Bill Johnson shares how to increase your influence. Your level of influence is determined by how you manage your heart as you face the different circumstances of life. Everything flows from the heart, and watching over your heart is key to Kingdom influence and revival. This is session 19 of The Pursuit of Wisdom devotional series. Join Bill Johnson for a journey through the book of Proverbs. This weekly study will take you through Proverbs, focussing on a new chapter each session. Learn keys for walking in biblical wisdom so that you would reign in life, leading and serving those around you well. Growing in divine wisdom is key to walking in the fullness of God’s purposes for our lives. Subscribe for the full series. The Pursuit of Wisdom Series (new videos added weekly) 
• The Pursuit of Wisdom Devotional | Bi… Face to Face with God: https://shop.bethel.com/products/face… 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: Proverbs 16 Proverbs 4: 23 Matthew 10: 19 Ezekiel 39: 29 Luke 19 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. #BillJohnson #BethelChurch #Revival #Wisdom #Devotional
we all want to see cities saved it
starts right here how do you manage your
own world your selft talk what you think
about what you meditate on what do you
feed your soul on those are the things
that actually position us for
influencing
[Music]
cities well hello once again welcome
back our quest for wisdom um it’s really
a key for life for each of us to reign
in life over the challenges that
difficulties of life and really
illustrate the lordship of Jesus and
everything we do and it’s the great
privilege of life so welcome um we’re in
chapter 16 today and I’ve got another
challenge today because I’ve got a
couple things in here that are quite
large uh so I’m going to have to touch
on them somewhat briefly but uh
hopefully they’ll ignite something in
you where you can study on your own
let’s just begin quickly with verse one
verse one of chapter 16 says the
preparations of the heart belong to the
man but the answer of the tongue is from
the Lord that’s interesting the
preparations of the heart belong to man
the answer of the tongue is from the
Lord here’s the deal if you’ll watch
over your heart as it says in chapter 4:
23 if you’ll prepare your heart to walk
in Purity to walk in strength you will
never lack the word of the Lord that you
need to speak into a given situation the
answer of the tongue is from the Lord
you take care of this part he’ll make
sure you have the the right thing to say
perhaps you remember when Jesus was
talking to his own disciples he said
you’ll be into a difficult situations
where political leaders and such will be
um asking you questions don’t worry
about what you’re going to say in that
moment because the holy spirit will give
you the words to say that’s what’s
happening here but in Proverbs he gives
you the step preceding that he says you
prepare the heart you make sure that
you’re in a place of surrender of
yielded the willingness to obey and
he’ll make sure you have the right word
in a given situation all right let’s
move on verse three commit your Works to
the Lord and your thoughts will be
established that’s interesting commit
your Works to the Lord all right let’s
just uh say uh at your place of
employment you have five projects that
you’re working on it’s where you you
think through these projects these
assignments that you have and you commit
each task to the Lord and the reward is
your thoughts will be established what
does that mean it means your thoughts
will be established um established is as
a foundation your thoughts will
constructively contribute to the works
that you need to take care of in other
words it’s this co-laboring role that we
have with him if you’ll commit your
Works to the Lord the things that you
have to do he’ll work with you in your
thoughts so that what you think of
actually contributes to what you’re
committed to see Jesus cares about this
stuff he cares about you know the car
that you repair for a living he cares
about the homes that you build or the
the the surgery that you perform as a
doctor he cares about each of these
things and when we commit our works to
the Lord he he inspires us to think
creatively to contribute to each of the
things we’ve been assigned to do okay
moving on
quickly um I’m going to I’m going to
jump right down to the big one and this
literally is a big one because I I took
a book to write about it and it’s verse
15 and so let’s see how we do for time
wise here in the light of a king’s face
is life and his favor is like a cloud of
Latter
rain in the light of a king’s
face is
life and his favor is like a cloud of
Latter
rain when we talk about rain latter rain
throughout scripture old New Testament
New Old Testament latter rain crops New
Testament it was prophetically dealing
with the outpouring of the holy spirit
so when I see verses like this I
automatically think all right what can
this help me to understand as it
pertains to the mighty outpourings of
God what he plans to do in the last
days in the light of a king’s face is
life and his favor is like a cloud of
Latter ring here’s the verse that um I I
felt the Lord uh tied together for with
this passage for me many years ago when
I was writing about the Quest for the
face of God face to face with
God and it’s in uh Exodus 39:29 and I’ll
just read it to
you I will not hide my face from them
anymore for I shall have poured out my
spirit upon the house of Israel says the
Lord think about this I’ll not hide my
face from them any
longer why because I will have poured
out my spirit upon them what is he
saying I’m not going to hide my face
from
them why because in the outpouring of
the spirit is the face of
God this is significant in every great
move of God the face of God is revealed
you say well I don’t see the face of God
yeah the clarity with which we see is
determined by our tendency to create
form or Idols or routines after what
we’ve seen instead of truly responding
to the face of God that’s actually what
the Lord spoke to Israel he said I hid
my face in the cloud but I didn’t let
you see any form because I knew you to
be an idolatrous people and you’d create
an idol after what you saw so the
clarity of which which we see is often
determined by that tendency to create
form
formulas Idols if you will routines that
that have lost the inspiration of the
presence of God so here is this verse in
Proverbs uh 16 this say the light of a
king’s face is life we come before this
king of kings and that Delight of his
face over you over me it’s a life giving
Delight it’s the father who Delights in
a child it’s the smile it’s the it’s the
funny noises we make as parents or or
relatives of this of this baby we we we
make these sounds of delight and joy
over this child that’s what you have
here that is life and then it says and
that favor is like latter rain that
favor is just like the outpouring of the
spirit so here’s the deal the scripture
connects the face of God the Delight of
God with Revival that’s really what it
comes down to it it it connects the
whole issue of the outpouring of the
spirit with
favor I hope that in this next season
everyone watching this will become
unusually aware of the father’s Delight
in
you we can never earn Revival we can
never earn a move of of God but we can
certainly prepare oursel for it and
discover his Delight in us so that we
position our hearts correctly all right
let’s move on real quickly I’m going to
wrap this up we’ll do one more verse and
this one’s going to seem quite a bit out
of out of context of what we’ve been
talking about so far but it’s in verse
32 he who is slow to anger is better
than the mighty he who rules his Spirit
than he who takes a city
now I don’t know what you do when you
read Proverbs anytime I find a statement
where there’s where there is the
conversation about influencing a city my
ears perk up so here what is he saying
he say he who rules his own Spirit he
who manages his own inner World well Has
the strength I’m going to put this in my
terms has the strength to take a
city we all want to see cities saved it
starts right here how do you manage your
own world your selft talk what you think
about what you meditate on what do you
feed your soul on those are the things
that actually position us for
influencing cities my favorite story in
this regard is a parable Jesus gave in
Luke 19 where he talks about the the
ones who took miners a sum of money and
and invested and increased and the guy
who increased to 10 the Lord in response
to that said here you now are in charge
of 10 cities in other words your
faithfulness with this natural thing
positioned you to influence cities I
pray that for you I pray that the Lord
would take what’s in your hand what’s in
your wallet and uh and enable you
through faithful stewardship to manage
your inner World well so that you can
truly be those who influence entire
cities I bless you with that and for
that in Jesus name
amen