PROPHETIC WORSHIP
(mr 01/08/19)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Worship is a spiritual sacrifice of the fruit of our lips by which we bless and refresh God:
Hebrews 13:15 NKJV: Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
1Peter 2:5 NKJV: you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Luke 24:53 NKJV: and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.
God seeks us to worship Him in spirit (by our words which are spiritual in substance) and in truth (sincerely and in honesty from our hearts) because our words of love and worship refresh and bless Him.
This is because God NEEDS refreshing as He is constantly giving out great measures of power to create and maintain all creation.
Romans 11:36 NKJV: For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Exodus 31:17 NKJV: It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ “
How then do we worship God?
- With words and songs in the Spirit and with our understanding:
Psalms 47:6-7 KJV: Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. (7) For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
- With clapping, dancing and musical instruments:
Psalms 150:3-5 KJV: Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, (4) praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, (5) praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
- With words and song in the Spirit, in tongues:
1 Corinthians 14:14-17 NIV: For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. (15) What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. (16) Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? (17) For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.
- With words and instruments in prophecy:
1Chronicles 25:1-3 KJV: Moreover David and the captains of the army separated for the service some of the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and cymbals. And the number of the skilled men performing their service was: (2) Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied according to the order of the king. (3) Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp to give thanks and to praise the LORD.
With steps 3 and 4, we can practice prophetic worship by singing songs we know in the understanding and then in tongues to the same tune and then in prophecy by interpretation of tongues.
The book of Psalms is full of prophetic worship: praise and worship of God, but with prophetic words embedded therein for example:
Psalms 98:1-9 NKJV: A Psalm. Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory. (2) The LORD has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. (3) He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. (4) Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. (5) Sing to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a psalm, (6) With trumpets and the sound of a horn; Shout joyfully before the LORD, the King. (7) Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it; (8) Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the LORD, (9) For He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity.
Here in verses 7-10, we see prophetic words about the Lord’s second coming at the close of this age as confirmed by the Lord Jesus in:
Luke 21:25-27 NKJV: “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; (26) men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things, which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens, will be shaken. (27) Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Matthew 25:31-32 NKJV: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. (32) All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
Revelation 20:11-12 NKJV: Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. (12) And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things, which were written in the books.
