Faith includes ownership, what you ask for, you agree to carry.

Enjoying The Mystery of Restored Strength - Bill Johnson as I approach starting our 3rd Prayer Course at MNTC Portland House, I'm encouraged to carry what I've asked for in prayer.

Bill says God restores strength not only through waiting, but through sanctified desire. Desire is not a flaw to suppress. It is a God-designed capacity meant to be shaped by intimacy with Him. When we abide in Christ, our desires are refined to reflect His nature, and answered prayer becomes a means by which God reveals Himself in the world. Fulfilled desire is not indulgence. It is partnership. Prayer, then, is not passive asking but responsible co-laboring with God to see His will made visible, producing joy, renewal, and life.

Three Applications

1. Desire What God Desires

• Practice: Abide before you ask. Let Scripture and presence shape your longings.
• Posture: Desire flows from relationship, not impulse.
• Outcome: Your desires become trustworthy because they mirror God’s heart.
• But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! John 15:7
• Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12
• Application: Regularly ask, “Is this desire drawing me deeper into Christ and revealing His nature?”

2. Pray With Responsibility, Not Passivity

• Practice: Pray believing you are a steward, not a spectator.
• Posture: Faith includes ownership. What you ask for, you agree to carry.
• Outcome: Prayer becomes alignment with God’s will, not outsourcing it.
•  I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. Mark 11:24 
• You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy. John 16:24.
• Application: Write down what emerges in prayer and ask, “What obedience does this require of me?”

3. Expect Renewal Through God’s Goodness

• Practice: Refuse to forget God’s benefits, including personal kindness.
• Posture: Gratitude sharpens spiritual vision.
• Outcome: Strength is renewed as joy is restored, like youth renewed as the eagle’s.
• Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! Psalm 103:2–5
• Application: Track answered prayers and moments of God’s attention to your desires. Let testimony fuel expectation.

Bottom Line

Desire is not the enemy of holiness. Disconnected desire is.

When desire is anchored in Christ and prayer is carried with responsibility, God’s will moves from heaven into lived reality, and joy becomes full.