Reinhard Bonnke delivers a powerful message titled 'Anointed for Battle,' emphasizing the importance of being equipped with God's anointing to face life's challenges. He draws from the story of King Joash and the prophet Elisha, illustrating how God provides us with the tools (bow and arrows) necessary for spiritual warfare. Bonnke encourages believers to reclaim their spiritual weapons, overcome fear, and open their hearts to the Holy Spirit's guidance. He passionately calls for action, urging the congregation to shoot their arrows of faith without hesitation, as the anointing of God empowers them to achieve victory over the enemy. The sermon culminates in a call for the Holy Spirit to move among the people, breaking chains of bondage and igniting a spirit of revival.

Welcome to From the Pulpit in Classic Sermons. Each week we bring you a different message from some of history's greatest speakers in the Christian faith, and powerful sermons from modern preachers too. This week we have Reinhard von Kee with his message, Anointed for Battle. Now this morning the Lord gave me a scripture. This morning, five o'clock, I've got to save the time. Five o'clock, the Lord said to me, turn to 2 Kings chapter 13. And I read about the king, and the bow, and the arrows, and the Lord that said to me, that is the message for tonight. And you remember this morning, when the Word of God was given, my friend David Newbery came up, and he started to prophesy along that scripture, exactly that scripture. You could have bowed me over with the feather. I stood back and I said, Peter, he's prophesying my message for tonight. Isn't that terrific? I mean, I mean, I need very little encouragement, but that, it was fantastic. Let's read 2 Kings chapter 13. Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness, whereof he died. That's no anticlimax at all, because at one point, God must exchange the generations. Say Amen. At some point, He must do it, otherwise Father Abraham would still be here today. And Joash, the king of Israel came down unto Elisha, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it. And Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot! And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria. For thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou hath consumed them. And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stopped. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times, them hadst thou smitten Syria, till thou hadst consumed it. Whereas now thou shalt smite Syria, but only three times. I believe an appropriate title for the message that's on my heart here tonight is the anointing of God on the battlefield. On the battlefield. How many of you want the anointing of God on the battlefield? Then I want you to listen as you have never yet listened. Here came the young king, Joash. Very young, very inexperienced. He had heard that the Syrian army was about to just overrule his country. He didn't know what to do. He knew he was outnumbered. He knew that he had no weapons to match. He had no army to match the enemy. And he started shaking and shaking. And he then remembered, Goodness me, there is a man of God, and his name is Elisha. He's already a little bit old, but oh, now I must quickly go to him. So he went. He knocked at his door. There was the man of God, the prophet Elisha. And here comes the young king. And he says, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. I think he just had heard that somewhere. He tried to impress the man of God. But he came quickly to the point because he started, the Bible says that he wept. Can you imagine a young man, 25 years of age, trembling, weeping in front of the prophet? He knew it was a completely hopeless situation. And then Elisha opened his mouth. I thank God for Elisha. You know what he said? This is number one. He said, Take bow and arrow. I think if I had been Elisha, I would have said, Take your handkerchief. After all, he needed one. I tell you, God is not here just to soothe you. God is not here at your fire just to give us a pat on the back and say, You are a jolly good Christian. Anyhow, we are not here to receive the pity of God. You know, just by the way, pity you get for nothing from the people, but envy you've got to earn. Isn't that true? No, no, God was not here to comfort this young prophet. That was not God's business. He didn't say, Take a handkerchief and it will all be well. I'm comforting you. It will be glorious and fine. Don't worry. Take a handkerchief and then go home. It will be okay. Here came the word of the Lord. And this is the word of the Lord to me and to you and to all of us. Hear this word of the Lord. Take bow and arrow. Amen. The medicine, the medicine is not tears. The medicine are the bows and the arrows that God provides in this time. Say, Amen. You are people that have received bow and arrow years ago and today you sit here empty handed. Why? You've parked them somewhere because somebody has criticized you. In earlier days you prayed for the sick. Today you are sick yourself. In earlier days you were casting out demons and sometimes now you think the devil is on your heels, your own heels. Hear the word of the Lord. Go back where you parked bow and arrows. I challenge you in Jesus name. Go back where you left them and take them again because something is going to happen here tonight in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. What you don't use, you lose. God has not given bow and arrow to us for ornaments. He knows that the enemy is facing us and we have got to face the enemy. I tell you when I look at this world and you see all the hopelessness, you'll see the hopelessness sometimes. I am so glad. I tell you sometimes my heart is bursting with joy because I know I am moving in the anointing of the Holy Spirit and wherever I move with this anointing you will see results. In Jesus name. Amen. Take bow and arrows. Get them out of the corner. Never mind if somebody has criticized you. Take bow and arrow in Jesus name. In Jesus name. Alright. I suppose you take bow and arrow into your hand. Number one. But then the moment you've got bow and arrow don't start shooting straight away. Some people don't know how to handle the gifts of the Spirit at all because they keep on shooting at friend and at foe as long as they can hear the ssss of the arrow. Oh. And what happens? Many are wounded. I've sometimes heard people prophesy against each other as though God had authorized a private war. That's all nonsense. We are not here to fight each other. I want everybody to hear we are not here to fight each other. We are here to stand together because we belong to the family of God. Hallelujah. Amen. In Jesus name. That's the next thing that happened. I will try to be fast because I can sense he has a terrific anointing already. Then the prophet said, it says here, and he put his hands upon the king's hands. Holy Spirit spoke to me about this already some time back. Can you imagine the young prophet? He took bow, he took arrows, but he couldn't hold them still because he was still shaking. He remembered the Syrians that were on his heels. He knew when I leave the prophet's house, I am going to face the Syrians. And you cannot face the enemy if you haven't faced God first. Will somebody say amen? So, while he was trembling, and the prophet realized he was no good like that, the prophet, the man of God came from behind, the Bible says, and he put his hands over the king's hands. And suddenly, suddenly, that divine touch, I believe that divine anointing came with which the gifts of the Spirit and the weapons of the Spirit work without fail one hundred percent, absolutely precise. And when he felt those hands on his own trembling and shaking hands, the young man became completely, absolutely calm. All of a sudden, something happened to him. Something wonderful happened to him. And this is so fantastic, so fantastic. He stopped trembling when the prophet's hands touched the king's hands. Tonight this is going to happen here because thus saith the Lord, you have come here to Birmingham saying, I am no use in the kingdom of God because I cannot rid myself of the fear of man. But thus saith the Lord, you shall be delivered from this fear. You shall be anointed, you shall be anointed, you shall be anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power. Hallelujah. Praise God. I want to tell you what happened to me when I for the first time in my life, when I would say I was used for the first time in my life by God in a dramatic way. To me it was dramatic. It was up in North Germany. I was a boy of maybe 15, 14, 15. My father was the pastor. I had strict parents. And we were in a prayer meeting. And we were kneeling there. I was kneeling there at my chair. And suddenly something happened. Suddenly it was as if my hands had been plugged into electricity. Genuine. This electricity was coming into my arms and I didn't know what happened. It was awful. And it became stronger and stronger and I thought, I thought, I couldn't explain it. And the next moment I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in my heart. The Lord says to me, stand up and go to Mrs. So-and-so and lay your hands on her. I said, Lord, I lay hands on her. My father will kill me. I can't. Lord, I'm only 14. You know what the Lord did? He turned up the voltage. Truly. He turned up the voltage. The power became so mighty, so mighty. I thought, well, I'm going to die so-and-so. Then I just as well can stand up and I can go. And from my knees I got up, looking around. Dad was there. And I dumped my hands on Mrs. So-and-so. The moment my hands touched her head, it was electricity was gone. I ducked again. Father had seen me. I thank God that our children nowadays are encouraged. Oh, praise God. You young people, you can thank God you live today. Oh, it wasn't so bad either. It was wonderful actually. I had godly parents. And my father quickly went to that lady and said, what did Reinhardt do to you? Oh, I felt I had committed murder. She said, oh, she said, when Reinhardt laid his hands on me, electricity went through my body. I'm perfectly healed from head to foot. Amen. Hallelujah. I know what it means, the fear of man. I know what it means. In the name of Jesus, when the anointing touches you, you're going to become calm, cool, and collected. Amen. I tell you, you will be able to think straight as well. And you will know, now I know. Now I know God is with me. And now I know, let the enemy come in like a flood. The spirit of the Lord will raise up his thunder against him. Amen. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The third command was, verse 17, open the window. Open the window. I like that. I mean, it goes without saying, you cannot shoot an arrow through a closed window. Yet, you know, I believe that this is a very important step given to us by the Holy Spirit, because we all seem to have wooden window panes. The Lord said, open your window. I believe that means, remove all inhibitions. Remove all inhibitions. Open the window that you can see. Open the window that you can see. Because something is going to happen. And when something happens, then you can see it happen. Say Amen. I tell you, we are going to see Europe delivered from the bondage of Satan. This we will see in Jesus name. We will see. We will see in Jesus name. Open the window. Open the window. You must open the window, otherwise you are no good. It's not just enough to have bow and arrow. It's not enough to sing about the anointing. Open the window so that you can be launched in Jesus name. Or should I put it in a different way, get out of the cocoon. Get out of the cocoon. Amen. Oh hallelujah. Open the window. Michael Collison is here, my co evangelist of all former times in Africa. We have been crisscrossing Africa from all sides and angles. And what I am saying here can be confirmed by him and I think a few others that happened in those days. I will never forget it because to me it was absolutely fantastic. And I believe that this is a principle of God as well. We had a crusade somewhere. The meeting was over that night. The lights were switched off. Everybody went home. I sat in my car going to that home. I stayed there with some Christians. And as I was driving this dirt road, this dust road, suddenly in the light of the car I saw a young man standing waving outside in the middle of the road. I stopped. I had no option actually. I pulled my window down and I said to him, young man what can I do for you? Oh he said, I have been waiting for you here. I knew you would come. He said, I found Jesus as my savior through your ministry. He said, and I have such a desire for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Please he said, pray for me now. I have such a desire for the gifts of the Spirit in my life. He was about 17 years of age. My heart was touched. I thought to myself, who told him about the gifts of the Spirit? I hadn't preached on it yet. I got out, switched the car off, the engine off, stood outside, laid my hand upon that youngster and I said, oh God, you put that longing into his heart. You made this meeting possible right now. Let it come to pass in Jesus name. I said to him, bye bye, God bless you. And our paths split. You in one direction, I the other. What became of that meeting in that night, I have been dumbfounded. And this can be verified. This youngster, this youngster was walking through the night to his home village. He arrived there in the early hours of the morning. He said, when I entered the village, I saw a mother come. Now that's when Africans speak about elder people. A mother was coming. She said, I saw her having a child in her arms and I could see the child was almost dead. And the mother was weeping and crying. And he said, I knew that two of her children had just died before because I knew the family so well. And when I saw the third child dying in her arms and the mother crying, he said, I was very much afraid to speak to her. But then he said, the power of God came on me. And I said to her, mother, will you allow me to pray for your dying child? The mother didn't mind because anything was right to her. The child was dying while she was crying. He said, I laid my hands on the dying child and I said, in the name of Jesus, be healed. He said, the next moment, the child lifted the head. The mother put the child down. The child was completely healed. Amen. The mother didn't know what to do. She ran to the chief. She said, chief, chief, look what happened. This boy came and prayed for my dying child. And now look, my child is perfect. What said the chief? I've got a daughter. I went with my daughter to all the doctors. And nobody could help my crippled child. Call that boy. I want him to pray for my child. He was called. The chief said, in that hut is my daughter, total cripple. That young man went in, a bundle of bones, laid his hand on her and said, in the name of Jesus, be healed. The bones started cracking. The girl stood up, completely healed. Amen. The chief said, what? This is unbelievable. And he called all his people together and said, now this boy is going to preach to all the people in the village. And he had his first crusade on the spot. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? He said, I preached for nine days. And then all the pastors came from all the areas and they baptized hundreds of people. I said to him, tell me what on earth did you preach? He said, I preached all your sermons. Hallelujah. I said, well then you haven't preached anything wrong. Keep on doing it. I have no copyright on the word of God. And you have no copyright on the word of God. Let the word go on in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise God. A real movement started. I heard it from all sides all of a sudden. Michael, if that is the truth, lift your hand. If that is the truth, lift your hand. It is the truth. You can go and ask that young man. He has witnessed it too. Isn't that marvelous? I just want to say, we must open our window eastward because God has a great work for you to do. And you, stop. You should stop at last to feel sorry for yourself. Take bow and arrow. Wait for the touch of the Holy Spirit. The flow of the anointing. And then open the window because God has a mighty victory for you. Amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. After that he said, shoot. Pull the trigger. I like that. Pull the trigger. Pull the trigger. Pull the trigger. If you look at the map of Africa, you will see that it is, there is the contours of a revolver. The trigger is in Nigeria. And the bullet goes out in Cape Town. Amen. Praise God. Hallelujah. Amen. I want to see Africa saved. I have opened my window to the south and I keep on shooting like crazy because the anointing of the living God is on me. And he is filling, filling me up with arrows. We shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot. I believe that the Lord is saving hundreds of millions of people in Jesus name. And that more and more and more will be saved. That's why I'm standing here tonight speaking and preaching the word of the Lord that you may rise. Take bow and arrow and do the same in Jesus name. Amen. Am I preaching too strong for you? Hallelujah. Shoot. Shoot the Lord said through the prophet. Shoot. And he shot. I tell you one thing. When the Lord says shoot, we need to shoot. Amen. We need to shoot without apologies. Don't apologize. Don't apologize. I can't stand people who keep on apologizing for the word of God. They say yes, the Bible says all things are possible to them that believe. But, but, but. That's why, that's why nothing happens. Believe it. Receive it. And use it. And I tell you something must and will happen because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh hallelujah. I'm glad he didn't say aim. He said shoot. Aim. He didn't say aim. I tell you when you are under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, you don't need to aim. Because the arrow is guided like a cruise missile. It has got its own search device. And it will hit the God appointed target without a fail. Hallelujah. Amen. We don't need to aim. We only need to be anointed. And we only need to shoot. I'm always amazed at the things that happen. I tell you I'm amazed about the things that happen. When we shoot, when we shoot. When I was called to enter the House of Parliament in Malawi, they said to me the house is packed with all the parliamentarians. Would you be so kind to preach 60 minutes in the House of Parliament? And I said yes I will do it. I didn't tell him but I had been waiting for it for a long time. Amen. And I preached. The Lord said to me preach on the blood of Jesus. And I know when I draw the message of the blood of Jesus, it cuts. I've used it many times. I know it cuts. I've got confidence in the word of God. When I use it I know it works. Amen. And when the moment came that I thought oh Lord here in the House of Parliament I can't do as though I am now in an ordinary crusade meeting. What about the protocol? The Holy Spirit said to me no protocol, make an altar call. Hallelujah, hallelujah. I said everybody bow his head in the name of Jesus. Who wants to receive Jesus Christ as a Savior and wants to be cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ? Fifty, sixty percent of all the parliamentarians lifted their hands. Hallelujah. Isn't that terrific? When God gives you weapons and when you hear the instruction shoot, don't hesitate. Let go and let God have his wonderful way. Let go and let God have his way. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. I don't want to preach much longer anymore. I'll tell you I'm standing here, I'm standing here, I feel there's a flame in my spirit. There's a flame in my spirit. I cannot, you cannot have my anointing and I cannot have your anointing. Yet there is another dimension. There is the dimension that we shall pray for each other. And there is the dimension that something is happening when we pray for each other. Amen. Hallelujah. I will never deny that. That is a fact. I only object when somebody thinks I'm now giving my anointing to somebody else and now he goes with it and I am free. There is no such thing. Don't fool yourself. Amen. But the anointer is here. The Christ is here. Jesus Christ, Jesus Savior, Christ anointer. He is here. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. In Jesus name. In Jesus name. The Lord spoke words to me that touched my heart very deeply this afternoon. My heart suddenly remembered Mary Magdalene, the woman that was possessed by seven devils, the Bible says. And then she met Jesus. Jesus cast them all out. Hallelujah. Say Amen. Meeting Jesus is the point. Not becoming religious. Meeting Jesus. Meeting Jesus. Amen. And then on a certain occasion she did something for Jesus that has touched my heart already many times and I have been weeping tears in the presence of the Lord. That's how moved I was. On a certain occasion this Mary took a bottle of precious ointment. She went to Jesus. She fell down before him. She broke the bottle and she poured that ointment over him. Scholars agree that that bottle of precious ointment or the alabaster box as the old King James Version calls this bottle, that bottle of ointment is a picture of all our lives. Your life, my life. And the bottle must be broken so that the life can be outpoured for Jesus. Listen. And this is the word of the Lord here tonight. You must tonight anoint Jesus Christ with the sacrifice of your life. Then he will anoint you with the oil of the Holy Spirit. With that anointing of which we have been speaking and preaching about here almost every service. If you are ready for that you shall receive it now. In Jesus name. Now. In Jesus name. Now. In Jesus name. Let's retrace our steps now. Who's here tonight? Who's got to say Lord bow and arrow I left somewhere along the road or I never got them from you but now tonight I will receive bow and arrow. I will go back where I dropped them and I will pick them up and I will come and stand in your presence in a little moment. Who's here who lost bow and arrow? And you want to get it back right now. I want you to stand on your feet wherever you are. Let's sing spirit of the living God fall afresh on me. Just once. Spirit of the living God fall afresh. He's breaking and melting. He's molding and filling. Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me. Say Lord I repent. Where I dropped bow and arrow in the past. Where I was offended. Where I sometimes felt insulted. Forgive me my pride. Deliver me from this pride. I want to treasure your anointing higher than anything else. I want to be usable in your hand. In the name of Jesus. Lord I thank you that you are here and that you are now putting bow and arrows in so many hands right now. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Lift up your hands to the king of kings. Lift up your hands right now. Lift up your hands. I believe something is happening now. I believe that the hands of Jesus are going to lay hold on your hands wherever you are right now. And there will be a stream of the anointing of the spirit of God. The power of God is falling all over. Let's just be quiet in the presence of the Lord for a little while. Keep your hands up. Keep your hands up. The anointing oil is here. I feel it. And I can see it right over us here. The hands of Jesus are touching your hands. Open your spirit for the spirit of God. Holy Spirit do what Jesus has sent you to do. Holy Spirit do what Jesus has sent you to do. In your innermost being. In your innermost being. Open the window. Open the window. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Jesus. Don't worry of who sits next to you. Let go and let God have his wonderful way. Move Holy Spirit. Move now Holy Spirit. Move now Holy Spirit. All over this place. Move now Holy Spirit. I also hear chains snapping right now. Chains are snapping. Chains of bondage are snapping. The anointing breaks the yoke. The anointing is coming upon the NEC. The anointing breaks the yoke over Britain. The anointing breaks the yoke over Britain. The anointing breaks the yoke over Germany. The anointing breaks the yoke over Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland. The anointing breaks the yoke over the Netherlands. The anointing breaks the yoke over France, over Norway, over Denmark, over Sweden, over Finland. The anointing breaks the yoke over the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union. The Soviet Union. The anointing breaks the yoke over Italy, Portugal, Spain, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia. The anointing breaks the yoke over Albania. The anointing breaks the yoke over Switzerland. The anointing breaks the yoke over Austria. Hear the word of the Lord. Over Austria. Over Austria. The anointing breaks the yoke over Belgium. Belgium shall be saved. Belgium shall be saved from dead religion. The anointing breaks the yoke over your life. In the name of Jesus. The anointing breaks the yoke over the United States of America. The anointing breaks the yoke over Nicaragua. The anointing breaks the yoke over Mexico. The anointing breaks the yoke over South Africa. In the name of Jesus. South Africa. South Africa. South Africa. The anointing breaks the yoke over Iran. The anointing breaks the yoke over Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Libya. The anointing breaks the yoke over Gaddafi. In Jesus name. Hallelujah. Open the window. Shoot. Shoot. In Jesus name. The anointing breaks the yoke. Hear the word of the Lord. Over Nigeria. Over Somalia. Over Ethiopia. Over Zimbabwe. The yoke is broken. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. You've been listening to the From the Pulpit in Classic Sermons series. This week you heard Reinhard Bonnke with his message, Anointed for Battle. Tune in next week to hear Lester Sumrall talk about demonology and deliverance on From the Pulpit in Classic Sermons.