ST ERKENWALD'S

In this book Bill Johnson writes about two things: the kingdom of God in the here and now, and how you’ll miss it unless your mind is renewed.

Heaven is not merely something to look forward to. Jesus said, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus revealed heaven on earth by healing the sick, delivering the oppressed, and forgiving sinners. Jesus came to reveal the superior reality of His world and to show us how to exercise faith so that we might bring that reality into our world. Jesus did not come to show us what God can do, but to reveal what God can do through a man.

Imagine what might happen if we all did the works and greater works of Jesus? The answer is obvious – we’d have heaven on earth.

Why did Jesus come to earth? According to Bill, the ultimate reason for Christ’s coming was not that we might be saved, but that we might be filled with the Holy Spirit. He writes, “He (Holy Spirit) is in me for my sake, but He is on me for yours.”

Few of us will doubt that the Holy Spirit can do great things, even through us. So why doesn’t He? According to Bill Johnson, the main cause of the problem is found between our ears. We emphasise understanding over belief, reason over faith. This is fatal. Often we are more convinced of our unworthiness than we are of His worth, or our inability instead of His ability. “The mind makes a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.”

God is more eager to invade this world than we are to receive the invasion. We sit and think when we could be praying and acting. We warn each other about the sin of presumption, while God warns us of the sin of unbelief. We strive for balance and control and end up with the order of the graveyard. All this happens because we submit the things of God to the mind of man, instead of the other way around.

“In this present hour we need much more than to learn how to identify our personal gifts or discover ways to be more successful in ministry. We need the Father Himself. We need His presence – His alone. The gospel is the story of the Father wooing the hearts of mankind through His love. All the other stuff we do overflows from that discovery.” (pp.100-1)