Top 12 Bill Johnson Quotes from Manifest Presence 2011

Bill Johnson must be one of the most quotable preachers on the planet. He’s a regular wordsmith and full of wisdom. If you’ve heard him speak you’ll know he’s funny and profound and never condemning. He paints word-pictures of heaven-on-earth and he tells good stories about the goodness of a good God.

People regularly get healed as a result of his message. In one meeting last week, about a 100 people indicated that they were healed where they stood. How did this happen? Bill Johnson simply revealed a good Father, had a few words of knowledge about various afflictions, then activated the priest-hood of all believers. I personally prayed for a man with no cartilage in his knee and within a minute he was running up and down the stairs. He was pain free for the first time in 30 years! Does this surprise you? Preaching the gospel with signs and wonders following is supposed to be the normal, everyday, routine, run-of-the-mill life for a believer. Jesus said so in Mark 16:17-18. As Bill says, we just want to get what He paid for.

Last year I listed some of Bill Johnson’s best quotes on the goodness of God along with some choice sound-bites from the 2010 Manifest Presence Conference. For those of you outside New Zealand, Bill Johnson has been speaking at Manifest Presence each year for the past six years or so. At this year’s conference, which has just finished, he preached four times. Below is a selection of my favorite Billisms from this year’s conference. I’ll put some additional quotes on E2R’s Facebook page as well as Twitter. Enjoy!

1. “Jesus was the desire of the nations. His body – us – should be the desire of the nations because He’s irresistible.”

2. “In the Old Testament, anything unclean has power over what is clean. A leper yelling ‘Unclean!’ doesn’t reveal God’s heart but the severity of sin. In the New Testament it’s the other way around. A believing spouse sanctifies the entire house, mercy triumphs over judgment, and loves covers a multitude of sins.”

3. “Jesus released peace to the storm. How do we know He had peace? He was sleeping. You have authority over any storm you can sleep in.”

4. “Automatically thinking ‘everything that happens is God’s will’ is a lazy way to live. We live in a war. Jesus wasn’t fighting the Father’s will when He raised the dead.”

5. “If God didn’t cause Katrina, who did? My response is, ‘Well, who did He leave in charge? To whom did He give all authority?’ I refuse to blame God. How many life-threatening storms did Jesus bless? I will not stand as an accuser before God holding up the sins of a city against them. I want no likeness to the accuser of the brethren.”

6. “I am often asked, ‘Where is that in the Bible?’ Psalm 115. ‘God does what He pleases.’ The Bible reveals His nature but does not contain Him or set boundaries for Him.”

7. “It’s a great time to be alive. It’s probably a great time to be dead too – I don’t know.”

8. “Don’t be impressed by darkness. Jesus didn’t do the opposite of whatever the devil did. He did what He saw the Father doing… The moment I have a lesser sense of Him and a greater sense of the problem, I will live in reaction to the problem.”

9. “You cannot hold God hostage (to your questions). He doesn’t owe you an answer. If you want the peace that passes understanding, you’re going to have to give up your right to understanding. It’s called trust.”

10. “Learn to value the Spirit in every believer. Children don’t get a junior Holy Ghost.”

11. “The church is often known for what we hate. We hate you. Come to Jesus. You can be like us. It’s ridiculous.”

12. “We have witches comes to our meetings. It’s quite entertaining. Everybody’s welcome. Not everybody gets to preach.”

Did you enjoy that? Okay, here’s a bonus quote. This one really cracked me up:

I’m not a good faster. My friends have visions of God, I have visions of hamburgers. The only time I watch the Food Channel is when I’m fasting. It’s pitiful. We did a 40 day fast. I bought 29 cookbooks. I don’t cook, but the pictures! I bought a deep-fryer and we don’t eat deep-fried food!