You Are Designed For Answers to Prayer – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

You were designed for answers to prayer, but what do you do when you don’t see your prayers answered in the way you hoped for? Bill Johnson teaches from John 14-16, and Jesus’ words “Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”; answered prayer and joy are connected. Bill shares examples from the disciples time with Jesus, and how they drew near to Him when they did not see a miracle happen that they were contending for. We can be confident that we were designed for answered prayer, as we co-labor with God and yield our lives to Him.

i was designed for a seamless connection

that’s my nature

i was designed to hear from god it is in

my dna to produce fruit for the glory of

god

is it happening if it’s not happening at

the place where i’m laying down my life

then i need to take jesus aside

childhood injuries

fell off my

bike skinned my knee fell out of a tree

adult injuries

slept wrong

sat down too long

sneezed too hard

the salesman at the furniture store told

me this sofa will seat five people

without any problem

i said where am i to find five people

without any problems

if liar’s pants really did catch on fire

watching the news would be a lot more

fun

[Applause]

okay

yep yep

let’s just ponder that one for a moment

yeah

one more one more

this is a picture

and you can’t see the picture but it’s

animals surrounding the manger so we

have baby jesus and we have animals

camel

i will bear him gifts

donkey

i will carry him

fish

i will pay his taxes

cow

i will quench his thirst

dove

i will bless his baptism

sheep i will warm him

duck

i will feed him

pig i will let him fill me with demons

then i’ll jump off a cliff

all right i didn’t finish it so

let me read it as it is

i i will let him fill me with demons

then i’ll jump off a cliff and wait what

uh i just

wait what

uh on the announcements today announced

a new uh e-course on uh my latest book

the king to open heaven

and uh so it’s available is there

anybody in here that would like to do

the e-course and you don’t have the book

right over here right you’re the yeah

you’re the first one so i need somehow i

need you to get his information so that

he can

take the e-course

and then

you’ll pick someone in the

great room

and you’ll fit one in the dining room

there we go

and

online

a pastor online

will pick you

don’t ask me how that works

just trust me somebody’s going to get it

for free all right all right

they gave me all those things to do

that’s way above my capacity i

i want you to know you just witnessed a

great miracle

i i had one more than one thing on my

list and i actually completed it all

from memory

and reminders from the front row so

all right

open your bibles to john

chapter 15. we’re going to start though

we’ve got uh quite a few verses to

a read all in the gospel of john i’ll

quote probably a couple others

but i want to talk to you today

about design

you can’t have design without a designer

and there’s

in our culture there’s a lot of

celebration of design

with a tremendous effort to ignore the

designer

and that’s not the message today but

it’s an important thing to keep in mind

that design comes from a designer

and we were designed

with certain capacities

certain abilities

certain opportunities that are actually

written into our code into our dna into

our spiritual design

one is we were actually designed

to be able to hear god

now

the reason the enemy what’s the number

one command

in the bible is to not fear

so why would that be the number one

command

because

not

learning to not fear

is what trips us up in our capacity to

hear

anxiety and fear

dumbs us to hearing and we speak of

ourselves it’s so hard for me to hear

from god no no no that’s not true you’re

just listening to too many other things

it’s the word that ben read early before

the offering be careful what you hear

because whatever standard you set it

will be measured to you

so when i when i entertain wrong things

in my hearing i’ve actually welcomed

more wrong things to follow

when i develop an ear for whatever god

is saying it actually increases the flow

of his voice in my life but here’s the

thing we have to remember we were

designed to hear from god

some people will say well i pray all i

sense is peace that’s his voice

sometimes all you need to know is he is

present and he is peace

we don’t always need new concepts and

new insights what we need is the

stability of a relationship that says

all is well

and in that heart heart connection we we

discover the heart and mind of god for a

given situation but number one we were

designed to hear from the lord there’s

probably thousands of things we were

designed for but i want to adjust three

and mainly talk about the third

so the second one

is we were designed

for a seamless relationship with god

we were made in his image for the

purpose of relationship

everything he created he said it was

good but he said when he created people

he said it was very good why

because here is the opportunity for him

to fulfill his particular dream and

desire and that is to join with his

creation in an intimate way that can’t

be found in any other part of his

creation

sin messed it up but jesus came and

fixed the mess

been

sent through an obstacle into that

seamless connection but jesus came

removed the obstacle and restored the

capacity for a seamless connection

let me speak of marriage for just a

quick moment in

genesis

when god formed eve from the rib of adam

he made this statement i will make a

help mate

for

him

i don’t know how it happened it would be

interesting to see but i don’t know how

it happened through church culture

that helpmate

has taken on

like a subservient role

a second-class support

citizen

instead of what the bible actually says

the word help meat

god uses to describe himself with israel

at least 12 and i think it might be 13

times god says he is israel’s helpmate

not second-class subservient role

completely different than how we’ve

understood it

the word helpmate basically means

one who is fully qualified to stand face

to face to make up for anything lacking

in the other

one who is fully qualified all the women

got happy on that one

that’s what i’ve been saying

i knew it

fully qualified to stand face to face

making up for whatever might be lacking

god with israel

the point is

man

woman became one

illustrating

in human terms

the design

of seamless function

and ephesians 5 uses some fairly graphic

language in its original language to

describe this

he says

yeah it’s marriage but i’m not talking

about that i’m talking about you and the

jesus in the church

it’s his people

the point is

is we were designed once we’re born

again we’re designed for

a seamless heart-to-heart connection

with god

and the reason the lord deals so

vigorously with fear

and then all of its relatives bitterness

jealousy those things

is because those things throw the monkey

wrench into the seamless connection

it’s not a rejection on god’s part

for us it’s the

it’s the um

it’s like interferes with with design

interferes with capacity interferes with

the airwaves so to speak there’s it’s

it’s not seamless like it was supposed

to be

and it’s repentance that continually

keeps us in that seamless connection to

sense to feel to live aware of the heart

of god

it’s possible to develop such a

consciousness such an awareness of the

heart of god that you instinctively obey

in fact i i personally think that’s

maturity it’s not that i don’t pray

anymore it’s that

it’s that my my prayer is the occasion

to celebrate his kindness and love for

me the fact that he welcomes me into his

presence

but there’s this there’s this thing with

maturity where where we develop an

awareness of his voice and his heart

i can i can tell there are times where i

can tell

i can tell

when i

um uh i’ll i’ll give you an example

there are times where i’m i’m talking to

a friend

and i’m sharing something he asked a

question i’m sharing and sometimes i

come to a point in the conversation that

i can tell by his

mood isn’t the right word but i haven’t

found a better one

i can tell by his mood that i’m about to

over share

i don’t mean share something that’s not

true

i mean share something that he’s not

saying

you can say something is true

but have it not be something he’s saying

jesus only said what the father was

saying

like like the guy who comes to jesus he

says how do you obtain eternal life

hey evangelist that’s what you call an

open door

that’s what you call an open door how do

you obtain eternal life that’s when you

preach the gospel but not jesus

he said what does the law say to you

and he quotes a few commandments jesus

says do that you’ll be fine why would he

do that

because jesus won’t add revelation to

what he’s not already obeying

instead he takes him back to what he

already knows so that his obedience will

give him

a momentum into the new things that god

wants to speak into his life

it’s the mercy of god to withhold

information

all right anyway

we were designed for a seamless

connection a seamless design the third

thing is what i want to talk to you

about

um

now i see some of you are bundling up

i didn’t tell them to turn it the cooler

on

but i am so thankful because i’m so hot

so i i this is god has answered my

prayer and not yours

but that’s

that’s

that’s third great sense of humor

kicking in again sorry

all right they’ll they’ll get it fixed

but for the moment i’m enjoying this all

right

the third thing

is we were designed to be

fruitful

this is about a thousand times more

important than you think

god is so

interested in fruitfulness

he’s constantly thinking of increase

why it’s his nature it’s in his nature

his kingdom goes from glory to glory and

of the increase of his government there

will be no end

it’s not a hard taskmaster requiring

increase it’s just saying stay in the

position you’re designed in and you will

automatically be fruitful

benny and i have a little orchard on our

property we bought property a few years

ago

we planted i think 25 trees or so

when i walk out among the trees to check

them out they’re finally in a place

where they’re starting to grow things

you know

i don’t hear any of them going

i claim it i claim it i claim it i i am

fruitful come on apples produce i

declare it i claim it in jesus name i

will bear fruit to the glory of god i

don’t hear any of that stuff going

that’s what we do

but that’s not what a tree does the tree

just drinks the water we give it

the nutrients from the soil and whatever

we add and drink in the sunlight the

fruit is the automatic

evidence that it is rightly connected

we are designed to bear fruit in other

words we are designed for a rightful

connection that is measurable

it’s such a significant thing

that when jesus told the guys about

the talents the sums of money

one had five another two another had one

uh each were rewarded except the one

because they didn’t do anything that

with what they were given in other words

he said you at least could have put it

in the bank and obtained interest what

was the point the land owner who’s got

in this case is looking for increase

listen if it matters to god it had

better matter to us

because he’s looking for increase from

what he’s put at our disposal

is to be used

for his honor

now in john 14 15 and 16 we’ll look at

four different passages there

in john 14 15 and 16

we see jesus inviting us into this

relationship where he basically says you

can ask for anything

but what i want you to see

is that behind this um invitation to

pray

there is a driving motive

and the driving motive the motive that’s

that um that ignites the heart of jesus

to open up the floodgates of possibility

to his disciples what drives him is his

desire

to see his father glorified

the father is glorified

when you pray and get an answer

we owe the world answers to prayer

i i thought so too i thought

i thought it was a very good word i did

if there’s not

if there are not answers to prayer

the problem is not with god

[Music]

if god opens up an unlimited

realm of possibility in a covenant

and it’s not fulfilled

it’s not because he lied

but let’s take the other end

guilt and shame won’t fix the problem

either

it’s a relational journey

i’m going to start with what i usually

end with

in in this

conversation

there was a man who had a demonized

child

the story is found in mark 9

and this child the demons would throw

him into the fire on the ground just try

to kill him

and the father obviously is overwhelmed

with concern love for his child concern

for the child and brings the child to

the disciples

who i remind you are the most qualified

demon-delivering group of people to ever

live

with the exception of jesus up to that

time

they have a history of breakthrough

and so they because of their reputation

the father brings this child to the

disciples they can’t set them free i had

a

horrible experience once where a mom

brought a

horribly demonized child to me and i

couldn’t get the child free

it wasn’t god’s fault it was mine i did

not function in the authority

that i was called it’s not a guilt and

shame thing but what it does do is in

your quiet time with the lord you bring

that up and say god you’ve got to do

whatever’s needed to fix that because i

know if that woman would have brought

that child to jesus that child would

have left free and they didn’t when they

were brought to me

this is the relational journey we’re on

so here in this moment this child is

brought to the disciples they can’t set

him free the dad sees jesus brings the

child to jesus jesus brief conversation

brings deliverance to the child

the disciples watched all that knowing

their own anguish knowing their own

difficulty

often times when the the devil will make

a scene the child throws himself on the

ground creates a huge scene whenever the

devil becomes obvious

it’s not his best card it’s his last

card

[Music]

but the disciples were unaware of that

and became i’m assuming now doesn’t say

this i’m assuming they became fearful

because of the external manifestations

i only say that because i know of my own

personal experience

brought them to jesus with the word

jesus says to child free the disciples

see this

and they go over and they take jesus and

bring him aside and they say how come we

couldn’t do it and jesus goes on to give

them instruction vital instruction he

said this kind only comes out with

prayer and fasting

it provides us with a huge tool because

jesus neither prayed nor fasted in that

moment

see jesus had already fasted into a

lifestyle he didn’t have to fast for the

situation

we tend to fast for situations

because we haven’t fasted into a

lifestyle

so anyway jesus tells them this kind

only comes out with print fasting

and we walk away from this lesson

saying i need to pray and fast forward

proper conclusion

but for me the profound lesson of that

story is when the disciples didn’t get

an answer to prayer they took jesus

aside

see what happens for

most of us when something doesn’t work

we just

kind of bury it with the debris and move

on

i’ll see if it works the next time

we’ll see if it works the next time the

time after that

instead of

slowing down getting along with the lord

and saying you designed for this to work

i know the problem’s not you

but i thought when i did this prayed

this said this whatever

i was being led by you it was supposed

to bring breakthrough it didn’t

so i’m here as a child

all i want to do is do what glorifies

you so teach me it’s take jesus aside

and find out

it may be that prayer and fasting brings

the breakthrough for that child for sure

but maybe in another situation it’s

radical generosity

i don’t know i’m just saying the lord

will sometimes show you different

actions or things to believe or things

to declare that fit that situation

better perhaps than

prayer and fasting and that’s just

a thought

john chapter 15 is where we’re going to

start

oh goodness

all right

let’s fly

verse 1 i am the true vine

my father is the vine dresser every

branch in me that does not bear fruit he

takes away

every branch that bears fruit he prunes

that it may bear more fruit

say this with me

god rewards all growth

with pruning

how many of you are being richly

rewarded in this particular season

that’s what i thought yeah

every branch that doesn’t bear fruit he

removes every branch that bears fruit he

prunes

that it may bear more fruit the very

next verse verse three you are clean

already

because of the word i’ve spoken to you

i know i’ve taught on this probably a

dozen times in 20 years but i i bring it

up again because we sometimes have a

misunderstanding of what pruning what

the discipline of the lord looks like

jesus is talking to his guys and he says

i’m the vine father’s divine dresser

you’re the branches barefoot

he says if you don’t bear fruit or when

you bear fruit you get pruned he said

now you guys are already clean the word

cleaner is the same word for prune

so he’s telling them

you have to be pruned if you’re growing

but i’ve already pruned you

and i pruned you

by the word i spoke to you

that tells us then circumstances don’t

prune us his word does

the circumstances help us to pay

attention to what he’s saying

some of you wouldn’t be interested in

what god has to say at all if it were

not for the pain of your circumstance

and not you but it’s that other church

down the road

he gets our attention through a

situation only so that he can speak that

which will bring transformation

he prunes through his word

it can be said we live because he speaks

bret man shall not live by

bread alone but by every

word that proceeds from the mouth of god

we live from the word that proceeds from

the mouth of god we live because he

talks

why does the enemy work so hard

to

to cause us to lose faith in our ability

to hear from god

because we live because he speaks

he wants to separate us if possible from

the very thing that keeps

that flow of life

steering in our own souls

all right

go to chapter 14

and we’re going to race through uh three

uh portions of scripture here four

actually

four chapter 14.

i’m going to start with verse 11

not because i need to but just because i

like to

because it would be hera considered

heresy if it were not in the bible

[Laughter]

it took me too long to explain what i

just said so forget it

you got me ben you got me all right all

right

ben and me we’re flowing together here

verse 11 believe me that i am in the

father the father is in me or else

believe me for the sake of the works

themselves

that’s amazing

here’s jesus just believe me i’m in the

father

the father’s in me

you can’t handle that well then just

believe for the miracles

why would he do that

because that’s a sign that will bring

you back to the love of the father

if you can’t handle the giant step of

believing i am in the father the father

is in me then just believe for what’s

right within reach now and that’s the

miracle once you embrace that you’ll

catch another glimpse from another angle

the goodness of the father

we owe the world the miraculous because

in many ways it is the clearest

illustration of god’s love for humanity

his love for us is not just a

philosophical love it is demonstrated it

is measurable in the miraculous

verse 12

most assuredly i say to you he who

believes in me the works that i do he

will also do

and greater works than these will he do

because i go to the father

i hear i hear people say

that doesn’t mean greater as in greater

it just it means it means greater in

number because we’re so many

it’s not what it says though

and the desire is good it wants to

protect

the beauty the wonder the incredible

nature of jesus’s ministry on planet

earth

but you don’t protect

his image by denying what he says

he said greater

they touched jesus’s clothing they were

healed

for paul they took his clothing sent it

to another location they were healed

for peter they just got in his shadow

and they were healed it’s called greater

yeah

it doesn’t

dishonor jesus because it couldn’t have

happened without jesus making the decree

jesus declared it is what made it

possible

verse 13 and whatever you ask in my name

that i will do that the father may be

glorified in the son if you ask anything

in my name i will do it what’s the point

here

the ask for anything is in the context

of greater works

yes

that the father may be glorified

see jesus has just announced to these

guys i’m going

they’re going what

wait what

no sorry

got back to the pig there wait

i’m going

and then he says it’s better for you

that i go

and i know they’re thinking

yeah right

right right

how could it be better and so now he’s

setting the he’s setting them up he said

listen you guys are going to do greater

things i’ve created a momentum for you

to step into

that makes it possible for you to do

greater things

and you will ask anything and it’ll be

done and here’s the driving force my

driving desire behind everything i’m

telling you is it’s that the father

would be glorified

this whole plan of me coming and dying

returning to the father releasing the

spirit is the father’s design

he will be glorified by all of creation

because his plan worked

[Music]

when you pray and a miracle takes place

his plan worked all of creation stands

in all that what the father orchestrated

is actually happening

that fallen men can be restored and

actually demonstrate the life the love

the purity the power of god in the

broken situations of humanity

no part of creation thought that was

possible and they stand in absolute

astonishment

because it works

and they glorify the father

and jesus set the stage for that to

happen

we look at solomon in the old testament

where god appears to him in the night

and basically gave him a blank check

said here you can ask for whatever you

want

it’s the high water mark of prayer

in the old testament

and the new testament the blank check is

to give is given to every believer every

day

in the new testament

the blank check is given to every

believer every day

[Applause]

thankfully

god reserves the right to say no

to anything that will undermine my

purpose

all right thank you lord

chapter 15

verse 7. if you abide in me

my words abide in you you will ask what

you desire shall be done for you

by this my father is glorified that you

bear much fruit

and so you will be my disciples

i

personally i’m strongly convinced that

the bearing much fruit

of verse 8

are the answers to prayer in verse 7.

i want you to see all of creation paying

attention to a covenant with god in

heaven and humanity on planet earth is

delegated authority and they play pray

and things happen because of it

see it started that way genesis chapter

1

father son holy spirit have a

conversation and they say let us make

man in our image

the only part of creation

created in his likeness why for the

purpose of relationship

he then commissions them he says be

fruitful multiply fill the earth and

subdue it

be fruitful be productive in your work

they were never assigned to sit on a

cloud and play a harp and do nothing

our our identity honestly is reinforced

through work

not working to obtain favor working

because we have favor

it’s healthy for us

to work

the guy with five talents who was

rewarded by god was rewarded with more

responsibility

be fruitful multiply

is to be productive in your work

multiply have children who have children

who have children

fill the earth

don’t all live in one house

[Music]

don’t build a skyscraper and all live

there come on spread yourself out

why

land ownership

is a part

of authority

and and implementing the purposes of god

on the earth

it is it is uh what you occupy you have

authority over

fill the earth and subdue it subdue its

military term the implication is i’m

you are created into a war

through relationship with me learn to

implement my purposes as delegated

authority onto this earth until it’s

transformed

sin messed it up jesus came and fixed

the mess and we’re back to the same

assignment

now jesus says whatever you ask for i

don’t think he’s saying

let the father program you to pray the

right things

obviously we want to pray the will of

god

and i’m thankful that he

he holds the right to v to

to veto my stupid prayers

but i’m also thankful

that sometimes i pray not out of a

command but out of a relationship

man there is a difference

there are sometimes you you do something

not because he told you to do it but

because you’ve you’ve sensed this

overflow of his life into yours how

could i not paul says peter says

i cannot stop but speaking of the of the

purp the things that god has said and

done things that i’ve seen i can’t stop

i can’t stop it it’s not a choice

it’s volcanic in me what i have seen

it’s impossible to stop and there are

certain things that we do because of a

relationship not necessarily in response

to a command obviously the base for this

relationship is we respond to all of his

commands but he invites us into a

relational role where there are times

where we find ourselves dreaming and

praying for things he didn’t direct us

to pray for

and it’s in those moments we start

finding out the far reaches of his will

and his capacity and desire and passion

to answer prayer it’s outside

of just the simple commands that we’ve

been given

we find out how far-reaching the command

on earth as it is in heaven really looks

john

16.

we’ll wrap it up with this one

this is where

jesus is letting his guys know

that their sorrow sadness

of his departure

will be met with overflowing joy

jesus is going to give a secret here

did you know

that jesus is referred to as the most

joyful human being to ever live

it’s in the book

it’s in the book

it describes him as

his joy that surpassed all of his

brethren

and the language there i haven’t studied

it for years but as i remember looking

over that it basically said his joy was

greater than everybody else’s joy joy

put together

his joy was a greater more full joy than

everybody else around him combined

we just don’t see that on the tv shows

about him

chosen doesn’t look better with that joy

thing he seems to be pretty happy

but i love it for that reason and more

but here he says verse 23

in that day you will ask me nothing

most assuredly i say whatever you ask

the father in my name he will give you

until now you have asked nothing in my

name

ask and you will receive that your joy

may be made full say that with me that

your joy may be made full let’s make it

personal that my joy would be made full

say it again that my joy would be made

full so here’s god writing a

prescription

and he’s saying i’m giving you a blank

check

as these blank checks are answered you

will discover dimensions of joy in in me

that you have only seen in the person of

jesus

now i remind you what was the only thing

jesus excuse me what was the only thing

the disciples asked jesus to teach them

how to pray he didn’t say they didn’t

say teach us how to multiply food

what do you mean cool

didn’t didn’t say teach us how to heal

the sick didn’t ask for any of those

things said teach teach them how to pray

why

i believe there’s a connection here i

believe there was something written in

their heart that they could see there’s

something about this time that jesus

goes up on the mountain he spends time

with the father his answers to prayer he

is demonstrating a dimension of joy we

know nothing about so when jesus comes

and gives them a unlimited set of blank

checks and he says listen this is how

you get into that joy

he’s inviting them into his own personal

breakthrough that he lived on a daily

basis joy beyond all human reasoning and

it was at least in part connected to his

answers to prayer

chris gore told us years ago

we just released them to head back to

new zealand but he he told us years ago

he said jesus never taught

on how to deal with unanswered prayers

because he didn’t have any

that’s worth remembering

jesus prayed and made a difference so

here’s the deal

if prayers are not being answered

it’s not god’s problem

let me rephrase it it’s not his fault

if there are no answers to prayer

it’s not god’s fault

if you’re praying and you’re not getting

any answers

he’s not the problem

[Applause]

but guilt and shame

won’t fix the problem either

i was designed for a seamless connection

that’s my nature

i was designed to hear from god it is in

my dna to produce fruit for the glory of

god is it happening if it’s not

happening at the place where i’m laying

down my life

then i need to take jesus aside

in other words

lord i know you’re not the problem

and i don’t know what is

but i have said yes

to a lifestyle that brings you glory

through continuous answers to prayer

i desire to see the impossibilities of

life bend their knee to the name jesus

through my lips that is the longing of

my heart

and the reason as far as i can tell my

motive is clean i want you glorified

it doesn’t matter to me if anybody

traces that back to my prayer what i

need is to see that i yielded you spoke

through me a miracle took place and now

all of creation and all of humanity

celebrates the goodness of a perfect

father because of that answer to prayer

we owe

the world around us answers to prayer

james talks about your prayers are not

answers because you and ask amiss

who who’s

who’s a miss don’t don’t ask her

whatever

you ask with with wrong motives you you

ask outside of his purpose and plan and

i get that and i’m thankful that he he

he

he shuts down

those uh

those prayers in a sense

but sometimes

does this make sense sometimes you pray

the wrong thing for the right reason

and sometimes you pray the right thing

for the wrong reason

don’t stop

keep pressing in until that prayer is

purged and purified

don’t don’t stop don’t stop god it’s in

your word i don’t know if i’m doing this

right

but it matters to me to see what you

promised happened before me and it was

not to happen through my hands i’m fine

with that just do it through somebody

but we’ve got to see this thing change

we’ve got to see this thing turn

now i’m declaring your word into this

situation doing all i know to do pray

and act

take time

when you go to bed at night god teach me

teach me even as i sleep

how to pray more effectively

all i want is the name of jesus to be

exalted in the earth that’s all i want i

want the father glorified because he

thought of this redemptive plan to offer

his son as a sacrifice to restore people

to an eternal destiny of representing

him on a planet until this planet is

transformed it was your plan it’s

perfect we celebrate it now let it be

implemented implemented fully in and

through my life

for the glory of god

i ache for this i ache for this

dimension of prayer for me

and for you

not that my will can be done

not for the building of my

kingdom

but i was designed

to fit seamlessly

into a kingdom where god is forever

glorified

that’s what i was made for

and prayer is my part

to see heaven come to earth

amen all right go instead

[Applause]

uh

prayer is such

a huge mystery to me

sometimes the most simple off-the-wall

extreme outrageous prayer prayed only

once taking three seconds is answered

i mean off the wall crazy stuff

and other things are labored for over

great periods of time

and they just seem to meet with great

resistance

and somebody had a dream

of me that was sent to me this last week

and i won’t go through the dream but

there’s a prophetic picture that

basically described

the determined focused walk

and as long as i keep walking

the

the enemy

that is trying to destroy has to run to

keep up

i love that picture

and they become exhausted and we don’t

we just keep plowing i just love the

picture i’m just kidding

what are you gonna do bill i’m just not

gonna quit that’s all i know i’m just

gonna i’m just not gonna quit i’m gonna

keep going in the direction i said yes

to yeah but what about nobody what about

don’t distract me

i’m gonna keep going why the enemy gets

exhausted trying to keep up with your

walk

i believe it’s a profound picture

so father i pray i pray again i’ve

prayed this

many times in the last couple years

take us in

to this kind of a season in prayer

where we truly see the unusual

not for entertainment’s sake but for the

name of jesus exalted in the earth for

the father to be honored throughout all

creation because your plan worked

i pray for that that you take every

person in this room and launch us into a

significance of prayer

unlike any other season

i want to just real quickly ask is there

anyone here that does not have a

personal relationship with jesus but you

want to know what it is to be forgiven

of god part of a family you want to know

what it is the bible calls it being born

against you become different from the

inside it’s a work of grace that he does

in us as a gift

if you want that you’re hungry for that

if you’re online let a pastor know

if you’re in one of the other rooms

let one of the pastors know if you’re in

this room way put a hand up in the air i

just want to see you right where you are

and i want to make agreement with you

because we’re going to believe god that

the miracle of a new creation for you

starts today real quick

is there anyone in that in that position

all right

all right we’re gonna assume you’re all

in we’ve got our ministry team down here

ready to pray for people are you coming

up ruth come on up

[Applause]