Bill Johnson teaches on principles of spiritual warfare found in scripture, and the ultimate importance of following God’s Presence. It is important that we understand and study Biblical principles, but following God’s Presence and hearing His voice must always come first over our understanding of principles. Bill teaches from different examples of warfare in scripture, and the unusual and unique way in which God brought victory to each battle. Christ already won the victory for every battle we would ever face, but our ability to step into that victory depends on us hearing and following the voice of the Lord. Subscribe for weekly videos: https://bit.ly/bjmYoutube
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Scripture References: 2 Kings 6 Ezekiel 16 Proverbs 25: 22 2 Chronicles 20 1 Samuel 30 2 Samuel 5 Originally shared at Bethel Church, Redding California, on February 3, 2019. Bill Johnson is a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit. He is senior leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and is passionate about seeing Revival and God’s Kingdom established and revealed in the lives of individuals, families, communities, and nations. Bill’s teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, hosting the Presence, and the renewed mind has helped thousands around the world to step into their true identity in Christ, God given purpose, and walk in a supernatural lifestyle displaying both purity and power.
I’m a person of principle I study
principle I love the principles of the
Kingdom it’s what I give myself to I
love to learn about the power of
generosity and looking for the gold in
people’s lives and calling those things
to the surface all those principles of
the Kingdom the value of Honor I love
all of it the problem is is it’s really
easy to misapply a principle or to apply
it at the wrong
time open your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter
six we’ve got four stories three of
which we’re going to read uh parts of uh
just the amount of time and and and the
the length of the message just makes it
impossible for me to to read the the
bulk of the story but I try to give you
the
context has anybody figured out yet that
God thinks completely different than we
do like like it’s not
close it’s not even close it’s not like
similar he thinks completely different
one word from God is more powerful than
a million of well well-intentioned words
from Good Friends one word changes
everything he literally spoke the
world’s into being and what we’re going
to uh look at today is is I want to
examine principles of
warfare um I I’m not interested in
creating a uh uh an an atmosphere where
we intensely focused on destroying the
powers of Darkness Jesus already did
that our responsibility is to implement
the victory he’s already obtained for us
so but I I do want to bring out certain
principles and then we’ll wrap them up
bring it to a certain conclusion here’s
a strange Story 2 Kings 6 the Syrian
Army was coming against the people of
God and was about to destroy them they
were skilled enough to destroy them they
were their numbers were great enough to
destroy them but there was a secret
weapon called Elisha and Elisha the
prophet of God was sent out and he he
prayed and he called down blindness on
this Army so if you can imagine a
Assyrian army you’re buffed you’re
strong you’re ready to have this great
Victory and suddenly blindness comes
over the entire Army well Elisha is
there and he just kind of herds herds
the cattle and takes them into the city
of Samaria and then he says God remove
the blindness and so all of a sudden
this entire Army is inside the city of
God and they are surrounded by Israel’s
Army and they realized they they went
from aggressively attacking a City a
nation to being
captives and they didn’t do anything
they just literally followed Elisha into
the City and found themselves captive so
here’s the story and it’s unusual verse
21 the king of of Israel saw them and he
said my father shall I kill them shall I
kill them I just think it’s so funny it
sounds like a little
5-year-old can I kill him can I kill
him I’m I’m sorry I I know this is are
rated but most of the Bible
is uh Benny and I WR wrote this book on
raising kids called uh raising giant
killers and somebody wrote me a note
said that’s a rather morbid title and I
responded yeah a lot of the Bible
stories are rather morbid so adjust all
right verse
21 when the king of Israel saw them he
said to Elisha my father shall I kill
them shall I kill them but he answered
you shall not kill them would you kill
Those whom you have taken captive with
your sword and your bow set food and
water before them that they may eat and
drink and go to their Master then he
prepared a great feast for them
afterward they ate and drank he sent
them away they went to their master so
the bands of syan Raiders came no more
to the land of
Israel this is one of the strangest
we’re going to look at three awkward
victories but this is one of the
strangest way to win a battle and that
was feed your enemy wow
and there are times where compassion
will take you into a Triumph into a
victory the skilled Warfare and all
you’re praying and fasting and
everything will not do there’s something
about compassion compassion is so vital
that in Ezekiel 16 there’s this bizarre
dialogue about about sexual perversion
that had taken over society and the Lord
in verse I think it’s 49 says the reason
this giant grew to dominate the hearts
the minds the values of people was
because you left the door open with the
absence of compassion and caring for the
poor so it’s such a big deal that when
compassion is is
demonstrated it transforms not only the
immediate condition in this case food
but it did more than that the passion
translation forgive me I I I forgot to
look up the verse again um but there’s a
the passion translation in Proverbs has
this one verse that says through our
generosity we awaken the conscience of
other people that’s that’s stunning
through our acts of kindness we actually
awaken people’s awareness to what is
written in their heart by God himself
the compa compassion generosity kindness
awakens that stuff in people’s lives
that’s what happened here suddenly
Warriors that wanted to destroy Israel
lost the desire to destroy anyone and
they no longer
went in to uh Israel uh to fight and to
war and it was simply because they got
fed it wasn’t the power of a of food it
was the power of kindness It’s the power
of
generosity compassion is generosity of
heart it may be a meal it may be a hug
it may be an afternoon of counsel but
the point is is Excellence here creates
A Generous Heart where compassion is
demonstrated the second one is in 2
Chronicles 20 if you looked there it’d
be great 2 Chronicles chap
20 here’s one that uh the the first two
are I think are are fairly well known to
us as a church family the third one is
just weird these are strange but the
third one is even
stranger the first one the compassion
the generosity thing is is well known
we’ve we’ve had uh the way we live our
life the way we have run things here as
a Ministry um I remember in the early
days we wouldn’t have enough uh money in
the bank to pay staff salaries and i’
would go into Steve’s office I’d say
write me a check to such and such a
church we’re going to help them pave
their parking lot they they don’t have
the money to pave their own parking lot
and so we would take out of our place of
need and would just break that thing
through generosity it it affects the
people you’re sewing to but it affects
you too it transforms a value system
here and and that’s that’s what we did
the Lord in enabled us to get out of
messes by doing the opposite thing that
you would think in the natural and that
is you listen for what God is saying and
you move accordingly and express that
generosity and it broke that cycle well
here’s another story Israel is being
invaded surrounded if you will by Ammon
Moab Mount Sierra Syria all these these
nations have banded together in an
alliance to destroy the people of God
Jehosaphat hears of it he’s absolutely
terrified and uh he calls for a prayer
meeting and then he calls for a fast a
fast fast uh he he calls for the people
to cry out to God and so they do in the
midst of this prayer time a prophet
stands up and begins to prophesy a guy
named jeziel and in the midst of this
assembly he begins to prophesy Don’t Be
Afraid don’t be afraid you won’t have to
fight in this battle God’s going to
fight on your behalf for you and so this
prophetic word was released um it says
later it says Israel trusted in their
prophets and succeeded which is a very
very important you have to recognize the
word of the Lord regardless of who it
comes
from your job is to recognize when it’s
him it may come from a
child it may come from
a prophet or something I I remember once
I I wanted so badly to test drive this
new car
and and I I knew I knew I knew I knew I
was not to buy a car so what I did is I
talked myself into just test driving and
I said Lord I said I’m not going to buy
I just want to test drive so I took the
family to the car lot we got into the
car my kids are small Benny and the boys
are in the back seat and I get behind
the wheel salesman’s right here to my
right I start the car and Brian is in
the back seat and he starts to sing be
careful little eyes what you
see be careful little eyes what you see
there’s a father up above looking down
in Tender Love so be careful little eyes
what you see I did not enjoy that test
drive it totally ruined the entire
moment for me I I literally I I pulled
out of the driveway pulled around the
block parked it and left I was just it
was horrible I had no conversation
completely ruined a really good test
drive of a car that I thought would be
perfect for my
life trust your prophets and succeed but
we come down to verse
22 it says now when they began to sing
and to praise the Lord set ambushes
against the people of Ammon Moab Mount
sier who had come against Judah and they
were
defeated I love stories like this this
particular theme is uh actually all
through the Old Testament especially
from David onward he he learned in his
own experience the power of praise he
learned that God actually establishes
his throne upon the Praises of his
people he he saw in his own experience
the Triumph of how worship praise
transforms a person’s life we’ve learned
together that when uh things are
difficult you don’t respond according to
the circumstance you respond according
to the nature of God and when we do that
when we’re anchored into the heart and
the nature of God the nature of his
promises we have reason to celebrate
before the answer this scripture The
Story Goes On to say the Lord made them
to Rejoice over their enemies the key
was they rejoiced before they won the
battle by the way don’t ever think the
battle is between God and the
devil there is no there is no threat
there whatsoever Satan is not the
opposite of God he’s the opposite of of
of Michael they are both created
beings there is no struggle between God
and powers of Darkness that’s that is a
laughable
concept the enemy only exists as
training ground for the people of God
who will reign with him forever there
one purpose
alone God designed Humanity to destroy
the powers of darkness in the
creation we had that assignment
but with sin forfeited the ability to
defeat him so Jesus Took on flesh beat
the powers of Darkness on our behalf and
then handed us the keys of his own
personal Victory we are not fighting for
victory we’re fighting from Victory
towards the broken conditions of life
that is the responsibility of every
believer so when we talk about Warfare
we have reason to celebrate ahead of
time because the battle literally has
already been won we’re just learning how
to apply that which Jesus has been
Victorious over in this particular story
they began to sing and the Lord set
ambushes before the Lord uh before uh
the people of God I had an interesting
experience uh about 20 years ago it was
fairly soon we’ve been here 22 I think
it’s 22 years what year is
this what what year is it
19 we’ve been here 23 years
23 years this week oh how about that 23
years this
week okay so about 21 years or so ago um
it was a Saturday night um I was fast
asleep middle of the night and a voice
wakened me the voice of the Lord woke me
up and I I don’t know the time I don’t
remember the time but he he woke me up
with his voice and I laid there
literally the rest of night the rest of
the night putting this phrase through
through my through my
mind uh and come back next week and I’ll
tell you exactly what that phrase was
that’s that’s just so cruel but that’s
that’s that’s what I do that’s what I do
no um he spoke to me he woke me with his
voice and this is what he said he
watches over the watch of those who
watch the
Lord he watches over the I literally
laid there all night thinking that
through what does this mean we know that
we have responsibility if you’re a
parent you’re a Watchman over your
children your your household if you’re a
pastor a Watchman if you’re a business
owner you’re a Watchman over that place
of responsibility so we all have
responsibilities and God never leads us
to be irresponsible but he was showing
us how his world Works he was showing me
I should say in this situation he spoke
to me and he said he basically said this
I’ll watch over your watch if you’ll
watch
me and that’s what worship is worship is
the engagement of Heart to Heart the
word worship actually is a word that
means to kiss it’s a face-to-face
encounter the Lord draws Us in to this
kind of a relationship regardless of
circumstances because he Remains the
Same his promises he has Solutions and
answers for every problem we could ever
Face In Our Lifetime and whatever you
think is the biggest problem in your
life right now he already has a plan and
a solution charted out for that
situation it is not Russian Roulette
it’s not some random I hope we get a
breakthrough he has a very specific
course of Direction where his Redemptive
touch will be put to that problem that’s
who he is that is his nature and because
that is so absolutely true we have every
reason Kingdom reasoning is I get to
celebrate ahead of
time Thanksgiving and praise whenever we
offer Thanksgiving to the Lord we thank
him for what he’s done we praise him for
who he is and what’s important what I
learned ear early on is I would get so
discouraged I’d get so bummed out and
there’ just be like this Cloud over me
and I you know I try to quote scripture
or do whatever to try to get my head
cleared and it just wouldn’t work what I
finally figured out is that the darker
the cloud the more exuberant my praise
needed to be so the time I least felt
like dancing before the Lord is when I
would dance before the Lord the least
time I felt like shouting and raising my
hands and lying prostrate before the
Lord whatever it might be those were the
moments I would do that and it would
break that cycle over me it you can you
can stand here like this for five days
and have nothing happen but when you
give yourself Spirit soul and body to
glorify his name through your offering
something happens something happens the
air becomes charged with the power and
the presence of God because he shows up
in that moment to deliver he shows up in
that moment to heal and I I remember in
in ear early days having to learn that
cuz I I I I I knew it on paper but I
didn’t know it by
experience in Thanksgiving we give him a
sacrifice because of what he’s done in
praise for who he is but in
worship I’m the
offering I just step right onto the
altar here I am do as you please
accomplish your purposes that’s really
what worship
is the next story is I consider to be
the strangest of all if if worshiping
your way to Triumph
wasn’t challenging enough let’s take it
to another level go to Zechariah Chapter
1 are you alive like are you still
breathing and everything yeah
good so hard to explain when people die
in the
meeting
Zechariah Chapter 1 next to the last
book in the Old Testament if you get to
Matthew turn
left if you’re in Psalms turn a hard
right because you got a ways to go but
you you’ll get there you’ll get there
all
right let me give you uh let me uh
mention two items in prophetic language
that exists in this story so that as we
read it it make a little bit more sense
first of all when you see horns in
scripture horns represent Authority
power the horns of an animal represent
its strength and so anytime you see
horns the Horn of David David didn’t
have horns coming out of his head it was
his authority it was the power that he
that he lived
in when you see the number
four it often times is referring to the
four corners of the earth north south
east west in other words it’s a global
reaction to something and so let’s look
at this this passage uh beginning with
Verse 18 of Zechariah Chapter 1 then I
raised my eyes and looked and there were
four horns and I said to the angel who
talked with me what are these so he
answered me these are the horns that
have scattered Judah Israel and
Jerusalem then the Lord showed me four
Craftsmen and I said what are these
coming to to do and he said these are
the horns that scattered Judah so that
no one could lift up his head but the
Craftsman are coming to terrify them and
cast out the horns of the Nations that
lifted up their horn against the land of
Judah to scatter it now let’s read 21
again and I said what are these coming
to do so these are the horns or the
powers that have been used to scatter
the people of God so that that no one
could lift their head the Craftsman The
Artisan the creative team is coming to
terrify the horns and cast out the
powers that have been released to the
Nations that had brought the division
and the loss of vision the loss of
identity that lifted up their horn
against the land of Judah to to scatter
it so here’s this very strange story
where the Prophet is standing there and
he’s he’s having a vision but he doesn’t
understand it he sees horns that are
coming and he says God what is this he
said these are the powers these are the
horns that have it’s a global release
against the people of God to bring
destruction and he says I see them
coming and then he says oh I see four
Artisans four Craftsmen the creatives
have been released what have they
released to do they will terrify the
powers of the earth that have been
released to divide and to take away the
identity of the people of God what do
you have when you have a people who
can’t even lift their head you you’ve
got loss of Courage you have loss of
vision and loss of identity those three
things are robbed from the hearts of
people in that point the scripture says
God is the glory and the lifter of our
head he is the one who restores identity
he lifts our head because he’s a perfect
father who through his countenance gives
us identity and it’s in that in that
Embrace if you will in that face to face
with a loving father uh identity is
shaped and formed in a sees the glory
you know you have a child that’s done
something wrong and they hang their head
you lift their head now look at me son
listen you are forgiven what’s happening
there there is the there is the joyful
acceptance of a loving father a loving
mother to release forgiveness and
identity restore identity get rid of
Shame restore that back into the child’s
life that is what’s happening here but
what is unusual is the tool that God
used to destroy these powers that were
released uh into the Earth to bring
Division and loss of identity and it was
the creative
people now I I don’t mean just uh
singers and Painters but that’s
huge it is the creative expression of
God that uniquely fits into every
person’s life that has said yes to Jesus
I don’t care if you’re an accountant I
don’t mean creatively do the books and
that you change the
numbers that’s not
creative but the way you handle the
people you work with the way that you
you display the excellence and the
beauty of your work it’s everything that
we do is to be done with a touch of
excellence and Beauty this was such a
profound thing in Solomon’s life that he
actually won the heart of the Queen of
Sheba that came to visit him through not
just the answers he gave he gave her
answers to every question she had but
the only thing listed was the stairway
from his house to the house of God the
clothing of his servants the way the
tables were set and the way they were
fed all the natural mundane things had
been so impacted by this genius by this
this man with wisdom that expressed a
level of creativity that stunned her and
made her speechless it was that
value that was set on beauty and
Excellence restored in identity not only
just it wasn’t for Solomon it was for
the people of God it for the nation of
Israel Israel obtained a sense of
identity and purpose through the beauty
that was through the leadership of this
man Solomon
stunning I uh was looking through an
introduction of a book I apologize I
haven’t read the whole book yet I
understand it’s outrageously
wonderful I got to get rid of Dr gezer
here there we
go Brian Zan uh wrote a book uh called
Beauty will save the world and I
absolutely love the title in fact I I
wrote a chapter in a book that I have
power that changes the world on beauty
itself he he sent um Prince VL Vladimir
uh
sent groups of teams of people to
research the religions of the world and
uh Prince Vladimir the Great was looking
for a religion that would unite his
people he was a heathen it wasn’t he was
it wasn’t that he was looking to be
converted but he wanted to research the
religions of the world to see what to
bring to his people so that they would
find a sense of identity be United
together in purpose
so they released the envoy to examine
Christianity they went to uh Byzantine
capital of Constantinople and this is
what they wrote in response to their
visit to this Capital said then we went
to
Constantinople and they led us to the
place where they worshiped their God and
we knew not whether we were in heaven or
Earth for on Earth there is no such
Vision nor Beauty and we do not know how
to describe it we only know that God
dwelt dwells among men we cannot forget
that
beauty when a people lose their sense of
identity the value of beauty goes
downhill because the value switches to
survival and the lord it’s not just
about a nice painting although I love
them and I have some nice pieces in my
in my home it’s not just about that it’s
not just about uh the beautiful design
of an automobile or or the the coat or
the dress that you bought or whatever it
includes all of that it’s it’s about
this approach to life that
says I serve a god of excellence and
Excellence demands I give attention to
Beauty because Beauty restores the soul
of a people am there’s something about
the creative expression released over
her family my mom was uh amazing we’ve
celebrated her 90th birthday uh uh
yesterday and the day before and we
continue for the next couple weeks
probably
pleas um but our home no matter how much
money we had or didn’t have she had this
ability to add such beauty to every home
we ever lived in I uh we could be as
poor as could be and I I would never
know it because everything she touched
honestly not just because she’s here
I’ve said this all over she has such an
artistic eye and a value for beauty and
for excellence if she couldn’t buy it
she didn’t have the money she would make
it and and she did we
I grew up around Beauty paintings that
she would paint I mean outrageously good
paintings and so here’s I I grew up in
this environment where Beauty had this
had this um this place of value where
where it Not only was on the wall it had
to be on the right place in the wall a
correct distance from this one that is
also beautiful and everything was so
structured for excellence and beauty
that we grew up in that environment and
I I I don’t know I it’s only been in
recent years I realized oh my goodness
I’m a spoiled
brat in the nicest possible way I grew
up in an environment where where
everything was beautiful everything was
beautiful they
never we’ never sat at the table and
ever heard them criticize another person
I never once don’t ever because it was
Excellence of speech it was Excellence
of Honor is the Excellence of value of
celebrating they believed I could do
anything she still thinks that’s
true don’t tell her otherwise I jokingly
told my dad once I was about 20 or so I
said I think I’ll pick up the violin he
says D he said so he finally came to a
census and thought there’s one thing you
can’t do you could
never beauty is God’s Mark that helps to
restore the soul of a
people God is not a God that makes
do I mean how much Sky do we
need when he multiplied food there was
never just enough it was always more
than necessary but he didn’t waste
anything it was always
extravagant and the the hour has come
for the people of God to place value
because you you are going to be used by
the Lord to help to restore the soul of
a city that was devastated Through Fire
through loss this last year and it’s
going to be through Beauty it’s going to
be through the homes that you rebuild
it’s the en enablement the help that we
that we have to stand alongside and help
people restore their lives their
business their families it’s all through
this thing called excellence and
Beauty there’s one of my favorite quotes
in all of history is actually not from
the Bible I apolog ologe ahead of time
for that but it’s a good one from John
Adams one of the founding fathers of our
nation it’s pretty popular quote so many
of you have probably heard
it he said I must study politics and war
that my sons may have Liberty to study
mathematics and
philosophy my sons ought to study
mathematics philosophy geography Natural
History Naval architecture navigation
Commerce and agriculture in in order to
give their children the right to study
painting poetry music architecture
statuary tapestry
porcelain he understood something he
understood that it is all
about creating this
culture where we’re advancing to the
place our soul is restored and Beauty
has its rightful place it’s not
misplaced it’s not worshiped it’s the
normal expression of those who are
healthy in
here the last story I will just make
reference
to David was being
attacked by the
Philistines and it says and David
inquired of the Lord shall I go up
against them will you give them into my
hand
and the Lord said go up against them I
will certainly give them into your hand
he does brings about a tremendous
Victory shortly
thereafter the Philistines decide to
attack again and David inquires of the
Lord and says shall I go up against them
will you give them into my hand and the
Lord says no do not go up against them
he said circle around them and when you
hear marching in the the mberry trees
that’ll be assigned to you go after
them here’s the
deal
momentum uh the momentum of
success creates an assumption that I
know what the will of God is in this
next
situation it’s it’s the most dangerous
area for me I just confess it outright I
every time I read through David’s story
I come face to face with the fact that
if I’ve had a victory here I’ve had a
victory here it creates a momentum oh I
know what God’s will is and don’t do
what David did where he inquired of the
Lord shall I go up against them he
already knows God wants him to be
victorious he already knows God has Pro
promise that Lum he already knows all
that stuff so based on principle he’s
supposed to go up against him but
principle without presence is a kingdom
without a
king the lifestyle we been summoned to
live is that in response to the voice of
the Lord I’m a person of principle I
study principle I love the principles of
the Kingdom it’s what I give myself to I
love to learn about the power of
generosity and kindness and the things
we just talked about the incredible
things that take place in worship all
that stuff I love those things I love
looking for the gold in people’s lives
and calling those things to the surface
all those principles of the Kingdom the
value of Honor how it shapes culture
these are all Kingdom values I love all
of it the problem
is is it’s really easy to misapply a
principle or to apply it at the wrong
time I give you case in point uh bethl
family you heard me quote this one many
times in
Proverbs Solomon says don’t answer a
fool according to his folly lest you be
like him so I looked that I go there’s
the principle don’t talk to fo
fool the very next verse he says answer
a fool according to his folly lest he be
wise in his own
eyes so like which one of those do I
do and that’s the point he puts us in a
position where unless he speaks we don’t
know what to
do the addiction if I can use that term
in a positive sense the addiction is not
to be to principles we put to memory
the addiction is the face it’s the voice
it’s when he speaks it’s when he
speaks so father I ask that you wouldd
release a a fresh Grace over this family
Believers those who watch on bethl TV
that there’d be something released over
us of a of a caution a care not a
paranoia but a an acute awareness of our
need just to hear do we go up against
them or not if so what do we do how
when help us to be come this
people that are nervous to make
assumptions but are delighted to yield
your voice I pray for that Grace upon
this church family in Jesus
name amen