Experience the Impossible: Simple Ways to Unleash Heaven's Power on Earth by Bill Johnson Read Free Book Online
Authors: Bill Johnson
part of what it means to be a co-laborer with Christ. He labors, and we labor with Him.
Jesus was constantly training His disciples unto this end. That is why He taught them to speak to a mountain for it to be removed. It was His purpose behind cursing the fig tree that bore no fruit out of season. He led them into storms to see if they picked up the powerful lessons regarding their speech. It was in these lessons—outnumbering even His lessons on prayer—that His disciples were trained to implement and enforce the will of God on the earth. This is the assignment of every believer.
The answers to prayer reveal His goodness. When He gives us a promise instead of an answer, it reveals His desire to draw us into our eternal purpose. It is His longing to raise up people into their God-given responsibilities.
Prayer
Father, I need Your wisdom to know the differences between the seasons of my life. I want to know when to stand and watch You work on my behalf and when to embrace my responsibility to enforce Your purposes on the earth. Please give me clarity of heart and mind unto this end, that I might always live with rock-solid hope.
Confession
I have been given the privilege to pray and see God move on my behalf. And I have been given the great honor to take His promise and co-labor with Him to see His will accomplished on the earth. I embrace this assignment with fearful excitement, all for His glory.
18
Love
In grace, the ability to obey comes in the command. In law, you are left to perform.
O ne of the greatest bits of good news we could ever hear is that we are free from the Law. It is probably an oversimplification, but it basically means we no longer have to try to earn our righteousness through things we do or do not do, which, by the way, is impossible. For that reason we need a savior. The Law makes demands on behavior that no one has ever been able to keep—except for Jesus, that is, who actually fulfilled the requirements of the Law on our behalf, and once and for all satisfied its appetite.
One of the largest mistakes made in the discussion of law vs. grace is the notion that grace makes no demands on the believer—that law requires action and grace wants us just to “be.” This simply is not true. While “abiding in Christ” is an amazing position of rest for the disciple who loves Jesus, it does not remove us from the need for action and obedience. The Law, for example, forbids murder. But the teaching of Jesus, the basis for the message of grace, says that it is just as wrong to be angry with a brother and call him names.
Wow! Let’s be honest. It is much easier not to murder than it is not to get mad and call people names. Yet God sees the hostility of a name-caller as the seed of murder itself. If it grows and develops in an atmosphere of dishonor and rejection toward another until it is fully formed, it will conclude with murder. While it seldom does, from God’s perspective the seed is as defiling as the fruit. And it is grace that gives the warning.
So how is it that grace can be more demanding than law? The profound nature of grace is not that it makes no requirements of us; it is that every command comes with the ability to perform it. Another way to state this, and perhaps a simpler one at that, is, Law requires, grace enables . That is the stunning difference between the two. When God speaks, He empowers. It is one of the most glorious examples of the Father’s heart. His delight in us inspired the concept of co-laboring with us.
This beautiful partnership between the Infinite One and His finite creation is illustrated well in Ezekiel 2:1–2: “Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!’ As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me.” God told Ezekiel to stand up. The next thing he knew the Holy Spirit stood him up. The message is not that God does things for us that we are capable of doing
Jesus was constantly training His disciples unto this end. That is why He taught them to speak to a mountain for it to be removed. It was His purpose behind cursing the fig tree that bore no fruit out of season. He led them into storms to see if they picked up the powerful lessons regarding their speech. It was in these lessons—outnumbering even His lessons on prayer—that His disciples were trained to implement and enforce the will of God on the earth. This is the assignment of every believer.
The answers to prayer reveal His goodness. When He gives us a promise instead of an answer, it reveals His desire to draw us into our eternal purpose. It is His longing to raise up people into their God-given responsibilities.
Prayer
Father, I need Your wisdom to know the differences between the seasons of my life. I want to know when to stand and watch You work on my behalf and when to embrace my responsibility to enforce Your purposes on the earth. Please give me clarity of heart and mind unto this end, that I might always live with rock-solid hope.
Confession
I have been given the privilege to pray and see God move on my behalf. And I have been given the great honor to take His promise and co-labor with Him to see His will accomplished on the earth. I embrace this assignment with fearful excitement, all for His glory.
18
Love
In grace, the ability to obey comes in the command. In law, you are left to perform.
O ne of the greatest bits of good news we could ever hear is that we are free from the Law. It is probably an oversimplification, but it basically means we no longer have to try to earn our righteousness through things we do or do not do, which, by the way, is impossible. For that reason we need a savior. The Law makes demands on behavior that no one has ever been able to keep—except for Jesus, that is, who actually fulfilled the requirements of the Law on our behalf, and once and for all satisfied its appetite.
One of the largest mistakes made in the discussion of law vs. grace is the notion that grace makes no demands on the believer—that law requires action and grace wants us just to “be.” This simply is not true. While “abiding in Christ” is an amazing position of rest for the disciple who loves Jesus, it does not remove us from the need for action and obedience. The Law, for example, forbids murder. But the teaching of Jesus, the basis for the message of grace, says that it is just as wrong to be angry with a brother and call him names.
Wow! Let’s be honest. It is much easier not to murder than it is not to get mad and call people names. Yet God sees the hostility of a name-caller as the seed of murder itself. If it grows and develops in an atmosphere of dishonor and rejection toward another until it is fully formed, it will conclude with murder. While it seldom does, from God’s perspective the seed is as defiling as the fruit. And it is grace that gives the warning.
So how is it that grace can be more demanding than law? The profound nature of grace is not that it makes no requirements of us; it is that every command comes with the ability to perform it. Another way to state this, and perhaps a simpler one at that, is, Law requires, grace enables . That is the stunning difference between the two. When God speaks, He empowers. It is one of the most glorious examples of the Father’s heart. His delight in us inspired the concept of co-laboring with us.
This beautiful partnership between the Infinite One and His finite creation is illustrated well in Ezekiel 2:1–2: “Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!’ As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me.” God told Ezekiel to stand up. The next thing he knew the Holy Spirit stood him up. The message is not that God does things for us that we are capable of doing
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