Bill Johnson - Fighting on Our Knees
Hello, hello, hello! I miss us! My goodness gracious, this is like the longest fast ever. This is worse than fasting food—fasting hugs should be illegal! In fact, I’m done fasting hugs, so if that bothers you, stay away from me, because I will grab you and hug you! To all our online family, we’ve got folks gathering in homes right now all over the Reading area, which is just the coolest thing ever! So glad to hear that. And to our international community, we’re just so glad to be able to call you friends and family. I know that when there’s a pandemic, it’s serious; it’s a real disease, and I don’t ever want to make light of that. But I do try to find things to laugh at in the middle of everything, so if that annoys you, plug your ears, do something, go «la la la la la» while I read a few funny things. Chris put this on his Instagram page—I’ll blame him. He wrote, «I used to spin the toilet paper roll like I was on the Wheel of Fortune; now I turn it like I’m cracking a safe.» That’s a good word right there, yes it is!
«I think the coronavirus is turning me into a dog. I’m roaming around the house all day looking for food. I don’t know; every time I get too close to a stranger, I get really excited about going for car rides.» Oh goodness, I love this one too: «I ate 11 times today and took 5 naps, and it’s still today!» Okay, thoughts and prayers go out to all the married men who spent months telling their wives, «I’ll do that when I have time.»
Alright, let’s get started. How are we doing for time? We’re doing good! I want you to open your Bibles, please, to 2 Chronicles chapter 7. It’s a very familiar passage, which I’m thankful for. There are just some portions of Scripture that should stand out more than others because there seem to be things that the Lord is really breathing on, and I feel it so strongly on this passage right now in ways that are really hard for me to describe. I’ve been looking forward to today. It’s been an unusually busy season for us as a staff; you would think with this slowdown there would actually be a slowdown, but I didn’t notice it. If it came, it went past me. It’s been an unusually busy time, but thankfully, Benny and I were able to take some vacation time this month, and that was just wonderful. The letdown, of course, is not being with you, but we did have some wonderful time to rest and just enjoy being home, so we’re glad for that.
For the last several weeks, I don’t know exactly how long, but at least two weeks, maybe three or four, I’ve been waking up morning after morning, often—not every morning—but morning after morning, sometimes in the middle of the night, quoting this verse. You know, sometimes you find divine moments because you’re saying something that didn’t come from here; it wasn’t a premeditated statement; it was just something that came up from here, just that volcanic eruption. And I’ve been finding this happen to me over and over again in recent weeks. It’s this passage, 2 Chronicles 7:14. We’ll read the whole verse and then I’m going to take you through it; we’re going to talk about it. Verse 14: «If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.»
Let’s read it again: «If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.» For probably 40 years or so of my life, this has been a standout passage. I remember as a young man attending conferences at Jack Hayford Church in Van Nuys, California. I remember one in particular where the entire event was about prayer and intercession, and speakers would speak. Oftentimes, this passage would be used as a real driving force to bring healing to the land, to bring healing to the hundred-plus nations represented by our viewing audience, but specifically for the state of California and for the nation—the United States—that we bear a responsibility for. It’s not only in the heart of God; it’s in the history of God to bring healing when there has been great devastation, when there have been great disasters—morally, naturally, natural disasters, that sort of thing—wars, whatever. The Lord has a habit of bringing healing and restoration and doing a work that only He can do. But it is instigated by the people that He shared His name with. He says, «If my people"—it’s funny to me sometimes that as Christians we get angry at unbelievers acting like unbelievers. I’m not sure where to go with that, but I’ll leave that where it is. The Lord puts the weight of responsibility for transformation on the shoulders of His own people. He didn’t say when the nations turn to me. He didn’t say when those who struggle with addictions get free. He didn’t say when the marriages are healed. He didn’t say any of that stuff; He just said, «If my people,» the ones that I gave my name to.
Think about that for a minute—the ones I gave my name to. It’s extraordinary because Jesus said, «You will ask the Father in my name.» You’re going to use my name. You’ll ask the Father in my name, and anything you ask for will be done for you. Then He says, «Wherever two or three of you are gathered in my name, I’m there in the midst.» Then He says, «Wherever two or three of you agree as to touching anything in my name, it shall be done for you.» So the weight of responsibility for transformational expressions of God rests on the shoulders of those to whom He has given His name. «I’m giving you a name; now use it to bring change. I’ve given you my name.»
One of the most beautiful things that has happened in this strange season is that for four months we’ve been reduced to our point of strength, which is the two or three gathered in His name, as many of you are doing in homes—the family unit. The two or three gathered in His name; the government of Heaven rests upon the shoulders of the two or three gathered in His name. There’s responsibility. We are not here taking up space, keeping busy until we die or Jesus returns. We are here with a transformational assignment: «On earth as it is in Heaven.» And please notice that that expression is linked to prayer—that we pray because we’ve been given His name. «If my people, who are called by my name.» I believe that the most important ministry of all ministries is prayer. Worship and prayer is the premier assignment that we’ve been given. I’m personally thankful that in recent weeks, the Lord’s been refreshing me in what used to be a much greater strength than it has been in the busyness of recent years.
No excuse whatsoever, but there is a strength being restored to my own soul. Oh, the place of prayer! It’s from our knees that we have the greatest effect on the world around us. It’s from our knees, it’s from our place of prayer and intercession that we become actual partners with God. God’s not looking for people who know how to stay busy; He’s looking for people who know how to represent His heart. And I’m not going to represent in action what I’ve not found in prayer. It’s the connection to the heart of God that gives me the authority to represent Him with absolute confidence in action. Prayer without action is incomplete, in the same way that faith without works is dead. We have been called to a lifestyle of prayer, and I hope and pray that everyone listening, everyone who is here, can feel that particular stream deepening in your own soul, as I believe the Lord is trying to get us to repent our way back into a place of righteous influence that God has called us to, and that is from the place of prayer.
He says, «If my people, the ones that I gave my name to, will humble themselves.» Chris, one of the first words we had in the beginning of this unusual season, made a statement: «The way forward is humility.» It’s a perfect and timely word—humility is the way forward at a time when it’s easy to be hurt, offended, angry, zealous, withdraw, and do all the stupid things that we as humans know how to do. Humility is the way forward. And so the Lord said, «If my people, the ones that I gave my name to, those are the ones who have actual responsibility.»
I think it was John Wesley who said that God does nothing in the affairs of men except in response to prayer. That’s something that I have actually believed and tried to live aware of for the last forty-some years: that God looks for partnership. Without Him, we can’t; without us, He won’t. There’s another statement I’ve heard over the years: without Him, we can’t; without us, He won’t. And so that place of prayer is a place of coming into agreement with the heart and mind of God to exercise His authority in the earth so that His will is done here as it is in Heaven. Prayer is the contract; the request has been made. I guess I also made a statement a couple of weeks ago that really moved me. He said something like this: «The key to answered prayers is 98% of answers to prayer is from abiding in Christ.» It’s living in the conscious presence of the Almighty God that is the strength of the answers to prayer. It’s the two or three gathered in my name; I’m there.
So the whole issue of the breakthroughs in the earth comes out of living in that awareness—the awareness of the presence of God with me and upon me to make a difference in the world around me. That is the connection for answers to prayer. And so He says, «If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray.» It’s foolish to be given such a transformational tool as prayer and not use it. It’s foolish to face an impossible situation. Everybody knows how to lift up a panic prayer. I’m not opposed to that; I’m glad He sometimes answers those. But transformational praying is more like giving birth. Paul actually talked about that. He used the concept of giving birth to illustrate prayer. He was referring to one of his associates and he said, «He is praying; he is laboring in prayer.» The word labor is physical labor of a woman laboring in prayer until Christ is formed in you—was the phrase he used. It’s a different kind of praying. It’s digging in. I know the heart of God; I know the will of God, and I know there’s opposition. I don’t know necessarily what the problem is; I just know I have nothing better to do with my life than to abide in Him until the presence of God, His own faith, becomes my faith.
I’ve learned in prayer to petition God, but also to represent Him as I make decrees to stand in opposition. I understand that something like 25-26% of Christians vote—that’s insane! The moral cesspool that has grown in many of the nations of the world watching this broadcast has developed and grown on our watch. And the lamest excuse invented by the devil himself is that «I only have one vote; my vote doesn’t really matter.» The devil made that one up to disengage the most powerful, influential people on the planet because there’s no such thing as an act of obedience that is powerless. There’s no such thing. I don’t care if you’re taking a sandwich out of your grocery store to the homeless man in front of the store; it is an act of obedience. There releases presence and power. I don’t care if it’s a phone call to your neighbor that you haven’t seen and finding out they were sick; every act of obedience of a believer releases presence and power. The glory comes manifest in the atmosphere of obedience. The simplest act of physical obedience brings the thought that I could do something responsible for my nation and vote for my city and to be powerless is an absolute insult to the power of the gospel that He has given us.
He’s given us His name. A single act of obedience of the Lord, just do your best, pray, vote; values not personalities. Let’s see if we can make a difference. I know He’s not talking about voting in here, but I am. It’s honestly our responsibility to pray. You know, there are a lot of people who moan and groan, and they call it intercession but do nothing outside of that to make a difference in their own culture. We’ve been called to make a difference. It’s our responsibility to make a difference. «If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face.» The face of God is what we are invited to pursue.
Think about that for a minute because the Scripture gives that warning: anyone who sees His face dies, so it’s a great invitation—come and die! And I tell you what, every time we come before the face of the Lord, something dies that shouldn’t have been alive. The Lord invites us into this ongoing interaction with the countenance of a perfect Father. So when He says, «Seek my face,» He’s not saying, «Seek my hand.» I’ve tried to make a strong point for the last probably 20 years that Jesus never scolded anyone for seeking His hand. Blind Bartimaeus wanted to see; Jesus didn’t say, «Are you supposed to seek to know me?» He gave him healing in his eyes. You know the wonder of the dead relative? Jesus brought through His hands the power of God to establish the kingdom. He’s never scolded anyone for seeking His hand; it’s blessing. I think it’s a responsibility we have, but forgiveness doesn’t come from His hand; it comes from His face, from the countenance.
It’s the Father who welcomes, and that’s what’s needed right now—a group of people that get recalibrated to the face. Somehow, seeing the eyes of a loving Father recalibrates every value in my soul. Things that were important ten minutes ago are no longer important; things that plague me or worry me or frustrate me suddenly don’t have the bite they once had. Why? Because something about the countenance just absorbs every offense or distraction that I carry in my heart. It just gets absorbed in the face of a loving Father. And it says, «If my people, the ones I gave my name to, if they would just humble themselves, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.» There is a picture given in both the Old and New Testaments that to seek the face of God automatically implies turning from something. I must turn from the inferior to seek the face of God. You can’t drag both values into one act; He is the all-or-nothing God.
He likes being first and King; I mean, that’s Him. Everything is about putting Him first, so here He says, «Seek my face; turn from your wicked ways.» In Hebrews 6, it says, «Turning from dead works, faith towards God.» It’s this turning from and to. One of the things that I’m so thankful for about the Lord is He welcomes us into His presence regardless of the condition of our heart. You can be bitter, mad, indifferent—you could be careless; it doesn’t matter where you’re at—He says, «Come.» But you can’t leave the same way you came; that’s the whole deal. You can’t expect, «I’m going to bring all this baggage, and I’m going to come in, and then I’m going to leave the same way.» That’s not how it works. We come in before Him and just get refined in the journey. That’s part of the whole process—that I come to seek His face, and things get recalibrated in this journey.
It may be a five-minute journey; it may be an all-day-long journey, but it’s this journey where I engage once again to the face of God that reveals the heart of God that automatically engages me into my reason for being. He says, «If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek the countenance of this wonderful Father.» I’ve been reading the last couple of days again Psalm 67, which is personally a favorite of mine. In verses 1 and 2 of that great song, verse 1 says, «Lord, bless me,» which I love that prayer! I’m into that kind of praying anytime—bless me and cause Your countenance to shine upon me! Countenance is a word for favor; it’s the loving favor of a father.
It’s like Brian and Jen, who just adopted another little boy, and we got to have him at our home again last night. A parent will make faces to an infant that they would never even make in the mirror to themselves. You make noises, you do all kinds of stuff to this little tiny infant; you don’t even know you’re doing it, and it just seems to come out of you. I’ve been told that children, infants, are trained in a lifestyle of joy through the countenance of their caregiver. So it’s that face! Here we are; we seek the face of the Almighty God—this perfect Father who welcomes us. We come with baggage; we leave clean and powerful. We come with issues; we leave confident that He is settling the issues. And He says, «You seek my face; you turn from your wicked ways; then I will hear.» That’s an amazing statement because the Bible tells us He doesn’t always hear.
I don’t know if you know that or not, but the Bible says, «If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me.» If I come conscious of sin and I’m unwilling to repent, here He welcomes us. He says, «Turn from your wicked ways; seek my face; then I will hear from Heaven, forgive their sin.» This is amazing to me—personal blessing—and heal their land—corporate influence. The personal breakthrough becomes a transformational influence in the land. Sometimes I think people avoid times of prayer because they think it will take hours. Sometimes I’ve been in moments of prayer where you just lose track of time; those are glorious moments! But history has been shaped by people who prayed simple prayers, but they were all in—all in.
In the history of our nation, we’re celebrating Independence Weekend. The history of our nation has been shaped by the prayers of a general in an army, where it looked like they would certainly lose, and they just took the knee and prayed a simple prayer, and everything changed. Simple prayer! A president, a governor, different ones who just simply take the knee and pray—acknowledge the Almighty God. This is something that we have the privilege of doing throughout the day. It’s not just the two-hour block of time; it’s the five minutes of surrender here. It’s the ten minutes of praise and exalting Him there. It’s that riddle throughout my day. I never want to escape the fact I carry His name, and I carry it for a reason. I’m here to make a difference.
And then the abiding presence of God! I’ve been finding that the prayer meeting never stops. It never stops! It started while I was sleeping. I found myself praying, «If my people who are called by my name…» I would wake up, get up in the morning, grab my Bible, sit out on my deck, and it would continue throughout the day. It just doesn’t stop because the abiding presence of the mighty God is upon me as a testimony to me that I’m here, son, to make a difference. Learn to pray out of abiding; learn to pray out of the presence; learn to tap into the heart of God, express that in prayer, and decree. Let’s do what we’re supposed to do; let’s make a difference in the earth. This is what we are assigned to do. This is who we are.
We’re people who have been given His name! This will seem very elementary to you, but this next statement is one that I think is forgotten often: we battle not against flesh and blood. We battle not against flesh and blood! That’s not our problem! To fight effectively in the war we were born into requires a strength that is found only on our knees. It’s only on our knees! I’m going to assume that you’ve been experiencing this as I have. I would have been embarrassed to admit it, but it feels like more and more I am being delivered from the prayer life that wants to convince God of doing what I want Him to do.
I never would have thought that it would ever be a desire of mine, but I can tell sometimes that the frustration of prayer comes from that. The whole issue about effective prayer begins in surrender. It’s not that great things aren’t supposed to happen—we’re designed to make a difference in the course of history. I made a statement here some years ago that you can’t find your significance until you have found your insignificance. Sometimes it’s just that place of going low in surrender where you are not confident in yourself. I don’t need self-confidence; I need God-confidence. I don’t want to speak poorly about being self-confident, but I’ve had it; it’s disappointing.
It’s very unimpressive. Prayer is engaging with the unlimited strength and the unlimited heart of compassion of a perfect Father. It’s that countenance of a Father that says, «Son, now pray this, now do this, now call this person, now give this away, now do that.» It comes from the countenance of a Father who can guide you with His eyes. He looks at you in a certain way, and you just know: «This is not my responsibility; it’s the abandonment to the heart of God. It’s the abandonment to the will of God.» Then suddenly, you find yourselves praying the simplest prayers that move Heaven and Earth because they come out of abiding; they come out of surrender; they come out of the acknowledgment that God is with me—not just as a theological statement.
I sense the might, the beauty, the wonder of the Almighty God is now resting upon me because He has assigned me to do something. I remind you, Jesus stood in Luke 4 before He had done any miracles, and He said, «The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.» Then He declared why the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, and then He announced why. It wasn’t arrogance. See, in abiding presence, there is courage to declare truth regardless of what it sounds like to somebody else. It’s not permission to be offensive; it’s just, «The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me to open the eyes of the blind, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord,» and He had not done any of those things.
I’d like to suggest to you that in that abiding presence comes that God-confidence. We are all designed for that God-confidence, that we can look at a situation and say, «No, that will not be happening on my shift. No, that will not be happening. That disease? We draw the line. No further! The destruction of that family line? No, that ends today!» It’s not a careless prayer; it’s something that comes from the abiding presence of digging your heels in, saying, «I know the heart of God; I know the mind of God; and I know why I am here. I am here with purpose, and it is to bring an end to that. That will no longer happen.»
I want you to stand if you want; I’m going to wrap this up. I know I’ve got more time left, but I’m going to end it in a moment anyway. All of you there at home, you can stand if you want. Those of you in your car—like I said earlier—don’t stand if you’re in your car. I was about to say I feel like a commissioning for prayer taking place, but it’s different than a commissioning; it’s an invitation—it’s a summons. It’s a summons. Come into the courts of the King! I gave you my name for a reason! Come into the courts of the King; learn to recognize my countenance; pick up my heartbeat because it’s in that abiding partnership that my purposes are accomplished in the earth.
Father, I pray that You would increase that global sense of summons—the summoning from a perfect Father—to come and pray and make a difference in the earth. I’m asking for everybody in this room and everybody watching online: give us the grace for this season to not fight against flesh and blood—to not mistake people for the enemy. Give us the redemptive touch, the eyes of a perfect Father, the loving heart of a Father. Help us to represent You well.
I want to end with this: I know that any time we have as many people as we have gathered on Bethel TV, YouTube, and the various formats, there’s always a high probability that there are people watching who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. You don’t know what it is to truly be forgiven by God and welcomed into His family. I want to say this is your moment! Now is the moment! Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ—there’s no other name—whoever calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved! Wherever you are, in fact, if you’re watching on Bethel TV or YouTube or any of those formats, please write right now in your comment and get the help of a pastor or one of our team who will pray with you. I pray for that right now—that there will be transformation of people’s lives all over the world through this beautiful and wonderful gospel.
Amen! Now, how many of you say amen to the invitation to not fight with flesh and blood but instead abide and see answers? Amen! Amen! Amen! Alright, bless you! Thank you.