The Mark of True Joy in Your Life

Written By Bill Johnson
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“Only the rejoicing that requires you to agree with God’s perspective on your situation is the sacrifice of praise that pleases Him and has the power to transform you.”
— Bill Johnson

It certainly requires faith to rejoice when that’s the last thing you feel like doing or seems to make sense in the face of your present circumstances.

It doesn’t take much faith to hang your head and sing “Thou Art Worthy” when you’re really just thinking, “I am worthless!”

Truly rejoicing in Him requires that you stand on the truth that you are already accepted by Him where you are. Rejoicing requires you to acknowledge that His goodness and faithfulness are more real than your present difficulty. It especially requires you to agree that your life is not really about you!

Only the rejoicing that requires you to agree with God’s perspective on your situation is the sacrifice of praise that pleases Him and has the power to transform you. It is the expression of faith. Sometimes that rejoicing is what David describes in Psalm 2:11: “rejoice with trembling.” In other words, you don’t have to feel full of faith to rejoice—you just have to do it.

Bill Johnson

Bill Johnson is the Senior Pastor of Bethel Church. Bill is a fifth generation pastor with a rich heritage in the things of the Spirit. This apostolic network has crossed denominational lines in building relationships that enable church leaders to walk in both purity and power. The present move of God has brought Bill into a deeper understanding of the phrase, "on earth as it is in heaven." Heaven is the model for our life and ministry. Jesus lived with this principle by only doing what He saw His Father doing. Learning to recognize the Holy Spirit's presence, and how to follow His lead will enable us to do the works of Christ, destroying the works of the devil. Healing and deliverance must become the common expression of this gospel of power once again. Bill and the Bethel Church family have taken on this theme for life and ministry. Healings, ranging from cancer to broken bones, to learning disorders and emotional healing, happen with regularity. This is the children's bread. And these works of God are not limited to revival meetings. The church is learning how to take this anointing to the schools, workplace, and neighborhoods with similar results. Bill teaches that we owe the world an encounter with God, and that a Gospel without power is not the Gospel that Jesus preached.

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