In this sermon clip, Bill Johnson talks about how to find hope, and why it is key to success. Hopelessness robs us of potential, but hope anticipates the goodness of God in our future, and sets us up to live in the fullness of what we were created for. Hope is not the product of determination, but the product of surrender.
I can’t be more interested in quantity
than I am with just quality time with
God remember it’s not about finishing
this is about you having a friendship
with God so that you can be in sustained
and encouraged and sense the presence of
God in a practical way not in theory but
no a friendship with God where you feel
and know that he is speaking to you
through his words
[Applause]
sometimes you know we can look at
people’s Instagram feeds and man their
quiet time Looks So Perfect don’t it
they’ve got their little white couch and
their little white coffee cup and
everything is so beautiful and amazing
and immaculate it looks like the most
beautiful photo shoot you have ever seen
in your life that can be discouraging to
regular folk who have you know like
dinner dishes sitting over there from
last night that we didn’t get to or
we’ve got all the toys from all of our
toddlers sitting around it or all the
homework papers from our teenagers that
are still scattered across the kitchen
table from all the online schooling or
we got the laundry sitting over there
every single load that you know we
washed and dried but we dumped it out on
the floor hoping that somebody was going
to come fold it at some point but there
it still sits still waiting on us and we
look at the chaos of our life and we
think
can I really have quiet time in here can
I really expect God to speak to me in a
space like this the answer is yes
the enemy always wants you to think and
me to think we’ve got to have something
different about our space or different
about our lives in order to actually
meet with God intimately and personally
ourselves but listen if the bathroom is
the only place where you can find some
silence and some Solitude I gotta be
honest with you and tell you that for
many years when my children were younger
I would sit on the edge of the bathtub I
would close the bathroom door I would
lock that door and I would sit there and
that’s where I would have time with the
Lord I have a friend when her children
were young she used to tell me that she
would go into her closet like she made
her actual closet her prayer closet and
she said listen I would sit right under
the blouses where the blouses were with
a flashlight that’s the only space that
I could find to have a little silence
and a little Solitude for many of you
it’s it’s in your car I mean you’re in
your car anyway why not make that car a
sanctuary a place where you can meet
with God because you’re in that car
anyway and you’re by yourself there why
not make that an opportunity where you
can make that space a Sacred Space to
meet with God
you’ve seen people who are doing that
you know they’re driving down the
freeway and you just see them worshiping
God and you see their hands outstretched
and you see they’re having a whole
prayer meeting a whole church service by
themselves in the car they have made
their car a place that can be a
watchtower where they can meet with God
around his word
position yourself
oh more now than ever brothers and
sisters we’re gonna have to prioritize
positioning ourselves we’re getting a
word from everybody else from the
newscasters from the media from the
politicians from our friends from
opinion makers we’re getting news from
everybody else we’ve got to position
ourselves not just to hear them but
we’ve got to prioritize positioning
ourselves to hear a word from God
so once you position yourself and you’ve
got your Bible or you know you’ve got
your electronic Bible in front of you
and you’re looking at a particular
passage of scripture I want to encourage
you to choose a passage not just you
know one verse here one verse there here
a verse there verse everywhere verse
verse it taking little verses out of
context like that can be incredibly
dangerous but what you can do is take a
whole book of the Bible
started verse 1 and go all the way
through
took me about two years to go through
the Book of John like this I would take
one verse or two verses a day and I
would make sure that I read right
through so as to not take anything out
of the context not only of the chapter
that it’s in but the book that it is in
because the story that God is telling is
linear meaning not only is every word
and every verse God breathed but the way
it is located in the scriptures is also
God breathed so take a whole book of the
Bible maybe one that stood out to you
recently that your pastor preached from
and it was from the book of Ephesians or
the Book of John or the book of habakkuk
and just decide you’re going to start
right at the beginning
and the second P actually has two P’s in
it I want you to pour over the passage
and paraphrase the major principles
pour over the passage and paraphrase the
major principles when I say poor over
the passage I mean that real
specifically I mean that as in
opposition to scan the passage when I
say poor I mean to meditate on it to
read it not just once but to read it
twice to read it in two or three
different translations so that you can
see different nuances of words that
maybe need to stand out to you in a
different way I mean that you open up
opportunity for you to have space and
time to think through what it would be
like if you were the woman that was
caught in adultery in that passage that
you just read
see how it would feel to have God speak
over you Jesus say to you go and sin no
more it means you mull over it for just
a little while
now what this means at least what it
means for me is that if I’m Really Gonna
pour over a passage not just scan it but
meditate on it and think about it and
wait for the Lord to speak to me through
it that means that I can’t do that with
a chapter or two at a time it means I
can’t be more interested in quantity
than I am with just quality time with
God remember it’s not about finishing
this is about you having a friendship
with God so that you can be in sustained
and encouraged and sense the presence of
God in a practical way not in theory but
no a friendship with God where you feel
and know that he is speaking to you
through his words so most of the time
that means one verse or two verses and I
read those two verses and then I read
them again and then I might underline
whatever words seem to LEAP up off the
page then I might look those words up
and I might think through the scenario
that is surrounding them the context
around them for example in Joshua
chapter 1. when Moses has just died and
the children of Israel are now being led
by Joshua into the promised land God
says to Joshua over and over again be
strong and courageous he says be strong
and courageous be strong and courageous
and then he says
be careful not to let the word leave
your mouth but keep it close to your
heart and close to your mind and
meditate on it day and night meditate
means to ponder it meditate actually
means to press your mind upon it to
think through it to evaluate it
do whatever you have to do to spend a
little time not just saying well I read
a verse a day and you know a verse a day
keeps the devil away this ain’t a
checklist
this is you developing a friendship with
God who is longing to speak to you
once I pour over a passage a verse or
two then I’ll paraphrase the major
principles I usually just have a
notebook that’s sitting nearby or I’ve
got the notes app on my phone or however
you want to do it and I just for each
verse write down a sentence or two that
paraphrases exactly what that verse said
now I want you to resist the urge to try
to be deep or to try to make it Rhyme or
sound clever you’re not trying to be
clever you are literally just taking the
words right out of the verse and writing
down a paraphrase of what that verse
says
usually when I get to this point in the
five piece I will close my Bible and
I’ll put it aside and now I’m just
sitting and I’m looking at the
paraphrased rendition of what the verse
actually says that takes me to the third
p
pull out the spiritual principles
this is where I prayerfully look at
those paraphrases
and I look to see what spiritual
principles are hidden in the paraphrase
ask God to show me
is there something he’s revealing about
his character
is there a promise here that I’m
supposed to heed is there a directive
I’m supposed to follow
is there Insight that I’m supposed to
uncover what is it that the verse says
that’s the paraphrase but now I’m asking
what does this verse mean
you will often find that there are
spiritual principles that are hidden you
would not have uncovered this is the way
God begins to speak you won’t uncover it
until you ask yourself what does this
mean
is there a direction that I’m being
given is there something about God’s
character that I’m supposed to believe
and that I’m supposed to trust in
prayerfully pray and ask the holy spirit
this is what the old preachers used to
call illumine the word ask the Holy
Spirit to illumine it and you will find
that there are spiritual principles
tucked there that begin to direct you