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The Mind of God: How His Wisdom Can Transform Our World
Two realities are evident in today's broken our culture is in desperate need, and our God is a miracle-working God. How do believers answer the world's cries for help in a way that reflects God's heart of compassion?
According to bestselling author Bill Johnson, we simply embrace two additional God's wisdom and his power. With biblical insight and extensive experience of seeing God's hand at work, Johnson offers keys to helping believers have the greatest impact on society. When we understand the long-term strategy of God's wisdom and the immediacy of his miracle-working power, we can have eternal impact and live with significance in the here and now, whether in our own lives and communities or in the farthest reaches of the world.
According to bestselling author Bill Johnson, we simply embrace two additional God's wisdom and his power. With biblical insight and extensive experience of seeing God's hand at work, Johnson offers keys to helping believers have the greatest impact on society. When we understand the long-term strategy of God's wisdom and the immediacy of his miracle-working power, we can have eternal impact and live with significance in the here and now, whether in our own lives and communities or in the farthest reaches of the world.
- GenresChristian
222 pages, Paperback
Published March 3, 2020
28 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Bill Johnson
767 books539 followersBill Johnson and his wife Brenda (Beni) Johnson are the Senior Pastors of Bethel Church in Redding, California. Johnson is a fifth generation pastor.
Johnson was born in Minnesota in 1951 and became a Christian as a young child. Soon after, Johnson read seven books on prayer, which significantly affected his perspective and subsequent ministry.
Bill Johnson and his wife have three children: Eric, Brian and Leah.
Johnson speaking at a conference
Bill Johnson and Beni (Brenda) began as singles pastors under his father at Bethel. In 1979, they became senior pastors of Mountain Chapel in Weaverville, California.
While pastoring in Weaverville, Johnson attended a 1987 conference led by John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Church Movement. According to Johnson "A number of healings and manifestations broke out and I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't object to it, I wasn't opposed to it; I just didn't know how to pastor it in a way that it would continue and increase".
In 1995, Johnson attended the Toronto Blessing revival at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church. Johnson relates: "In Toronto I said, 'Lord, if You touch me again I will never change the subject.' So I went up for prayer every time it was offered. I didn't have anything dramatic happen, but I came home and said, 'I am going to give the rest of my life to this.'"
In February 1996, after 17 years of leading the Weaverville church, the Johnsons were invited to become senior pastors of Bethel. Today Johnson describes Bethel as a church where "everything we do either fuels revival or is fueled by revival." Under his leadership, Bethel left the Assemblies of God in 2006 to become a nondenominational charismatic church.
According to a recent book written by Johnson, "Face to Face with God", Bethel is "a church where supernatural encounters with God happen regularly, miracles are common, and the congregation has an infectious passion for spiritual growth." The church has approximately 1,500 members, and a School of Supernatural Ministry.
Their Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry has 1,200 students enrolled with over 370 from other countries. Johnson leads a network of churches dedicated to global, multi-generational revival, Global Legacy. Johnson has written a number of books and travels extensively as a featured revival conference speaker. Johnson is also involved with the Northern California Revival Fellowship, a group of north Californian pastors committed to revival.
Source: Wikipedia
Johnson was born in Minnesota in 1951 and became a Christian as a young child. Soon after, Johnson read seven books on prayer, which significantly affected his perspective and subsequent ministry.
Bill Johnson and his wife have three children: Eric, Brian and Leah.
Johnson speaking at a conference
Bill Johnson and Beni (Brenda) began as singles pastors under his father at Bethel. In 1979, they became senior pastors of Mountain Chapel in Weaverville, California.
While pastoring in Weaverville, Johnson attended a 1987 conference led by John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Church Movement. According to Johnson "A number of healings and manifestations broke out and I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't object to it, I wasn't opposed to it; I just didn't know how to pastor it in a way that it would continue and increase".
In 1995, Johnson attended the Toronto Blessing revival at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church. Johnson relates: "In Toronto I said, 'Lord, if You touch me again I will never change the subject.' So I went up for prayer every time it was offered. I didn't have anything dramatic happen, but I came home and said, 'I am going to give the rest of my life to this.'"
In February 1996, after 17 years of leading the Weaverville church, the Johnsons were invited to become senior pastors of Bethel. Today Johnson describes Bethel as a church where "everything we do either fuels revival or is fueled by revival." Under his leadership, Bethel left the Assemblies of God in 2006 to become a nondenominational charismatic church.
According to a recent book written by Johnson, "Face to Face with God", Bethel is "a church where supernatural encounters with God happen regularly, miracles are common, and the congregation has an infectious passion for spiritual growth." The church has approximately 1,500 members, and a School of Supernatural Ministry.
Their Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry has 1,200 students enrolled with over 370 from other countries. Johnson leads a network of churches dedicated to global, multi-generational revival, Global Legacy. Johnson has written a number of books and travels extensively as a featured revival conference speaker. Johnson is also involved with the Northern California Revival Fellowship, a group of north Californian pastors committed to revival.
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 2, 2020
I am honestly obsessed with this book. It really came at the perfect time for me and confirmed a lot of things that I felt the Lord already awakening and speaking to my spirit. I am so grateful for this perspective and the scriptures that Bill Johnson tied to each and every one of his points hits like a dart to center point.
The call and encouragement to the believer to take it beyond the average and into our true calling as a priest and minister first and foremost to the Lord, and then to the world around us is so much needed at this time and even more relevant in the way that Bill Johnson lays out these truths aligned with scripture.
Being the church of Christ and being his manifestation of heaven on eart, what that looks like and how it is done was one of the main themes throughout this book as he delved deep into what God’s word has to say about Wisdom and how that manifests in this world.
I would highly recommend this book for any believer who wants to be the light and salt that is asked of us, but may not know what that looks like in the natural world.
The call and encouragement to the believer to take it beyond the average and into our true calling as a priest and minister first and foremost to the Lord, and then to the world around us is so much needed at this time and even more relevant in the way that Bill Johnson lays out these truths aligned with scripture.
Being the church of Christ and being his manifestation of heaven on eart, what that looks like and how it is done was one of the main themes throughout this book as he delved deep into what God’s word has to say about Wisdom and how that manifests in this world.
I would highly recommend this book for any believer who wants to be the light and salt that is asked of us, but may not know what that looks like in the natural world.
March 11, 2020
[Note: This book was provided free of charge by Chosen Books in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
It may be stated that the author is not completely unfamiliar to me [1], and one thing that can be said positively about him is that he has a consistent beat and perspective in that he thinks highly of the Vineyard movement and has a strong sense of postmillennial optimism in his writing. The author has a strong desire to shape the external culture with his view of Christianity while also being aware of the fact that this is a deeply unpopular position from many people who have no desire to be shaped and influenced by godly morality. Whether or not you embrace or truly appreciate this book will depend in large part upon your own presuppositions and worldview that you bring to this book. As I happen to have brought different ones to the subject matter than the author I did not find this book as convincing as some will, but those who have a strong sense of postmillennial optimism will find this book's hope of cultural renewal to be deeply encouraging.
This book is a bit more than 200 pages and is opened with a foreword by Jack Hayford as well as acknowledgments by the author. After that the author talks about the greenhouse effect as a positive thing when it comes to growing plants in hostile environments (1) as well as the dream that God has for establishing His kingdom (2). There is a discussion of the seven mountains of influence and the prototypes of cultural leaders (3) who happen to be believers as well as the nature of those who reform corrupt civilizations and societies like our own (4). The author discusses the nature of God's gifts (5) as well as the big tests that come in using them in a godly fashion (6). After that the author discusses the power of beauty (7) and what Jesus preached (8) before moving on to discuss the difficult task of loving the people of Babylon without loving its corrupt systems (9) and in erasing the lines that divide people from each other (10). After that there are chapters about the lack of a devil in a couple of passages (11), the author's view of a theology of blessing (12), the power of the broken (13), as well as the joys of living full (14).
It is easy to see why the author has a strongly positive view about political power and the way that it can be a part of a general cultural renewal. For one, the author has a high view of power in general and sees believers as being at least potentially the sort of people who can be like a Joseph or Daniel or Mordecai in serving as key figures within the administration of nonbelieving regimes and able to influence the course of those regimes in a godly fashion. Notably, the author talks about doing just this with regards to Trump, seeking to influence him through providing what he views to be a biblical perspective on various matters such as the fate of Dreamers who were brought into this country illegally but not by their own will. The author is quite right to point out that one cannot have influence on others without genuinely respecting them and engaging with them, but not everyone will view the author's attempt to be a person of influence in a sanguine way. The open search for power and the desire to speak truth to power and the experience of God's power within our own lives are not matters that are always easy to keep in sync, after all.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
It may be stated that the author is not completely unfamiliar to me [1], and one thing that can be said positively about him is that he has a consistent beat and perspective in that he thinks highly of the Vineyard movement and has a strong sense of postmillennial optimism in his writing. The author has a strong desire to shape the external culture with his view of Christianity while also being aware of the fact that this is a deeply unpopular position from many people who have no desire to be shaped and influenced by godly morality. Whether or not you embrace or truly appreciate this book will depend in large part upon your own presuppositions and worldview that you bring to this book. As I happen to have brought different ones to the subject matter than the author I did not find this book as convincing as some will, but those who have a strong sense of postmillennial optimism will find this book's hope of cultural renewal to be deeply encouraging.
This book is a bit more than 200 pages and is opened with a foreword by Jack Hayford as well as acknowledgments by the author. After that the author talks about the greenhouse effect as a positive thing when it comes to growing plants in hostile environments (1) as well as the dream that God has for establishing His kingdom (2). There is a discussion of the seven mountains of influence and the prototypes of cultural leaders (3) who happen to be believers as well as the nature of those who reform corrupt civilizations and societies like our own (4). The author discusses the nature of God's gifts (5) as well as the big tests that come in using them in a godly fashion (6). After that the author discusses the power of beauty (7) and what Jesus preached (8) before moving on to discuss the difficult task of loving the people of Babylon without loving its corrupt systems (9) and in erasing the lines that divide people from each other (10). After that there are chapters about the lack of a devil in a couple of passages (11), the author's view of a theology of blessing (12), the power of the broken (13), as well as the joys of living full (14).
It is easy to see why the author has a strongly positive view about political power and the way that it can be a part of a general cultural renewal. For one, the author has a high view of power in general and sees believers as being at least potentially the sort of people who can be like a Joseph or Daniel or Mordecai in serving as key figures within the administration of nonbelieving regimes and able to influence the course of those regimes in a godly fashion. Notably, the author talks about doing just this with regards to Trump, seeking to influence him through providing what he views to be a biblical perspective on various matters such as the fate of Dreamers who were brought into this country illegally but not by their own will. The author is quite right to point out that one cannot have influence on others without genuinely respecting them and engaging with them, but not everyone will view the author's attempt to be a person of influence in a sanguine way. The open search for power and the desire to speak truth to power and the experience of God's power within our own lives are not matters that are always easy to keep in sync, after all.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
March 22, 2020
In the Mind of God, Bill Johnson explored the truth of God’s wisdom and His incredible power and how we can spread hope to the world. He begins the book by looking at the greenhouse effect and how our culture is made up the values, attitudes, and social norms. The plants are Kingdom truths from the word of God. We have to received Kingdom values, where we can influence others and try to lead them to Christ. He shares that as believers, we must learn to pray for life as it is in Heaven. We’re expected to reach the unbelievers and to share the good news. In the book, he explored the seven spheres of influence and how to pray for each one. Some of these included, family, religion, government, arts and media, science and technology, and much more. Believers are encouraged to pray for the environment around them where we can see mountains move and transformation can occur. The book also covered the three manifestations of wisdom: creativity, integrity, and excellence. He revealed the power of tapping into all three of them and seeking them for the Kingdom of Christ. He strongly encouraged believers to seek God and pray for new ideas and wisdom where we can use them for the Kingdom of God.
I would recommend this awesome book to anyone who is lacking in wisdom and they are wanting to seek God and gain in Godly wisdom. I immensely loved how Bill Johnson looked at how we can have Heaven on earth here right now and we can pray and ask God for wisdom. I liked the section on the seven spheres of influence and how he encouraged us to pray for all seven. We especially need to pray for all the cultures around us including the government, arts and media, science and technology, and our families. Many of us right now are living in fear of the coronavirus virus and this book reminds readers to pray for our spheres of influence daily and to seek God’s wisdom. This book will help readers to pray and receive the wisdom from God and to try and reach the lost.
“I received this book free from the publisher through the Bethany House Publishers/ Chosen book review bloggers program.”
I would recommend this awesome book to anyone who is lacking in wisdom and they are wanting to seek God and gain in Godly wisdom. I immensely loved how Bill Johnson looked at how we can have Heaven on earth here right now and we can pray and ask God for wisdom. I liked the section on the seven spheres of influence and how he encouraged us to pray for all seven. We especially need to pray for all the cultures around us including the government, arts and media, science and technology, and our families. Many of us right now are living in fear of the coronavirus virus and this book reminds readers to pray for our spheres of influence daily and to seek God’s wisdom. This book will help readers to pray and receive the wisdom from God and to try and reach the lost.
“I received this book free from the publisher through the Bethany House Publishers/ Chosen book review bloggers program.”
May 13, 2020
I always get excited when I see a new Bill Johnson book because when I hear him speak I always sense his humbleness and wisdom and I want to hear what he has to say. But, in the past, when I have read his books I have trouble focusing.
So I approached this one differently. I started reading this book a few weeks before the review, instead of the week before and I took the time to underline things that struck me. I normally try to avoid that because I like to pass my books on to others but I wanted to really absorb this book. And I am glad I did.
Although I might not agree with everything Bill Johnson says, there are many nuggets of gold within these pages and I have something underlined from, almost, every chapter.
I love his heart for the city, meaning he believes the Church should be having a profound impact on the cities in which we live. I pray for the school I teach in and my students but I don’t usually think in the bigger picture.
Overall, a good read with a lot to reflect on.
A copy of this book was given to me by the publisher. All opinions are my own.
So I approached this one differently. I started reading this book a few weeks before the review, instead of the week before and I took the time to underline things that struck me. I normally try to avoid that because I like to pass my books on to others but I wanted to really absorb this book. And I am glad I did.
Although I might not agree with everything Bill Johnson says, there are many nuggets of gold within these pages and I have something underlined from, almost, every chapter.
I love his heart for the city, meaning he believes the Church should be having a profound impact on the cities in which we live. I pray for the school I teach in and my students but I don’t usually think in the bigger picture.
Overall, a good read with a lot to reflect on.
A copy of this book was given to me by the publisher. All opinions are my own.
June 19, 2020
I've read many books on Christianity and what it is that WE, who are believers in Jesus, are to think and live. In all my books, first on my list is "Spirit, Soul, and Body" by Andrew Wommack and second was "The Normal Christian Life" by Watchman Nee. After completing Bill Johnson's book, I have to move it to number two. When I completed this book, my first impression is I have to read this again. My next impression leaves me in tears because truly, I feel that God has directed Bill to write what he wrote.
Bill's "living in the the presence of God" theme is a very real revelation. He shows revelation of God's past manifestations to men and the end result, the mind of God towards us, is to be fully filled with His presence while we are living in the earth.
Ephesians 3:19 sums it up what the mind of God is toward us, ",, to know Christ's love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
Bill's "living in the the presence of God" theme is a very real revelation. He shows revelation of God's past manifestations to men and the end result, the mind of God towards us, is to be fully filled with His presence while we are living in the earth.
Ephesians 3:19 sums it up what the mind of God is toward us, ",, to know Christ's love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
April 18, 2020
Previously published as The Power That Changes the World, The Mind of God is based around one of Pastor Bill Johnson’s life messages: Followers of Jesus are called to transform culture and society by the Wisdom and Power of God. Bill teaches this message through fourteen chapters like: The Greenhouse Effect, God Has A Dream, A Theology of Blessing, Erasing Lines, and Living Full.
I highly recommend this book and all of Pastor Bill’s other books and teachings.
I received a copy of this book from Chosen Books in exchange for an honest review.
I highly recommend this book and all of Pastor Bill’s other books and teachings.
I received a copy of this book from Chosen Books in exchange for an honest review.
September 8, 2020
Might be my favorite Bill Johnson EVER! Very applicable to my life NOW.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews