Bill Johnson (Baker Publishing)
Bethel Church Senior Pastor Bill Johnson was so moved after studying and meditating on 1 Corinthians 13:13 that he wrote Experience the Impossible: Simple Ways to Unleash Heaven’s Power on Earth. The devotional includes 79 short chapters, each tagged under three categories related to Paul’s famous verse: faith, hope or love. Each chapter ends with a prayer and confession.
“Jesus commissioned us to heal the sick, raise the dead and much more,” Johnson writes. “He said that nothing shall be impossible to us. It is time to take the Master at His word and experience the impossible in His Name.”
Johnson challenges readers to not strive in their faith but surrender as an act of faith. “Faith is called both a fruit and a gift of the Spirit,” he writes. “You have never heard a fruit tree groan and travail to produce fruit. Growing fruit is the evidence that the tree is holding its place (abiding) in the soil in order to receive nutrients, sunlight and moisture correctly. In the same way, those who abide in Christ cannot help but grow in faith as the result of being continually exposed to His nature through His Word and His manifest presence.”
For hope, Johnson exhorts readers to completely depend on God’s presence as He positions us for miracles.
His presence is for our assignment to disciple the nations.
The best-selling author reminds us that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in us—”and He wants out.” And just as Paul points out, this begins and ends with the greatest of the three elements highlighted in the 1 Corinthians verse: love. God’s love flows through us as we carry His heart and His passions. “The power of God is expressed or released from us in all life and ministry that is truly pleasing to Him,” he said. This rich devotional will increase your faith to see heaven’s power released through your life. —Leilani Haywood