We live in the time of restoration. We cannot lay down the building tool that is in one hand nor the weapon of war that is in the other. Spiritual Zion is coming forth in the will of the Lord, and we must give ourselves to defending its wall and completing it. It is a good purpose to live for. In fact, there is nothing better in this world to live for. You who are young and are facing all the good years of your life, the years of your vitality and strength, give them as an offering to the Lord.
The world lives for money, for fame, and for a variety of interests; but it is a tricky world. A man may think he has enough money, and then inflation eats it up. He may think that his name is secure, and yet just one campaign by the newspapers can cut him to ribbons. There are no secure values in the world today. How much less should a Christian seek for just a passing bauble? The Lord admonished the Pharisees, “In vain do you worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). In John 5:44 He said, “How can you believe when you receive the honor that comes from another and not the honor that comes from God?” How vain was their worship? They were all looking for some kind of honor that could come from man. How many people in the Christian world are seeking the honor that comes from man, but not the honor that comes from God?
What is the plan and the purpose of God? John 4:23–24 tells us: “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John chapter four seems to be, on the surface, a conversation with a little revelation in it while Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman who had come to draw water from the well. Understand that in those days there were no water systems as we have today. The living quarters such as God is providing at the present time would have been like palaces in Bible times. We are able to devote ourselves to many more accomplishments because we do not have to ride a beast of burden or walk outside the city to get water. Think of all the sanitary provisions we have, such as sinks, toilets, showers, and tubs. Nothing existed as conveniently in Bible times as now. The apostles walked over most of the Roman empire to carry the gospel. They had none of the means and facilities that we have to spread the Word, and yet they were driven to convey the gospel to the whole world.
The woman of Samaria walked outside the city to get water because the well of Jacob was the place where the Samaritans drew their water. The woman told Jesus, “Our father Jacob dug this well for us” (John 4:12). Who dug the well does not matter to us as much as what came as the Lord talked with her. He told her that the Father had been seeking worshipers throughout the ages.
Do you know what is happening when you are assaulted in your emotions, when you become confused, and when you go through various difficulties? If you are wise enough to find out what God is working in your life, then you are wise enough to see what Satan is trying to prevent. Then you can relate to everything that you go through. Why should we seek the defeat of demonic spirits? For what purpose? They are a hindrance to the will of God. What is the will of God? To bring forth His worshipers—this is what the Father has been seeking all the time. We must intercede to break the impasses, so that we be true worshipers of the Lord.
If we determine what Satan is trying to do to us, and what he is trying to prevent us from doing, then we have wisdom as to what is really happening. Satan assaults our emotions so that we will be distracted from worshiping the Lord. Satan would confuse us in our circumstances so that we would not worship the Lord “in spirit and in truth.” We can defeat Satan by completely ignoring what he is trying to do, and by worshiping God anyway. When God has a true worshiper, the battle is won because God has what He wants. The minute that there is wholehearted worship from you, the will of the Father in the earth has been accomplished through Jesus Christ your Lord in your life.
Why battle a lot of little battles when you can end the conflict with one blow? We have an example of that from World War II. The Americans struggled with the little islands until finally they had the weapon that brought an end to that entire conflict. They dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki and virtually wiped them out. Historically the study of the dropping of that bomb reveals it to be one of the most inhuman, and at the same time one of the most humane steps ever taken. Although many lives were destroyed, it ended a war that would have totally drained the United States and destroyed a greater number of lives in both countries before it was finished. It was a difficult decision that our president made to drop the bomb, but it ended the war decisively. Incidentally, isn’t it good to know that a New Testament church is coming forth in Hiroshima today?
To end a battle decisively is our goal also in our spiritual warfare. Let us not fight a lot of little spiritual battles which mean little, one way or another. Instead, let us come before the Lord as worshipers. When He sees that we are worshiping in spirit and in truth, for all practical purposes the war is then won. We have bombed out Satan!
Satan probably comes against us harder if he sees that he is able to distract us from worship. When Satan sees that we are determined to worship, he seems to leave us alone. Worship is the climate of Satan’s defeat, for that is what he is trying to prevent. Worship is what the Father has been seeking since He first made man. When God walked with Adam in the garden, He was seeking for that worship to come forth to Himself.
It is sometimes good to review basic truths. You would do well to study the manual The First Principles. In each lesson there is an important principle that is related to everything that God is bringing forth in His Kingdom. You will be less focused upon the passing scene and your own accomplishments if you realize that even in this hour it is not ministering to the world that is of prime importance, but it is ministering to the Lord. Ministering to the Lord is the greater objective. This is contrary to the general thinking of the Christian world. The Christian world believes that it is what they do for Jesus that really counts. Actually, it is honoring Him as Lord and Master that turns loose His authority in the world. More is wrought by seeing Him as Lord and moving in His authority, than by thinking “Poor, sweet Jesus. I must help Him because His cause is not doing so well in the world.” That attitude does not exalt the Lord.
Exalt Jesus as Lord, and move in His authority. You will do a great deal more in overcoming demon powers, if you acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord. Often the satanic assault against people who are trying to “work for Jesus” is very deadly, and they become ineffective. In all that people are trying to do in the Christian world, there is a great turnover of workers. They often become discouraged, and even drop by the wayside. Many Christians have used the name of Jesus as ineffectively as the sons of Sceva who heard that His name worked miracles. They said to the demon that possessed a man, “We adjure you, in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, come out!” Because Jesus was not the Lord to the sons of Sceva, no demon had to pay any attention to them. In fact, it was an open invitation to move in on the sons of Sceva. Therefore, the demon answered, saying, “Jesus I know” (and he did; the whole spirit realm knew Jesus), “and Paul I know” (the whole spirit world also knew Paul); “but who are you?” Jesus and Paul were well-known because their names were upsetting the whole balance in the spirit world. Paul was disturbing nations and bringing down principalities and powers in the name of Jesus. Therefore the demon said to the sons of Sceva, “I know them, but who are you?” Then the demon-possessed man leaped on them and beat them until they ran out of the house wounded and naked. When everyone in Ephesus heard about it, fear fell upon their hearts and the name of the Lord was magnified (Acts 19:14–17).
Worship becomes the bricks that build your walls high against satanic assault. It is true that you may be tested by devil power, but if you are a worshiper, that assault will fail. Do you remember the story of Job who was stripped down by Satan with God’s permission? In fact, God initiated it when He said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant, Job, lately? There is no one like him.” Satan said, “There is no point in working on him. Nothing can get to him. You have hemmed him in and all that he possesses.” Job was such a worshiper of God that he was walled in. Then God took the walls down and told Satan to do whatever he would do to Job (but he was not to kill him). Job went through the assaults and came close to death, but Satan knew he could not kill him. Job came through triumphantly to what God wanted. In the end he had a double portion for all that he had lost. God wanted a way to double the multitude of blessings that He had already given to Job.
Some of God’s dealings upon us as we walk with Him are for the same purpose, because today is the day of the double portion for His worshipers! The religious world of Christians-in-name-only are like Job’s comforters. They explain everything with false answers as to why some of God’s people go through what they go through. It is very difficult for most people to read the book of Job, because some of the conversations sound like the truth, when actually the false comforters were throwing lies at Job. As you read chapter after chapter, you need to recognize that lies are intermixed with the truth. Satan presented his lies, and Job presented his truth; sometimes Job presented his confusion. Finally at the end of the book God gave the real picture. He told Job, “Gird yourself, for I am going to talk to you and ask you a few questions.” That ended the confusion. After God talked, Job said, “I abhor myself” (Job 42:6). Then God really met His worshiper with a double portion.
The main point we must see in Job’s battle is the way that he worshiped God. When he first heard that he had lost all his possessions and his children, he bowed himself down and worshiped God because worship was in his heart. This one fact we must face: we will win every battle, and we will have greater immunity in every battle when we are worshipers. This is what God wants. He has been seeking for worshipers, and He certainly does not want to lose one of them. He has been seeking them for centuries, and He will not let one of them go. In the midst of all the intercession that is necessary in this hour, there must be a balance between intercession and worship. The intercession will not suffer; rather it will be far more effective if we are given to worship. The Lord makes His worshiper far more invincible in battle than any of us realize.
If you worship, and simply stand in the presence of the Lord, it will seem as if you are ministering judgment down to the spirit world from the throne of God. Start at the throne in worship; that is much more pleasant than trying to battle up to the throne. Start at His throne, worshiping Him and magnifying Him. That principle is brought out in the book of Revelation for our spiritual understanding. The fifth chapter reveals the worship that is going on up in the heavens. Once everything is established at the throne where Christ reigns, then the bombing down of judgment takes place. All the trumpets blow and everything begins to happen. The seals are ripped off, and the earth is changed. It all starts with the triumphant Lion of the tribe of Judah. That is where we should start, and that is where we end. Everything that we do in the will of God has to be based upon being a total worshiper of the Lord.
Most of the people who have come into the Spirit-led walk with God, and are walking victoriously today, began as His worshipers because God moved upon their hearts to worship. Worship was the way that their hearts first opened up. Many people would never have opened up to today’s living Word if worship had not opened their hearts to the Word first. As we open our hearts in worship, the Word becomes far more effective in our lives. Worship also makes our intercession far more effective. Worship makes our spiritual warfare more effective. Satan has already lost the battle in his desire to keep us from worshiping, if we realize, “Well, if that is the battle, and if that is what Satan is trying to prevent happening, I will simply do it! No matter what I think I am going through, or what the devil does to me, I will continue to worship the Lord.” Everything of Satan’s warfare is designed to keep our relationship with the Lord from being perfect worshipers of the Lord.
Today’s New Testament churches are involved in intercession and worship. The church service must be balanced by worship, by standing in awe and worshiping the Lord, by projecting ourselves into His very presence; then we can enter into intercession with a triumphant witness to our hearts of how glorious the Lord Jesus Christ is and what a mighty Lord He is.
A worshiper keeps his mind straight. He knows that the battle is not his, but the Lord’s. Often an intercessor, if he does not have the proper worship focus, feels that it is his fight and that he must do it all himself. We must not fight the battle ourselves. We can become very zealous, but that zealousness is an intensity to claim the release of victory that the Lord has already won. We only win for the Lord what belongs to Him.
The kingdoms and nations of the world belong to the Lord, and the Kingdom of God will fill all the earth. It is the Lord’s Kingdom. It is a position of great unbelief to go into intercession thinking that you have to win the battle, forgetting that He has won the battle. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” it was finished (John 19:30). In the mind and heart of God it was accomplished. When you try to minister in a devil-possessed situation, do not feel that you have to do it. All you have to do is blow the whistle. You carry a badge of the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ as His bond servant or handmaiden. You have the power of attorney to use His name and to stand in His victory. Do not try to win the war; the war is won. You come to establish the results of that victory. In the name of the Lord Jesus, in His triumphant name, you come into His victory. More and more the worshiper senses the total victory of the Lord and sets about intensely in his intercession to bring down the impasses that stand against the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in the earth.
Do you wonder how you can worship God when you are going through a very difficult time? If Job was able to worship God at the hour of the greatest tragedy that could ever hit a man’s life, anyone can worship God. He did not complain when everything was gone. He fell upon the ground and worshiped, saying, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). That required faith, and that is what we must do.
Murmuring and complaining is found in the hearts of people when there is something deficient in their worship. If you face that fact, you will realize that many times God has allowed you to be put in a corner for only one reason: you are failing in your worship. He allows you to become more vulnerable under attack. If there is no other way to get your attention, then He allows Satan to move against you in a situation. God does not intend to lose any worshipers.
We live in the dawning day of worship before the Lord. Our hearts must be given more and more to worship. Our intercession should be no less than before, but we should open our hearts more to the majestic worship that is the basis of everything that God has been restoring to His people in this end time.
In the church service, the complete structure of both worship and intercession must be built strong. Often there is a focus of worship in the services with the people standing and singing in the spirit, and there should be even more emphasis to this. At other times the pendulum swings to the free expression of jubilee music and intercession. Some are not able to relate to this, but others are more able to enter into a relationship with God because of it.
What should have the greatest emphasis in the services? Worship. People who sit in a service, hungry for God, may be completely disenchanted with the way that some people pray, if they are not given to a hunger as intense in their own hearts for the will of God to come forth in the earth. However, when worship begins, and they see pure worship coming forth, their own hearts may be drawn into it at that moment. The worship and the Word open a door to people’s hearts that even their objections to fervent intercession cannot close. That door in their heart stays open once the Word and the worship open it. This is a guideline of where our present emphasis should be, and as we continue to move ahead, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, we will move right on into the Kingdom if we have this proper balance.
Everything begins and ends as Jesus taught His disciples to pray: “Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.… Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” We must give glory and praise to the Lord in every way as worshipers. We must worship, for the Father seeks worshipers (John 4:23).
There is an element of spiritual warfare even in the deepest worship. But a holy worship finally breaks through and stands in the presence of the Lord. Then you have only one awareness, the Lord Himself; and you give Him glory and praise.
Worship is the key of our waiting on the Lord. The reason for it is very simple. Waiting on the Lord should always be prefaced with worship. If you attempt to wait on the Lord without worship, you may end up with an openness that is not focused. A lot of buzzards may fly into your sky. There are many things happening in the spirit world, which you must dial out. You do not want to just listen to a lot of voices; you want to focus on the Lord and to hear what He has to say. You want His blessing. This requires a very intense focus on the Lord. They that wait on the Lord renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31). Waiting on the Lord is aggressive and concentrated, and worship is an essential part of it. Become aware of the Lord and that you stand in His presence, and of His sovereignty over your life. Worship opens the door for you to intercede, to pray, and to believe Him.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” Take dominion over the working of your mind, which often interferes with opening up to the Lord in spirit and truth. When you go through testings, you are dying to the flesh, so that you can come alive again in the spirit; and the best way to expedite this is to worship.
Keep worshiping! Keep interceding! Expect a breakthrough!
The worship of the Lord takes away the bitterness of intercession. Intercession can easily be focused on satanic channels to the extent that you can become bitter and vicious on a human level, and this you must not do. Your intensity must always be focused on seeing the will of God done and His Kingdom come forth. That is our goal.