Do thanksgiving and joy affect mental health? Bill Johnson teaches how thanksgiving and joy are keys to mental and emotional health. Staying thankful reminds us of God’s goodness and fills us with hope for the future. Joy comes from hope. Is there anything in our lives that God does not already have a solution for?

um as i have mentioned the last few

times i have uh spoken that i have felt

at least for me uh it’s a season of

review um especially with the unusual

nature of the last 18 months

that i have felt for me personally it’s

just really really critical just to

review what got us here

and um

last let’s say it would be december of

2019

i had

an unusual uh experience with the lord

um

i’ve had i’ve had him speak to me in the

night where he’s he’s awakened me with

his voice twice

so what i don’t want to do is create a

picture that i have these encounters in

our every other month uh there’s like

five in 50 years so you do the math

that’s not real common but it happens

but this particular time it was instead

of a voice

coming to me it exploded within me i

don’t know how to describe that but it’s

what happened

i i was

dead asleep

and i i was awakened with a thought

in my sleep which i don’t think in my

sleep i i sleep

and i intentionally ignore anything

important so that i can sleep i

i just do

so

but i was awakened with this thought

a walled city without gates is not

entirely safe

just out of new world that’s not even a

thought i would have come up with

certainly not for that time of night a

wall city without gates and it startled

me and and i was awakened and i i laid

there for i don’t remember now i’m gonna

guess it was now from anywhere from an

hour and a half to two hours i laid

there wide awake pondering what in the

world just happened and what is he

trying to say

a walled city without gates

is not entirely safe

50 years ago 48 years ago

when benny and i were married i remember

soon after we were married i had i had

purposed to study two specific books in

the bible and to give myself to study

those two books for an extended period

of time what that means for me is i will

read a book like ephesians is one of

them i will read it and i’ll read it

i’ll read it i’ll read it every day

ongoing for six months i may read other

things too but i keep that constant in

my in my diet so to speak

but the second book that i had given

myself to for at least six months it was

it was somewhere i’m guessing between

six and eight months now

it was the book of nehemiah well

nehemiah is about rebuilding walls

around the city of jerusalem

ezra is about rebuilding the temple

and those two books together give us a

profound picture of salvation where the

holy spirit comes to dwell in us and

then he begins to rebuild those parts of

our life that have been broken down and

have been destroyed and uh and so it’s

just a great great picture so i was

familiar with the language of walls and

gates but i certainly didn’t have

didn’t have that in my mind so a walled

city without gates is not entirely safe

i want you to go with me to isaiah 60

and we’re going to take two portions of

scripture

it’s not always

smart to take a a biblical theme from

one book to the other

because sometimes they don’t translate

well but i do believe

that what i’m going to share with you

today i’ll have several references

and it it’s a constant theme old and new

testament so i um

i’ll let you figure that out on your own

all right

so

another interesting experience i had

with the lord was in may it was a

thursday afternoon of 1979

i was in weaverville i was walking in

the back of the sanctuary praying it was

my custom to just walk i find i don’t

fall asleep when i walk and pray so

it’s a great great

thing yeah

so i i was walking in the back and i

remember i was reading out of isaiah 60.

and i think that’s just where i happened

to be in my in my reading for that

time

and the lord began to speak to me i had

a real encounter with him out of isaiah

60.

one of the most profound two most

profound encounters of my life one was

word centered the second was the middle

of the night at a divine encounter with

with the power of god

and but this one was word centered and

it has shaped my thinking and my values

ever since that thursday afternoon in

may of 1979.

it was the first 19 verses what i want

you to do is we’re just going to take a

phrase i i’m not going to teach out of

this chapter

i just want to take you to a phrase and

this phrase is what i began to ponder

you got to remember now i’m laying in

absolute pitch dark and i’ve got this

phrase

a walled city without gates not entirely

safe so i’m trying i’m pondering verses

that i know about this subject to see if

if i can get some help understanding

what the lord is speaking to me

and uh and my mind went to this because

this is one of the passages that would

be in my repertoire so to speak verse 18

violence will no longer be heard in your

land neither wasting nor destruction

within your borders here’s the part that

came to mind but you will call your

walls salvation

and your gates praise

you will call you walls salvation and

negates praise back to the thought a

walled city without gates is not

entirely safe this is very significant

and i’ll tell you why

a walled city without gates is not

entirely safe your wall shall be called

salvation that’s what god does for you

your gate should be called praise that’s

what you give to him

the strength of our life is not based

only on what he’s done for us it’s all

based on because of what he’s done for

us

but there’s a responsibility

and this statement isn’t to breed a

paranoia a fear about not being safe

it’s a summons into responsibility

it’s that we have we have a role to play

in our own safety many people

face continuous ongoing spiritual

battles

because of their own compromise

and they they actually through their

compromise welcome into their life

ongoing conflict that they’re not born

for they’re not designed for and

actually dislocates them like a

arm out of a socket it dislocates them

from their purpose and their design

and they are constantly aware of

spiritual warfare so they think that’s

the nature of their life and that’s not

the nature of their life

if this were a walled city figuratively

speaking this this sanctuary

you can have people outside throwing

arrows and shooting you know throwing

spears at the walls we would never know

it not if we’re in here and we’re and

we’re safe

and there are things that happen in the

walled city so to speak there are things

happen that happen in the life of a

person who has gotten

their life healed up the broken parts

restored the places of strength that

used to be weakness or no strength

there are times where we sit in the

middle of intense conflict and we’re

completely unaware that there’s conflict

it’s not denial it’s just

there’s a strength that surrounds us

that

that doesn’t force us to remain devil

conscious all the time

so here’s this thought your walls

are called salvation

god saved me that’s what he did for me

the gates are called praise

then my mind went quickly to

another passage in revelation

i forget no i think it’s chapter 20 but

it could be it’s in the last three

you’ll find it

it says it’s talking about the heavenly

jerusalem

chapter 21 thank you in the heavenly

jerusalem

wall city with gates and it says and

your gates will be made out of one solid

pearl

now if ever there was a weird

metaphor in the bible

it’s got to be that a pearl

is a gate

a pearl is a gate so we’ve got this

gigantic pearl 12 of them to the city of

jerusalem

those pearls are gates

so now you have to stop and think all

right now how are pearls formed

they’re formed out of irritation

oh so the gate of praise the gate isn’t

formed

because i gave praise

for a raise

at work

it’s that in the middle of difficulty i

gave praise

then you start pondering about this

nature of this

gate first of all we’re talking about

safety now so we’ve got these a walled

city we’ve got these gates that are now

in place they’re called gates of praise

those gates of praise

are two things number one they provide

protection from the onslaught of the

enemy

that what he intends to use against us

is now removed from his hands

the weapons of the enemies are destroyed

through thankfulness

it actually removes the tool that he was

going to use to destroy it removes it

from him because now you’re playing with

god’s tools

now we’re playing with god’s instruments

that gate

psalms 24 lift up your heads or ye gates

that the king of glory may enter in so

here’s a gate that the lord can come in

through and the enemy can’t

the same gate invites one and repels the

other

praise

go with me to thessalonians first

thessalonians 5 and we’ll

spend the rest of our time in this

chapter

that last statement i made about

thanksgiving thankfulness

i kind of butchered it and i’m going to

butcher it just a little bit more

but i i want to i want to give it give

the statement of context because if you

understand this

i i didn’t prepare it to have these

scriptures ready so you can you can look

them up on your own but there’s this

interesting dialogue that paul has on

two occasions about food and what we’re

to eat

in one of those occasions he he says he

says hey if your neighbor is sacrificing

some animal to this demon god

and you know that they sacrifice that

meat to the demon god and they know that

you know don’t eat the meat

and he says it’s not because it will

harm you it’s because it’ll violate

their conscience

but then he goes on and says but if they

don’t know then eat it

elsewhere paul says

all foods that you receive with prayer

and thankfulness

is sanctified

follow the logic here

so here’s this big chunk of meat

my neighbor just offered it to some god

he doesn’t know that i know but i

watched

and then he invited me over for dinner

and i saw these demon powers surround

him as he offered this offering and i

know that the enemy wants to destroy me

through this that i’m about to eat

and i receive it into my life

and i give thanks

my thankfulness just sanctified

what was previously

empowered by the enemy to bring

destruction to my life

did that make sense

thankfulness sanctifies so when you’re

in the middle of a horrific situation

thankfulness in the middle of that it’s

not about chasing the devil around it’s

simply about turning our heart towards

the celebration of who god is in every

situation

and it anchors our soul into that that

absolute victory that has been promised

to to each one of us

thankfulness so here we’ve got this

portion of scripture that

um

i remember in fact just look at verse 16

rejoice always

pray without ceasing and everything give

thanks

i remember reading that as a young

pastor in weaverville days i remember

reading that verse like man i could

spend the rest of my life every day the

rest of my life on those three verses

and i would have my hands full i would

have a full-time job just learning those

three simple statements

say it with me rejoice always

pray without ceasing

and everything give thanks

let’s say it together rejoice always

pray without ceasing

in everything give thanks say it again

rejoice always

pray without ceasing

in everything give thanks

i’m i’m not sure that

that we

see the effect

of thankfulness on the human heart

or thankfulness

on the spiritual atmosphere or

surroundings around our life

there there is a sanctifying a cleansing

a purifying work that takes place simply

by thankfulness why number one

thankfulness is automatically a position

of humility

thankfulness is not us dictating

something to god or to somebody else

it’s coming in low in honoring him

for what he has done

thankfulness

is uh

is connected to the acts of god the

works of god

uh says of of israel and moses it says

israel was acquainted with the acts of

god but moses was acquainted with his

ways

israel with the acts of god

moses with his ways

there’s an interesting graduation in

in perception and experience in those

two areas

many people experience the works of god

but they don’t know anything about his

nature

about his person

and all the revelation or experiences of

the works of god are invitations to

discover who he is

moses

prayed this prayer in exodus he said let

me know

let me know your ways let me know your

your works your ways that i might know

you in other words

god i want to see what you’re like

because i want to follow that invitation

into relationship into encounter

in other words we’re not gathering

information for a test

we’re not we’re not gathering

information to pass the quiz

we’re we’re seeing glimpses of what he’s

like

so that we can take each glimpse as the

invitation or open door opportunity to

come into relationship

when he revealed himself to abraham

as the provider jehovah jireh it wasn’t

to make him more well-rounded in his

theological approach to god’s resource

he was revealing himself as the one he

was about to provide for him instead of

him sacrificing isaac there was a la ram

caught in the thicket the point was god

his provider just revealed himself

that provision was to be experienced

thanksgiving will take you places

nothing else can take you will take you

places in god

so here he says rejoice always

pray without ceasing everything give

thanks

as i was

laying there again i’m i’m making

reference to something i’ve shared with

you before but

i was as i was laying there in this kind

of middle of the night thing my head is

spinning with these verses and these

thoughts

i wanted to make sure i got what he was

trying to say it was giving me uh

let’s give me an insight but it was a

warning too walled city without gates is

not entirely safe in other words i have

a role to play we have a role to play

over the safety of our own households

our own house of faith

as a church family

and so as i laid there i started

meditating on this particular passage

rejoice always pray without ceasing and

everything of thanks if you don’t

meditate on the word

then you’re actually restricting your

own capacity for learning

because he actually wants to speak

to you

it’s true he wants to speak through your

thought process

he wants to become a part of your

thought process so that as you ponder

what he has said in his word

you’ll have an idea that you know

you didn’t come up with

but it’ll feel like you did

all right that’s a good point bill i

know exactly what you mean i know i just

keep working at it all right rejoice i

always pray without ceasing everything

give thanks so as i’m laying there

i start having this sense

that the key then to emotional health

is rejoicing always

the key to emotional health

here’s the strange thing about in fact

let me give reference to thanksgiving

because it’ll be more uh

more visual um

i’m i’m not a great golfer i

it’s been here since i’ve gone

i have some funny stories about my

golfing expertise but anyway

i

i use this as an analogy the ball’s here

you’ve got a back swing

you meet the ball it goes on

this

is yesterday

this is today

the momentum shows you where you’re

going tomorrow i don’t know if that made

sense you’ve got your back swing

you meet the ball

your club doesn’t go that way

it goes that way there’s a momentum

created when you are thankful god you

provided for me when i didn’t deserve it

i blew i made dumb decisions financially

you covered me anyway you provided you

healed my body here god you use a doctor

there

i was in crisis here i expected you to

show up in a certain way you didn’t but

you never left me and you walked me

through that into triumph and you go

through all these things what’s

happening is you are reviewing your

yesterday and god’s faithfulness and you

automatically pick up a sense of where

you’re going does that make sense you

automatically pick up a sense this is my

tomorrow why because before there’s a

problem he creates a solution

one of the most astonishing uh things in

scripture from to me

is where it says jesus was crucified

from before the foundations of the world

jesus was crucified

before the foundations of the world so

before there was all this created

including humans

he was crucified the point is before

there was sin there was a savior

before there was a problem there was a

solution

so what is it that you could come up

with in your life that he didn’t already

have a solution for

the reason for thankfulness is is really

quite astonishing thankfulness is what

helps to create hope and you know what

hope is hope hope is where

the best definition i’ve seen of

biblical hope not not of the the

cultural word hope

the best definition that i know of is

the joyful anticipation of good

joyful it’s excited now for what’s about

to happen what that means then

is that hope actually gives us the

opportunity to enjoy the emotional

benefit of a miracle before the miracle

happens

that we actually have the opportunity

to explore the emotion of victory before

the victory actually happens

it actually we actually get to feed from

the emotion of victory hope gives us

access to that and it’s thanksgiving

that creates that momentum so here we

have this issue rejoicing

is the key to emotional health

rejoicing in any situation every

situation

i i believe strongly

that these kinds of expressions require

physical response

it requires physical response

he didn’t say shout for joy

all you extroverts

[Laughter]

and all you introverts you just think

happy thoughts i’m good i’m good

just feel warm and fuzzy about me i’m

fine i’ll work with that

it didn’t say that he says shout for joy

shout for joy period

there’s something about the expression

that changes

our capacity to experience what god is

doing and what he’s about to do there’s

something that is transformed in us

through the physical outward obedience

sometimes it’s kneeling sometimes it’s

laying on your face sometimes it’s

raising hands sometimes it’s a dance

sometimes

goodness i’ll never forget first time i

i danced before the lord i was alone

in a house

and i i was worshiping

and i felt like the lord said dance

i was so embarrassed

i was i was embarrassed this could be i

made sure all the curtains were closed

because i knew that all the news

networks were there they were wanting to

film

this great event that was about to

happen

i did i actually i went i made sure all

the curtains were closed

everything and i’m the only one in the

house the lights are very dim you can

hardly see

and i’m in this house and i go

[Applause]

i have to admit i actually felt kind of

good inside so i did it again and again

and again and eventually you don’t care

what anybody thinks but at that time

it it it really mattered it mattered to

me there had to be some sort of a

physical response i like wigglesworth

says

my body doesn’t tell me how it’s feeling

since i tell my body how it’s feeling

[Applause]

and there are times where

there’s just there they’re not

monumental things they’re not

you know

they’re not god commanding us to do some

impossible thing sometimes it’s a simple

thing

raise your hand

sometimes it’s lift

your voice

sometimes it’s give

what’s in your pocket to that person you

need

it it’s just it’s

none of them are a huge noble task but

they all require some sort of external

obedience and rejoicing is just like

that i think rejoicing takes great faith

i think it’s easier to hang your head

and sing a song about god’s worth than

it is to celebrate his worth

because you actually have to have some

sense of confidence that you are

accepted to rejoice

and he says rejoice always

the second part of that

experience that we join us always the

second was

in everything give thanks

and i i really felt strongly that he

that he impressed he impressed on my

heart that the key to mental health was

giving thanks and everything

i remember hearing a talk show this

psychiatrist or psychologist i forget

whoever now

was uh being interviewed and they made

some statement i won’t get it exactly

right but it’s basically this that 90 of

all mental illness is the result of

trying to avoid pain

90 of all mental illness as a result of

trying to avoid pain

somehow facing the difficulty with

thankfulness

it’s not denial it’s not pretending

something doesn’t exist it’s owning up

to this you know it’s it’s joseph with

his brothers who sold him into slavery

and he says you know you did this to

destroy me however

god looked ahead and he put me here it

was like i’m owning up to the challenge

of the moment but i am i’m liberated and

i am free in this moment and being able

to be free in that moment with

thanksgiving or with rejoicing is the

nature of the christian life and i tell

you we’ve got to get it now because i

mean it’s crazy out there

it’s crazy they don’t know what bathroom

to use this is getting

this

oh don’t get me started

but here’s the issue if i move in a

fence

i then will fight the challenge

with their tools

which puts us on a level playing field

and whenever you fight the devil on his

field you lose

it’s moving into the grace gifts of

god where i refuse to live in offense

but i but i also refuse to live

irresponsible

and i recognize flesh and blood is not

my enemy

this person believes a lie

but me yelling at him is not going to

change him from believing a lot

reaccusing or doing whatever it doesn’t

fix anything it just helps the person to

feel better for a moment

until god convicts you

are you getting what i’m trying to say

moving into a place of of

of bringing about change requires a

couple of things and i think the the

safeguard here is profound on bringing

transformation it’s rejoicing always and

everything give thanks

those two things emotional mental health

if there’s anything that

that that the world is crying out for

right now because it’s it seems to be

dissolving

you know

quicker than shasta lake

[Laughter]

evaporating

is this this sanity of life this mental

health emotional health and yet you have

an inside track i don’t mean that you’re

better than i i don’t mean in any way i

mean

taste of the favor of god because it

will be useful in bringing others into

that same blessing useful to bring

others into the same sound mind sound

heart rejoice always

pray without ceasing and everything give

thanks

so a key to emotional health is

rejoicing

always every gift everything give thanks

is key for mental health and the last

one is to pray without ceasing

i i believe that that command to pray

without ceasing is the key to heart

health

heart health how important is that

jesus

dealt with a heart

in many different ways he says

adulteries

uh jealousies

all these things come from the heart and

he brings us as a word of correction

then he also says blessed are they pure

in heart for they shall see god

so he he deals with both ends of the

spectrum the point is is the heart is a

big thing it’s that seat of emotion is

the affection it’s the place of

affection is a place of values that are

established from this this place of the

of the human heart where what what we do

with our life is determined in that

place

and proverbs 4 verse 23 says watch over

your heart with all diligence because

from it flow the issues of life

the issues all the issues of life

you have a family you have a job you’ve

got your own personal health you’ve got

all these things going on we’ve all got

a

million plates spinning on sticks you

know and and all these issues of life

watching over this one thing it’s like

having one

idiot gage on your dashboard

that you just watch this one thing and

it’s what helps to keep everything else

functioning

this one gauge make sure you’ve got gas

your oil’s right all pressures right

water everything is correct when you

watch this one thing and that is the

significance of this one command in

proverbs 4 23 watch over your heart with

all diligence i’ve told you before it’s

it’s the way we we raised our children

our discipline was based on on heart is

on attitude we would if we could correct

something when it was an attitude form

we could prevent bad conduct

and it’s the same with us

i’ve invited my wife on many occasions

honey you know all i want to do is

please jesus that’s all i want to do if

you see i’m careless with my speech or

my attitudes any of those things

i’m not just giving you permission i’m

inviting you please point it out to me

it’s i’m determined to recognize never

paint any of those things that happen

but i invite you please point it out to

me because i don’t want that in my life

watch over your heart with all diligence

put extra effort in this one thing why

because everything it affects every

single area of your life so here is what

i believe to be the command of the lord

that keeps us in the place of great

strength as it pertains to our heart

you know what do we want the

adulteries and

envies and jealousies from the heart or

the pure in heart who see god this is

obviously what we want so he says this

he says pray

without ceasing

in other words

view prayer

as your ongoing

primary occupation

if you’re an evangelist you can only

evangelize so

much during the day

if you pray for the sick you can only

pray for the sick so much if you’re a

school teacher you’re only in the

classroom so long

but pray without ceasing

i have found that when i create a

momentum throughout my day i actually

wake up in the night praying

and one of the things that’s important

for us to recognize is we don’t know

what we’re doing

with prayer

anybody on this side would agree with me

we don’t really know what we’re doing

that’s why the bible says we don’t know

how to pray as we are that’s the bible

so it’s best to put your bet with the

bible the bible says you don’t know what

you’re doing

but here’s the cool thing

in romans chapter 8 it says

the holy spirit intercedes for us

a few verses later it says jesus

intercedes for us

my uncle pointed this out to me a bunch

of years ago

holy spirit intercedes for me

jesus is interceding for me and right in

the middle of those two verses is the

statement all things work together for

good

i wonder why all things work together

for good i’ve got the holy spirit i’ve

got the son of god they’re both pleading

my case before the father

i may not know what i’m doing but the

holy spirit who lives in me knows

exactly what he’s doing

and many people pray enough to ease

their conscience but not enough to

change any circumstances not enough to

make a difference

and prayer is the is the full-time

responsibility of the believer

it’s not just that time in the morning

when you get on your knees and you’ve

got your bible open those are wonderful

but it’s more than that

it’s the fact that i i’ll drive down the

road i’ll see

a car go by that reminds me of a friend

i went to school with i just take that

as a signum to pray for them

it’s just automatic reminder

i’ll be i’ll remember

a conflict a conversation ahead that was

very uh challenging for me um that’ll

come to mind i’ll be driving downstream

it’ll come to mind and as soon as it

comes to mind

within moments

i will say

i lay down my right to be offended at

that and i pray now for my friend

that you would so touch his life or

whatever it might be but the point is is

we have a full-time occupation

of interacting with god now here’s the

here’s the deal

i would like in the next couple minutes

if i could somehow paint a picture for

you of the heart of what i believe is

the heart of the father

i believe that the father wants the

earth to be filled

with the fruitfulness

of of the the fruitfulness in answer to

your prayers

in in other words

you were designed

to meet

with the creator of all the life giver

to meet with him

and to make petition and request to make

decrees in proclamations

and as a result

see the course of history changed and

the answers of god sprinkled all over

the earth that there is to be a

fruitfulness i don’t think it’s yet

come to our heart and mind how much god

looks for fruitfulness

he looks for increase

he looks for increase in the simplest

thing

you know the talents you know

he they use the talents and and

the miners they use the minds got 10

more the guy who didn’t use it buried it

the landowner says why didn’t you put it

in the bank at least you would have got

interest in others i’m looking for

increase

god’s not going to give you insights for

prayer to increase your

knowledge the insights for prayer is to

make you more fruitful

god’s not going to give us insights for

prayer so that we can write a book about

prayer

is to make us fruitful so that the earth

would be filled with the fruitfulness of

the answers to prayer of the saints

that this situation it was impossible

and jesus changed it this family they

were so destroyed they could never

recover but the mercy of god came and

they’ve been healed this business was

past

being lost and god raised it up again

home after home situation after

situation why because somebody who loves

a father is willing to pray until he

shows how to pray

i think

i think the fruitfulness that god wants

for us

from prayer

is he on the other side of us laying

down our offense

for so many things not being answered

prayer is an engagement with a person

where we are changed that’s the whole

point

if i take an hour to pray i don’t leave

that hour changed that i wasn’t praying

i was complaining

it’s an engagement with a person why

because i am learning to think like him

how many know you can pray the same

prayer a thousand times have nothing

happen you prayed a thousand to one and

a breakthrough takes place it’s that

it’s that moment where jesus says throw

the net to the other side do it again i

know you did it all night but do it one

more time

sometimes it’s that one more time of

doing the right thing but this time you

did it in the presence this time we did

it in the command of the lord this time

his hand was on my hand making the the

what we were doing effective and

powerful

that’s prayer

it’s the invitation of god to come into

a place where we actually make a

difference in the course of history

because we pray

so here it is rejoice always

pray

and don’t stop

in everything give thanks

emotional mental health

heart health

and the pure and heart will see god

don’t you stand we’re going to pray

together

[Applause]

i keep i keep coming back to the subject

of prayer i think honestly to be honest

with you i feel like i keep coming back

to it the last six eight months because

i need it

and uh

i keep i keep getting glimpses

of of god’s heart

and you can’t not pray

when you see his heart

you know he he’s

he’s the one he’s the one who said

abide in me

let my words abide in you can ask

whatever

you want and it’ll be done for you

four times in three chapters he gives

this invitation

of world changing

involvement with god through answers to

prayer that change everything

partnership right

something happened here 25 not quite 25

we’ve been seeing this

wonderful outpouring for 25 years but

something happened maybe 23 years ago

where there was a corporate anointing

that came on the house for healing

and we have seen thousands and thousands

and

and and we’ll see a lot more

but i feel like this just could be that

hour where he’s now releasing a

corporate anointing for prayer

where we find ourselves you may feel

like well i really don’t know what i’m

doing

good because if you did you’d mess it up

there’s something about praying in the

holy spirit there’s something about

praying with some there’s something

about there are times i get before the

lord and i have nothing i’ll pray in

tongues i pray in my prayer language

that’s important part but he still wants

oftentimes he wants something said from

my understanding

and i can just take a pot shot and i can

find a verse and quote this and quote

that but there are times where he wants

me to see something i’ve never seen

before so i can decrease something i’ve

never decreed before

so i can i can declare

and i feel like there’s this school of

prayer that god is

is releasing over us as a church family

right right now

i i pray that you wake up because of

dreams

i pray that you’re troubled by dreams i

pray you’re excited by dreams

i pray the voice of the lord awakens you

i’ve had it happen twice where the voice

of the lord just startled me awake

i pray that happens for you i pray i

pray that you can’t get away from the

great privilege

of filling the earth with fruitfulness

in your answers to prayer

father i pray for that that you would

multiply the effectiveness our online

family as well god that you’d release

the grace

for the miracle anointing and prayer all

we want is what you’ve commanded us

kingdom of god come

will of god be done on earth

as it is in heaven that is our cry and i

pray that you awaken in in the heart in

the life of every single person in this

room

every person their significant role of

affecting history simply by praying what

you pray

declaring what you declare believing

what you believe

i pray all of this in jesus name now if

you could hold your place for just a

quick moment

i know anytime there’s this many people

in a room the odds are very high that

there are people here that don’t know

jesus you don’t have a personal

relationship with jesus you don’t know

what it is to be forgiven you don’t know

what it is to be born again as the bible

would say

and it doesn’t matter to me whether

you’re in the building you’re watching

online there’s a way for you to respond

right now

and i i want to say for everyone in the

building if there anyone here in that

position right now that say i don’t want

to leave the building until i know that

i’m at peace with god and that i know

what it is to be brought into a family

where i truly become a disciple of this

one named jesus

if that’s in your heart

you say bill i don’t want to leave the

building until i know this for certain

then i want you to put a hand up where

you are because we’re going to pray and

believe for that great great miracle for

you put it up high so i see

does it anyone at all you know those who

are online

i know we have people we have had so

many people come to christ online

um just write in the blog we have

pastors online with you be able to to be

able to talk and to pray with you so put

in the chat room uh the chat box that

you want to receive jesus and people

will pray with you

all right

how about you do this who’s coming up

chris come on up and help me lift up one

good shot of thanksgiving

[Applause]