Worship is a powerful way to connect with the Lord and strengthen our faith. When we worship through singing, our attention is on Jesus instead of ourselves. Let’s face it, every day has its own battles and conflicts. Almost every Sunday, distractions happen that take our eyes off our real reason for gathering as a church and keep us from focusing on worship. We all know worship is more than music or singing. It’s a life-style, but for now let’s focus on worship through music.

This was certainly true in the example we find in 2 Chronicles 20. King Jehoshaphat and his people were surrounded by the armies of the Moabites. King Jehoshaphat was terrified, but his first move was to tell the people to fast and pray. His focus was on asking the Lord for help. The answer came. “Do not be afraid….for the battle is not yours, but God’s”.  The Lord told him to put the singers in front of his army and have them walk ahead, praising God and singing, “Give thanks to the Lord, His faithful love endures forever”.  When the Moabite army heard the choir, they turned against themselves and were defeated. God gave the army of Judah the victory!!!! When we go into spiritual battle, our first line of defense should be worship. We need to turn to the Lord and ask for His wisdom and guidance. We will see the victory when when we trust him. Powerful worship is grounded in preparation. The musicians didn’t spontaneously decide they could sing and play. They were trained and prepared. We must prepare by spending time in the Word with the Lord if we seek an answer to our problems. We need to be prepared to worship when we come to church.  It is significant that the musicians were outfront. It shows the importance of worship in that they didn’t battle the enemy with weapons of war. Their worship was about declaring their faith in God. Their worship was built on a relationship with the Lord.

They knew He loved them, protected him and provided for them, and would continue to do so. We need to remember, the victory is not for us, but rather for the glory of God. The victory was not given because of human strength, but because of their faith in God. In closing, I’m reminded of this verse often in times of spiritual battle.

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”  -Hebrews 12:2

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