"Presence of God" By Bill Johnson

so this little little sign it said I missed up I missed my workout session today that makes five years in a row I'm sorry here's another one I'm sorry I'm you know you can't give me shiny things because I get easily distracted I start thinking of some of these I love this one my bathing suit told me to go to the gym but my sweat pants were like now girl you're good okay reel it in reel it in all right do you know if everybody in Dallas were born again it still have problems because the issue is as heavily devoted as I am to see in as many people get born again as is possible the issue is what kind of lifestyle do we live once we're devoted to Christ heaven functions different than Earth now I don't mean just the the super natural this looks the spiritual environment gold streets and that the I mean the values the values what what everything is focused on in heaven is supposed to become a practical prayer that requires application us to learn what it is like to live in what the Old Testament would call the promised land the New Testament would call the kingdom of God learning how that world functions is one of the I think one of the primary mandates put upon us as believers heaven is supposed to be a very practical present tense reality something that's discernible experienceable measurable understandable there's an impact that that world is to have on how we view reality how we think how are our values are established and the more we learn this practical expression about the kingdom of God the more we learn how to construct and build life around the central values of that world the more transformational we become in our impact to the world around us Jesus gave us the prayer that really I think more than then any of the part of scripture represents his heartbeat for our lives and the impact that we would have on the world around us and he said pray like this your will be done on earth as it is in heaven that wasn't just a pipe dream that wasn't just oh you know keep them spiritually minded so that you know they can be occupied till I come back it was a very strategic military assignment actually falls in a category of an apostolic prayer I don't want to deal with the subject the fivefold ministry that's not my I have zero interest in that right now but I do want to highlight for you whether an apostolic prayer is an apostle was a cinch one that's what the word means but it's it's so much more than that so much different than now the word was actually taken from the Roman army where they would send a military leader into a land that had already been conquered let's just take Rome Rome had already conquered this territory they would send this military leader and he would go with architects he would go with language specialists he would go with all these people that would go into this newly conquered area and they would begin to design the appearance of this city nation whatever the city they would begin to design architectural II they would begin to design the roads the way the city functioned the business principles the language they would teach people the language of Rome and they would continue to do this until this city that had been conquered and was now transformed actually looked similar to Rome so that when the emperor would come he would feel at home so when Jesus says to pray on earth as it is in heaven it's that prayer is it possible for us to have homes is it possible for us to have churches then is it possible for us to have cities that he feels at home that the city he would come to rest upon would be similar in function in value in heartbeat as it is in heaven it's supposed to be a practical prayer wasn't supposed to be something that was so spiritual that just kept us occupied the greatest reality in heaven the greatest value in heaven is the presence of God the presence of God is so so thoroughly saturates all of heaven that there are no shadows because he is everywhere shining everywhere at once and there's just it's impossible for there to be a shadow that fascinates me I don't know I don't know what it means it's just I'm impressed his world is just without shadow there's no darkness in it everything everything saying everything is sound everything has brilliance everything has beauty everything in heaven every individual is incredibly valued there's not a pecking order while there are some who receive more honor there's no question there is no pecking order in the sense of ruling over every person is celebrated as we work to emulate as we work to mirror that reality we it's been put upon us to embrace what we have been referring to in recent years as the culture of honor the system of values that rotates around this culture of Honor honor actually is just one of the other expressions of excellence which is a manifestation of wisdom honor and honor you value who a person is without stumbling over who they're not it's finding the treasure in the individual and celebrating a lot of people that have come to the Lord that are in our churches and I know there are many churches represented a lot of people who come to the Lord and are in our churches have no sense of real personal identity because they don't know where they are in let me put it a different way they've not yet met the group of people who will celebrate who they are they come face-to-face everyday with who they're not but they have yet to find the people that will call out and celebrate who they are these are the values of that world that every time we pray those are the things that the Lord is trying to rain upon us to fictive thinking to affect our perception to affect our prayer lives to affect how we do life itself everything in heaven is connected to one thing and that is the presence of God so when we pray on earth as it is in heaven we can't desire that any more than we are devoted to learning to recognize and value the present in other words I can't just pray that because I want to see cancer healed I can't just pray that because I want to see marriages restored or businesses succeed and all those things are appropriate expressions of heaven to earth but practically the impact of that prayer is connected to my devotion to the present hmm today all around your city my city I'll run this nation people gather week after week worship has various places of influence depending on what church are attending but it's becoming more important which I'm grateful for but by and large people gather together weekly around a sermon Israel camped around the present you I believe for us to make the transition that the Lord is working into Church culture in this nation somewhere in that mix of events that he is working on for you and me is the ongoing revelation of the presence learning how to recognize being tethered to that one supreme value above everything else it is possible for us to learn how to live Kingdom type lifestyles by merely studying principles I can teach you certain principles about healing I can teach you certain principles things to do when you face this sickness without sickness this condition that condition what to do in this kind of a church setting what to do in that church so what you do in public I can teach you the prints and you'll have success you will see things out but Jesus ministered out of the presence it's not the principles aren't important principles are what you turn to when you can't discern the present the Lord never leaves us but sometimes he shuts down our capacity to discern him so that we are forced to live out of what he's taught us it's our own personal journey of discovery I thought it was a pretty good point though I just want to encourage you just keep going there's a whenever he's silent is never punishment as he knows there are certain things we'll never find unless he's quiet so when you go to sleep at night what's going on and leave him yeah but he visits you in the night and he downloads it gives you instruction according to job that if he were to give it to you in the day you'd become proud this is too significant it's too great is too profound hey so he comes and he ministers to you while you're sleeping how valid is that it's so valid that when God showed up to Solomon and gave him the choice Salomon you can have anything you want it was while he was sleeping Solomon was so obsessed with a purpose over his life that God trusted his decision while he slept and try this side god trusted his decision while he slept that stunning he's sleeping and he made a covenant with God the guy went to sleep so locked into divine purpose the God could trust his vow his decision Walli slip so here the Lord he comes and he ministers to you too many downloads things he prepares us but we're not aware of it so how do we become aware sometimes the only way to become aware is either to be in a ministry situation where you're in way over your head I hate those moments but I sure pray good my favorite prayers help help I pray it often oh god help but honestly in those moments that's where you began to discover some of the things that he's been downloading how many of you been in a conversation where you you're talking with a friend or maybe a witnessing sharing the gospel of somebody and you find yourself saying things that are so profound you didn't know you knew them and you you're wishing your mom was there you know but I just wish somebody was there that you know they could be impressed with me you know you know soon as you through saying it you're wishing like somebody had a recorder on or something excuse me let me get my phone going and I'm gonna repeat what I just said you it can't do it what is that well sometimes I think the Lord just inspires you in the moment but sometimes he's deeps calling up too deep and he's drawing to the surface what he's been putting in you in that particular season how else do you know what he's been putting in there one of two ways that I know this probably dozens but two ways that I'm familiar with is it either you get into a situation it's way over your head you're not accustomed to that level of responsibility or urgency whatever it might be and the other is frame to be silent if you cracked a gut for an answer and you don't get an immediate answer get excited because the answer that's coming is gaining interest that's good so here's this approach to life that Jesus Illustrated I'd like for you to turn in your Bibles to John three we're going to look at a portion of scripture that we not that I would expect you to remember but we did study here a number of years ago how many of you were here a number of years ago any number will do you John three you you you verse 12 if i have told you earthly things and you do not believe how will you believe if I tell you heavenly thing look at it again I'll give you the context in a moment if I've told you earthly things you do not believe how will you believe if they tell you have only thing it's actually two verses here we're going to look at for a few minutes that told you earthly things you do not believe how we believe if I tell you heavenly things in the context Jesus this is where Jesus told Nicodemus you must be born again I mean Oberth is a very natural thing he says if I talk to you about earthly things natural things so he's talking about something everybody can connect to why when the Lord begins to reveal the nature of his world to us he always starts with things that we understand God is not anti intellect if if the if the mind were worthless it wouldn't be worth renewing the mind is incredibly valuable to God and valuable to us so whenever he's teaching us he's teaching us not to be mindless he's teaching us to operate out of divine wisdom which is divine reasoning is seen from his perspective there's an intelligence at looking at things from God's perspective that is far superior anything you and I can come up with on our own so he says here if I talk to you about earthly things and you're not making the connection how can I talk about heavenly thing so in this context he talked about to earthly natural realities the first was being born again the second he wanted to illustrate the nature of the believer and so he said the believer is like wind you don't know where the wind comes from you don't know where it's going to inverse eight so is everyone born of the Spirit of God so what is he doing here he uses two natural things everybody's aware of birth wind and he illustrates the nature of his world with these natural realities he does this throughout scripture he teaches on sowing and reaping he teaches he says a blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy you plant corn you're going to harvest corn that's what he's teaching he's teaching the nature of his world and how it connects to earthly principles and values but if you can hear his heart here he says if I talked about earthly things and you're not making the connection how can I talk to you about heavenly things that have no earthly parallel how can I talk to you about my world that you can't find anything similar in your world now why would he want to do that in Matthew 16 there is this a instruction that Jesus gave all of his followers he says there's there's a difference in some of our translations but mine is correct I'll give you the wrong translation first it says some translations say whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven now you can't bind something in time then have it bound in eternity the whole model of scripture was heaven as the model for Earth that's why Jesus only did what he saw his father doing everything he did was modeling heavens effect on planet Earth are you with me the original new American Standard says whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven the Moffatt translation says something like this whatever you permit on earth which I love that lip Steve nice looking looking at the people of God he says whatever you permit we'll be what it's already been permitted in heaven and whatever you forbid on earth will be what has already been forbidden in heaven who has all authority he does who did he give it to you and me he's actually very serious about that decree that commander you but if you bind on earth shall have already been bound in heaven so heaven is the model so when you run into you have a neighbour or dear friend or son their daughter is addicted to drugs that's within the realm of your personal influence we're familiar with the devil's work we know that the devil came to kill steal and destroy so wherever there's death loss and destruction we know the devil's fingerprints are on that issue and if we have connection there we have a certain sense of responsibility to serve and to pray and if Jesus were in our shoes he would work to bring them into freedom our assignment in life is to learn to do that and so we bind here what is already bound there but the other part of the command is to lose here what's loose there and unless there is a revelation of his world we don't know what to lose if you remember the story about the house being clean and swept and evil spirits driven out and there was nothing put back in its place so the evil spirit came back seven times worse the whole concept is when you displace you have to replace so when you bind you've got a loose this may seem abstract but from jesus's perspective this is ministry 101 this is extremely practical it's becoming familiar with his world you amen I'm strengthening myself in the Lord right now verse 13 says no one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven that is the son of man who is in heaven what a strange verse no one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven my translation is a little bit different than some of yours on this last phrase that is the son of man who is in heaven matters not the concept is is in the first half of the verse anyway no but no one has ascended to heaven except he who descended from heaven that is the son of man who is in heaven this is early in Jesus's ministry he ministered for you know three and a half years this is early on this is towards the beginning this is where he introduces the concept of being born again and in this early part of his ministry we know that Jesus hasn't died we know that he hasn't been resurrected yet we know that he hasn't ascended to the right hand of the Father we know he has not been glorified we know these things have not yet taken place and yet Jesus is standing before this group of people and he says nobody has ascended except for one it was describing his own relationship with the father now I realize I realize it's abstract I realize them whenever I talk about stuff like this it's almost like I give permission for people who are really weird to be weirder still and you know it's just a risk I have to take you know because if you set up all the boundaries and parameters and rules and regulations so that you don't get a Judas you also won't get a Peter and John and the risk that I take for something like this is worth it if I can find some people that will learn what the Ascended lifestyle really is about with me given an assignment my job is not to go to heaven don't get me wrong I'm real happy with the contract I plan on going in the first bus out of here but that's not my assignment that's not my job my job is to bring the reality of that world here that's the assignment it's not some abstract out-of-reach pie in the sky dream it is a very practical military move from God to impart to people born of the spirit give them his authority model the kind of life they're to live and then show them what to do bring that world here you you so Jesus says nobody has ascended to heaven except he who descended so then that tells us that somehow in Jesus's relationship with the father there is an Ascension of sorts taking place I don't understand it it's just there Paul later found language for and called it being seated in heavenly places in Christ our problem is Paul's statements tend to get reduced to doctrines instead of realize their invitation to experiences wins well let me get some water first a problem is we often take Paul's statements we reduce them to doctrines instead of realizing there are actually invitations to experience as invitations to encounter gods really not been interested in our intelligence he's not that interested please forgive me I believe in right doctor and I studied the word I'm in this book every day I love the word of god I love scriptures I love truth I love all of that but his primary concern it's not that you see there's no transformation without encounter transformation of a person does not come because we gained intelligence it comes because that that insight took us to the person jesus said in John um5 he said said something really cool he said you study the Scriptures because you think in them is eternal life and you're not willing to come to me what is he saying he's saying this is to take you to this and without this you didn't get the whole package because it's this that brings the change you know you don't have a revelation to the Apostle Paul on his future you know when God in a gentlemanly way knocks him off his donkey you don't have Paul strutting away from that encounter you know because he just got head knowledge he he had an encounter with the person and you see some you see a completely different person than the guy got on the horse you know so when the Lord opens things for us he's he's actually drawing us into a place where we have this personal encounter where we learn how's world functions because to the degree we experience and begin to understand the nature of his world to that degree we can move an absolute confidence and authority seeing that released here you where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty freedom the kingdom of God is not meat or drink its righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit the kingdom of God is in the Holy Spirit the realm of the Kings domain is in the realm of the spirit and where that spirit is the evidence of his releasing the Dominion of the name Jesus over people is that they become free you means people get freed from lives that they have about themselves that always work against the marriage that they're in they it means that people get free from the addictions and from the things that just seem to pull in so many different directions they finally find purpose they find a sense of identity all this stuff happens in this presence so why he wants us to continuously come in before him because in the encounter we become changed we become carriers carriers of another world it says no one has ascended to heaven with the son of man who first descended from heaven and then my translation says who is in heaven that's an encouraging verse for me I hope that it is for you because it illustrates how Jesus actually did life he actually actually lived in such a way that he lived from heaven towards earth it's not just a cute phrase it's not just a nice raw raw moment for us but it's actually very practical that's how he brought deliverance healing to everybody he ministered to every single person there's no exception you know he didn't have a blind person come to Monday and say I want to see and you don't ever see Jesus good man you should have been here yesterday powerful anointing for blindness that's something I might do but jesus never did is always a printed-out of that sense of presence I want to I want to call you to something I don't know how this how the sounds are appears to you but I but the kingdom is all about the presence and specifically for our point of reference it is the presence of the Holy Spirit everything about your Christian life everything about our life as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ is connected to our relationship with this presence of the Holy Spirit everything there's need there is no part of our walk with the Lord that is not somehow connected to our relationship with the Holy Spirit now I wanted his daydream with you for just a moment but I when I think about this when I when I look at at what what is possible in a life in human life when I see what's possible in our time it's pretty easy when you see somebody get up out of a wheelchair or you see deaf ears open or you see somebody was under such torment free and joy was pretty easy to say God is here and that's a good be kidding but I want to recognize them before anything happened I want to recognize wind windows no flag blowing you know and it was nothing externally to reveal it's happening there's a sense of person as a sense of presence it's it's mood it's it's it's you pick up his mood you pick I don't mean that he's Moody I mean he has certain things on his mind there's certain intentions and you can operate at a principle and get a measure of success but he still comes with certain things in his mind you know Luke 5 says in the power of the Lord was present to heal that that implies he could have had other things on his mind the power of the Lord was present to this time Neil but the implication is it can show up with other things in his heart and while we can say it's always important to pray for the sick and we do we do every every meeting we always are praying for the sick it's not always the focus of the gathering because sometimes we're picking up something else sometimes we're picking up you know we need to throw up the nets there are people that just need to get saved today other times you know something completely different but the point is is learning to pick up his heart you start you start feeling that it's it's like you don't want to develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit so that you can be effective in ministry because that's professional intimacy and we have a name for those who are in the middle profession whoo what's the name I'll talk to your neighbor there's a problem honestly with with because many of us said you know especially those who have heavy responsibilities in ministry pastoring or prophets or whatever you know there's this pressure because there's demands all the time so and we know the key to everything is our connection to the Holy Spirit so it's very easy to turn the attention to develop a relationship so that we can be effective does that make sense the anybody else in the room was like yeah it's just easy the easiest thing in the world to do and you realize that you're developing a relationship for its effect not for the value of the relationship and I don't know that the Lord even even denies that out for the person who requested he loves to be with us so much that he he just he loves so much our recognition of him that I don't know that he would even turn that down but but my point would be that we could never come into everything he's called us to until our delight in him is just because it's him there's there something about there something about that kind of a life it just says I value you not for your effect not for because all these wonderful things will happen in my life but because the greatest honor in the world has to be that I could actually be called a friend of God you we'll wrap it up here in a moment go to John chapter 4 you guys done alright I want I do want us to get where we pray for people here Court they should give me a few more minutes on this passage and then we'll we'll just put it to rest there is no end to the message there I preach the eternal gospel I've got one sermon it's 500 hours long and you just never know what you're going to get you know John for did you go there with me John for has two revelations that I think maybe the great the two they are revelations on worship and evangelism that I think may be the two greatest revelations in the whole Bible and they're both found in chapter four and interestingly they were both given to the woman at the well the first one on worship is that the father seeks for those who worship in spirit and in truth he does not look for worship he looks for worshipers is not an egotist in need of our information he's not insecure he's not needing us to say you're doing a good job you know forgive all the ignorant people around me you and me were good you know it's not that it's it's so he's looking for worshipers why because he loves people and love always requires the best and there's nothing better God could want for you than for you and me to be a worshipper and the reason is because we always become like the one we worship so out of love for us he draws us in to the place of worship the second one is this one on evangelism and I don't think it's a mistake that this revelation follows the one on worship because evangelism in its purest form should be an overflow worship verse 35 do you not say there are still more for months excuse me do you not say very still for months and then comes the harvest behold I say to you lift up your eyes look the fields they are already white for harvest I actually was not going to share this one tonight just going to end on the other but I I think it might be appropriate do you not say they're still four months comes the harvest that's interesting isn't it because he just got to teaching his disciples how to connect the reality of his world to nature and now he's saying you guys say it takes four months to get harvest where did he get that from from nature so what is he doing he's trying to take them to what he told them he wanted he wanted to give them in verse 12 of chapter 3 if I talk to you about earthly things you don't make the connection how can I talk to you about heavenly things the things that they have no earthly parallel he's trying to do that right here right you say takes four months to get a harvest I say it doesn't look perfect so they're yeah he says lift up your eyes look up and then look down lift up your eyes look on the fields they're all white for harvest fascinating fascinating because he is claiming in this verse and he tends to be right he he at least I've noticed this is he he is saying every person is harvestable now now here's the challenge the greater the revelation the greater the anointing you'll need to display the effect and benefit of that revelation the greater the revelation the greater your need will be for an anointing equal to the revelation to be able to put it on display here's a great example you guys still doing all right here's a good example Paul unveils the gifts of the Spirit to the church at Corinth chapter 12 he's giving them insights they've never had before in chapter 14 he says pursue earnestly spiritual gifts the revelation on the gifts didn't impart the gifts the revelation showed them what was available chapter 14 he said now you'll need to go get it you so when the Lord reveals something say faith explorers what revelation reveals it's not good enough to stand back and observe at a distance what belongs to us faith must explore what's been open to us and when new truth is shown to us I don't mean addition to scripture I mean he shows us what's been there all the time when he opens up Scripture to us he's inviting us to pursue a realm of anointing so the that equals that truth so that we can actually put the reality of that truth on display which in this case is what everyone's harvestable now remember the man of the gadarenes that man had issues that guy's problems didn't happen to him because he had a bad weekend he just didn't drink too much on Friday and end up in that condition he's got he's got a history of issues he's got a lifetime subscription to issues the guy is so demon-possessed that his demons are possessed the greatest conversion in the New Testament Old Testament I think is never condenser so what does Jesus do he plants right into the middle of his story of the gospel the great news the most impossible case we could ever imagine the guy who runs through town naked at night eats there cats and dogs lives in the graveyard graveyard you know weird stuff and it's so funny because here Jesus makes it across the sea they almost die at sea and the disciples are hugging planet Earth I've come to the conclusion I'd stop sailing with Jesus because I noticed that you seem to have I'm buying a horse I'm just be sure the other disturb it so they get out they finally make it to shore and and you know the disciples are getting rid of lunch and laying there on the on the ground you can see they lift up their head and here it comes the the guy who's dripping with critters I mean he's got he's got he gets a group discount wherever he goes he's easy he's running right at Jesus and you can just see Peter and John going you take him high I'll take him love we got to cast up both the demons and the man here in a minute and the guy comes now remember we don't know how many demons he has but we know that it was enough to fill two thousand pigs and you know creating doubled him send them into the water and yeah it's bad yes well it's it's always been a bad bad one but for now we know that it was enough so let's just say 2004 a she's like so the guy who gets delivered you know so here's this guy he falls at Jesus's feet while he is demonized and it Bible says and he began to worship Jesus that's profound two thousand demons could not keep one guy for more shipping Jesus that's amazing that means to me the church has no excuse so it falls at Jesus's feet Jesus brings him into his one step program out of darkness into his marvelous light now if it takes you 12 or 20 I don't care let's just get people free but the amount of steps it takes is usually correlates to the level of anointing you know how to live it so I said sets the guy free the guy's totally free and perhaps the funniest verse in the Bible says and the man was clothed and in his right mind and the city was afraid that's awesome as long as he's running around naked you know doing weird things well that's just George that's just elated his dad was the same way his grandfather's like it's just the way they are assist that family but as soon as he gets free it's got to be that weird cult in town there's got to be that new church down the street you know sometimes God's power has been missing so long from the church that when he shows up people think it's a demo just finish this thing so I've got to wrap this up so you can imagine this city comes down they're scared to do they don't there first of all power forces a decision remember that forever power forces a decision your acts of kindness people applaud they're wonderful they're important or valid but power forces a decision and now decision sometimes it's for sometimes again power invites controversy don't purr don't pursue the power demonstrations of God unless you're willing to endure country so here is the city chases Jesus and it disciples out of town and here's the brand new convert if he's really wrong with Jesus to go to you and me man those people are weird just we said you should see what they did to me these guys over and Jesus does the most amazing thing he says you can't come and I I imagine the disciples going oh oh if maybe we should adjust this 12 people in the party deal this might be a good time to do it because that that guy he needs a little decide point and Jesus says you can't come go back and tell them all the great things I've done for you which really looks good on paper how long has he been saved you know like an hour you know hi I'm the naked guy sorry about your casting dogs that was done in poor taste but the next time Jesus shows up to that part of the world the Bible says every person from every village came to hear him because there was the credible witness of one Jesus was illustrating something for you and for me he said look up and then look down you'll see the fields away for harvest what if I don't see them wait for harvest look up again keep getting his perspective until you see it the way he sees it does that mean you automatically can set the man of the gatherings free not necessarily that's where you pursue earnestly spiritual gift people asked frequently is secret for breakthrough for miracles this is my common answer you cry out in private you take risk in public but sin all right I talked to a longer than I planned you tonight but it's all your fault we're going to pray for folks in a moment and I forgot to ask when supposed to be done but we're good okay um she should never do this in front of people she's not correct this is not right so sorry about that I wants to pray for each other I want to stuff I want us to pray I you know you know what I'd like to see out of this week I mean people would be healed and I loved that so much I never gets old will be lives that will be changed will be it just be wonderful but you know what I'd like to see more than anything is is us discovering we're actually citizens of heaven now and we actually have invitation as it says in Revelation 4:1 come up higher that when the Lord was illustrating how life should be lived he included in the story no one has ascended except he who descended it was modeling than normal Christian life is modeling listen is's this is real this is this is real it's available this is for you it's the typical life of the believer right now as we get into a problem we cry out to God we ask him to invade and there's nothing wrong with that but it's just not what Jesus trained us for when the disciples woke him up and asked him to calm the storm he did but then he turned to them and says how can we don't have faith the whole point was I'm training you to do what I do Jesus is God the disciples go to Jesus who is God and they make a request what do we call that prayer jesus answered their prayer and then said how come you don't have faith most of us grew up in an environment where the answer to prayer was the evidence of faith where Jesus is saying I'm looking for authority expressed through you as the evidence of faith run the tape back yeah we we tend we most of us have grown up in an environment where the evidence of faith was effective leave answers to prayer Jesus is saying I'm looking for people though operating my authority as the evidence of faith not just the fact I believe in prayer I believe in answers to prayer don't misunderstand but there were times where God is silent there are times where he doesn't act why why would the Lord give you you ever had this happen you get a promise from God you wait for the answer it doesn't happen you get a promise a week later they say you have to about a dozen promises I'm I'm you know let's say it's for provision after about 12 promises I want to know where can I trade these in for cash I really don't need another one i I'm happy with the first ten just just where can I get the cash when the Lord does that he's generally trying to shift our awareness of our assignment we're no longer in the posture to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord we are in the position of implementing his purposes through decree enforcing his purposes in the earth calling for the resources they've been allotted to us to be released and loosed in Jesus name there's a responsibility it's not being independent I'm starting all over again are they we're going to pray I promise it's not it's not stuff we do independent from God it's what we do because of our connection to God it's it's it's the it's the son you know I didn't raise my my kids so that they would call me every time they had a decision to make I the best I knew how I raised them to think like me to approach life like me so that so that they could decide their own car to buy they could they could buy the house they wanted to buy they could wear the clothes they enjoy I don't want them calling me whenever I mean I'm happy to jump in and help but that you understand the point the the father is trying to raise up mature sons and daughters that represent am well it's just so here here we go let's let's go ahead and write why don't you put your hand on the shoulder somebody next to you and pray a real scary prayer just pray something for them you know like god help them help them help them they don't even know how much they need your help so help them help them give them access to heavenly realms heavily encounters God obviously we want the genuine we want the real so show us that but we're hungry for more we just say Lord draw us into deeper places with you pray for them in their night watch their ninth season that the Lord would download increase the download upon their lives in that night watch Father we pray for a great revelation to touch every single heart where we see that heaven truly is our home now and that we would learn to live and to function from that realm of your dominion from that realm of your present Lord I pray that the whole issue of the presence of God would become so measurable so practical to us that it would not be just an abstract distant thing but it would be very present tense for us at the churches that are represented that more and more we would gather around the presence to hear what you're saying to see what you're doing to mirror your your life your reality into this world god we do want to see Dallas and the surrounding regions truly truly saved we do want to be a part of a city that has learned to love you well that has learned to discovered purpose purpose why are we a city why are we where we are what what is the purpose of God Lord I pray that you'd enable people in this room to lift up eyes and see the way you see see a harvest the way you see it go to release the kind of anointing the breakthrough anointings we're where we we can see this thing unfold before our very eyes in our lifetime we play this thank you lord now before you through lay your hands on your own heart and pray for the person that really needs the help oh god help me help help help help help yes that's right yes Lord yeah put your hand on your heart pray good prayer put your hand on your head pray even better prayer O Lord God truly give us clarity of heart clarity of mind affect how we think how we see God I thank you what you're doing for the renewing of our minds we yield ourselves to you we confess our absolute dependence on you but we want you to be glorified in and who you've made us to be we pray all of this for the glory of God we pray all of this for the glory of God thank you lord

Channel: Sojourn Church Carrollton, TX

Views: 374,085

Rating: 4.7643371 out of 5

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Id: a_YkZz99kq8

Length: 58min 16sec (3496 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 05 2013