God Promises Victory in True Worship

Psalms 149:6-9 Praise the LORD. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, 7 to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, 8 to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, 9 to carry out the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his saints.
 
ONE way God prepares his people to worship is with a call to arms. Here he exhorts the Jews to sing and pray to the LORD. At the same time they are to have a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples. Nehemiah 4 tells us the Jews had to literally have a sword at their side as they rebuilt Jerusalem after the exile. Their enemies threatened to destroy their rebuilding efforts. God’s people were prepared to aggressively defend God’s call to rebuild the temple and the city.
   Have you ever considered your worship is a time to prepare for battle? As we praise God, pray, hear a sermon, sing hymns and spiritual songs, and read Scripture, we must keep in mind the opposition awaits us as we exit the sanctuary. The worship space is called a sanctuary because it is a safe place away from the enemy. The sanctuary is also a preparation place for battle. When you depart for home and enter into the next week, the enemy will surely assault you.
   Satan wants your worship. That’s why he confronted Adam in the Garden (Genesis 3) and Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4, Luke 4). He was even willing to buy Jesus’ worship: Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Adam rejected God’s commands as his weapon against temptation. In contrast, Jesus’ every response to temptation was God’s Word. “It is written.” Jesus said. The Living Word defended his soul with God’s two-edged sword. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
   Faithful worship trains you to read the Bible, memorize the Bible, pray the Bible and sing hymns of praise and salvation based on Bible truth. God’s Word faithfully used in your hand will become an active power in your heart to aggressively destroy sin.
    From the time the Jews’ left Egypt to the early church’s persecution, Scripture speaks quite plainly about the visible and invisible warfare that rages against the church’s final victory over the devil. We know the church is victorious because God has called his faithful saints – members of his church – to have in hand the gospel of redemption. Faithfully lived and spoken, the gospel will lead us not into temptation, but will deliver us from evil. And we will have the Spirit’s power and protection to carry out the sentence written against Satan: Revelation 20:10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 
   This is the glory of all his saints. Prepare for war. Prepare for victory.