Bill Johnson: “My Heart Burned While Reading This.”

I first need to say, I love Miriam Evans’ book! In fact, my heart burned while reading it.

Miriam has tapped into the ever-flowing river of God’s delight in us with a passion for His world to shape ours. She found the perfect blend of biblical insight, practical application, historical references, and present-day testimonies to reveal the heart of God for people. Glory Miracles is a feast for the soul.

Valuing what God values changes where we put our attention. Jesus made God’s desire to see heaven come to earth a focus of our prayer life: “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). If this is our cry, then we must align our heart with heaven’s priorities. The most precious thing in heaven is not streets made of gold or a glass sea. It’s the presence of God. Everything in heaven is sustained by His manifest presence. And the manifestation of Jesus in our lives is entirely dependent on our surrender to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. John 15:7 combines the two by saying, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you….”

Jesus is not giving us religious routines to live by. He is inviting us into the ongoing experience of staying connected to His presence and His Word. The result is beautiful. We get to live with the constant realization of who we are, whose we are, and where we are. He invites us to live in the felt realization of the presence of God, with His Word in our hearts. Jesus continues with this stunning promise: “You will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” This is not an invitation to selfishness; it’s an invitation to co-labor with Him. God wants to see the reality of His world work in and through the dreams of His yielded people.

This is the passionate focus I see on Miriam’s life. Glory Miracles is a window into the heart and mind of a woman who has laid it all down in order to see heaven come to earth. These pages are filled with testimonies of the miraculous power of Jesus touching individuals in wild and creative ways simply because Miriam and Tommy said the absolute yes to God. Practically speaking, they committed themselves to making room for the Holy Spirit, and doing whatever He says. No matter what.

Miracles are all easy when we realize we are never the ones doing them. Our job is simply to keep our eyes fixed on Him rather than whatever storm is raging around us. Breakthrough often begins the moment we stop being impressed by the size of our problems. There is no disease to which we owe reverence. Nor is there a demon to whom we owe respect. Darkness in the world must never be considered more powerful than the clear revelation of God’s nature seen in the person of Jesus.

God’s target for every believer is for us “to be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). I can’t imagine a more incomprehensible idea. What’s important for us to remember is that the fullness of God’s love will never be adequately demonstrated apart from power. We have a divine assignment that was birthed in us the moment we were born again. And that is this appetite for the impossible. It’s who we are. This is the normal Christian life.

I would encourage everyone to read this book, meditate on her insights, and let these words inspire and activate you into a lifestyle of miracles.

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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