Bill Johnson - Spiritual Warfare, How to Fight Your Battles
He works in one of those two ways he said, «Unless you receive the kingdom as a child.» What is that? That’s the rest position. Then he says, «The violent take it by force,» referring to advancement in the Kingdom. Those are the two postures. The Lord will generally lead us into the one that will bring out the greatest strength we need in that particular moment. All right, grab your Bibles; we’re going to read. Oh, I have to read something else first. It’s another old one, but I just like it so much, and I forgot it in the first service, so all those who missed it in the first service, I just feel sad for them. I hope they make it through the day.
An old geezer, who had been a retired farmer for a long time, became very bored and decided to open a medical clinic. He put up a sign outside that said, «Dr. Geyer’s Clinic: get your treatment for $500; if you’re not cured, you get back $1,000.» Dr. Young, who was a real doctor, was pretty sure that this old geezer didn’t know anything about medicine, so he thought it would be a great chance to make $1,000.
This is what happened: he walked in and said, «Dr. Geyer, I’ve lost all taste in my mouth; can you please help me?» Dr. Geyer turned and said, «Nurse, please bring medicine from Box 22 and put three drops in Dr. Young’s mouth.» Dr. Young cried out, «Ah, that’s gasoline!» Dr. Geyer said, «Congratulations, you’ve got your taste back; that will be $500.»
Dr. Young was annoyed and went back after a couple of days trying to figure out how to recover his money. He walked in and said, «I’ve lost my memory; I cannot remember anything.» Dr. Geyer turned to the nurse and said, «Please bring medicine from Box 22 and put three drops in the patient’s mouth.» Dr. Young yelled, «Oh no, you don’t! That’s gasoline!» Dr. Geyer replied, «Congratulations, you’ve got your memory back; that will be $500.»
Dr. Young, having lost $1,500, left mad, came back after several more days, and said, «My eyesight has become weak; I can hardly see.» Dr. Geyer said, «Well, I don’t have any medicine for that, so here’s your $1,000 back.» Dr. Young said, «Hey, this is only $500!» Dr. Geyer replied, «Congratulations, you’ve got your eyesight back; that will be $500.» That’s funny.
Oh, take your Bibles, open to 2 Chronicles chapter 20. I love Bible stories; I’ve been in the Old Testament for a little while, just pouring over the stories from there. They’re just so fun and fascinating. I love Bible stories because they always reveal something about the nature of God and the nature of His promises. Bible stories are more than mere historical records of God intervening in human problems; they actually become filters that we use to see our own condition, our own life, and the circumstances we face. The reason is that they enable us to see our present problems with the God element, with the nature of God, with His promise in the middle of them, and it changes how we look at circumstances. Bible stories provide that for us; they are supposed to give us a historical record of how God works and what He has promised to do for you and me.
I know yesterday I was looking at the story of young Samuel—his whole birth, the situation with his mom Hannah, who could not have children, and she cried out to the Lord. I think it was Mario Millo or somebody told us that it was when her cry for a child met God’s cry for a prophet that the two met, and Samuel was born and became a prophet of the Lord. It’s a tremendous story. Sometimes God allows us to be moved to a place of great internal contention and turmoil to bring about answers. It’s not that He can’t answer the easy prayer; it’s that He’s trying to develop something in us. Strength is formed in us when there is great passion, great zeal, and great boldness, and that happened for her. The story is great; we’re not going to look at that today, but I love the story of Samuel.
The phrase that stands out the most when talking about Samuel is, «And the Lord let none of his words fall to the ground.» Nothing that he said was empty; everything had full impact and brought the fruit to the Lord that he was expecting. But this is about Jehoshaphat. Mom, thank you for not naming me Jehoshaphat; I’m so thankful for that. There are several names in the Bible that are fine—David, John, Mark, Peter’s fine—but Jehoshaphat is not one of them. Nebuchadnezzar, you just won’t have any friends as a child if you’re called that—at least not in this country.
Jehoshaphat is leading Judah, and they have united nations—pardon the pun—who have united to come against the people of God to destroy them. There are so many people; I forget the number now, but they are so outnumbered it’s embarrassing. Jehoshaphat is terrified; he has heard the news and the rumble of what is about to happen to him and the people of God, and he’s terrified. He seeks the Lord, and the Lord gives a strategy, a plan—not just a strategy, a plan, an assignment. When Jehoshaphat leads the people of God in this assignment, there’s the most extraordinary miracle.
This is one of the chapters that I have several places I like to read sections of the Bible. I took one time, oh goodness, almost ten years, where I just read the gospels over and over and over—I’d read other things, but I just focused on the gospels because I couldn’t get out of what Jesus was doing and what He taught and the impact. I like reading sections, but I also like recreational reading.
Well, I remember a story, and I go back; 2 Chronicles 20 is pretty powerful, and this is one of the chapters I will return to. There’s one particular verse where it says, «And they trusted the prophets, and they prospered.» I like finding those phrases. I don’t underline whole verses; I underline phrases. I want the verse to stand out to me, emphasizing what I saw when it impacted me—not just the whole verse.
So this phrase, «They trusted in their prophets and prospered,» I love that phrase. We’ll read it in a moment, but this is one of those chapters that I will turn to in what I call recreational reading and just review the story because the impact of God’s direction on the people of God and the impact on the surrounding nations is so profound that I don’t want to lose any details.
When we look at the subject of warfare in Scripture, we’re not talking about conflict with another person; we’re not talking about this nation versus another nation. We’re not talking about you and your neighbor or the conflict between you and a boss or co-worker. It’s not human-centered; it’s actually focused on a spiritual realm that has influence over the thoughts and values of a culture. It is vital that you understand that’s at work; otherwise, you’ll pick people off as your target, and it’s not people. God loves people; there are powers at work that persuade people to think certain ways.
I’ve talked to you about a biblical filter versus a demonic filter; they have as much conviction for what they believe as you do for what you believe, but it’s because they see through a demonic filter. What we’re doing is learning how to engage in the right war in the right battle so those powers no longer have influence over people’s thinking and lives. The mark of the Gospel impacting a person’s life is liberty, not conformity. It’s not becoming part of a group where you’re controlled; it’s being entrusted with divine insight where God trusts you to think for yourself and to make decisions.
There’s the biblical pattern; there’s the filter, if you will, the template that we think through because it’s vital that we live according to our design. When you get rid of the designer in culture, you lose any reason for design. This is a story. Paul said in Ephesians 6, «We battle not against flesh and blood; our battle is against spiritual powers, spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.» He describes an unseen realm that actually influences the thoughts and values of a culture, of a people.
All right, we’re going to read quite a few verses, so please have your Bible open, and we’ll just kind of dance through this chapter. All right, beginning with verse one: «It happened after this that the people of Moab, with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, 'A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria, and they are in Hazazon Tamar, which is in En Gedi.'»
Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. He set himself to seek the Lord. There’s one of the phrases that I have underlined: «He set himself to seek the Lord.» Say that with me: «He set himself to seek the Lord.» When I think of «setting himself,» Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem; He was going to die, and He could not be distracted. In this case, Jehoshaphat set his face toward the Lord; no other distraction, no other voice could take him out of his purpose, and his purpose in this situation was, «I must seek the face of the Lord.»
Now, jump down to verse seven. Once again, it’s because of one phrase. This is a part of Jehoshaphat’s prayer: «Are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend forever?» Oh goodness, does that mess anybody else up, or am I just having a party all by myself? «Abraham, your friend forever.» Is there anyone else in the room who wants to be called God’s friend forever? You don’t qualify for that just because you sing the song, «I Am a Friend of God.» It’s a great song, but that’s not what qualifies you. You actually have to spend time. Let me read it again in case you forgot: «Abraham, your friend forever.»
All right, verse 12: «Oh our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.» Guess what phrase I underlined there? «But our eyes are upon you.» Say that with me: «But our eyes are upon you.»
Verse 13: «Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.» Read that verse again: «All Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.» There was something in Israel’s culture that is unheard of today; it’s just not common. They did this same thing in Nehemiah’s day. What happened is they actually lost the books of law, and when they found them, they called a gathering together in Jerusalem in the city square, and all the people of God showed up. The dads were there, the moms were there, the little ones were there, the infants were there, and they literally stood there—I believe it was from daybreak to sunset—as a family the entire time hearing the books of law being read. It’s an extraordinary story, but they stood there. There was something about having the family together in that discipline of hearing the word of the Lord.
Never underestimate the impact that the word of God and the spirit of God can have on a child. Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s mom, is pregnant with John; Mary, the Virgin Mary, is pregnant with Jesus. When Mary goes to see Elizabeth, as she walks into the room and greets her, John leaps in the womb for joy, and Elizabeth is filled with the spirit. All that happened was an infant here recognized the presence of an infant there. We’ve got to restore the discipline in the house of God, and I don’t mean discipline in a harsh or stupid way; I’m talking about the routines of corporate gathering and the impact of the spirit of God.
A dear friend of this house—we haven’t seen her for a number of years now, but I’ve seen her in Arizona—would minister here. My goodness, I’ve never heard her hit anything but the bullseye inside the bullseye. I mean, she would just get us bleeding in a really good way; we felt good about it. She brought the word so powerfully and purely. I remember her telling us years ago that when she was co-pastoring with her brother Judson Cornwall—he, I believe, was the senior pastor—there would be times when the spirit of God would begin to move in the congregation, and they would announce to the parents, «Go get your children from the nursery.» They would go and get the infants from the nursery and just bring them into the glory, into the presence of God. It didn’t matter if they were crying; the point was to expose them to the realms of God because something in them is getting instructed, is getting built. They respond more favorably and more openly to the unseen realm than we do as adults; we actually have to return to their likeness to see.
So here these children, small kids, are standing—not all day for scriptures being read. Do you remember when Paul said to Timothy, «Give attention to the public reading of scripture»? Man, there’s something there, something that’s removed from our discipline today that might be important for us to reconsider.
So this isn’t the public reading of the books of law or anything of that nature; this is— they all gathered, they’re standing before the Lord because a prophet is about to speak, and their nation is in peril. There is a chance if God doesn’t show up they will die, so they thought it would probably be a good idea to come to the meeting.
Verse 14: «Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah.» Go to the last phrase: «In the midst of the assembly.» Now, please catch this. I don’t need to go through the names; I fumble over them anyway. The spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the last phrase, «In the midst of the assembly.»
I know that we have a personal relationship with God. God has no grandchildren. There’s nobody that gets in because of somebody else; it’s always personal faith, personal commitment, personal conversion. However, there is an exponential effect of the move of God, the work of God, and the power of the word of God in a corporate gathering that you don’t have by yourself.
I don’t mean one-on-one can’t be as powerful. The most powerful encounter I’ve ever had with the Lord was one-on-one in the middle of the night; it changed my life, changed everything about my life. I believe in that, but there is something of a consistency in the divine encounter that takes place in a corporate setting that you can’t get anywhere else.
The spirit of the Lord came upon this prophet in the midst of the assembly. Verse 15: «Listen, all of you Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord, 'Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.'» I love it when the Lord says, «Do not be afraid.» I love it. Anytime He says, «Don’t be afraid,» it’s because you have a really good reason to be afraid, is what I’ve figured out.
But in the way of the economy of God—I’ve got to get better language for this—but in the economy of God, where there is transfer of resource as there would be from one account to another, the way He resources a life is through speech, is through the word. It’s through declaration. So whenever God says, «Don’t be afraid,» in the words «Don’t be afraid» is the capacity to not be afraid. It’s actually in the deposit of His word to the heart. So my role is to stay humble and tender, to stay responsive because whenever He speaks, He will create in me the ability to do what He just commanded me to do, and that is the mark difference between law and grace.
Another subject—lots of differences—but that is one: in grace, He empowers. All right, «The battle is not yours but God’s.» Go down to verse 17: «You will not need to fight in this battle; position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you. O Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.»
I think probably the most frustrating part of this walk with the Lord for me is knowing when I’m supposed to stand still and watch Him work on my behalf and when I’m supposed to do something. I’m asked this question all the time: «When do you know what to do?» I don’t know. If I knew, I’d write a book on it. I’ve got one thing figured out though: if one I’m doing isn’t working, then do the other. If I’ve waited and waited and waited and nothing’s happened, do something. If you’ve been swinging your sword and nothing’s happened, shut up and sit down for a while; let’s see if God will show up and work on your behalf.
He works in one of those two ways. Wow, it’s actually represented in how we progress in the Kingdom. These two realities: He said, «Unless you receive the kingdom as a child.» What is that? That’s the rest position. Then He says, «The violent take it by force,» referring to advancement in the Kingdom; that’s the doing something. You can’t do them at the same time or you hurt yourself or someone around you. You’ll mess something up because you can’t do the sit-still and the fight at the same time. Those are the two postures, and the Lord will generally lead us into the one that will bring out the greatest strength, significance, identity—all that stuff in us that we need in that particular moment.
There are times when God won’t talk to you. Does anybody notice that besides me? I mean, it’s not punishment; it’s not like He’s saying, «Well, I just don’t want to talk to him. If I talk to him, I’d kill him, so I’m not talking.» It’s not that; it’s not the silent treatment. «Well, did you see what they did yesterday? I’m just not talking.» It’s not that; He’s not like us. When He doesn’t speak, it’s either because He has already spoken and He’s wanting us to find the word that has already been planted in our history, or He wants to speak to us through someone else.
Why David? David seeks the Lord about building a temple; God won’t talk to him. There’s no record of God giving him any word, so he goes to Nathan the prophet, and Nathan the prophet gives him the direction. Why? Because sometimes it’s more important that He strengthen our connection with one another than to strengthen our connection with Him directly. Sometimes it’s of greater importance to Him that He strengthen the fact that we are actually members of one another.
Because we have a bent toward independence anyway, He wants to speak to me to edify and strengthen that personal connection to the Father. That is His delight, to speak to me. But there are times He won’t talk; He just won’t talk. He will only talk through, in this case, a prophet. Sometimes He talks to us through a familiar friend, and that’s a big challenge because over-familiarity causes us to unintentionally discount the value of what another person has to say or do.
The Bible says a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown. Where Jesus grew up, they all knew Him, and He applied this verse to His own context when He grew up; they saw Him grow up. «Oh, that’s Jesus, the carpenter’s son.» That familiarity made it difficult for them to receive when He stood to read Isaiah 61: «The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.» They missed the word of the Lord because they already had Jesus in a certain box.
Sometimes He wants to speak to you through somebody you don’t have great respect for or value. How do I know this? There used to be someone here that was odd—there are no odd people here anymore except for me. This individual was just really different; they just didn’t fit anywhere, and they stirred stuff up. I would call them weird, but that wouldn’t be kind, so they were just very different. One day, this individual came to me with the word of the Lord. Thankfully, I could tell God was talking because if I had to choose whether to listen or not based on the vessel being used, I would have politely nodded my head and gone about my business.
But she brought up details of something that happened to me the previous week, specific prophetic detail of something God was speaking to me that nobody could have known. She brought it up very specifically and gave me that word standing right back there, and I knew when it happened. I knew when it happened. Jehovah sneaky was wanting to see if I valued the word of the Lord or if I needed to be gratified because of the quality of the vessel He chose to use. Was it because it came from the famous prophet now that I feel better about the word? Or can it come through a familiar friend that I know so much about that has issues, and yet the Lord puts that word in their mouth and my heart is exposed?
Am I here to hear from God, or am I here to feel better about myself? Jump to verse 20. You guys still all right? Don’t know what I’d do if you said no, but it has happened; I’ve had it happen.
Verse 20: «They arose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said: 'Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established; believe His prophets and you shall prosper.'»
Now, I remind you, they are facing a war with insurmountable opposition, an army beyond their ability to fight reasonably against, and this is the word of the Lord: «Believe in God; you’ll be established. Believe in His prophets, and you will prosper.» It didn’t say survive; God is not a survival God. He’s not a make-do God. He is the God of extremes—extreme breakthrough, extreme increase, extreme abundance. «Believe in His prophets; you will prosper.»
Verse 21—two more verses: «When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of His holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying, 'Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever.'»
Last verse: «When they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.» Extraordinary story!
There’s another one that I turn to occasionally for recreational reading; it says the Lord says to the people of God, «Sing a new song to the Lord.» His praise to the ends of the earth, at the end of this exhortation, it says, «And the Lord will go forth like a mighty man; He will stir up His zeal like a man of war. He will cry out, yes, He will shout aloud; He will prevail against His enemies.»
What’s the point? This response of praise is not stroking the ego of God so that He’ll work for us. He is not insecure with His identity looking for somebody that will remind Him He’s God. There’s something in the unseen realm that, where there is a connection to the nature of God and the confession or declaration of people, there’s something that causes a collision of the realities of two worlds, the confession, the proclamation, the song, and the invasion of God to repair a human ailment. They work together in tandem in the same way as prayer.
He answers; in this case, the prescription was not to pray; it was not to fight; it was not to march around a wall. This one was to send out a choir and just sing. And as they sang, notice what they said: «The beauty of holiness.» The beauty of holiness was a target.
Do you know why Jesus heals people? Of course, it’s His compassion, His love for people, but think about this: The great promise that comes to us in Malachi says that there’s healing in His wings. «The Son of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings.» Righteousness, healing. Healing is a physical expression of holiness.
It doesn’t mean if you have a physical ailment you’re unholy and doomed; that’s not the point. Don’t go there; go here. When Jesus heals, He’s demonstrating He’s holy; He’s demonstrating His purity; He’s demonstrating the righteousness of God, and that righteousness was the target—the beauty of holiness.
It’s my personal conviction that all real beauty in the world stems from His personal holiness. All beauty in this world, from creation, everything that is beautiful in song, in thought, with the eyes—everything has stemmed from this one aspect of God’s own person; that is His holiness.
They took those things to mind and began to sing and make declaration. Old and New Testament alike teach this concept that we’re to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It’s not okay; I just sit down and do nothing. They’re supposed to be a physical alignment, a physical response to who He is.
It’s supposed to happen that I stand; it’s supposed to happen that I kneel; it’s supposed to happen that I shout or raise my hand. There’s some sort of physical response because I’ve got to bring this thing that wants to rebel against the purpose of God into confinement and let it express the greatness of God through physical expression. It’s important emotionally that I arrest my emotions that are up and down, and I grab hold of those and I give them a direction of focus.
Today, we are going to consider the greatness of God, but it also says mind, mind—mind. I’m supposed to use my intellectual capacity to consider His ways, come to a conclusion, put it into word form, and make it a part of a song, make it a part of a praise that we think through what He did to arrange for you to hear the gospel, and we become overwhelmed with His greatness, His significance. We think through—I believe in tongues is a wonderful expression of praise, but it’s direct from the spirit to God. It’s supposed to at times come through our own brain that has the filter, if you will, the filter, the template of God’s nature revealed in the stories, in the miracles, and that we join ourselves to those stories, we declare His goodness, His greatness.
They did that, and it says, «And God"—in the Isaiah passage—"stirred Himself up as a man of war.» He said, «I can’t handle it any longer; I’ve got to go kick some demons around or I’m just not going to feel good about the day.» Now, those aren’t His words; those are mine, but you get the point, and Israel brought got a great victory. The remainder of the chapter talks about how God made them rejoice before their enemies, and they ended up with great joy.
If you want joy, rejoice! Don’t rejoice because you have joy; rejoice to get joy. Amen? I believe that when they began to sing to praise, the Lord set ambushes, and their enemies were defeated. There are situations that everyone in this room is facing; some of those situations just need a song. Some of the odds that seem to be so stacked against you, some of the circumstances that seem to be the most impossible—they are no match for a song. They are no match for that yielded song of surrender that acknowledges the beauty of holiness, the beauty of His wonder, the beauty of His nature, His history with the people of God, and He’s no different today than He was then.
There’s that song, there’s that decree, there’s that shout, and the Lord says He stirs Himself up and brings about victory. We’re going to do that in a moment. Before we do that though, I want to give an opportunity for anyone who would be here that would say, «Bill, I don’t know what it is to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I don’t know what it is to be forgiven by God. I don’t know what it is to be included in the family of God. I don’t know what it is to be a disciple—one who actually follows Jesus.» And if you’re in that position today and you would say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know that I’ve been forgiven and accepted into His family. I don’t want to leave the building until I know that I’ve truly become a disciple of Jesus.» If that’s anybody in the room, all I want you to do is put a hand up. By doing so, you’re saying, «Bill, I don’t want to leave until I know I have peace with God.» If that’s you, put your hand up quickly. I’m going to wait just a moment for this.
Right back over here—wonderful, wonderful! Anyone else? Put your hand up quickly. I know we have an overflow room. Please, anyone in the overflow respond in the same way. I want to ask all of you to stand if you would, and if you’d hold tight, we’re going to give a response to the Lord himself in a moment. But I want to give the opportunity for people who just want to know Jesus. It may be that you’ve walked with the Lord in the past and just, you know, your life has been messed up for whatever reason, and you just really want to return as a child, a son, or a daughter of God. If that’s you, I want you to come at this moment, and I’m going to ask a ministry team to come to the front right now.
I also want the individual who raised your hand to please come right up here. We’ve got a team of people that we know and trust that will talk with you and pray with you, so just come right up here to see them. Put your hands up so they can see who you are up here. Team, come on up here, and they will talk with you. If it’s a friend of yours, walk them down, so it can be a little easier for them to make that journey. All right, but come on down and receive prayer. We want to open this up in just a moment for people to receive ministry for any situation that may be needed.
But before we do any of that, I want you to think of one part, one aspect of God’s nature. Think of something about it; it could be His love, His faithfulness, His power—anything. Just pick something. Does everybody have something? Five people were able to think of something. How many of you don’t have anything and need help? Oh, nobody’s going to raise their hand; just borrow something from your neighbor; they probably have several things.
Here’s what I’m going to ask you to do: all I want you to do is take that one theme, that one thought—His faithfulness, His power, whatever it might be—and I want you right now—we’re going to take about 30 seconds to declare the greatness of God. Lift up our voices in that one area and exalt Him and honor Him. I want you to see what happens with this lifestyle that has been a marker in my life for 45 years; 46 years, I feel like we need to up it. We just need to up it; we just need to raise it up another notch and declare His greatness. At the count of three, just begin to lift your voices. We boast in you, God! Lift your voices, declare the wonder of His name, the beauty of His name.