The importance of praise and worship in spiritual warfare cannot be overemphasized. It is what gives us access into the throne of mercy and grace as we stand before the Lord God.
We:
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name”!
Psalm 100:4 AMPC
“For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning. Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]”.
Hebrews 4:15-16 AMPC
You cannot worship God if you do not know Him or love Him. Neither can you worship Him without your faith being in Him. This is because as Jesus said it:
“God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality)”.
John 4:24 AMPC
Your feeling has nothing to do with your worship of God. God understands your feeling; but just because He acknowledges your feeling, is not enough to move Him in answering your prayer.
He is only moved by your faith in His promises to you personally, concerning every situation that you’re presenting before Him in prayer.
Pouring it all into Worship
The woman with the alabaster oil was a true worshipper (read Luke 7:36-50).
She released her faith to worship at the feet of Jesus. All she needed from Jesus was mercy and grace.
So, by faith she poured out all that she had on Jesus, in adoration and worship of Him. Her sins were all forgiven because of her act of faith in worshipping Jesus.
She surely poured the oil on Jesus with tears from her eyes. But she was not shedding the tears, so as to get the attention of Jesus; or cause Him to do something for her.
She was shedding the tears because she recognized her sinful state of mind and knew that only Jesus could help her.
But it was her heart of worship and adoration of Jesus, in the most uncommon manner that actually caught Jesus’ attention.
Her unusual act of worship opened up the window of heaven into her life for the forgiveness of her sins.
She never said a word before the Lord, but her uncommon action was more powerful than what words could ever describe.
Without uttering a word, she backed up her faith with action at the feet of Jesus. Worshipping Jesus was a big deal for her.
Jesus concluded concerning her action of faith:
“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.””
Luke 7:47 NIV
Unusual Worship
God is seeking those who will truly worship Him, rather than those who will routinely worship Him.
Do you ever have a new song coming from your heart to worship Him? That very new song needs expression in His presence. He is the One who places that new song in your heart.
That’s why it needs expression before Him:
“Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!
For He has done marvelous things.
His right hand and His holy arm has gained Him the victory”.
Psalm 98:1 NKJV
Unusual ways of worshipping the Lord will always get unusual responses from Him.
We do not need to tie down our faith with inaction while in His presence. Neither do we have to come before Him as a stereotype of others in worship.
He loves it when we act before Him in authentically new ways of worshipping Him.
That is yet another reason that the Holy Spirit has been given to us. He is the One who fills our hearts with new songs to worship Him.
He guides us into God’s presence and helps us to touch His heart with our worship. The Holy Spirit leads us into the heart of the Father by worshipping Him.
So:
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord”.
Colossians 3:16 NKJV
David was stable in worship.
David was once despised by his wife for worshipping God in a genuinely unusual manner. The scripture says:
“As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.”
2 Samuel 6:16 NIV
David was “leaping and dancing before the Lord”. He was doing this right in front of the Ark of the Lord. It was evident to the public view that David was doing this before the Lord, but Michal had a distorted opinion about what David was doing.
She must have been thinking that she was doing what was religiously correct by rebuking David. But she ended up being on the wrong side against God, because the Lord God saw it differently.
Be very careful not to criticize people who dance for joy or shout for joy in a new way that’s not appealing to you. Just because you do not like something does not make it ungodly. The Holy Spirit may be leading them into doing something uncommon.
King David responded to Michal’s criticism in this manner:
“I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.” And Michal, the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.”
2 Samuel 6:22-23 NIV
Michal became barren for the rest of her life for attempting to prevent a fellow believer in the Lord God from being blessed, while rejoicing before God.
She was more concerned about what the slave girls must had been thinking, about King David dancing before His God.
Apparently, the slave girls saw King David’s dance in a way that they could relate with. They saw their freedom as coming from the Lord as they watched King David danced.
It touched their heart to start seeing the God of Israel as the God with whom they could identify with in their quest for freedom.
David’s dance ministered the hope of redemption to the slave girls. Michal was not concerned about the souls of those slave girls. She criticized David for dancing before God.
God is more interested about winning the lost souls of sinners. And He is still the same God today. He has never changed.
Worship should always minister to touch the heart of the lost souls before God. This was what David did to please the Lord God by dancing before Him.
Be Authentic, and not a Stereotype
Are you a true worshipper? Then learn to worship Him in a way that’s authentic. Open up your heart to adore Him with spoken words.
Study more about His ways from the scriptures. God loves it when we come before Him, with our own personal revelation of who He really is to us.
It’s just as King David once said:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul.
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s”.
Psalm 103:1-5 NKJV
This is what an authentic worshipper does. From the bottom of his heart, he worships the Lord. Being authentic in worshipping the Lord opens us up before Him.
There are those who will rather complain and waste so much time in explaining to God, what He already knows about their lives while they’re praying.
You don’t need to be the complainant before God, but the true worshipper. Leave the complaining for the devil to do. That’s what he knows best to do.
When you deliberately choose to worship God in spite of what you are going through, even without even praying about the situation; He will move to remold and reshape your life in order to meet those needs.
Paul and Silas Worshipped for the shaking
That was exactly what Paul and Silas did while sitting in jail and waiting for the salvation of the Lord (read Acts 16:16-40).
The scripture says:
“Paul and Silas, undaunted, prayed in the middle of the night and sang songs of praise to God, while all the other prisoners listened to their worship”.
Acts 16:25 TPT
They began to undauntedly worship the Lord in spite of the beatings that they had received, and the other prisoners with the jailer heard them worshipping the Lord.
And since faith comes by hearing, they were all touched with those prayers and songs of worship with the testimony about Jesus.
Every worship song should testify about Jesus. you are not just singing; but you are testifying to all listeners about your God, when you’re singing to worship the Lord.
The result of this for Paul and Silas was a sudden response from heaven, that brought a shaking for a jail break:
“Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”
Acts 16:26 NIV
A new door of opportunity to get everyone in this jail to hear about Jesus was opened immediately. The jailer and his household were saved. Paul and Silas planted a new Church in the jail where they were being held in chains.
So, while you are going through the shakings of your life, God is reshaping you as you are worshipping Him more.
More than any of your petitions, supplications, intercessions or prayer requests; God is more interested in your worship of Him.
Are you worshipping Him more than ever before?
Worry Less by Worshipping more
When you learn to cast all of your burdens upon Jesus, the yoke will be much easier for you. By casting all your burdens on Jesus, you are letting loose of all that hinders your worship of Him.
Jesus declared:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
You will worry less about many things that you are praying about, when you actually begin to worship Him more.
It is important to note that the angels have only one thing that they do in the presence of God – they worship Him.
Angels do know and they do recognize that God can do anything while being worshipped. Worship the Lord more to worry less.
Worshipping at the Altar of Prayer
The Lord once said concerning the altar of prayer in the Old Testament:
“The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.”
Leviticus 6:13 NIV
In other words, our fire of prayer and intercession must never go out before God.
Jesus told us in Luke 18:1 to always pray and never to quit praying. A believer that does not pray, is losing the fire of God in his life.
Worshipping the Lord helps us to keep the fire of prayer and intercession within us burning. When we quit worshipping God, we will quit praying also.
And when we quit praying, we will become lukewarm towards the things of God. Lukewarmness towards the things of the kingdom of God keeps us into backsliding away from His presence.
The scriptures again declare about the Levites while Solomon was building the Temple:
“They ministered with music before the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, until Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. They performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them.”
1 Chronicles 6:32 NIV
The Levites waited before the Lord in worship, even as the house of God was being built.
Today’s Levites are also waiting before the Lord with praise and worship, while the building up or edifying of the body of Christ through the teaching of the word, prayer and intercession brings us into God’s presence.
The ministry of the Levites (Worship teams) within the Body of Christ today is vital for the edification of the local Churches.
Our hearts become opened up in His presence as we are worshipping Him corporately.
That is why it is very important for those who lead praise and worship within the body of Christ today, to constantly seek to remain authentic and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit in worshipping the Lord.
The Holy Spirit will always inspire new songs from the heart, as you remain authentic in worshipping the Lord. This reinvigorates the body of Christ with a fresh fire from the presence of the Lord.
You must always be ready to strengthen the weak and feeble, as they’re being led into the presence of God. They will receive grace as this is being done.
If a worship team gets bogged down with doing the same old stuff in praise and worship, the congregation will continue to get the same old results.
But God is in the business of doing new things in blessing His people.
Worship and Spiritual Warfare
It is our worship of God that actually opens us up and leads us into spiritual warfare. Worship prepares us for spiritual warfare. It places value on our appreciation of Him as we advance in the realm of the spirit into warfare.
The writer of the book of Hebrews says:
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”
Hebrews 13:15 NIV
Worshipping the Lord with the words of your mouth in the midst of all you may be going through, becomes your spiritual sacrifice before Him.
The lips that choose to worship and confess Him as Lord in the midst of trouble is fruitful. We praise Him continually because we love Him and appreciate Him.
It takes an act of faith in God to be able to do this. And your faith in God is never meant to be based on your feeling.
It is based on what His word says to you concerning whatever you’re praying about.
If every believer in Christ has to live by how they feel; we’d all would have to go back into our sinful past.
But thank God we do not live according to how we feel. We live according to what God says in His written word about us.
That’s why it is important to praise Him irrespective of what or how you feel. Praise makes the confession of your faith before Him stronger.
A sister was once healed of breast cancer. After a while she stopped praising and worshipping God by giving Him thanks for her healing.
She suddenly had a relapse of the cancer tumor, as she stopped worshipping God. She thought she must had committed a terrible sin. The enemy lied to her that she was going to die.
But the moment she went back into praising and worshipping God with a heart full of gratitude for her healing, she got healed and was made whole again.
When we forget about thanking God for the past miracles of our lives, we become weak in faith and a door of attack against us is opened up for the enemy.
That’s why Paul reminded the Ephesians not to go back to their past lifestyle. He admonished them:
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 5:18-20 NIV
Giving thanks as we sing songs of praise and worship to the Lord in the Spirit emboldens our faith before Him into action.
The Bible says of the early Church as they broke bread and fellowshipped with one another daily, that they went about:
“Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:47 NIV
Praising God positioned the early Church for favor before God and the local communities.
It takes our exercise of faith to be able to worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
When you deliberately choose to worship the Lord in the midst of your instabilities you are acting in faith.
God is never moved by your weaknesses. He is moved towards you in response to your faith (Hebrews 11:6).
By worshipping Him in preparation for spiritual warfare, you must therefore be specific about the types of songs and words that you’re using.
We sing songs of spiritual warfare, because we are going into spiritual warfare. We sing songs of healing, because we believe that He had already healed us.
Whatever we recognize God to be for us is expressed in our worship of Him.
Worshipping God is what the angels in Heaven are fully involved in doing always, as they hold your prayers before God in remembrance. The Bible says:
“And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders [of the heavenly Sanhedrin] prostrated themselves before the Lamb. Each was holding a harp (lute or guitar), and they had golden bowls full of incense (fragrant spices and gums for burning), which are the prayers of God’s people (the saints). And [now] they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to break the seals that are on it, for You were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood You purchased men unto God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And You have made them a kingdom (royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth!”
Revelation 5:8-10 AMPC
They are worshipping before God with the prayers of the Saints. As they asked Jesus to break the seal in the scripture texts described above, you’ll notice that they worshipped Him.
Basically, it’s what they are doing in Heaven that we are supposed to be doing as we are praying and interceding before the Lord on the earth.
Worship for the Harvest
Our worship of God is what ripens the end time harvest for us. It makes it ready before the Lord of the harvest. It moves the heart of God by signaling to the angels to bring in the harvest for His glory.
Agur in the book of Proverbs said.
“Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;”
Proverbs 30:25 NIV
Any believer that is continually praising and worshipping God as he stands before Him is weak, and in need of strength like the ants.
Not only will the praise and worship of God make you stable, as you’re walking before the Lord God in the integrity of your heart.
The praises and worship that comes continuously from your heart before Him, are stored up as credit before God, in all that you’re doing as you’re getting ready for the great harvest of God.
The ants store up food at summertime for the winter. A believer in Christ Jesus with integrity of heart does the same in preparation for the Lord to answer him.
You do not wait until trouble knocks on your door before you remember to start rejoicing and worshipping God.
Store up your praise and worship of Him always, into your credit account before God, as you wait on Him for the harvest.
The harvest is getting bigger every day, but your worship of the Lord gets your heart bigger and enlarged to take it all in.
Your worship of God increases your capacity of faith in doing exploits for the harvest of souls into God’s Kingdom.
Get ready for the harvest by worshipping Him more.
