The Refuge Place and the New Breed of Warriors

Ricci Johnson-Wilson

From our February 9, 2024 Message

Last week I spoke/wrote about the “Weights our Nation Bears and the New Breed of Warriors coming forth.”

One of those groups is the New Breed of Believers. The Lord showed me these unique individuals back in 2018. He said they would be overcomers born out of this period of refining we’ve been in. Further, they would be unstoppable, unshakable warriors in His Kingdom. He added: they would carry this nation over the finish line and pave the way for the next generation of believers to enter in. 

Part of their preparation is to endure the greatest shaking this nation has seen in our lifetime. It is a shaking that will push the wall of communism down on the very individuals seeking to bring it to our land.

In 2018, I had a vision of the wall of communism. It was slowly creeping across the land to swallow up everyone and everything in its path. The Elite were on one side of the wall pushing it forward. In the next scene, I saw the intercessors—the new breed of believers—pushing back against that wall.

The forces behind this wall were fierce, they had great power and wealth behind them. The intercessors prayed fervently to push this wall back and they were able to slow its progression. However, the wall began to tilt down upon the intercessors, they seemed weary, and as the wall leaned further, I feared it would crush them. Time went on but they stayed on course. I could see that something was happening inside them, I could see it so clearly, it was a deep, deep refining and it was producing an inner fortitude.

Suddenly, as though they’d graduated from this deep refining, I saw a renewal rise from within them and a mighty warrior came forth! They were strong, determined, and fierce in their approach to that wall. I knew the Spirit of the Lord had completed something deep within that enabled Him to rise and be the force within them. Now, it was His force that began to press against that wall and not only did the tilting begin to reverse, but it also began to move backward! When it got to the edge of the nation, they gave it one last thrust, and that wall came crashing down upon the elite!

Who are these warriors? These New Breed of Believers?

They are those who overcome.

What do they overcome?

The works of the enemy, both on a personal and national level.

I address the national level – the weights on the flag that the eagle is carrying – last week. 

The personal level is what I’d like to address today.

How do they overcome? Why do they need to overcome personal things to be part of the national overcoming?

What must be overcome on a national level is born out of communism and has infiltrated every level of our nation: media, academia, business, banking, farming, medicine. The truth is even the watering down of the Gospel to create a seeker-friendly Church that has very little understanding of God’s will or His ways thereby producing “Christians” with no ability to fight against the wiles of the devil on a personal level has come out of communism. If we cannot recognize this and overcome it on a personal level, our ability to tackle communism on a national level is all but non-existent.

I know these are monumental things and for most, they seem impossible to overcome. Yet, the New Breed of Believers, they are the warriors! Yes, they are the overcomers!

In order to fulfill such a call—the call to overcome the enemy of our nation, we will first need to overcome the enemy of our soul at a personal level.

David, the warrior who would one day overcome these things and ultimately become the King of Israel, wrote several Psalms as he was fleeing King Saul. Psalm 36 was written after Saul pursued him right into the hands of Achish, King of Gath. Achish was guarded by Goliath’s brothers, so they were more than happy to see the opportunity to take their vengeance upon the one who killed their brother. David had just collected Goliath’s sword from Abimelech the Priest, so it was in hand when he arrived in Achish. Remember, it was here that David feigned madness and rather than have this crazy man in his town, crazy or not, the fact remains that he could slay a giant with a couple of stones. That likely contributed to Achish’s decision to eject him from his presence. (1 Samuel 21)

David fled to a cave with his men where he would pen Ps 36. Let’s read verses 5-10

“Your lovingkindness and graciousness, O LORD, extend to the skies. Your faithfulness [reaches] to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, Your judgments are like the great deep. O LORD, You preserve man and beast. How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You allow them to drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life [the fountain of life-giving water]; In Your light we see light. O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness (salvation) to the upright in heart.”

 

David is being pursued and surrounded by the enemy of his soul. Yet, in a cave with his men, he teaches them this Psalm to take refuge in, cling to, trust in, and rely on the Living God, the Righteous Savior the One Who extends His loving-kindness to those who know Him.

If we do not know Him however, the comfort, the protection, the refuge under the shadow of His wings is simply not possible.

How do we come to know our Lord, our Refuge, our Strength in times of trouble?

James 4 provides practical steps to help us draw nigh unto God. Why is that so important?

To be an overcomer, a new Breed of Believer, and a warrior for the Kingdom of Heaven, we have to know the One we are fighting on behalf of. Why is that important?

If we do not know Him, our prayers, our actions, even our fight can run amiss.

First, let’s look at what keeps us from knowing Him. People tell me they have trouble understanding the Word, they struggle discerning what God’s Word wants them to do about this situation or that situation. God is very specific, but at times, our own fleshly desires prevent us from opening the eyes of our heart to understand what He’s telling us.

So, for those who want to know exactly what steps God has given us in His Word to begin this journey of coming under the shelter of His wing… let’s look at James chapter 4.

James Chapter 4 is literally a play by play for those looking for instruction. Unfortunately, some of us like to pick through those promises found in this chapter instead of the instruction that brings us to the promises. So, prepare yourself, this message is going to be politically incorrect and possibly even offensive. All I ask is that you remember that it is all said in love. I care for you, your walk with our Lord, and the direction we are heading in together.

What keeps us from knowing God?

 

  • Our heart. James 4:1-3 (AMPC): What leads to [the unending] quarrels and conflicts among you? Do they not come from your [hedonistic] desires that wage war in your [bodily] members [fighting for control over you]?  You are jealous andcovet [what others have] and your lust goes unfulfilled; so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain [the object of your envy]; so you fight and battle. You do not have because you do not ask [it of God].  You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires. 

Here James is providing guidelines for the believer in their relationship with one another. A little background, there’s conflict among the believers so James is speaking directly to the heart of that conflict.

What James’ is saying is that their battles are exposing their own hearts. What are the key heart issues?

  1. Hedonistic (Fleshly) desires
  2. Fight for control
  3. Jealousy, covetousness, envy
  4. Lust, murder

The truth is, when we wage war against our brethren, that war began in our own hearts. Whether it’s a desire to or for control, jealousy, or lust, it leads to murder.

 

Jesus likens hatred in the heart to murder. Why? Because that’s where it begins. (Matthew 5:21-22) We must examine our hearts and to be honest, lay them open before God for Him to examine them.

 

The Psalmist would write in Psalms 139:23-24, “Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.”

 

If we want to enter into a deeper place in God, if we want to know Him, we need to become comfortable with Him knowing our heart, testing it, and searching it out for any wicked or hurtful way, and then lay those things at His feet.

 

  • Our Loyalty. James 4: 4-5 “You adulteresses [disloyal sinners–flirting with the world and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend [that is, loving the things of the world] is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose that the [human] spirit which He has made to dwell in us lusts with envy?”

 

Here James is addressing the next level that inhibits their relationship. Their lack of loyalty to God and His word, in essence, James refers to it as “adultery with the world”. We are to be one with God. His desire is to dwell within us that we might dwell in Him. This is truly our ultimate place of protection. However, when we sin and entertain the lifestyle of the world, our Holy God pulls Himself back. He’s holy, He cannot inhabit that which is unholy.

Each person has their own potential pull that the world has on them that will draw them into disloyalty to God. Whether it’s a desire for wealth, fame, or even an apathic walk, or fear of rejection, these each have the potential to create a wedge between us and God. The problem comes when we we’ve slipped so far, we no longer recognize when He’s begun pulling back.

 

Think of your child, you’d do anything for them right? You want to pick them up and kiss their little cheeks, wrap your arms around them and squeeze them with all your might! But, if that child just rolled around in a muddy field and they are now covered from head to toe with grass, mud and who knows what… you’re gonna pick that child up and keep them at arm’s length until you get them in the tub and cleaned off. Same thing with a spouse. You may be head over heels in love with him, you’d jump in front of a bullet for him, but if that husband has been working outside in 100 degree weather moving the pig-pen you just realized your child had been rolling around in, your gonna meet that smelly spouse at the door with the hose and hose him down before you let him into the house!

 

When we engage with the world to the point that the Lord refers to that as adultery, unless we are falling on our faces in repentance before Him, our presence is a stench unto His nostrils and because He is holy, our stench is a terrible offense to Him.

 

If we want to be overcomers, we must walk in oneness with Him which means that our loyalty must be steadfast. In other words, if we want to live the life of an overcomer, our affair with the world must come to an end.

 

Let’s skip down to James 4:11-12

  • Our Gavel. James 4:11-12 “Believers, do not speak against orslander one another. He who speaks [self-righteously] against a brother or judges his brother [hypocritically], speaks against the Law and judges the Law. If you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge of it.  There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy [the one God who has the absolute power of life and death]; but who are you to [hypocritically or self-righteously] pass judgment on your neighbor?”

Why do I say our gavel keeps us from entering in? Because we, as believers, are so quick to judge and condemn our brother. None of us knows where that person is with God. None. None of fully understands the path they’ve been on, the path God has them on, and what God is doing in their lives. None of us. The moment we make the decision to pull out the gavel and proclaim our justice upon that individual, the Spirit of the Lord pulls back on us because we are judging the heart of our brother based on our own finite understanding. How many of you have been misrepresented, accused by someone you trusted, then judged and condemned by those around you until they are circling you like a school of frenzied piranhas seeking to devour you? I bet nearly every one of you can relate to this.

Remember the woman caught in adultery in John 8? The scribes and the pharisees—those religious leaders of the day—brought the woman caught in adultery and threw her at the feet of Jesus for him to cast judgment upon her.  They pressed and they pressed. Yet, what was His response? “He who is without [any] sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Why? He knew their hearts. He knew who had anger, which is the same as murder. He knew who had looked at a woman with lust, which is the same as adultery. He also knew which of those were failing to love resulting in the public exposure and humiliation of this young woman.

Today, all too often, we see the very public persecution and humiliation by each person who feels they have the right to wield the gavel. The world is engaging in it at every turn and unfortunately, the church jumps right into the mix. The truth is, when the world engages in a public attack, and then persecutes the righteous men and women God puts in place, it creates an offense between them and God. Our gavel separates us from God. These efforts to cancel people through social media and every other platform available are extreme and it is the way of the world. The church has no business engaging with them.

Friends, this is the way of the world, and we, the overcomers, must come out of the world and enter into Him.

Why? Because His Hammer of Justice is coming, and if we are swinging our gavels around right along with the world, we will fall under the hammer of His Justice and it will be immensely painful to endure.  

 

The final point takes us back to James 4:6-11.

 

  • Our response. James 4:6-11 provides us with our responds to these things that keep us from being able to enter into oneness with Him.

James 4:6-11 stays: But He gives us more and more grace [through the power of the Holy Spirit to defy sin and live an obedient life that reflects both our faith and our gratitude for our salvation]. Therefore, it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD and HAUGHTY, BUT [continually] GIVES [the gift of] GRACE TO THE HUMBLE [who turn away from self-righteousness]. So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.  Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people].  Be miserable and grieve and weep [over your sin]. Let your [foolish] laughter be turned to mourning and your [reckless] joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves [with an attitude of repentance and insignificance] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up, He will give you purpose].

James details the very things that will draw us into a closer relationship with God:

  1. We must be humble – why? It is the humble heart that has:
    1. the grace to defy sin
    2. the ability to obey His Word
    3. the ability to reject pride and haughtiness
    4. the understanding to submit to the authority of God
    5. the ability to resist the devil
    6. the infilling of our God
    7. The desire to seek out the purification necessary

 

Then, He will lift us up and use us for His divine plans and purposes.

 

It’s only in this place, where we really avail ourselves to His deep refining, His searching of our hearts, where we take our eyes off everything but Him and fall on our faces that we can enter His place of refuge and protection in the midst of the greatest storms our nation has seen in over a century. Then, then my friends, we can arise, ready to be that New Breed of Believers and He can use us to take out the enemy of our nation in the coming days!

 

Let us humble ourselves, enter that place of refuge, draw nigh unto God and He will indeed, draw nigh unto you!

 

Blessings & love,

Ricci