Worshippers of India, move!
I’ve always believed that our worship can break bondages.
The sound of a human spirit joined with the Holy Spirit, raising praise to God is a sound that cannot be ignored by heavens and earth alike.
A people that looks to God is one that cannot be suppressed for too long. The Israelites cried out under the oppression of hard labour by the Egyptians. God sent Moses.
It wasn’t that God only heard the cry of this one group, He certainly cannot be racist and God at the same time. But as God’s chosen people, the Israelites were a sign to the rest of humanity that God is not a man-made idol who cannot see or hear; He is a living God who gave us life, and cares deeply about us. So deeply that He came to us Himself. A baby born under another oppressive regime, an unassuming son of a carpenter from a small town, and that too one that was despised in those times as not amounting to much good.
He became for us not just a historically significant or morally superior figure, not just the epitome of strength and power, but a true and righteous King who didn’t have to acquire his position. No one had to appoint Him or even acknowledge Him as King. He has always been, and always will be the true and eternal King of all mankind.
And my worship rises from the truth that this King bowed down so low to serve a broken world, and a hopeless race that He laid down His life. I can never get over the madness of that. My song rises to King Jesus because He never demanded it. He is just so worthy, that my song simply rises. Day and night, my heart worships Him. Whether I’m singing with my mouth or not, my spirit and soul and body are continually before Him, facedown in awe and wonder and lost in love.
Worshipping Him is not even a response to anything that He has done or will do. It is simply because He is. He is who He is! My worship is not even something I can give or perform for Him. My existence worships Him. And my song pours out the minute I realise that fact. The breath in my lungs testifies that He is alive. The tears in my eyes testify that He is kind and merciful. The sorrow in my heart testifies that He is true Joy. The frustration in my searching testifies that He is my Purpose, the confusion in my mind, that He is the matchless Truth.
My worship belongs to Him like the blue of the ocean belongs to the skies. Our worship as mankind is our song of salvation. The Saviour came for us, the Creator redeemed us back to original design and really, truly made a way for us to have life the way He dreamed for us. The depravity and darkness of our world, though grave and enduring, cannot endure beyond the Cross where God died for us.
And so our worship has the power to break bondages, because every act of worship, every song lifted up has the effect of reminding the heavenly and earthly realms of what Jesus has forever accomplished. Worship of the Worthy One testifies that the Lamb was slain for mankind, that the Lion roars from Heaven and will soon bring all things under His dominion and our portion as the church will be to be married to Him.
Worship releases Heaven’s roar over earth in a way that governments, age-old institutions, traditional practices and even church customs have to listen and obey. There is new wine being poured out over the Davids in our time, sons and daughters who have tasted freedom and hope and cannot keep it sealed within themselves. It is meant to be poured out for the healing of this world. So if you are a worshipper (and that’s what we all are whether on-stage or not!), and your life is a worship song to the Worthy one, Jesus, expect to see things around you change as you lift up your sound. You keep going forward as one who makes change happen, who breaks injustice and pulls down your Father’s glory into hopeless corners of the earth. Go forward!
