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