We have moved into new territory in our worship, and therefore the assault of the enemy is evident. But we are to rejoice that a new level of worship is opening up and is being contested. Blessed are they who press in to it even though they are being battled, even though there is no seeming joy or uplift in the worship. They worship because the Lord is establishing a new worship in Zion.
Do you want to grow up? In Psalm 144:12 we read, “Our sons shall be as plants grown up in their youth.” They are going to come forth quickly. You are learning to be warriors as you are entering in to the battles. This tests whether or not you are mature. If you need a pacifier, you know you are not very far along in this walk. Can you take the battle and say, “I’ve heard a word from the Lord and I’m pressing into it; when I worship I am assaulted; when I start to do the will of God I’m afflicted”? Praise the Lord! You will soon be out of this battle and into the next, and you will learn something at this level.
You may feel like Joshua as he marched along one day and received a word from the Lord, “You have not passed this way heretofore” (Joshua 3:4). That is true of us also: no one has blazed this trail before. It’s a brand new path; a new level. We haven;t passed this way heretofore, but we’re moving in as fast as we can. Can you feel the excitement of it? It’s not an emotional excitement; it’s the kind of satisfaction that says, “We haven’t yet arrived, but we’re not defeated.” Somehow we look up and say, “Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” Everything is His; it’s all in His hands.