Worship as warfare

This morning in my Bible reading, I was reflecting on the topic of worship as warfare. I remember, I think it was back in the 1980s, the first time I discovered the story of Jehoshaphat's army in 2nd Chronicles 20 and began to realise the power of praise and worship in spiritual warfare. Around the same time, however, a number of books were published that promoted praising God for bad stuff (disaster, sickness, crisis, etc) in order to see the situation turned around. I remember feeling kind of uncomfortable about that, as it seemed to me that God deserved to be worshipped for who He is, rather than our seeing worship as a "magic bullet" to solve our own problems or defeat the enemy.

And therein lies the key, I guess. It makes no sense to "praise" God because my child has cancer, or because I was raped, or because my house burned down…. but if I can honestly praise God for who He is, for His unchanging character, despite the horrible or tragic circumstances I find myself in, that authentic worship is a powerful weapon that pushes back the enemy, as well as giving us strength and grace to face our difficult situation. And yes, sometimes it does bring about a complete turnaround, especially when our circumstances were largely caused by enemy oppression.

I remember back at the end of 2011 (recorded in this blog) when my Dad was critically ill in the intensive care unit, and doctors couldn't tell us from day to day whether he was going to live or die. All I could do amidst the stress and uncertainty, was to proclaim in faith that God is good, and my Dad's life was ultimately in His hands.  Some months down the road, God's goodness was proved to us, and my Dad is still with us nearly four years later.

Whatever your circumstances today, don't give up trusting and praising the character of God.