Worship That Transforms
When they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck. — 2 Chronicles 20:22
But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder, unless he first binds the strong man; and then he will plunder his house. — Mark 3:27
Author
Dr. Roberto Miranda
Summary: Warfare worship can help transform neighborhoods and cities by countering the spiritual influence that oppresses their communities. When the Holy Spirit guides the congregation, praise becomes a collective declaration of God’s lordship and purposes over specific places. We can then intercede, cry out, and declare healing, deliverance, and blessing. To do so, pastors and worship leaders must discern that moment and be prepared to lead the people. Passionate worship weakens the Enemy’s hold, opens the way for people’s freedom, and enables the Church to fulfill God’s purposes.
Congregations that understand the power of warfare worship can be tremendously effective in helping to transform neighborhoods and even entire cities. Many of our cities are controlled and oppressed by powerful spiritual hosts of wickedness.
Those dark powers control and sustain the violence, drugs, promiscuity, homosexuality, and humanism that hold our communities in bondage. It takes people of the Spirit who can counteract that evil influence through warfare worship and the prophetic declaration of God’s will over the city.
There will be times during a worship service when the Holy Spirit leads a congregation to declare God’s lordship and specific purposes concerning a geographic area. At that moment, worship must become a collective declaration of war. God’s people will enter into a process of binding and loosing, declaring healing, deliverance, and blessing for specific communities, or neutralizing the work of the Enemy.
That is why we will always need worship leaders and pastors who can discern the movement of the Spirit at a given moment in congregational worship, and who are spiritually prepared to intervene in the course of the service and seize the opportunity to lead the people into a time of intercession and crying out to God. In those moments when the Spirit visits us, great things will be accomplished for our communities and for the Kingdom of God.
Music and worship, undertaken from that warrior stance, determined to declare and acknowledge God’s sole lordship over the city, will weaken the Enemy’s illegitimate hold and allow the much-needed harvest of souls to take place. Such passionate worship will confuse and neutralize communication and actions in the realm of darkness, and will give the Church freedom to carry out God’s purposes.
It could be said that worship, undertaken from a stance of warfare, binds the “strong man” of whom Jesus spoke, allowing his house to be plundered and his slaves to be set free (Mark 3:27). John Dawson puts it this way: “Do you want revival in your city? Do you want to defeat the powers of darkness? The way to get rid of darkness is to turn on the light, establishing the presence of the Lord among his people through praise.”