Moving From Defense to Offense – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

Bill Johnson teaches how to move from defense to offense. Mastery over the flesh is vital to an effective prayer life. Bill Johnson gives practical insight into advancing our prayer life to be effective and on the offense instead of defense. Learn how to posture your heart to pray for the will of God. Subscribe to watch new videos: https://bit.ly/BJMYouTube

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Originally shared at Bethel Church, Redding on Sunday, February 02, 2020.

so much thank you thank you

beautiful thanks please be

seated good evening

nice to see you glad you showed up this

thing

i think you have to take a college

course

i don’t i’ll just i think i’ll just

raise it

excuse me i should have done this before

i got up here

but it would have been hard because my

arms aren’t that long

all right merry christmas

if you see me talking to myself please

go your way

i’m self-employed and having a staff

meeting

this is dumb

imagine i love this one imagine falling

in love with someone

[Laughter]

imagine falling in love with someone and

then finding out they clap when the

plane lands

[Laughter]

that’s so dumb

jesus can walk on water i can walk on

cucumbers

cucumbers are 96 water therefore

i’m 96 like jesus

i eat twice as much meat just so that

one

vegan who thinks he’s making a

difference is making no difference at

all

the fastest land mammal is a toddler

who’s been asked what’s in your mouth

i wish mosquitos suck fat instead of

blood

[Laughter]

all right grab your bibles you guys

ready ready to get going well

let’s uh let’s go to uh matthew we’re

gonna start we’ve got several verses

we’re gonna bounce around

so get your gospel track shoes on and uh

let’s go to matthew 26.

we’ll start there and um

i really had uh some stuff really

dropped into my heart

this morning in our uh our staff

uh we have a staff prayer meeting at

seven

and um really had some stuff stirring in

my heart then so i’ve been

i’ve been chomping at the bit all day

just to be with you and talk

so i’m glad somebody showed up otherwise

it would have been gabe and me

but i i’d have gone for it gabe i’d have

gone for it i’d had all call at the end

too just want you to know

i wouldn’t i would have had one

matthew 26

the disciples only asked jesus to teach

them

one thing now he taught them many things

if if i were in the disciples shoes

from where i stand now i might have

asked him

how to raise the dead or how to heal the

sick or

how to do any number of extraordinary

things how can you do that food

multiplying thing you know

there would have been a lot of things on

my list i would have loved for him to

teach me

but though the disciples the 12 who were

with him

constantly were actually

moved by everything jesus did and said

but they were rocked by one thing and

one thing alone

above everything else and that was lord

teach us to pray

they they somehow knew um i think

through observation

they knew that whenever jesus

left them and went up onto a mountain

things were different when he came down

there was something

in in their ability to observe how he

functioned how he had handled stuff for

example

uh scripture tells us that you know he

had such

great admiration for john the baptist

his cousin

the greatest of all prophets he prepared

the way for jesus himself to come

and the bible tells us that when he got

news that john had been beheaded

he left the crowd and he went up to pray

you can i don’t want to read too much

into it but there’s obvious

obvious in some measure in his humanity

he was rocked by the one he admired so

much

who really laid down his life for jesus

himself

he just he had to get along get alone

and pray

our prayer life is defined by so many

things we

we um we tend to learn

we tend to learn to pray fervently or

passionately out of pain

uh maybe a loss maybe a crisis uh

we we uh we do reactionary prairie

defense

praying uh fairly well

um there’s a crisis uh maybe somebody’s

dying

we’ll call it fast none of that is

inappropriate those are

appropriate things but we tend to learn

to pray

focused fervent prayer out of pain or

out of

crisis of some sort

jesus the disciples were with jesus in

mark 9

and they tried to bring deliverance to a

child uh this dad brought his son to

them

and and they tried their best and and

you have to remember

that the disciples are the most

experienced people in deliverance

of any group of people to ever live on

the earth

up to that point there was no one more

experienced at deliverance than they

were

except for jesus and so

they tried everything they had done

before

previous on this child that was brought

to him and he couldn’t get him free

and jesus came up and brought

deliverance

and when they asked jesus they took him

aside privately

and they asked him how how come we

couldn’t and you could

and jesus didn’t give the answer that

that the church would give

the church would say well jesus is god

and you’re just human

but that wasn’t that wasn’t the logic

jesus functioned with

because he knew he was functioning out

of his humanity dependent on god

which is available for every disciple of

jesus

so his answer was different he said he

said well this kind only comes out with

prayer and fasting

and then he brought deliverance which

means he neither prayed nor fasted

see at the beginning of jesus’s journey

beginning of his ministry

he fasted 40 days he wasn’t fasting for

a problem

he was fasting into a lifestyle

we tend to pray defensively reactionary

we got this crisis we’ve got this

challenge we’ve got this opportunity

and we pray into it not wrong not wrong

at all

but because of that we’re always we’re

often playing catch up

catch up not heinz 57

catch it catch up sorry i’m in third

grade mode

this tonight expect more it’ll come

so we’re always playing we’re always

just a little bit behind trying to catch

up and think i

always is too big of a word it’s not

true but frequently we’re

behind the game in certain areas and

we’re having to fight our way back to

the front

so the disciples asked jesus to teach

them how to pray so that moves me

because it was the only thing they asked

to be taught out of all the things they

saw him do

so somehow that tells me that was

for those who watched him that was the

key to everything

now go in matthew 26 we’re just going to

take

one verse that’s verse 41.

watch and pray lest you enter

into temptation the spirit

indeed is willing but the flesh is weak

let’s read it again watch and pray

lest you enter into temptation

the spirit indeed is willing but the

flesh is weak this is our first verse

we’re going to bounce around so

please keep your bibles in front of you

watch and pray

lest you enter into temptation so then

that tells me

that prayerlessness or weakness in

prayer

exposes me to temptation i didn’t need

to face

it not only allows exposure to

temptation

i didn’t need to face it sometimes

exposes me to temptation that i may or

may not have the grace to overcome

he goes on to describe this thing of

praying so that i don’t fall into

temptation

he’s not i don’t believe he’s saying

pray this way oh god

please don’t lead me into temptation i

don’t think that’s what he’s addressing

here

i think he’s saying a prayerful life

insulates you from temptation

a prayer-filled life a life of ongoing

prayer

um a few weeks ago i talked to you about

uh

first thessalonians 5. rejoice always

pray without ceasing and everything of

things

and i mentioned in that message

three things about that about that verse

that i felt the lord spoke to me it was

in the middle of the night is about two

two and a half months ago now i was

awakened in the night

a friday a saturday night before coming

here early in the morning

and awakened me with this phrase and in

the jur in this

dialogue i had with him or i shouldn’t

say dialogue

in my uh uh searching my heart and mind

for explanation for what he spoke to me

this the passage rejoice always prayer

without ceasing and everything if things

came to my mind

and as i began to think over those

verses i felt as though the lord spoke

to me and said

the key to mental health is is giving

thanks in everything

the key to mental health i then

remembered hearing a

psychologist on talk radio once saying

that um

something like i forget the exact number

now something like 90

of all mental illness can be traced back

to the attempt to avoid pain

so there’s something about embracing

your moment surrendering it

to the sovereignty of god knowing that

he and he alone is good

and giving thanks in the middle of it

and then i felt like he spoke to me and

said the key to emotional health is to

rejoice always

see before you were a believer you only

rejoiced when you had joy but once

you’re in the kingdom you get joy by

rejoicing

so the measure of joy in my life is

actually determined by me

so if i’m locking joy it’s just the

evidence of my choices

and then the last part of that verse is

to pray without ceasing and

and what really hit me on that was that

kind of lifestyle prayer without ceasing

is the key to heart health

what is heart health about jesus said

adulteries murders all this horrible

stuff comes out of your heart

but then on the other end of the

spectrum he said blessed are the pure in

heart for they shall see god

so the the management of the heart is

vital

for how well we do in life uh one of my

life verses that a dear friend of mine

gave to me

goodness it was 1972.

um he he gave me this verse out of

proverbs 4

23 that says watch over your heart with

all diligence because from it flowed the

issues of life

all the issues of life flow from the

heart

so think about this heart health is

praying without ceasing

by keeping my heart in touch with god’s

heart

the right things flow from it when i

allow

distance to come between the heart of

god and my heart

i have to fight to do the right things

it doesn’t come as natural

as it would if i shared his heart does

that make sense

i’m not sure if i’m saying it perfectly

but you get the point

just work with it until it sounds right

okay all right

now here it is again watch and pray

unless you enter to temptation

the spirit is willing but the flesh is

weak what what’s that about the spirit

is willing

to do what to pray

the flesh is weak about what

prayer so the strength of my prayer life

is according to the strength of my

spirit over my flesh

a weak prayer life is a dominant flesh

the holy spirit lives in your spirit

there’s perfect communion there

they function well day and night but

there’s something that will sometimes

take master

mastery over your own spirit and that is

human weakness frailty flesh appetite

desire that is very natural and can

become very very carnal

the issue of mastery over flesh is vital

to an effective prayer life

yeah that went over well all right um

let’s see where else should we go

let’s uh go with me to acts chapter

um

[Music]

yeah let’s go to no let’s go to second

king six

second king six we’ll go there first

then we’ll go to acts 3 then isaiah 59.

now the purpose of prayer

you know we could probably make a list

of 100 things and still fall short so

i don’t want to over oversimplify

or or rob the part of prayer that is

the most important to you but let me try

to summarize at least from my

perspective here tonight

the purpose of prayer is not merely for

me

to talk to god about doing stuff

it’s really about obtaining his heart

because the more i

obtain his heart the more i pray

not parrot prayers

but the product of relation of

relationship

relational product called prayer

see it says in john 15 a servant does

doesn’t know what his master is doing

the friend does

the servant is accustomed to responding

to commands

and that’s not wrong the most

basic part of our our initial

time of learning to walk with jesus is

responding to command

but what he’s what he’s looking for is

an

interest in us about his heart so we’re

not just waiting for command

we’re looking for his values his

intentions those are the things that

move us

see when you pick up his heart you start

praying what he would have prayed if he

were in your shoes

since that is that cold laboring the

goal of prayer is to co-labor

where his heart is revealed in the earth

not because he commanded us to reveal it

or gave us recorded prayers to recite

but instead becoming a people who

in seeking him not just prayerful

outcomes

but seeking him we mirror his heart and

his nature

in our prayer relationship in our

co-laboring relationship

see touching the heart of god gives us a

unique advantage

that i’m hoping in this next phase this

next season of our life as a church

family

we can move into more aggressively

and i’ll illustrate it more in a in a

moment let’s just take a look at in fact

what we’re going to do is we’ll go to

acts 12 after this one

second kings chapter 6 verse 8. now the

king of syria was making war

against israel and he consulted with his

servants saying

my camp will be in such and such a place

and the man of god sent to the king of

israel saying beware

that you do not pass this place for the

syrians are coming down there

then the king of israel sent someone to

the place of which the man of god told

him

thus he warned him and he was watchful

there not just once or twice

therefore the heart of the king of syria

was greatly troubled by this thing

and he called his servants and said to

them will you not show me which one of

us

is for the king of israel and one of his

servants said

none my lord o king but elisha the

prophet who is in israel

tells the king of israel the words that

you speak in your bedroom

[Music]

it’s the advantage of knowing god he

knows stuff ahead of time

and if we’re listening we could pray in

advance to prevent a disaster

or to pray so that things are in place

for the disaster

when we don’t use that advantage we have

to respond or

react to things as they happen

i remember one of our uh couples

uh

in in weaverville uh their their two

kids young kids were in the back seat

kind of whispering together and and the

mom turned around and said what are you

what are you doing they said nothing

she said what did you do

and they said nothing she said tell me

what’d you do

said nothing she said okay

i’ll ask god

and she turned around she said you were

playing with matches

and they freaked because they had

started a fire that they had to put out

close to their house it’s cheating but

it’s not

you have the advantage to pray in

advance of something or

to to know where to step into place

to aggressively pray or to serve how

many of you have had

just a subtly just an impression you

wouldn’t you wouldn’t

you wouldn’t have glamorized the moment

by saying god spoke to you it’s just

a thought i’ll call somebody and happen

to be

exact moment they needed a phone call so

the lord’s voice sounds so much like

ours

that because he speaks most often for us

internally internal thought internal

impression

inspired thought and learning to lean

into him

is a huge part is a huge product of

effective praying

is that you pick up his heartbeat

without trying it’s not this groaning

and travailing to have the heart of god

it’s just simply you’re all i want

you’re what i’m interested in

i want your heart to shape mine and that

really is the outcome of prayer

jesus said come to me you are weary and

heavy-laden and i will give you rest

the real point of prayer is prayer is a

time of exchange

come to me with your weighty stuff i

will give you my light stuff there’s an

exchange

and if you come to jesus and you leave

feeling the way you came in you weren’t

praying you were complaining

prayer makes an exchange prayer takes on

the heart of god

and sees a matter from his perspective

that’s

the whole purpose of prayer and it’s not

just to leave us

there in that problem with his

perspective

it’s so that we can pray as co-laborers

to see things changed

effectively changed he’s invited us

into a relationship listen in in

you know what we call the lord’s prayer

the prayer our father who art in heaven

hallowed be your name

in the gospel of luke jesus teaches that

prayer

in response to the disciples question

lord

will you teach us to pray so

imagine this you’re one of the 12 you’re

watching jesus

things just happen when he does stuff

you see him run up to the mountain

and he’s there overnight it comes down

the next day

there’s you know stuff just takes place

and you finally just have this moment

you say teach us to pray

and then he gives you a prayer that is

the greatest commission in my in my

thinking and i

i i’m sure i could be well never mind

it’s just my that’s my

opinion the greatest there’s the great

commission to go into all the world but

the greatest commission is to pray on

earth as it is in heaven

because the whole world the whole going

into all the world getting disciples

is a part of the on earth as it is in

heaven prayer

so think about this they say jesus

teaches to pray

and he gives them a tool

that is to cause the collision of two

worlds

this is not a minor thing this is not a

philosophical thing this is not an

invitation to

dialogue with god so that you feel good

it’s about

a literal shaping the course of world

history through

your communion your conversation

intelligent conversation with the

almighty god

so that you know ahead of time what does

he want he wants on earth as it is in

heaven

so then we pray we press into these

things

so that we see it manifested in the

practical areas of life

our father who art in heaven hallowed be

your name your kingdom come

your will be done on earth as it is in

heaven

give us this day now we break it down

into the practical parts of life

there’s no lack in heaven so there

should not be lack here

so there is the confident request for

the provision of bread

some people when they translate that

verse they’ve actually said we’re not

praying for today’s bread we’re actually

praying in advance of tomorrow’s bread

that tomorrow’s bread would be released

today

give us this day our daily bread forgive

us our debts our sins as we forgive

those

who sinned against us that’s the the

nature of heaven

over our over our personal issues our

personal life

lead us not to temptation deliver us

from the evil one

for yours is the power of the kingdom of

glory forever it’s

everything else in that prayer is a

manifestation of the first part

so imagine being one of the 12 and jesus

gives you a tool and he says here

you can actually impact the entire globe

with this one tool

so here’s a prophet that hears

what a enemy king is saying in his

bedroom

actually no i have a friend of mine he

was having an

argument with his wife

and there was a prophet that was a

friend of theirs

that they both knew that was hearing the

conversation

not naturally but spiritually

this is true story he was hearing the

cover he was some distance away

but he heard them arguing and so when he

met my friend he said your wife is right

so i just i did he didn’t

he didn’t like that so you know it’s

it’s just

it’s just cheating all right

go to acts 3. forget acts 12 we’ll do

that next

go to acts 3 and then isaiah 59

you guys all right i do hope so

this this will help if we can make it

all the way through it

acts chapter three is an interesting

verse

uh the lord is is uh speaking of course

to all the believers

and in verse 25 he says

you are sons of the prophets and of the

covenant which god made to our fathers

saying to abraham

and in your seed all the families of the

earth shall be blessed

the part i want you to capture

is he announces to every believer you

are sons of the prophets why would he

say that

every believer is to live with a

prophetic anointing

every believer

there are few prophets but there are

many who are to be prophetic

if i can be really practical there’s few

evangelists but all of us are to be

evangelistic

there are few who are pastors but all of

us can be pastoral in our care

compassion for people apostolic this all

all across the board the point is

is these graces are to be functioning in

us

according how to how we are influenced

by these kinds of

of people in our lives we pick up their

graces now so that we can get a title to

tell what what’s the purpose of a title

the function is what’s important

and so here here to every believer if

this were happening right now

the decree would be made to each one of

you

you are all sons of the prophets

now isaiah 59

expands on that concept and it’s in

verse 21 the last verse of the

of the 15 did i say 29 or 59

59 go good good i meant to say 59 so i’m

glad it came out that way

you just never know all right so isaiah

59 verse 21

as for me says the lord this is my

covenant with them

my spirit who is upon you and my words

which i have put in your mouth

shall not depart from your mouth nor the

mouth of your descendants

nor the mouth of your descendants

descendants says the lord from this time

and forevermore the lord has just

identified

the way his giftings work in a family

line

he says you hear god you tell people

what he says

good now your kid’s going to do the same

and your kids kids everyone after you

is going to inherit the same grace to

hear from god and tell people what he

says

now the prophetic is simply that it is

that let’s forget the title for a minute

i believe in titles

but they’re completely unnecessary in

this context

the important thing is that everybody in

this room

has the realization i can hear from god

but we have to learn how he speaks

because he doesn’t always speak in

english

in fact he rarely speaks in english

i love how he talks to me it’s a

lifelong adventure to discover his voice

and what i found is if there’s a

willingness to hear

there’s a willingness to speak

if there’s a willingness on my end to

hear what god is saying there’s a

there’s a willingness on his end to

actually speak

there’s a passage in in john 7 that says

if you’re willing to obey his word

uh i’m going to misquote it i can feel

it

and i don’t want to because it’s

it’s important so give me just a moment

here

if anyone if anyone wills to do his will

he will know concerning the doctrine

whether it’s from god

or whether i speak on my own authority

jesus is talking he says

if you’re willing to do his will you’ll

know whether i speak on my own or from

him

what’s the point you don’t know until

you’re willing to obey

it’s it’s that illustration that we’ve

been given through the years

sign your name on the bottom of the

contract and then he’ll write the

contract

all right acts 12.

am i out of time or did it just never

start

never started i haven’t gone that long

have i no

all right oh oh i’m i’m not stopping

wild horses couldn’t stop me

all right

this is such a great chapter but there’s

a real sobering part of this chapter so

let’s

let’s uh let’s talk through this uh

beginning with verse one

acts 12 now about that time herod the

king

stretched out his hand to harass from

some from the church and he killed

james the brother of john with a sword

and because he saw it pleased the jews

he proceeded further to cease peter also

now it was during the days of unleavened

bread so when he had arrested him he put

him in prison delivered him to

four squads of soldiers to keep him

intending to bring him before the people

after passover peter verse 5 was

therefore kept in prison

but constant prayer was offered to god

for him by the church when herod is

about to bring him out

that night peter was sleeping bound with

two chains between two soldiers

the guards before the door were keeping

the prison an angel of the lord stood by

uh by him a light shone in the prison he

struck peter on the side

raised him up saying arise quickly his

chains fell off his hands

the angel said to him gird yourself tie

on your sandals and he did so and he

said to him put on your garment and

follow me

he went out followed him he didn’t know

that what was done by the angel was real

he thought he was seeing a vision

that’s you know it’s got to be weird to

be in one of those moments

you don’t know if it’s real

or if you’re watching tv you don’t you

just you just don’t know

you don’t know the moment the moment is

so has so caught you off guard that you

don’t know what’s real and what’s not

real

the verse 10 when they were past the

first and second guard post they came to

the iron gate that leads to the city

which opened to them of its own accord

and they went out went down one street

immediately the angel departed from him

and when peter had come to himself i

don’t know where he had been but when he

had come to himself

he said now i know for certain that the

lord has sent his angel and delivered me

from the hand of herod

verse 12 we’ll read just a couple more

verses

so when he had considered this he came

to the house of mary the mother of john

whose

surname was mark where many were

gathered together praying

what were they praying for for his

release

as peter knocked on the door of the gate

a girl named rhoda came

to answer when she recognized peter’s

voice because of her gladness she did

not open the gate

it’s interesting the the angel opened

the gate out of the prison

but a little girl was to open the gate

into the house

some things god will do for you some

things you have to just keep knocking

she did not open the gate she ran in and

announced that peter

stood before the gate they said to her

you are beside yourself

so she kept insisting it was so they

said to his

his angel peter continued knocking

they opened the door they were

astonished it’s just a fun story a fun

story

it’s amazing to have the answer to your

prayer knocking on the door

and and is saying

oh no it can’t be peter

it can’t be a revival our job is to pray

for revival not

have one

but go back to the beginning of the

story james was murdered

peter was prayed for

the holy spirit orchestrated

the organization of these two stories

james was arrested and murdered what was

the will of god in that situation

god can use tragedy so good that people

think he sponsors the tragedy

his ability to turn the effect of a

tragedy

into a positive thing is so masterful

that others look at it and assume it

must be

god who wanted murdered him

perhaps you’ve heard statements like uh

martyrs

are the uh they’re really the foundation

of the church they are those the seed of

the church where there’s been

great increase multiplication absolutely

true absolutely true

but if you look at first timothy chapter

two

there’s instruction pray for those who

are in authority that you can live a

peaceful life

what is the will of god the peaceful

life

what did james experience martyrdom

slight difference

i don’t know if i can say this right

i’ve tried to teach it before i never

felt like it came out right

but it’ll just fit into another one of

my heresies

in the category of heresies

okay i got i got to get a running start

on this one

is it possible

that the will of god in a particular

situation

is determined by what we’ve become

is it possible that the will of god in a

particular situation is determined by

what we’ve become

the non-praying church had a friend who

died

the praying church had a friend who was

delivered

to them

see prayer shapes us

the main thing about prayer is not me

persuading him to do anything

the main thing about prayer is that it

shapes me

it shapes how i think you know

faith gets answers but enduring faith

gets answers with character

delayed answers gain interest but they

also prune the soul

they also prune the heart

and the pruning of the heart in delayed

answers is essential what i what i have

watched take place in

many people’s lives is there’s a great

hunger for the breakthroughs of god

but that hunger i’ve watched for the

last 25 years i’ve watched

some some people with great hunger great

desperation

but it leads them into unbelief i know

that sounds awkward and strange but it

does it does

if if um let’s

see if i can phrase this better

desperation either leads to breakthrough

or to unbelief

that passion of the soul that is

dependent on an answer to be satisfied

usually leads to unbelief the passion of

the soul

that leads to a person

ends up different the person we’re in

in i’m seeking for this miracle but the

number one ambition of my soul is to

discover who he is moses said

let me know your ways that i might know

you

every time every time god reveals an

aspect of his nature

it’s not automatic that i’ve encountered

him

but it is an invitation

revelation of his nature is always an

invitation for encounter

that’s that’s how he works he showed he

showed abraham that he was uh

he was jehovah jireh what was the point

abraham needed provision and he showed

him a possibility

he showed him what was available and he

came to know the god of provision

that story can be repeated countless

times throughout scripture the point is

when god reveals his his nature it’s

always an invitation for relationship

for encounter

he doesn’t show us what he you know he

doesn’t show us stuff so we get smarter

i mean intelligence is part of it but

it’s a byproduct it’s not the goal

the goal is encounter with the person

because the the more

the more i see him the more i am like

him

you know that passage it says when we

see him we will be like him

that’s true but it’s also a progressive

part of our journey

the more i see his heart the more i see

his nature the more i become transformed

in my own soul in my own heart

i started by saying we learn passionate

praying

out of pain and it may be a crisis it

may be a need

but but the point is is we’re desperate

and so we

we we we don’t just do now i lay me down

to sleep kind of prayers

we don’t just do bless the food and the

people who made it kind of prayers

we’re actually we’re actually praying to

make a difference in something we get

our heart and soul into it

and um

either we learn to pray

out of out of

passion we either learn to pray

passionate prayers out of pain

or we have to have we have to find

somewhere else

within us to learn passionate prayers

because prayers that don’t move you

don’t move him

you know the token stuff that we do i’m

not gonna say he

he can or won’t ever answer i’m i’m not

going to tell you i’m not going to tell

him what he can do

but we can see in scripture the things

that move him are

is when people put their life on the

line and they cry out

this uh verse i read a little bit ago

out of

excuse matthew 26 keep watching praying

that you may not

enter into temptation the spirit is

willing

the flesh is weak i didn’t know this

until this evening

i was i was looking at this word the

spirit is willing this word willing

because there’s there’s uh interesting

combinations

of words used in the new testament the

will of god and i was wondering

what category this one fell in but it

missed both of them

and it created a new category of its own

it it comes this word uh the spirit is

willing

this word actually comes from two words

the one is

uh it would be the word before or ahead

of it’s it’s uh

it’s aggressively moving ahead that kind

of a word

and the other word that this word

willing comes from is the word passion

so the word then can basically be

translated

the spirit is in eager pursuit

it’s not just willing in a sense well if

it happens i’m good with it

you know it’s not that kind of willing

it’s not uh you know i’m willing to ever

you know i hear pastors say i’m

i’m i you know i want revival i’m

willing if god

so chooses us he knows my address

kenneth

it’s not that kind of willing

we just bought a new house so actually

not just a year and a half ago we bought

our new house

and we’ve been remodeling and so we left

our furniture at the other house that we

sold

and uh but in that house i had a massage

chair that was

the will of god for my life

i believe in body ministry and that uh

that chair just did it i

i was sitting there i’d push the buttons

and

get a whole new release in my prayer

language right there

and betty would say uh say you want

something to eat i’m going in the

kitchen i go yeah i’m starving

i wasn’t starving enough to go into the

kitchen myself

but as long as you’re going in there

i’ll take

cheese banana an apple

that’d be great so she comes back with a

little plate

and the starving person is eating never

moving from his

body ministry chair

absolute will of god

and many people are willing to move in

the things of the spirit that way

if you bring it to me i’m ready

but that’s not the nature of this one

the spirit is willing

this is saying your spirit has an

appetite

and is in pursuit of something but your

flesh

can shut it down

so here’s what i was thinking about

and i i’m i uh

i’m i’m thinking here’s what i’m

thinking about

you’re probably wondering what is he

thinking about

and i’m about to tell you

i think

there’s a measure of prayerfulness that

we can learn

where we spot a disaster before it

happens

and can prevent it

i don’t want to get weird with this i i

believe in it very very much i

i i nobody could talk me out of it it’s

too strong in history

but there’s a there’s a prayerfulness

let me back up

either we learn to pray passionately out

of pain

or we start learning to pray

passionately out of hope

something has to replace the the

classroom the classroom for us

is problems very

few people can move

into a measure of hope that causes them

to burn

hope remains a concept an idea oh

someday it’s going to be better

boy i look forward to when our whole

city is saved

but it’s not a burning thing it’s a it’s

it remains a concept it remains a

a principle an ideal but when that ideal

starts working into the fabric of who we

are suddenly we learn to pray from a

different place because we’ve seen

what’s possible

we’ve seen what’s possible and it’s in

those moments of hope we start picking

up

his ideals his thoughts his ambitions we

start

we start seeing ahead of time um

strategies of the enemy now i’m not a

devil conscious person i just

and and i don’t people make me nervous

that i always talk about the devil

just it annoys me to pieces

it annoys me to many pieces

i i don’t like this no it’s not healthy

for me when i’m around people like that

i just i usually just kind of check out

you know anything that happens is a is a

demon and they measure their success by

the attack on their life

i don’t yeah i just don’t i don’t like

that the devil’s real he’s there

you know i want him in the crosshairs

long enough to pull the trigger that’s

just about it

he’s not a part of my conversation they

don’t create theology around him

i’m on a journey my my responsibility is

not to react to the devil it’s to

respond to the father

and we have we have one of two ways to

live

there’s a false sense of spirituality by

learning to react to the devil

because you’re spiritually minded but

you’re you know we become devil minded

we become reactionary

instead of offensive we’ve got to move

from defense to offense

having said that

when the king is making his plans

in his bedroom and god let you hear the

conversation

it’s always so something bad doesn’t

happen

without your action

and while i never want to be overly

devil devil conscious

i i you know paul i apologize it’s one

of the two and they’re both good

one of the two said i don’t want you to

be unaware of the devil’s devices

and that’s uh that’s a an important

thing to remember i

i don’t want to make him my study but i

don’t want to be ignorant of the kinds

of things he does

and what he does do

the lord already knows in advance

the devil’s predictable

he’s only got a couple cards in his hand

he uses accusation intimidation

mockery he’s only got he’s got only got

a couple tools

he accuses he intimidates

he mocks works to make us introspective

he uses a distraction

but there’s really not a lot of tools in

this toolbox

and tragically those tools have worked

pretty good

but the lord i believe through this

prayerfulness that i’m talking about

watch and pray keep your eyes open just

be alert

watch and pray so that you don’t

entertain

into temptation prayerfulness

being spiritually alert

enable you to see the environment you’re

in to where things that would have

caught you off guard won’t catch you off

guard

and things that would have put you on

the defense

are now null and void because you’re on

the offense

and things that would have appealed to

you now are like a third shoe you have

no place to put it

and when the heart of a person is

connected to the heart of god

wrong things are not appealing

they’re not appealing

jesus in john 17 said i gave them my

glory that they might be one

that they might be one unity is not the

product of

us working hard to have unity

i i believe in working hard to have

unity but i’m just saying

you’re not going to get there at the

level jesus is talking about

by mere human effort he said i gave them

my

glory that they might be one what is

that it’s the manifested presence

it’s hard to be in the glory and be mad

at anyone

two of our great heroes of the faith

actually be three it was john and

charles wesley his brothers

the theologian and the music writer the

wesleys

and then george whitefield and they were

they were both

uh great leaders and great men of god

in the in the great awakening

and i think it was charles wesley that

wrote a letter

to john they were they were opposite

theologically

uh they their their emphasis was was so

different one was very calvinistic one

was very armenian and they just they

were

in opposition theologically and

they were both used in the same move of

god

it’s crazy because throughout history

people would

have a certain belief exercise it with

great confidence

and there would be people saved and to

them that confirmed they were right

and then the person on the opposite end

of the spectrum

used their theology which is the

opposite

and would preach the gospel people would

be saved and that would confirm to them

they were right

it’s supposed to just confirm the power

of the gospel

and charles wesley wrote a letter to um

i believe it was charles who wrote a

letter to george whitefield

and he said we had more love when we

knew less

and that’s a sobering statement we had

more love when we knew less

thankfully that’s not that’s not a

predetermined outcome

it’s not like there’s no other option

but when your knowledge

doesn’t lead to encounter it trains you

to argue with those who differ and

knowledge from the scriptures to take us

to the person and if it doesn’t we’re

just getting more calloused

to to assert our correct

our correctness over

those who differ

back to the main subject i’m sorry i’m

all over the map gets back to praying

just pray okay

just pray and pray passionately

you know i i know probably for most

people in this room the thought of

praying for two or three hours is

is quite foreign just do it every once

in a while

you know once a month once every six

months i don’t care just do it sometime

just create something in your day where

you just go alone and you pray

and don’t wait for great inspiration

just obey

lift your voice and pray strong prayers

well i don’t feel like it yeah the flesh

is

strong so get that rascal to submit

and pray according to your spirit not

your flesh

the flesh will make you very appealing

to humanity the spirit will make you

stand up

it’s not about putting on a show it’s

getting alone with god but the point is

you take time and you bear your soul

every one of us need these moments with

god where we truly bear our soul and

and we just pour everything out i’ve had

times walking through the woods

i’m just i’m weeping before the lord

i’ve got such

consternation of soul i’ve got such

difficulty that i’m facing i’ve got to

have a miracle i’ve got to have a

breakthrough

and i just walk where the mountain

chapel is now up in weaverville

um that property i started walking we

were

in a little uh sanctuary seated i don’t

remember

80 people or something uh and we were we

were busting at the seams and multiple

services and so i started walking on

this piece of property thinking this

would be a great place to build

and uh and i didn’t know it was actually

two lots not one and it was owned by two

different owners

but i just started walking on it and all

of a sudden out of nowhere they both

came up for sale

and so i i went to the board i said man

i fee we gotta we gotta build

we need to build and and this property

up here is for sale

a couple of guys were real estate so

they began to research it and

came back and we were just not in a

place financially to do it

and then somebody prophesied that

morning sunday morning we were going to

have a meeting that sunday afternoon

when you prophesied sunday morning that

if you wait for all the

conditions to be right you’ll never

plant a crop

and so as a team we heard that word went

all right let’s do it

conditions aren’t right but god is

and we felt it was you know it wasn’t a

careless random decision

it was a prayed into decision that we

lacked the courage to

pursue aggressively in other words we

prayed for an open door he opened the

door and now

we’re going

if this be your will you know one of

those things

i need another sign

you know i i i chuckled george mueller

was was the ultimate man of great prayer

he had over 10

000 recorded prayers and answers

in his lifetime he was asked by a

reporter towards the end of his life

have you ever had a prayer that when it

wasn’t answered and he said

he said no and he said well one

it’s not answered yet but it will be

how can it be any other way i’m still

praying

how can it be any other way i’m still

praying and then he said

it’s for the salvation of of the son

of a dear friend of mine

and they that young man was converted at

george mueller’s funeral

the final check on his list of prayers

he was in prayer one day and he caught

this picture of a building he was to

build he

built and ran this orphanage

and he they just did everything by

prayer he didn’t do anything by

human promotions stuff like that just

everything prayer

so he caught this picture of a building

he was to build and as he’s walking from

the prayer room across the playground a

child comes up to him

and gives him the equivalent of a penny

and says here this is for the new

building

mueller took it lifted it up to heaven

and said thank you for the confirmation

i prefer checks of about a hundred

thousand dollars

to confirm thanks for me i i i need a

little

extra

confirmation

this is a fun journey we’re on

and the way you get more answers to

prayer is to pray more

it’s the fact that nothing’s off limits

it’s that i pray without ceasing and

it’s that connection to his heart that

keeps my heart in a right place

and what he’s looking for i i’ve said

this before and it sounds

it’s just another level of heresy but it

sounds

it sounds it sounds wrong so give me a

moment

the lord disciplines us so that his

blessings don’t kill us

but here’s the one that sounds worse

the lord disciplines us so that our will

will be done

now let me just let me just say

i’m not interested in talking god into

anything i’m not trying to demand my way

i i i like for him to tell me what to do

i love his will i’d just rather him talk

to me

but what i found out is he wants my

interaction

and he’s the one who invited four times

in john

uh 14 15 and 16 four times in three

chapters he invited us ask for whatever

you want and it’ll be done

so how does that happen it’s not by

being robots

or a parrot that repeats scripted

prayers

it’s by interacting with him so deeply

that he trusts our heart

and it’s out of that heart connection

that we actually find ourselves praying

the things that please him

watch us down

i think this kind of praying is

something that every parent

in the room should ask god

to teach him because what happens is it

it enables you to pray ahead of a

problem

and i don’t want any you know i don’t

want to create any shame if you know if

you’re facing a crisis or something

you know the shame won’t help help us

deal with it

but i do think some of the times we

could avert something

we could avoid certain things by just

praying ahead of time

pray so that you don’t enter temptation

pray

because there are certain situations

coming your way that you don’t need to

face

and if you pray you will keep yourself

insulated from those things

amen amen

amen bill that’s a very good point amen

all right

i remember a guy talking years ago

um back in the 70s

i know most of you weren’t born in

but i remember a guy talking he lived in

the second story of a home

and uh and it just when he got up in the

morning to shower it just took forever

for the hot water to get from the

opposite side of the house

downstairs up to where his bedroom was

so every night before he went to bed he

would go to the

shower and he would just turn it on

barely

to where it would just drip hot water

all night long

now that would be heavily frowned upon

today

so this pretend you’re in the 70s

and he kept it so the hot water was just

really always available

is what it what it meant so when he got

up in the morning he turned hot water

it was instant when you pray without

ceasing a christ

crisis comes you’ve already got fire

you’ve already

you’ve already got the heat to deliver

to that situation

you don’t have to warm up you don’t have

to

you know go off and fast and pray for 10

days you already are boiling with

because you’re you’re birthing answers

continuously

we don’t we don’t pray just simply

because we feel inspired in the moment

we pray because

this is our life this is what we do

prayer is not something i turn on and i

turn off

prayer is who i am i am one who communes

with god

it happens uh brian wrote a song years

ago

uh my son uh out of uh a song of songs

where he says though i sleep yet my

heart is awake

your spirit man is a continual

fellowship with god

so learning to shut the flesh up

and listen to the spirit means there’s

this continuous

bent towards communion with god

all right i’ve pretty much

wore my mouth out so we’ll just stop

right there

let me just pray for you

put a hand on somebody’s shoulder next

to you

we’re just this warm and fuzzy group we

just like to touch each other all the

time

the poor people who come here that don’t

like touching anyone

i’m sorry make sure you always sit on

the end

because then you’ll only on one of the

far ends

because then you only have to touch one

side

we should put out a pamphlet keys to

entering bethel

things sorry

yeah how to do bath bomb yeah

when they wave the flag just duck just

stop

[Laughter]

oh i was going to pray yes get back to

prayer

take a moment and just ask

ask the lord to impart a fresh grace for

prayer

simple easy continuous flow of

interaction with the almighty god

thank you father increase the grace

for prayer the communion with god

wake us in the night lord i do pray for

that she’d actually wake us with this

this um this burning heart for you this

affection for you

that it would be uh not just during the

appropriate

song but it actually surprises how often

we just find ourselves leaning

into who you are leaning into what

you’ve said leaning into your invitation

for us to pray and i do pray that this

year would be the year of the most

extraordinary breakthroughs and answers

to prayer

and i do ask as well you said we are the

sons of the prophets and you have sealed

up

in our gift mix the ability to hear your

voice

so i’m asking tonight that you would

alert

us to things happening before they do so

we know how to pray

and that we would we would find

ourselves hearing the secrets of the

enemy king

of what he speaks in the bedroom at

night that we would hear those words

and not live devil conscious but live

proactive to bring protection safety

to the flock to the people of god i ask

this in jesus name amen amen

go ahead and drop your hands you know

i’m going to turn it over

mama’s here one one more

sorry one more thing there’s always a

chance with this many people in the room

i’m sorry my i got a a frog or maybe a

whole

a whole tribe of frogs in my in my

throat

sorry i was i was giving an altar call

once

gabe where you hear what i did this was

a lot of years ago i was giving an altar

call once and i burped in the middle of

the altar call

in i i did i went oh there goes one

right there

[Laughter]

i shouldn’t have done that

but i still think it was funny so

i i just killed the moment here

there’s always a chance with a crowd

this size that there could be people

here that don’t have a personal

relationship with jesus

that’s the big deal you know all the

other stuff

it’s all add-on but the big deal

is why i’m alive what was i born for god

created me for his pleasure

and for me to learn my absolute

perfect delight in life is with him

and he is here to forgive of sin

and to truly bring into his family

the disciples followed him they became

followers disciples of jesus

and if there’s anybody in the room that

would just say that’s me i i don’t want

to leave until i know

what forgiveness is like i truly want to

follow jesus

if there’s anyone in that category put

your hand up because we just want to

celebrate what god is doing in your life

there’s one way back over here

yep beautiful

is there anyone else anyone else just

saying that’s me

i i want to follow jesus with all of my

heart

anyone okay i’m going to ask um

joel maybe you could help me with this

go way back

there in the corner and the individual

will find you

he’s coming your way because he’s going

to bless you and talk with you

there he goes get in the aisle bless him