EXERCISING DIVINE AUTHORITY
THROUGH WORSHIP
For most of us in the prophetic movements, the word "worship" calls to
mind thoughts of joy and pleasure as we experience the Lord's Presence
amidst beautiful soul-satisfying music. All of us can heartily say, "Thank
You, Lord, for this beauty we experience in You."
But worship is more than an experience in God. Did you realize that
worship is also our chief medium for exercising the Authority of God in
the earth? The Lord has wonderfully ordained that something so pleasurable
also has the power to establish His will in the earth. Worship has the
power to fulfil the Lord's Prayer, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in
earth as it is in heaven."
The Heavenly Picture
Chapters 4 and 5 in the Book of Revelation give us our best picture of
worship "as it is in heaven." The portrayal of the four living creatures,
the Elders and the angels offering their deepest adoration before the
Throne has for many years now served as the basis for our perception of
worship. It has inspired so many of our worship songs. But if we look
really carefully at this revelation, we find that this heavenly scene is
inseparable from the concept of God's Authority and Kingdom as it relates
to the earth.
The fact is that, the Throne of God-around which all our worship occurs
and toward which it is directed-is the seat of His Authority and Dominion.
It is not just a seat where He comes to listen to us sing to Him. But as
we sing, His literal Dominion is both exalted and exercised. If you look
at the strands and threads of events in Revelation, you will see that the
worship there involves a cycle of ascending worship and descending power
toward the earth.
In their hands, the Elders hold bowls and harps. This speaks of prayer
mingled with song-as many have well taught us. The bowls are filled with
"incense," which is the prayers of the saints. But in Revelation 8, an
angel puts this incense on the altar of incense where it is mingled with
Fire. This is important. Fire, you see, is the dynamic energy and power of
God in the universe. More than any other element, Fire is the most
descriptive term used to explain Who God is in His Essence. As Hebrews
says, "Our God is a consuming Fire."
What happens next? Well, the incense produces a "sweet smell" to the Lord.
It is our prayers linked to His energy of Being that produces that sweet
smell. (It is not our worship alone that does this.)
But there is more! The angel then takes that fire mingled with incense and
casts it upon the earth where it results in great and mighty governmental
events. This is the power of God as it is exercised in the earth. It is
the working of the fulfilment of His prayer for earth Dominion.
- A Cycle in Action
So in all this, we see a wondrous cycle where the Incense of worship in
the Fire ascends to the Throne, and the Fire of power touched by Incense
descends from the Throne to effect God's supreme will. A good "earth side"
view of this cycle is portrayed in Revelation 11. Here, the two witnesses
of God are seen with "fire flowing out of their mouths" to execute the
judgments of God in the earth. This is none other than the same Fire sent
down by the angels in Revelation 8. It is the power of God resulting from
worship.
In truth, the two witnesses are worshippers whose arising incense (like
that of the Elders) yields the return of dynamic divine Fire whereby they
channel God's will-even to the replacing of earth systems and to
overcoming all that opposes His Authority. We see by this that worship is
not just as gentle as a Lamb, but is as aggressive as a Lion. It is bold
in its effects against every power opposed to the power of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
How Does This Work Here?
Let's talk a minute then about the practical application of this. Are you,
like me, grieved with the ever-encroaching evil manifesting itself
throughout the earth? Does it bother you what is happening in all the
cultures of all nations-how evil is "coming out of the closet" (as they
say) and how the governments of the earth now increasingly sanction-even
legislate-this evil everywhere? And what are we, the church, doing about
it?
Well, many are trying to do something about it. Many have tried for many
years to do something about it. But the problem is, in all the attempts to
produce change, we have relied least on our most potent and divinely
ordained means for effecting change.
For years many have attempted to create change through political
action-Christians running for office, Christians campaigning for
candidates, etc. Along this same line, others have waged open media
campaigns through talk shows and "write-your-congressman" strategies.
More recently, we have seen the rise of prayer ministries, even global
prophetic-prayer ministries. This has been a major improvement over the
carnal political approach. However, so much of this ministry has been
directed through wrong perspectives and toward fleshly ends. The praying
has not been rooted in the goals and purposes of Eternity. But more than
this, it has not been linked to the power of worship.
Other ministries have come to theoretically understand the power of
combined intercession with worship. The only problem here is, we have
never acted on this understanding in a real and regular, dedicated
corporate way toward the world. We are simply so stuck and attached to our
"weekly four-walls mentality" of church. We just have not taken our
worship out to where it is needed most! We have simply not made the
"connect" between our eternal place before the Throne and our place in
this daily world.
- Who's Still In the Closet?
We are dismayed by the evil that is "coming out of the closet," but it is
we who need to take the power of worship out of the closet of the church
building. At some point, a mental connection has to take place between our
interior worship and our exercise of that worship out in the open world.
We have the interior worship down really well. We know how to meet and
worship. What we don't know to do well is take corporate worship out into
the open, strategically target our environment, and do all this from
eternal perspectives (everyone wants to "save" the present system instead
of replace it).
It's not as though no one has tried to take worship into the open. Some
have. I bless the Lord for all of these. In various places churches and
other groups have gone into town squares or held worship marches to
celebrate the name of the Lord and to speak in authority over evil.
But we have yet to see a movement that takes these events from being
occasional ventures to become a fundamental part of our local sense of
calling and mission in the earth. Everyone wants to pray big for the
"nation" and for the "global harvest." How about starting with your local
neighborhood and city? People will travel hundreds of miles to be part of
one super colossal worship and prayer event never to be repeated. But who
will traverse their own neighborhood or city every week? (As Roosevelt
said, "All politics is local." The same is true for spiritual
geopolitics.)
We have yet to see a movement in which the people of God are instructed
and devoted at becoming worshippers above all, and who are then instructed
how to exercise that life of worship individually and corporately to
expand heavenly Authority over every sphere in their locality, and to
worshipfully confront the evils that are now sanctioned and legalized by
governments everywhere.
Start With Yourself
Unfortunately, I do not have the power to command all of this into being,
though I wish I could. But I do have the power to live this out personally
and through my own family-and we do. We worship-walk our local
neighborhoods. We prayer-walk buildings. We go and worship-walk around
homes where members are in distress or where activities are carried on
that are causing them distress. We call for heavenly determinations to be
enforced. We will worship-walk an opposing lawyer's office and courthouse
where unjust divorce proceedings are being fomented. We will worship-walk
around insurance agencies where our people are being unjustly ripped
off.
Try this sometime. (We did.) Try worship-walking up and down the streets
of your neighborhood on Halloween night! (Sure, dress up if you want.like
angels!) Sing the power of the Lord out over those ignorant tikes walking
the streets in their imitation of evil.
Now, just imagine if everyone would do this? What would happen if even 20%
of the prophetic-worship-intercessory church moved the center of their
gatherings into the homes, and the homes became places of "worship
strategizing" concerning that locality and its issues?
-Chris Anderson
[email protected]
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