Birthing Prayer – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

God is calling us to go beyond convenience and co-labor with Him through prayer, that we would see His will carried out on the earth. We have the opportunity to “birth” the promises of God as we labor and partner with Him in prayer. He didn’t promise this journey would be free from suffering or pain, but we will see His purposes fulfilled as we hold onto and stand firm upon His Word. Refuse to settle for anything less than the promises of God for your life.

go ahead and sit down thanks thanks so

much

um

well i love you too thank you i just

feeling so much love in the room here

there we go

it’s too high i can’t see you well

on your on the floor

it was months ago

we weren’t able to meet in here so we

met out in a tent

and uh

these guys pitched a couple huge tents

out there and we were there in horrible

weather

i remember seeing some of our team

kneeling you know and and the rain was

pouring in going right where they were

kneeling

i thought that’s good and the kids were

there

children all bundled up on blankets

playing with their toys and

and

making a difference

in jesus name

anointed toys

and uh and since we have been able to

meet uh

we’ve kept this going but have wanted to

maintain some of

of what the lord really uh

i don’t want to say birth because it’s

been around for a long time but really

began to develop in us

and that is a real mission of prayer

and uh the whole concept uh mike

brickell and ihop has

really uh capitalized on it well taught

it well modeled it well

you know it’s out of room excuse me

revelation chapter five i was looking at

it just a moment ago in fact i was

reading revelation right now

and there’s this verse in chapter 5

where he says

it says the 24 elders fell down before

the lamb each having a harp and a golden

bowl full of incense which are the

prayers of the saints

a bowl of incense you heard

it talked about just uh just a moment

ago

the bowl of incense as

being

[Music]

bring the prayers of the saints

and i was i was uh thinking earlier

today in anticipating being able to come

uh to be with you tonight

about uh one of my favorite stories

and it’s in the book of numbers if you

want to turn there i’m just gonna i’m

not going to talk long which is a

miracle but

i do believe in miracles

i want you to turn if you would to

numbers chapter 16. i’ve got several

verses we’ll just see what we have time

for because i’m not going to do a full

teaching because then he wants to get

back into worship and prayer

but there’s this

situation in number 16. i love reading

numbers and

all these bizarre stories you know

and here’s this plague that is just

killing

i don’t remember how many now the

thousands of people if i recall

correctly

uh plagued and it says in

in verse 46 moses said to aaron this is

number 16 verse 46 moses said to aaron

take a censer

put fire in it from the altar

put incense on it take it quickly to the

congregation and make atonement for them

for wrath has gone out from the lord the

plague has begun

then aaron took it as moses commanded

ran into the midst of the assembly

and already the plague had begun among

the people so he put

in the incense and made atonement for

the people

here’s a phrase he stood between the

dead and the living

so the plague was stopped

what does the incense represent

biblically prayer

he stood between the living

and the dying and the dead

and

if ever there was a time where we needed

for the people of god god to rise to

[Music]

to our potential to our call to our

place in prayer it’s right now to stand

between the living and the dead

and um

there are times where

the

the measure of sin etc that exists in a

given situation requires judgment but

the lord looks for mercy

and he looks for those who will

intercede and pray and that’s really our

role

uh so many would look at this and say

well if god sent the plague just let it

go it’s supposed to

discipline everybody and put them in

their place and that’s not the heart of

the lord

the heart of the lord there are times or

circumstances demand response but he’s

looking for someone who will simply pray

and this uh harpoon bowl concept once

again that the ihop does so well

is a mixture of intercession and worship

and it’s what’s been going on here for

for months now uh very very grateful

very very thankful i’ve not been a part

of it uh

of

recently

due to

my need to be with the to take care of

my wife

but i i love the picture here of taking

incense or let’s just put it this way

the cry of your heart and run into the

middle of a battle

prayers of convenience get answers of

convenience token prayers get token

answers

and prayers that are costly prayers that

that are literally put on the line are

the ones that actually shape the course

of history and we see with hannah we see

that hannah when she was wanting a son

and she had prayed and prayed and prayed

nothing had happened and she finally

comes before the lord and she is she’s

besides herself in the way she is

praying in fact the uh

eli the priest comes to her and says you

know you shouldn’t come to the temple

drunk and she said i’m i’m not drunk i’m

i’m just i’m i’m grieved in heart and

she is praying outside of her norm and

sometimes it takes prayers outside of

our norm

sometimes we get a religious muscle

developed where we have a norm and then

there’s outside of the norm

see

you just with that you just make lights

go on and off it’s amazing

praying outside of yourself put puts you

on

puts you on uh

you put your

your your reputation your thoughts your

uh self-esteem your al

all of who you are it gets put on the

line and there is a summons

before the lord to see something changed

and uh it’s not an everyday prayer to be

honest it’s not an everyday prayer

because it’s it’s uh it’s too exhausting

and jesus talked about those of you who

when you fast put oil on your face do

all this make sure that your countenance

doesn’t carry

the countenance of the battle in the

prayer time make sure that when you get

in public you’re not that person

many of us were turned off at an early

age to intercession because everyone we

knew that was an intercessor was

depressed

they were they were the sourest looking

people on the planet why we didn’t want

to be like them

and uh

and the but the lord is is really

calling us into a place in a place of of

intense prayer

fasting is not an act that we do to

get brownie points it doesn’t like

increase our favor

fasting is because we’re hungrier for

something that we can’t see than we are

for what we can see fasting is just

simply one of the ways you refine focus

and refine focus is where there’s a

display

excuse me refined focus is where there’s

the greatest display of god’s given

authority that he’s given to us

refine focus is that laser beam of

effective uh

service in in prayer

what happens in in prayer so often

is

prayers of

prayers of convenience i’ve got to be

careful here because some of those

powerful prayers in the bible were one

sentence prayers

i read the book of nehemiah you’ll see

them but they weren’t prayers of

convenience they cost him

they cost him they they followed

pretty radical obedience pretty radical

pursuit of the will of god

and yet he he prayed these one sentence

prayers we sometimes think in terms of

long uh

you know

hours of

religious activity and prayers which is

has its place

but uh but the lord is actually there

are times where we pray pray pray pray

pray and then we pray and something

happens

there are times where we we keep

ourselves busy in the activity of prayer

and then there’s an insight then there’s

there’s a word that comes to mind and

then there’s somebody walks over to you

and there’s a partnership uh the

agreement in prayer sometimes the

breakthrough is waiting for a moment and

we position ourselves

with the absolute embracing of our

assignment to pray until we see

breakthrough

and there’s that kind of a moment that

comes upon the people of god where we we

we pray but we continuously position

ourself for god show me what else there

needs to be done because sometimes the

breakthrough comes at the end of a

simple decree sometimes it’s an act of

obedience sometimes

quite honestly sometimes we’re i’ve seen

situations where we pray pray pray and

finally we just

we see no breakthrough

but we just leave it and say it’s done

we just walk away i refuse to wrestle in

this one anymore

it’s because there’s that sense of

confidence from the presence of god that

it’s a done deal

and sometimes inactivity is your

greatest activity

sometimes the position of rest is your

strongest position sometimes it’s it’s

violence

by violence in a

christian sense let me

let me redefine that because this will

be reposted i’m sure

but not my explanation just the violence

part

violence in the kingdom is faith

and it’s faith that’s followed with

activity

faith is is is violence when when the

bible says in matthew 11 it says that

the kingdom of heaven suffers violence

and the violence take taken by force

that violence is the activity

that is sponsored by faith

it is

it is

faith faith is violent because it

requires action

and that and

you you can’t you can’t

take biblical action and have nothing

happen

you can be busy and have nothing happen

you know you can be busy with you know

christian activities but uh

uh and have nothing happen but but this

response to the spirit of god

where we make that decree where we give

that gift where we march from the

building

uh goodness

of

i remember goodness i remember so many

so many interesting stories in my own

history of learning this and i’m still

learning this by the way

but uh interesting history in in this

breakthrough of prayer

i remember um

hi guys

they might be playing cards or something

i remember

what would be

called our our level of maturity you

know going back 40 some years ago our

level of maturity was quite small but

our prayers were very sincere

and they were prayers of a spiritual

child and they moved heaven

i mean i could take you to a location

here in town where drugs were pretty

much dealt in the open

and

i

there’d just be a line of people there

and it was it was out in the open

you could get anything and it was we

would go we went down there one friday

night and we just cried out to god about

25 of us we’ve got a big circle and the

guy at that location came out and and

mocked us and called the police

and the police the police came said what

are you doing

and our leader said we’re praying for

you he said keep it up

and left

but that place that was a

center of drug dealing in the area it it

never was again it actually ended that

night

i i don’t know what happened and i was

able to compare notes with a friend of

mine who was a a heavy drug user uh

during that time who later got saved and

we were talking about

uh this particular location and he said

yeah he said the strangest thing

happened i i went there one saturday

night and now we

you know we prayed there friday night he

said i went there one saturday night to

to buy what i normally buy and

i couldn’t find anybody there there was

no one there and i said yeah we were

there friday night that’s why because

we’re their friend and something

happened the lord just took the simple

prayers of of about 25 of us that just

cried out to god god do something

different here

and sometimes you just have to step

outside of convenience sometimes you’ve

got to go somewhere sometimes you have

to walk on the property sometimes you

have to find uh the verse that god is

breathing on and you camp there and you

make the decree of that particular

passage and you pray that verse and you

just

there’s just the unwillingness to back

off from an assignment because heaven

has not yet invaded earth in that

particular location

and um

i

there’s an aspect of prayer that is uh

is the easiest aspect in the world to

avoid in fact why don’t you do this

go to

go to galatians 4 and colossians

colossians 4 galatians 4 and colossians

4.

galatians 4 is what we’ll read first

verse 18 it’s good to be zealous in good

things always

and not only when i’m present with you

my little children for whom i am

i labor in birth again until christ is

formed in you there’s the phrase i want

i labor in birth again until christ is

formed in you

that’s a that’s a very strange statement

for a man to say

i’m in labor pains i’m having labor

pains until christ is formed in you

that’s what leaders do

see the weightier responsibility the

weight of your prayers

and they’re not prayers that are easy

they’re not prayers of convenience

but you have to remember when you get it

from prayer put the oil on your face so

to speak

walk out to be with people

and don’t carry that

that heaviness with you as you love and

care for people

that’s that’s the big deal it’s not very

complicated but it’s challenging

it’s it’s very simple but it’s it’s

challenging to carry out where you you

get alone with the lord

and you and you do business with god i

don’t know how else to say and nobody

feels like they know what they’re doing

nobody gets before the lord and says

well i know what i know what to do i’ll

do steps one two and three and then i’ll

get the breakthrough now

it’s a relational journey and you don’t

know what you’re doing

so you get before your father you bring

along his word and somehow you make it

work until there’s breakthrough

you read to get insight you cry out to

god make your heart known

and in that place of vulnerability he’s

able to adjust your heart when it needs

to be adjusted sometimes he’ll refine

the focus sometimes he’ll intensify it

but it’s it’s it’s the prayer that says

i am unwilling to be satisfied with the

discipline of prayer

i must be satisfied with the

breakthroughs of prayer

see many people have faith in prayer

it’s kind of weird it’s faith in god

look at colossians 4.

and this is the one that illustrates

illustrates it best

however you say his name i never did get

it

epifras epaphras

oh epi

who is one of you a bond servant of

christ greets you always laboring

fervently for you in prayers that you

may stand perfect and complete in all

the will of god do you see that

always laboring fervently and the word

here is labor as in giving birth

in case you were

were thinking it was just

diligence

laboring i was with my wife when she had

all three of my kids

if i wasn’t born again i would probably

worship her

i mean

what she went through my goodness

gracious honestly that’s that’s a joke

but you get the point it’s

stunning what they go through i remember

when she was giving birth to her her

last child leah

i

there’s others in the room and i turned

to have a conversation

and i felt this

grip

on my arm

that caused me to repent

i did not know we were in a moment

and that she needed my complete

undivided attention in that moment

and that’s what prayers laboring prayers

do

they are always unto something

laboring prayers are not

glamorous

there are not anything you want to talk

about afterwards but you’re certainly

ready and willing to celebrate the

breakthrough

it’s the it’s the child i remember when

we

first got married benny wanted seven

children

and uh after eric right after eric was

born she wanted one

it completely rearranged her perspective

but it took a little while then she was

ready to go again but uh

so here’s this here’s this interesting

statement it says

always laboring fervently for you in

prayers

so that labor of galatians could easily

be

described as efforts in prayer that you

may stand perfect and complete

i want to read one more verse it’s going

to seem somewhat out of place but i want

to tie this up because i’d rather get us

back to

to worship and

and prayer but look uh with me if you

would to first peter

chapter four i i actually had about

six or seven

passages that i wanted us to study

tonight but i just i don’t want to now

i don’t want to now

but i do want to end with this passage

very unusual

um

how many of you have remember the verse

in colossians i think it’s chapter one

where he’s where where paul’s writing to

the church at uh

the colossian

church and he he says um

i’m suffering

to make up for what is lacking in the

sufferings of christ

that verse has bothered me

forever

paul says he’s going to suffer because

he’s going to make up for what was

lacking

so let’s make something clear

the redemptive suffering of jesus

there was nothing lacking

the only thing lacking in the sufferings

of christ is the sufferings that only

you and i can carry

it’s not that his was deficient

is that our yes requires excuse me our

yes subjects us to difficulty

all right

i can tell some of you haven’t read

first peter in a while

first peter chapter 4 verse 1 therefore

since christ suffered for us in the

flesh arm yourself

with the same mind

for he who has suffered in the flesh has

ceased from sin

pretty cool outcome

he has suffered

in the flesh she

ceases

a lifestyle of sin

see many people still struggle with

certain sin parts of their life because

they’ve never said a bold enough yes to

god to re that would attract conflict

and difficulty

it’s the conflict and difficulty that

refines the focus where sin becomes

unappealing

a bold yes that attracts opposition it’s

not the attempt to attract opposition

it’s not

you know it’s not uh

um

it’s not at all being obnoxious so the

people don’t like you it’s not that it’s

just being bold enough in your yes to

follow jesus

that people pick it up and they oppose

you

and that journey

is a part of what helps us if we can say

with paul makes up for what was lacking

the part that was lacking was jesus

couldn’t do what i needed to do

and suddenly refines focus to where

things that were once appealing no

longer have appeal why

because i’ve i’ve walked through fire

i’ve walked through the water

i’ve walked through the the war i’ve

walked through the battle

and the things that that may have been

mildly attractive a year ago are no

longer attractive at all why because

there’s

there’s been a fire

and it’s nothing to glorify it’s just

it’s the it’s a fact of life arm

yourself with this mentality that says

my yes

will bring opposition

and i’m okay

i’ve told you many many many times

through the years

if i don’t live by the praises of men i

won’t die by their criticisms

arm yourself

with the realization

that a absolute yes to jesus

brings breakthrough

creates eternal friendships partnerships

and occasion for opposition

and you don’t get to pick and choose

they all come in one glorious package

that was pretty cool huh won’t you stand

let’s get uh get our team back up here

and i i don’t know

if there’s something you want to do

right i’m gonna lead you in prayer and

then i’m gonna turn it over to these

people because they’re smart

they’re they’re in charge

jesus

said in john 16

it’s a portion of scripture that has

stood out to me

for quite a few years and i’ve actually

taught on it several times too so this

will be

perhaps a reminder for many of you

jesus said

whatever you ask for in john 16 will be

given to you

that your joy may be full

i know this sounds strange

but in some ways you and i have to take

responsibility

to get answered prayers

oftentimes we pray carelessly and blame

the lack of breakthrough on him

it just wasn’t his will

when in fact he was inviting us into a

place with a refined focus

where we’re unwilling to settle for

anything but the will of god

and strangely he describes this as as

one of the several times in scripture

where he says this is this is your

access point to fullness of joy

see i’m either going to have

joy

from the discipline of prayer

or the breakthroughs that prayer brings

and the fullness of joy only comes from

breakthrough in other words you were

born to get answers you were designed we

were designed to see things happen to

have the ache of god work in us where we

where we relentlessly pray lift up our

voices to see things happen

i want you to take a moment just to

put a hand on someone next to you

grab their hand do something

and i want you just to ask the lord to

release over them a real spirit of

prayer a real anointing for prayer

that john 16 would be fulfilled in them

and uh and lord keep us from just the

token

tokenism that often happens in prayer

but move us into

into the kind of prayers that aaron did

with that incense where he stood between

the living and the dead and the plagues

stopped god we want the plague to stop

because we stand between the living and

the dead

we stand between in that place

pray for that mantle of prayer to come

upon those around you

i want to hear you pray

i want to hear you pray out loud

breakthroughs lord god

breakthroughs