June 12, 2023 • 23 mins
Wilderness seasons can be some of the most difficult to worship in. But as we journey through dry, tough, difficult, and uncomfortable places, worship can be like a personal oasis comfort that produces a renewed sense of hope and connection to God.
In this episode, we'll discuss how worship can serve as a bridge between our souls and God, magnifying His presence and reminding us of His nature. Discover the strength that comes from singing spiritual songs, stirring up faith, and investing in our spirit during these arduous seasons. Tune in to learn how we can navigate the wilderness together with the power of worship!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gilon Marts (00:10):
Hey guys, it's The Walking Wall Podcast.
I'm your host, Gilon Marts.
Thank you for watching, thankyou for listening, thanks for
showing up.
We're in season seven andseason seven is all about the
wilderness, all about spacesthat are dry, tough, difficult,
uncomfortable.
If there's anything that I knowabout the wilderness, I know
how it can be a challenge tostay encouraged.
(00:31):
It can be a challenge to keepthe faith, to keep your head up,
to stay in it, period.
I just wanted to offer thetools and tips and skills that
I've gained along the way thathave been helpful.
They haven't necessarily madethe season end, but they've been
really great at comforting me.
That whole, my rod, my staffthey comfort me.
(00:51):
It's been kind of like that.
We've talked about hope.
We've talked aboutparticipating in our faith.
We've talked about making peaceof time.
We've talked about a lot ofthings prayer.
Today we're actually going totalk about worship.
One of the things about thewilderness is that it can bring
you to a place where youquestion a lot of things, where
you feel like you're unravelingand you are.
(01:14):
It feels like a melting down ofthe most difficult kind I know.
For me, hitting this pocket, iwas like what is true?
Who is God?
What is going on?
What's up, what's down?
Help me.
There were a lot of things thatI was like I don't know about
that.
I don't know about that.
Is that still a thing?
Is this real?
Is this true?
All that kind of stuff.
(01:35):
It's been interesting.
I feel like the Lord has walkedme through this season, allowed
me to have my questions andbrought me back to center, where
things needed to be realigned.
He has definitely sold verymuch so in the process.
I'm very much so in the process.
But man worship is one of thosethings that it just has, kind of
(01:57):
like your words, has thisundeniable presence and
importance and influence in abeliever's life.
We're going to talk about it.
We're going to talk about it.
There are so many scripturesthat talk about worship.
In this context, i'm speakingkind of specifically around the
act of singing songs, makingmelody hymns in your heart, even
(02:22):
congregational spaces, becauseI think there is a part of you
in the wilderness that can getreally bitter, that can start to
reflect your circumstances andget real dried up.
You become really short ongiving God praise.
It's kind of like you ain'tdoing what you're supposed to be
doing.
I'm not going to praise you,like you out here, doing the
thing more and more, and that isjust the worst.
(02:46):
It is the worst attitude tohave, because worship, as much
as it's God word, it doessomething to us, in us, for us,
and so much, like so many of thethings that so many aspects of
our faith that God has put inplace, is a benefit to us.
(03:09):
Worship is so, so much for ourown health as much as it is for
the glory and magnification ofthe Lord.
So the first reason to reallystay up on your worship game and
to prioritize worship isbecause it magnifies In
wilderness spaces.
Your attention is drawn to allthe things that are broken, not
working, not right, and that canbecome your focus.
(03:31):
And it becomes your focus, itbecomes a distraction, it
becomes in a sense like an idol,because it sets a ceiling and a
cap for your faith, for whatcan be, for where you can go,
for what God is and is not goingto do.
And so worship helps kind ofbring you back around to who
actually is God, who actually isthe author and finisher of your
(03:52):
faith, who began a thing in youthat promised that he would
fulfill it, that he would finishthat thing.
And so worship, especially songsthat are about who God is,
really do help kind of highlight, like a magnifying glass, the
aspects and in Nature of God ina way that you just really need
to see it and need to bereminded of it.
(04:13):
And so worship is aboutremembrance.
It's about, like David said, oh, magnify the Lord with me, oh,
my soul, magnify the Lord.
Put a magnifying glass.
You've not seen something rightright now, right like, hey,
this is who God is.
It's, it's something that youneed to pay attention to, and
you may not be seeing it, yourvision may be blocked by your
(04:34):
discomfort, your pain, yourdisappointment, your
discouragement, your exhaustion,but this is a key and core
aspect of God that you need inthis moment.
You need to be reminded thathe's a healer, you need to be
reminded that he's a good father, you need to be reminded that
he cares and, more than that,you need to sing that up out of
your being.
I often think like song is thesoul's like, like one of the
(04:56):
most pure forms of expressionfor your soul, and I think
sometimes the songs that bubbleup in us, especially when they
are like hopeful, Encouraging,are kind of like our spirit man,
nudging us in a direction.
You know there's so manyMaverick City music songs.
There's so many, ooh back inthe day, fred Hammond songs That
(05:20):
are just ministry.
I Was a fill of one in thehospital a week or so ago and
There was a Trin-i-tee 5:7 songWhich you got to be a real OG
believer to know.
Trin-i-tee 5-7-- I used tocarry like-- I was-- okay.
So I was that kid, i lovedmusic, but I had cassette tapes
(05:41):
that I wanted to carry aroundwith me and my cassette player
and you know They were chunkyand so like I was that kid that
had cassette tape stuffed intheir little backpack.
You know playing songs andstuff.
But my mom was reallyintentional about surrounding me
with music that reflected theword of God.
And you know, now there is andeven then there were a lot of
people who ministered the wordof God, a lot like David in the
(06:03):
Psalms, like like I learned somany scriptures before I knew
that they were scripturesbecause they were embedded in
songs.
And I think there's somethingreally potent and powerful about
highlighting an aspect or apiece of God's character in song
and your spirit bringing thatup to the forefront for you to
look at, to put in front of you,right to be like, hey, see this
(06:24):
thing, i know your, your focusis over here and out there and
there's a lot of noise, but Ineed you to come back and see
this part of God.
God is still God, God is stillfaithful, god is still a
deliverer.
And I even think there's one ofmy favorite verses Don't give
me the line because y'all know,quoting, you know passages is
not my thing for real, for real,but I think it's Psalms 32
(06:45):
where it says the Lord surroundsus with songs and shouts of
deliverance.
And you know, you think aboutthe importance of music to the
Lord.
Like God is about music; theenemy was about music.
Music is powerful, it'sinfluential, it's a tool, you
know, and so it has this reallyamazing ability to highlight
something.
People are in love, they'resinging songs that are, you know
(07:08):
, like reflecting theirenamorment with their loved one.
You know, people sing to babiesand, like all you know, we
learn through song.
Song is so important.
It highlights things, itmagnifies things, and so you
know, just being mindful thatthat can be a tool in this space
, and it's in the time whereyou're feeling pressed and
pressured, squeezed and driedout, worship can magnify a part
(07:34):
of God's character, a part ofGod's covenant with us that we
might not really be, you know,fully paying attention to or
taking stock of.
You know, like Phillipians 4:8says, think on things that are
lovely, just, pure, honest,worthy of praise, excellent, of
a good report.
I think sometimes music is away for us to do that with our
soul.
And so not only does music andworship help us magnify an
(07:55):
aspect of God that we might notreally be seeing, for all that
it's worth, it also allows us tomake a declaration into a space
.
I told you guys in the lastepisode, Todd Galberth has a
song I think it's called He'sBeen Good, but he says, like
kind of in a break in the song,you know, I had to declare out
of a hard, out of a hard place,God, you've still been better.
(08:17):
And I think music worship canbe warfare.
It can be a useful tool, auseful aspect, like almost like
a leverage that we have with ourauthority, that, like you, your
soul can be.
There's so many Psalms I think.
Well, I think it's Psalm 40.
It says my soul's in the miryclay right, or he picked me up
(08:38):
by the miry clay and set my feetupon a rock and all these
things.
He put a new song in my mouth,right?
And there is something, justlike-- I was, I love Dragon Ball
Z too and I, just like- I likefight scenes.
I don't know what it is aboutfight scenes- Black Panther, the
fight scene in that first one,where it was not the one where
he got beat up, because that washeartbreaking, but the one with
(09:00):
Homeboy I can't think of hisname right now, but the big dude
, Winston Duke's character, um,i think there's something that
gets kind of tit- for- tat withworship where, like, your
circumstances can be pressing in.
Um, you know, you could belike, Man this kid got on my
nerves or like, My boss is tapdancing on my last nerve.
(09:21):
Um, you can just be feeling theweight of all of your
circumstances and there'ssomething about putting on a
worship song that's just like,Lord, you've been good, I'ma
declare like you've been betterto me.
Oh gosh, like, I just-- Lord,you're worthy of my trust.
I really don't know what'spopping off in life right now,
but you are still El Elyon, themost high God, like you are
(09:41):
still Jehovah Rapha, you arestill a healer.
Like I-- I, I need to see that.
But also I'm going to say thatout of my being, because this is
a moment where I'm assaultingthe kingdom of darkness with my
mouth and with song, which iscrazy, because the enemy was a
minister of music- for you totake music and turn it against
him.
We like that kind of stuff.
Right there, that's that wholekingdom suffering violence, but
(10:03):
the violent take it by force,that's what that is, right there
.
But I say all that to say, um,there's something powerful about
taking the opposite of yourcircumstance and declaring it
into the atmosphere, releasingit into the atmosphere.
There's something about goingI feel all of these things.
I feel the negativity,I feelthe worry, I feel the x, y and z
(10:25):
.
But I'm going to now just likehighlight this bit about God.
I'm going to just praise God.
I'm going to take all thisenergy and all this influence
and all this authority and throwit at the Master's feet,
because he's worthy of my trust,he's worthy of my adoration.
He actually has all of myattention, while all of these
things are trying to steal it.
I'm offering up to him aspraise.
(10:46):
It's a sacrifice of praise,right, and so it is warfare.
Worship and, and praise arewarfare and they're warfare in a
way that-- you know he talksabout, the scripture talks about
you know, the weapons of ourwarfare aren't carnal, they're
not like, you know, thesetangible things, but they are
mighty to the pulling down ofstrongholds.
(11:06):
And there's something aboutministering to yourself in song,
singing to yourselves and hymnsand songs and spiritual songs.
There's something superpowerful about you freeing
yourself with song.
There's something that happens,I think, when you take a song
like Man of your Word byMaverick.
(11:27):
Hmm, Promises, Jireh, there'ssome anointing on, Rest on Us.
I don't know, I Thank God,there is some anointing on I
Thank God.
Um, there's something aboutExuberance, praise for real, for
real, when you should bedepressed, when, like hell is
throwing all kinds of stuffagainst you, um, I think you,
(11:48):
you break shackles off ofyourself.
Paul and Silas type stuff, um,and so it is that as well.
Like Man, it is a-Worship is such a- it's a weapon
, it's a tool, it's a skill,it's an investment in your
spirit, it's all of those things.
Um, and an investment in yourspirit, it stirs you, like when
(12:11):
you worship, you are stirring upyour own faith, like-- the
example that I think of is kindof like, and I don't know why
they be doing this.
Um, if you have-- I like dunkindonuts.
Talking about all the things Ilike today, um, love dunkin
donuts.
Iced coffee Um.
They do a weird thing, though,where you know, they go like,
hey, do you want this sweetened?
and you'll be like, yeah, pullup to the window because I don't
(12:34):
like to wait in line in realyou know places and if I can
drive through my drive through.
Um, pull up to the window, theyhand you your drink and there's
this nice little bit of sugarsitting at the bottom and your
cold drink, um, it's not going.
It's not going to dissolve in acold drink.
I've thought many times towrite dunkin and be like I think
you need to add this to yourtraining manual.
But who am I but a humble icedcoffee drinker?
(12:54):
Anyway?
um, so one of the things thatyou have to do when that happens
, in the hopes of getting it tomelt, is to stir it.
Right, you're like, all right,we got to.
We have to move this, becausethe sugar sitting at the bottom
It's not going to melt.
Even in a hot drink, hot teas.
You still stir the sugar, it'llsettle at the bottom and you
get all this sweetness at theend, and that's not really what
you're trying to do, right, likewhat you need is for it to
(13:16):
permeate throughout.
But if I let it sit and settleit's almost like there's no
sweetness in the drink at all.
And our faith can be the sameway, especially in hard seasons
where it's dormant.
It's like I got faith, yeah,sort of kind of yes there, but
It's just sitting at the bottombecause I'm feeling the pressure
of the discomfort, thediscouragement, the
disappointment, the feeling oflostness.
(13:36):
It's just sitting at the bottomAnd I think worship is one of
those ways that we can beintentional about stirring up
our own faith, because the wordswill ignite something.
Being in a corporate settingwith other believers who are
just lifting God's name up andpraising Him, despite the stuff
they got going on, that energyalone.
It reminds you and it puts youin remembrance, just like we
(13:58):
talked about magnifying.
It puts you in remembrance Butit brings that faith back up and
it's like wait a minute, youknow, is it Jude?
It might be John.
It talks about praying in thespirit and building yourself up
so that you rise like an edifice, higher and higher.
Obviously you can praise andworship in the spirit, and
tongues and all that kind ofstuff, but it does build you up.
(14:19):
You are being built up whenyou're praising God, when you're
worshiping, when you've gotmusic going and you just laid
out, you know, not reallyknowing what you're saying, you
just in that whole Romans 8, myspirit is groaning.
Okay, i just need you, lord, tointerpret that.
You know what that means, jesus.
But worship stirs up our faith,it activates it.
You know we're put inremembrance, we are using our
(14:42):
authority, we're sayingsomething, we're speaking
something, we're praying theword, singing the word, what
have you?
And we're engaged.
You know our spirit.
Man is like awakened andbelieving the things that we're
saying.
They believe, therefore, theyspeak right, and so our faith
gets stirred up, it gets builtup.
We get built up when we'reworshiping.
(15:04):
We're reminded of who God is,we're reminded of our covenant
with him, we're reminded that wehave the Holy Spirit, we're
reminded of who we are in GodAnd that just kind of helps you
sit up right and be like hold ona second.
We are the aggressor, not thesurrender, in this fight.
Homie, wait a minute.
You know you have me back on myheels.
That's not who I am.
You have me down God.
(15:24):
That's not who he is.
So let me tighten up real quick.
We're built up, we'reencouraged, our faith is being
matured in that space.
Worship is one of those thingsthat it's like.
It's almost like the spirit ofGod is actively like needing
into us Christ likeness, it'sneeding into us maturity.
It's like we are on thepotter's wheel for real when
we're worshiping, and it's abeautiful thing.
(15:46):
It's a beautiful thing And like, if you've had the experience,
you know what it's like to gointo a worship experience and
come out different.
I don't know how God does it.
He is God, so he be doing whathe be doing, but it's
transformative.
Like when you're in thepresence of God via worship or
you know, you just sit in,whatever.
When God's presence is in aplace, it's just different.
It's different And it's likethat whole thing about how no
(16:09):
flesh can glory in his presence.
But there's something that Goddoes just with his being, you
know, and worship is one ofthose ways that we can engage
the spirit of God in a reallybeautiful way to be changed, to
be transformed, to be reminded.
And then, lastly, which I thinkis the biggest thing, not the
biggest thing is, one of myfavorite things is that worship
(16:30):
shifts the atmosphere, becauseworship is a force, and when I
think about this, i think abouttwo instances in the Bible.
I think about the walls ofJericho falling, you know,
because they were supposed toshout and do all that kind of
stuff.
And I think about Paul andSilas being in prison and, just
despite their circumstances,magnifying the Lord, giving
(16:51):
glory to God, entrustingthemselves into his care And the
jail cells opening and angelsdelivering them.
You know, and I think,obviously, like worship can
shift an atmosphere, but it canalso shift circumstances, if not
, you know also circumstances,and a lot of times,
(17:14):
circumstances are going to bewhat they're going to be or
it'll take the time for them towork themselves out.
That, you know, is theappointed time, but if we can
know how to have composure inthat space, know how to carry
ourselves in that space, knowhow to be, you know, god's
representatives in the earthwhen those things are going on,
(17:35):
i think that's what thescripture means in Romans 8,
where it talks about the earthis growing long for the sons and
daughters of God to be mademanifest, like the earth is like
.
Where are they at, though?
Like?
where are these people that aresupposed to look like, like a
creator.
And so, atmospherically,worship has this pull, this
drive.
(17:55):
It really does, i think, in asense, bring heaven to earth,
bring heaven awareness to earth,really Have it like a God
consciousness to us And, andthat's a powerful thing It's a
powerful thing, like I wastalking about earlier, to be in
the presence of God and to be,be changed.
I think there are times when Godis speaking something and there
(18:17):
are times when God is doingsomething right And and they're
think they are not word.
There are no words for when Godis doing something.
But you know, like I've beenChemically altered at the atomic
level.
I am, i came in one way, i amleaving out another way, and
when you think about Jesus'sministry, everybody that
encountered the Lord Was, theywere just not the same.
(18:41):
They were just not the same.
And I think worship has thisability to bring us to God and
not like God ain't with usThat's not even what I'm saying
Like I think worship sometimes IDon't know, i don't even know
how to really say this It's likeworship has the ability to
(19:03):
heighten our spiritual senses sothat that the God that is
always with us, that we don'talways perceive, is finally
being perceived at at higherlevels.
You know, you know, make memore aware of your presence,
lord.
Like I Think worship does that.
Worship in the ways that we canbe callous, worship works on
those calluses so that we canhave a sensitivity to God again,
(19:24):
we can feel, perceive, be awareof the presence of God again,
and, and in that way theatmosphere is shifted and that
way it's like oh wait, mymindset is shifted, the way that
I'm perceiving my circumstancesis shifted.
I know I'm not alone.
God is with me, god has my back, god's got me, and so, even
(19:46):
though the circumstances when Iwalk out of that space, the
circumstances may not havechanged, i have been changed and
I carry the glory with me.
I carry that presence with me,and my awareness of that changes
everything.
It just shifts everything, and,and so worship is this massive
(20:06):
tool.
It's a gift, it's a skill, isweaponry, and it's something you
should content, you shouldcontend for.
In desert places, it can feellike the world is shaken up and
you're not quite sure what stillstands, what remains, what's
worth holding on to or what'sworth fighting for.
Worship is that thing.
(20:28):
She is that girl like contendfor worship.
I've gotten to the place for mydefault, because it's like in
the wilderness You really can'tdepend and rely on if and
Connect too deeply with yourfeelings because they just think
, mmm, they're not giving whatthey need to give A lot of the
time.
not that they're not important,not that you ignore them or
(20:50):
suppress them, but you kind ofalso have to have an another way
that you plug in something elsethat you plug into because your
emotions Up down, raging allover the place, and that's just
where they are at this time ofweight Maybe for you or me.
But to plug into, i'm gonna setthe atmosphere, i'm gonna set my
focus, i'm gonna highlightspotlight, the faithfulness of
(21:12):
God, the goodness of God, theloving kindness of God.
I'm gonna stir up this faith.
That's it made.
That's like sleeping, like agiant on the inside.
I'm I'm going to be intentionalabout using my authority to
declare a thing to wage war ondarkness, on depression, on
strife, on stress, on heaviness.
Because I think, you know, ithink one of one of the Major
(21:36):
tools of the enemy in thisseason, right now, is heaviness,
just that weary feeling, andworship will fix that, worship
will address that, worship is agood way to treat that.
And so my encouragement to youthis week your homework, worship
(21:56):
and worship like set, such asthe time, like a time where to
like maybe not a timer, justworship.
I'll let you be spirit-led inthat.
You know you mature and you'llfaith in stuff, purpose to
worship, purpose to on yourcommute, on a walk, when you get
up in the morning to justworship, to open your mouth, to
engage your spirit, to stiryourself up and to put yourself
(22:18):
in remembrance, to make war onthe kingdom of darkness.
I'm a worship, you know, and soI just hope you do that.
I would love to know what yourexperience is with that.
What feels different, whatfeels new, what feels meh, i
don't know, it's an experiment,it's all a grand experiment.
Shout out to Queen Charlotte.
Not really, i don't know, don'tjudge me, it's all an
(22:41):
experiment, it's all anexperiment.
And so I think God's delight isin us extending ourselves to
experience Him more deeply, toknow Him more thoroughly, to
encounter aspects of the natureand character of God that we may
not have really encounteredbefore or at a deep level.
So that's fun, it's anadventure.
So anyway, love you guys, havean amazing week, make it an
(23:05):
amazing week.
Talk to you next week.
Bye, look out, wisdom is ours.
Hey guys, it's The Walking Wall Podcast.
I'm your host, Gilon Marts.
Thank you for watching, thankyou for listening, thanks for
showing up.
We're in season seven andseason seven is all about the
wilderness, all about spacesthat are dry, tough, difficult,
uncomfortable.
If there's anything that I knowabout the wilderness, I know
how it can be a challenge tostay encouraged.
(00:31):
It can be a challenge to keepthe faith, to keep your head up,
to stay in it, period.
I just wanted to offer thetools and tips and skills that
I've gained along the way thathave been helpful.
They haven't necessarily madethe season end, but they've been
really great at comforting me.
That whole, my rod, my staffthey comfort me.
(00:51):
It's been kind of like that.
We've talked about hope.
We've talked aboutparticipating in our faith.
We've talked about making peaceof time.
We've talked about a lot ofthings prayer.
Today we're actually going totalk about worship.
One of the things about thewilderness is that it can bring
you to a place where youquestion a lot of things, where
you feel like you're unravelingand you are.
(01:14):
It feels like a melting down ofthe most difficult kind I know.
For me, hitting this pocket, iwas like what is true?
Who is God?
What is going on?
What's up, what's down?
Help me.
There were a lot of things thatI was like I don't know about
that.
I don't know about that.
Is that still a thing?
Is this real?
Is this true?
All that kind of stuff.
(01:35):
It's been interesting.
I feel like the Lord has walkedme through this season, allowed
me to have my questions andbrought me back to center, where
things needed to be realigned.
He has definitely sold verymuch so in the process.
I'm very much so in the process.
But man worship is one of thosethings that it just has, kind of
(01:57):
like your words, has thisundeniable presence and
importance and influence in abeliever's life.
We're going to talk about it.
We're going to talk about it.
There are so many scripturesthat talk about worship.
In this context, i'm speakingkind of specifically around the
act of singing songs, makingmelody hymns in your heart, even
(02:22):
congregational spaces, becauseI think there is a part of you
in the wilderness that can getreally bitter, that can start to
reflect your circumstances andget real dried up.
You become really short ongiving God praise.
It's kind of like you ain'tdoing what you're supposed to be
doing.
I'm not going to praise you,like you out here, doing the
thing more and more, and that isjust the worst.
(02:46):
It is the worst attitude tohave, because worship, as much
as it's God word, it doessomething to us, in us, for us,
and so much, like so many of thethings that so many aspects of
our faith that God has put inplace, is a benefit to us.
(03:09):
Worship is so, so much for ourown health as much as it is for
the glory and magnification ofthe Lord.
So the first reason to reallystay up on your worship game and
to prioritize worship isbecause it magnifies In
wilderness spaces.
Your attention is drawn to allthe things that are broken, not
working, not right, and that canbecome your focus.
(03:31):
And it becomes your focus, itbecomes a distraction, it
becomes in a sense like an idol,because it sets a ceiling and a
cap for your faith, for whatcan be, for where you can go,
for what God is and is not goingto do.
And so worship helps kind ofbring you back around to who
actually is God, who actually isthe author and finisher of your
(03:52):
faith, who began a thing in youthat promised that he would
fulfill it, that he would finishthat thing.
And so worship, especially songsthat are about who God is,
really do help kind of highlight, like a magnifying glass, the
aspects and in Nature of God ina way that you just really need
to see it and need to bereminded of it.
(04:13):
And so worship is aboutremembrance.
It's about, like David said, oh, magnify the Lord with me, oh,
my soul, magnify the Lord.
Put a magnifying glass.
You've not seen something rightright now, right like, hey,
this is who God is.
It's, it's something that youneed to pay attention to, and
you may not be seeing it, yourvision may be blocked by your
(04:34):
discomfort, your pain, yourdisappointment, your
discouragement, your exhaustion,but this is a key and core
aspect of God that you need inthis moment.
You need to be reminded thathe's a healer, you need to be
reminded that he's a good father, you need to be reminded that
he cares and, more than that,you need to sing that up out of
your being.
I often think like song is thesoul's like, like one of the
(04:56):
most pure forms of expressionfor your soul, and I think
sometimes the songs that bubbleup in us, especially when they
are like hopeful, Encouraging,are kind of like our spirit man,
nudging us in a direction.
You know there's so manyMaverick City music songs.
There's so many, ooh back inthe day, fred Hammond songs That
(05:20):
are just ministry.
I Was a fill of one in thehospital a week or so ago and
There was a Trin-i-tee 5:7 songWhich you got to be a real OG
believer to know.
Trin-i-tee 5-7-- I used tocarry like-- I was-- okay.
So I was that kid, i lovedmusic, but I had cassette tapes
(05:41):
that I wanted to carry aroundwith me and my cassette player
and you know They were chunkyand so like I was that kid that
had cassette tape stuffed intheir little backpack.
You know playing songs andstuff.
But my mom was reallyintentional about surrounding me
with music that reflected theword of God.
And you know, now there is andeven then there were a lot of
people who ministered the wordof God, a lot like David in the
(06:03):
Psalms, like like I learned somany scriptures before I knew
that they were scripturesbecause they were embedded in
songs.
And I think there's somethingreally potent and powerful about
highlighting an aspect or apiece of God's character in song
and your spirit bringing thatup to the forefront for you to
look at, to put in front of you,right to be like, hey, see this
(06:24):
thing, i know your, your focusis over here and out there and
there's a lot of noise, but Ineed you to come back and see
this part of God.
God is still God, God is stillfaithful, god is still a
deliverer.
And I even think there's one ofmy favorite verses Don't give
me the line because y'all know,quoting, you know passages is
not my thing for real, for real,but I think it's Psalms 32
(06:45):
where it says the Lord surroundsus with songs and shouts of
deliverance.
And you know, you think aboutthe importance of music to the
Lord.
Like God is about music; theenemy was about music.
Music is powerful, it'sinfluential, it's a tool, you
know, and so it has this reallyamazing ability to highlight
something.
People are in love, they'resinging songs that are, you know
(07:08):
, like reflecting theirenamorment with their loved one.
You know, people sing to babiesand, like all you know, we
learn through song.
Song is so important.
It highlights things, itmagnifies things, and so you
know, just being mindful thatthat can be a tool in this space
, and it's in the time whereyou're feeling pressed and
pressured, squeezed and driedout, worship can magnify a part
(07:34):
of God's character, a part ofGod's covenant with us that we
might not really be, you know,fully paying attention to or
taking stock of.
You know, like Phillipians 4:8says, think on things that are
lovely, just, pure, honest,worthy of praise, excellent, of
a good report.
I think sometimes music is away for us to do that with our
soul.
And so not only does music andworship help us magnify an
(07:55):
aspect of God that we might notreally be seeing, for all that
it's worth, it also allows us tomake a declaration into a space
.
I told you guys in the lastepisode, Todd Galberth has a
song I think it's called He'sBeen Good, but he says, like
kind of in a break in the song,you know, I had to declare out
of a hard, out of a hard place,God, you've still been better.
(08:17):
And I think music worship canbe warfare.
It can be a useful tool, auseful aspect, like almost like
a leverage that we have with ourauthority, that, like you, your
soul can be.
There's so many Psalms I think.
Well, I think it's Psalm 40.
It says my soul's in the miryclay right, or he picked me up
(08:38):
by the miry clay and set my feetupon a rock and all these
things.
He put a new song in my mouth,right?
And there is something, justlike-- I was, I love Dragon Ball
Z too and I, just like- I likefight scenes.
I don't know what it is aboutfight scenes- Black Panther, the
fight scene in that first one,where it was not the one where
he got beat up, because that washeartbreaking, but the one with
(09:00):
Homeboy I can't think of hisname right now, but the big dude
, Winston Duke's character, um,i think there's something that
gets kind of tit- for- tat withworship where, like, your
circumstances can be pressing in.
Um, you know, you could belike, Man this kid got on my
nerves or like, My boss is tapdancing on my last nerve.
(09:21):
Um, you can just be feeling theweight of all of your
circumstances and there'ssomething about putting on a
worship song that's just like,Lord, you've been good, I'ma
declare like you've been betterto me.
Oh gosh, like, I just-- Lord,you're worthy of my trust.
I really don't know what'spopping off in life right now,
but you are still El Elyon, themost high God, like you are
(09:41):
still Jehovah Rapha, you arestill a healer.
Like I-- I, I need to see that.
But also I'm going to say thatout of my being, because this is
a moment where I'm assaultingthe kingdom of darkness with my
mouth and with song, which iscrazy, because the enemy was a
minister of music- for you totake music and turn it against
him.
We like that kind of stuff.
Right there, that's that wholekingdom suffering violence, but
(10:03):
the violent take it by force,that's what that is, right there
.
But I say all that to say, um,there's something powerful about
taking the opposite of yourcircumstance and declaring it
into the atmosphere, releasingit into the atmosphere.
There's something about goingI feel all of these things.
I feel the negativity,I feelthe worry, I feel the x, y and z
(10:25):
.
But I'm going to now just likehighlight this bit about God.
I'm going to just praise God.
I'm going to take all thisenergy and all this influence
and all this authority and throwit at the Master's feet,
because he's worthy of my trust,he's worthy of my adoration.
He actually has all of myattention, while all of these
things are trying to steal it.
I'm offering up to him aspraise.
(10:46):
It's a sacrifice of praise,right, and so it is warfare.
Worship and, and praise arewarfare and they're warfare in a
way that-- you know he talksabout, the scripture talks about
you know, the weapons of ourwarfare aren't carnal, they're
not like, you know, thesetangible things, but they are
mighty to the pulling down ofstrongholds.
(11:06):
And there's something aboutministering to yourself in song,
singing to yourselves and hymnsand songs and spiritual songs.
There's something superpowerful about you freeing
yourself with song.
There's something that happens,I think, when you take a song
like Man of your Word byMaverick.
(11:27):
Hmm, Promises, Jireh, there'ssome anointing on, Rest on Us.
I don't know, I Thank God,there is some anointing on I
Thank God.
Um, there's something aboutExuberance, praise for real, for
real, when you should bedepressed, when, like hell is
throwing all kinds of stuffagainst you, um, I think you,
(11:48):
you break shackles off ofyourself.
Paul and Silas type stuff, um,and so it is that as well.
Like Man, it is a-Worship is such a- it's a weapon
, it's a tool, it's a skill,it's an investment in your
spirit, it's all of those things.
Um, and an investment in yourspirit, it stirs you, like when
(12:11):
you worship, you are stirring upyour own faith, like-- the
example that I think of is kindof like, and I don't know why
they be doing this.
Um, if you have-- I like dunkindonuts.
Talking about all the things Ilike today, um, love dunkin
donuts.
Iced coffee Um.
They do a weird thing, though,where you know, they go like,
hey, do you want this sweetened?
and you'll be like, yeah, pullup to the window because I don't
(12:34):
like to wait in line in realyou know places and if I can
drive through my drive through.
Um, pull up to the window, theyhand you your drink and there's
this nice little bit of sugarsitting at the bottom and your
cold drink, um, it's not going.
It's not going to dissolve in acold drink.
I've thought many times towrite dunkin and be like I think
you need to add this to yourtraining manual.
But who am I but a humble icedcoffee drinker?
(12:54):
Anyway?
um, so one of the things thatyou have to do when that happens
, in the hopes of getting it tomelt, is to stir it.
Right, you're like, all right,we got to.
We have to move this, becausethe sugar sitting at the bottom
It's not going to melt.
Even in a hot drink, hot teas.
You still stir the sugar, it'llsettle at the bottom and you
get all this sweetness at theend, and that's not really what
you're trying to do, right, likewhat you need is for it to
(13:16):
permeate throughout.
But if I let it sit and settleit's almost like there's no
sweetness in the drink at all.
And our faith can be the sameway, especially in hard seasons
where it's dormant.
It's like I got faith, yeah,sort of kind of yes there, but
It's just sitting at the bottombecause I'm feeling the pressure
of the discomfort, thediscouragement, the
disappointment, the feeling oflostness.
(13:36):
It's just sitting at the bottomAnd I think worship is one of
those ways that we can beintentional about stirring up
our own faith, because the wordswill ignite something.
Being in a corporate settingwith other believers who are
just lifting God's name up andpraising Him, despite the stuff
they got going on, that energyalone.
It reminds you and it puts youin remembrance, just like we
(13:58):
talked about magnifying.
It puts you in remembrance Butit brings that faith back up and
it's like wait a minute, youknow, is it Jude?
It might be John.
It talks about praying in thespirit and building yourself up
so that you rise like an edifice, higher and higher.
Obviously you can praise andworship in the spirit, and
tongues and all that kind ofstuff, but it does build you up.
(14:19):
You are being built up whenyou're praising God, when you're
worshiping, when you've gotmusic going and you just laid
out, you know, not reallyknowing what you're saying, you
just in that whole Romans 8, myspirit is groaning.
Okay, i just need you, lord, tointerpret that.
You know what that means, jesus.
But worship stirs up our faith,it activates it.
You know we're put inremembrance, we are using our
(14:42):
authority, we're sayingsomething, we're speaking
something, we're praying theword, singing the word, what
have you?
And we're engaged.
You know our spirit.
Man is like awakened andbelieving the things that we're
saying.
They believe, therefore, theyspeak right, and so our faith
gets stirred up, it gets builtup.
We get built up when we'reworshiping.
(15:04):
We're reminded of who God is,we're reminded of our covenant
with him, we're reminded that wehave the Holy Spirit, we're
reminded of who we are in GodAnd that just kind of helps you
sit up right and be like hold ona second.
We are the aggressor, not thesurrender, in this fight.
Homie, wait a minute.
You know you have me back on myheels.
That's not who I am.
You have me down God.
(15:24):
That's not who he is.
So let me tighten up real quick.
We're built up, we'reencouraged, our faith is being
matured in that space.
Worship is one of those thingsthat it's like.
It's almost like the spirit ofGod is actively like needing
into us Christ likeness, it'sneeding into us maturity.
It's like we are on thepotter's wheel for real when
we're worshiping, and it's abeautiful thing.
(15:46):
It's a beautiful thing And like, if you've had the experience,
you know what it's like to gointo a worship experience and
come out different.
I don't know how God does it.
He is God, so he be doing whathe be doing, but it's
transformative.
Like when you're in thepresence of God via worship or
you know, you just sit in,whatever.
When God's presence is in aplace, it's just different.
It's different And it's likethat whole thing about how no
(16:09):
flesh can glory in his presence.
But there's something that Goddoes just with his being, you
know, and worship is one ofthose ways that we can engage
the spirit of God in a reallybeautiful way to be changed, to
be transformed, to be reminded.
And then, lastly, which I thinkis the biggest thing, not the
biggest thing is, one of myfavorite things is that worship
(16:30):
shifts the atmosphere, becauseworship is a force, and when I
think about this, i think abouttwo instances in the Bible.
I think about the walls ofJericho falling, you know,
because they were supposed toshout and do all that kind of
stuff.
And I think about Paul andSilas being in prison and, just
despite their circumstances,magnifying the Lord, giving
(16:51):
glory to God, entrustingthemselves into his care And the
jail cells opening and angelsdelivering them.
You know, and I think,obviously, like worship can
shift an atmosphere, but it canalso shift circumstances, if not
, you know also circumstances,and a lot of times,
(17:14):
circumstances are going to bewhat they're going to be or
it'll take the time for them towork themselves out.
That, you know, is theappointed time, but if we can
know how to have composure inthat space, know how to carry
ourselves in that space, knowhow to be, you know, god's
representatives in the earthwhen those things are going on,
(17:35):
i think that's what thescripture means in Romans 8,
where it talks about the earthis growing long for the sons and
daughters of God to be mademanifest, like the earth is like
.
Where are they at, though?
Like?
where are these people that aresupposed to look like, like a
creator.
And so, atmospherically,worship has this pull, this
drive.
(17:55):
It really does, i think, in asense, bring heaven to earth,
bring heaven awareness to earth,really Have it like a God
consciousness to us And, andthat's a powerful thing It's a
powerful thing, like I wastalking about earlier, to be in
the presence of God and to be,be changed.
I think there are times when Godis speaking something and there
(18:17):
are times when God is doingsomething right And and they're
think they are not word.
There are no words for when Godis doing something.
But you know, like I've beenChemically altered at the atomic
level.
I am, i came in one way, i amleaving out another way, and
when you think about Jesus'sministry, everybody that
encountered the Lord Was, theywere just not the same.
(18:41):
They were just not the same.
And I think worship has thisability to bring us to God and
not like God ain't with usThat's not even what I'm saying
Like I think worship sometimes IDon't know, i don't even know
how to really say this It's likeworship has the ability to
(19:03):
heighten our spiritual senses sothat that the God that is
always with us, that we don'talways perceive, is finally
being perceived at at higherlevels.
You know, you know, make memore aware of your presence,
lord.
Like I Think worship does that.
Worship in the ways that we canbe callous, worship works on
those calluses so that we canhave a sensitivity to God again,
(19:24):
we can feel, perceive, be awareof the presence of God again,
and, and in that way theatmosphere is shifted and that
way it's like oh wait, mymindset is shifted, the way that
I'm perceiving my circumstancesis shifted.
I know I'm not alone.
God is with me, god has my back, god's got me, and so, even
(19:46):
though the circumstances when Iwalk out of that space, the
circumstances may not havechanged, i have been changed and
I carry the glory with me.
I carry that presence with me,and my awareness of that changes
everything.
It just shifts everything, and,and so worship is this massive
(20:06):
tool.
It's a gift, it's a skill, isweaponry, and it's something you
should content, you shouldcontend for.
In desert places, it can feellike the world is shaken up and
you're not quite sure what stillstands, what remains, what's
worth holding on to or what'sworth fighting for.
Worship is that thing.
(20:28):
She is that girl like contendfor worship.
I've gotten to the place for mydefault, because it's like in
the wilderness You really can'tdepend and rely on if and
Connect too deeply with yourfeelings because they just think
, mmm, they're not giving whatthey need to give A lot of the
time.
not that they're not important,not that you ignore them or
(20:50):
suppress them, but you kind ofalso have to have an another way
that you plug in something elsethat you plug into because your
emotions Up down, raging allover the place, and that's just
where they are at this time ofweight Maybe for you or me.
But to plug into, i'm gonna setthe atmosphere, i'm gonna set my
focus, i'm gonna highlightspotlight, the faithfulness of
(21:12):
God, the goodness of God, theloving kindness of God.
I'm gonna stir up this faith.
That's it made.
That's like sleeping, like agiant on the inside.
I'm I'm going to be intentionalabout using my authority to
declare a thing to wage war ondarkness, on depression, on
strife, on stress, on heaviness.
Because I think, you know, ithink one of one of the Major
(21:36):
tools of the enemy in thisseason, right now, is heaviness,
just that weary feeling, andworship will fix that, worship
will address that, worship is agood way to treat that.
And so my encouragement to youthis week your homework, worship
(21:56):
and worship like set, such asthe time, like a time where to
like maybe not a timer, justworship.
I'll let you be spirit-led inthat.
You know you mature and you'llfaith in stuff, purpose to
worship, purpose to on yourcommute, on a walk, when you get
up in the morning to justworship, to open your mouth, to
engage your spirit, to stiryourself up and to put yourself
(22:18):
in remembrance, to make war onthe kingdom of darkness.
I'm a worship, you know, and soI just hope you do that.
I would love to know what yourexperience is with that.
What feels different, whatfeels new, what feels meh, i
don't know, it's an experiment,it's all a grand experiment.
Shout out to Queen Charlotte.
Not really, i don't know, don'tjudge me, it's all an
(22:41):
experiment, it's all anexperiment.
And so I think God's delight isin us extending ourselves to
experience Him more deeply, toknow Him more thoroughly, to
encounter aspects of the natureand character of God that we may
not have really encounteredbefore or at a deep level.
So that's fun, it's anadventure.
So anyway, love you guys, havean amazing week, make it an
(23:05):
amazing week.
Talk to you next week.
Bye, look out, wisdom is ours.
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