Living Under an Open Heaven – Bill Johnson | Q&A

Is it possible to live under an open heaven? Bill Johnson and Libby Gordon discuss how to live under an open heaven, continuously aware of the Presence of God in our day to day lives.

hi bethel family i am libby gordon and

i’m here with pastor bill johnson what a

treat to have you thanks thanks me too

this is such an exciting time and also

precinct time right now in the world and

we’re going to be talking around the

topic of open heavens

the promise that god has given us the

truth of

the promise of god that we can live

under an open heaven pastor bill we know

that many of our family right now are on

a personal pursuit

this truth affects us corporately the

body of christ it affects culture and

industry economics would you share with

us perhaps some of the truths on how to

live out

life under an open heaven in everyday

living how does that affect us

corporately

oh goodness

it it has to be experienced individually

and become a corporate value so the

individuals get breakthrough in our

personal lives but then that affects how

we do life together as a family

and when the value system of a group of

believers adjusts to what god values and

that’s his manifest presence being upon

his people when that takes place it

alters our affections

it changes what we adore it changes

it changes where we focus our attention

and anytime that happens there’s a

corporate effect simply what it means is

he said i would inhabit your praises

he also described the glory of the lord

resting upon his people and that’s a

manifested presence of jesus and his

desire is

you know not to make it too wordy it’s

just heaven on earth that’s his desire

what’s the most important thing in

heaven

it’s not gold streets

it’s not a glass sea

you know it’s it’s the presence of god

he is the single premier

focus all of life is sustained by his

manifest presence

and so to be a people that pray on earth

as it is in heaven we have to adjust

heaven’s values

and heaven’s values is number one is to

give place to the presence of the spirit

of god

and uh and that was really initiated

uh in some measure by the prophet isaiah

he said rend the heavens come down it’s

a prophetic intercession

and then jesus modeled it in his water

baptism where the heavens were torn open

violent violently so there was a

spiritual opposition torn open and the

spirit of god was released upon him so

he set the way for us to live life like

that so i love the fact that you said

so many people are on that journey that

pursuit yeah because that’s what we need

we need to do that absolutely and pastor

bill will you talk just a little bit

about that personal journey so we

understand corporately that has an

effect it affects our desires would you

share with us perhaps even some of your

own personal journey or any keys you

would have for our bethel family on

their journey

john the gospel of john chapter 15 verse

7

has always been a huge verse for me

it’s where he says if you abided me so

what is that describing abiding in him

sometimes it gets reduced to religious

terms and

and not an ongoing experience so he says

stay connected to me abide in me live

with the realization of who you are

who’s you are and where you are that

you’re actually in the presence of god

so abide in me then he said let my words

abide in you so there’s the confirming

fact that i am who he says i am because

his word the ever-living word of god is

resident in my heart and i give place to

what he says i give attention to his

words when he says this that’s where i

put my affection in my hope and so we

got this jewel combination he says he

says abide in me let my words abide in

you and then here’s the deal he says

you’ll ask for whatever you want it’s

not an invitation to selfishness it’s an

invitation to co-labor he’s wanting to

see the reality of his world work in and

through yielded surrendered people and

that’s the purpose of the open heaven is

to see him receive the glory him

glorified but also him manifested so

john 15 7 is is a huge a huge part of

this whole journey for me and what i

have found in my experience is that any

time

any time i turn my affection towards him

you know if you if you hold a a small

child a baby in your hands you know you

just

you don’t even have to say anything you

just you just feel this deep affection

for this child the same thing when i

turn my affection towards him if i just

take a moment to consider him

and let my heart burn for him

something happens

with that manifested presence he just

i don’t want to say he wasn’t here

before i don’t know if he comes or if my

awareness increases it doesn’t matter to

me

something happens in that moment so i’ve

been learning to do that with the

kind of the vacant places of my day

uh it’s what i it’s what i try to do at

night when i go into bed is if i wake up

in the nights when i i turn my heart of

affection towards him i want to live

in the realization of him

and uh

father lawrence uh practicing the

presence talked about this this concept

so beautifully that he he got to where

he could live aware of the presence

the same while he was washing the pots

and pans in the kitchen as when he was

in the prayer chapel and that’s the goal

is to live conscious of it so powerful

that truth

so impacted my life as a mother

because the reality is right now i don’t

have the same amount of time with two

young kids that i used to

and the practicality and the power of

that decision

is so empowering for me would you speak

to a bethel family who perhaps are

parents and

some of them working from home or

working remotely or maybe going to and

from the office and they have a heart to

live this out but perhaps they aren’t in

vocational ministry right now or perhaps

their calling isn’t to do that what

would you share with them around open

heavens

well first of all live conscious of him

that’s the main thing it’s just

david king david said

daily i set the lord before me well you

don’t grab hold of god and put him in

front of you what he was saying is i

have determined to be aware of the one

who was with me always

and so you turn your heart if he if the

scripture says he will never leave us or

forsake us so he’s here so what should i

do i should live aware of him

if i don’t live aware of him that i am

aware of way too many inferior things

inferior things have replaced my

awareness of the superior right there’s

nothing greater there’s nothing more

grand than the presence of god

and so first of all start with that make

it a part of your day

secondly take the moments that you do

have i mean to be frank if you’re going

to the restroom take that moment you

know the kids are laying down for a nap

you’ve got a five-minute break so you

just take the moments that you do have

and what i have found for me is if i

have if i have an hour to pray

i’m generally going to spend 30 40

minutes 45 minutes in worship

and then i’ll pray specifically for

details after that if i have 10 minutes

to pray i usually spend six or seven

minutes in worship so the point i’m

trying to make is just make the whole

issue of of worship

a primary focus

because if you give yourself to him in

your affections

it just changes everything so yeah don’t

worry about what you’re not able to do

take advantage of what you can do

and creatively yeah wow yeah taking that

for myself yeah me too

chat us a little bit about the key

scriptures you spoke about isaiah and

you talk to us i’ve heard you as well

talk about stephen in the book of acts

speak to us around what were the key

scriptures that informed your your view

or even hunger and desire

to live under the open heavens of god

oh goodness probably one of the most uh

impacting is that passage in solomon’s

life where he’s dedicating the temple

i think it’s chronicles 5.

and he in this in this chapter he’s got

this description of

all the trumpeters and the singers and

all the musicians

and they’re all playing in perfect

harmony and then he comes

wow

and when he

when he shows up in glory like he did in

that in the dedication of the temple

there was no one saying

i think we should get on our knees in

reverence to the lord there was none of

that everybody was on their face

that was on their face and something

happens in the glory i don’t know when

it started but it started early on for

me an appetite for the glory of god wow

an appetite to be exposed to see more

happens

in a moment in the glory

than a hundred moments anywhere else

a thousand moments anywhere so something

happens in that manifested presence of

jesus

that you can’t duplicate and it’s

it’s uh you lose track of time uh

nothing else has importance

i mean you you is something it’s

it’s sobering but it’s not it’s not uh

it’s not rebuke sobering it’s it’s it’s

the fact that in this moment i realize

there’s only a few things that are

important

yeah in my whole life that seemed to be

so complicated an hour ago just isn’t

right now and that’s what happens in the

glory and so i think stories like that

some of the revival history stories

you know where the i’ve talked with

friends in the in wales and they talked

about some of the meetings that they had

you know a hundred plus years ago

and they had no electricity at that time

but the the people in the community

would look down at the church and

whenever the light was on inside

well there was there were no lights when

the when the presence of god would begin

to manifest that’s when the people would

crowd into that building because they

recognized he was there and

if you have a heart to recognize his

presence he’ll show you different ways

that he shows up because he doesn’t you

know

he doesn’t come in a

you know in a costume for us to

recognize him he’s

he told israel he said they had this

cloud that was there by day said my face

was in the cloud

i didn’t let you see any form because i

knew you’d be an idolatrous people you’d

create an image out of what you saw so

he withheld clarity

because of their bent to

formulate what they saw

yeah yeah

we tend to create formulas

to create shortcuts

and instead of embracing the process of

the presence

so

yeah so those kinds of stories you know

from history and of course from

scripture those are those are the

hallmarks to me

yeah incredible amazing incredible

building your own life with benny with

the kids perhaps it was in weaverville

or here in reading california what would

be some standout personal moments for

you in your appetite

for living in the open heavens of god

it started you know it started so many

goodness 40 some years ago almost

probably close to 50 years ago now

where i i knew that you’re just supposed

to pray so i’d spend you know x amount

of time every morning every night and uh

and uh and it’s it’s funny because

when you when you pray like that

especially as a as a young person i

would evaluate the effectiveness of my

prayer and i i never felt you know that

that was really effective in prayer but

what happens is

as you’re planting seeds

then

that you don’t harvest for 10 years

20 years 30 years

and yeah and today i’m harvesting

seeds i planted 50 years ago wow it’s

true

you know you you plant

a seed for a tree it takes a long time

for that to grow and bear fruit but it

bears fruit for a long time

and so that’s really what’s a huge part

of my life right now

is is

is are those times the times in the

middle of the night where i couldn’t

sleep and i’d get up and pray or i would

weep over my household or i’d pray for

the church and those times it wasn’t

it wasn’t a calculated thing to do it

was because of the burden it was because

of the dream it was because of what was

in me

caused me to ache for things that i that

i wasn’t seeing that i that i knew were

biblical

and in those moments

you don’t pray because it’s it’s

scheduled you pray because there’s no

other options you pray because this is

why i’m alive

and

you know that’s really where where so

much of my life was was shaped early

morning late at night middle of the

night middle of the day

i remember in weaverville i would just

take great periods of time just to walk

around the sanctuary and just

just pray and cry out to god for

breakthrough and

and uh

you get

acclimated is the wrong word but you you

do you get shaped by the presence and by

the glory in ways that you can’t measure

you see it later looking back you go oh

so it was worthwhile it was beneficial

you know because in a moment you’re

crying

you’re weeping because of what’s not

happening and what you ate for but yeah

that that’s really what happened so so

encouraging yeah yeah

i’m excited to look down 40 50 years

later and

rooted my life and i know our bethel

family and see the the fruit of the

seeds planted really powerful and bill

you actually have and some of our

viewers might have heard the rumors you

have an e-course so for those of us who

are hungry to dive in more or or have uh

often as i study your e-courses i feel

like i’m personally being discipled and

taught and as we as i access those and

so for those of us who want to dive

deeper will have access to that which is

so exciting um if there would be one uh

maybe one truth or

one aspect of the book that you’re

excited for our bethel family to catch

there’s probably so many actually i know

there’s so many you’re a man of wisdom

and revelation but if you could just

pick one for this moment what would that

be

god never intended

for revival for moves of god to be

temporary experiences

when we experience a mighty outpouring

of the holy spirit we’re just returning

to normal christianity

and anything less is inferior

and we

have the inferior at times because we

settle for the inferior it’s not his

will

the scripture talks about the

priests who would light the fire on the

altar

excuse me god would light the fire in

the altar but the priests would keep it

burning yes so who who lights the fires

of revival

god does

who keeps it burning we do if it dies

out whose responsibility is

that’s that’s it

shame will make the change but awareness

of responsibility

so what do i need to do to keep a fire

burning i have to put things that are

flammable on there

for me yes i have to get on the altar

and be the offering that attracts the

fire of god to sustain or move so that’s

it incredible and creative yeah thank

you for your time pastor bill and

and thank you to our bethel friends and

family for joining us for this key time

together and if you are feeling this

charge to learn more about the open

heavens of the lord or to go deeper in

your study of god in this aspect and see

it practically walked out in your life

join us at shop.bethel.com

or you can find more resources for

pastor bill’s open heavens e-course it

comes out in april this year and you can

find that at bethel.tv

we’re so excited to see the lord move

radically in your life through these two

resources

you