FIRST THINGS FIRST

EXPERIENCING GOD’S PRESENCE 

Steve Douglas: Bill, I notice you're wearing oxygen tubes. Could you explain that to us?

Bill Bright: It's a simple matter. I have fibrosis of the lungs and the doctors tell me that there's no cure. They don't know what caused it and they don't know how to heal it, but Vonette and I are rejoicing in the fact that the God who created the heavens and the earth and came to die on the cross for our sins and now lives within us, filters everything that happens to us through His love. So, we're rejoicing in this and don't know what the future holds, but as Martin Luther said, "We know who holds the future." So, we consider this a great challenge and a great blessing.

SD: Well, Bill, I've been around you a lot recently and I can testify to the fact you are rejoicing, notwithstanding this very significant challenge. 

SD: Bill, a lot of people would pass their theological examination on that point, but they wouldn't live it out like you are and there's the difference. Bill, what does it mean to experience God's presence and God's power in your moment-by-moment walk? I think most people don’t have that. You do. I've really learned that from you. Tell us a little about what it means to walk with God.

Bill Bright: Well, in I John we read, "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as God is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses and keeps on cleansing," according to the original language, "us from all unrighteousness." So, my goal day after day is to be sure there's no sin unconfessed in my life. I walk in the light and I pray, Lord if there's anything displeasing to you in my life, my attitudes, my emotions, my desires, my words, anything that you don't like, show me so I can turn from them. I don't want a shadow to be cast on my relationship with you. My thought life, my actions, whatever. So, I just walk in the light all day long and you see I live by Philippians 2:13, "God works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure." So, if you're walking in the light God can talk to you. He tells you things to do, and you look back over the history of this movement and you've been such a vital part of it. He's telling you and different ones on our staff as well as myself what to do, because whatever He tells us to do He'll give us the ability to do.

SD: Absolutely, Bill. As I've said earlier, I've learned it from you, but I've had a constant experience, especially in the last year when I've really needed it, of sensing that God was guiding me, do this, no don't do that. I just woke up this morning with direction on how to handle a particular meeting I was in before we got into this time of taping and it was right. The response that the people showed me; that was God. He knew what was on their hearts, I didn't, but He leads. That's really true. It's a moment-by-moment experience where God can guide you and you can walk in the light.

Bill Bright: I awakened this morning knowing of a particular meeting I'm going to have before today's over and the Lord told me exactly what to do to be prepared for the meeting.

SD: Saves a lot of time, doesn't it?

Bill Bright: Oh, it does and the wonderful thing is God wants to talk to every one of His children. The Holy Spirit lives within us; Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Our bodies are His temples and He wants to talk to us, and many theologians don't believe God talks to us anymore.

SD: I was just going to mention I think a lot of people would say, I actually???? 

Bill Bright: Oh, that's crazy, that's far out. How would talk to a little termite like us? But the fact is He spoke in times past to the fathers, to the writers of the scripture, but in different ways He speaks to us today. I can't claim that my hearing is perfect, but I can tell you there's no question in my mind that on thousands of occasions He has told me what to do and honored my obedience.

SD: Your hearing may not be perfect but you're not deaf.

Bill Bright: That’s right.

SD: God does speak and you hear Him?

Bill Bright: Yes, sir.

SD: Even if approximately you hear Him, and I know what you're saying.

CONFESSION & SPIRITUAL BREATHING 

SD: Many years ago you coined a phrase, “spiritual breathing,” inhaling and exhaling. What does that mean?

Bill Bright: Spiritual breathing is one of the most important concepts God has shown me all through the years. Many people have real problems of guilt because they do something they know is wrong and they don’t know what to do about it, and it accumulates. They go to a church meeting, a revival meeting and an altar call is given and they go up and confess their sins, but the next day they're back at it again. So, it's a perpetual thing. When the fact is spiritual breathing enables one, the moment you say something that grieves or quenches the Spirit, I confess it, which means I agree with God, and immediately I John 1:9 becomes reality. "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteoness." Therefore, every Christian needs to understand you don't have to carry around that baggage. You're not reconciled to your spouse or your neighbor or your friend whom you alienated

Every Christian needs to know how to get rid of the baggage of guilt and all kinds of insecurities and failures because of sin, and you do that by confessing. It's not a ritual. You don't just say, Lord I goofed. It's a matter of true repentence. Confession involves repentence.

SD: Why do we focus on confession in the discipleship process?

Bill Bright: Confession involves true repentence. In other words, for a person to say Lord I had sex with Susie, I know it was wrong outside of marriage, please forgive me and then he does it again the next day, and the next day, and the next day; please forgive, please forgive me. Well, God does forgive, but there's a standard the scritpure speaks of God's judgement and how God holds us accountable for our conduct. And over the the Epistle of John, chapter 2, He speaks about the importance if we do not obey God's laws, it's quite likely we're not believers. And our surveys suggest that over half of the members of the church -- 120 million people who go to church on Sunday -- are not sure of their salvation, largely becaue there's unconfessed sin. And when you have unconfessed sin in your life you have doubts about your salvation. You have doubts about the authority of scripture. You have doubts abuot God, because Satan takes one little lie -- not a little lie -- but a lie or an immoral action and it soon becomes a major production and spirtual breathing helps to deal with that issue.

HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERMENT 

SD: Bill, Campus Crusade for Christ believes in evangelism and discipleship. That means we value following people up, for example. How do we do that? How do we actually build people who are new believers?

Bill Bright: Many people say, how can one be filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, it's simply a matter of faith. Salvation is a gift of God we receive by faith. We don't earn it. Ephesians 2: 8 and 9 says, "For by grace are you saved through faith. That not of yourselves, it's a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast." The same is true of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 5:18 we're told, "Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit." In the original language it means being filled with the Spirit. It's a command for every believer, not just the ministers and missionaries. It's a command, not a promise. It’s a command, not a suggestion, but with it is a promise,

I John 5:14 and 15, "If we ask anything according to God's will, He hears us." We know it’s His will we be filled with the Spirit.

And in I John 5: 14 and 15 we're told that, "If we ask anything according to God's will, He hears us, and if He hears us He answers us." Now we know it's His will that every believer be filled with the Holy Spirit, walk in the light as God is in the light, live a holy life because it's a command of God to do so. Therefore when we pray for the fullness of the Spirit we don't have to wait for some ecstatic, dramatic, emotional experience, though many have such experiences. But it's by faith that we can know we're filled because we meet God's conditions, but you can't be filled with the Holy Spirit unless you surrender to the Lordship of Christ. You can't be filled with the Holy Spirit if there's sin unconfessed. You can't be filled with the Holy Spirit unless you want to be filled. It doesn't just happen. So, I say to all believers, whoever you are, wherever you are, if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit you really are missing out on what the Christian life is all about. Jesus said, "I've come to give life and life abundantly," and that is the work of the Holy Spirit. He produces love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance in our lives. It's not something the flesh can do. The flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. Even to this day at almost 80, flesh wars against the Spirit, but I've learned enough to know that when I’m tempted to do something that's not right, I just simply say, Lord Jesus take care of this. Satan is tempting me. Cleanse my mind with your precious blood. Fill me, control me, empower me with your spirit. Don't allow me to do anything that's contrary to your holy, perfect will and now that I have walked with the Lord all these years and I've seen how foolishly we often times ignore the Holy Spirit -- because I have not always understood this truth -- I look around me and I see Christians living as though they're not believers at all, and it's tragic to think that so many believers are missing out on the blessings of heaven.

FASTING & PRAYER 

SD: We’ve been talking about filling with the Holy Spirit and really the implication is that God really does this thing called the Christian life. Something has caused you, Bill, to believe very strongly in spiritual disciplines, in particular, fasting & prayer. What happened in your life, or why is that you emphasize those disciplines so strongly?

Bill Bright: Well, I learned as a new believer that fasting had something to do with being a man of God. So, I would fast for a day here or a week there. I think I fasted on one occasion for 28 days, but I didn't really understand what I was doing fully. It was not until 1994 as I was being absolutely devastated by the moral and spiritual disintegration of our country, that God impressed upon me to fast for 40 days for revival in my own heart, for my own church, community and country and the world and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

So, God impressed me in such a powerful way to fast for 40 days that I could hardly wait. July the 5th, 1994, I began my fast. Well, I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure I could fast more than two or three days, but God gave me grace and it was the most wonderful 40 days of my life spiritually. The Word of God was quickened. The Presence of the Lord in my life became more intimate. I just had a deeper sense of His holy presence. Something wonderful was happening, and He impressed me during my 40 day fast to write a book entitled, The Coming Revival, because He assured me that there would be a revival that would come to the world, and He impressed me to call together Christian leaders to come to Orlando to fast and pray with me, which we did in December of 1994. Over 650 or so came, and that was the beginning of a fasting and prayer movement that has now encircled the globe. We've had eight such gatherings and another one is scheduled in Los Angeles for the fall of 2001. God is at work through fasting. I think it's the spiritual atomic bomb of the Christian disciplines. You know we're promised in II Chronicles chapter 7, verse 14, "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and Praia and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land." When you analyze it there's not a single discipline; witnessing, the word, prayer, that meets those conditions apart from fasting. The big problem every one of us has is ego and anyone who fasts for 40 days is not going to do it because of an ego kick. He's not going to do it just for his own fleshly pleasure. Well, that began for me a series of fasting and prayer for each year since. So, I've had eight 40-days, plus many smaller shorter times and I must say even though the flesh rebels, it's the greatest spiritual discipline of my life.

Bill Bright: For those who are troubled about the passage of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus speaks to the Pharisees about not fasting so that it's publicly known by looking sad and trying to be pious, Jesus was not saying that we shouldn't talk about fasting because He said a similar word about prayer, when you pray go into your closet and pray. Obviously there would be prayer meetings, and we know that the disciples prayed, Acts 4 and other passages remind us that prayer is very important. Fasting is important and we need to tell those who are members of our church, and our friends and relatives and fellow students, and people in the workplace that we're fasting, but always with a joyful spirit, not dire and as though you're doing this terrible thing because you have a duty to perform. It's a privilege to fast, not something you have to do. So, I encourage you to talk about it. One of the first things happened after I had my first 40-day fast and I mentioned it to a friend. I was cautioned; don't talk about that. God doesn't want you to talk about fasting. Well, I can tell you, He does want you to talk about it and Jesus was talking to the hypocrites, the Pharisees who were parading their piety by fasting. And the more people who experience the joy that results from fasting who tell about it will be productive in the lives of those who will follow their example. It's very important that we share what we're doing.

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