Worship
There is an age-old war that every Christian engages in with the very acceptance of his salvation, and he is called to be a soldier in the Lord’s army to fight the good fight of faith (I Tim. 1: 18). By the nature of this appointment, we are to stay as close as possible to our commanding officer who is Christ, so that we may be directed and informed of our tactical approach in combat. 2 Timothy 2:3-5
If we expect to emerge as victors, we need to know the enemy we face (1 Peter 5:8) and our plan of attack, which involves the rules as well as the weapons we have to defeat the opponent (Ephesians 6). So what is this war? Although physical wars are constantly waged such as the one against terrorism, that which we are called to face is not against mere people—not flesh and blood—but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. There is a recurring struggle that each of us must face because the devil constantly prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. This gives us a clear insight into the enemy we face. Since this is a spiritual battle, it must be fought in the spiritual realm.
So what does God say as part of our briefing before we embark on this mission?
Unlike any other battle, we are told by our commanding officer that this one is not really ours (2 Chron 20:15b) but that it depends on God (Deut 20:4), and most important of all, it has already been won on our behalf. God tell us that He is the one who goes with us to fight for us against our enemies to give us victory. We are assured that we will not have to fight this battle. All we need to do is take up our positions and wait ; and we will see the LORD give us victory. 2 Chron 20:17
Paul further establishes this victory principle in Eph 1:19-20. “There is incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” As this passage suggests, we have to be in union with Christ. It is through Him and in Him that we are able to partake of His power here on earth. For us to be seated in the heavenly places above our enemies, we must be with Christ.
The spiritual battle has already been won when Christ purchased us by His blood and we are declared as “more than conquerors through Him who loved us ..” (ROM 8:37) Notice that there is an emphasis in the way we achieve this victory. It says “through Him.” Meaning we have to form a strategic alliance with Christ’s lordship in order to walk in the victory He has promised.
So how must we position ourselves in waiting? We need to abide by His presence. We need to be close to Christ. We need to draw near to Him so that He will draw near to us. (James 4:8) Psalm 73:28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge… Only in His Presence can we walk as victors, only in His presence can we possess the power. It is when we call upon the Lord and abide by Him, that we are assured of winning because "the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits" (Dan 11:32). This is why Moses desperately begged God not to send them away unless God’s presence went with them (Ex 33:15). This is why David cried out to the Lord in Psalm 51:11 “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.”
David understood very well the importance of remaining in God’s holy Presence, which is why he constantly came to the Lord, declaring that “better is one day in Your courts than thousand elsewhere” (PSLAM 84:10).He teaches us in Psalms 96 that we are to ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name and we must bring an offering as we come into his courts. We should worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. Here we learn how to enter into God’s holy presence—through worship.
We are to come, meaning it requires action on our part, before the Lord in true worship to partake of His glory here on earth. This is why David always won his battles from Goliath to everything else. He worshipped God continually, surrendered all the cares that he had and he sought God’s aid in the spiritual realm to defeat his enemies.
Psalm 18 clearly illustrates this when he attributes his victory against a hopeless situation to God, who is worthy of praise. He declared that he “called to the Lord, and he was saved from his enemies.” The same is true for when his army won over the Philistines in 1 Chronicles 14:15. He inquired of God how they were to proceed and God went ahead in front of them to strike their opponents. Clearly if we fight in the heavenly first, we can be assured of the victory in earthly terms.
The famous story of King Jehoshaphat is another powerful account that supports this eternal principle. He put the singers out in front of the army to praise the Lord for the victory as they marched to engage their enemies (2 Chronicles 20:21) and the battle was over in their favor before they even went! If we worship God in spirit and in truth, he sets His ambushes before us. This is what Elisha was trying to tell his servant when he proclaimed “those who are with us are more than those who are with them" (2 Kings 6:16) as the two of them were surrounded by the Syrian army.”
Through our worship, we are walking in this spiritual victory, which is then manifested in the physical.
Acts 16:22-28 tells us of Paul and Silas who were unjustly imprisoned for preaching the gospel. Rather than letting despair and discouragement rule their souls, they encouraged themselves in the Lord and began at midnight—symbolic for the hardest, most desperate times of our trials—praying and singing hymns to God. A great earthquake ensued and opened the prison doors, allowing them to escape, to minister to the prison guard and to continue preaching.
There is great power that comes with our worship. In Isaiah 30:31-32 it is written “The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria; with his scepter he will strike them down.
Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.” It is this very power that Satan wants to usurp that he offers us the world in exchange for our worship (Luke 4:5). Worship is our weapon against the strongholds of the devil. This is because though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds (II Corinthians 10:3-4).
Although there is the constant struggle, we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that we may declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe… (Hebrews 12:28-29)
For God is our hiding place and He will protect us from trouble and surround us with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:7). We, as part of the unconquerable army of Christ are to extol the LORD at all times and His praise shall always be on our lips (Psalm 34:1). God is our help and our aid, so we are to sing in the shadow of His wings (Psalm 63:6-7) because if we dwell in His presence, we can have rest and no harm will befall us. (Psalm 91) Amidst desperate situations, we can still get a good night’s sleep as David did because the crisis now becomes a manageable circumstance.
Worship is our entry way into his courts, into His presence, into his power, into His glory… When we worship God, we cast our crowns before the throne and bring back all the honor to God (Revelations 4:10), and He in turn gives us His blessings of grace, strength, favor (Psalm 84:11), power and authority against our foes (Ephesians 1:18-21). This is the cycle of walking in God’s victory that we must embrace if we intend to continue living in the light of our salvation; because God wants to liberate us from the enemy “so that we may worship Him” (Exodus 4:23).
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 949 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Dana Calit or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 949 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.
or fear in this camp!!
This IS the "mind of
Christ" that ALL believers can have when
they use Gods word to
cast down vain imaginations, all fear
and NO DOUBTS. Mountains
MOVE, at their commands
for they get every one
of them thru the Holy
Spirit! Welcome to Gods
KINGDOM!