Spiritual Warfare Prayer and Declarations From Psalm 91 - Bill Johnson Sermon | Bethel Church

0:00 There are some in this room that have been planted in unusually dark places, and I believe we're to surround you and pray that God would not only protect you from any trap set, but that you would realize, see, experience the angelic host that goes with you into that place, and that there would be a renewed hope for why he put you there. I was given a t-shirt today. If God wanted us to be vegetarians, he would have made broccoli more fun to shoot at. No. God is all over that one, I'm telling you. That right there.

0:50 And for all our non-hunting friends, I'm sorry to keep pestering you with our stuff. But anyway, all right. Oh, I do have a very important story to read. Jesus Moses walked into a bar no

1:21 it was just too tempting to let hang you know Jesus, Moses and an old bearded man are golfing Jesus tees up, he hits his drive straight toward the hole only to find it bouncing toward the lone water hazard on the course. It flies to the water, stops, and hovers over the pond. Jesus approaches the pond, walks on the water to the ball, and hits it, hits the hovering ball to the inches of the cup. Moses steps up to the tee, finds his drive approaching the same water hazard. He raises his club, the waters part, the ball comes to rest just shy of the cup.

2:22 The older man hits a poor drive. It screams onto a nearby road, ricochets off a truck, hits the water. A frog intercepts it, only to be picked up by a passing eagle. The frog and the ball are lifted skyward, only to be dropped by the eagle to within inches of the cup. and he has scrambled to get away. The frog hits the ball, knocking it into the cup for a perfect hole in one.

2:49 Moses looks to Jesus and says, boy, I hate golfing with your dad. I think that's okay to read, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Thank you, Jesus. All right, we're going to do something a little bit different this morning, which kind of different, I guess, is normal.

3:25 How many of you were here, oh, goodness, several years ago when we did the I Want My Knife Back Easter service? This is going to be a little bit more similar to that, although completely different theme. I'm going to take you through a psalm. We're going to read it together. Let me tell you why. Do you remember when Jesus said the shepherd, the good shepherd, leaves the 99 sheep and goes after the one? I feel like every once in a while, which you've seen us practice this through the years, every once in a while, we're to stop trying to minister to every person and go after the one. Sometimes you're supposed to dial everything down instead of trying to make everyone happy and just go to the one individual, to the one person that has need and have us minister to them. I do believe technically that everything that we're going to do today will be of benefit and blessing to many, many people, if not everyone. But we're going to go through the 91st Psalm. So if you'd open your Bibles to the 91st Psalm, that will help us out. The 91st Psalm is probably the most memorized Psalm in the Bible second only to the 23rd Psalm.

4:44 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. This particular Psalm is a Psalm of protection, of safety, of deliverance. It's the covenant Psalm of God with His people to keep us and perfect safety. I feel like... I don't know how to, let me try it this way. We did a study recently on wisdom, on Solomon, on Proverbs, that whole package. And if I were to summarize the purpose of Proverbs and the purpose of wisdom, it's to teach us to reign in life. It's to enable us to rule over our finances and not be in debt. It's to help us in our relationships to lead a healthy lifestyle in all of our relationships, family, etc. And not be overcome by the circumstances that are difficult or challenging.

5:46 And on down the line, to reign in life. If I were to summarize the Proverbs, it would be to reign in life. If I were to summarize the Psalms, it would be that you would have fullness of life. Fullness. it is the heart of the Lord for every person to discover his unique purpose for each person.

6:18 God loves diversity. Unity is not uniformity. Unity is only found with diversity. The fact that we can have so many completely different people in a room like this and have each one significant and important before the Lord and before one another is vital. It is vital to life here. The heart of God is for every person to experience ultimate freedom. Ultimate freedom is not doing what I want. It's the liberty and the ability to do what pleases him and what fulfills my purpose for living, my purpose for being. And the heart of God for every person in this room is to taste of that fullness of life, to know exactly why you're alive, to live that to the max, not trying to be someone else. Anybody else ever tried to be someone else and it was horribly disappointing? I mean, because you can't ever succeed, you know.

7:15 It's especially true in church life. I don't know why. I think it's because we get heroes. We're very prone to having heroes, which I think is a good thing. I see somebody that I really admire and I talk like them. I try to minister like them and I can never pull it off because they are unique and I'm unique. And as we've said in recent months and in recent years, once you find what God has made you to be, you would never want to be anyone else. There's no longing to be anything other than his design for you once you've seen that. So that's what we're going to pray into today. We're going to read several portions of scripture. We'll be praying for one another. We'll have people with certain kinds of needs stand. And so just get ready because you're all on the ministry team. Ready? Look at your hands, they're powerful.

8:08 They're ready to make a difference. Psalms 91. Psalms 91, verse 1. Whoever lives within the secret shadow of Shaddai, hidden in the strength of the Most High, will always be kept safe and secure.

8:29 Here's how I describe him. He is the hope that holds me, the stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me, my great confidence. He will rescue you from every hidden trap of the enemy, and he will protect you from false accusations and any deadly curse. Okay, stop right there. Verse 1 says, be kept safe and secure. verse 3 be protected from false accusation excuse me rescue from every hidden trap and false accusation and deadly curse that's where we're going to start some of you have come face to face with situations that you've never faced before in your life and you could feel it when you got close it was a trap and it it may be that you saw the trap of the enemy and you were able to skirt around it and completely bypass it may be that that trap actually affected you. But that whole issue of a trap set for you makes sense. I don't have to persuade anyone. You know who you are. That issue of a trap set really makes sense. And we're going to pray that the Lord reverses the effect of that trap, so to speak. Secondly, there are some in this room that have suffered of late under false accusations. And I could have you pray over that one for me every week, I think.

10:06 But anyway, we'll leave that out of the subject. they just don't know they love me. That's all. That's all. Now let's get back to this. A false accusation. You've suffered under a false accusation and the deadly curse thing. There's been people who have, who have really withstood you and accused you falsely and have cursed you. That's not everybody in the room. It shouldn't be everyone in the room, but it is somebody besides me. so if the trap, the accusation, the curse makes sense to you, stand, because we're going to pray. Today is going to be a day of absolute liberty and freedom for you. alright what is the will of God for these folks the will of God is for the fullness of life to be their portion it is a gift from God Jesus paid the price for it it's not a theory that exists in heaven alone Jesus made provision for each person to taste of that fullness of life in this lifetime. Yes, there's more in eternity, but it's not all about there. Some of it is about here. And triumph and victory and fullness of life is designed for people now. It's actually the blessing of the Lord. In Psalm 67, extremely important Psalm for me and for this house. It says this, Lord, bless me. Cause your face to shine on me that they would know your ways and the ends of the earth would come to salvation. Think about that prayer. God bless me.

12:00 Let's pray. God bless me. Say it with like you want it. God bless me. Cause your face to shine upon me. Because I want them to know what you're like. And without your favor on my life, they won't know how good you are. And I want salvation to come to the nations of the earth through your favor on my life.

12:35 That's what we're going to pray. I want you to stand. Go to these who are standing. You're going to serve them. If you can't reach somebody, just partner with them at a distance. Extend a hand. But I want you to pray that the Lord would defend them. We don't want any ill thing happen to... Oh, you're coming to help me out. Help me out here. Come on. We don't want anything evil or bad happening to any person. We want to bless them. But I want you to pray for these folks right now. They've been under verbal assault. They've been under accusation. some of them traps have been set and I want you to pray just declaring this thing will have no effect over their life right now in Jesus name. Thank you, Lord. All right, so you're going after the one. That's what we're doing today.

13:29 We're going after the one. We refuse to defend ourselves. We look only for the defense of the Lord, the favor, the protection of the Lord. Now, as though you were doing a prophetic act, I want you just to brush their shoulders off and say, this has no effect on you. This will not land on you, will not devour life from you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Help me out here. It's awesome. Thank you. All right. You did good. You did good. Go ahead and sit down. All right. This is going to be Christian calisthenics aerobics.

14:16 It will be up and down for the next 22 minutes and 42 seconds. All right? Verse 4. His massive arms are wrapped around you, protecting you. You can run under his covering of majesty and hide. His faithfulness is a wraparound shield, keeping you from harm. You will never worry about an attack of demonic forces at night, nor have to fear a spirit of darkness coming against you. Don't fear a thing. Whether by night or by day, demonic danger will not trouble you, nor the powers of evil launched against you. For God will keep you safe and secure. They won't lay a hand on you. All right, here's the deal. I know that there are some of you that really suffer with that night terror thing. Things happen in the night. For whatever reason, they just happen in the night. You are awakened somewhat frequently with fear or with panic or with a nightmare that just spoils your rest. And you want that thing just to end today. Put your hand up because we're going to pray for you. There's quite a few folks that suffer with that. The second one, as he says, whether it's by night or by day. So there are some in the room that have really battled with this panic attack thing.

15:45 things that just come out of nowhere. Everything's going fine, and then just get blindsided by this fear thing or this panic attack, and the Lord is going to set things straight today. I don't believe, I felt it last night as I was going to bed that I was to take on this focus for today, and it was largely because of this one area of prayer that we're going after the one today, that God is going to recalibrate and set things straight. There are some of you that have sleeping disorder that may or may not be connected to this. We're going after that as well. So if any of those three things, the sleeping disorder, night terrors, or the panic attack, the fear, the unreasonable things that just come at you during the day, if that's you, stand up. Today is your day.

16:36 Those who are watching by Bethel TV, get in on this one. Lay hands on yourself if you have to. But just stand up in faith and let's just watch what the Lord does. The Lord, I don't believe, I don't believe He would speak this very, very clearly just to entertain us. He has a purpose, a redemptive purpose of ministering to each person so that whatever cycle started for however long ago it started, we don't need to know. All we need to know is that it ends today and we have the authority to pray and to give that pronouncement over these folks. So you've got them standing all over the room. I want you to stand, go next to them and begin to minister to them. the Bible talks about his faithfulness as a wraparound shield so just pray for that revelation of faithfulness the revelation of presence to literally be a shield Yeah, someone lay hands on the head.

17:49 Actually, I feel like it's very specific. We're supposed to break off this cycle where the enemy has stolen. He has interrupted the gift of God, which is sleep. some battle with it throughout the day it's exhausting we just declare this ends today this ends today in the name of the Lord Jesus as though you could see it resting on them I want you to lift it off just as like a prophetic act just literally just lift it off and declare this ends today this ends today no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Quote scripture over them right now. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. And that means you. There are no exceptions. That means you. No weapon formed against you will prosper. The Lord is a wraparound shield. He surrounds you as a wall of fire for your safety, for your protection, and for your benefit.

18:59 for the sleeping disorders, we just cancel that assault of torment that would disrupt the healthy cycle of life. We just pray that release in Jesus' mighty name. Jesus' mighty name. Jesus' mighty name. Thanks, Lord. All right. You did good. I'm going to read verses 9 and 10 for this next one. You guys doing all right? Yep. now I want you to listen carefully this psalm is all about a covenant we have with God his promises to us but listen to me it is all interwoven in the revelation of God's presence upon his people alright it's literally about his presence upon you upon me so listen to this carefully when we live our lives within the shadow of God most high some of you have been in a dark place it's not because he's far it's because he's near you're in the shadow of his wing when we live our lives within the shadow of the god most high our secret hiding place we will always be shielded from harm how then could evil prevail against us or disease infect us we see taste of this reality what i want to do is i want to link something together here the manifest presence of god and the deliverance from disease we're coming into a day

21:08 where the presence of the Lord will be so pronounced in a meeting that everyone who walks into the building will be healed. That's not a theory. It's already happened. But what I want is for it to be a sustained reality in the life of the church. we have seen cancer dissolve literally in the presence of God resting upon his people during worship one service we had two people sitting in this section unrelated to each other both were healed from the effects of a broken neck each of them broken necks both healed in one Sunday morning almost three years ago I ministered to this young lady that had 35 epileptic seizures a day.

22:02 and when she walked into the building we ended up praying for her but I found out later we probably didn't need to because when she walked into the building into the people where the people of God were meeting the whole thing that had plagued her her whole life literally just lifted off of her last time I talked with her was about 8 or 9 months ago and she had gone at that time 2 years without 1 seizure in the present in the present. So listen to this again with that in mind, because we're going to pray. We're not going to pray just for healing. I believe in that, obviously. But we're going to pray for the revelation of his presence to so far surpass any connection we have with disease or problems. I don't mean mind over matter. I mean that the reality of the presence of the Almighty God would literally drive out every attachment the enemy has with sickness, disease, affliction. How many of you know there's no disease in heaven whatsoever? Why? It couldn't stand.

23:11 The presence is so strong. So how about we go for that here? One last thought. In Romans 8, it says, it talks about the Holy Spirit in us. And then it says, referring to this Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of resurrection. There's this phrase, who brings life to your mortal bodies. So the presence of God in us brings life to our mortal bodies. so we can safely say it is all about the presence when we live our lives within the shadow of the God most high, our secret hiding place, we will always be shielded from harm. How then could evil prevail against us or disease infect us? those of you that have disease whatever in your body you need a miracle this morning stand there's an affliction in your body you need a miracle just stand up We had a visitor.

24:31 from the UK with us not too long ago, I believe sat right back over here somewhere, was looking at something when somebody spilled hot coffee all over her shoulder. he turned around, there was no one there, and there was no hot coffee. He had actually injured his shoulder to the point he couldn't involve himself in any kind of sport or any kind of athletic activity, gotten rid of his canoe, everything that would use any kind of movement at all. And he came to find out that the hot coffee that spilled on him was actually the presence of God. And it just happened during worship. He thought, who's careless back here? and turned around, there's no one there, and then found out he was healed. That's what we're praying for. We're praying.

25:20 I just want you to see, all I want is for you to see the connection between the anointing and hot coffee. That's all I'm wanting to see, is the connection between the anointing. You guys know what to do. We have these friends of ours who are standing. They need a miracle. I want you to pray very specifically. Let the overwhelming presence of God manifest upon them and in their homes. We have some people that experience a miracle here only to go home to have trouble. We want it to fill their homes as well. So you just pray. Pray in that way. Pray in that way.

26:00 Jesus heals every disease. let the manifest presence of God now saturate every cell of our bodies unto divine health to the point where even deformities, malfunctions get corrected, get restored. In Jesus' name,

26:24 pray that they could taste and see the Lord is to be experienced, not just thought about. experience. So we pray for that right now. In Jesus' mighty name, every single person. experience the bounty and the blessing of divine favor we thank you Lord just take just a moment longer I feel like we're just supposed to pray God reveal and manifest your Holy Spirit upon them reveal and manifest the presence of God upon these folks so much so that every cell yields to the reality of heaven, that place where no sickness or disease can reside.

27:24 We declare this in Jesus' mighty name, in Jesus' mighty name. All right, do something to bless them really extra good, and then take your places again. You guys are doing well. I believe the Lord has a very unique purpose to every day that we get to gather together and I obviously love the teaching of the word but I I just felt so strong that today we're just to pray for the experience for every person to taste of what can remain a theory kind of this lofty ideal and is to be experienced.

28:13 Eric was sharing with me a while back, we have a mutual friend who works for a very well-known company in the country and very, very powerful position that this man has in this very popular company. And he was offered a job at another company. And he turned it down because the new company he would work at wasn't as dark as the place he was at. He saw the darkness that surrounded him in this one, and I mean, you would all know the name of the company. He's the CEO of this major corporation and he wants to stay there because of how dark it is. I love that kind of thinking. I just love that kind of thinking. Now, in light of that, I want to read this because there are some of you that the Lord has planted in unusually dark places. Now, you know, let's be honest. We all live on planet earth. There's crud going out, right? Would you agree? There's crud going out. I mean, I feel like we're blessed to the max, but there's still darkness and weird things happening all around.

29:32 so in one sense we all qualify but you know as well as I do some are planted like Daniel's in Nebuchadnezzar's court so to speak the evil emperor's courtyard and is planted by the Lord as a righteous influence and we need to really surround these folks that have that unique assignment that the Lord would first of all protect them from any trap that is set for them secondly their influence would be fully, fully realized. The Lord, in his wisdom, plants people in the middle of adverse situations because of his desire for us to bring change. I've told you a number of times that when the Lord said there will be wars and rumors of wars, famines, etc., he wasn't giving us a promise. He was describing the conditions into which he was sending his last day's army.

30:32 And he is putting us in places of darkness like that. So listen to this. God will send his messenger angels with special orders to protect you wherever you go. How many of you say, I'll take that for myself? Defending you from all harm. If you walk into a trap, they'll be there for you and keep you from stumbling. you'll even walk unharmed among the fiercest powers of darkness trampling every one of them beneath your feet that's just good for here's what the Lord has spoken to me because you've chosen to be my great lover I have chosen to greatly protect you now there are some in this room that have been planted in unusually dark places and I believe we're to surround you and pray that God would not only protect you from any trap set but that you would realize, see, experience the angelic host that goes with you into that place and that there would be a renewed hope for why he put you there.

31:44 So if that's you, Stan, we're going to pray for you. All right, we got some heroes standing. you got planted in a dark place and even if you get a job offer to a lighter place you're not going to take it because it's not dark enough, right?

32:08 Fake it if you have to, just shake your head. I believe we're supposed to pray that the angel armies of the Lord would not only surround them as the Lord has promised, but they would realize it. that there would be that partnership in a sense. We don't pray to angels. We don't look to angels for guidance, but the Lord himself benefited from the presence of ministry of angels. It's foolish to worship angels. It's equally foolish to ignore them. I feel like we're supposed to pray for that realization to be on their lives as they influence the part of the world he planted them in. All right, church family, you know what to do. Stand up and serve these folks. We've got just a couple minutes left. Yep, surround them. Surround them with the angel army.

33:07 Let them see. Let them realize, discover the heavenly protection that surrounds each person in their assignment. we pray in Jesus name in Jesus name All right. We thank you, Lord, for your safety. Why don't you all stand, because we're going to pray this last one together. now those of you that get to sleep finally let us know I want to hear the testimony if those of you that discovered your neighbor wasn't the antichrist let us know the testimony I want to hear it how the Lord used you powerfully in your planted situation but here's this last part of the prayer he says and we started the service with this today it says I will set you in a high place safe and secure before my face I will answer your cry for help every time you pray you'll find and feel my presence even in your time of pressure and trouble I love this phrase I will be your glorious hero and give you success you will be satisfied with a full life with all that I do for you.

34:45 For you will feast your eyes on the fullness of my salvation, drinking deeply of me. Here's what we're going to do. I want you to pray this with me. I believe that the Lord is going to draw a line in the sand right now and make it possible for everyone in this room to live the rest of your life without any regrets.

35:09 Without any regrets. No regrets. fullness of life fullness of life is God's purpose and plan for every person fullness my prayer is for fullness so much fullness you'll have to look for people to give stuff away to like you'll have so much encouragement you'll just have to find someone to courage just to get it off your chest because you'll blow up if you don't encourage somebody.

35:47 All right, I want you to declare this with me. The past is the past. The past is the past. It does not belong to me. It does not belong to me. It was purchased. It was purchased. Through the blood of Jesus. Through the blood of Jesus. My past is covered. My past is covered. I renounce. I renounce. Regret. I forgot the word, sorry. I renounce regret.

36:17 You have no influence over my life. I refuse to visit my past apart from the blood of Jesus. Regret has no place in me. I am determined through the grace of God to experience fullness of life. experience fullness of life. Now, Father, I pray for each person that this anthem would be sung, experienced, and fully realized by every person in this room. That fullness of life, fullness of purpose, fully satisfied with our number of days, fully satisfied with the assignment you've given us, the privilege you've given us to represent you. I pray that this infection would work through not only this entire church, but the body of Christ in our city and this entire city.

37:18 The divine purpose would be discovered, realized, and enjoyed by every person. So we declare this in Jesus' name. No more regrets. We embrace fullness of life. No more regrets. Fullness of life. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Beautiful.