How do you know if you are supposed to fight and contend for a miracle, or rest and trust in God’s promises in the situation you are facing? Bill Johnson teaches from Luke 18 and Matthew 11 on two seemingly contradictory scriptures. There are seasons for contending, and seasons for resting in God’s Promises. We’ve been invited into a relational journey, and instead of being given a formula for life, we have been given the Holy Spirit to lead us personally through every season.
and so the lord presents these two
realities before us and they are
actually complementary to the other
one
is to receive as a child the second is
to violently take
by force
one of the surest ways to increase the
voice of the lord in your life
to increase the spirit of revelation on
our lives is to obey what you know
obedience actually is what attracts the
voice of god for fresh things and so
we’re going to read two stories
and these two stories
are as different as can be
one is with a rich young ruler and the
other is jesus talking
to
about children so let’s just jump right
in here verse 15.
luke 18 verse 15 then they also brought
infants
to him that he might touch them
but when the disciples sought they
rebuked them but jesus called them to
him and said let the little children
come to me
and do not forbid them for of such
is the kingdom of god
surely i say to you whoever does not
receive the kingdom of god as a little
child
will by no means enter it
i always or not always but frequently i
will i will teach a
i will teach
the contrasting passage to this do you
understand truth is held in intention of
things that seem to contradict but they
don’t they actually complement
what you un when you understand the two
sides of the same coin they actually
complement one another they don’t rob
from one another and in this particular
case we have jesus commanding his
disciples stop rebuking the parents that
are bringing me their kids
let them come to me
and then he goes on and he gives us a
magnificent understanding of the nature
of the kingdom of god
he says allow them to come to me because
if you don’t receive the kingdom as a
child you can by no means enter so think
about this
you can only enter what you’ve received
contrast that with
matthew 11 where
there’s progress in the kingdom there’s
entrance in the kingdom through the
violence of faith
the kingdom of heaven suffers violence
and the violent take it by force
so here on one hand we have this
aggressive posture of faith
and on the other hand we have children
that just simply receive
as is
the custom
of believers throughout history as we
tend to camp on one of the other
instead of realizing that they represent
seasons they represent circumstances
where there are times where
if you sit and wait for something to be
brought
to you you’ll be waiting till you die
because it will not come
there are certain things in our life
that require a fight
and i am finding more and more believers
because of a uh
an entitlement type culture that we are
a part of it’s just all around us uh the
instant gratification all the stuff
that’s just a part of american culture
there are fewer and fewer people that
are willing to contend and fight for
things that there would be breakthrough
and so the lord presents these two
realities before us and they are
actually complementary to the other
one is to receive as a child the second
is to violently take
by force it’s violence in the kingdom is
the expression of faith
whenever the lord is highlighting a
situation and or a season to you
where you obtain through the violence of
faith
he’s it’s because he’s wanting you to
learn your authority
[Music]
but when he wants you to be still
and received by
faith to receive as a child
then he’s wanting you to learn your
identity
and there are seasons where the thing
that’s on his mind is authority
and that’s what he wants us to know is
how to use the authority that he’s given
to us
and then he switches it in the very next
week and all of a sudden we have to be
in a place of rest we try to fight and
get breakthrough and obtain this and
obtain that we confess we declare we
march we fast we wave our flags our
tambourines and every other christian
toy known to mankind we use them to
bring breakthrough and nothing happens
because until we discover who we are and
coming to a place of rest in that
identity nothing is released to us so
these are two different seasons and two
different approaches to the kingdom how
do you know
what season
you’re in
well just try the one you want and if it
doesn’t work then try the other
i i wish so much i knew
i was so much i knew i i
there’s a a a certain percentage of my
prayer life that fits in the frustration
category i know that most of you are too
spiritual for that but it fits in the
frustration category because i don’t
know what to do
i don’t know if i’m supposed to come out
swinging or if i’m supposed to sit in
the recliner and wait
and it’s just one of those things you’ll
never step into out of a principle
you’ll only step into out of a
relationship
and a lot of what we try to do in the
kingdom is we try to reduce to a concept
instead of a walk a journey
i’m so glad that you uh watched this
video i do pray that it’s a great great
strength and encouragement to you and
i’ve got a verse that it really is my
cry for all of us and it’s psalms 20
it’s verse 4.
may he grant you your heart’s desire and
fulfill all your plans
that’s my prayer that’s my prayers that
this would be the season of rich rich
fulfillment
thanks for joining us