Bill Johnson talks about how to move from discouragement into hope by changing the way you see. Exposure to miracles and the supernatural are supposed to change the way you think and see. When the disciples argued about bread, Jesus reminded them of the miracle He had just performed of feeding 4000 people. He challenged the disciples “Can you not see? Can you not hear? Can you not remember?”. Though you may not always be able to see or hear what God is doing and saying, remembering the testimonies of what God has done, not only for you personally but for His people throughout history, is a choice that is always available. Remembering the testimonies will position you in a place of hope as you anticipate how He will come through in the situation you face. God wants to heal your place of pain and bring you into victory. Subscribe for weekly videos: https://bit.ly/bjmYoutube
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Scripture References: Mark 8 Romans 12: 2 Matthew 6: 10 2 Corinthians 4: 18 Romans 14: 17 Ephesians 2: 7 John 3: 3 Psalm 119: 111 Originally shared at Bethel Church, Redding California, on May 30, 2021. Bill Johnson is a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit. He is senior leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and is passionate about seeing Revival and God’s Kingdom established and revealed in the lives of individuals, families, communities, and nations. Bill’s teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, hosting the Presence, and the renewed mind has helped thousands around the world to step into their true identity in Christ, God given purpose, and walk in a supernatural lifestyle displaying both purity and power. #BillJohnson #BethelChurch #Hope #Pain
it’s not that we pretend those things
never happened or that they never
existed it’s that we bring them into the
relationship with the Lord so he can
heal the place of pain and turn it into
a place of strength every loss is
supposed to be a place of Vengeance not
your Vengeance not mine but where God
shows himself strong why build a life
formed around the disappointment of loss
when you could use it for the place of
promotion for
breakthrough today I want you to go if
you would to Mark chapter 8 and uh and I
want to talk to you out of this chapter
this uh is one of the most important
chapters honestly in my life uh that’s
uh in no way an exaggeration I had a
unusual experience probably going back
20 years it seemed that every time I
opened my Bible it just opened to Mark 8
I could be wanting to go to the Psalms
and it would open to Mark 8 I’d want to
go to you know the book of Jude and it
would open to to Mark chapter 8
and it doesn’t do that anymore so it’s
not a crease in the Bible it’s not a
broken spine it just went open to Mark 8
over and over and over again and after
probably a half a dozen times I thought
this is weird maybe I should read it and
so I did I I tend to be real systematic
in my reading I I’ll read like the Old
Testament or new testament or gospels or
book of Law and I I take sections maybe
the Epistles the Minor Prophets and I
just read over them sometimes I read
them over and over again I did the the
gospels once constantly for 10 years
just continually reading and rereading
and I discovered it’s actually all about
Jesus that was probably pretty good that
I that I read that I read the gospels um
but but what I do for my recreational
reading which is like it’s like going to
a cabin on the weekend uh I I have
certain places that I like to go and
feed and Mark 8 is one of those and
there’s about eight or 10 verses that I
Feast on and the reason because these
verses cut me me they literally pierce
my soul every time I read them it’s a
two-edged sword it heals where it
cuts so we need to welcome that cutting
of the word of the Lord into our soul
because it actually imparts and shapes a
perception of reality that you don’t get
any other way and I remember dick Mills
a wonderful friend of ours that had this
message once if you could imagine uh a
guy standing in front of me you know 4T
away he’s got this big sword and the tip
of the sword is at my chest and then
that guy says come here and it was a
picture of literally walking into the
sword of the Lord and that’s what we do
when we open up the word we open it with
him and um not just to learn about him
but to engage with him Mark chapter 8 is
this uh fascinating story about uh for
me it’s about the renewed mind in fact
what I plan to do throughout the
throughout the summer is on several
occasions talk to you out of the Gospel
of Mark because for me the gospel of
Mark illustrates the renewed
mind again for me better than any other
part of scripture the renewed mind is
essential to our
faith every single day of our life the
holy spirit is working on us for the
renewing of the Mind the reason is
because it is God’s heart to invade this
world with his
will why the renewed mind it’s heart to
invade this world with his
will what does it say about the renewed
mind in Romans 12:2 don’t be conformed
to this world but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind that you may what
prove the will of God that which is good
acceptable and perfect what is the will
of God best definition for me is found
in the prayer that Jesus taught his
disciples your will be done on Earth as
it is in heaven pray that that with me
your will be done on Earth as it is in
heaven say it again your will be done on
Earth as it is in heaven so what does a
renewed mind do then it proves the will
of
God we see the miraculous through
faith we see the miraculous through
presence the most consistent way to see
the miraculous is through the renewed
mind
there’s no cancer in
heaven he said on Earth as it is in
heaven and it’s through the renewed
mind the renewed mind is not the source
of Faith the mind uh excuse me Faith
doesn’t come from the mind it comes from
the
heart faith is not the product of
striving it’s a result of
surrender that’s why it’s a heart issue
but the renewed mind creates the context
for Faith like the banks of a river the
renewed mind creates a context for Faith
to flow
him so we see Jesus talking to the
Centurion and he’s stunned by his faith
when he gives an explanation on how
Authority works it was his understanding
that was renewed came only by Revelation
understanding of authority that was the
context that gave evidence that he had
real
Faith so the Lord is I I
working on us for the renewed mine now a
couple weeks ago I likened it un a truck
driver and I’m going to do it again
because it it fits my illustration best
a truck driver will take off with his
load and after driving a while that load
begins to settle and so the truck driver
often will pull over to a truck stop and
they tighten down the load because
things have shifted and settled how many
you think maybe in the last 18 months
we’ve had a few things settle and we we
need a little bit of cranking down
tightening of that load and that’s kind
of what I feel like we’re doing over
these next number of weeks uh here in
the summer Mark chapter 8 let’s begin
reading with um with verse
13 and he left them getting into the
boat again departed to the other side
now the disciples had forgotten to take
bread they did not have more than one
loaf with them in the boat then he
charged them saying take heed Beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees and the leav
of Herod and they reasoned among
themselves saying it is because we have
no bread but Jesus being aware of it
said to them why do you reason because
you have no bread do you not yet
perceive nor understand is your heart
still hardened having eyes do you not
see having ears do you not hear and do
you not remember when I broke the Five
Loaves for the 5,000 how many baskets
full of fragments did you take up and
they said him 12 also when I broke the
seven for the 4,000 how many large
baskets full of fragments did you take
up and they said seven then he said to
them how is it you do not
understand this is the portion that I
read over and over again in fact quite
honestly there are times I’ll open to
this chapter and I will just read and
Ponder verse 17 Jesus being aware of it
said why do you reason because you have
no
bread and any thought process that
begins with what we don’t have will have
to be repented
of because you can’t build anything
substantial on that
thought it makes a poor foundation for
human
reasoning that went over pretty
good so Jesus gives them instruction and
he warns them he warns them about leaven
the leev of Herod the leaven of the
Pharisees there is a third leaven in
scripture in Matthew 13 is the leaven of
the Kingdom so we know leaven is yeast
you work it into dough we lived in
waville we only had wood heat and not
even a little space heater for 17 years
and Benny would make uh homemade bread
and she would uh work that yeast in work
the dough and sometimes the house was
just too cold where the kitchen was so
she put it right next to the wood stove
and the fire would activate the yeast
and it would rise fire always activates
whatever yeast is in your
mind it always activates it reveals it’s
a revealer it reveals what’s been
planted so Jesus warns of two different
kinds of Leaven and leaven represents
worldview ways of
thinking he warns against the Pharisee
mindset and on the political or herod’s
mindset herod’s is the political
Spirit it doesn’t mind you having a
belief in God just don’t bring him into
the
equation which sounds very familiar in
our political climate doesn’t mind a
belief in God just don’t bring him in
where that’s a determining Factor on
policy
Etc the religious system has God at the
center of everything but he’s impersonal
and
Powerless is figurative not
relational and the kingdom is opposite
of both of
those he’s at the center of
everything and defines everything by his
own person his own presence everything
is defined by the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ every value everything in
him we live and consist and have our
being so Jesus warns about these value
systems that could and will persuade you
out of the reality of the kingdom of God
which is the greatest reality in
existence Paul told us what you can’t
see is eternal what you can see is
temporal the kingdom of God is Not meat
or drink it’s not here in the physical
it’s righteousness peace and joy it’s in
the Unseen it’s a superior reality but
thinking from that place gives you a
different approach to a problem in the
natural thinking from the natural at
best makes you a beggar hoping to uh to
to invade your
situation we leave the posture of sons
and
daughters when we pray only from Earth
to get him to invade a
problem and yet what he’s trying to
build in Us in is an awareness of
identity and purpose so that we can
effectively use his name his authority
to accomplish his purposes it’s not
about our kingdoms it’s not about our
you know fame or success or any of those
things it’s not about my fulfillment of
Dreams that’s always a byproduct of
fulfilling
his if God’s not listening to your
prayers maybe talk to him about what he
likes to talk
about just PS all right both of these
realities the political Spirit the
political Spirit and the religious
spirit both have one overlapping common
denominator if you study the gospels
you’ll see this repeated over and over
again both of them are heavily in
influenced by the fear of
man the Pharisees wouldn’t answer a
question because the crowd would turn on
them they refused to answer Jesus’s
question the political system refused to
make this decision because of what this
group pilate ended up crucifying Jesus
because of the
political environment they’re going to
tell
Caesar the motivator for many decisions
in these two realities is the fear of
man and the crazy thing is that they all
think it’s
wisdom fear masquerades is wisdom
whether it’s fear of a
disease fear of man doesn’t matter what
it
is fear will always attract whatever
information is needed to legitimize its
existence fear reinforces
itself I personally believe this a
little side note here I personally
believe that we this everybody I’m sure
would agree with we all have
strength but those strengths can be
turned into weaknesses would you would
you agree with me the boldness of
Peter didn’t always work so well all
right but it really worked well once it
was under the lordship of Jesus are you
with me all
right the fear of man I think starts out
as a tender heart that has compassion
and care for other people but the enemy
Works to manipulate it so that we are
actually governed by the gift instead of
we govern the gift for Kingdom
purposes he turns he works to turn our
place of perception from compassion and
concern for the condition of people
around us to a place where we become
imprisoned by the opinions of people
around
us back to the subject so Jesus talks to
these guys and let’s go to the end of
the story first he says when I fed the
5,000 we started with Five Loaves how
many baskets did we have left they said
12 he said when we fed the 4,000 we
started with how many loaves seven how
many baskets were left over
seven so you mean to tell me when he fed
the most people he started with the
least amount of food and he had the most
leftovers
starting with more is not an
advantage starting with more that’s wall
Street’s perspective that’s not
Kingdom you were chosen not because of
your strengths but because of your
weaknesses you were
chosen
why all of eternity will be spent by us
looking at each other’s lives in honor
in celebration but giving thanks to God
because it was all by
grace we’ll see it clearly it was all by
Grace nobody got here on their own
marriage everybody got here by
Grace it will be actually the
inspiration for praise es for all of
eternity Ephesians 2 says it’s going to
take the ages to come to unravel The
Mystery of the surpassing greatness of
his
grace so here we are he says when I
broke the 5,000 five low of the 5,000
how many baskets did you have left they
said 12 now go back to verse 17 let’s
take a look at this and let me talk to
you for a few minutes about it why do
you reason because you have no bread do
you not yet perceive nor understand is
your heart still hard
this is interesting because conversion
gave us the capacity to
see John 3:3 unless you’re born again
you cannot see the kingdom of God the
implication is your conversion gives you
the capacity to see now in this passage
Jesus
says okay you can’t see is your heart’s
still
hard now never does he do that in shame
it’s never to rub our nose in something
it’s never to make us feel hopeless it’s
always an invitation to maturity it’s
always an invitation to growth so he’s
pointing out some weaknesses in their
perception what’s the problem here they
just if you read through this chapter
you notice they just were used in
multiplying food a second time for the
4,000 they go from multiplying food to a
boat where they don’t have enough food
and they’re afraid of not having food
for
lunch
why do you reason that you have no bread
why did you start your thinking with
what you locked with what you don’t have
all right let me ask you the question
how many of you have had honestly
Supernatural provision of God you’ve had
God provide for you Supernatural how
many of you after that Miracle of
provision you had another financial
problem how many of you were as afraid
the second time as you were the first
time all right that’s the issue right
there is our experience in the
Supernatural is supposed to train us how
to think and how to
see when he asked the question why do
you reason he never asked that to them
in their beginning stages of
discipleship he never would have
expected them to have that awareness the
god of the impossible Unlimited Supply
is with us he wouldn’t have expected
that but now that they’ve experienced
multiplying food twice see Miracles are
expensive because they require
change Miracles that are just observed
and
applauded but doesn’t shift perspective
have not had their full
impact they’re supposed to actually
change the way I deal with the
situations of my
life once you’ve seen Supernatural
Supply you’ve lost every right to start
any thought process with what you don’t
have as I heard somebody say
recently once you’ve seen Supernatural
Supply you’ve lost all rights to begin
any thought process with what you don’t
have see Miracles are expensive because
they require shift they require
change any thought process that I start
with what I don’t have will have to be
repented of because anything I build on
it is built on
Sand it’s built on that weak
Foundation people around you will
applaud you they’ll call it common sense
common to what
world what kingdom is it common
to
why do you reason that you have no
bread don’t you understand can you not
perceive and then he goes on then he
asks three questions he says having eyes
can’t you
see I don’t know about you but often the
time I’m in that situation
going
nope I cannot
see I know it’s me but it’s real I don’t
I cannot see and he goes on he says
can’t you hear you have ears do you not
hear I I do hear better than I see but
there are times I’m in a situation where
I can’t see I can’t perceive it’s seeing
from the heart you understand we’re not
talking about open visions of angels and
all that that’s all wonderful but that’s
not the normal everyday seeing of the
heart of a
believer I’ve had situations I remember
praying for this uh this guy who had a a
issue with his back and I couldn’t see
it with my eyes but I could see it
clearly from my heart there was a black
substance on his back that was clinging
to him I know it sounds weird I didn’t
make a big deal of it I just the person
I was praying with I said pull that off
his back and we had worked together long
enough they they knew just to do what I
asked them to do so they just went as
though they could grabb this black mass
and pulled off his back and he was here
it’s a seeing it’s a
perceiving here’s here’s what I’ve
learned he says having eyes can’t you
see having ears can’t you hear and do
you not remember the first two most of
us would attribute to somebody connected
to their
gift that person really Chris for
example has an unusual ability to see he
see he can see with his naturalize what
what uh uh sometimes what uh what I
can’t even see by faith you know he sees
it with is naturalized it’s a gift so
sometimes seeing we would relegate to
somebody who has that unusual gift or
they’re hearing they just have such an
ability to hear from God I love whenever
I love whenever they share something
because they’re just they I tell they
can just start hearing from God but
remembering has never been attributed to
a
gift see I may not have what I think is
a qualified gift to see and I may not
have in this particular season of my
life an ability to hear well but I can
always
remember
Psalms 119 verse 111 says this the
testimony of the Lord is your
inheritance forever say that with me the
testimony of the Lord is your
inheritance forever let’s make it
personal the testimony of the Lord is my
inheritance forever now what’s
interesting about that is that verse
does not
say your
testimony is your inheritance
forever it says the test Tony of the
Lord which then opens it up to
everything God has ever
done in all of time in his affair with
people in his activities with
people that then means that when the
water came out of the rock for
Israel that’s my
story that’s my story it’s part of my
inheritance now there are sometimes
people don’t
enjoy their inheritance they don’t use
their inheritance they leave it where it
is you know they they inherit a home but
they never stay
there and a lot of us have inheritance
in God some of you never knew they were
yours but these are your stories when
Jesus walked upon that funeral and a
dead child was being carried to be
buried and the mother was weeping and
Jesus with the Father’s Heart was so
deeply moved with compassion he raised
the child up that’s your story that’s
your
story why why is it important because
prayerfully meditating on the testimony
of the Lord equips us with an ability to
see here’s what happens for me I get in
situations where I’m trying to see and I
I can’t see I there times I can’t I
can’t perceive what he’s saying what
he’s doing I’m trying to hear and I’m
trying to you know I’m trying to I’m
trying to prime the pump you know I’m
reading the scriptures and do I’m not
hearing at all but I can remember and
I’ll stop and this is what I’ll do I’ll
stop and I’ll say all right
two weeks ago we got a testimony of
pancreatic cancer being healed one of
the most horrific kinds of cancer
anybody could ever have and right after
that I saw a woman with ALS healed two
of the most horrible
diseases this is the season for going
after horrible diseases this is the
season where where did you get that we
got it from the testimony it shapes how
we think I remember flying back from New
Zealand I just spent some time several
years back I just spent some time with
winky pratney he’s a a wonderful friend
and a hero of the faith for me and he um
he had had a stroke and it literally
blew up like a quarter of his brain and
he he through literally through the
renewing of the Mind the Lord had healed
his brain and I had just been with Rand
Baker who had a disease that was eating
his brain they have x-rays it was his
brain was dying so here I’ve got the two
smartest men I know Winky
pratney and Rand Baker are the two most
intelligent guys I think I’ve ever met
and here they both had brain issues that
were going to take their life and
they’ve been healed I came back here
thinking on the airplane thinking about
this is
interesting God must be healing Minds he
must be healing Minds we’ve got to
Target this God’s going after trauma of
the
brain so in here out of that not out of
a word of knowledge not out of sometimes
he’ll speak to me something or I’ll see
a picture of it sometimes um he just
puts it in my heart I I can tell there’s
a faith for something it wasn’t this
this
was seeing what he’s
doing so I called out brain trauma we
had one of our own staff guys that had a
horrible horrible fall and has not been
able to do anything with his children
any kind of activity with any kind of
movement he couldn’t be in the room when
a difficult subject was being
discussed he would just it would just go
into panic mode he couldn’t
function he was in here when I called
that out he went into the men’s room and
he just he literally just calmly put his
head against the
wall as his Act of
Faith and he was completely healed a
woman sitting right over here 2-year-old
child had had uh grown up with an
abusive
husband Abus abusive father and that
child was beat as an infant a misshaped
head disassociated wouldn’t associate
with parents with people and some of our
students right over there just laid
hands on this
child the next morning the child walked
into the to the mother’s room which
never happened
would when associate walked into the
mother’s room and said Mommy I’m okay
now see it’s supposed to be that feeding
5,000 and feeding 4,000 become the
lenses through which you see an empty
boat without food is supposed to be the
way I see the present
challenge
it’s supposed to affect
perception because it it causes me to
look at things differently by the well
that child’s misshaped head by I believe
is by the next morning was normal
completely
normal
how different
lenses see to pray for miracles to look
for God to do what only he can do and
then not be changed ourselves and how we
think and how we see challenges problems
is to miss the point and so Jesus has
got his disciples cornered they’re on a
boat they can’t go anywhere and he says
can’t you
see is your heart still
hard if I’ve ever lived in a season
we’ve got two things going on we’ve
we’ve got the residue or whatever you
want to call it from the last 18 months
and we have these ongoing testimonies
that are being handed to
us that are some of the most
extraordinary Miracles we’ve ever seen
some of them are happening pancreatic
cancer a student stood in proxy for her
mom fourth stage they were going to run
scans on her to see if she could survive
three 16-hour surgeries beginning in the
month of June and the scan came back
there’s zero cancer left zero canc the
mother excuse me the daughter just stood
in proxy long distance it’s supposed to
be one of the primary lessons of this
last season of having to do things on
zoom and and online and all that stuff
the amount of Miracles as it is right
now we have an a great number of people
that are becoming born again literally
through the declared word online the
Miracles empty wheelchairs out of uh out
of Comas uh I have one friend he’s seen
two resurrections from the dead all
through online all through Zoom
extraordinary Miracles taking place what
is
it it’s learning to think and to see
from God’s history with people see for
many their history is is works against
them I’ve been prayed for a thousand
times
nothing’s ever
happened yeah we prayed for my mom and
she
passed what is
it it’s not that we pretend those things
never happened or that they never
existed it’s that we bring them into the
relationship with the Lord so he can
heal the place of pain and turn it into
a place of
strength every loss is supposed to be a
place of
Vengeance not your vengeance not mine
but where God shows himself strong uh
somebody wrote a book years ago don’t
waste your Sorrows don’t don’t
experience tragedy and then let it just
sit there and haunt you use it against
the enemy use it why build a life formed
around the disappointment of loss when
you could use it for the place of
promotion for
breakthrough pancreatic cancer I just
mentioned to you what did my dad die of
pancreatic cancer
two two days before he died I talked to
Rick Joiner on the phone and he said
God’s going to use this to give you
seven times greater anointing against
that
disease you you have to you have to
bring this stuff before the Lord I can’t
make anything happen you can’t make
anything happen but I can be available I
can I can find myself leaning in the
right direction I may not be moving fast
but if I’m just moving in the right
direction there’s hope it’s it’s you
bring this stuff before the Lord say let
your name be exalted God you take you
have the last laugh you have the last
say in this
matter and then suddenly you start
attracting these stories you start
attracting this this news of what God
has done and what he’s doing you will
always attract whatever you
value any per we did this two weeks ago
any person who values gossip you put
them in the middle of a business with
people they will naturally attract every
person in that business that values
gossip but the same is true with
testimony the same is true with words of
Faith you will attract what you
need having eyes can’t you
see having ears can’t you
hear can you at least remember so he
takes me through that list I go yeah I’m
not seeing well oh my hearing stinks
sorry but I can
remember the first two are attributed to
gifts the third is attributed to
willingness what am I willing to feed my
soul
on
so I pray that in this next season
everybody in this room every one of us
would would literally be a
magnet to Hope and to Faith and to
testimonies of things that reinforce the
why why we’re
alive the purpose for our
life that it would not be void of the
supernatural intervention of God it
would not
be occasional it wouldn’t be that
Russian Roulette thing or maybe it’s
God’s will but one out of 10 times no
not that this is the heart this is the
nature of God it is for the people of
God we come with the the violence of a
John the Baptist who lays hold of that
which has been
promised I pray for that father I pray
that you put a Grace over every
family that we’d find ourselves
mysteriously running into the very story
we
needed and that you’d help us to wear
them like
lenses and see through your
history awaken for us in the scripture
the very report of the Lord that we need
in the season we’re in I’m praying
father for every part of our family
online
family local family that you would equip
us with the eyes to
see what’s been in front of us all this
time see if this story is true and it’s
from Jesus so obviously it
is this could represent the greatest
spiritual reality in my
life but Hardness of Heart can make me
blind to what’s right in front of me and
so often we’re praying God how come how
come you haven’t provided God how come
the miracle hasn’t happened yet how come
how come how come when right in front of
us is the reality that requires a
response but we’re too hard to see what
he’s put in front of us so Lord we turn
intentionally away from all those things
that would build that crust in our heart
to what you’re saying and to what you’re
doing and help us to be unusually tender
to your voice to your presence for this
next season I pray in Jesus name the
Bible says Jesus made this statement I
was reading it this morning
morning what will profit a man if he
gains the whole world and he loses his
own soul what does a
profit what would profit a person to
have every dream you’ve ever had every
thought every ambition fulfilled and yet
you lost your own
soul in that moment every person would
trade every experience every blessing
everything they ever had in life for
that one sound of him saying well done
good and faithful servant there’s
nothing a person wouldn’t give in that
moment for that very
word I believe that the Lord brings us
together we have oh goodness I think
it’s eight to 10 people a week are
coming to Christ just in our online
service but I want to make sure that
everybody in the room knows what it is
to be forgiven that’s right to be
brought into the family of God and to be
a follower of one his name is Jesus and
anybody that would be in this room and
just say Bill I don’t want to leave the
building I don’t want to leave the
property till I know I have found peace
with God I’ve been forgiven of sin and I
truly become a follower of Jesus if
that’s anybody in the room just put a
hand up real quick where you are give
just a moment to look around the room
wave it at me if I miss you because I
want to make sure we give full
opportunity for everyone here to make
that confession of Faith towards
Jesus all right
online put in the chat that you want to
surrender your life to Jesus and we have
pastors that are there that are ready to
talk with you to pray with you and we
believe this can be the absolute
beginning beginning of a whole new life
for you bless you why don’t you go ahead
and
stand Tom them come on up and tell them
what they’ve
won