Worship Warfare: Invading hell and Exciting
Heaven
by
Matthew Champ
1 Chronicles 16:28-29
“Ascribe to the LORD, O
families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength,
ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering
and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his
holiness.”
What is the first thing that
comes to your mind when you think of the word worship?
Probably the same thing that hits me: music. When we think of
worshipping the Lord our minds jump to known worship leaders
or local worship bands and even the odd solo artist who can
comfortably enter you into a time of praise to the Lord.
There is so many types of
worship music, so many varieties; it seems almost hard to
choose from:
-
Jason Upton with his
free-flowing, heart pumping, freedom call;
-
Salvador with their soulful Latin
music that alone is just as powerful, if not more, than their
sincere heartfelt lyrics of love;
-
Toby Mac with his hip hop rhymes
that make almost anyone want to ‘break’ dance before the Lord,
(probably in secret ;)
-
P.O.D. (Payable on Death) with
their hardcore grunge to shout praises before YHWH as they
prepare to lead the chosen generation to the hills of Zion.
-
Being a Soldier I almost feel
obligated to also mention the Brass Bands and Songster whose
melodious sounds can carry any receptive listener nearer to
the heart of God.
Those are just to name a
few. With so many varieties and styles of worship music it is
obvious that we as humans were made to worship. The question
that now arises is: What does worship mean? Worship is the
reverent love and devotion accorded to God. It is to regard
God with ardent or adoring esteem or devotion. Worship is a
feeling of profound love or adoration appointed to God.
Worship is holding in awe the beauty of God. It’s a ‘doing
thing’ as you totally give yourself over to God.
So, with all of this worship
that surrounds us I realized something. We, as Christians,
are SO quick to judge each other’s worship styles. I’ve sat
through worship team meetings where people have said certain
worship songs could not be sung because the older folks in the
church didn’t like songs that weren’t in the song book and
vice versa where band masters have changed Sunday morning
selections because certain people don’t appreciate the
brass/songster selection.
People: WORSHIP IS WORSHIP!
Do you think that God is
picky on how we praise Him? Do you think He cares if we play
Daystar or Jesus Loves Me on a Sunday morning
when it’s worship? Worship invades Hell and excited Heaven,
why would we censor our worship because of one of two people’s
tastes? We would be censoring what would invade Hell and what
would make Heaven rejoice.
The Psalms talk a lot about
how God feels about worship.
Psalm 81:1-4 says:
“Sing for joy to God our
strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob! Begin the music,
strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre. Sound
the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on
the day of our Feast; this is a decree for Israel, an
ordinance of the God of Jacob.”
It doesn’t matter what we
sing, how we sing, what we play or how we play as long as we
are doing it with sincere hearts before the Lord!
Psalm 105:1-3 says:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
call on his name; make known among the nations what he has
done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his
wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of
those who seek the LORD rejoice.”
We are to sing worship to
Him.
We are to play worship
before Him.
We are to shout worship to
Him.
Psalm 100:1-2:
“Shout for joy to the
LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come
before him with joyful songs.”
It God doesn’t care how we
worship why do we care how everyone else worships? Why do
some folks I know have a problem that I can fall face down
before the Lord and worship him to ‘screamo’ or ‘punk-rock’ or
‘grunge’?
Why do some people have a
problem worshipping to different styles of music?
Let me tell you something.
The reason that worship is always related to music is because
that’s the easiest way to worship. Naturally, when we
worship, we sing, even when we try not to. I was at a prayer
meeting in May where we were going to spend time in prayer
worshipping the Lord without music – yet we didn’t know how
to. After 45 minutes the guitar was brought out because
that’s what we knew.
If you can’t worship without
music you are missing out on a beautiful intimacy with
Christ. Matt Redman wrote a beautiful song: Heart of
Worship. They lyrics go as follows:
When the music fades
and all has slipped away
and I simply come.
Longing just to be
something that’s of worth
that will bless Your
heart.
I'll bring You more than
a song,
for a song in itself
is not what You have
required.
You search much deeper
within,
through the way things
appear,
You’re looking into my
heart.
I'm coming back to the
heart of worship
and it’s all about You,
it’s all about You, Jesus.
I'm sorry, Lord, for the
thing I've made it
when it’s all about You,
it’s all about You, Jesus.
King of endless worth,
no one could express
how much You deserve.
Though I'm weak and poor,
all I have is Yours,
every single breath!
How true is it? We need the
heart of worship to be about how much we love Jesus, not about
what style of music we can worship to. Worship is not about
us or how good it makes us feel. Worship is not about the
music or how it sounds. Worship is not about raising our hands
because we feel obligated to or because everyone else is doing
it. Worship is not about singing words because they are on a
screen in front of us or we have them memorized. Worship is
ALL about Jesus and ONLY about Jesus.
Have we made worship
selfish? Maybe we should ask ourselves a few questions on
where we are at with our own personal worship.
How is your worship life
when you pray?
How is your worship life
when you read God’s word?
How is your worship life
when you study God’s word?
How is your worship life as
you live your life?
Our lives should be a
consecrated act of worship at all times, with no compromise.
I beseech thee brethren, present yourselves as a living
sacrifice to God.
It’s time to get down to the
full heart of worship – we need to mean the words we speak,
the tunes we sing, the prayers we pray and the things that we
do. So, throw down your contempt for certain styles of
worship – they may not all suit you – but they all suit God.
Enough of judging the bandos,
enough of judging the screamos, enough of judging the soft
rockers…it all sounds the same to God when it’s being sung
from the heart. More importantly, enough with this whole mind
frame that music is just enough in worship.
Worship is sacrificial.
Look at Abel, Noah, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and
Abraham.
-
Abel sacrificed his best to the
Lord in worship and in turn his very own brother killed him
out of jealousy.
-
Noah sacrificed his reputation,
his family for the many years that it took him to build the
ark and his friends as he obeyed the Lord in his act of
worship.
-
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego all sacrificed their lives as they worshipped the
Living God who reigned throughout the Earth and in turn were
saved and converted a nation.
-
Abraham. We all know that
Abraham was ready to sacrifice his one and only (legitimate)
son to the Lord Most High as an act of worship, but was
stopped when the Lord saw that his worship was pure.
In the same way we must
worship with a sacrificial heart where it’s not about us, it’s
about Jesus. God inhabits our worship, so when we are
sacrificial within our worship we shall be blessed beyond the
grave. What does sacrificial worship look like today? Dare I
say tithing? Generosity? Giving with a good heart?
How else can we worship? We
already know through music and through sacrificing, through
prayer and through our lives, but there must be more.
We can worship through
feasting. Acts 2: 43-47 talks about how we can worship the
Lord together through feasting, fellowship and living in
community. It says: “A deep sense of awe came over them all,
and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.
And all the believers met together constantly and shared
everything they had. They sold their possessions and shared
the proceeds with those in need. They worshiped together at
the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and
shared their meals with great joy and generosity-- all the
while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the
people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who
were being saved.”
We worship simply through
knowing Christ as our Lord and Savior, acknowledging Him with
our rising and our sleeping. Anna, in Luke 2:36-38,
worshipped the Lord night and day and was rewarded with a
blessing from the Lord that was one of the greatest honors for
anyone, she got to see the Christ child before her death.
“There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel,
of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with
her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a
widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but
worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to
them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke
about the child to all who were looking forward to the
redemption of Jerusalem.”
We worship the Lord through
our testimony of Jesus and the words of our mouth. Revelation
19:9-10 says: “Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are
those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' "
And he added, "These are the true words of God." At this I
fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do
it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who
hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."”
We worship the Lord through
our service. Read through all of Isaiah 58 and you’ll
understand that one!
We worship the Lord through
our unity, friendship and our discipline. The call to worship
together in orderly unity comes from 1 Corinthians 14:26:
“What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together,
everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a
tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the
strengthening of the church.”
As you can see there are SO
many ways to worship and none of them are wrong. The Lord
receives each of them with great joy and why wouldn’t He? We
would be fulfilling our calling as humans: we were made to
worship. These types of worship, through our songs, dances,
testimonies, offerings, disciplines, and services all invade
Hell. They snatch away people that are ensnared in the palm
of the Devil and they excite Heaven because truly worship
delivers lost souls into the hands of angels.
I love the lyrics to the
following song…make the words your prayer as you throw down
your selfish worship and pick up a worship that can only be
described as true warfare.
This is my desire: to
honor You.
Lord with all my heart I
worship You.
All I have within me, I
give You praise.
All that I adore is in
You.
Lord I give You my heart,
I give You my soul, I
live for You alone.
Every breath that I take,
Every moment I'm awake,
Lord have Your way in me.
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