There is no design without a Designer. In this sermon clip, Bill Johnson shares three specific things God had on His mind when creating you. God’s heart is for a seamless, heart to heart connection with you; relationship has always been His priority. May you hear His voice and know His delight over you as you discover and walk in your design.
once we’re born again we’re designed for
a seamless heart-to-heart connection
with god
and the reason the lord deals so
vigorously with fear
and then all of its relatives bitterness
jealousy those things
is because those things throw the monkey
wrench into the seamless connection
you can’t have design without a designer
and there’s
in our culture there’s a lot of
celebration of design
with a tremendous effort to ignore the
designer
and that’s not the message today but
it’s it’s an important thing to keep in
mind that design comes from a designer
and we were designed
with certain capacities
certain abilities
certain opportunities they were actually
written into our code into our dna into
our spiritual design
one is we were actually designed
to be able to hear god
now
the reason the enemy what’s the number
one command
in the bible is to not fear
so why would that be the number one
command
because
not
learning to not fear
is what trips us up in our capacity to
hear
and anxiety and fear
dumbs us to hearing and we speak of
ourselves it’s so hard for me to hear
from god no no no that’s not true you’re
just listening to too many other things
it’s the word that ben read early before
the offering be careful what you hear
because whatever standard you set it
will be measured to you
so when i when i entertain wrong things
in my hearing i’ve actually welcomed
more wrong things to follow
when i develop an ear for whatever god
is saying it actually increases the flow
of his voice in my life but here’s the
thing we have to remember we were
designed to hear from god
some people will say well i pray all i
sense is his peace
that’s his voice
sometimes all you need to know is he is
present and he is peace
we don’t always need new concepts and
new insights what we need is the
stability of a relationship that says
all is well
and in that heart connection we we
discover the heart and mind of god for a
given situation but number one we were
designed to hear from the lord there’s
probably thousands of things we were
designed for but i want to adjust three
and mainly talk about the third
so the second one
is we were designed
for a seamless relationship with god
we were made in his image for the
purpose of relationship
everything he created he said it was
good but he said when he created people
he said it was very good why because
here is the opportunity for him to
fulfill his particular dream and desire
and that is to join with his creation in
an intimate way that can’t be found in
any other part of his creation
sin messed it up but jesus came and
fixed the mess
been
sent through an obstacle into that
seamless connection but jesus came
removed the obstacle and restored the
capacity for a seamless connection
let me speak of marriage for just a
quick moment in
genesis
when god formed eve from the rib of adam
he made this statement i will make a
help mate
for
him
i don’t know how it happened it would be
interesting to see but i don’t know how
it happened through church culture
that helped mate
has taken on
like a subservient role a second-class
support
citizen
instead of what the bible actually says
the word help meet
god uses to describe himself with israel
at least 12 and i think it might be 13
times god says he is israel’s help me
not second-class subservient role
completely different than how we’ve
understood it
the word helpmate basically means
one who is fully qualified to stand face
to face to make up for anything lacking
in the other
one who was fully qualified all the
women got happy on that one
that’s what i’ve been saying
i knew it
fully qualified to stand face to face
making up for whatever might be lacking
god with israel
the point is
man
woman
became one
illustrating
in human terms
the design
of seamless function
and ephesians 5 uses some fairly graphic
language in its original language to
describe this
he says yeah it’s marriage but i’m not
talking about that i’m talking about you
and the jesus and the church
it’s his people
the point is
is we were designed once we’re born
again we’re designed for
a seamless heart-to-heart connection
with god
and the reason the lord deals so
vigorously with fear
and then all of its relatives bitterness
jealousy those things
is because those things throw the monkey
wrench into the seamless connection
it’s not a rejection on god’s part
for us it’s the
it’s the um
it’s like interferes with with design
interferes with capacity interferes with
the airwaves so to speak there’s it’s
it’s not seamless like it was supposed
to be
and it’s repentance that continually
keeps us in that seamless connection to
sense to feel to live aware of the heart
of god
it’s possible to develop such a
consciousness such an awareness of the
heart of god that you instinctively obey
in fact i i personally think that’s
maturity it’s not that i don’t pray
anymore it’s that
it’s that my my prayer is the occasion
to celebrate his kindness and love for
me the fact that he welcomes me into his
presence
but there’s this there’s this thing with
maturity where where we develop an
awareness of his voice and his heart
i can i can tell there are times where i
can tell
i can tell
when i um
uh i’ll i’ll give you an example there
are times where i’m i’m talking to a
friend
and i’m sharing something asked a
question i’m sharing and there’s
sometimes i come to a point in the
conversation that i can tell by his
mood isn’t the right word but i haven’t
found a better one
i can tell by his mood that i’m about to
over share
i don’t mean share something that’s not
true
i mean share something that he’s not
saying
you can say something is true
but have it not be something he’s saying
jesus only said what the father was
saying
like like the guy who comes to jesus he
says
how do you obtain eternal life
hey evangelist that’s what you call an
open door
that’s that’s what you call an open door
how do you obtain eternal life that’s
when you preach the gospel but not jesus
he said what does the law say to you
and he quotes a few commandments jesus
says do that you’ll be fine why would he
do that
because jesus won’t add revelation to
what he’s not already obeying
instead he takes him back to what he
already knows so that his obedience will
give him
a momentum into the new things that god
wants to speak into his life
it’s the mercy of god to withhold
information
all right anyway
we were designed for a seamless
connection a seamless design the third
thing is what i want to talk to you
about um
now i see some of you are bundling up
i didn’t tell them to turn it the cooler
on
but i am so thankful because i’m so hot
so i this is god has answered my prayer
and not yours
so that’s
that’s
that’s third great sense of humor
kicking in again sorry
all right they’ll get it fixed but for
the moment i’m enjoying this all right
the third thing
is we were designed to be fruitful
this is about a thousand times more
important than you think
god is so
interested in fruitfulness
he’s he’s constantly thinking of
increase
why it’s his nature it’s in his nature
it’s
his kingdom goes from glory to glory and
of the increase of his government there
will be no end
it’s not a hard taskmaster requiring
increase it’s just saying stay in the
position you’re designed in and you will
automatically be fruitful
benny and i have a a little orchard on
our property we bought property a few
years ago
we planted i think 25 trees or so
when i walk out among the trees to check
them out they’re finally in a place
where they’re starting to grow things
you know
i don’t hear any of them going
i claim it i claim it i claim it i i am
fruitful come on apples produce i
declare it i claim it in jesus name i
will bear fruit to the glory of god i
don’t hear any of that stuff going
that’s what we do
but that’s not what a tree does the tree
just drinks the water we give it
the nutrients from the soil and whatever
we add and drink in the sunlight the
fruit is the automatic
evidence that it is rightly connected
we are designed to bear fruit in other
words we are designed for a rightful
connection that is measurable
it’s such a significant thing
that when jesus told the guys about um
the talents the sums of money uh one had
five another two another had one uh each
were rewarded except the one because
they didn’t do anything that with what
they were given in other words he said
you at least could have put it in the
bank and obtained interest what was the
point the landowner who’s god in this
case is looking for increase
listen if it matters to god it had
better matter to us
because he’s looking for increase from
what he’s put at our disposal
is to be used
for his honor
now in john 14 15-16 we’ll look at four
different passages there
in john 14 15 and 16
we see jesus inviting us into this
relationship where he basically says you
can ask for anything
but what i want you to see
is that behind this um
invitation to pray
there is a driving motive
and the driving motive the motive that’s
that
that ignites the heart of jesus to open
up the floodgates of possibility to his
disciples what drives him is his desire
to see his father glorified
the father is glorified
when you pray and get an answer
we owe the world answers to prayer
i thought so too i thought
i thought it was a very good word i did
if there’s not
if there are not answers to prayer the
problem is not with god
[Music]
if god opens up an unlimited
realm of possibility in a covenant
and it’s not fulfilled
it’s not because he lied
but let’s take the other end
guilt and shame won’t fix the problem
either
it’s a relational journey
i’m going to start with what i usually
end with
in in this
conversation
there was a man who had a demonized
child
the story is found in mark 9 and this
child the demons would throw him into
the fire and on the ground just try to
kill him
and the father obviously is overwhelmed
with concern
love for his child concern for the child
and brings the child to the disciples
who i remind you are the most qualified
demon delivering group of people to ever
live
with the exception of jesus up to that
time
they have a history of breakthrough
and so they because of their reputation
the father brings this child to the
disciples they can’t set them free i had
a
horrible experience once where a mom
brought a
horribly demonized child to me and i
couldn’t get the child free
it wasn’t god’s fault
it was mine i did not function in the
authority
that i was called it’s not a guilt and
shame thing but what it does do is in
your quiet time with the lord you bring
that up and say god you’ve got to do
whatever’s needed to fix that because i
know if that woman would have brought
that child to jesus that child would
have left free and they didn’t when they
were brought to
me this is the relational journey we’re
on
so here in this moment this child is
brought to the disciples they can’t set
him free the dad sees jesus brings the
child to jesus jesus brief conversation
brings deliverance to the child
the disciples watched all that knowing
their own anguish knowing their own
difficulty
oftentimes when the the devil will make
a scene the child throws himself on the
ground creates a huge scene whenever the
devil becomes obvious
it’s not his best card it’s his last
card
[Music]
but the disciples were unaware of that
and became i’m assuming now doesn’t say
this i’m assuming they became fearful
because of the external manifestations
i only say that because i know of my own
personal experience
brought them to jesus with the word
jesus says to child free the disciples
see this
and they go over and they take jesus and
bring him aside and they say how come we
couldn’t do it and jesus goes on to give
them instruction vital instruction he
said this kind only comes out with
prayer and fasting
it provides us with a huge tool because
jesus neither prayed nor fasted in that
moment
see jesus had already fasted into a
lifestyle he didn’t have to fast for the
situation
we tend to fast for situations
because we haven’t fasted into a
lifestyle
so anyway jesus tells them this kind
only comes out with print fasting
and we walk away from this lesson
saying i need to pray and fast forward
proper conclusion
but for me the profound lesson of that
story is when the disciples didn’t get
an answer to prayer they took jesus
aside
see what happens for
most of us when something doesn’t work
we just
kind of bury it with the debris and move
on
i’ll see if it works the next time
we’ll see if it works the next time the
time after that
instead of
slowing down getting along with the lord
and saying you designed for this to work
i know the problem’s not you
but i thought when i did this prayed
this said this whatever
i was being led by you and supposed to
bring breakthrough it didn’t
so i’m here as a child
all i want to do is do what glorifies
you so teach me it’s take jesus aside
and find out
it may be that prayer and fasting brings
the breakthrough for that child for sure
but maybe in another situation it’s
radical generosity
i don’t know i’m just saying the lord
will sometimes show you different
actions or things to believe or things
to declare that fit that situation
better perhaps then
prayer and fasting and that’s just
a thought
yeah i’m so glad that you uh watch this
video i do pray that it’s a great great
strength and encouragement to you and
i’ve got a verse that it really is my
cry for all of us and it’s psalms 20
it’s verse 4
may he grant you your heart’s desire and
fulfill all your plans
that’s my prayer that’s my prayers that
this would be the season of rich rich
fulfillment
thanks for joining us