Tag Archives: worship

Worship – Living from a Place of Victory

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Friends of ours live and work overseas and also have a house back here in Australia. They come back for a fortnight to Australia every 4-6 months. I will never forget my friend sharing how they always left Christian worship music playing on repeat in their Australian house when they returned overseas. My friend shared how they never had to worry about their garden as no weeds ever grew in it and she surmised it was due to the worship music saturating the atmosphere of her house and garden. One time, they had had someone stay at the house just after they had left for overseas. This person had turned off the Christian worship music whilst they had been at the house. They had not turned it on when they left. When my friends returned three months later, there were weeds two feet high all throughout the front yard.

Can worship make that much difference?

It seems totally absurb but our God is powerful and giving Him His worth through worship is extremely powerful.

I look at it from a different angle and say why wouldn’t it do that as worship changes everything.

When we worship, we give God all the glory and God can’t help but come and invade the praise of His people. With God present with us, our perspective changes, our actions change, and our problems seem smaller.

Worship changes atmospheres.

Worship changes our focus.

Worship helps us realise our identity and position in the heavenly realms.

I would rather be fighting from a position of worship and having ‘the joy of the Lord as my strength’ (Nehemiah 8:10) than be focusing on the devil and how to protect myself.

The devil will not co-exist with God and our worship. Thus, I much rather prefer to worship God and let the devil flee without giving him any attention.

When I was a young Christian, a lot of emphasis was put on “living a victorious christian lifestyle”. The only hassle was that it was all about living from a defensive position. The devil seemed huge and I had to build myself up and get rid of any sin in my life so as to be able to defeat him.

When I worship God, I am on the offensive, not the defensive. Worship becomes the first thing, in every situation. In fact, worship becomes a lifestyle. I love living from a lifestyle of victory and having the attitude and actions that we are coming from the position of the winning side. It changes my whole perspective.

We were made to worship God. If we are not worshiping God, then what are we worshiping? Whatever that is, it is an idol.

This is the first blog in a series of blogs covering living from a place of victory. This series will include blogs about the things we say and declare, living a godly lifestyle, changing atmospheres, blessing your spirit, spiritual ‘cleanliness’ before and after ministry, rest etc. If you are not a subscriber to this blog, I encourage you to subscribe so that you don’t miss out on part 2.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Buy an art canvas for each family member. Set up the paints and allow each person to paint their canvas background. When the paint is dry, grab some permanent markers. Write each person’s name in the middle of their canvas. Focus on one family member at a time. Brainstorm as a family the strengths of that person and the words that God would use to describe that person. Write these words on that family member’s canvas. You may like to hang each person’s canvas in their bedroom as a visual reminder of what God thinks of them.

2. Group Activation: Get into groups of 3. Elect one person to receive the prophetic word. The other 2 people in the group will play ‘prophetic table tennis’ – one person starts giving a prophetic word, the second person then carries on giving the prophetic word in the same vein of thought, then it returns to person number one to expand even deeper on that thread, then back to number two to expand deeper still. Try not to introduce any thing that doesn’t follow that thread. Instead, ask God how you can go deeper with just the one thread of thought. After you finish that one concept/thought etc, switch positions for someone new to receive a prophetic word.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to highlight to you an area of your home that seems dreary or unproductive or somewhere that you prefer not to relax in. Leave worship music playing quietly in that area for the next week/fortnight and see if it ‘feels’ any different or anyone else notices any change.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God for an encouraging Bible passage for someone undergoing a difficult season. Communicate this to that person in a loving, encouraging manner.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight an MK (Child of a missionary) or a PK (Child of a Pastor). Ask God for a prophetic word for that child. Write a letter to that child highlighting what God has shared with you about that child and how great God sees them.

Worship reflecting our view of God

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girl looking at red balloonsI have been reflecting recently on how the worship styles in the different churches we have been involved in have been quite different. From reciting liturgy to singing songs that focus on what I get from God and on myself, to giving worth to God the Most High. Over the last 5 decades, Hubby and I have been involved in the Brethren Church, Salvation Army, Methodist (now Uniting Church), Baptist, Churches of Christ, and Pentecostal churches. During this time, I have also seen various changes in the churches we have been a part of with song styles from hymns, Scripture in Song choruses, songs of justice, songs focusing on the awe and worth of God, Hillsong music, Bethel music, and songs concentrating largely on my identity in God.

In my reflection, I am tossing around the idea that our song writing illustrates our view of God. If we are writing songs, and then singing songs, about how God sees us, that reflects our view of God. If we are writing and singing songs giving God the worth that He desires, that reflects a different view of God. If we are writing and singing songs about the nations and that translating across indigenous groups, that reflects yet another dimension of God. Simply put, are we singing songs that focus on the awe of God, the love of God, the fear of God or on reminding ourselves who we are to God?

Soren Kierkegaard, a theologian, said that worship is a performance with the congregation being the performers and God the audience. “Worship happens most fully when the community gathers to encounter the living God and respond with everything we’ve got.”

First of all, worship is about God.  It’s less about you than you may think.  It’s not so much about you coming and getting filled up or coming and hearing what you need to hear.  That’s not to say that worship has nothing to do with those things, but they are mostly by-products of worship, not the goal of worship.  What we get out of worship has more to do with our response which always follows an encounter with God.  Worship is first and foremost about God.

Arthur Burk (http://www.theslg.com) describes some dreams he has about worship in his youtube video titled “Egyptian Depression”. He says that worship is an antidote to depression and encourages listeners in the 20.18 minute video to dream about ways you would love to worship God. He listed three himself – John G. Lake, when he was in South Africa during a service, went into a trance for 20 minutes. During this time, his spirit flew to Wales where a member of the audience’s daughter was in an Asylum. He apparently prayed for her, God healed her and his spirit flew back. Another of Arthur’s dreams is in utter quiet and stillness on a lake. Yet another in a lighthouse in the midst of a winter storm in the Atlantic Ocean and being able to experience God as the strong tower talked about in Proverbs 18:10.

Personally I love walking along the beach on a stormy day and hearing the waves crashing near me and feeling God’s love crashing continually in on me and singing hymns of worship to God. I realise that I best hear God when I am in motion, not standing or sitting still. On my morning walk, or in the shower, basically whenever I am moving I tend to experience and hear God more. I also love the strong tower image from Proverbs 18:10 and often imagine God as a strong tower and I am running in to Him. Others love soaking to music whilst lying still on the floor and become immersed in experiencing God then. Others in different aspects of nature. My hubby prefers being in the bush and hearing God clearly there. Others love driving their car and experiencing intimacy with God then. Others find beautiful times of worship and intimacy with God when painting or being creative. Others love the comfy chair where they commune daily with God. Most nights my friend offers her spirit to God for Him to take her where he needs her most, protect her from anything not of God and for the Holy Spirit to guide her. She has been to Syria, North Korea and various other places, ministering to folk, much like John G. Lake did.

What are your dreams of worship, of completely abandoning yourself to God and His goodness and experiencing Him in a fresh new way and experiencing that new characteristic of God that you know about in your head but haven’t truly experienced in your heart? I encourage you to explore various ways this week.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy!

Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Spend a few moments worshiping God and then pray and ask God to show everyone present where His angels are in the room, what they look like and what they are doing. Then get everyone to share. (Children usually can see in the spirit realm if they haven’t been shut down by adults dismissing what they have seen in the past. I will never forget my son on Remembrance Day in Australia which is where we have a national day of pausing and remembering fallen soldiers, sharing how during worship in church he saw angels dressed in army gear standing side by side all around the coastline of Australia protecting the gold that was within Australia. At that stage he had no idea it was Remembrance Day.)

2. Group Activation: Spend some time in worship as a group and then ask God to open everyone’s spiritual eyes to see what He is doing in the room or what is happening in the room in the spiritual realm. For those having difficulty with this, encourage them to begin to imagine some angels coming into the room and what they may look like and be doing etc. Then ask people to share and note any similarities and look for what you need to do next ie if someone sees angels bringing healing, then it would be appropriate to follow this time with praying for people to be healed.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend some time this week reflecting where you most easily hear and experience God and where you also most love worshiping God. Experiment and see if there is perhaps a new area or new environment or way of encountering God this week. Try and discover the place you most clearly hear God’s voice and feel His comfort.

4. Intermediate Activation: Think of a current concern you have. Spend a few moments worshiping God, giving Him worth. Then imagine approaching the throne room of heaven and taking that concern with you and handing it to God and asking for His perspective on it. Wait and encounter all that God wants to give you.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend some time dreaming with God and asking Him to give you a new song. Ask for His music, rhythm, words. Sing it back to God.