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ON BECOMING A WORSHIP WARRIOR
~L.D. Oxford
Dear Joshua Family Subscribers:
Today i am posting something on "becoming a worship warrior" which is actually a letter written to one of our subscribers. I felt that perhaps this would help some of the others to understand worship, even better. As worshipping God surpasses just going to a church service, worshipping and praising God for 40 minutes a week.
It is actually a life-style in God which we should all pursue on a daily basis. Also, the sacrificing of our lives daily is a part of that worship. This involves what we do for God and also for His Body (His people). It is our obedience towards God.
Some understand this and others do not. But worship is not only putting aside time to verbally worship God, but it also involves everything that we do "as unto Him" from day to day.
The word worship = adoration, and we should also worship God through everything that we do for him.
It goes much deeper than what many have been taught in the past, because we should be "showing adoration" towards God with our entire lives, instead of with only a part of our lives. To become a worship warrior is to be an entire life-style.
Blessings in Christ, Pastor L.D.
*****
ON BECOMING A WORSHIP WARRIOR
To Carol:
Dearest sister in Christ:
A worship warrior involves making our entire lives a life-style of worship unto the Lord in everything that we do. It goes beyond just worshipping and praising God verbally for 40 minutes in a church service every week ... but involves every day, doing everything that we do as worship unto the Lord.
It also involves laying down our lives daily for the Lord and also the sacrifices that we make for others. This is also a part of that worship.Whether it is spending personal time verbally worshipping the Lord, waiting upon the Lord, seeking the Lord, or praying and ministering to others.
Worshipping God with our lives also includes on our jobs, doing menial tasks, family duties and activities, or our studies. Let everything that you do become worship unto the Lord.
Another words, do everything, "as unto the Lord." This is also our worship to him. And in this, the Holy Spirit will train you to become a worship warrior, as worship and praise unto our Lord is the highest form of warfare, which causes the enemy to flee from every area of our lives.
As you may already know, the Holy Spirit is also our primary teacher. He is the one who leads us and guides us into all truth. God uses men to teach us, but the Holy Spirit is the primary teacher who teaches us in our everyday lives and through our life experiences also.
He will show you the deeper depths of what it truly means to become a worship warrior unto the Lord as you learn to pursue and honor God in your daily walk with Him. Hope this helps you to understand better.
Know that you are loved and many blessings to you and your family.
Sincerely in Christ,
Pastor L.D. Oxford
Joshua A/P Network & E-list
OTHER MESSAGES:
*WORSHIP WARRIORS ARISE: LET JUDAH LEAD!
*FOUR KEYS FOR ENTERING INTO WARFARE WORSHIP
*****
Chuck Pierce is the Vice President of Global Harvest Ministries and President of Glory of Zion International Ministries in Denton, Texas.
EXCERPT FROM THE WORSHIP WARRIOR
-by Chuck D. Pierce and John Dickson.
*****
WORSHIP WARRIORS ARISE: LET JUDAH LEAD!
~Chuck Pierce
From the Gregorian chants of the fourth century to Wesley's hymns of the eighteenth century, there have been many variations of worship. In the twentieth century alone we spanned a full spectrum from George Beverly Shea's gospel tunes to the Vineyard's deep soaking in the presence of God to Mike Bickle's intensive 24-hour-a-day model at his International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri.
As we have turned the corner into the new millennium, we are seeing another momentous shift in worship, which may be related to God's redemptive word in our time and which is pivotal in the spiritual battle both on earth and in the heavenlies.
We are advancing to an intimate, strategic, warring worship.When we hear the word "worship" many of us think of singing three or four hymns in a Sunday-morning church service. Some picture quiet times or Bible studies. A few visualize prayer. The word "warrior," on the other hand, easily evokes images of a person in the heat of combat.
Perhaps we imagine Russell Crowe in the movie Gladiator or envision Army troops on the front lines in Afghanistan. Maybe we think of a person who battles in the loosely defined "wars" against social nemeses such as poverty, prejudice and injustice.
Perhaps we recall C. Peter Wagner's call to become strategic prayer warriors. While the words "worship" and "war" are familiar, they nonetheless produce extreme and opposing emotions - seldom do we see the two work in tandem.
As servants of God, we know we are to worship Him. We also know that we fight in a spiritual battle. But a close look at the Bible reveals much about God's plan for worship in war.
LUCIFER'S PLOT
Worship is at the center of this great spiritual war. It has always been over worship, fought with worship and will be won through worship.
LUCIFER (also known as the devil or Satan) PICKED A FIGHT WITH GOD.
The Bible does not make clear exactly when this happened, but it certainly occurred before Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and, tempted by the promise to be like God, introduced sin to the world.
We know from Ezekiel 28:12-19 that in that time cherubs or angels, of which Lucifer was one, had access to the holy mountain or throne room of heaven where God is seated. Some theologians think that Lucifer actually led the angels as they worshiped the Creator.
If this is true, Lucifer, whose heart was "lifted up because of his beauty," apparently decided that he no longer wanted to be a worshiper; instead, he wanted to be worshiped. His wisdom was corrupted because of his brightness. Full of pride, he was cast down, and he convinced many angels to join him in rebellion against God. Thus, the worship wars were on.
WORSHIP AND THE WARRIOR
We usually render worship in adoration toward God and associate it with good, uplifting, even ecstatic feelings. Worship is often focused upward and can embody the qualities of holiness, reverence and awe. We see ourselves as givers and God as the recipient. Warring, on the other hand, involves taking a stand, overcoming a threat, invading territory or conquering an enemy.
In war, we often view ourselves as defenders against a dangerous force or sustainers of righteousness and truth. This is true in spiritual as well as physical conflicts. In the typical scenario, worship has not been part of the battle plan; it has come only in the form of thanksgiving after a victory.
In the physical or earthly realm, we tend to worship the human heroes of battle and add God as an afterthought. In spiritual conquests, the Almighty gets all of the praise, but we still see warfare and worship as two separate acts. God is calling us to bridge worship and warfare.
When we read the Bible we find that God instructs us to ascend into the throne room in heaven, be clothed in His authority and descend in war.
There is a sound of heaven that enables us to recognize, embrace and advance through this process. It moves us toward victory in accomplishing God's will on earth.
A FRESH APPROACH
God is calling us to be worship warriors! For many Christians, this is a new concept. We have come to understand how we can take authority over demons, territories and sin of all types, in the name of Jesus.
We know how our prayers effect what happens not only on Earth, but also in the heavenlies. We have been good students of the principles of spiritual warfare. This is all good. But God is calling us to do more.
In The Future War of the Church, my co-author Rebecca Wagner Sytsema and I describe a coming battle. We show how there will be a time of increased struggle and, ultimately, prophetic fulfillment.
As we approach this future war, we need to be prepared. We must fully comprehend the place of worship. As we battle against the enemies of darkness, we need to grasp the authority God has given us. We must become worship warriors.
THE SOUND OF RESTORATION AND THE SOUND OF THE THRONE ROOM
God is pursuing His people. The Spirit of the Lord is calling us to worship. God is releasing a sound from heaven that is being embraced by people all over the world. The call causes us to draw near to Him and to each other. The sound causes us to go to war. We must manifest on earth what God says in heaven. God's sound permeates from has always led the armies of God forth.
I VISUALIZE IT THIS WAY:
God is on His throne, and Jesus is seated next to Him. Jesus is the door that we have into the Father's throne. The Word of God tells us in James 5 to submit ourselves to God, draw near to Him and then resist the devil.
I believe that as we worship and submit ourselves to a holy God, we can come into intimate contact with Him. Even though we walk here on the earth in our worshipful submission, we ascend into heaven.
As we individually seek God and ascend into the throne room, we can hear the sound in heaven in our spirit man on earth. God does not play favorites.
Everyone can embrace this call to ascend and become a worship warrior. If we believe in Jesus, we are automatically enlisted in His army.
LET JUDAH ARISE AND GO FIRST!
There is a great inheritance that He has for each one of us individually. He also has a corporate inheritance that He is calling the Body of Christ into that will affect each territory throughout the nations of the earth.
The time is NOW to war for our inheritance. There are personal promises God wants to manifest. This is a time of the preparation and shifting of the mantle of authority for the next generation. How do we proceed?
Look at how Judges 1:1-2 relates: Now after the death of Joshua, it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, "Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?" And the LORD said, "Judah shall go up. Indeed, I have delivered the land into his hand."
Judah was selected as the tribe of divine preeminence in Jacob's patriarchal blessing. Genesis 49:8-10 gives us more insight: "Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down before you.
Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people."Judah must go first. Praise must take its preeminence within our lives, churches, cities, states and nation.
When Judah goes first, the scepter of authority is then in place for ultimate victory. This is a time that the Lion of Judah will roar louder than the lion that has sought to devour us! Judah means "praise Yahweh."
In this season, a major shift is coming in the way we worship and acknowledge God corporately. The word "praise" originates from "value" and "price." "Yahweh" signifies the God of covenant. This is a time when God values our worship.
Also, this is a time when we begin to value the covenant that He has allowed us to enter into with Him. What a price He paid to give us access to the throne room!
OUR WORSHIP WILL TAKE ON GREAT COVENANT SIGNIFICANCE IN THIS TIME.
Our worship will release great blessings into the earthly realm. The redeemed of the Lord will say so. The burning bush, "I AM," type of worship is coming into the midst of God's people. This is going to release a deliverance call across earth. Deliverers will rise up!
Entire groups of people will begin to be delivered from the bondage and oppression that has kept them prostrate, and they will begin to stand before the Lord with great shouts of victory. This is a time of much confrontation. But when the confrontation of the enemy comes from intimate communion and worship, we are assured victory.
This is a time when we must give Judah (our praise and worship) the freedom to experiment until we come into the sound that will bring victory into the earthly realm.
WORSHIP WARRIORS ARISE!
Worship warriors of every generation, young and old, connect and stand. This is the time to worship, enter boldly into the throne room, be clothed with favor and go to war. The sound is being released. Listen to it. Enter the battle. And release the harvest!
*****
"FOUR KEYS FOR ENTERING INTO WARFARE WORSHIP"
~Dean Mitchum
The prophets and apostles have been proclaiming that this is a season of war, so we need to prepare (Joel 3:9).The following are four essential keys for understanding and entering into warfare praise and worship
(Psalm 47:7).
PROPHETIC REVELATION
(1 Samuel 13:22) states that when the day of battle came there was neither sword nor spear found in the hands of any of the people. The enemy had taken the blacksmiths out of the land "lest the Hebrew make swords or spears". No one in the land had the ability to turn metal from one form to another.
The Church cannot afford to be without our weapons on the day of battle.In the spiritual realm prophets are like blacksmiths. Until the prophets were restored to active functioning in the Church, we had no revelation of warfare praise. We had no understanding of (Joel 3:10) on how to turn our plowshares into swords.
We understood that praise could plow, but we did not know that this same "metal" could be used as a sword by beating it into a weapon. Now revelation has come, and we already have what it takes to create the weapons of warfare from our praise.
We simply need to let the red-hot fire of the prophetic stir us up as mighty men to beat our plowshares into swords, and our pruning hooks into spears, and our praises into a weapon of war.
SPIRITUAL WEAPONS
(2 Corinthians 10:4)
Let's remember some of the weapons that pertain to warfare worship:Playing an instrument like David did (1 Samuel 16:23)
(Psalms 144:1) says, "God has trained our hands for war and our fingers for battle." Singing praises silences the enemy (Psalms 8:2) Shouting scatters the enemy (Joshua 6:20) and brings down the walls of strongholds like Jericho
Clapping strikes the enemy (Psalms 47:1) Dancing places the enemy under our feet (Malachi 4:3) and rhythm creates the tempo for God to beat the enemy through our praise (Isaiah 30:32) Prophecy is the voice of the Lord that shatters the enemy (Isaiah 30:31)
The ultimate weapon is the presence of God which causes the enemy to melt like wax (Psalm 68:2)
A NEW PATTERN FOR WORSHIP
Often we have viewed our worship as following the pattern of the tabernacle of Moses. We start with the outer courts, pass through the inner courts and finally enter into the Holy of Holies. In Moses' day, the Holy of Holies was where the presence of God rested.
God's presence was separated by a veil, which represented the fact that men were not reconciled unto Him. However, because of Christ we are now reconciled unto God. David's tabernacle, which prophetically spoke this truth before the Messiah came, is God's choice for the pattern of worship today.
(Acts 15:16) says God is restoring the tabernacle of David.David's tabernacle had no veil (2 Samuel 6:17) and allowed many priests, not just the high priest, to come before the Lord. David's tabernacle is a better representation of the new covenant than the tabernacle of Moses or the temple of Solomon.
God declared the glory of the old covenant was fading away and the priesthood was changing from the Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 7:11-12) to the priesthood of Judah (Judah means "praise"). The acceptable sacrifice would no longer be animals but sacrifices of praise, joy and thanksgiving.
The veil is taken away in Christ (2 Corinthians 3:6-18). The Davidic Tabernacle created a new place for the presence of God on Mt. Zion and established a bold new freedom in worship (Hebrews 10:19; 2 Corinthians 3:17).
A KINGDOM MENTALITY
This is why we war--to establish a new Kingdom. When we enter into warfare praise, the focus of praise changes from an altar of redemption to the throne room of the King. The picture of a throne room carries a more powerful, majestic sense of the King of the universe who rules in the midst of our praise and then ministers through us.
(Psalms 22:3) states that God is enthroned in our praises. This is an actual setting up of His throne on earth. Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10).
The words "in Heaven" speak of the Kingdom of God being immovable and unshakable. "On earth" actually speaks of a superimposing of God's Kingdom on the earth.So, by praising, not only is God enthroned in our praises, we also "superimpose" His Kingdom on the earth--His presence, His will, His way, His Word.
The latter part of (Psalms 108:8) says that Judah is God's lawgiver. This is where God rules and releases His prophetic decrees in the midst of praise. In superimposing the Kingdom on the earth, we repeat the words of Heaven through our prophetic voices, and then we mirror on earth what God is saying in Heaven.
*****
Apostolic/Prophetic/Global
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