Praying From Presence – Bill Johnson | Bethel Church

[Applause]

good morning good morning

eric says hi sends his love he’s uh

on his way back from portugal

we have these events that we’ve been

doing in in the uk for

quite a while ela european leaders

advance us now

european leaders something else

alliance same initials

european leaders alliance and uh i have

one that i’ll be doing in a couple weeks

in the uk but this one was in portugal

and eric was able to go so i’m

i’m thrilled i love portugal just love

love love

it um saw a sign that was great church

a picture of a sign at a church the

marquee up front said

it’s too hot outside to keep changing

this sign

i thought man maybe they’re from reading

it’s too hot outside keep changing the

sign

underneath it just said sin

bad jesus good

details inside that’s

that’s one of the best church marquees

i’ve seen details inside

it’s awesome

the pastor dies and he’s waiting in line

at the pearly gates

ahead of him as a guy who’s dressed in

sunglasses a loud shirt

leather jacket and jeans saint

peter addresses the cool guy who are you

so that i may know whether or not to

admit you into the kingdom of heaven the

guy replies i’m dennis retired airline

pilot from florida

saint peter consults the list he smiles

and says to the pilot

take this silk robe golden staff enter

the kingdom

the pilot goes into heaven with his robe

and staff next it’s the pastor’s turn

he stands tall and declares i’m pastor

bob pastor of christian life center

anaheim california for the last 30 years

saint peter looks at his list he says to

him take this cotton robe

and wooden staff and enter the kingdom

he says wait a minute

the pilot gets a silk robe and a gold

staff now only get cotton and wood

how can this be peter responds up here

we go by results

when you preached people slept when he

flew people prayed

[Applause]

this is the second week of uh i think

we’re doing is it three weeks or four

three or four weeks on the subject of

prayer i think it’s a three or four

anyway

there’s more coming uh my wife started

last week with uh a message on prayer

wonderful word

and uh they asked if i’d do the second

one and i i love uh

i love so many subjects i

perhaps the one that rocks me the most

in some ways is the subject of prayer

i when i was growing up in my uh

coming into early adulthood uh late

teens i

i hated reading and i read one book

my whole life through school i’ve i

faked every book report

i oh i did and i just i hated to read i

read one book in the eighth grade

how about a hot rod go figure

i still remember details of that book

that marked my life

just once

but i i remember um when i

i said that abandoning all for jesus

yes i became an avid reader immediately

and which was a miracle by itself i

remember

i would consume books especially on

prayer i remember reading i think it was

seven or eight books back to back to

back just

just continuously read about prayer so

prayer the whole issue of prayer the

privilege of

communing with god of praying making a

difference in the course of history is a

huge part of

life so i have many things that i’ve

taught on through the years

some that i i kind of had three

different things chosen

to do this morning to see flip flip a

three-sided coin to see which one to do

um but when it came time to speak

in the first service here i my heart was

just

just turning towards one thing and it’s

it’s not a teaching as much as it is

just a conversation

it’s almost in fact it feels like a

fireside chat if we go outside it’ll be

absolutely like a fire site it is hot

out there

um i had an interesting experience here

about a week or two ago

and another experience a week or so

before that let me just take you through

them

about a week or so ago i i i woke up

in the middle of the night i don’t

remember now it used a restroom or

something i woke up but i began to

ponder and think about a particular

problem that concerned me

and and if you’re anything like me uh

the wheels get going and it’s really

hard to get back to sleep and so i was

i was locked in awake mode and that

crazy thing is when you

start when you function like that all

you’re doing is messing with problems

you can’t fix

you know it’s just it’s got to be the

worst waste of time ever but anyway i

i i was contemplating thinking about

that i just couldn’t get back to sleep

and

finally it was maybe 20 minutes before

it was time for me to get up i

dozed off and and it’s when i woke at

that moment

i was to wake up when i woke up i

immediately had this thought

that my worship was replaced by worry

worship was replaced by worry let me

give you a context

something that i learned to do uh quite

a few years ago

was um if i were to

i’ve been asked like by our students and

stuff what’s the strength of my life if

i were to reduce everything that i am

and do down to one thing

i would say probably the strength of my

life is my affection

for him it’s my adoration

because it it uh what happens is

you find your heart just burning for him

in ways that don’t need

works although

i’m not going to say anything correctly

so just get used to it now

and sort out my words and make it make

sense all right

just help me out here uh it’s it’s not a

song that i

sing it’s not my hands raised it’s not

kneeling it’s just a burning heart for

him

and and the the king uh king solomon

made this statement

in a song of solomon he said in the song

of songs he said though i sleep yet my

heart is awake

and a number of years ago i i learned

that i could

as i was going to sleep at night i would

just lay there and turn my heart of

my affection towards the lord and in

that moment

there would just be this engagement with

him as just the sensing of presence and

and there would just be then this

engagement with him and i began to

discover that

you have a better day if you have a

better night and

uh and in genesis it says on creation it

says there was night and day which made

up the first day

so biblically our day actually begins

the night before that’s when it starts

as

is that night so i i’ve been learning

that um i just turned my affection

towards him and in that

place of a presence of such presence and

peace comes over me it’s just

very easy for me to go to sleep and in

that place it doesn’t matter if i’m on

an airplane or

or if i’m at home in bed or you know a

hotel somewhere

that’s what i do is i turn my affection

towards him and just as soon as that

presence begins to settle on me

um just great peace i just go to sleep

if i wake up in the night for

whatever reason uh it’s been

i don’t want to say it’s 100 because i

don’t think i do anything 100

successful um

but the majority of the time by far the

majority of the time

if i wake up in the night i

instinctively

instantly turned my affection back

towards him

and this particular night i didn’t and

when i got up in the morning

i felt like the lord spoke to me and he

said worry

replace worship and i’d probably done

that a thousand times in my life

but it was the only time i had him

actually speak into the situation that i

recall

worry replace worship it’d be like

sitting at a table

and sitting at a table of worship and

instead i chose

to give seat to fear to anxiety to worry

all that stuff

and it it you know when you have the

lord speak to you things become clear

that have been cloudy for

ever and suddenly in that moment i knew

and it helped me to understand something

that happened a week or two before that

if if you can imagine with me again i’ve

already said i don’t do this 100

of time but but it’s it is dominant it’s

predominant

part feature of my life is this a sense

of

of affection for the lord in the middle

of day just driving down the street

sitting in my office

it doesn’t matter when i just

consciously will turn my affection

towards him

and he’s such a lover he’s just drawn to

that and i don’t know if he comes

or if i go or if i just become aware i

don’t care i’ll let the theologians

figure it out

right now i just enjoy turning my

affection towards him and he will come

and he’ll just rest upon me in it

and make such a huge it’s such a huge

part of my life

that burning affection for him i love

that song by

uh martin smith delirious my heart burns

for you that’s just

that phrase is actually one of my

favorite phrases in all

literally in all of church history of of

music that i’ve heard

and if you can imagine doing that day

after day after day for an extended

season

and then i remember i i woke up

one day and it’s very hard to explain to

you how many of you remember when you

were

children uh small kids and you the first

time you spent the night at somebody

else’s house

and you felt homesick or you went to

summer camp and you were just

dying with homes i remember that maybe

some of you are probably just glad to

get out of the house but

there was a few of us that struggled

with homes chris was glad to get out of

the house

i was homesick so he never felt homesick

all right well i have

i woke up that morning this is hard to

explain but let me

do my best i woke up that morning and i

felt homesick

and i wasn’t sure why in that initial

moment i felt homesick just empty

and i woke up and i began to ponder and

think and i realized

oh last night i didn’t turn my affection

towards him

hard to describe were abiding presence

actually becomes home

abiding presence actually is like a room

that you’re in

it’s like it’s like the place where you

live

i woke up with that homesickness

feeling thankfully i could see it

clearly so i knew what to do but

the point i want to make is is something

about this

affection for the lord the subject for

today is prayer so we’ll get there

but what i have found in my own personal

life is that

being a worshiper

is what positions me to pray effectively

i uh how many of you remember back in

the caveman days when

there was this thing called cassette

tapes

remember that and even before that

eight-track and yeah

all right but we’ll just go to cassette

tapes just

i remember getting a cassette tape of a

teaching

by a great man of god named derek prince

anybody remember derek branson

great bible teacher especially from the

70s

and um i remember listening to this this

tape

and in this tape he was talking about

worship and prayer

and he made this statement he said if

you have

if you only have 10 minutes to pray take

seven or eight of them to worship and

then he said you can pray for a lot of

things in two minutes

as as crazy as it may seem that

statement changed my life

because it marked me it marked me with a

value

that if i have ten minutes or i have an

hour or two hours whatever it is if i

let’s say i have an hour that i’m going

to take time to pray

i’ll take 40 or 45 minutes to this day

just to worship

because you can pray for a lot of stuff

in a short period of time

and i’d rather i would rather live from

that connection of presence

because something happens in in that in

that moment something happens where you

i don’t know you subconsciously become

aware of the heart of god

it’s not um i don’t know i

does anybody know what i mean when he’s

about striving in prayer you

you strive to pray you strive praying

and he’s

you know it’s not that it’s you just

pick up the heart of god you find

yourself instinctively

praying his heart with insight on what

he wants in this matter and

sometimes our prayers are even shorter

and briefer i

i remember years ago i had i had purpose

my

aunt uh helen uh talked to me once and

she said you should study the prayers of

nehemiah

and um and she called them rifle shots

and if you go through nehemiah you’ll

find quite a few prayers in there but

they were all one-liners

you know when you’re outside of that

bubble of presence

you pray along when you’re inside

a few words changes everything it’s

the effect of your prayer oftentimes is

the place that you pray from

complaining is prayer in reverse

complaining actually reveals that i’m

losing the battle over my thoughts

complaining criticism resentment all

that kind of stuff

it just reveals i’m losing the battle

over my own thought life

say this with me rejoice always

pray without ceasing in everything give

thanks

for this is god’s will say it again

rejoice always pray without ceasing

in everything give thanks for this is

god’s will

that’s first thessalonians um

chapter 5 verses 16

17 18. let me read it to you the passion

translation

let joy be your continual feast

make your life a prayer

in the midst of everything be always

giving thanks for this is god’s perfect

plan for you in christ jesus

rejoice always pray without ceasing

and everything give thanks any situation

that i cannot rejoice in

or give thanks in

i’m losing the battle over my thoughts

see one of the problems for us is that

the angel comes to us as an angel of

light

okay look up here the angel of light

what does that mean

that means he will always come to us

different

than what he’s trying to accomplish in

other words he never comes with a red

rubber suit

horns and a pitchfork he comes

for example a fence will come into a

person’s life

because they think they’re functioning

in discernment

many times people in prophetic ministry

will be angry and bitter but they’ll

call it the burden of the prophetic

it’s true i’m so thankful for our team

because they don’t function enough

but we have we have history been exposed

to that for years

and it’s justified because the enemy has

come in like an angel of light

what happens for every one of us our

gift will determine what we’re most

susceptible to

but for every one of us the enemy comes

as an angel of light

trying to sneak something in to our

our our place or our hearts

sneak something into our heart that

actually works in

opposite of what we are buying into

so this whole notion of being discerning

i actually opened myself up for a spirit

of offense

and resentment and all those things are

actually outcroppings

of of receiving this angel of light so

to speak what rejoicing

and thanksgiving do is they completely

dismantle that mindset

they expose truly for once and for all

the root system

that the enemy has the the lie that he

has used to persuade people

to buy into a lie and rejoicing being

able to

choose joy what does it say rejoicing

always pray without ceasing never think

of things

so we have joy and thankfulness

sandwiches and effective prayer life

rejoice rejoicing and thankfulness

are absolute pure expressions of faith

it’s what sets us up to pray effectively

is the fact that i’m in the middle of a

conflict a situation i don’t like i wish

i could change

but until i can honestly move into a

place of absolute surrender

and celebrate with joy and give thanks

in the middle of what i don’t like

i’m losing the battle over my thoughts

amen bill that was a very very good

point

very good point

[Applause]

what happens to the person who

who learns a lifestyle a man named

a catholic priest from many many years

ago

called father lawrence wrote a book

called practicing the presence and

and his whole ambition was to stay

conscious of god 24 7.

he never claimed to have arrived to that

but his point was

is that whether he was washing pots of

pans or he was in the prayer house

praying

his awareness of the presence didn’t

change

and there’s something about the the

presence

if you can look at it this way there’s

nothing in heaven that is separate from

the presence of god

yes so in essence god himself

is the person of heaven and we are

seated

in christ it is a foretaste of eternity

it is a foretaste i’m not saying he

leaves us

i’m not saying we leave him i’m just

saying there are times where my

affection my thoughts

are anchored in things that are very

inferior

and it doesn’t mean he’s left me it just

means i have i have

i’m it seems that all the things that i

am born for are out of reach

in this moment until i repent and deal

with these wayward thoughts and these

wayward affections

stepping back into that place it’s not

it’s not guilt and shame that doesn’t

get me there in fact i i had a thought

this last week that

i’ve got to work on but um the thought

is this

we experience guilt and shame in the

same measure that we over emphasize

our role in our own conversion

we are susceptible to guilt and shame in

the same measure that we overemphasize

our role in our own conversion

well i found god yeah yeah you actually

didn’t he found you first

but i put my faith in christ that’s

right but he gave you the faith to

believe him with

everything the stager said he called my

name

i responded to his invitation he

initiated

i love god yes i do but he loved me

first

right and anytime we over emphasize our

role

in this equation we are much more

susceptible to guilt and shame because

it’s a product of not being enough doing

enough

but

this will sound kind of dumb but i i

just in some way wish that

that we were just known as the church of

the burning hearts

it’s a dumb name but i sure like the

meaning

[Laughter]

i’m already in trouble i don’t want to

change the name burning burning hearts

but the burning ones the the people who

who know how to just in that place of

deep affection

i remember back uh how many of you

remember the energy crisis

of the 70s when there’s the long gas

lines and all that

well before that so it’s this goes way

back

um i remember

uh listening to a man speak

he said his home he lived in a second

his

he and his wife their master bedroom was

in the second floor

uh second story of a home that they

lived in

and he said it just took forever to get

the hot water

from downstairs water hot water heater

up to their

bathroom and so what he finally learned

to do

was right before going to bed he would

just turn the hot water on just

a little bit so that it would just

constantly stream

water just very little bit all night

long so that when he got up in the

morning

he could just turn that thing on and he

had hot water instantly

that’s what a burning heart of affection

is like you don’t have to work your way

into the presence to pray effective

prayers you’re you’re there

you’re there why because you carry a

burning heart of affection

there’s this there’s this continuous

stream

of presence continuous stream of being

one that burns

for the lord it’s it’s not it’s not a

works thing although works come from it

it’s

it’s not performance thing it’s it’s not

just singing the right songs and

all that stuff it’s just being conscious

it’s

it’s you do that for a week and you’re

homesick

when you miss a day that’s all that’s

all i know to say is you can tell

you can tell because things aren’t as

clear in your mind

things aren’t as clear in your heart

your understanding of scripture is not

as sharp

why because

it’s not something you did wrong it’s

not punishment it’s not sin it’s

just we were born for the glory we were

born for heaven that’s what we’re

designed for

and all these little things that come in

the offenses and

questions and you know what if you have

a problem with an individual

get a breakthrough in thanksgiving

you have a problem with somebody

if you can’t give thanks you’re losing

the battle

and here’s the cool thing you don’t have

to you were designed to win

you were designed to win to give thanks

in that situation the

job you have is troubling to you you

know what

you can either be the victim of bad

circumstances or you can be the victor

you can be the person who turns it

around

literally through the simplicity of

rejoicing

and thankfulness just to give thanks

consciously bringing someone to mind

that you’ve had conflict with and giving

thanks that god

causes all things to work for good the

lord i do i celebrate i honestly

celebrate

the fact that you’re able to use

anything that comes my way

what i’ll do is i’ll actually look into

that person’s life

especially when it has to do with

believers i’ll look into that person’s

life

and find the gift or that thing that

they were called to do that has made

such a difference in my life or

such an impact on this church or

whatever it might be

and just truly become thankful sometimes

we’re not thankful for people because we

haven’t stopped long enough

to consider who they are in christ the

bible actually says we’re supposed to

fear one another in the fear of christ

[Applause]

uh

to celebrate the value of a person my

dad would have this statement that’s

honestly

probably one of the most important

things i’ve ever heard anyone say

he said wash a person’s feet until you

know why they walk the way they do

i remember being in the service

not here it was somewhere else

and i’m not going to tell you where

but far away

i remember being in the service and it

was worship and it was

the worship was great but there was just

somebody

close to me physically

close it was just making all kinds of

noise

i found it quite annoying

because they didn’t seem to be singing

the same song

in fact i had this happen once in

another country

where the the gal would only sing in

between the lines

and would not sing the words and she had

one of them piercing falsetto soprano

voices

and there were two teenage girls

standing in front of her

that were trying so hard to worship and

then they would break down and laugh

and then they would i watched the entire

meeting they would fight their way back

and they would worship god

and then she would right behind her

singing this false just piercing

they would find themselves laughing and

then they i mean they fought so hard i

mean it was a

well-fought battle they fought so hard

when the worship was over i walked up to

him i gave him both twenty dollars i

said here

you earned this one i give us

[Applause]

well it was one of those meetings and

there was somebody

over here that was just doing that doing

that stuff

and and i i i’ve been around

this mountain enough i know it’s stupid

for me to think critical so i’m not

going to think critical

i’m going to press into worship i and i

didn’t have hard feelings

i just wish she would stop

absolutely true worship came to a close

heidi baker stan standing uh just a few

feet away

she comes over she points to this woman

she goes isn’t that amazing

and then she said 35 years as a

prostitute

and now she’s free

[Applause]

all of a sudden all that noise that was

annoying

was a symphony

heidi took the time to wash her feet

find out why she walks the way she does

and that limp became beauty you know

see it’s it’s that it’s that heart of

tenderness towards presence that

that makes us more prone to that

conclusion

than all the others that we that we run

into

there’s this crazy idea that the church

is made up of mary and martha’s and

nothing would ever get done if it wasn’t

for martha’s

i mean remember that story mary sat at

the feet of jesus martha

was angry with marriage because she

wasn’t helping with the work

so i’ve heard people say nothing would

get done if it wasn’t for martha’s

and i’m pretty confident it was a martha

that made that up

[Applause]

i’m pretty confident a martha made up

that statement to justify

their reasoning for making sandwiches

jesus never ordered

see something happens in the glory this

is absolutely true

in the glory things happen at such a

higher level and a higher pace and

greater efficiency and effectiveness

that you get done in one hour what might

have taken days

otherwise outside of the glory there’s

something about being a people that

cultivate

awareness of presence this glorious one

that changes everything i know of

situations where that glory

has shown up without presence because of

the affection the adoration of

worshipers that affection just comes

crashing in around a crowd of people

that are literally surrounded by friends

to kill them

they are there to kill them and then

that glory comes

because there’s these yielded

surrendered hearts of

lovers of god and that glory comes and

this army that is surrounding them to

kill them fall on their faces

every one of them get up born again

every one of them get up healed

every one of them get up speaking in

tongues every single person

in this group why because something

happened they could preach for 20 years

and not get that conclusion

but when the presence comes and that

measure everything changes

and it’s the ambition should be the

ambition of the burning heart the church

of the burning hearts

changing the name here it is right now

just to

just that’s just between you and me

church of the burning hearts

saint burning hearts no no

something happens in the hearts of those

who

anchor themselves in that glorious

presence i want to read a couple verses

and then we’ll wrap this up

open to matthew 14. i’ve literally got

just a couple minutes

but

matthew 14.

it might be good to take a look at what

impresses jesus

do you remember the story of the

centurion in the bible

he has such clear understanding of

kingdom authority

and unusual faith that jesus stopped in

his tracks

and acknowledged his wisdom

and his faith remember the syrophenician

woman

who was refused to be offended at

jesus’s comment that he couldn’t give

the children’s bread to dogs

she overcame offense and stepped into

great faith jesus stopped

and acknowledged that faith do you

remember when jesus was

ascending to the father his resurrection

he was ascending to the right hand of

the father

to be forever with the lord on his way

saw

mary out of whom seven demons had been

cast was at the tomb weeping

and jesus was on his way to the father

and he was so moved by her love

that he stopped the procession and went

and communicated with her for moments

before he went to the father

what moved him that love

in john the baptist jesus was moved

by the faithfulness of a man that would

pour out his life

for jesus to come on the scene

and he said he’s the greatest of all the

prophets

when john the baptist is killed

it’s in chapter 14 of matthew it says

herod sent in verse 10 and had john

beheaded in prison

verse 12 his disciples came took away

the body buried it

and they went and told jesus look at the

next phrase

when jesus heard it he departed from

there by a boat

to a deserted place we don’t know what

jesus is processing but we do know he

had the same

emotional framework that we have the

bible says he was tempted in all points

as we are yet without sin so

there must have been some sort of a

challenge emotionally mentally

to this that he was facing that he saw

this man that he had just praised three

chapters earlier

as the greatest prophet greater than all

of them in the old testament he

acknowledges his significance

and now he hears that john the baptist

has been beheaded

it was so challenging that jesus the son

of god sought for a place to get by

himself

the very next scene he’s with a

multitude and he multiplies the food

they are all fed

what does he do after that it says in

verse 23

when he sent the multitude away he went

up on a mountain by himself

to pray what’s the point

in crisis

get along with god in victory

get along with god the very next story

is it says every person that came to

jesus that was able to touch his

clothing was healed

the very last verse of this chapter

what’s the point

stewarding our moments

we all know how to pray when we’re in

trouble

we pray instinctively when there’s a

problem people that don’t believe in god

pray instinctively when there’s a

problem

if you’re up there right

but not all of us

get alone after a great victory

and it’s it’s in those moments the metal

that we are made of so to speak

is formed and the great breakthrough

came

following that second time praying get

along

when there’s victory it was in that next

moment

now anybody in the crowd that just

touches cloth is healed

it was such an extraordinary anointing

that anyone that just bumped against him

had access to a miracle

it followed not prayer and trouble it

followed prayer

in victory

i believe this heart of adoration that

the lord is

i believe wanting to impart for us today

as a church family

i know i’ve made reference to this uh

for years so i i

i understand it’s not new

but i do believe there’s an impartation

uh today

i i believe he brought this to my mind

because in declaring it there would be

burning hearts

all over this room that would find would

find it easy

to just turn affection towards him

to anchor into that place of glory of

presence

in that place to draw from this

wonderful wonderful god

and from that place see effective

prayers

i want to shape the course of history

with my prayers like you do

but sometimes the strength of our prayer

is actually determined

by the place i pray from

so father my cry for us as a church

family my cries that you would

impart a grace for this right now that

we would find our hearts burning for you

at the most

unusual and sometimes awkward times

sitting on the plane in the hotel at our

neighbor’s home

wherever driving to get groceries just

that we would be a people

that just knew how to cultivate the

burning heart of affection

that refuses to be offended that refuses

to embrace resentment all the stuff

that just a people teflon people because

our hearts are burning for you

nothing sticks nothing of the inferior

sticks to a burning heart nothing of the

inferior

sticks to a burning heart

god i pray that you impart this grace to

us

today

amen

we’re gonna i’m gonna let you go in just

a moment but before i do

i want to make sure that everybody in

this room

has a personal relationship with the

lord jesus christ

he came he suffered he died

so that every person here our whole

bethel

family that is watching online everyone

can know what it is

to be born again it is the

most important moment of your life

and if you’re i need to ask for people

not to be walking around because this is

too precious a moment if i can

except for those up here

if there’s anybody here that would say

bill i don’t want to leave the building

until i

know i have found peace with god till i

know what it is

to be born again then i want you just to

put a hand up and i’m going to make

an agreement with you right right down

here is one right over here is another

one

anybody else

put your hands up high it’s wonderful

all right i see it

there’s at least two that i can see i

want all of you to stand

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

if i could have the two of you that

raised your hand and

anyone else that i missed or

or you want to get in on this i want you

to come right over here to my

left there’s a banner and there’s people

that we know and trust

all they’re going to do is talk and pray

with you because i want to make sure

that you leave with what

you came here for so just come on down

church

why don’t you bless them as they come

let’s have our ministry team come to the

front as well

come on up ministry team coming up

bless you