Meditate on Things Above - Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

well good evening well i love you too thank you thank you just like there's so much love in this room one of these days i'm going to try to pull off a group hug see see if we can manage that without killing anyone you know sorry i'm now i feel better i should have done this earlier two blonde girls were working now please don't be offended if you're blonde my wife is blonde my daughter my daughter sometimes blonde changes every few weeks if i remember right it's red right now but it's naturally blonde so just adjust two blind girls were working for the city public works department one would dig a hole the other would follow behind her and fill the hole in they worked up one side of the street and down the other moved on to the next street working furiously all day without rest one girl digging a hole the other filling it in an onlooker was amazed at their hard work but couldn't understand what they were doing so he asked the whole digger i'm impressed by the effort you two are putting into your work but i don't get it why do you dig a hole only to have your partner follow behind and fill it up again the whole digger wiped her brown side she said well i suppose it probably looks odd because we normally are a three-person team but today the girl who plants the trees called in sick yep i have a blonde guy one too you wanna you want equal time you just don't want blonde ones at all all right a friend told a blonde man christmas is on friday this year the blonde man respond responded well let's hope it's not on the 13th two blonde men find three grenades they decide to take them to the police station one asked what if one explodes before we get there the other says we'll lie and just say we only found two a blonde man is in the bathroom his wife shouts did you find the shampoo he answers yes but i'm not sure what to do it's for dry hair and i just wet mine uh [Applause] just one more there's many but just i can't handle them anymore a blonde man spies a letter lying on his doormat on the envelope it says do not bend he spends the next two hours trying to figure out how to pick it up oh sorry how many of you have ever been in an accident this is not a joke now jokes are over i know you're expecting a punch line but how many of you have ever been in any kind of an accident could be automobile could be maybe a sport injury fall off a ladder doesn't matter and no matter how long ago it was you actually still have effects from from that accident oh my goodness stand up wow how many of you those those effects if you were healed right now you would know it for how many of you it's a pain issue put a hand up for how many of you it's a mobility issue but end up for how many of you it's both put a hand up all right and there's other uh ways to be able to tell well here's what we're going to do we're going to pray for these folks um we had a period of time where i would pursue accident victims being healed like every week somewhere and this is probably 15 years ago i quit counting at i think it was 26 or 2 800 people had been healed and that's 15 years ago and so we see it constantly since then so it's literally several thousand people here's what we found we found that sometimes now please catch the word sometimes sometimes an accident the effects of an accident is sustained by a spirit of affliction in other words our bodies were designed to heal themselves god created us that way and there are times where there's actually the either the trauma of the accident or the ongoing pain people unintentionally learn to live with pain and the enemy sees that as an opportunity to move in and sustain it what i don't want to do is freak people out and i'm not trying to i'm not trying to over emphasize the demonic i'm just saying there are some of you that all it's going to be is we're going to rebuke that thing and it'll be gone tonight because uh you've just been given permission to get well an ongoing affliction is not his design for you not his design and the spirit of infirmity i just call velcro demons you just pull them off others of you actually need like a creative miracle and it doesn't matter what it is uh he's not only capable it's his heart to do so so we're going to pray for you i'm going to add uh one more how many of you uh in this room have had any sort of head trauma in uh could be some of you that are standing but um any sort of head trauma and it has affected either uh perhaps like migraines headaches that sort of thing or i've seen it affect facial features um eyesight a hearing i've seen uh head trauma affect things like memory we actually saw a guy up in oregon uh with complete amnesia restored we've also seen partial amnesia learning disorders maybe not even caused from a traumatic experience maybe it just was something that you discovered in early childhood it doesn't matter what it is it has to do with any kind of head trauma who who is affected by that put your hand up okay all right now just let me see the hands of those just that are still sitting how many of you that are sitting down this affects you all right i i want those to stand too we're going to pray for these two areas tonight and i feel like to be honest with you i feel like the lord has given us so many years of experience in this the we have ownership i moved so many years of miracles in this area that has just become normal and common so what i'm going to ask you to do is those of you that are sitting down you are now the ministry team and i don't know the percentage i would guess probably about 95 of the miracles we see happen actually happen when the people of god get in to do the prank and i i believe in ministry teams and all that we we work hard to train folks but in this context it's generally the people of god so all of you that are standing i'm going to need everyone to help me with this all of you who are standing in a moment i'm going to have you raise your hand those of you that are sitting down you need to go someone with their hand up that has a hand up pull it down for them so they don't stand there with their hand up and and then but i don't want you to talk to them or pray do you hear me i don't want you to talk or pray until i tell you to the reason is there's so many people standing i want to make sure that everyone who is standing has somebody ready to minister to them this includes those who are watching on bethel tv i want to make sure that you have an opportunity at home to receive your miracle all right all of you that are standing put a hand up all of you that are sitting please find someone and uh and just have them put the hand down and i'll give you instruction in a moment good job almost everyone is covered we still have a few more hands up look look around you we still have hands okay if the person you're about to pray for still has their hand up please pull it down for them all right i think that's the first miracle of the night right there i think we covered it more wave your hand at me if we miss you honestly i don't want anyone to sometimes people get discouraged because they get overlooked i don't want that going on i want to make sure that we serve everyone here's what i need you to do just a second here all right i'm better now this is what i need you to do we've got to find out what's wrong is it a head issue a learning disorder migraines that sort of thing if it's another part of your body that was injured in an accident and it has stayed a problem let them know where it's at please don't talk a long time keep it very just all you need to do is say i was in a car wreck i hurt my shoulder it's all they need to know they don't need to know the color of the truck all right all right so here i want to pray over you and then i'm going to turn you let's find out the issue and we're going to pray all right so father we ask right now that the wonderful name of jesus would be exalted through miracles through signs wonders holy spirit we invite you to come now with power and display the wonder of the miracle working power of jesus in people's bodies in jesus name now as you pray find out how to pray as you pray rebuke affliction lay hands on her head watch uh headache pain leave and right now find out how to how to minister that person thank you okay should be praying by now speak to the condition those of you that are praying for head trauma i want you to pretend there's a steel band around their head and i want you to lift it off carefully and declare over them this ends tonight i want you to be very specific we lift that off of you we declare this ends tonight in the mighty name of jesus learning disorders healed now dyslexia goes bipolar goes now in jesus name epilepsy goes now in jesus name if there was a broken bone that didn't heal correctly if it's a proper place to put your hand lay your hand on that bone speak to it command it to reset correctly we've had many many many bones reset increase this anointing for breakthrough lord okay you've got about 30 seconds okay we've got about 10 seconds amen amen all right you did good stay with the person please don't leave them don't don't leave the person all right now most of you obviously you know you know what to do but we always have new people come in so i want to walk you through the simplicity of this everyone that received prayer right now i want you to examine yourself about half the people we see healed feel it happen which means there's another half that don't even know what happened until they examine themselves maybe it's trying to do something you couldn't do maybe it's examining to see if that bone is still out of place whatever it might be examine yourself now as soon as you see that you're at least 80 percent better i want you to wave both hands over your head like this till your arms cross do that right now wow that's wonderful thank you lord [Applause] beautiful all right give me your attention shh just give me your attention obviously when you're on your own you take as much time to do this but because we're working corporately we have other things to do i want to ask you let's just work in tandem as a team how many of you jesus just healed your body put a hand up right now i want to see how many there are isn't that wonderful look at that now so let me ask another question how many of you couldn't say he has healed you yet but you can tell he's at work but you're in it all right all right good how many of you you couldn't even tell he was at work but you're still you still want to be healed put your hands up that should cover everyone all right here's what i'm going to ask you to do jesus minister to a blind man twice before he could see perfectly in that particular case it was a progressive healing first his blind eyes were open but he just saw uh figures shapes he said i see men as trees walking in other words i can't tell the difference between the two but i can see shape and so jesus ministered again and it was clear if jesus had to do that only one time be ready always to do that all right we want to make sure that uh everybody gets what jesus intended and so i want you to turn i want you to pray once again lay your hands on them if it's a proper place to put your hand let me tell you why with your hands we don't lay hands as a as a symbolic gesture we don't lay hands on people as a massage treatment it's because the spirit of god is in you and a point of contact is for the release of power so lay your hands on them again and let's pray increase the anointing for breakthrough lord we pray right now increase increase this anointing for breakthrough if that person suffers with migraines i want you to rebuke it you don't ever speak kindly to affliction we have zero reverence for sickness or disease we value people but we don't show reverence for affliction we just declare this cycle of migraine headaches ends tonight in the name of jesus yeah lift that thing off their head again if that's if there's still something just literally just lift it off i like prophetic acts i think i think we need to do more of them they're not magical but they demonstrate something and there's a point of contact for our own faith okay 10 more seconds thank you lord all right go ahead and end your prayer stay with the person again shh the reason i have you stay with him is sometimes you can help a person find out what god's done listen to it we don't ever want anyone feeling forced to pretend that all is well if it's not that's that's important that we know on honesty and truth but sometimes if somebody for example has an issue with hearing you can help them to discover what's happened maybe it was a frequency range you just want to be a part of their discovery that's all of you that were prayed for check yourself out one last time examine yourself one last time check yourself real good [Music] now everyone that has that is at least 80 percent better the second time we pray i want you to wave your hands over your head like this the second time we pray okay look that's why right there isn't that beautiful thank you lord god thank you lord wonderful good be seated go ahead and be seated i i want now first let me say there are times where we see when i say 80 because we've come to realize that some healings actually take maybe 10 15 20 minutes sometimes they take several hours i even know of cases where like a deaf ear didn't open for a day or two and uh so we always want to position ourself to anticipate god completing what he initiated but tonight we're looking for those who who are able to say i'm at least 80 percent better i just want you to stand up if you're at least 80 percent better tonight just stand up yeah thank you lord it's beautiful now wonderful now those of you that are standing if you got healed of more than one thing put a hand up now that's awesome look at that that's beautiful come on excellent excellent go ahead and be seated how many of you it was an accident uh that you were that you were healed from an old injury how long how long ago september 26 years ago 26 years somebody else how long ago right 18 years ago isn't that amazing right there 52 years ago come on tom run back there with the mic i want to hear 52 years i wanna the oldest injury i knew of that was that that i've seen healed was 72 years a woman was dropped as an infant and it caused damage on the tailbone and it it was deformed her entire life and it was healed in melbourne australia and it was in it was in the salvation army a facility where uh smith wigglesworth used to preach and uh and she was up in the balcony i'll never forget she was healed after 72 years of an issue with that tailbone so what did jesus do for you tonight well when i was 10 i fell off a bike and landed on my face knocked out my teeth caused whiplash and i lived with the pain of that for a long time it's gotten better over the years but i've always had tension in my neck and lately numbness in my hands and my neck feels like actual muscle instead of tight ropes [Laughter] how's your hands the hands get numb when i do something for any length of time so i won't know until i start driving tomorrow okay well normally i'd send you in the parking lot just drive in circles but i won't tonight that's wonderful good news good news somebody else i would love to hear from a few more folks what god did for you yes right right here it was first how long ago 30 years 30 years why don't you stand up what happened uh from a bicycle accident i uh hyper-extended both my knees oh goodness yeah and i've had issues with bending stooping standing what happened tonight did you feel anything happen i didn't actually feel anything to happen until i bent down and i was able to stand up without pain oh come on thank god 30 years beautiful right right down over here is another one what what did yeah what did jesus do for you okay so i'm kind of tripping out right now because i got something healed that we didn't even pray about um so i was in an accident in september my kids and i were in a head-on collision with the truck and all of my left side got affected so my mouth was all locked up and my neck and like she said so now my neck is it feels like a neck is supposed to and not all locked up and tense yeah i've been in physical therapy and it hasn't been helping at all but today i am in absolute no pain i've been in agonizing pain ever since september which i'm like oh my gosh like i'm tripping out about that but the thing that's really blowing me out of the water is i looked around um after they prayed for me and i realized i could actually like make out the details of the faces of the people in the back of the church and i've had issues with my vision for over 10 years i was a paramedic and um was working a call and i got um somebody's bodily fluid in my eyes while i was running a code on them and it burned off a few layers of my eyes so ever since then i couldn't see like the details of people unless they were right up on me and so today like i absolutely bless the lord i i want you to do so i want you to do something i want everyone to stand this layers of the eye randy clark's son joshua clark has had an issue with the layers of his eye just in the last couple months and has actually gone blind in one eye and the other eye is seriously uh afflicted uh from this it's a issue with the thus i think there's six layers of of on the eye of skin or whatever they call it i want you to pray for that miracle right now i'm going to film you praying only because i want to send it as as a prophetic as a prophetic act um but just uh if you would put your hands up i want you to pray that the lord would restore every skin layer uh to uh to joshua clark i want you to pray right now for joshua clark that the lord would restore the skin layers as he did for you right there let a creative miracle come the testimony of jesus the spirit of prophecy we declare right now the healing of joshua clark's eyes in the name of the lord we declare that healing word over his body in jesus name right now thank you lord amen amen thanks for doing that go and be seated i'm going to watch you stand up because i'm going to send you a picture just stand up stay yeah you step just just one sorry all right excuse me here there we go all right all right i got to send that to randy yeah we see so many things happen through uh through testimony so i i've been praying for josh and uh and hearing that testimony of the lord restoring the layers of the eye very very unusual miracle and it's perfect for them so we declare it um how many others have you got healed from something you've had for at least 10 years is that right look at that is it is there anyone else that would like to give testimony i would love yeah you're right here all right yeah tom you only thought you were done right there yeah i like to keep tom busy it's one of my goals in life just to keep him active hi what did jesus do um well first of all i was sitting there and i had a bad migraine and my back was hurting and before you even spoke it he took it away yeah wow and the people that were praying for me they kept praying for me and i saw a crown when you said like lift off the migraine i saw a gold crown and i saw it go all the way to heaven wow wow and you know my son i was pregnant with him when i was in a rollover like 20 he was born in 91 so i think i got the how old he is wrong but don't tell him and um the doctor he said to me when i was six i was six weeks pregnant he said you know you don't um i can take care of this you don't have to keep going with this pregnancy because i was having pain and issues and i said no no i want him yes and you know what he is the best thing in my life i can't even tell you thank you lord how wonderful it is for that child to be born amen and thank you jesus and thank you that's awesome thank you lord well let's just give a shout out thanks to the lord can we we do give you thanksgiving we give thanks mighty mighty god all right if you would open your bibles to luke 18 luke chapter 18. uh this friday is a good friday service really a big deal just get a whole bunch of the family to go there's three uh service times four six and eight and it's such a such a privilege i this is one event i'm actually absolutely locked into every year and arranged my schedule around that one event so if you're in town this weekend just pick one of those time slots and show up it's such a privilege to be in a city where there are so many great churches i'm thankful for what god's doing here but it doesn't take long to figure out this isn't the only place in town where god is working there are some great great churches great leaders here and it's a it's a wonderful time for us to celebrate the grace of god upon a city so show up all right luke 18 verse 1. i want to read eight verses and then we'll back up and talk then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart i want to read that first verse again then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart saying there was in a certain city a judge who did not fear god nor regard man now there was a widow in that city she came to him saying get justice for me from my adversary and he would not for a while but afterward he said within himself though i do not fear god nor regard man yet because this widow troubles me i will avenge her lest by her continually coming she weary me though i met that lady then the lord said hear what the unjust judge said and shall not god avenge his own elect to cry out day and night to him though he bears long with them and i tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the son of man comes will he really find faith on the earth i know that this is a pretty well known story and it ought to be because it's one of the times the lord talked to people about prayer if you look at all the things the disciples could have asked jesus to teach them the only thing i remember was they asked him to teach them how to pray it has to be the result of them watching him engage with the father and coming and capable able to display heaven on earth as a term i'll use they break through in this disease that disease we find him uh retreating if you will sending the crowds away going up on a mountain to pray and when he came down there was something upon him it wasn't that it wasn't there before but they must have been able to visibly see something going on in through jesus's life that would cause them to ask jesus please teach us this one thing this one thing faith brings answers to prayer but enduring faith brings answers with character faith brings answers to prayer but enduring faith brings answers with character the lord is interested in answering prayers but he's also interested in what we're becoming if he ever delays an answer it's only so that it might gain interest it's that it might gain interest and that we might become the people capable of stewarding well the answer and not have the answer destroy us in this parable that jesus gives he starts with this statement men always ought to pray and not lose heart and the next thing he does is he gives this parable but what does he do in the parable i understand the point of the parable is endurance and prayer persistence and prayer i get that and that's the primary lesson or i i should say well that's the point of the parable but the primary lesson i think is a bit different jesus says men ought to pray and not lose heart so here's his will here's the challenge and how does he fix the challenge he reveals a part of god's nature he says what you know about an unjust judge if he would answer this woman how much more will i as a loving father who actually cares for you and the process how much more will i not answer for you what is so what does he do he causes the people summoned to pray continuously to live more aware of the actual nature of god let me put it this way the ability to endure in prayer is fueled by our understanding of his nature in fact let me take it a step farther the fatigue in prayer reveals the consciousness of problems above god's nature this word um i was i was quite surprised i wanted to find out this thing about losing heart what does that mean to lose heart i mean i mean i think we naturally can define it would be to be discouraged maybe i've prayed for so long nothing's happened in this area and we've become discouraged maybe uh maybe we've been offended maybe something's happened but it's it's this uh loss of passion and i think we can all uh give good natural definitions of what it means to lose heart i was surprised by the biblical word however the biblical word for losing heart is actually two words the first word is very simple is the word in or with or by but the second word is very specific it is the word evil or bad what has he done here he's described what it looks like to have somebody immersed in an awareness of problems more than an awareness of god's nature that is how you lose heart that's it that's the whole point an over writing a awareness of this crisis this problem this uh health bad health report this issue in the nation uh this uh conflict in the family whatever being aware of problems is not evil in and of itself but what happens is when they are bigger in our consciousness in our awareness than our awareness of god's nature we will live in reaction to the problem men always ought to pray people always ought to pray people ought to pray continuously without becoming in the evil all right this can take me a little work are you alive all right let me read this passage for you out of colossians 3. you're thinking i have one person thinking this is scary verse one of chapter three of colossians let me just read this to you if you then were raised with christ seek those things which are above where christ is sitting at the right hand of god okay now listen to the logic involved here biblical reasoning set your mind on things above not on things on earth for you died and your life is hidden with christ in god all right now listen carefully everything you're instructed to do in the bible is intensely practical if you over spiritualize a principle you will put it so far out of reach that in your mind only the spiritual giants can accomplish it when instruction is given to us the ability to do the instruction is imparted in the instruction he enables what he commands so when he says set your mind on heavenly things not earthly things and then he gives a reason why the reason is you're dead and your life is hidden in christ all right are you thinking why do you want to set your mind on earthly things because wherever you anchor your mind is where you're going to anchor your affections and wherever you anchor your affections that's the reality you're going to live in how many of you have had a problem go on in your life and it was so disturbing to you just couldn't sleep at night you just you just laid her awake all night long all right how many of you never have done that that's no yes just joe is the only one it's awesome she sleeps no matter what but the rest of you how many of you have all right so we know that you know how to meditate now we just have to change the subject matter all right you're still working with me all right let me go to the church at ephesus then i want to come back to this colossian passage church at ephesus it experienced what i believe is one of the two greatest revivals in the bible in acts 19 you see an unparalleled outpouring of the spirit on the city of ephesus the way they drove the whole cultic system out of their uh the culture of their city is it's extraordinary um perhaps the only other one in the bible that was equal in presence and power would have been that of nineveh with the prophet jonah um extraordinary outpouring of the spirit the transformation of a city transformation of a culture this church was so successful that when the apostle paul wrote them a letter called the letter to the ephesians it's the only epistle in which there was not one word of correction every other letter he wrote had a word of connect correction so to in my thinking when i look at at the church at ephesus if if if you're the apostle paul what kind of gift are you going to give to the people who already have everything well what my family says that i'm hard to shop for because i need nothing this is not true this is a lie my family has fallen into a deception it's totally true i'm not looking at you gabe because he he doesn't agree with me but it's true because i can go right now down to the store and disciple any one of you on how to shop for me i i i it's not even hard it's not even hard flows effortlessly they say i'm heart shop because i don't need anything esther mister what do you give to a church that does that has everything ephesians 1 17 you find out what he wanted to give him i pray that god would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation but what's the last phrase in the knowledge of god listen to me the knowledge of god is the absolute foundation of all knowledge you don't want to understand anything in life that is inconsistent with the nature of god or it will violate what god is performing in you it's the reason the bible says it is the fool who says in his heart there is no god living and moving separate from a consciousness of god actually gives birth to absolute foolishness being aware of god living conscious of god living conscious of the fact i will give an account of my life is the actual foundation for wisdom in the psalms he says teach us to number our days that we might present to you a heart of wisdom are you alive still still breathing all right so here we have this passage in colossians it says set your mind on heavenly things not earthly things why because your life is hidden there what's the implication you will draw from that reality to the degree you become aware of that reality the opposite is also true if i live conscious of others where you know i have people tell me all the time we're in such and such a church in uh this city it's a hard city there's so much destruction satan has ruled that city for so long and it will continue that way it won't change it won't change because the people in charge to bring the change are too impressed by the devil's work for many in this room the beginning of your breakthrough starts when you stop being impressed with the size of your problem it doesn't mean we live in denial doesn't mean we we we deny something that exists if there's a medical report it's a bad medical report don't pretend it doesn't exist that doesn't help you just don't be impressed by it don't be impressed by it refuse to treat sickness and demons with reverence don't whisper oh did you hear what so-and-so they just got diagnosed with and there's a sense of reverence it just annoys me to pieces the enemy does not deserve that kind of respect he does not deserve that kind of respect don't deal with the devil kindly we're not here to massage him into a better place so back to the issue on prayer jesus or paul says in in colossians set your mind on things above because your life's hidden there and if you you anchor your your your awareness of god in his world his plan his purposes then you will find yourselves living from that reality towards the broken conditions of this world but if you don't you will always have a prayer life that begs god to invade the middle of the problem that you find yourself in all right that went over well there's a difference between being seated in heavenly places with christ living from the heart and mind of god towards a problem there's a great difference between that and the person who is in the middle of a problem and is begging god to come and fix it we all start there but it's tragic to serve god for 20 years and still use that as your platform for prayer because he's wanting us to live aware of who he is what he's like and what he has done live from that reality towards the issues and situations of life if i live in a reaction to problems let's say let's say it's a it's a let's say it's a conflict it's a relational conflict if i live in reaction to that if i become overwhelmed by the size of this conflict i will live in reaction to the devil's work here's the problem people do this whole time and they they live in a reaction to a problem they call it intercession let me have a drink [Applause] if you can feel bad enough about something you just give it a good name that protects it [Music] if i live in reaction to a problem then the author of that problem has had an influence on my thought life and my behavior you say well my behavior is rebuking that's fine he still influenced you the devil has no right to influence my agenda you never see jesus living in reaction to the devil he only lived in response to the father there's a world of difference between the two living in reaction to the devil is the nature of some of parts of of church life i'm not saying nothing good can ever happen i'm just saying it's depressing it's depressing because what motivates you is the devil not the goodness of god it's a far inferior motivation to see good things happen so here's jesus says people ought to always be praying but never be in evil not a part of it in overwhelmed by the evil in the bad that surrounds them more than they are aware of god's nature and then he takes them into an understanding of the heart of a father who has intimate personal care for his children and he contrasts listen if you get this kind of a reaction out of an evil judge who has no fear of god and doesn't even like people and you can get a good response how much more here's the contrast how much more can you get a response from a loving father who is moved by your heart's cry what did he do there he's not just showing a trait of god he's revealing what keeps us fueled for endurance and prayer it's the overwhelming awareness of god's nature how do you cultivate that i'm glad you asked i i've talked several times now in the last month or so about biblical meditation so i want to run at it just for a few minutes again and we'll wrap it up with this with this theme this thought biblical meditation um is different than eastern meditation eastern meditation is to empty the mind uh western meditation is is it's intellectual nature only it's the power of concentration eastern meditation is dangerous because it opens you to evil spirits because your your proper thinking actually insulates you from spiritual warfare it's it's it's true and you won't know the truth and the truth will set you free what you know insulates you from this demonic stuff that happens to dissuade and distract what you know something going on in here actually protects you some of you you have the mind of christ has been so established in you that you can be in the middle of intense spiritual warfare and not even know it because the wall around you absorbs the fiery darts the wall around you absorb the conflict you're living inside the walled city and going man this is party time this is all we got food we got family we got friends this is great outside the enemy's throwing rocks at your wall you don't even know it's hitting your wall he's shooting arrows at all kinds of junks going on but you've become so insulated by the mind of christ that there's very little if any effect on your life thus not make believe that's a reality you will know your mind will be anchored and shaped by the knowledge of god and that thing will set you free and that liberty and freedom will insulate you from the from the the things that the enemy throws you away so this biblical meditation is different it's a word that means to murmur it means to mutter means to speak to yourself it means to repeat a verse over and over again the illustration i used a few weeks ago was um out of psalms 127. it's a great verse i found many many years ago when i was uh just really praying for breakthrough financially and i remember taking this phrase it's in the new american standard version also in the passion they both they both got it right [Laughter] psalms 127. and he provides for his beloved even while they sleep he provides for his beloved even while they sleep so here's biblical meditation is you take something we're supposed to meditate on three basic things all right three distinct realities one is the word of god second are the works of god third are the ways of god so i'm talking right now about the ways uh the scripture but eventually i want to get us into the luke 18 where he's revealing the ways of god to shape how we think god's ambition for you and me is not being able to equip us to successfully answer questions in a bible quiz the goal is not to give you the right chapter and verse for a puzzling question it's a good start but that's not his ambition his ambition is for his word to become flesh in us again in other words that word becomes so intertwined with our thinking our emotions through biblical meditation our thinking our emotions that actually becomes an expression of our personality so you're facing a financial here's here's what i would do this this word meditation actually is illustrated you've seen uh the jews at the wailing wall and other believers at the wailing wall rocking i'm not saying you have to rock but it's actually the the rocking motion of a jew at the wailing wall is a physical act of meditation it's it's a repeated action it's you said you provide for your beloved even while we sleep god i give you honor i am your beloved i i'm the apple of your eye i'm overwhelmed by your kindness god that you would you would call me your beloved i qualify for this verse because you said i'm your beloved and you provide for me even while i sleep god i give you praise you are my provider even while i sleep i've dedicated my work to you but you're bigger than my work you release resource to me even when i can do nothing for myself you're the god who provides you provide while i rest you work while i rest and there's this reciting of who god is and what he has said what happens is then you get awakened in the middle of the night your first thought is oh we've got this bill due tomorrow and the second thought is and he provides for his beloved even while they sleep and you find yourself literally going back into a place of rest to sleep because you're resting in who god is it's not a mind over matter it's not just some intellectual exercise it's taking that which is eternal which is the word of god that which he has highlighted to you and is holding it so near and so dear that you ponder you consider you quote you mutter you speak you declare you confess that which god has said to you over and over again see that word is to become as lance walnut would say is to become cellular in us it's actually to become a part of who we are if i were to come to your family and say you need to develop a culture of generosity and you then go down to safeway and you see someone there who's who's asking for money for food and you give them 20 to help them with food that is an act of generosity but it is not a culture of generosity a culture is developed with repeated actions a culture is developed when a repeated action becomes our normal reaction you know the that whole that whole reaction it's it's like the initial thought when there's a need is what can i do then it's culture now how we start is the lord exposes need to us and we say man i need to learn to be more generous and so you drive to where somebody is need or perhaps we we present a condition of tracy and the milk and mozambique or the tragedy that they've recently faced and you put your x amount of dollars in the envelope and and you dedicate it to that purpose that's a brilliant way to train yourself to live generously but what happens is the lord is now wanting that action to not just be repeated in a religious way but as as a um i don't know if i'm going to say this right as an effort to tap into heaven's culture a more significant imprint on how he thinks into how i think so that when a problem comes my first reaction isn't oh but i have a bill do this week my first reaction is god what would you allow me to do to be a part of the answer that's needed in this situation the first reaction first reaction when that happens on the inside it's not being forced on the outside don't reject stuff that's being forced in the outside because that's how we learn somebody will say well you need to you know as a child you need to share your toys that's coming from the outside that's not coming from the five-year-old child that just got a revelation from god on sharing his toys he's being instructed and disciplined into a culture of generosity and kindness are you with me on this so we start with external uh instruction but the ambition is this thing becomes so deeply a part of me so deeply a part of me that it becomes my initial response i i don't have to think i need to choose generosity if you if you're in that place that's a good place to be just keep it up keep it up until you don't have to think anymore it's true it's the truth it's the truth so here jesus gives a parable and he says you need to pray and you need to always pray and you need to always pray aware of who i am so you take the ways of god he's faithful and he's true god you're perfectly faithful i'm serious you have to find time meditation requires shutting down all external distractions in the heart of biblical meditation is this ability to be lost in him literally lost and so you fight for this time and and you go home you you have you know children and you'll lock yourself in the bathroom and you just grab your moments you tell your husband run interference for me i'm i'm meditating and honestly you get before the lord god you are faithful and true it's impossible for you to lie you are faithful because it's your nature it's not even a choice you don't have to choose to do the right thing you are the right thing you are faithful and true it's impossible for you to deceive you are the perfect father who is everything i need everything i will ever need everything i long for is actually found in your person you heal because you're the healer it's not just a decision it's your nature that when we take you and put you with disease disease has to go god this is who you are see you you rehearse this before him and meditate contemplate think about his nature his ways pretty soon you find yourself prophetically responding to challenges and needs around you because of what you've become you've taken care of your inner world your inner world is healthy because because it is now founded on revelation of the nature of god think about this for a minute what is there in heaven that is separate from god what is there in heaven that is actually separate from him it's in addition to god nothing he is the person of heaven you don't want anything separate from him there's there's nothing satisfying at all let me illustrate this way all right the devil does not create he can only pervert destroy distort or defile what god made this envelope represents marriage and a sexual relationship inside a marriage the devil can't create anything but what he can do is distort what god made and he would say this is how you are designed did he create anything no he just distorted what was created [Music] he's a distorter a deceiver a perverter what you want is god's design everything he designed life itself was designed by him it all flows from his person from his nature when you engage in biblical meditation you are engaging everything about you to his nature to his word his ways and his works let me end with this this statement biblical meditation is not so that we can comprehend something it's so that we become exposed to something we know that exposure to radiation causes cancer all kinds of illnesses if we could somehow turn that illustration around into the incredible positive exposure to his nature to his being his works his person exposure it cannot help but change who i am it cannot help you know the scripture that says when we see him we will be like him well guess what's also true as you see him you become like him that's the whole deal as jesus said you always ought to pray but you've got to think about what he's like who he is you've got to keep your heart exposed you've got to keep yourself in this in the radiation tunnel where you get exposed to the nature of god because you will never fatigue in prayer if you see his heart for people you will never be fearful in praying for the sick if you see his eyes of compassion for every hurting person it's from that place that we pray and we serve and it's hard work to do it without that it's hard work we become we we involve ourself in what he has said and what he has done so that we become impacted by the very nature of god it starts to define the thoughts that i'm willing to entertain i don't control my thoughts because i have some religious quota i have to meet i control my thoughts because i've learned from his own person i don't want to think things that violate his nature because it will be it will be the distortion of what god said is right and true and i don't want a distortion i don't want a clone i don't want a copy i want everything that it comes from the essence of god's person from his nature from his heart his mind people always ought to pray without being overwhelmed by the evil that surrounds us but instead live in a place of being overwhelmed by the surpassing greatness of his nature of his promise in the history of his works welcome to another reason we need to learn biblical meditation let's go ahead and stand i spoke at cascade this morning and um what what we've been doing lately is many of you know we have three campuses and and whoever speaks in the eight o'clock here goes over the twin view speaks there comes back and does the 10 30 and the one o'clock or ten and one whatever i'm i'm here i'm here when i need to be and when i see it's time to start i'm here too i'm just whatever that is i'm here and then whoever's going to speak sunday night also speaks in the morning at the cascade i say that because this morning when i when i was there i was on friday uh one of the guys in the church uh came to me and said that do you remember uh back as towards the end of last year i had prophesied and declared that there would be a 90-day period of time where there would be unusual breakthroughs how many of you in that 90-day period of time had unusual uh areas of breakthrough i this guy came to me and he said um and that's that's powerful and i believe it's for everyone because i'm about to announce another one all right so yeah so just be glad you stayed for the whole meeting because now now you're going to find the truth all right he came to me and he said he said you announced he says you remember when you announced that 90 days yeah of course he said in my business in one month alone his business expanded by 400 percent four times over what it was initially there was that kind of it was it was dramatic and he was doing good before it wasn't like he went from you know making two dollars a week to eight dollars a week it was it was already succeeding what god called him to do but the lord opened up the floodgates and expanded four times here's what i'm here's what i'm sensing i believe the lord is right now releasing ah right he's right now releasing an invitation with instruction and getting the greatest dimension of breakthrough and answers to prayer that we've ever known any time in our life an invitation with instruction and i'm telling you at the heart of the instruction is not learning how to pray better it's discovering who he is paul prayed he says i prayed god would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of god why because once you see him it changes how you represent him it changes the zeal factor the energy factor it changes the focus the priority all the stuff becomes affected because i've seen his eyes i've seen the fire in his eyes i've seen the fire in his eyes i keep saying one more thought and this is part b of that last one more thought john the beloved one of the 12 had his head on jesus's chest at the last supper there was such a tenderness and closeness there and he saw jesus of course in this moment he saw him weeping in the garden praying with sweat coming off his brow that became drops of blood he saw this one who was in anguish who finally died on a cross the next time we see him seeing the beloved after that 40-day period of time where jesus reappeared the next time john sees jesus he describes him in revelation chapter 1. and he says his eyes are like fire his hair is white like wool his feet are burnished bronze and he begins to describe this one who is not only resurrected and ascended but is glorified at the right hand of the father and that john wrote these words in first john 4 17. he said as he is so are we in this world he was not describing your likeness to the one that surrounded the table at the last supper he was describing your likeness to this one who has eyes of fire he thinks different of you and me than we do he expects more because of it if we saw for a glimpse of his eagerness to answer prayer we would pray you say well i have prayed it just doesn't i just don't get answers change how you pray he's not the problem he's not the problem the lack isn't on his end of the equation don't do self-condemnation don't go there that never helped any of us but i'm telling him if we saw a glimpse of his eagerness to answer we would have only one response oh god teach me to pray put your hands up let's pray teach me to pray ask him teach me to pray teach me teach me overwhelm me with understanding of your nature of your heart overwhelm me overwhelm us with a revelation of your nature so far greater than the unjust judge father i'm asking in the next three months that together and individually we would see the most extraordinary measure of breakthrough in answers to prayer that we've ever seen in our life let it fall upon us as a mantle as a grace that enables us to pray with breakthrough in mind i asked for this that jesus would be exalted everybody said amen amen amen

Channel: Bill Johnson Teaching (Official)

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Id: CFxpl-NFzYU

Length: 73min 45sec (4425 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 02 2020