Spiritual Warfare Through Worship (Spiritually Unequal Marriage)

Spiritual Warfare Through Worship

September 19, 2014

This series started with Worship is More Than a Song, then moved into talking about Intimacy Through Worship, Living a Lifestyle of Worship and Unity Through Worship. Today, we will touch on an area I have lived very personally and hear God calling us to worship to defeat the enemy. And as I have had the pleasure of hearing Lynn say many a time, how like God to use the very thing the enemy wants most to defeat him. She is so right.

Because that is who Lucifer was. He worshipped before God. (I’ve heard said that he was even in charge of worship. Perhaps he was the very first “worship leader.”) Then his hunger to be like God and thus worshiped like Him ended his career in a blaze of lighting that cast him to the earth (Ezekiel 28, Isaiah 14:12-15, Luke 10:18). And he’s been fighting to get it back ever since.

My friends, I’m here to tell you this is also one of our most powerful weapons against the enemy and makes him flee. I wondered if I would wind up sharing this story and now I hear Abba saying it is the time.

In January I was hit with sudden anxiety. It made no sense and hadn’t experienced it since I was an awkward teenager struggling with school. One morning anxiety slammed me harder than ever, my chest hurt and the panic threatened to overtake me. I began praying and, honestly, I felt desperate and had run out of words to pray. So I started a worship song that had kept going through my head (had to be the Holy Spirit) and sang with along. The next song on my playlist started, and I kept worshiping. Before I knew it, I was on my knees and almost two hours had passed. The pain in my chest and the panic I had felt were gone.

I later have come to understand that what I had experienced was a spirit of torment. After weeks of prayer and worship, this thing finally revealed itself and I commanded him to leave. He did and hasn’t come back.

Worship has become not just part of my lifestyle but part of my arsenal. It allows us to rise above the enemy’s tactics of fear and despair so we can dwell in the truth of God’s presence that gives us reassurance, love, hope, peace and strength in abundance.

There were times during this battle that I couldn’t play worship music easily because of location or if I was with my pre-beleiver. So I sang under my breath. My hubby often asked me if I said something or asked if I was singing. I said, “yep!” and kept on singing!

And I believe it is a powerful way to change the atmosphere in our homes and influence our loved ones. Lynn and I both leave radios playing Christian music playing through our homes. I read the Psalms out loud and worship God through His word. My friends, we make our homes holy with worship.

For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. — 1 Corinthians 7:14

I don't have this all figured out, but one thing I know is true above all else. In worship, we find deeper intimacy with God and we find Him. If we are willing to trust Him with our hearts, He will show us His. He wants to. He longs to. He’s waiting to.

The enemy tries to keep us from this place and lifestyle of worship, because he knows we will lose our focus on God and live in the lie of defeat instead of the truth of victory. It’s how he keeps us and our churches ineffective.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. — 1 Corinthians 15:57

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. — Romans 8:37

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. — Colossians 2:15

But God is saying enough. He’s calling us to praise and worship now as a means to fight the enemy back. Not for His gratification but for our triumph!

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task. — 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

We are, my friends. We are.

P.S. I will be in St. Louis next week for the American Christian Fiction Writers conference manning the registration desk with a wonderful team of volunteers. I will be back in a week, hopefully with some great stories to share! My SUM family, please pray for this week to be filled with God’s presence and protection. And especially for those attending the conference, that we would trust Him to bring fruit from the stories He gives us to write and trust Him for what that looks like. May the glory always be for Him! Love you!