Face to Face With God: Get Ready for a Life-Changing Encounter with God

by Bill Johnson

Powerlessness is such an aberration that we are either compelled to seek for a fresh baptism in the Spirit until the power that was promised becomes manifested through us, or we create doctrinal reasons to comfort ourselves in powerlessness.

I’ve heard people say that if they had to choose between purity and power, they’d choose purity. That sounds good, but it’s an illegal choice. The two must not be separated. They are two sides of the same coin, and they must remain intact. I have told our church family, “I’m not impressed with anyone’s life that does not have character. But I’m not happy with that life until there is power.”

Righteousness has been reduced to morality for some. Morality is essential, but it is the bottom rung of the ladder. It’s the first step. But true righteousness is demonstrated in Christlike indignation toward injustice. It seeks to vindicate mistreatment of the poor, the widow, and the unborn. It also stirs our hearts toward those who are bound by disease, for it was the sun of righteousness that rose with healing in His wings.8 Healing is an expression of His righteousness on our behalf.

As I said in the previous chapter, joy is to salvation what tears are to repentance.

Jesus is called the desire of the nations.

Four cornerstones of thought have changed how we do life.

God is good.

But to give us access to a realm that only He enjoys, He added, “All things are possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23).

We fight from the victory of Christ.

I am significant.

let’s learn to pray as Jesus did.

There is no record of Jesus asking His Father to heal someone, nor is there record of Him crying for the Father’s deliverance in a life-threatening storm. Instead He had gained a place of authority in prayer so that He could simply bring the command and watch the will of His Father being done.

My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. —1 CORINTHIANS 2:4–5

Jesus Christ was entirely God.

Jesus is our righteousness. But when we are touched by His righteousness, we not only became righteous, but we also became the righteousness of God.3 Consider this extreme effect of the gospel. We don’t just carry this grace from God. We become a manifestation of that grace.

The one who is cleansed by the blood of Jesus is now able to cleanse;

When people give me honor, I thank them for their thoughtfulness. But I refuse to respond with the nauseating religious jargon, “It wasn’t me; it was Jesus.” Rather, when I get alone with God, I bring the honor given to me and give it to Him, saying, “Look what someone gave to me. I believe this belongs to You.” There’s no question in my mind about who really deserves it.

so that it will give grace to those who hear. —EPHESIANS 4:29, EMPHASIS ADDED

It is the discovery of the treasure that is in us through encountering the face of God that enables us to write checks that are consistent with His account, not ours.

If we have received something from God, we shine as we give it away.

We give away what we have, and as we do, the world around us conforms. It is a superior kingdom.

The world He was dwelling in has no storms. Paul would later find language for Jesus’s example saying that we live in “heavenly places in Christ.”13 Jesus lived from heaven toward Earth.

Like Jesus, we have authority over any storm we can sleep in.

For example, because it is in Scripture, we often take for granted the things that were released to Israel in the wilderness on their way to the land of promises, not only the miracles of provision and victories in battle but also the abiding presence of God in the cloud and the fire. They weren’t born again, they were living in rebellion, and yet God was seen among them. That all happened under an inferior covenant. We need to look at these things and ask, “If He did that for them, how much more will He do for us?”

We are entering a period of time where we will see more and more people coming to Christ because of His face shining upon the people of God. Sometimes it will be His raw power that manifests through us, and other times it will be His selfless love with works of kindness. But His face will be seen, as it must.