Bill Johnson - To Rest or to Fight?
And so the Lord presents these two realities before us, and they are actually complementary to each other. One is to receive as a child; the second is to take by force. One of the surest ways to increase the voice of the Lord in your life and to enhance the spirit of revelation in our lives is to obey what you know. Obedience is what attracts the voice of God for fresh insights. So we’re going to read two stories, and these stories are as different as can be. One is about a rich young ruler, and the other is Jesus talking about children. So let’s jump right in here.
Verse 15. Luke 18:15: «Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God. Surely I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.'» I won’t say always, but frequently I teach the contrasting passage to this.
Do you understand that truth is held in the tension of things that seem to contradict, but they don’t? They actually complement one another when you understand the two sides of the same coin. They don’t rob from one another. In this particular case, we have Jesus commanding His disciples to stop rebuking the parents who are bringing their kids to Him. Let them come to Me! Then He provides a magnificent understanding of the nature of the kingdom of God. He says to allow them to come to Him because if you don’t receive the kingdom as a child, you can by no means enter.
So think about this: you can only enter what you’ve received. Contrast that with Matthew 11, where there’s progression in the kingdom. There’s entrance into the kingdom through the violence of faith: the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Here, on one hand, we have this aggressive posture of faith, and on the other hand, we have children who simply receive. As is the custom of believers throughout history, we tend to camp on one side or the other instead of realizing that they represent seasons and circumstances.
There are times when, if you sit and wait for something to be brought to you, you’ll be waiting until you die because it will not come. There are certain things in our lives that require a fight. I am finding more and more believers, because of an entitlement culture that we are part of—one characterized by instant gratification—there are fewer and fewer people willing to contend for things that would bring breakthrough.
So the Lord presents these two realities before us, and they are actually complementary to each other. One is to receive as a child; the second is to take by force. Violence in the kingdom is the expression of faith. Whenever the Lord highlights a situation or a season to you where you obtain through the violence of faith, it’s because He wants you to learn your authority. But when He wants you to be still and receive by faith, to receive as a child, then He wants you to learn your identity.
There are seasons when the thing on His mind is authority, and that’s what He wants us to understand: how to use the authority He has given us. Then He switches it in the very next week, and suddenly we must be in a place of rest. We try to fight to get breakthrough and obtain this and that. We confess, we declare, we march, we fast, we wave our flags, our tambourines, and every other Christian tool known to mankind. We use them to bring about breakthrough, and nothing happens. Because until we discover who we are and come to a place of rest in that identity, nothing is released to us.
So these are two different seasons and two different approaches to the kingdom. How do you know what season you’re in? Well, just try the one you think is appropriate, and if it doesn’t work, try the other. I wish I knew with certainty. There’s a certain percentage of my prayer life that fits into the frustration category. I know that most of you are too spiritual for that, but it does fit into frustration because I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I’m supposed to come out swinging or if I’m supposed to sit back and wait. It’s one of those things: you’ll never step into it purely from a principle; you’ll only step into it through a relationship. A lot of what we attempt to do in the kingdom is to reduce it to a concept instead of a walk—a journey.