Bill Johnson - You Are Stronger than Your Enemy
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. Verse 9: For they are 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: first of all, if you and I are fully engaged in what God is doing, whether you’re from reading in this city or wherever you’re assigned, if we are fully engaged in the work of the Lord, we can say, «I don’t want to stop this while I 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 man is so engaged in the Word of God and the purposes of God that there’s an immunity to those foolish ideas that at one season of our life we easily would have fallen for. Does that make sense? Your health can be such that you get close to anyone 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.
The enemy’s attempts were 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—52 days—meaning every season is for building. We’re not just here occupying space; we’re building: we’re building people, character, history with God. We’re building momentum that helps to impact culture and multiple generations that follow us. We’re builders, and every day of our life, we are building into something.
So he says the enemy’s attempt is to get the work to stop, but I’m not going to stop. I was designed for this purpose. God, now strengthen my hands. All right, verse 10. Afterwards, I came to the house of Shamaya, the son of Dalaya, the son of Mehitable. You know they could have better names, who was a secret informer. That’s interesting; Judas had one, Jesus had one—one out of twelve, 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.
They’re coming—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 was that they would appeal to his religious values and have him move out of fear into the religious safe place of the house of God. 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 I, 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 the critical one: «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 this point and who we are up until this point in our lives. There has to be a reaction to a problem according to our history with God, and after the reaction, 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 to be the thing that I hide behind so that I’m safe. I refuse to do that.» And then he sees, «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 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, and he was given by the devil the promise of the Lord: «He promises to keep you safe no matter what situation you’re in.» And 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 from 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 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 that this work was done by God.» Let me read that again—the mic might have been off; I’m not positive. Make sure the mic’s on. And 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 the fruit of obedience is what 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 and serves the community well—all these things that we build. You teach children that make a difference in the Earth, and all these things that 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 that you take when you get that. And then verse 19 is where we’ll end, says, «They reported—now this is where the people were reporting the good deeds of the enemy to Nehemiah to soften his heart toward him—so it says, 'They reported his good deeds before me, and they reported my words to him.'» I love that so much.
So what were Nehemiah’s words? «Why should the great work that I’m doing cease when I come and talk to you?» So the angel writes it down, and he makes the devil read it. «Should a man like me hide in the temple to save my life? Not gonna 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 it says in the wilderness, where it states that Satan came to tempt Jesus and, of course, he overcame 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.
In fact, someone had this prophetic dream, and they said, «I was marching in obedience to the Lord,» and in my march, my walk, the enemy had to run to keep up. It’s a great picture, and they would fall off out of fatigue. So the whole point is: don’t stop. Just 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, but I love where it 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 that he led. Jesus in the wilderness was not 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, never for a 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, connection, nourishment, and 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 has lost every effort to distract, dissuade, and dilute.
The second place I want to mention to you is in Corinthians that Paul talked about the devil. 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—deceive you from the simplicity of devotion to Christ.» Just say that phrase with me: «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, and manipulation.
All these things were 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 our identity out of overly full busy schedules. 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 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, and 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.