one thing

faith brings answers to prayer

but enduring faith brings answers with

character

faith brings answers to prayer but

enduring faith

brings answers with character

the lord is interested in answering

prayers but he’s also interested

in what we’re becoming if he ever delays

an

answer it’s only so that it might gain

interest

it’s that it might gain interest and

that we might

become the people capable of stewarding

well the answer

and not have the answer destroy us

in this parable that jesus gives he

starts with this statement

men always ought to pray

and not lose heart and the next thing he

does is he gives this parable

but what does he do in the parable i

understand the point of the parable

is endurance and prayer persistence and

prayer i get that and that’s the primary

lesson

or i i should say well that’s the point

of the parable

but the primary lesson i think is a bit

different

jesus says men ought to pray

and not lose heart so here’s his will

here’s the challenge and how does he fix

the challenge

he reveals a part of god’s nature

he says what you know about an unjust

judge

if he would answer this woman how much

more will

i as a loving father who actually cares

for you

and the process how much more will i not

answer for you what is so what does he

do

he causes the people summoned to pray

continuously

to live more aware of the actual nature

of god

let me put it this way the ability to

endure in prayer is fueled

by our understanding of his nature

in fact let me take it a step farther

the

fatigue in prayer

reveals the consciousness

of problems above god’s nature

this word um i was i was

quite surprised i wanted to find out

this thing about losing heart

what does that mean to lose heart i mean

i mean i think we

naturally can define it would be to be

discouraged maybe

i’ve prayed for so long nothing’s

happened in this area and we’ve become

discouraged maybe

uh maybe we’ve been offended maybe

something’s happened but it’s

it’s this uh loss of passion and i think

we can

all uh give good natural

definitions of what it means to lose

heart i was surprised by the biblical

word however

the biblical word for losing heart is

actually two words

the first word is very simple is the

word in

or with or by but the second word is

very specific it is the word evil

or bad

what has he done here he’s described

what it looks like

to have somebody immersed in an

awareness

of problems more than an awareness of

god’s nature

that is how you lose heart that’s it

that’s the whole point an

over writing a awareness

of this crisis this problem this uh

health bad health report

this issue in the nation uh

this uh conflict in the family whatever

being aware of problems is not evil in

and of itself

but what happens is when they are bigger

in our consciousness in our awareness

than our awareness of god’s nature we

will live in

reaction to the problem

men always ought to pray people always

ought to pray

people ought to pray continuously

without becoming in

the evil

all right this can take me a little work

are you alive

all right let me read this passage for

you out of colossians 3.

you’re thinking i have one person

thinking this is scary

verse one of chapter three of colossians

let me just read this to you

if you then were raised with christ seek

those things which are

above where christ is sitting at the

right hand of god

okay now listen to the logic involved

here biblical reasoning

set your mind on things above not

on things on earth for you died and your

life is hidden with christ in god

all right now listen carefully

everything you’re instructed to do in

the bible is intensely practical

if you over spiritualize

a principle you will put it so far out

of reach

that in your mind only the spiritual

giants can accomplish it

when instruction is given to us the

ability to do the instruction

is imparted in the instruction

he enables what he commands so when he

says

set your mind on heavenly things not

earthly things and then he gives a

reason why

the reason is you’re dead and your life

is hidden in christ

all right are you thinking

why do you want to set your mind on

earthly things because wherever you

anchor your mind

is where you’re going to anchor your

affections and wherever you anchor your

affections that’s the reality you’re

going to live in

how many of you have had a problem go on

in your life

and it was so disturbing to you just

couldn’t sleep at night you just you

just laid her awake all night long all

right

how many of you never have done that

that’s no yes just joe is

the only one it’s awesome she sleeps no

matter what but the rest of you

how many of you have all right so we

know that you know how to meditate

now we just have to change the subject

matter

all right you’re still working with me

all right

let me go to the church at ephesus then

i want to come back to this colossian

passage

church at ephesus it

experienced what i believe is one of the

two greatest revivals in the bible

in acts 19 you see an unparalleled

outpouring of the spirit

on the city of ephesus the way they

drove the whole cultic system

out of their uh the culture of their

city is it’s extraordinary

um perhaps the only other one in the

bible

that was equal in presence and power

would have been that of nineveh

with the prophet jonah um extraordinary

outpouring of the spirit the

transformation of a city transformation

of a culture this church was so

successful

that when the apostle paul wrote them a

letter called the letter to the

ephesians it’s the only epistle

in which there was not one word of

correction

every other letter he wrote had a word

of connect correction

so to in my thinking when i look at

at the church at ephesus if if if you’re

the apostle paul

what kind of gift are you going to give

to the people who already have

everything

well what my family says that i’m hard

to shop for

because i need nothing this is not true

this is a lie

my family has fallen into a deception

it’s totally true i’m not looking at you

gabe

because he he doesn’t agree with me but

it’s true because i can go

right now down to the store and disciple

any one of you on how to shop for me

i i i it’s not even hard it’s not even

hard

flows effortlessly

they say i’m heart shop because i don’t

need anything esther mister

what do you give to a church that does

that has everything

ephesians 1 17 you find out what he

wanted to give him

i pray that god would give you a spirit

of wisdom

and revelation but what’s the last

phrase

in the knowledge of god

listen to me the knowledge of god is the

absolute foundation

of all knowledge

you don’t want to understand anything in

life that is inconsistent with the

nature of god or it will violate what

god is performing in you

it’s the reason the bible says it is the

fool who says in his heart

there is no god

living and moving separate from a

consciousness of god

actually gives birth to absolute

foolishness

being aware of god living conscious of

god living

conscious of the fact i will give an

account of my

life is the actual foundation for wisdom

in the psalms he says teach us to number

our days

that we might present to you a heart of

wisdom

are you alive still still breathing all

right

so here we have this passage in

colossians it says

set your mind on heavenly things not

earthly things

why because your life is hidden there

what’s the implication you will draw

from

that reality to the degree you become

aware of that reality

the opposite is also true if i live

conscious of others where you know i

have people tell me all the time

we’re in such and such a church in uh

this city

it’s a hard city there’s so much

destruction satan has ruled that city

for so long

and it will continue that way it won’t

change

it won’t change because the people in

charge to bring the change

are too impressed by the devil’s work

for many in this room the beginning of

your breakthrough starts

when you stop being impressed with the

size of your problem

it doesn’t mean we live in denial

doesn’t mean we

we we deny something that exists if

there’s a medical report

it’s a bad medical report don’t pretend

it doesn’t exist that doesn’t help you

just don’t be impressed by it don’t be

impressed by it

refuse to treat sickness and demons with

reverence

don’t whisper oh did you hear what

so-and-so

they just got diagnosed with and there’s

a sense of reverence it just annoys me

to pieces

the enemy does not deserve that kind of

respect he does not deserve that kind of

respect

don’t deal with the devil kindly

we’re not here to massage him into a

better place

so back to the issue on prayer

jesus or paul says in in colossians set

your mind

on things above because your life’s

hidden there

and if you you anchor your your your

awareness

of god in his world his plan his

purposes

then you will find yourselves living

from that reality

towards the broken conditions of this

world

but if you don’t you will always have a

prayer life

that begs god to invade the middle of

the problem that you find yourself in

all right that went over well

there’s a difference between being

seated in heavenly places with christ

living from the heart and mind of god

towards a problem

there’s a great difference between that

and the person

who is in the middle of a problem and is

begging god to come

and fix it

we all start there but it’s tragic to

serve god for 20 years and still

use that as your platform for prayer

because he’s wanting us to

live aware of who he is what he’s like

and what he has done live

from that reality towards the issues and

situations of life

if i live in a reaction to problems

let’s say let’s say it’s a

it’s a let’s say it’s a conflict it’s a

relational conflict

if i live in reaction to that if i

become

overwhelmed by the size of this conflict

i will live in reaction to the devil’s

work

here’s the problem people do this whole

time and they

they live in a reaction to a problem

they call it intercession

let me have a drink

[Applause]

if you can feel bad enough about

something you just give it a good name

that protects it

[Music]

if i live in reaction to a problem

then the author of that problem has had

an

influence on my thought life and my

behavior

you say well my behavior is rebuking

that’s fine

he still influenced you

the devil has no

right to influence my agenda

you never see jesus living in reaction

to the devil

he only lived in response to the father

there’s a world of difference between

the two

living in reaction to the devil is the

nature of some

of parts of of church life

i’m not saying nothing good can ever

happen i’m just saying it’s depressing

it’s depressing because what motivates

you is the devil

not the goodness of god it’s a far

inferior

motivation to see good things happen

so here’s jesus says

people ought to always be praying

but never be in

evil not a part of it in overwhelmed

by the evil in the bad that surrounds

them more than they

are aware of god’s nature and then he

takes them

into an understanding of the heart of a

father who has intimate personal care

for his children and he contrasts

listen if you get this kind of a

reaction out of an evil judge

who has no fear of god and doesn’t even

like people

and you can get a good response how much

more here’s the contrast

how much more can you get a response

from a loving father

who is moved by your heart’s cry

what did he do there he’s not just

showing a trait of god he’s revealing

what keeps us fueled for endurance and

prayer

it’s the overwhelming awareness of god’s

nature

how do you cultivate that i’m glad you

asked

i i’ve talked several times now in the

last month or so

about biblical meditation so i want to

run at it just for a few minutes again

and we’ll wrap it up with this

with this theme this thought

biblical meditation um

is different than eastern meditation

eastern meditation is to empty the mind

uh western meditation is is

it’s intellectual nature only it’s the

power of concentration

eastern meditation is dangerous because

it opens you to evil spirits

because your your proper

thinking actually insulates you from

spiritual warfare

it’s it’s it’s true and you won’t know

the truth and the truth will set you

free

what you know insulates you from

this demonic stuff that happens

to dissuade and distract what you know

something going on in here actually

protects you

some of you you have the mind of christ

has been so established in you

that you can be in the middle of intense

spiritual warfare and not even know it

because the wall around you absorbs the

fiery darts

the wall around you absorb the conflict

you’re living inside the walled city and

going man this is party time

this is all we got food we got family we

got friends

this is great outside the enemy’s

throwing rocks at your wall you don’t

even know it’s hitting your wall

he’s shooting arrows at all kinds of

junks going on

but you’ve become so insulated by the

mind of christ

that there’s very little if any effect

on your life

thus not make believe that’s a reality

you will know

your mind will be anchored and shaped by

the knowledge of god

and that thing will set you free and

that liberty and freedom

will insulate you from the from the the

things that the enemy throws you away

so this biblical meditation is different

it’s a word that means to murmur it

means to

mutter means to speak to yourself it

means to repeat

a verse over and over again the

illustration i used a few weeks ago

was um out of psalms 127.

it’s a great verse i found many many

years ago when i was

uh just really praying for breakthrough

financially

and i remember taking this phrase

it’s in the new american standard

version also in the passion they both

they both got it right

[Laughter]

psalms 127. and he provides

for his beloved even while they sleep

he provides for his beloved even while

they sleep

so here’s biblical meditation is you

take something

we’re supposed to meditate on three

basic things all right three distinct

realities

one is the word of god second are the

works of god

third are the ways of god

so i’m talking right now about the ways

uh the scripture

but eventually i want to get us into the

luke 18

where he’s revealing the ways of god

to shape how we think

god’s ambition for you and me is not

being able to

equip us to successfully answer

questions in a bible quiz

the goal is not to give you the right

chapter and verse

for a puzzling question it’s a good

start

but that’s not his ambition his ambition

is for

his word to become flesh in us again

in other words that word becomes so

intertwined

with our thinking our emotions through

biblical meditation our thinking our

emotions that

actually becomes an expression of our

personality

so you’re facing a financial here’s

here’s what i

would do this this word meditation

actually is illustrated you’ve seen uh

the jews at the wailing wall and other

believers at the wailing wall

rocking i’m not saying you have to rock

but it’s actually

the the rocking motion of a jew at the

wailing wall

is a physical act of meditation

it’s it’s a repeated action it’s

you said you provide for your beloved

even while we sleep

god i give you honor i am your beloved i

i’m the apple of your eye i’m

overwhelmed by your kindness god that

you would

you would call me your beloved i

qualify for this verse because you said

i’m your beloved

and you provide for me even while i

sleep

god i give you praise you are my

provider

even while i sleep i’ve dedicated my

work to you

but you’re bigger than my work you

release resource to me

even when i can do nothing for myself

you’re the god who provides

you provide while i rest you work while

i rest

and there’s this reciting of who god is

and what he has said what happens is

then you get awakened in the middle of

the night your first thought is

oh we’ve got this bill due tomorrow and

the second thought is

and he provides for his beloved even

while they sleep

and you find yourself literally going

back into a place of

rest to sleep because you’re resting

in who god is it’s not a mind over

matter it’s not just some

intellectual exercise it’s taking that

which is eternal

which is the word of god that which he

has highlighted to you

and is holding it so near and so dear

that you ponder

you consider you quote you mutter

you speak you declare you confess that

which god has said to you

over and over again see that word

is to become as lance walnut would say

is to become

cellular in us it’s actually to become a

part of who we are

if i were to come to your family and say

you need to develop a culture of

generosity

and you then go down to safeway and you

see someone there who’s

who’s asking for money for food and you

give them

20 to help them with food that is an

act of generosity but it is not a

culture of generosity

a culture is developed with repeated

actions

a culture is developed when a repeated

action becomes

our normal reaction

you know the that whole that whole

reaction it’s it’s like the initial

thought when there’s a need is

what can i do then it’s culture now how

we start

is the lord exposes need to us and we

say man i need to learn to be more

generous

and so you drive to where somebody is

need or perhaps we

we present a condition of tracy and the

milk and

mozambique or the tragedy that they’ve

recently faced and you

put your x amount of dollars in the

envelope and

and you dedicate it to that purpose

that’s a brilliant way to

train yourself to live generously but

what happens is the lord is now wanting

that action to not just

be repeated in a religious way but as

as a um i don’t know if i’m going to say

this right

as an effort to tap into heaven’s

culture

a more significant imprint on how he

thinks

into how i think so that when a problem

comes

my first reaction isn’t oh but i have a

bill do this week

my first reaction is god

what would you allow me to do to be a

part of the answer that’s needed in this

situation

the first reaction first reaction when

that happens

on the inside it’s not being forced on

the outside

don’t reject stuff that’s being forced

in the outside because that’s how we

learn

somebody will say well you need to you

know as a child you need to share your

toys

that’s coming from the outside that’s

not coming from the five-year-old child

that just got a revelation from god on

sharing his toys

he’s being instructed and disciplined

into a culture

of generosity and kindness are you with

me on this so we start with

external uh instruction but the ambition

is this thing becomes so deeply a part

of me

so deeply a part of me that it becomes

my initial response

i i don’t have to think i need to choose

generosity

if you if you’re in that place that’s a

good place to be

just keep it up keep it up until you

don’t have to think anymore

it’s true it’s the truth it’s the truth

so here jesus gives a parable

and he says you need to pray

and you need to always pray and you need

to always pray

aware of who i am so you take the ways

of god

he’s faithful and he’s true

god you’re perfectly faithful i’m

serious

you have to find time meditation

requires shutting down

all external distractions

in the heart of biblical meditation is

this ability to be lost in him

literally lost and so you fight for this

time and

and you go home you you have you know

children and you’ll lock yourself in the

bathroom and

you just grab your moments you tell your

husband run interference for me i’m

i’m meditating and honestly

you get before the lord god you are

faithful and true

it’s impossible for you to lie

you are faithful because it’s your

nature it’s not even a choice

you don’t have to choose to do the right

thing you are the right thing

you are faithful and true it’s

impossible for you to deceive

you are the perfect father who is

everything i need

everything i will ever need everything i

long for is actually found

in your person you heal because you’re

the healer

it’s not just a decision it’s your

nature that when we take

you and put you with disease disease has

to go god this is who you are

see you you rehearse this before him and

meditate contemplate think about his

nature his ways

pretty soon you find yourself

prophetically responding to

challenges and needs around you because

of what you’ve become

you’ve taken care of your inner world

your inner world is healthy

because because it is now founded on

revelation of the nature of god

think about this for a minute what is

there in heaven

that is separate from god

what is there in heaven that is actually

separate from him it’s in addition to

god

nothing he is the person of heaven

you don’t want anything separate from

him

there’s there’s nothing satisfying at

all let me illustrate this way

all right the devil does not create

he can only pervert destroy distort or

defile what god made

this envelope represents marriage

and a sexual relationship inside a

marriage the devil can’t create anything

but what he can do is distort what god

made

and he would say this is how you are

designed

did he create anything no he just

distorted what was created

[Music]

he’s a distorter a deceiver a perverter

what you want is god’s design

everything he designed life itself was

designed by him

it all flows from his person from his

nature

when you engage in biblical meditation

you are engaging everything about you

to his nature to his word his ways

and his works let me end with this this

statement

biblical meditation is not so that we

can comprehend

something it’s so that we become exposed

to something

we know that exposure to radiation

causes cancer all kinds of

illnesses if we could somehow turn that

illustration around

into the incredible positive

exposure to his nature to his being his

works his person exposure

it cannot help but change who i am it

cannot help

you know the scripture that says when we

see him we will be like him

well guess what’s also true as you see

him you become like him

that’s the whole deal as jesus said you

always ought to pray

but you’ve got to think about what he’s

like who he is

you’ve got to keep your heart exposed

you’ve got to keep yourself

in this in the radiation tunnel where

you get exposed to the nature of god

because you will never fatigue in prayer

if you see

his heart for people you will never be

fearful in praying for the sick

if you see his eyes of compassion for

every hurting person

it’s from that place that we pray and we

serve

and it’s hard work to do it without that

it’s hard work we become we we

involve ourself in what he has said and

what he has done

so that we become impacted by the very

nature of god

it starts to define the thoughts that

i’m willing to entertain

i don’t control my thoughts because i

have some religious

quota i have to meet i control my

thoughts because i’ve learned from his

own person

i don’t want to think things that

violate his nature

because it will be it will be the

distortion

of what god said is right and true and i

don’t want

a distortion i don’t want a clone i

don’t want a copy

i want everything that it comes from the

essence of god’s person from his nature

from his heart his mind people

always ought to pray

without being overwhelmed by the evil

that surrounds us

but instead live in a place of being

overwhelmed

by the surpassing greatness of his

nature

of his promise in the history of his

works

welcome to another reason we need to

learn biblical meditation

let’s go ahead and stand

i spoke at cascade this morning and um

what what we’ve been doing lately is

many of you know we have three campuses

and

and whoever speaks in the eight o’clock

here

goes over the twin view speaks there

comes back and does

the 10 30 and the one o’clock or ten and

one whatever i’m

i’m here i’m here when i need to be

and when i see it’s time to start i’m

here too i’m just whatever that is i’m

here

and then whoever’s going to speak sunday

night also speaks in the morning at the

cascade

i say that because this morning when i

when i was there i was

on friday uh one of the guys in the

church

uh came to me and said that do you

remember uh

back as towards the end of last year i

had prophesied and declared that there

would be a 90-day period of time

where there would be unusual

breakthroughs how many of you in that

90-day period of time had unusual

uh areas of breakthrough i this guy came

to me and he said

um and that’s that’s powerful and i

believe it’s for everyone

because i’m about to announce another

one all right so

yeah so just be glad you stayed for the

whole meeting because now

now you’re going to find the truth all

right

he came to me and he said he said you

announced he says you remember when you

announced that 90 days

yeah of course he said in my business

in one month alone his business

expanded by 400 percent

four times over what it was initially

there was that kind of it was it was

dramatic and he was doing good before it

wasn’t like

he went from you know making two dollars

a week to eight dollars a week

it was it was already succeeding what

god called him to do

but the lord opened up the floodgates

and expanded four times

here’s what i’m here’s what i’m sensing

i believe the lord is right now

releasing

ah right

he’s right now releasing an invitation

with instruction and getting the

greatest dimension

of breakthrough and answers to prayer

that we’ve ever known

any time in our life an invitation with

instruction

and i’m telling you at the heart of the

instruction is not learning how to pray

better

it’s discovering who he is paul prayed

he says i prayed god would give you a

spirit of wisdom and revelation

in the knowledge of god why because once

you see him it changes how you represent

him

it changes the zeal factor the energy

factor

it changes the focus the priority all

the stuff becomes affected

because i’ve seen his eyes i’ve seen the

fire in his eyes

i’ve seen the fire in his eyes

i keep saying one more thought and this

is part b

of that last one more thought

john the beloved

one of the 12

had his head on jesus’s chest at the

last supper there was such a tenderness

and closeness there

and he saw jesus of course

in this moment he saw him

weeping in the garden praying with

sweat coming off his brow that became

drops of blood

he saw this one who was in anguish who

finally died

on a cross the next time

we see him seeing

the beloved after that 40-day period of

time where jesus reappeared

the next time john sees jesus he

describes him in revelation chapter 1.

and he says his eyes are like fire

his hair is white like wool his

feet are burnished bronze and he begins

to describe

this one who is not only resurrected and

ascended but is glorified

at the right hand of the father and that

john wrote these words

in first john 4 17.

he said as he is

so are we in this world he was not

describing

your likeness to the one

that surrounded the table at the last

supper

he was describing your likeness to this

one who has eyes of fire

he thinks different of you and me than

we do

he expects more because of it

if we saw for a glimpse

of his eagerness to answer prayer

we would pray you say well i have prayed

it just doesn’t i just don’t get answers

change how you pray he’s not the problem

he’s not the problem the lack isn’t on

his end of the equation

don’t do self-condemnation don’t go

there that never helped any of us

but i’m telling him if we saw

a glimpse of his eagerness to answer

we would have only one response oh god

teach me to pray put your hands up let’s

pray

teach me to pray ask him

teach me to pray teach me

teach me overwhelm me

with understanding of your nature of

your heart

overwhelm me overwhelm us

with a revelation of your nature

so far greater than the unjust judge

father i’m asking in the next three

months

that together and individually we would

see the most extraordinary

measure of breakthrough in answers to

prayer

that we’ve ever seen in our life

let it fall upon us as a mantle as a

grace

that enables us to pray with

breakthrough in mind

i asked for this that jesus would be

exalted

everybody said amen amen amen