Bill Johnson - The Devil's Strategy
Paul makes this statement: «For I’m not ignorant of the devil’s devices; I’m not ignorant of the devil’s schemes.» I don’t like the idea of studying the devil and his tactics; that’s nauseating to me. But I also don’t want to go to the other extreme and be ignorant of how he works. It’s vital that I can smell him, that I can recognize, «All right, this isn’t the Lord.» It might even sound right, but this isn’t the Lord. Wow, this has been a rather full morning. Good morning! Is it still morning? Nice! It’s fun walking into this building from Twin View. We have another service over there, and God’s doing so much there as well. It’s just fun, fun Christian recreation to be a part of what He’s doing anywhere, but to walk into this place and just feel this electric presence and power. Bless you, bless you guys.
I just want to highlight the healing school next week. Really prayerfully consider that; there’s an impartation as well as training, education, and encounter that takes place there. And then this Friday, this week is full for us with commissionings, graduations, and all the above. But Friday, we’re going to see what I think is the last film by Darren Wilson. How many of you saw «Finger of God» or «Furious Love» or any of these? Well, he’s got another one called «The God Man,» and it’s kind of the crowning touch of everything he’s done. So that’s here this Friday at 6:30. It’s an amazing, amazing film.
All right, take your Bibles and open to Nehemiah chapter six. Before we do that, I just need to honor our internationals by reading an international joke. I’m just that kind of a guy; I’m here just to love and serve and honor everyone. All right, here we go. This is an old one, but I like it anyway. For those of you who watch what you eat, here’s the final word on nutrition and health—final, I emphasize, final. Here it’s a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.
Five points:
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer a few heart attacks than the English.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beer, eat lots of sausages and fats, and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
Conclusion: eat and drink what you like; speaking English is apparently what kills you. Seems a little rough, huh?
All right, Nehemiah chapter six—I kind of want to start at the end, the conclusion, and then work back into the story. I’m going to be talking about Nehemiah, whose whole journey was to help with the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem, specifically around the temple. I had an encounter; I talked about it recently where the Lord woke me in the night with this thought: A city with a walled city without gates is not entirely safe. Well, this is that particular story that I have referenced in the past. In the rebuilding of the walls of this city, there was a storyline that is quite profound. Nehemiah’s name actually means «comforter.» So we have this picture of Israel trying to rebuild these walls for 70 years and failing—ongoing failure for 70 years. When Nehemiah came, when the Holy Spirit came (if you can work with that metaphor with me), to assist them in this project, they actually built the walls in 52 days!
Seventy years versus 52 days. What they couldn’t do in a lifetime, they were able to do in a season. What they couldn’t do in a lifetime of their own labor and effort—good intentions, great vision—they were able to do with the Holy Spirit in one season. It’s a powerful story, and there are so many lessons. Chapter six is a personal favorite. I personally like chapters four and six because they are so detailed in illustrating how the enemy works to try to get us to compromise or to fail.
The overwhelming theme of this chapter, especially, is Nehemiah says on four different occasions, «They were trying to frighten me. They were trying to get me to fear. They were trying to get me to become discouraged through fear and stop the work.» Four times in what, 18 or 20 verses? Four times he mentions the issue of fear. And I remind you, what you already know: the number one command in scripture is, «Do not fear.» It is repeated most often because it is the most needed instruction. Everything we do in life, we do either out of love or out of fear. What fear does is it drives my mind into forbidden territory. The devil doesn’t wear a red suit with horns and a pitchfork; he comes to us as an angel of light. In other words, he comes to us as inspired thought—insight about another person—which then moves into gossip, slander, rumor, criticism, whatever inspired thought.
So being grounded, ongoing, daily in the Word of God as a worshiper, being connected to the presence of God helps us tell the mood of the Lord when we’re about to compromise through a bad declaration or bad confession. We know we have that conviction of heart, realizing, «I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m not going there. I don’t know everything that’s happening, but I can’t compromise here.»
We have these warnings in scripture and in the presence to keep us from fear. The reason is that fear always leads to sin. Psalms 37, I think it’s verse 8, says, «Fret not; don’t fear; it only leads to evil doing.» So if I’m standing in this place of fear, I have two options: either I repent and get out of it, or I sin. Repent means I acknowledge that I’ve been believing a lie. I’ve been entertaining things that are warring against my destiny. I’ve been entertaining thoughts, ideas, values that are contrary to my design in Christ. «God, forgive me; I’ve compromised my own soul.» It’s not a moment for shame; it’s a moment of deliverance. It’s a moment of forsaking what is working to contaminate my heart and alter or taint my perception.
So in that place of fear, which we all actually deal with—you probably haven’t dealt with it, but you know someone; you know there’s probably another Christian in town who needs this, and you can talk to them—we’ve been in that place of fear. The only thing you can do is repent your way out of it. You don’t do it just by a personal discipline, in the sense that I’m just going to think positive thoughts. It has to be through the Word. If you’ve believed a lie, replace it with truth. If you’ve partnered with that spirit of jealousy or whatever, then begin embracing the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life to keep you alert to what’s happening around you so that you don’t fall for those same tricks. Amen?
All right, I want to start, like I said, at the end, which I’ve already done, but I want you to go to verse 13. Here’s an interesting thing: verse 13 says, «For this reason he was hired.» What’s going on here is that prophets were actually hired. So they’re not non-profit prophets; they’re for-profit prophets. Yeah, I know it’s a little thin, but it’s all right. They were hired to prophesy incorrectly into Nehemiah’s life to bring about fear. The enemy works hard to reward those who criticize you. What does Proverbs say? «Stolen bread is sweet to the taste, but it turns to gravel.» That’s the reward! It’s initially sweet and gratifying, but it always backfires.
All right, verse 13 again: «For this reason he was hired that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me.» All right, I’m going to make you think here this morning. All right? They were hired to prophesy incorrectly so that I would be afraid, act from fear, and sin. The end result would be they would have an evil report against me and be able to reproach me. He didn’t say that they were going to act in sin so they could take my life; he said if I act in sin, I will actually empower the slander that will work against me. By acting in fear, I actually legitimize evil reports.
All right, let’s go to verse one and see if we can make it through this lovely little story. You all right? Yeah? We’ve only got 20 minutes, so you’re going to get off easy today. That’s it.
First of all, let’s get moving: «It happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there were no breaks left in it—though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates—Sanballat and Geshem sent to me saying, 'Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.' But they thought to do me harm.» So I sent messengers to them saying, «I’m doing a great work so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?» They sent this message to me four times, and I answered them in the same manner.
All right, I love this part of the story. I love the whole story, actually. But here’s a picture: Nehemiah gets this letter from political leaders who are enemies of Israel, and they say, «You’ve got a thing going on there; we need to have a conversation, so why don’t you meet us in this valley and we’ll talk together?» There’s too often that Christians actually entertain conversations with the devil. One of the things that insulates us from the appeal of such a conversation—now how many understand I’m not talking about a literal conversation? I’m talking about ideas that are entertained where he has a voice into the way we think and feel.
All right, so here the enemy sends this note, and he says, «Why should this great work that I’m doing stop when I come and talk to you?» That should be the response of every person in this room: «Why should the great work I’m doing stop?» But you have to be involved in the great work first; it actually has to work. It has to be legitimate. You know, I mentioned to you a few weeks ago that we can do nothing without Him. Our real problem is we’ve learned to do nothing with Him. So that means then—shall we just have the altar call now?
Yeah, so that means then we are fully engaged in whatever role we have in the ongoing work of Christ in the earth. It doesn’t mean the work of Christ is just preaching to thousands; for some, it might be auto mechanics that do so in Jesus' name and impact their part of the world with the culture of Christ.
All right, so here he says, «Come meet with us,» and he says, «No.» And it says, «Listen to this: he answered in the same manner four times.» What happens often for believers is when the enemy keeps banging on the door with the same distraction…because that was the first tool here was distraction. It keeps banging on the door; we weaken our confession because of fatigue. Oftentimes, we’re very bold in our decree when it first starts, but over time, we weaken the confession, weaken our profession of faith. When it says here that Nehemiah «answered in the same manner» four times, they sent this accusation to him—this distraction. Distraction is one of the tools, and what the Apostle Paul did in 2 Corinthians and 1 Corinthians is this wonderful letter of encouragement to an extremely gifted group of people that also had a whole bunch of sin in their midst that they didn’t deal with.
So we’ve got this crazy contrast. He confronts it, and they repent. In 2 Corinthians, he’s honoring them for their repentance, but he highlights two themes in chapter 2 and chapter 11. It’s probably all throughout, but there are two that I recognize at this moment. In chapter 2, verse 11, Paul makes this statement about walking in forgiveness: «For I’m not ignorant of the devil’s devices. I’m not ignorant of the devil’s schemes.»
I don’t like the idea of studying the devil and his tactics; that’s nauseating to me. But I also don’t want to go to the other extreme and be ignorant of how he works. It’s vital that I know I can smell him, that I can recognize, «Oh wait, this isn’t the Lord.» It might even sound right, but this isn’t the Lord. Do you remember when the young false prophetess was prophesying, «This is the Apostle Paul; he’s a great man of God; he’s doing a great work for the Lord»? Everything she said was right, but it came out of a demonic inspiration, and there’s discernment to recognize the source of the word—not just by how flattering the words sound.
So it says here, «They sent this message four times and answered in the same manner.» Verse 5: «Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before the fifth time with an open letter.» What does an open letter mean? It means he put it on Instagram; it was now turned into a social media event. An open letter means everybody gets to read other people’s suspicions and accusations about you. The more you move in impact, the more you move in faith and courage, the more you become a target of open letters.
Many people will change their strategy from doing their great work for Christ to damage control. The devil does not mind you being involved in ministry as long as you do it out of fear because it robs you of the power to truly release ongoing, lasting transformation. Mm-hmm. So the open letter has said all kinds of things. It says «planning to rebel» in verse 6. In verse 7, it says «you’ve also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying 'there’s a king in Judah.'» In other words, they’re saying to Nehemiah, «We know your heart; you plan to be king, and you’ve hired prophets to announce that you’re the new king.» They’re analyzing and accusing according to what they believe are the motives of his heart.
Has anyone here ever become very introspective, and you’ve done some deep soul-searching? Probably nobody but Dan and me; I think we’re the only two. How many of you have done that? Anyone ever come out encouraged? It’s the reason the enemy turns us inward; it’s because there’s nothing to discover. If you find a problem, you have no grace to fix it. It’s completely different than when the Holy Spirit puts His finger on a problem because there’s always empowerment to come out of that into a place of life.
So what’s happening here is that it’s accusing of false motives, getting him turned inward so that he self-destructs. Yep. So he says, «There’s a king in Judah; now these matters will be reported to the king, so come therefore and let us consult together.» So what do we have going on here? Number one, we had distraction; number two was intimidation; number three is manipulation. Manipulation is witchcraft.
I was in a luggage store years ago, and a guy brought a piece of luggage in that failed. There was a young gal working behind the counter, and the owner wasn’t there. The manager wasn’t there, and he said, «I need to change this piece of luggage for a new piece because it broke.» She said, «Well, this one doesn’t have a warranty.» He said, «Well, the owner told me he would guarantee it.» She replied, «Well, he’s not here.» He’s putting heavy pressure on this young lady, who’s just trying to make an hourly income for her boss, and he’s just adding pressure. «I’m going to take you to court if this doesn’t get settled.»
I understand. I said, «Excuse me,» and I talked to the guy. I said, «He’s just trying to manipulate you; don’t listen to him.» We had an interesting conversation. Manipulation, which is witchcraft, is often used in culture and society to get people to do what they want. It’s often used in sales—not you, but them—other folks will do it. It’s a tool that is used by parents to get their kids to do what they want, but not by husbands and wives. That’s never done there.
All right, so manipulation. Verse eight: «You guys still doing all right? Good, because I don’t have much time; I gotta race.» All right, «Then I said to him: 'No such things as you say are being done; you invent them in your own heart.'» I love that! «You’re a liar.» Verse 9: «For they’re all trying to make us afraid, saying their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.» Here’s what I want you to see: if you and I are fully engaged in what God is doing—if you from reading in this city, wherever you’re from, where you are assigned—if we are fully engaged in the work of the Lord, we are doing that great work. We can say, «I don’t want to stop this while I come and compromise and entertain your stupid thoughts.» We have that confidence in our call, number one.
But number two, when the accusations come, there’s a resiliency; there’s an immunity. It’s like our spirit is so engaged with the Word of God and the purposes of God that there’s an immunity to those stupid ideas that at one season of our life we easily would have fallen for. Does that make sense? Your health can be in such a place that you get close to anybody with a germ and you get sick. There are other times when your immune system is so strong and stable that you can be in the middle of anything going on and you’re resilient spiritually. It’s the same thing.
So the enemy’s attempt was to weaken their hands so the work would stop. Do you understand? You’re building what Israel could not do in a lifetime—in 70 years—they could do in a season—in 52 days—meaning every season is for building. We’re not here just occupying space; we’re building. We’re building people; we’re building character; we’re building history with God; we’re building momentum to help impact culture and multiple generations that follow us. We’re builders!
In every day of our life, we are building something. And so here he says, «The enemy’s attempt is to get the work to stop, but I’m not going to stop. I was designed with this purpose. God, now strengthen my hands.»
All right, verse 10: «Afterward, I came to the house of Shemaiah, the son of Deliah, the son of Mehetabel, who was a secret informer.» That’s interesting. Judas had one; Jesus had one—one out of 12, actually. He said, «Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple; let us close the doors of the temple, for they’re coming to kill you. Indeed, at night, they will come to kill you.»
Fear moves us into self-preservation. A secret informer—a false prophetic gift—has come to Nehemiah and said, «Listen, there’s this plan, and I want to protect you. Meet me at the house of God; that’s a safe place for you.» So what happened? They couldn’t get him to go to a compromising environment, the valley of Ono. Instead, what they thought is they’ll appeal to his religious values and have him move out of fear into the religious safe place of the house of God. It’s the same sponsor, fear; different expressions—one not as acceptable as the other, but both are out of fear.
His response is brilliant. Verse 11: «Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.» The next phrase is critical: «Then I perceived God had not sent him.» Sometimes we’re in a situation, and the Lord will not speak to us. We have to confess, decree, and move out of who He has taught us to be up until this point in our life. There has to be a reaction to a problem according to our history with God, and afterwards, we want to hear from God for every direction.
But there are times He’s silent, and in this moment, Nehemiah doesn’t know. All he knows is, «I am incapable of hiding in the temple to save my life. I’m not going to use religious values as the thing that I hide behind so I’m safe. I refuse to do that.» Then he realizes, «Ah! That word from him wasn’t from the Lord.»
But he didn’t know until afterwards. Sometimes we want the Lord to speak to us so we can take a direction; sometimes He’s waiting for us to take a direction so He’ll speak to us. Sometimes He wants to affirm what He’s already built in us that becomes expressed through the decree that we make coming out of our own life. «Should a man such as me flee? I don’t think so; I’m not hiding in the temple to save my life!»
See, the same trick was pulled on Jesus when he was taken to the pinnacle of a temple to throw himself down. He was given by the devil the promise of the Lord—He promised to keep you safe no matter what situation you’re in. He tried to use that whole thing of fear and self-preservation. What happens in fear is we start moving in self-preservation and self-promotion. It all comes out of that spirit of fear.
«Should a man such as I flee? Who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life?» Then I perceived God had not sent him at all, but he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
Verse 13 again: «For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, that they might have cause for an evil report that they might reproach me.»
Let’s take two more verses: verse 16 and verse 19. Verse 16 says, «And when all our enemies heard it, all the nations around us saw these things; they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived this work was done by God.»
Let me read that again. The mic might have been off; I’m not positive, so make sure it’s on this next one. «When our enemies heard it, all the nations saw us; they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived this work was done by our God.»
What’s the point? Every season is for advancement, and every bit of progress in the work of the Lord disheartens the enemy, and that should delight your soul. He’s never my target, but it is the fruit of obedience. The fruit of obedience is that you build in a person’s life, you pray for the sick and they’re healed; you share your faith with a neighbor and they turn to Christ; you build a business that has integrity and momentum that serves the community well—all these things we build, teaching children that make a difference in the earth—all these things we build dishearten the enemy. While I don’t put a lot of attention on him, I love the thought of him being depressed.
I love the thought of him needing Valium or whatever it is you take when you get to that place. Then verse 19 is where we’ll end: «Since they reported"—now this is where the people were reporting the good deeds of the enemy to Nehemiah to soften his heart towards him—"They reported his good deeds before me, and they reported my words to him.»
Oh, I love that so much! So what were Nehemiah’s words? «Why should the great work that I’m doing cease while I come and talk to you?» So the angel writes it down and makes the devil read it! «Should a man like me hide in the temple to save my life? Not going to do it!» It’s written down, and the devil has to review it—all the decrees that Nehemiah is making over his own life and over his own city are constantly broadcast in the enemy’s environment.
Do you remember what, in the wilderness, it says, «Satan came to tempt Jesus»? Of course, he whooped the temptation, but there’s a place where it says, «And the devil left Him until a more opportune time.» What does that mean? Jesus outlasted him! You have unlimited strength in Christ; the enemy is withering as we speak. He has limited strength. I didn’t say no strength; I said limited strength.
The more you move in faith, you strengthen your spiritual immune system, and he has to run to keep up. Someone had a prophetic dream and said, «I was marching, and the Lord said I should just march in obedience.» My walk, my march, was so strong that the enemy had to run to keep up. It’s a great picture! They would fall off from fatigue, so the whole point is: don’t stop! Just don’t stop! Don’t stop! Don’t stop to have a conversation in the valley of Ono; don’t stop to go hide in the temple for a season. Stop the nonsense; just keep walking! Just keep marching! Keep doing what He said to do.
All right, I’m done. Why don’t you stand? I love the 23rd Psalm, which I think I probably quote part of every few weeks; I love it so much. I love where He says, «He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.» I love that Chris hit it real well today with the prayer time he led.
Jesus in the wilderness—it wasn’t to be defeated but to bring victory, to obtain victory for us. Every time the Lord takes us into a situation, it’s always for triumph; it’s never for setback. «He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.» I don’t know what that looks like to you, but the table is a place of intimacy and connection, nourishment, strength. So every time I say, «I love you» to Jesus, God puts it on the devil’s intercom—He makes him listen to what he can’t control and what he’s lost every effort to distract, dissuade, and dilute.
The second place I want to mention to you are the Corinthians that Paul talked about. He said, «I’m afraid that the devil, through his craftiness, could deceive you from—and here’s one of my favorite phrases in the whole Bible—the simplicity of devotion to Christ.» Let’s just say that phrase together: «The simplicity of devotion to Christ.» Say it again: «The simplicity of devotion to Christ.» All of this we just went through was merely through distraction, intimidation, accusation, manipulation—all these things—was to get you and me disengaged from the simplicity of devotion to Christ.
What fear does is it adds value to busyness. Fear causes us to want to draw identity out of overly full, busy schedules because we will be… I’m on sermon number three, so hold on. The scripture says that we will be led forth with peace, so I don’t want to go anywhere peace doesn’t take me. There’s something about being filled with the scripture and filled with the spirit that, that combination enables us to navigate the challenges we face.
So I pray for that. I pray for you and me that together we can walk in repentance—not embrace fear, not entertain the things that undermine our confidence, our simplicity of devotion to Christ. God, help us to be a church family that protects that at all costs. Say it with me again: «The simplicity of devotion to Christ.» Say it one more time: «The simplicity of devotion to Christ.» Father, help us so that fear and none of the tools ever pull us out of the simplicity of devotion to Christ.
I thank you for that. I want to ask a question real quick. Anytime there’s a crowd like this, I know that oftentimes there are people here who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. The Bible is very clear; there’s only one answer for the sin problem, only one solution: Jesus. He is the only name under Heaven by which a person must be saved. «What does it profit a person if they gain the entire planet but lose their own soul?» It’s those kinds of statements that Jesus made to help us in moments like this.
If there’s anyone here who would say, «I don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. I don’t know what it is to be born again, to be forgiven,» but you want to, then I want you just to put your hand up right where you are. I encourage our online community as well; just write it in the text there, and we have pastors that will love on you and help you. But anybody at all, just say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know that I have found peace with God.»
All right, we have a team up here that will be ready to pray for you. I want to ask the ministry team to come quickly. If you’re welcome, who’s rescuing me? No, you are. I need rescue! Yes, I do. Come on up, woman of God! Let’s have the ministry team come and go and direct us.