Bill Johnson - What Lies Are You Believing?
Taking her thoughts hostage until they are transformed in nature and actually reflect the fact that there is nothing impossible—He has a redemptive solution for every situation. He will cause every situation that pertains to my life to work for good, which means for His glory and for my strength. It’s not complicated. If He said it, it’s true; if He didn’t, it probably isn’t. If I have more input from social media than I do from the Word of God, my discouragement is self-inflicted. It’s a calculated decision. I find myself thinking of this person: they will never change. At what point do I stop the lie? Because I’m building a hiding place for the demonic that will actually help to fulfill the very lie I’ve come to believe. I would never say it, but my approach to a problem oftentimes reflects that it’s a stronghold, and the Lord is preparing us in this season to be able to address the impossible. We’ve said this for 20 years, so this is nothing new, but I feel like He’s heightening our awareness of something today. He’s enabling us to be aware of where we have fallen for the lie, where I have entertained the enemy’s ideas in my personal castle.
I have this sense that through this strangest season of my life, the Lord has been training us for something of which we’re unaware, and I would assume all of us are not—maybe not in the same boat, but certainly similar. I’ve never seen so much swirling in thought, in ideas and arguments, just in the air as in recent days. I feel like the Lord is allowing us to be exposed to the chaos so we have no mistake recognizing peace. The peace of God is the complete absence of chaos; that is the definition. By nature, the peace of God is the complete absence of chaos, and He has allowed us, if you will, to be exposed to some of the craziest things ever, not so that we walk through life being victims.
If you experience sorrow, maybe a friend has fallen into some deception. I got news this week of a dear friend who is getting divorced, and I never would have expected it—never, never, never. I don’t know what happened, but when you have pain like that, if you just feel sad and do nothing with it, you’re wasting your time. God gave you the ability to feel so that it would take you to Him. I don’t know how to pray for this situation, but I do know the enemy has had his way, so I pray for the mercy of God to come upon this couple, the mercy of God to touch each individual heart. God, I don’t know what’s happened or where. This is where you pray in tongues a lot; He always gets it right. I may pray this prayer, «Oh God, give me a Ferrari with 700 horsepower,» and then I pray in tongues.
The Holy Spirit says, «Man, don’t give him that car; he’ll kill himself.» That’s what I’m praying in tongues. I don’t even know; He just canceled out my prayer, so I’m praying to myself. That’s how this works for me. I don’t know how it works for you, but He always refines my prayer. He says, «No, he’ll kill himself if he has that car; don’t do that.» But if you feel grief or pain or trouble, if it doesn’t take you to Him in prayer, you’re wasting your sensitivities. It’s a gift—it’s like eyesight. If you see something coming at you that’s going to hit you and you don’t duck your head, then you’re wasting your eyesight. We perceive because He’s positioned us to make a difference or react accordingly.
All right, let’s read this passage one last time. In 2 Corinthians, or Chronicles if you prefer, chapter 10, verse 4: «The weapons of our warfare are not carnal; they are mighty in God for the purpose of pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.» To the point where we learn to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. It’s an interesting picture through that last phrase, «bringing every thought captive.» When I see «bringing every thought captive,» I think of a soldier who is warring against us. All right, so let’s just take that thought for a minute. Let’s just say we’re in an army and we have a soldier. I take him captive, but he becomes so captive that he becomes a soldier for us. It’s not putting him in restriction where he doesn’t function; it’s seeing that thought process so transformed that it now works for us.
Taking every thought captive to what? The obedience of Christ. What is that? It’s the mind of Christ. Taking this deceptive thought about your neighbor, take it captive until it starts reflecting the mind of Christ about your neighbor. Hostages—taking our thoughts hostage until they are transformed in nature and actually reflect the fact that there is nothing impossible. He has a redemptive solution for every situation. He will cause every situation that pertains to my life to work for good, which means for His glory and for my strength. I like the phrase «casting down;» that reminds me of Wigglesworth. My grandfather told me he said not everybody liked Wigglesworth because his faith was so abrasive. You know, active faith offends inactive faith. Faith in action offends faith as a concept. Faith that is active in the moment offends faith that’s waiting for something to happen someday. Wigglesworth would say, «Don’t treat the devil kindly.»
So, when he would rebuke a demon, that demon knew he was rebuked. Some people suggest a demon leave as though they were making a suggestion. It says, «Casting down.» Take that vile thing that just isolated that person into an unredemptive position in their life. Take that vile thought that just declared over your economics that there is no solution—you’ve actually tried everything and there is no solution. Take that vile thought and cast it at the feet of Jesus, who is Himself Jehovah Jireh. Take that thought that says your marriage cannot be healed or restored. Take that thought captive because it is born in the pit of hell. You take it captive, cast it down, and bring into subjection all these things that you’re thinking, seeing, and feeling until what you’re seeing, thinking, and feeling reflects His heart and His nature. It’s not complicated; it just means I’ve got to have more input from what He said instead of from everything else that’s around me.
Why don’t you stand? We’re going to pray and wrap this up. I believe the Lord put this on my heart for today. I do believe He directed my heart. I’ll be honest with you, I had something else I wanted to do. This morning, Eric and I walked over to the offices. I went into my office, and boom! It became completely clear. I felt the heart of the Lord for the mental health of the body of Christ. It is for you, but it is also through you, and it’s through you unto a culture that you will not convince through debate. In some cases, it’s going to be your engagement in prayer that pulls out the rug from that spirit of deception that is influencing your neighbor the way he’s influenced them. They see no solution because they’ve locked into a covenantal agreement with the powers of darkness, but your prayers—not manipulation, not pointing the finger, not argument and debate—but you going before God and saying, «God, I really care for this neighbor, and they are trapped; they don’t see it. I know I can’t convince them, but I know that You can.»
We begin to pull down the strongholds of thought. They think healing of a marriage is impossible. I know, God, that’s a lie, so I pull that thought down in the name of Jesus right now that has been raised up in their thinking as a god, and it is not a god. It is an inferior thought. We take that thing from my friend who has a cycle of going bankrupt after bankruptcy after bankruptcy. They are locked into thinking they can never be successful in their life, and God, I know that’s a lie from hell. It’s an absolute lie. It’s not in Your promise. You never promised us that we would never come out of cycles of pain; You did the opposite. So I take that thought captive that has been raised up against the knowledge of God. Your very name is Jehovah Jireh.
I take that lying spirit and I confront you in the name of Jesus, that lying devil that is about hopelessness into my friend who believes it’s impossible for them to ever have an economic solution. It’s a lie from hell. It’s a lie from hell! I pull that thought down, and in its place, I release the revelation of Jehovah Jireh—the God who always provides, the God who is always more than enough. You bind and you loose; you bind and you loose. You bind here what’s bound there; you loose here what’s loose there. If it’s not in the mind of Christ, it’s not worth releasing. You’ve got to stop saying the stuff that He isn’t thinking. I’m so tired of my own opinion; I’m serious. It bores me to tears. I must have the mind of Christ. I must have the Word of the Lord. I have to. When He speaks, I live; when I think without Him, I die. I’m about to start over. That was a threat; I was just joking.
All right, we’re going to pray, and I want you to put your hands in front of you as an act of faith to receive, because I do believe that Jesus has brought this to the forefront today because it is in His heart to release a grace—a grace to deal with the lies that have been raised up in our lives. The lies I look to, your Father, Father of truth, You cannot lie. You cannot deceive. You who are faithful and true—so completely trustworthy. You are perfectly trustworthy. We owe You absolute trust, and together we look to You right now, and I’m asking that You would give us as a gift a grace, a heightened awareness of the things we’ve entertained; the times we’ve welcomed the enemy of our soul into our homes and have made them comfortable with our thinking.
Today we expel those lies, and I pray that over these next seven to ten days there would be such a heightened awareness of what is true, a heightened awareness of what is filled with hope, a heightened awareness of what is on Your heart for this hour. Help us to never again waste a painful moment, but let them always bring us to You—always bring us to You. I ask that a spirit of wisdom and revelation rest upon this body of people, those who are watching online. I bless this company of believers in the name of Jesus, and I pray for a wisdom to scale the walls of the city and bring down strongholds that people have placed trust in other than the name of the Lord, that this company of people would be known by their neighbors—they just trust God. They simply trust Him. When push comes to shove, they just trust God. It makes no sense; they just trust God. Let that be the living reality of this body of believers. In fact, I pray for the city of Redding, that Redding would rise to a place of absolute trust—that this city would love You well, that this city would absolutely trust You. I pray this in Jesus’ name.
Now, I know there’s a chance there could be somebody here in the room and many watching online on Bethel TV who do not have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to invite anybody in the room who has never made a personal commitment to receive Jesus into your life, where you understand what forgiveness of sin is and you are actually transformed—literally from the inside out. It’s a conversion experience, not by our works, but by His, as we turn our life to Him. That’s what invites that invasion of God. If there’s anybody in this room, in just a moment I want you to put a hand up. And for those watching online on Bethel TV and YouTube, just write the note «I want to know Jesus,» and a pastor will get right to you and pray with you. But is there anybody here that would say, «That’s me. I don’t want to leave the building until I know I’ve been born again, until I know I’ve been forgiven by God»?
Okay, all right. I would assume that it’s a house filled with believers, but it’s not worth taking the risk. I just pray for you that God would give such prosperity of soul that your emotional life, your mental life would be so overflowing with the mind of Christ that literally the mind of Christ would be contagious through your words—that somehow you would speak a word and people would change their thinking simply because of what you said. May the mind of Christ settle upon this city in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Tom, come and help us.