Bill Johnson: ‘This is THE Best Message I’ve Ever Heard’
Hayley Braun, a spiritual daughter of our church family, spoke at one of our most recent conferences.
She gave one of the best messages on the gospel I’ve ever heard. If not the best. I was amazed. Not surprised, as if such insight from her were unusual. It isn’t. What surprised me was the significant rate at which her insights continue to grow, as well as how good she was at communicating such profound truths. I was deeply moved.
The Bible says to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” Taste is experience. See is perception. What we experience in God will always affect what and how we see. And lest you think such encounters are dangerous, it’s the absence of encounters we should fear the most. Case in point: What would the apostle Paul’s ministry have been like without his Damascus Road experience? The Bible is one big storybook about the lives of people who encountered God and what they were like following that experience. Encountering God changes everything, as it should. But as true sons and daughters of God, we must value the simple as well as the overwhelming.
This book was inspired by a profound encounter Hayley had with the Lord just a few years ago. I, along with many of our team, had a front-row seat, sitting in wonder at what God was and still is doing in the heart of this treasured one. And now, count- less people are being impacted by her story. She has inspired a generation to seek God first—not just an experience—but truly, seek the heart of a loving Father, whose goodness is beyond all we could have the faith or intelligence to ask for. Testimonies of God encounters have that effect.
This walk with Christ is a relational journey. It is often built up through our faithfulness in the simple moments of our lives, i.e., the daily reading of Scripture, prayer and worship in our homes, and taking time to show love and care to another. Every- thing along this journey is to be treasured. But it would also be irresponsible for me to imply that such overwhelming kinds of encounters with God are only for the spiritual giants of our day. It would be more correct to say that it is often the life-changing encounter that makes the spiritual giant. The point is, every one of us can and should pursue the Lord with all of our hearts, trusting Him to lead us into the kinds of experiences that best enable us to represent Him well, in a way that He receives the glory.
I have had several different moments where God touched me in life-changing ways. It has happened through the reading of Scripture, as in that moment when the Lord spoke to me out of Isaiah 60, on a Thursday afternoon in May of 1979. It has also happened as someone was teaching the Word in such a way that I knew what was being shared would change the rest of my life. That’s what happened to me when I heard my dad teach out of Ezekiel about the ministry to the Lord in the inner court, versus ministering only to the people in the outer court. I bowed my head and committed the rest of my life to learning this one thing. His teaching had that deep of an effect on me. The year was 1972. But I also remember an encounter I had with the Lord in October of 1995 that lasted all night. It was more of the over- whelming kind that I had no grid for. But it changed me.
These experiences are real and necessary. Tragically, many without such encounters teach against them. When I married my wife in 1973, it wasn’t to illustrate the theology of marriage. I married her to know her, encounter her, and learn to do life with her. Should we expect anything less when we give ourselves to the lover of our souls? I think not. And so, I limit the level of influence a person has in my life if I perceive that they are satisfied with lack. But don’t seek the experience. Seek Him.
Every encounter with God is an invitation to know Him. We see Moses’ prayer in Exodus 33:13, “Show me your ways that I may know you.” (emphasis added). Whenever the Lord unveils a part of His nature, it always comes with an invitation to encounter Him more deeply. The discovery of His heart, nature, and covenant is the great adventure we are all a part of.
Encountering God enables us to live with such an awareness of His heart and His presence that our instinctive response is to obey. In fact, the most natural response of a believer living in connection with God is to move in obedience. Great faith does not come by striving—it is the result of surrender. Our yieldedness to the Holy Spirit is what helps us to live in our divine purpose. In this way of living, it becomes natural for us to illustrate John 15:7, “Abide in Me, and let My Word abide in you, and you will ask what you will, and it will be done for you.” Living in the felt realization of His presence, with His Word filling our hearts, is a natural outcome of encountering Him. The result is that we become effective by praying for things that matter to Him, and the impossibilities of life bow to the name of Jesus through our lips.
Hayley Braun is one such individual who passionately burns for the power and presence of God in the way I have described above. She has been a valuable part of our leadership team for years, overseeing various parts of the ministry school and the church. But I have had the personal privilege of watching her journey of absolute surrender to the working of the Holy Spirit in her life. This encounter has brought forth an absolute boldness, a sharp prophetic gifting, and an anointing like never before.
I am so excited about this book. There is a great impartation available for every reader. But don’t just take it as a good story. Revelation 19:10 declares to us that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” In other words, what He’s done in one speaks of what He wants to do in another. I encourage you to allow the teaching and stories in these pages to draw you into a greater hunger and surrender to the Holy Spirit.
