The key to mental health is to give thanks to God in every situation. Bill Johnson invites us into a lifestyle of thanksgiving. Let’s choose joy in the midst of difficulty.
good morning
[Applause]
good morning teacher
that’s good to see you we had such a
wonderful
conference this week open heavens
conference how many of you were
a part of it at all yeah such a great
time
david wagner was there which is one of
my favorite
favorites on the planet i have a lot of
favorites but he’s in he’s in the list
and he did such a great job michael
jessica coolianos were there and it was
just good we just we just got wrecked
and then re-wrecked and it was worth it
it was good
it was great fun
i will drink you under the table that’s
what i whispered to my coffee
as i hide from morning people
that’s so dumb
this one’s even worse jesus can walk on
water
i can walk on cucumbers cucumbers are 96
water therefore i am 96
like jesus
that’s really dumb that’s really that’s
that’s so bad
that’s so bad it’s funny all right last
one
if you see me talking to myself please
go away
i’m self-employed and i’m having a staff
meeting
open your bibles if you would please to
isaiah chapter 60
a very very familiar portion of
scripture
for us i’ve taught on so many times but
i i’m going there today because i had
a very strange night and a very unusual
experience
uh with the lord in the middle of the
night excuse me i’m good
i you can’t know the brand so this is
bethel brand water there we go
sparkling but nobody knows what kind
um i had a very unusual experience
about one o’clock this morning uh i
i had this phrase going through my mind
and then what seemed to be like a
hundred different scriptures
i mean it was it was it was a whirlwind
of mental activity which is not good for
me in the middle of the night
i can hurt myself doing that but it i
believe it was a it was a god moment to
divine moment
and i had so many scriptures going
through my mind uh
concepts ideas things that he was i felt
like he was impressing on my heart
showing me and um
and thankfully i it only lasted about an
hour and i was able to go back to sleep
till uh until my time to get up
but this is this is the phrase i heard
and then we’re going to unpack it and
i’m going to kind of walk you through
this little journey
i heard this phrase it’s kind of strange
but i heard this phrase
walled walled cities without
gates are not completely safe
walled cities without gates
are not completely safe
why don’t you say it with me walled
cities
without gates are not completely
safe we’ll get to that in a moment
isaiah 60 has been such a a
monumental portion of scripture for me i
had uh
what i uh refer to as one of the two
most significant encounters i had with
the lord in my life
this one it was on thursday afternoon in
may of 1979
it’s affected every day since then
because it changed so i thought
and it was an encounter with the lord
where he showed me his heart in this
chapter
and it wrecked me um
so we see in verse 1 he says arise shine
for your light has come the glory of the
lord has risen upon you
and this tells me then that this
chapter at least this portion of the
chapter is for
the church it’s for the church age the
reason we know that
he said arise take responsibility
get up shine why because your light has
come
in john chapter 1 it says jesus is the
light
that enlightens every person that comes
into the world
jesus is the light that enlightens every
person
the reason i believe that this is for
the church age for us right now
is because there is not another light
coming
jesus is the light that came so then
that means
his coming automatically uh
ignites in me a responsibility to carry
out the mandate in this chapter
arise shine your light has come the
glory of the lord is risen upon you it
goes on
for behold darkness will cover the earth
deep darkness the people
but the lord will arise over you his
glory will be seen upon you
it’s a wonderful promise that in the
time of difficulty
is often when the grace of god exceeds
the difficulty and the light shines
where sin abounds grace there’s much
more about yes
and so we know that the lord will
sometimes
uh when things look the worst is when he
moves on the scene
and he and he reverses the effective
stuff and uh
and and god is then glorified and it’s
not darkness and light coexisting
is that one is defeated openly
so we have that part of the of this
chapter verse three
is a favorite of mine new american
standard says
nations will come to your light kings to
the brightness of your rising
the reason that moves me so deeply
is that that’s only happened one time in
history that i know of
it was during solomon’s reign as king
he was so uh famous if you can use that
he had such an incredible reputation for
wisdom divine wisdom
that people would pay any price to leave
where they were
to sit at his feet to hear and to learn
wisdom
and as bobby would conor as bobby connor
would say
it’s not about somebody it’s not it’s
about his body
this that is about to happen where the
nations will literally
feed on the solutions of god for the
turmoil and difficulty and challenges of
life
they will come not to a individual
but instead they’ll come to the people
of god that walk in this kind of wisdom
so this really moves me but when you get
down to verse 18
is was the last part that i remember
reading where i really got wrecked in
that
in that thursday afternoon in 1979 the
last part of verse 18
he says you will call your walls
salvation
and your gates praise you will call your
wall
salvation in your gates praise
salvation is his part praise is mine
there’s a co-laboring here in this
metaphoric
wall and gates that god is describing
here
there is a role that god has he saves me
i cannot save myself
but my response is a response of praise
he says your walls would be called
salvation your gates praise
interestingly if you follow this theme
in isaiah 60
by the time you get to chapter 62 which
is only like 15 or 20 verses later
he says and your wall that wall of
salvation will be like a torch that is
burning
i i love bible descriptions because they
they challenge me so here we’re working
with walls that have now become fire
and i’m reminded of what the lord said
in zechariah
he said i will be a wall of fire around
you
and so he the wall of fire around us is
our salvation
it’s a beautiful picture but there’s
still a personal responsibility and a
personal mandate
and that is the gates of praise when you
get to revelation chapter 21
you guys still breathing everybody’s
still alive all right
hopefully this will make sense here soon
when you get to uh revelation chapter 21
verse 21
it says the twelve gates were twelve
pearls
and each individual gate was of one
pearl
and the street of the city was pure gold
like transparent glass
is a very strange city it’s a very
strange wall
where you’ve got you’ve got streets that
are gold but it’s transparent
you have a wall of fire of the wall
of salvation and you have gates that are
made out of
each gate is one pearl i don’t know how
big is that gate like the size of the
building or something
it’s very strange but there’s a picture
here that’s profound and important for
us to catch
pearls are developed through irritation
gates of praise are built
by responding to difficulty and
glorifying god
anybody can give him praise when you got
to raise at work
and we should we must anybody can give
him praise when
our favorite team wins the nba
championship or world series or whatever
all of us know how to celebrate in those
moments the challenge comes when i have
faced
the a challenge to my faith i have
suffered loss i don’t know why it
happened i don’t know how it happened
i didn’t do anything wrong you know this
crisis happened this tragedy happened
in those moments to apprehend our moment
and to give him praise in the middle of
those that’s where the gate is built
and i i tell you it’s hard for me to
communicate well
what i i had a sense of uh uh
in the middle of the night last night
because i don’t want to be alarming it
wasn’t a warning in a sense of oh no
uh be careful what’s happening it wasn’t
that it was
in fact my wife actually uh sent me a
text earlier today uh
helping me with language for something
it’s because of what’s coming
we have to make sure that we got we
we’ve got this area taken care of
because of what’s on the way we have to
make sure
that this mouth gate does not have salt
water
and spr and sweet water coming out of
the same fountain
out of the same spring this is a
biblical analogy
salt water the bitter water the sweet
water
cannot come out of the same mouth excuse
me
come out all right i’m better
if god psalms 22 3 says
god is enthroned upon the praises of his
people
right he’s enthroned upon the praises of
his people
so who is enthroned on our complaining
if god is enthroned upon the praises of
his people
who then becomes enthroned can i use the
word
empowered through my criticism
the bible reveals protocol
it’s not ritual it’s not routine without
purpose it’s
it’s biblical protocol psalms 100 i will
enter his
gates with thanksgiving in my heart
i enter his courts with praise
i enter his presence with praise
whose presence do i enter with
complaining
what gates open to me when i criticize
it’s not a light matter it’s not a light
matter
james 5 verse 9. says
don’t complain or grumble moan
against one another brethren so this is
to the church
brethren is the word in there all right
and then he follows it
because the judge is standing at the
door
and so it’s like
it’s like we know instinctive we know
biblically we know
life and death is in the power of the
tongue but it’s a
it’s a time when when i i get nervous
uh thankfully i i’m telling i’m being
very transparent here
i don’t hear the kind of stuff in this
room
that i hear elsewhere
i i become afraid for for the people of
god i become afraid i
sometimes will listen to somebody who
will accuse of the most
accuse me or us or somebody i know of
the most horrible things
that i know for a fact or not true and i
become fascinated
with how long can they talk without
realizing the holy spirit is not on what
they’re saying
maybe they’ve never had the the moment
in life where they
they were in partnership co-laboring
with the lord where they could tell
something was happening something was
happening that was so significant
they took couldn’t take credit for it it
was god working in them and through them
maybe they’ve never had that moment
because what they’re saying right now
is as opposite to the nature of christ
and i’ll sit there and i just i become
fascinated i wonder
i’ll just let them talk because i wonder
how long they can do it
without realizing god’s not involved
and it’s not to be mentioned among us
it’s this responsibility that i have
for my spring if you will my
this fountain called my speech is to
be that which edifies and encourages in
fact one of my favorite verses
on the subject in the whole bible is
ephesians 4
i think it’s verse 29 it’s in that area
it’s right side of the page about
two-thirds of the way down
he says let no unwholesome word proceed
from your mouth
only such a word is this good for
edification according to the need of the
moment
that it might give grace to those who
hear
a friend of mine did a word study on the
unwholesome word and he said basically
it means rotten fish don’t let rotten
fish come out of your mouth that’s
that was his conclusion it means rotten
fish so anytime you have something
that’s smelly coming out just shut your
mouth just shut up just
don’t let rotten fish come out of your
mouth just choose words
that are timely and edify
i i feel like the opportunity that the
lord has
given us in this season that we’re
entering uh
it’s a place of even greater
responsibility greater influence greater
responsibility
um oh
jesus put it this way i put these two
together all the time jesus said
to peter and the guys they had they left
everything to follow him and he says i’m
gonna add a hundred times as much into
your life
with persecution
so income tax
that that’s how favor works income tax
thankfully he’s not a socialist so the
income always be more than the tax
[Applause]
i usually save my obnoxious statements
for the one o’clock meeting
so i don’t know you guys are very
special today
when my dad died 14 years ago
he died at the age of 75. in our family
that’s extremely young
his mom lived in 97 and all of
all our family members i mean i the the
one who was the sickliest
i think died at 86 or something i mean
it’s just crazy they just all live a
long time
and he was the healthiest of all and
then he just got
sick and in six months he was gone he
moved here
my mom and dad moved here to help us to
be a part of what god was doing
and i remember you know anytime you have
loss even if they
die at 97 you know there’s there’s pain
and there’s loss
especially a well-loved family members
as my dad was real
noble a real noble uh man great great
man
anytime he has lost his pain but when
there’s
what would seem to be at least a 20-year
premature
loss like that and to see that happen in
front of our eyes as a family we stayed
around him
around his bed for for i think i think
we’re there
basically non-stop for three days 72
hours
just being there with him and the little
kids everybody
and um i remember when he breathed his
last
you have a decision to make and i know
you’ve got pain i’ve got pain i’ve got
all of a sudden i’ve got loss
i’ve got the greatest encouragement in
my life it’s now gone
um i’ve got the the the pain
pain of loss i’ve got the disappointment
we prayed we did this we tried that
didn’t work we didn’t get breakthrough
you’ve got the questions
uh we’ve seen others healed of this kind
of disease
and uh but my dad wasn’t you’ve got the
guilt
uh could we have prayed differently
should we have done this should we have
called a fast shall we whatever just go
through the list
we’ve got all this stuff going on
i have a decision to make i can either
let these things
infect me or what i can do
is let the fire in my soul for god
bring these things the disappointment
the loss the confusion the pain all this
stuff
bring it close to the fire so that as i
give god my offering
i can give him an offering with a flavor
i’ll never be able to give him in
eternity because in heaven there’s no
pain
there’s no loss no disappointment
there’s no confusion
none of that junk is there it’s only
here so i’ve got a
once and an eternity chance
to give him that costly of an offering
and it’s in pain so i take all these
ingredients
ingredients of loss and pain all this
stuff hold it close so that
as i honor him for always being the
healer
the generous promise giver
the one who is perfectly faithful and
true
i can do it in the context of pain
see the gates are made out of pearls
persia pearls are developed in
irritation
they’re developed in conflict i’m
thinking this
i burn with this there’s a conflict and
so i’m going to
yield my thoughts to what the word of
god declares
and i’m going to give him an offering
why
because the gate is something he comes
through
i don’t think it’s a mixed metaphor here
um
to use it in this manner psalms 24
says lift up your heads o ye gates
that the king of glory may come in
there’s something welcoming about this
this i trust in you god regardless of
circumstances
i trust in you regardless of my dis my
own disappointment in the turnout
of this situation i trust you bottom
line is you are good
i trust you and i’m going to celebrate
way ahead
of any breakthrough i could possibly
have in my future
i’m going to give you that praise right
now and there’s this
there’s this moment of celebration of
god and declaring his greatness
in the middle of pain and loss and all
the junk
why i read a passage this morning
that was quite quite important
to me psalms 50.
it was in the passion translation
there’s this one verse that says
honor me by trusting in me
in your day of trouble
ah man that mess that messed me up but i
saw that this morning honor me
by trusting in me in your day of trouble
we love to honor him in song we love to
honor him with dance or whatever
shout whatever you know the stuff that
we do
but he’s saying you know if i put it in
my ter
my words let that praise you give me be
in the context that you actually trust
me
in your in your day of pain in your day
of difficulty
in that moment determined
with the focus of an of a soldier
with the focus of a disciplined soldier
with the focus the intentionality
of a navy seal that says
salt water is not coming out of this
mouth
salt water is not coming out i am not
going
to misuse my moment but instead i’m
going to declare the greatness of god
as much as it may be in conflict with my
fears my ambitions my disappointments
all the stuff
i’m going to yield all of this to the
sovereignty of god
and i’m going to declare his greatness
and the darker the cloud that i feel
over my head the more exuberant i will
be
in my declaration of praise the other
thing i felt the lord spoke to me
last night again you have to understand
i was
i was in a swirl very hard to describe
i’ve only had this kind of thing happen
maybe three times in my life four times
at the most
and and yet this one was the most
bizarre in the sense that so many
scriptures were coming at me usually
it’s
one thought and i just i can’t shake it
all night
but this was different it was all these
verses all these statements all these
phrases
i’m trying to have you feel my pain
that’s all i’m trying to do
just just kidding in that
in that swirl
i’ve i found myself with this conviction
that i believe was the word of the lord
the key
to mental health is giving thanks
in every situation
i heard a psychiatrist or psychologist i
forget which now is years ago
say he felt i think it was like 95
of all mental illness was traced back to
trying to avoid pain
giving thanks to god is not denial
giving thanks is letting faith rise
above
what you can’t understand comprehend or
control
and choose to give him glory in the
middle of it
so the key to mental health is giving
thanks
in everything the key to emotional
health
is rejoicing always and the key to
heart health remember blessed are the
pure in heart they shall see god
proverbs 4 23 watch over your heart with
all diligence from it flow the issues of
life
the key to heart health is to pray
without ceasing
so we have this passage in thessalonians
first thessalonians 5
where he says rejoice always pray
without ceasing
in everything give thanks he actually
gave us keys of heaven if you will
droplets of heavenly reality to get
planted deeply in our soul
to keep us in a place of continuous
emotional
mental and heart health the purity of
heart is not a challenge for us why
because we stay just connected to the
spirit of god
there’s no off button to my prayer life
there’s no off button everything is
worth talking about to him
everything
so i want you to stand feel it please
don’t worry you’re not getting out that
early
i will give you all
my worship
i will give you all my
praise you
alone i long to
worship you alone
are worthy of
my praise i will give
you are my worship
[Music]
i will give you all
my praise
you alone i
[Music]
i will give you
[Music]
i’ll give you all my
[Music]
praise
[Music]
i want you to take whatever came to your
mind when i was talking about
giving thanks in the middle of
difficulty i want you to put it in front
of you
my dear friend dick mills who
is home with the lord now but
he would he would sometimes have a
problem that was just overwhelming
he’d go into a room he’d take two chairs
and he put him facing to each
each other he’d sit in one and he’d say
devil
satan sit down i’m gonna worship god and
you’re gonna watch me
i i i kind of i kind of like that
approach to life
so i want you to take honestly take
whatever situation is the most
challenging for you
and put it in front of you and right now
i want us to lift
up praises to the lord i don’t need
anyone shouting or yelling but i’m also
going to ask
don’t do this in the quiet of your heart
you were designed
to reveal who you are through passion
before the lord
so i’m going to ask you to passionately
pray
exalting him giving him praise let me
ask you do with the understanding i love
praying in tongues singing in tongues
all the above but on this one i’m going
to ask you to use your mind
and think through give him an offering
that causes
the most dangerous thing for us right
now is
familiarity with the blessing of the
anointing of god
it’s the greatest challenge we have
because what happens is yesterday’s
sacrifice is today’s norm
and i can just maintain now because i’m
familiar
it’s the scariest moment to be in so i’m
going to ask you let’s together lift our
voices
i’m going to ask everyone in the room
just join with me and give him
giving him honor give him a sacrifice of
praise
facing that challenge that difficulty
let’s do it together
lift your voices lift your voices don’t
do it quietly
with the understanding lift an offering
[Music]
declare his greatness be very specific
god you are so
faithful you are so honorable every word
you say is true
we celebrate you god you never lie
you’re the promised giver the promise
fulfiller
we bless and honor your name god
you’re the god of abundance extreme
kindness
wonderful wonderful god wonderful father
wonderful father don’t don’t stop don’t
stop
don’t stop stir up your own faith and
declare who god is
withhold nothing
don’t stop please please do not stop
we bless your great name we honor your
great name
wonderful wonderful god
wonderful god
now just grab a hand the person next if
you would please
that person you’re only hands with
really needed to hear this
today they need your help right now
i want to ask you to pray for them i
want you to out i want you to pray
i want you to pray that god would give
them such a great grace
over the gate of their mouth
that only sweet water would come out of
that spring
that that the carelessness would not be
found in us
again ever again so i’m going to ask you
pray for them pray for the one on your
right left just pray for him
god give them the grace needed give him
the grace needed
great purity of heart purity of
let our mind be used to build
to give place for the presence of god to
rest
do that great work in us god do that
great work in us here lord
now pray for yourself pray for yourself
the same way
just honestly put it make covenant with
the lord god i have purposed in my
heart to only let sweet water come out
of this spring
to really honor you with what i say put
it on your lips don’t just think happy
thoughts
put it on your lips
wonderful lord jesus
wonderful lord god oh come
let us adore
him oh come that
uh
[Music]
[Music]
the lord oh
come let us adore
him oh come let
us
[Music]
[Music]
you alone are worthy
[Music]
we give you all the glory
[Music]
we cry
just left up a spiritual song
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
[Music]
know
lord father i do ask that you’d give us
a real unusual grace for this next
season thank you
so much for the increased favor we even
thank you for the tax
we thank you that we we get to
demonstrate our love for you regardless
of circumstances we thank you for the
privilege
i thank you for the privilege of
standing with thousands
and i thank you for the privilege of
standing alone
i do sincerely honor you for that and i
ask that you
put a grace upon us as a church family
to build gates that you’d come through
the gates of pearl developed in
irritation
conflict help us to grab our moments
and to give you an offering that you’re
worthy of
amen i want to uh give one opportunity
before we wrap this up
actually we’ll do two we’ll have teams
up front in a moment for you to receive
your miracle
but anytime we have this many people in
the room i know the chances are high
you have people here that don’t know the
lord and it’s the most important miracle
of the day
is that you would realize god arranged
for you to be here
please let’s not have any moving around
if i could have you protect this moment
i really really would appreciate it
please don’t move around please
thank you um
what’s most important to me is that
anyone here who would
not have a personal relationship with
jesus not know what it is to be forgiven
not know what it is to turn from
everything to follow him and him alone
would not be distracted by anything else
but here simply the opportunity that
jesus
died for you he actually took on himself
what i deserved
so that i could receive what he earned i
deserved death
he died in my place it’s the same truth
for everybody in this room
and if there’s anyone here that would
say bill i don’t want to leave the
building until i know
i’m at peace with god so i know what it
is to be forgiven i know what it is to
be a true disciple of jesus if that’s
you
let’s put a hand up where you are we’re
going to pray i’ll wait just a moment i
don’t wait long
but if that’s you i want you to respond
quickly all right
okay i will assume then that you’re all
in
welcome to the family all right
um i’m gonna have ministry team come on
up if you would
ministry team come up quickly and then
if you hold your places for just a
moment
tell them what to do tell them what
they’ve won