Worship Is War

“So let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands…” Psalm 149:5 

In many of our churches today, we seem to have lost or misplaced the purpose and the power of worship in the life of the believer. Worship has sadly been reduced from controlling the thoughts, desires, and actions of the believer to singing a couple of songs each week during our weekly services. The power of worship isn’t rated anymore by the amount of God’s presence among His people, but rather how well we liked the songs, the band, or the message. The purpose of worship has shifted from being something that was created specifically for God and His glory to now, something that revolves around the wants and desires of the created instead of the Creator. The scariest part is that we are becoming satisfied with this type of man-made/misguided worship that reflects more of our shortcomings and weaknesses than the infinite splendor, the overwhelming greatness, the unrivaled power, and the unapproachable holiness of our God.

Worship was designed primarily for the glory of God.

It’s purpose is to be a reflection of Himself to the whole of creation. That is why we exist, to accomplish this purpose. We are merely agents of worship (Romans 12:1). Worship was also created so that we could see and encounter more of God (Psalm 34:5). It was created so that we could experience more of His power and grace at work in our lives, therefore reflecting Him and His nature to the world. Worship centered on Christ should be strong and assertive, not weak and confused (Tweet this). It should be active and aggressive, not flippant and passive. We should see victories as we worship, and not defeats. We should see joy and not sorrow. We should see hope and not despair. True Christ-centered worship should produce life (salvation, restoration), healing (physical and/or spiritual), a strengthened faith, and a unified and unstoppable church because Jesus is at the center and not us. There is so much more to worship than we are experiencing today because we have unintentionally reduced it to just singing some songs and until we unlock the true meaning and power of worship, we will remain unsatisfied and unfulfilled.

Worship is not just singing songs. Worship is war!

Anytime we openly declare our love, adoration, and allegiance to God, we are raising a battle cry in defiance to His enemy. His enemy is Satan and his purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy the worship of God from His people (John 10:10) and disrupt His will in their lives at any cost. The greatest weapon we have to fight this battle is worship not because we are doing the fighting, but because it is God who fights for us! Jehoshaphat witnessed this first hand when he placed his musicians before his army as they marched into battle (2 Chron. 20) as the Lord had instructed him to do. As the musicians lead in worship, God destroyed the enemies. Wow! This story will never get old for me. God was making a statement here. If we trust him and find our delight in Him, He will fight our battles (2 Chron. 20:17). Just think that as we engage in worship, the Holy Spirit is engaging in warfare on our behalf.

You see it is not up to us to slay the giants, move the mountains, or part the waters. It is not up to us to fight our battles alone and defeat the enemy single-handed. All we are called to do as believers is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Luke 10:27) and put none other before Him (Ex. 20:3). When we do this, He promises that He will be with us (Joshua 1:9) and never leave or forsake us (Joshua 1:5) and He will fight our battles for us. Whether it is doubt or sickness. Whether it is fear or failure. Whether it is complacency or persecution. Pride or poverty. Rejection or insecurity. God wants to show us His power, His grace, His faithfulness, and His love throughout every season we face. He wants to give us abundant life (John 10:10) and victories in the midst of our battles (Romans 8:28) for the praise of His glorious name (Psalm 115:1). Praise God we don’t have to worry about how because that is His job. All we have to do is fix our eyes, our hearts, our minds, and our souls on Him and watch Him defeat our enemies and break down the strongholds in our lives as we worship. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:7-8

I believe that when we truly turn our eyes from the temporary, fleeting things that Satan uses to distract us and give to God our undivided and unhindered worship; we will see Him do things in our lives, in our church, and in our community that we could have never imagined or dreamed of. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20