In a message of encouragement for 2024, Bill Johnson is reminding the body of Christ to stay focused on one thing above all others, and that is to know the Lord.
Just as Anna and Simeon were both fixated on seeking the presence of the Lord for the Messiah to come, we are also to seek Him above all other things.
“The Lord is releasing an Anna and Simeon anointing,” Johnson said. “It’s the Matthew 6 anointing; it’s the eye that has settled on one journey. The reason my whole body is full of life, the reason my entire life is under the visible manifestation of the glory of God is because I have determined I am alive for one thing.”
Johnson said that as we shift our focus away from the things of this world such as worries, fears and doubts, we do not need as much to encourage us. Instead of being led by our emotions, when we keep our head up and our eyes transfixed on the glory of God, on seeking Him, on knowing who He is, then we see our greater purpose as beings created to worship the Lord.
“The more focused you are on why you’re alive, the less it takes to encourage you,” Johnson said.
Johnson also reminded the church that it’s not just about seeing God in the big, bold moments of life, but when we seek Him in the mundane, when we see that He is with us and wants to talk with us even through the small moments, we have the opportunity to be all in for the Lord.
“If you’re not all in, you miss the seeds. You miss the subtle signs of God’s working. Because He doesn’t always just come and just show Himself boldly and strongly,” Johnson said.
Johnson points to the peculiarity and the subtlety of Jesus coming to the world as an infant. To most people, they just saw an infant. And in coming as a baby, He in no way would have seemed to be the Savior of the world from a first look. However, for those who prayed, fasted and waited expectantly for the Lord to show up, they saw exactly who He was. Anna and Simeon kept their eyes transfixed on God in a time when He was silent, knowing that the Messiah would someday come. They kept their eyes on God, and He delivered to them the promise they prayed and sought after.
As God is getting ready to do new things in 2024, Johnson inspires us to make Jesus the One thing we desire more than anything.
“The gestation period is soon coming to an end, a conclusion, and there will be a birthing of something very powerful and very new in the earth, but specifically in you and me. And I believe the Lord is wooing us into the one thing…God, forgive me everywhere I’ve been distracted, I’ve voluntarily submitted myself to distractions that have wared over my heart, fought over my heart,” Johnson said.
No matter what kind of season you’ve been walking through, whether it’s been on the mountaintop or in the valley, there’s no better time to delve deeper into relationship with the Lord than right now, here at the beginning of a brand-new year.
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Abby Trivett is a marketing copywriter and coordinator for Charisma Media.
Stephen Strang