Bill Johnson teaches on prophetic ministry, and how to receive, discern, and steward the word of God in our lives. In 2 Chronicles 20, the Israelites were encouraged to “believe God’s prophets, and you shall prosper”. Valuing and stewarding the words God has spoken to us through the Bible and through prophecy is key to our breakthroughs and in entering the abundance of life He has promised us. Bill Johnson shares practical ways in which he discerns and stewards his own prophetic words. Subscribe for weekly videos: https://bit.ly/bjmYoutube Connect with Bill Johnson Ministries: Website: http://bjm.org/ Facebook: https://bit.ly/bjmFacebook Instagram: https://bit.ly/bjmInstagram Mailing List: https://bit.ly/bjmMailingList Additional Resources: https://shop.bethel.com/collections/b… Scripture References: 2 Chronicles 20 1 John 4: 20 Ezra 6 Psalm 100: 4 Matthew 13 Judges 6: 10 1 Peter 2: 9 Originally shared at Bethel Church, Redding California, on May 26, 2019. Bill Johnson is a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit. He is senior leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and is passionate about seeing Revival and God’s Kingdom established and revealed in the lives of individuals, families, communities, and nations. Bill’s teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, hosting the Presence, and the renewed mind has helped thousands around the world to step into their true identity in Christ, God given purpose, and walk in a supernatural lifestyle displaying both purity and power.
they prospered according to the prophesy
is it possible that the prosperity you
have longed for was already made
available through a word you didn’t
value and I’m not talking about palaces
and stuff I’m talking about the
abundance of God in my life to make me
capable to be effective in any
environment he puts me into whether it’s
the giving of money the giving a
prophetic word laying hands on the sick
it’s just that prosperity of soul
in second chronicles 20 we’ve got this
military conflict
we have the Lord giving strategy giving
direction giving plan to the people of
God
and in verse 20
this is either easy to remember 2020
Clear Vision
verse 20 so they arose early in the
morning they went out to the Wilderness
of Toccoa
and as they went out Jehoshaphat stood
and said Hear Me O Judah and inhabitants
of Jerusalem
believe in the Lord your God and you
shall be established believe His
prophets and you shall prosper
okay now listen carefully I want you to
um I want you to hear this over and over
again in your heart
believe in the Lord your God and you
shall be established believe His
prophets and you shall prosper
there’s this crazy idea that has entered
uh much of the church that because I am
a child of God
all I need is him
I love people I care for people I spend
my life with people but essentially my
life depends directly on God speaking to
me and caring for me
there’s enough truth to that to keep
people in deception
my need to hear from God for myself
does not nullify my need for the
prophets
my need of the prophets does not cancel
out my need to hear from God for myself
they work in tandem
the way most of us function if he only
spoke to us directly
we would become independent
we would use what he said to prove we’re
Superior
we would argue proving we’re right and
someone else is wrong
when the word comes through community
it affects Community
it blesses community and it emphasizes
our need for one another
the Bible says we are members of one
another and uses the physical body to
illustrate what it looks like to be
joined together
in Acts chapter 2 we won’t go there but
in Acts Chapter 2 King David is actually
called a prophet
a prophet is someone who hears directly
from the Lord
but when he wanted to build a temple for
God God wouldn’t talk to him
if God is silent it’s never punishment
it’s either because he has already
spoken and you need to review what
you’ve heard
or he’s trying to connect you with the
right people that will add into your
life the missing piece because it
emphasizes connection it emphasizes the
fact we don’t have it all
the Bible does not say I have the mind
of Christ
it says we have the mind of Christ
it says Our Father Who Art in Heaven
there is something that is gained in the
corporate expression that you cannot
gain any other way this excites me now
um
uh the healing Revival how many of you
have read anything or heard anything
about the healing Revival back in 1948
on into the 50s
some of the most extraordinary things
literally that the world has ever seen
happen in that era but it was all
through
the generals of the army
it was the season it was the generals of
the army what God is doing in this hour
is the generals are equipping the Saints
so picture it this way here’s this high
level of anointing that nobody can reach
to so this general of the army equips
all the saints around him until they
come into a place of anointing that was
once only occupied by the generals of
the army
that releases them to explore even
greater dimensions and Realms in the
spirit of God so that we can manifest
Jesus much more clearly in glory in
power in presence in purity
I remember Chris do you mind if I share
your story uh William Branham you’re
asking the Lord for for is that all
right yeah I I ask him in public so that
he’s ashamed if he says no no
no I’ve I I I wouldn’t I wouldn’t do
that yeah sorry
bad joke bad joke bad bad timing no no
class at all right there
um I was I was really inspired by uh
this happened I don’t know maybe 15
years or so ago Chris was asked one of
the great Heroes that we’ve had in in
the Realms of anointing is a man named
William Branham
tragic things at the end but that
doesn’t mess up how God used it
Solomon still made it into the book
value what God values if you want to
live smart
favor who he favors
all right
um he asked the Lord
I want to I want to I want his gift I
want to operate in his anointing
something to that effect and the Lord
spoke very clearly he says you couldn’t
handle it
am I right you couldn’t handle it
and Chris then came back and said well
then don’t give it to me only give it to
the to the entire church and the moment
he had in the Lord if I remember
correctly is that he felt the the Lord
was pleased over his response it wasn’t
about him having an anointing that draws
everybody’s attention it was about the
church coming into a place in God that
represents Jesus more clearly
I I love that I love that example so
much I’ve used it a number of times
so here is this powerful moment in
Israel’s history and it says they
believed God and they believed His
prophets interesting in Scripture it
says and Israel believed God and they
believed Moses
they weren’t contradictory
it was necessary to see
a co-laboring expression of what it
looked like to trust God
it’s easy to say I trust God and don’t
trust any people
because it can’t be measured
John put it another way it’s easy to say
you love God whom you can’t see and hate
your brother whom you can see
it’s illegal to claim a spiritual
reality that cannot be measured in the
natural
so I love God with all my heart it has
you have to be able to examine and
measure it and how I treat people it’s
what validates that unseen reality that
I am supposed to walk in
it’s the same in faith
it requires a faith in the giftings of
God not the people always 100 percent
but the spirit of God is within us to
help us weed through the times there’s
error or their opinion has been added to
a word
it’s the truth
in the Old Testament the prophets were
judged in the New Testament prophecy is
judged
get Chris’s teaching on this it’s good
is
[Applause]
sometimes
if there were royalties from the message
tonight Chris I’d give them all to you
yes
so here it says they believed God and
they believed His prophets it says they
believed God and they believed Moses
Gideon at one point says
give this shout it’s a shout of
Declaration a shout of Praise there to
break these these vases with candles and
it’s a weird story break these candles
and then shout for the Lord and for
get him
sometimes we can live
impressed by our own faith it cannot be
measured when in fact it is measured by
our confidence in the sovereignty of God
to use the people around us to fill it
in where we lack
it’s called Trust
so it says believe the Lord your God you
will be established believe His prophets
and you will prosper anybody in here
want to prosper
now I know that I know that some are too
holy for it and I get it
I get it you don’t need it but the rest
of us really want the prosper
I’ve told
every every once while I tell people I
said listen if if you’re not hungry for
more then you’re just being selfish
yes the most acceptable form of
selfishness
because it proves to me you’re Untouched
by the needs of people around you
that’s not you that’s it them other
folks it’s them other folks it’s it’s
not even you on TV it’s not you either
it’s everybody else all right go to uh
Ezra chapter six we’ll read another
verse and then we’ll just we’ll camp on
it for a few minutes and and try to find
a place to land all right
it’s just another verse that just talks
about the uh the prophets
in Ezra 6.
on page 665 in the anointed version yeah
verse 14 it says so the Elders of the
Jews built and they prospered through
the prophesying of haggai the prophet
and of Zechariah the son of Edo
isn’t that interesting they Prof they
prospered
through the prophesying of these
Prophets
this is not a new subject for us I I
bring this up every few months in some
measure tonight it’ll be a little bit
different measured but
the value
what you dwell on shows me what you
value it’s what you treasure
and if it’s incorrect if it’s inferior
if you’re dwelling something inferior
then it becomes misplaced worship
if it is part of what exists in the
realm of God’s kingdom his rule think on
these things things that are lovely they
have good report Etc when I am locked in
to who he is just think of this process
and there’s Gates
with Thanksgiving his courts with praise
all right
what is Thanksgiving a response to
The Works of God the actions of God what
is praise a response to
his nature his character
okay so Thanksgiving is my response to a
work of God now the Lord spoke and he
said
to Israel I have revealed my works
but to Moses I have revealed my ways
the currency that we use in this
interaction is response to what we’ve
discovered of him
the cancer that was healed they’re
vertebrae missing in the back and the
ladies and running and dancing jumping
around the room I hear this news I don’t
understand ever how he does that stuff
but I don’t ever try to understand it
I don’t try to wrap my head around it I
try to wrap my heart around it
my heart will always take me places my
head can’t fit
so I embrace that which he’s done and
then give appropriate response but then
what happens is you start seeing he
heals he restores
you become more deeply impressed with
his nature as a father to care for his
own
so now it’s gone from the works we never
move from The Works in the sense that
they aren’t valuable because they’re
always valuable Jesus never scolded
anyone who pursued him for a miracle
he never ever said to somebody you
should be seeking relationship with me
and not your eyesight
he would always perform the miracle to
give them access to the relationship
the miracle creates the faith for
ongoing encounter
it’s valuable
so we become enraptured in a sense With
This Heart Of God we come we become
sensitive to aware of his nature we
start functioning different we we handle
problems that come our way if I only am
familiar with the works of God I will at
least know a miracle is possible
but when I see the heart of God I begin
to see a miracle is probable
there’s there’s an exchange with a
person see
I I perhaps talked a little bit
confusing at the beginning about about
um the emotional response to the
anointing
making a distinction between our
emotional response and the actual
anointing because if we don’t know how
to separate
if we don’t know how to separate the two
acknowledge the two we won’t know how to
cooperate with what he’s doing and we
will actually think the joy we feel
releases the miracle and it’s just not
always the case
sometimes we want to dance around
somebody because we’re so happy and he’s
saying put your hand on their forehead
and cast the Affliction out
and if we don’t know how to respond to
the person who is functioning in
operation then when we lay hands on them
nothing is given
most of the time when hands are laid
nothing is released
because it’s not an Act of Faith
it’s an act of symbolism
Faith needs a seed a confession and an
action
so here
they prospered through the prophesying
of
the Prophet haggai The Prophet Zechariah
this was for the rebuilding of uh of the
temple and the city that had been
destroyed the previous story was
concerning a battle conflict with
surrounding Nations the point was
whether you’re building something in
your life and all of us should be
building something
we’re not just we’re not just sitting
here waiting for Jesus to come and
rescue us
once again we had a profound word this
morning if you were not here please get
it on our podcast profound word we are
called as reformers to build
and whether you’re building something or
you’re in the middle of an intense
conflict that you don’t understand
doesn’t matter what place you find
you’re in you’re in the positive place
of increase or you’re in the negative
place of conflict both times they
survived and became Victorious through
the prophetic
[Music]
you attract what you value
in Market says guard your hearing
and whatever standard you set more will
be given to you besides so in other
words if I in fact this will happen in
any business in town you take a brand
new employee put them in that business
if they value gossip within two weeks
they will automatically have attracted
every gossip in the business to their
desk
it’s not because they put up a sign
it’s not even necessarily because they
started gossiping
there’s an unseen reality of attraction
the standard that is set attracts
when we value the voice of the Lord
whether it’s from the pages of scripture
as we read
or the prophet calls you out in a
meeting
we value what God is saying
many people become discouraged with the
word
because they didn’t realize
when they joined this Army
that a word attracts conflict
just trying to encourage you I’m just
I’m just here to help just here to help
Matthew 13. it talks about the seed
planted in the the stone the wheaty
weedy ground he said when tribulation
and persecution arises because of the
word
the word actually attracts conflict why
because you have to be given a choice if
you’re not given a choice to believe
this or to deny it then you will not
receive a reward rewards require options
you’re not rewarded for anything that
you had no option in
God is a father who looks for
opportunity to reward so he will allow a
contradictory word to rise up in your
environment
to the word he has declared why because
he’s anxiously awaiting the opportunity
to give your reward
it is not punishment that’s why the
scripture says he does not tempt you he
cannot tempt you because he himself
cannot be tempted with evil
so none of these situations are
therefore our failure they are there for
our strengthening and to help
reinforce the focus of worship
the fear would not become misplaced
Worship in me but instead that which God
has said has the affection in my heart
and so I dwell on I think I Ponder
see what you Ponder what I Ponder
reveals what I value
what I Ponder on reveals what I will
worship
it’s an interesting story in um
judges
where the Lord spoke to Israel and he
said I told you not to fear the gods of
the amorites but you did not obey
how was it manifested they worshiped the
gods of the Emirates
he told them
he said I told you don’t fear the gods
of the amorites but you didn’t obey
how was their Disobedience manifested
they worshiped the gods of the Emirates
what’s the point what you fear
determines what you worship
you mean you may say I don’t I don’t
worship money but you’re afraid of going
broke
and while you may not bow
or sing songs towards the almighty
dollar
the effect does this make sense the
effect on the heart is it has defiled
its misplaced worship
he said in Matthew either you will love
the one concerning God and Mammon you
will love the one hate the other or you
will hold to the one and despise the
other
it’s just it’s defining two
relationships devoted to God or devoted
to Mammon a spirit behind
a false Financial
standard world
so he says you will love the one
that’s the relationship with God I love
the one I just I hate the other
or I hold that’s how you can tell people
who hold
to what they have
their worship is being infected
they hold and they despise whenever
money is talked about in church
hold of the one despise the other
that was free I just threw that in
absolutely free
so here he says they prospered through
the prophesy
so is it possible and let’s just take
prosperity of soul
Prosperity relationship prosperity and
family life
Prosperity financially prosperity in
employment in your workplace the favor
of all these things fit into the area of
prosperity so let’s just let’s just make
Prosperity broad on this one
they prospered according to the
prophesying is it possible that the
Prosperity you have longed for
was already made available through a
word you didn’t value
is it possible
that the prosperity you know you were
born for and I’m not talking about
you know palaces and stuff I’m talking
about the abundance of God in my life to
make me capable to be effective in
service in any environment he puts me
into whether it’s the giving of money
the giving a prophetic word laying hands
on the sick living an example of Victory
and family life Etc it’s just that
prosperity of Soul so is it possible
that the prosperity we know we were born
for that we are that we ate for was
actually made available to us through a
word we didn’t have value for
oh
[Applause]
those are mine
this one is for all of you
it’s for nothing
when we make a decision as a team
one of the
things I would do while talk together we
have decision to make
we look at pros and cons we’re trying to
hear the voice of the Lord the one thing
I try to make sure that we always do is
I will ask the question
have we ever had a prophetic word about
this decision
so we’ll talk together we’ll say Cindy
Jacobs was here 10 years ago do you
remember that word she gave and we’ll do
a little research we’ll try to find the
word did she talk about this at all why
because we want to prosper and we want
to be successful and both of those two
outcomes are contingent Upon Our
response to those in the body he has
equipped to bring us exactly what we
need
I trust him and I trust him big enough
that he will work through the people
that are connected to me to bring me
exactly what I need
it’s a trust in God it’s a trust in the
sovereignty of God that he knew the
situation I’m in well enough
last year when I uh Chris and Eric and I
were all in England when or no Chris was
in Washington DC when Eric and I were in
England when the fires broke out here in
reading and we all we all got the news
of of the disastrous Firestorm that was
sweeping our city and all began to make
efforts to try to hurry and get home and
I remember sitting on the plane by
myself flying across the Atlantic and
opening my iPad
to look at the volumes of prophetic
words that are not yet in the notebook
but they are in here
and just began to look through page
after page
after page
a prophetic words
to see if maybe there might be something
here that God spoke five years ago that
would give me an Insight what we’re
supposed to do now
I would read and I would most of the
words were had nothing to do with any
kind of disaster they all had to do with
outcome so when you see light at the end
of the tunnel even though it’s a smoky
tunnel you have this sense of
anticipation you have this sense of hope
gotten regardless of what’s going on
regardless of whether or not I
understand what’s happening he is big
enough to assure us that there is a
positive outcome for whatever we face
and so I literally I sat on the plane
and I reviewed prophetic word after
prophetic word I have several different
programs where I store these words
and I review them I read over them
I have on my personal prayer list
I have one sentence
if you can just see that one sentence
that that is a
it’s a one statement that is a synopsis
for an entire prophetic word that was
given to my wife and to me
and so I will on a regular basis I go
through this particular list because
they are all connected to my destiny to
my life to my family my household
and I sometimes I’ll turn to the word uh
David Wagner gave me a word in August of
2015. sometimes I’ll go to the other
place and I’ll find the whole extents of
long prophetic word and I’ll read word
by word by word over that which God has
spoken you see we were born to succeed
we were born to prosper we were born to
be fully effective in all that God
designed us for but it is connected to
how we value how he has spoken to us and
sometimes it’s just underlining a verse
and you write a date down I remember I
woke up once in August of 2009 I woke up
after having a very strong prophetic
dream that showed me a specific thing
about us to do that that didn’t wouldn’t
have made sense to me otherwise showed
me exactly what I was to do I went into
the restroom it was three in the morning
I was getting up to catch a plane to fly
to Argentina I opened a book that was uh
in in the bathroom and it was a book
that Kim Clement had signed for me I I
didn’t know he gave me a book and he
signed it
and I opened it for the first time I’d
had it for maybe a year I don’t know two
years maybe and I opened the cover of
the book and I saw he wrote to me he
signed this thing
and then I looked at the scripture
and it confirmed the very thing that I
just dreamed so I go to I go to
um
that verse and I write down August
2009. why because whenever I’m reading
through that part of the Bible and I
come to the book of Nam
and I come to that verse it triggers In
My Memory a prophetic Journey a
prophetic experience I don’t have to
write the whole dream down because I
remember the dream
Johnstone I’m saying you’ve got to set
yourself up with with triggers with
reminders of what God has deposited what
he has said over you
in 1986 Mario Marilla prophesied to me
he was a favorite of mine very powerful
evangelist of the Lord with signs that
follow he was the instrument God used to
completely turn my life around when I
was about 19 years old he was the one
who caused me to go off the cliff and
say absolutely yes to anything Jesus
says I could care less about anything
else in my life I am saying yes to this
one thing I’m embracing the one thing
and we were driving from Weaverville to
reading and we are right about
Whiskeytown Lake and he turned to me
while I was driving him to his next
assignment
and he began to prophesy to me
and I wrote it all out
and I’ve got it on a three by five card
that sits by my bed
I’ve got the abbreviated version on this
list
because I’ve seen it happen but only in
measure I want the fullness of what he
described
Joyce prophesied over me in the car in
Weaverville going down 299 I pulled in
front of
a w
remember those
I I had a hard time remembering what it
was because a friend of mine called it
Allison Wong’s
so I always think of it that’s Allison
Wong so I I pulled in front of Allison
Long’s as he began to prophesy and he
what he said was there’s he just find a
specific gift he’s listen to this phrase
he said it is in you embryonically
in other words it is not manifested it
can’t be seen visibly by anybody but it
is thereby God’s design and in the days
to come it will develop
the point is is that you have a place
here that says I will ponder even if it
makes no sense
no obviously if there’s a word given to
you you feel a check about it stick it
on the Shelf if you have a warning
that’s not the Lord then you flush it I
got a lot of words I have flushed my
flusher works really good I have flushed
a lot of words through the ears people
would come to us Benny and I were
raising our kids we decided early on
that we would flush every word that came
to us that was inconsistent about our
children with what than what we felt so
somebody would come and say oh wait
until they’re teenagers we’d look at
each other and go flush
because we had determined every season
of life would be greater than the
previous
it was the will of God it’s his nature
so it has to be the nature of our home
so we just we’re flushed so we flushed a
lot of words some words come and I go
man I don’t get that one but I don’t
know if it may be God it may not be so
I’ll put it on a shelf and I’ve got a
lot of I’ve got a lot in there and I
Ponder them I look over them I read over
this and I’m praying I pray over my list
and sometimes one of them will be
highlighted and let go today’s the day
this is the season now is when I push
into this
what you think about
is what you value
what you value affects what you worship
and it determines the outcome whether we
truly taste of what the Bible calls a
kingdom success
or merely success from Human effort and
human Talent
we’ve said yes to Jesus
we’ve picked up our cross daily to
follow after him
my job is the cross his job is the
resurrection
and he will bring life to everything I
offer to him whether it’s a boy’s lunch
or I give my heart to Anchor myself in
that which God has said he is the father
who has designed us for the privilege of
co-laboring
why don’t you stand I
think
some of you may say I don’t have any
prophecies in my life I get that I
probably get more than most just simply
because of of my position and and who
I’m really I I understand
in my early years I learned
out of the shoot in my Yes to God is I
would read until he spoke
I would read until he spoke I remember
sitting there reading the entire gospel
I will read until he talks
I live by his voice
I study the printed word this is Jesus
in print
I believe all of it even the maps table
of contents all of it
I am a yes to the Bible I even like my
elephant hide leather cover
which
but I I didn’t kill it it was already
never
better not go there
you read
and you’ve sense him breathing on a
verse
stop
because you just found where life is for
you
Market
do something don’t just underline the
whole verse
underline what stands out about the
verse
first Peter 2 9 you are a chosen race a
royal priesthood a people for God’s Own
possession that you may proclaim the
excellencies of of him who called you
out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light
you can underline the whole verse but
then the whole verse ends up or you
could underline you are
that you may
I made you this for this reason
and then when you look at it again you
remember what he was showing you
develop your own cross-references
they won’t have cross-references here
that are fitting to what he’s teaching
you
write it down
I I’m serious have your history on the
page
have your history on the page
you go to a place where you you see tear
staying page and you remember I remember
being in the woods crying out to God
because I needed a breakthrough I needed
a specific breakthrough and the Lord
spoke to me and he spoke to me out of
Ephesians 4 and I will never be the same
because of what he said he spoke to me
in that moment
have a history so that you know what he
said and when
you may forget about the word and ten
years later he reminds you and you go it
says alive today as it was 10 years ago
there’s nothing about him that has a
shelf life
there’s nothing about him that has shelf
life it’s all eternal
so I’m I want to pray that you become a
prophetic magnet
but listen to me it’s dangerous
dangerous
one of the best ways to attract the word
of the Lord is obey what you already
know
all right that’s got to be enough
I’ve kicked that dead horse from every
side
I remember oh goodness 40 years ago
Chris and I were I think Chris was with
me in a meeting up in Oregon and uh
the worship leader was was teaching and
he said people ask me how long a worship
server should last
and he says my response is how long does
it take to burn a whole cow
you may not like that but I love that
answer so much how long does it take to
burn a whole cow all right
didn’t know that’s what we were doing
but I like that answer amen all right
I want to pray over you
we are so thankful that you talk
you engage with us
your voice makes us alive inside
your presence
becomes so clear so manifest we’re so
thrilled with who you are and what
you’ve given to us
but I’m asking that this next season
everybody in this room would literally
attract the prophetic
that there would be the word of the Lord
given in the most unusual circumstances
maybe even off like like you do on TV or
or through a friend or a conversation or
a song on the radio whatever you do you
highlight things for us so that we know
what you’re breathing on we know what
you have favor on in a particular season
and I’m asking for that kind of
prophetic Clarity over our hearts I pray
in this next season in Jesus name that
you would help us to truly value as Mary
did she pondered over what you said that
you would help us to treasure to ponder
and to not have misplaced worship but
instead Ponder on the things that
accelerates our affection for you
accelerates our Burning Heart for you
I pray this for every person deposit in
us as we sleep deposit in us in our
friendships
equip us with the word we need to both
build and to win a war I ask this in
Jesus name amen amen amen