Bill Johnson - The War in Your Head
Yeah, it’s nice to see you! I’m glad you guys showed up. It’s been a real full week. My wife has written a new book that will be out later this year, probably in November; I lose track of time. It’s about health, and I have strong convictions about health. About 50% of my heart is fanatical about it; count me in at about 90%. There’s another 10% that says, «Just eat whatever you want; it’ll all work out.» The Bethel TV crew and our publisher, Destiny House Publishing, were at our house this week filming a number of DVDs in preparation for a curriculum in this area. It’s really fascinating; I’m unusually excited for this book and its curriculum. I’ve watched people who know nothing about us or her prophesy that she has a book about health within her, and it should be written.
I truly believe that God wants us healthy, and it’s been a fun journey. We worked on that this week and I also took my book, «Strengthen Yourself in the Lord,» and created a curriculum from it, which I’m excited about. I spent a couple of days with our crew, and many of you showed up. We did eight sessions—I think we almost overloaded people, but that’s a good kind of overdose when it’s on how to be strong and stable. So, it’s been a very fun week, which brings me to the subject for this morning. I was pondering earlier that certain subjects ought to be reviewed somewhat regularly. I’ve been thinking about our losses over the 19 years we’ve been here and how often the Lord has brought the topic of forgiveness to us, either from our staff or guest speakers.
It amazes me how frequently this subject comes up, which reinforces the need for us to stay current on walking in forgiveness—both forgiving others and living in the forgiveness of the Lord. The second area I developed curriculum on this week is about brain strength, essentially dealing with loss and disappointments. Chris led us in prayer this morning, highlighting that disappointment and resentment or bitterness are two of the greatest cripplers in the body of Christ. Addressing those consistently is a big deal.
Today, I want to cover a third area, going over something we’ve discussed numerous times over the years because I feel it’s important to revisit it. After the first service this morning, I discovered that Chris addressed the exact same topic earlier this week. We don’t compare notes, so we hadn’t discussed this beforehand. It always encourages me when this happens because it confirms that the Lord is highlighting this issue. What I want to talk to you about is spiritual warfare, specifically regarding the mind. How many of you have learned that the battleground is the mind in spiritual warfare? The Bible instructs us very specifically on what to do in this area, such as taking captive thoughts. I have three areas of Scripture, but we may only read one and I’ll quote the others to save some time.
So, let’s go to 2 Corinthians 10; we’ll read a couple of verses from there to get started. The basic premise for our study is in these verses where the Apostle Paul talks about pulling down strongholds. Picture a stronghold, like walled cities or castles from Old Testament times, which serve as places where an army can hide. These walls are made of huge stones. The Bible speaks of tearing down these strongholds; according to this passage, these stones represent thought patterns that wage war against the knowledge of God. These are ideas and ideals that conflict with what God says, and the enemy inhabits these realms of thought. A stronghold is where an army rests so they can go out and execute their plans. The enemy hides safely within the thought life—not in the imagination in an abstract sense, but in the broken thoughts of people inconsistent with the knowledge of God.
It’s where the enemy is concealed and is safe to hide, and from there, he works to kill, steal, and destroy. So let’s take these passages, and then we’ll just start talking. All right, I should probably turn to that chapter myself. Here it is: Second Corinthians, not Chronicles, Corinthians chapter 10, verse 3. Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Look at verses 4 and 5 again. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments—some translations will say reasonings or imaginations—and casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
So, here is this picture of dealing with ideas and thoughts that are completely separate from the ideas of God, the thoughts of God, and the plans of God. Let me back up. We can’t afford to entertain thoughts about us that He doesn’t think about us. The moment we do, we entertain a lie, and we actually war against the very purposes of God in our lives. When we dwell on and feed those things that are contrary to His word over us, we actually war against that. That’s why the Bible says the mind set on the flesh is death. It cannot obey God. The mind that is contrary to the purposes of God actually sets us up for failure and makes us incapable of following the very commands that the Lord has given us.
So here, this scripture gives us a picture: the picture of strongholds being pulled down by taking thoughts captive and specifically casting down. It’s a violent term—casting down thoughts, imaginations, and reasonings that are inconsistent with God. It’s the target of the Lord for you and me every single day of our lives. He is looking for you and me to know the mind of Christ and to live as a model or an illustration of the mind of Christ. It’s not just that we think happy moral thoughts. That’s a no-brainer, and that’s absolutely true, but He thinks completely differently. When He warned His disciples—excuse me, when He began to teach them about the potential negative influences in their lives, He warned them in Mark 8. He said, «Be careful of the leaven of Herod and the leaven of the Pharisees.» Be careful of the religious system where God is at the center but is impersonal and perilous. And be careful of Herod, the political system that is humanistic in nature.
Be careful of these influences over the way you think. So He began to talk to them with this analogy about leaven, and the disciples responded in fear because they didn’t have enough food for lunch. So they slightly missed the subject; they thought He was talking about whether they brought food for lunch, and thus, they completely missed the lesson entirely. They started responding in fear. Now, every response we have in life is either out of love or out of fear. See, love or fear is the source of our words, our responses, our directives in life—the things that we pursue and the things we choose not to pursue. It’s either because of love or because of fear. In some way, one of those two realms has influenced how we think and see.
So when Jesus talks to His disciples, they are now in fear mode because they don’t have enough food for lunch. Jesus asks the question—in the New King James, it says, «Why do you reason that you have no bread?» In the New American Standard, it says, «Why do you discuss that you have no bread?» That word 'reason' or 'discuss' comes from the root word found in this passage in Second Corinthians: imaginations, speculations, high things that have been raised against the knowledge of God. So here, He’s saying, «Why is your reasoning at war with My world? You are considering and dwelling on a reality that violates how I live, how I think, and what I’ve assigned you to do with your life.» Amen! That was a very good point.
All right, so Jesus is challenging their thinking. When you first get saved, the first thing we start dealing with is what we think about. If we find ourselves thinking with hatred, greed, lust, envy, or whatever it might be, those things get exposed to us. But after a while, we find out God is not just interested in the individual thoughts; He’s interested in the process of thinking, the way we think, and the way we view things around us.
The disciples are in a boat with no more than one loaf of bread. They don’t have enough food for lunch, and they go into fear mode. Jesus says, «Why do you reason that you have no bread?» He then reminds them they were with Him when He multiplied food for thousands and thousands of people twice. «Why do you reason that you have no bread? Why does your imagination start with what you don’t have?» How many of you have been in a financial crisis before? How many of you have had God do a miracle and provide for you? How many of you, after that financial crisis, faced another one even though God answered the first? How many of you were as nervous the second time as you were the first? All right, that’s the point. That’s His question. Why do you reason? Why didn’t you change the way you think because you saw My nature? See, we tend to think that the miracles of God are temporary interventions; instead, they are revelations of nature, the nature of a God who makes a covenant with His children.
Now, there are always two trees in the garden: one you eat from, and one you don’t eat from. The reason is because of the nature of God. It’s not punishment; He just sets us up to be rewarded. If there are not two trees—one good and one bad—in your garden of life, then you can’t be rewarded for making the right choice. If you have no choice, no options, we can’t say you have free will. One of the most priceless creations of God is when He gave humanity free will. He lives and dies, if you will, to protect that mountain, to protect the reality of free will given to people. He places two trees in the garden so that you have a choice.
So how many of you were challenged financially at some point in your life? We’ll use money as a good example here. It could have been an offering, helping the poor, or caring for a neighbor in crisis. It could be any of those things—some mission support for somebody on the other side of the planet. You took a risk; you gave some money, and God quickly returned it to you. You were stunned at how fast He performed a financial miracle in your life. How many of you had that happen? All right, how many of you, after that happened, took another risk and didn’t get the same quick answer the second time? Is that right? I see it all the time with new believers. They come in; they can take any risk they want, and it’s like bang—the answer is there! It’s as if they could give their last hundred dollars and walk out of the room to find a thousand on the ground. The Lord is so quick to answer these folks. What is He doing? He’s revealing His nature; He’s not just revealing an act of God.
Part of the problem with Israel’s failure and Moses’s maturity is found in this phrase: Israel was acquainted with the acts of God; Moses was acquainted with His ways. Moses took the acts of God and discovered His nature to make covenant with that God. That’s why he was stable during the shifting seasons in which Israel was not. So, that first answer to prayer—you took the risk, you gave the hundred dollars to your neighbor in crisis, and a week later he returned to you tenfold. You were so thankful that you rushed to your friends to share the testimony.
A month later, you did the same thing, and two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, and you wondered, «Where is this God who made a covenant with me to always care for me?» What is He doing? He just put a second tree in your garden. Are you going to let the absence of an immediate breakthrough change your revelation of God’s nature? Are you going to allow it to change your perception of who He is? Because this is the issue—it is reasoning that is contrary to the knowledge of God. The Bible says these imaginations are high things; they are things that the demonic realm exalts to compete with what God knows to be true.
Every lie that you and I have ever believed is something that comes from the demonic realm; the enemy wants to put it in competition with what God knows to be true. Now, how many of you know the devil is no competition for God? It is not a battle between God and the devil. It’s not like God is good and the devil is bad and they are opposites. The devil is a created being; he’s the opposite of Michael, not God. He’s no competition for God. As we speak, the Lord Himself uses the devil as a chess piece on a game board. It is absolutely true; he has already been defeated. There’s no defeat—he has already been defeated. The Bible says you’ll see him on the last day, and you’ll look at him and say, «You’ve got to be kidding; it was you?»
So what makes the lie that is, if you will, in competition with the knowledge of God powerful? It’s our «yes.» Our vote to believe a lie is what gives it power because it has no intrinsic power at all that can compete with the beauty, wonder, and strength of truth. There’s an interesting statement made in Matthew 16. I’ll give you the background, and you can read the reference around verses 20 to 23. It’s the place where Jesus comes to His disciples and asks, «Who do people say I am?» The guys are there discussing who they think He is; some think He’s Elijah, and others think He’s this or that. Finally, Jesus poses the question: «But who do you think I am?» Peter responds, «You’re the Christ, the Son of the Living God.» Jesus replies, «You know you didn’t get that on your own, Peter; my Father revealed that to you.»
A moment later, Jesus talks about His impending death and crucifixion. Peter interrupts Him right away because he’s feeling bold and starts to correct Jesus. How many of you have discovered from your own experience that it’s not wise to correct God? He’s just kind of an immovable presence; He’s right, period. So, Peter corrects Jesus, and Jesus changes His tone. A moment earlier, He said, «Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you; that came to you from my heavenly Father.» The next moment, He looks at Peter and says, «Get behind me, Satan, for your mind is not set on the things of God, but on the things of man.» Here’s this astonishing moment: Peter is rebuked by Jesus, who calls him «Satan» because his mind is focused on the interests of humanity.
Humanity, without Christ at the center, is demonic in nature. Jesus truly is the center of everything; in Him, all things consist. Everything was made by Him and for Him; He is the absolute center of all things. When you remove Jesus from the picture, you end up with something that may look good but can never fulfill what God intended. Jesus tells Peter, «Get behind me» because your mind has been set on the interests of man. Without Christ at the center, your interests are not aligned with God’s. What’s the point? Well, I’ve heard it referred to as practical atheism. I don’t think atheism is practical, but let’s call it that. If I have a financial crisis in my life and my neighbor, who is an atheist, faces the same crisis, we both might handle it the same way.
If he reads a book and consults a banker while I, as a believer, don’t seek God’s wisdom through Scripture or prayer, but instead follow the same strategies as my atheist neighbor—who might even use decent tools—the issue is that I’m missing God’s heart and mind in my situation. If I ignore the things I would normally do as a believer and instead do what my atheist neighbor does, the outcome reflects practical atheism. Even though I believe in God, I didn’t involve Him in my circumstances. While I can outwardly proclaim that I’m born again and going to spend eternity with God, in this specific part of my life, I am practicing atheism because Jesus is not at the center. «Get behind me, Satan; your mind is set on the interests of man.»
The Apostle Paul, in the book of Ephesians chapter 4, uses this phrase: many mistakenly believe that if you’re a Christian, you can’t have a problem with demons. That’s not the subject for today, but Paul taught to a mature church: «Don’t give place to the devil.» About three verses before that exhortation to «be renewed in the spirit of your mind» are thoughts that violate God’s purposes for our lives. They are like blocks in a wall. The enemy doesn’t inhabit a thought in the same way he inhabits a pattern of thinking. A pattern that wars against God’s purposes creates a realm of safety for him to hide in, dwell in, and attack from. The issue I’ve had on my heart to discuss today is not focused on the devil at all. In fact, you know that whenever we teach on the subject, we never make it about chasing the devil. He’s not worthy of my attention—only long enough to get the crosshairs on him and pull the trigger. He’s not worthy of our discussion or infatuation. I have zero interest.
But when it gets in the way, when there’s a problem created because I’ve allowed myself to believe something contrary to what God knows to be true, then I must repent and address that pattern of thought. I mean, oh, it’s one thing to simply confess the sin; it’s another to change the way you think about that subject. It’s the reason the word repentance doesn’t mean crying at the altar, even though that may be a legitimate expression. The word repentance means to change the way you think. So, to truly repent about something He deals with me on means that the sorrow for sin must be deep enough to change my perspective on what’s true and what’s a lie. Every lie the enemy has ever presented to you and me throughout our entire lives has always been something he has raised up. In fact, the term here refers to an exalted thought or an exalted idea. I’ve never seen a time when there’s been more intentional raising up of exalted ideas that undermine the work of the gospel. I’ve never witnessed it in my life.
I’m happy to rejoice and say I’ve never seen such breakthrough as I see right now: the extraordinary miracles of addictions broken off literally in moments—10, 20, 30 years of heroin addiction or whatever it might be—that have just been broken off. I’ve seen cancers healed; we had a testimony this morning of a lymphoma that was healed. We constantly experience breakthrough in the physical realm. We’ve had over 60 cases of bipolar disorder that have been completely healed and restored. It simply doesn’t matter. I talked with a gentleman who experienced the power of God go through him like lightning; literally, he was schizophrenic, and after a year, he was completely in his right mind. He has brought deliverance to a great number of other people because Jesus actually put him in order and restored him. So, we’re witnessing breakthroughs on high levels, with political leaders, and on lower levels as well. We just had an individual converted— I believe it was this week—who has been guilty of the worst crimes imaginable. The Lord saved him and brought deliverance to him just this past week.
Here’s the point: we’re seeing extraordinary breakthroughs, but don’t think for a moment that those breakthroughs come without the enemy trying to exalt ideas that war against the knowledge of God, against what God knows to be true. What’s vital for you and me is to realize that in every situation of our lives, every time we experience a breakthrough, there are two new trees planted in the garden. Every time there’s an economic breakthrough, guess what? A second tree just got planted in your garden. It has to be this way; you must have options besides what God says. You have to have the option because it’s the only way you break into reward. He is a rewarder. His own nature is described as rewarding those who come to Him. Those who come to God must believe that He is and that He rewards those who seek Him. He is a Father who loves to reward, bless, honor, and celebrate people. Because He is this way, He must give you an option so that He has a reason for reward. I’m telling you the truth!
In the Mark 8 passage, where I talk to you about Jesus asking why they reason that they have no bread, His next question is, «Is your heart still hard?» What’s the lesson? The lesson is that they saw miracles of provision and now they’re fearful of not having enough. Whenever we’ve seen a miracle of provision, we lose the right to begin any thought process with what we don’t have. That’s the expense of the miracle realm. Every time there’s a miracle, He reveals His nature, and that nature always carries with it the invitation for encounter, for covenant-making with a God who never fails. So, the next question is, «Is your heart still hard?» What’s the point? A hardened heart poisons the mind.
Let me give one more illustration for this; it’s from another spiritual warfare chapter: Ephesians 6. In this particular passage, Paul does something very similar to here, except he begins to describe what has been given to us to keep us safe and what has been provided to give us advancement. He starts by saying in Ephesians 6 that you have the helmet of salvation. Think saved! Eventually, you’re going to have to believe you’re born again; that’s what it comes down to. I’m joking with you; you already do! But you understand the point: think saved. The helmet of salvation protects the mind. The breastplate of righteousness protects your vitals through the righteousness of God Himself. Our loins are girded with truth—the strength is the fact that we are firmly established in the truth of the gospel. Our feet are covered with the preparation of the gospel of peace. These boots, which are part of the Roman soldier analogy, have spikes in them so that they can position themselves in the ground against opposition; they couldn’t be driven back because they were too stable in their footing.
There was no armor on their backs because a believer never turns and runs; a believer fights from the victory of Christ toward an express victory on earth. We’re not fighting for the defeat of the enemy; he has already been defeated. It then talks about the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. What is the enemy’s tool now? It’s a fiery dart. I’d like to suggest to you that the target is the mind; the target is thought processes that are exalted or raised against what God knows to be true. What do we use to quench those fiery darts, those suggestions of the enemy? It’s the shield of faith. What happens if a fiery dart gets past your faith? You have the sword of the Spirit. What you may not realize is that this sword was not a long sword for a sword fight; it was a small Roman dagger used to dig arrows out of oneself. So if an arrow gets past the shield of faith and hits you, what do you do? You take the word of God. Did you get it?
You take the Word of God to minister to yourself. I don’t believe the enemy ever got an arrow past Jesus’s shield of faith, but he did model what it was like to minister to himself with the Word of God. The enemy has turned this stone into bread, and man shall not live by bread alone, so you find Him ministering to Himself with the word of God. A friend of mine was in a debate several years ago at a university campus; the professor had done everything he could to mock my friend, who was a fire-breathing evangelist. This is the only kind to have—it’s a fire-breathing evangelist. He did everything he could not only to mock him but to tear down the scripture. One great philosopher, Voltaire, announced that within 50 years the Bible would be non-existent, non-used by the public. Today, his house is used for the distribution of Bibles.
So my friend, who was being assaulted in the debate with this professor, stood up simply at the end of this discussion and said everything this man has written will be forgotten in 20 years. Armies bigger than him have been raised to destroy this book, and he went on to talk about how the Word of God stands forever. This is to be what shapes how we think about ourselves and one another; this book reveals Him. One last thought—I think I already said one last thought, but that was actually a part of this. One last thought—I think I’m allowed three before I start lying. Jesus said, «You study the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life.» He’s speaking to the Pharisees, whose lives revolved around the study of Scripture. He wasn’t putting down the study of Scripture; he was exalting what the study of Scripture is supposed to lead to.
So he brought this word of correction to them and said in John 5, «You study the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life.» He said, «These testify of me, and you are not willing to come to me.» In other words, the Word of God is meant to lead to an encounter with the Word of God. The black and white leads to the person, and without the encounter with the person, the process is incomplete. If you only have an encounter with the printed page, you become equipped enough to debate with people who disagree. But when we have encounters with the person, we walk away with nothing but supreme value, affection, love, and devotion for people—not compromising truth but realizing love is what changes lives.
The Lord is raising up an army of people who can say, like Jesus did, «Satan has nothing in me.» There is no part of my history that declares the effectiveness of the blood of Jesus. Any time we visit the events of our past apart from the blood of Jesus, we visit a lie because it no longer exists. My history shouts the power of the blood of Jesus. My presence demonstrates the absolute love, affection, and purpose of God for my life. My future is drawing me into a fulfilled, hope-filled life that has the purpose of seeing on earth as it is in heaven.
I get to be part of a team that daily fights for and pours our lives out to see this very thing happen: that broken people get mended, that the addicted get free, that those who need forgiveness get forgiven, and that those who are dying get healed. The Lord demonstrates in and through us what He demonstrated on the pages of Scripture. It’s not meant to be a historical book; it’s meant to be the living testimony of what God is like. Because every time we see something raised up against the knowledge of God, we anchor ourselves into the revelation of a perfect Father who loves us so much that He gave us the life of His own Son. This perfect Father woos us into relationship so that we get to model and demonstrate the very heart of God on earth. That’s spiritual warfare 101; that’s what it is.
Why don’t you stand? Romans chapter 6 gives us such an incredible picture of conversion. The book of Romans is the book on salvation; it deals with the theology of conversion more profoundly and deeply than any other book, probably more than all the others combined. Chapter 6 is interesting because the Apostle Paul is taking us through this picture of Jesus dying, rising from the dead, and his resurrection actually being our resurrection. It’s an incredible picture, and he uses baptism to illustrate it. You go under the water; that’s your grave. You come out of the water; that’s resurrection life, and that’s the life of Christ in you. He takes us through this picture in a dialogue for about ten verses, and the eleventh verse is the prize. He states that just as Jesus has been raised from the dead, so you have been raised in newness of life.
Here’s the conclusion: «Even so» or «consistently,» consider yourself dead to sin. That phrase «consider yourself» is the same as the words for imagination and speculations. Watch for things that have been raised against the knowledge of what God knows to be true, the knowledge of God. And what does God know to be true? You’re dead to sin. Think of yourself this way: I’m dead—yep, I’m dead, dead, dead, dead, dead! I’m dead to sin. It’s like a third shoe; I have no use for it. Dead to sin—it’s not mental gymnastics; it is what God knows to be true. Adjust your thoughts to His. That’s what He says, what He thinks. That was the third and final ending; I just realized I ended it again! Oh goodness, alright, Jesus help us.
Half the ministry team, come on down real quick if you would. We’re going to pray together before I release you, so hang on just a moment. Ministry team, come on down; these folks are trained for your breakthrough. I tell you, at least 95 percent, probably more, but at least 95 percent of the thousands of miracles we’ve seen have been done through the hands of people in the church, not through the pastoral team. So we’ve got a team here that would love to serve you and pray for you. As soon as I’m done, if you need to know the Lord, maybe you don’t know the Lord, you know what? Today is a day just to know what it is to be not only forgiven of sin but given eternal life. Today’s the day! Let’s put your hand on your heart; let me pray for you.
Father, I ask for the honor of the name Jesus that you’d continue to launch us into the mind of Christ—how you think, how you see, how you perceive. There’s no hardness there; there’s just tenderness. You don’t extinguish a candle that’s about to go out; you protect it so that the flame gets higher. You just have that way about you, protecting the good things in us. I pray that our thoughts this week would come out of that understanding of what you’re like as the ultimate Father. I pray this in Jesus' name, that today also would be a day where addictions are broken and people come to Christ. Let it continue, in Jesus' name. Amen, amen.