The Resting Place - Bill Johnson

Listened to two sermons today.

The first was by Heidi Baker, when she preached at Cornerstone on "A resting place for the Lord". Was deeply, deeply struck by the testimony she shared of time when she was hospitalised for a life-threatening infection. She says, "There I was. Sick. Waiting, longing, longing for the presence of God. And the presence of God was so precious to me. Day and night I listened to the bible (on my ipod) and I worshipped, day and night, and the presence of God got so thick in my room that the nurses would walk in and start weeping. Here I was, weaker than I’ve ever been at anytime in my life and they would come in and say there is strength in this room, there is life in this room, there is presence in this room. At they would come and weep, and try and change the sheets and they’d be weeping. They’d come at 2-3am in the morning asking for prayer, lining up, asking for prayer. The presence of God was just in the room, and this little dove would come in the morning, a literal dove, I’m not giving you a vision, I’m telling you what happened. It would fly in front of my window, cock its head, look at me. And in the cool of the evening, it would come back. And the Lord said to me, “Who will become a resting place for me?”

How can we carry the presence of God? How can we become a resting place for the Lord?

Bill Johnson says, "Let the Holy Spirit remain on you so you can impart that presence everywhere you go." This is at the heart of his sermon below, which is so powerful, so wonderful, so inspirational. I am so heartsick, so jealous to host the presence of God, so that it may be released into the earth, into situations, to people. This is such a deep sermon, such a packed one, but one that bears listening to again.



"Work in me, O lord, so I can actually impart the presence of your Holy Spirit. Amen."