God is always looking to see how much of His glory we can carry, and character is what determines that measure. In this sermon clip, Bill Johnson teaches on the impartation of spiritual gifts, and the importance of character in stewarding those gifts. Many people want to receive by impartation things that can only be developed through character. Both character and impartation are important parts of the normal Christian life.

it’s that it’s that character that is

able to carry the weightiness of what

God is doing in the Earth yeah he’s

looking for people he can entrust

himself too

[Music]

one of the most significant truths to

really be embraced and taught on in the

last 20 plus years

has been the whole concept of

impartation

it’s it’s just such a rich truth because

there can be a Grace an anointing a

gifting on one person’s life they can

pray for someone else and they actually

start functioning in that area

but what’s kind of humorous to me I

you just forgive me for my sense of

humor again but what’s kind of humorous

to me is oftentimes people come and ask

for prayer for something that is

actually a mark of maturity and you

can’t get through maturity through

impartation if only that were true man

we could just line up and be like Paul

tomorrow you know maturity comes from

choices making decisions so you can pray

for someone you can be one minute old in

Jesus and pray for somebody who has

cancer and they can be healed

it didn’t come the gifting didn’t come

from maturity uh excuse me the gifting

yeah didn’t come from years in Christ it

just came from Grace

the maturity comes when you are not

faced with decisions what are you going

to do with the fact somebody just got

healed through you do you think it’s

your significance

do you think you are the source of the

gift do you think you’re the source of

the faith how is the story shared is it

shared with you at the center or Jesus

and all all we do in those moments as

we’re we’re allow the Lord is actually

measuring what realm or measure of Glory

can we live with can we carry

see the original Target of the Lord for

every person was to actually live in the

glory of God and just for simplicity’s

sake will Define the glory as the

manifested presence of Jesus it’s the

actualized presence of God

and so the scripture says all have

fallen short of the glory of God so sin

means to miss the mark So sin causes

people to miss God’s intended target

what was the intended target the glory

of God

to live in the manifested presence of

Christ not just as a point of theology

not just as a point of Doctrine I am in

Christ he is in me but more than that an

actualized realized reality that we live

from

where we see the god of scripture appear

in unusual ways and rest upon people in

unusual ways the manifestations in the

temple are Tabernacle that is actually

the manifestation that that is

potentially

a part of everybody in this life who has

a personal relationship with Jesus

so all have sinned and fall short of the

glory Mr Martin what does salvation do

it restores us to the Target

it doesn’t restores halfway to the

Target so that in heaven we can get the

rest

when Jesus said it was enough he

actually meant

I did everything needed to accomplish

the original plan

and so Jesus

intends to live is it lives Among Us

lives in US rests upon us but there are

measures of presence that are yet to be

discovered that have been discovered in

Prior Generations

this isn’t the subject to this I’ve got

to be careful not to get too lost into

that but let me just say this his desire

is to fully reveal himself who he is

upon his people fully

but the weightiness of that Revelation

would crush many people who are falling

the Lord because there are fractures in

their thinking fractures in their values

it’s not that they don’t genuinely love

Jesus it’s just they have a weakness in

their Foundation that needs to be

revealed gently and carefully so that

the Lord can bring healing there

it is true it is true the Lord’s not

afraid of bringing junk up in our life

bring it to the surface but he brings it

to the surface so it can be dealt with

he never brings it to the surface to

shame us or to mock us

he only brings it out so that we will

see what he’s been seeing all along

what confession is is we just make

agreement with what he already knows to

be true

oh God forgive me I’m so arrogant and

proud he says yeah I knew that that’s

not a shock to me I just allowed you to

see it in this situation that you’re

just very self-centered so we’re going

to break that and what happens he brings

it to the surface so that we can

acknowledge it because once we deeply

confess and repent he gives us the grace

to forsake that which kept us in bondage

all right back to the subject so

the choices that we have throughout life

are where where the the muscle of

Integrity the muscle of characters

developed

in uh in lifting weights for example

if you if you lift a light weight 100

times it’s not going to build muscle

it’s when you build something it’s when

you lift something that really pushes

your capacity

and maybe you can only lift that thing

three times but it’s the third time that

works the most

it’s the hardest lift that’s that’s what

actually accomplished the most

and when we have difficult situations

rise up in our life it’s always for the

purpose of building characters never to

shame it’s never to mock it’s never too

intimidate or humiliate that’s always

the invitation to come into Christ into

a place of Greater strength

that’s why in uh

um

first Thessalonians 5 he says Rejoice

always

pray without ceasing and everything give

thanks

for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus

concerning you

think through this now Rejoice always

pray without ceasing in everything give

thanks for this is God’s will in Christ

concerning you

one of the most overwhelming or I

shouldn’t say overwhelming one of the

most frequently repeated prayers or

requests from this family of Believers

especially including our school is this

heart to know God’s will for our life

and generally what that is reduced to is

God do you want me to be a missionary or

veterinarian or school teacher or Pastor

or whatever we want to do what he wants

us to do it’s a legitimate prayer it’s a

legitimate request

I’m not sure God’s as concerned about

that as he is about this this says

Rejoice always pray without ceasing and

everything give thanks for this is God’s

will

in Christ concerning you

this is the will of God for my life

I remember as a young man you know just

past starting to Pastor in Weaverville I

was reading through Thessalonians

reading through these verses and and

these verses just jumped out at me

Rejoice always pray without ceasing and

everything give thanks

and I I came face to face with the fact

man

I could only have those three verses and

it would take the rest of my life for me

to learn it

I mean if I had nothing else to read but

those three verses I’d have a full-time

job ahead of me because to Rejoice

always to pray without ceasing and

everything give thanks it just means you

have you have disciplined responses to

levels of difficulty and challenges and

opportunities that you face you have

disciplined responses that help to form

and to shape the character in us

remember is that is that it’s that

character that is able to carry the

weightiness of what God is doing in the

Earth

he’s looking for people he can entrust

himself too

the whole impartation idea came as I’ve

been thinking for years I wish if

there’s one thing I could ask of the

Lord to be able to impart to people it

would be a thankful heart

you just don’t get it through

impartation you get it through choices