Healing Nations Through Worship

Memory Verse

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father

in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."

(John 4:23)

The Book of Judges reveals Israel had 7 apostasies and 7 revivals. Each revival mentioned was the result of a king restoring the worship of the Lord back to the nation. We shall see in today’s study this reveals:

The impact of a worshipping leader(s)

The effect of multiplying worshippers in a region

The power released when worshippers worship

Worshipping the Lord restores peace, prosperity and protection to a region

2 Chronicles 17:1-13

“Then Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and strengthened himself against Israel. And he placed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim which Asa his father had taken. Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David; he did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not according to the acts of Israel. Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat, and he had riches and honour in abundance. And his heart took delight in the ways of the LORD; moreover he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah. Also in the third year of his reign he sent his leaders, Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah. And with them he sent Levites: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah—the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. So they taught in Judah, and had the Book of the Law of the LORD with them; they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people. And the fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat. Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver as tribute; and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats. So Jehoshaphat became increasingly powerful, and he built fortresses and storage cities in Judah. He had much property in the cities of Judah; and the men of war, mighty men of valour, were in Jerusalem.”

Jehoshaphat Strengthened Himself

“Then Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and strengthened himself”

This is the greatest lesson we must apply to our lives. We must be strong in our own walk with the Lord so that we are able to strengthen others around us:

Jude 1:20

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,”

Jude shows us all a clear way of keeping ourselves strong in faith by speaking and singing in tongues. Speaking and singing in tongues strengthens our spirit man. (This subject is covered in greater depth in other parts of the Manual of the Homes Of HOPE Discipleship Course.)

He Raised Up Warriors in Every City

“And he placed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim”

Jehoshaphat understood that to turn a nation around to the Lord, he not only had to be strong in the Lord himself, he had to raise strong worshippers around him. We have learnt that our worship is warfare against the Devil’s kingdom and work. Every worshipper is a warrior. Our goal must be to fill the Earth with worshipping warriors.

The Warriors strengthened the cities.

“and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim”

Jehoshaphat established ‘garrisons,’ which means ‘military post, a set pillar, something stationary.’ It speaks of something established and strong that brings defence against an enemy. It is a base camp, a bridgehead. Its purpose is to strengthen troops in order to invade the enemy’s camp. The garrison was a gathering place for the warriors.

Our Homes Of HOPE Discipleship Course seeks to do the same. Each home is to be a worshipping discipleship centre and will teach every person the lifestyle of worship. Then, they can duplicate the cells of worship in other parts of the region.

He Followed the Blueprint!.

“Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David;”

Jehoshaphat copied David’s blueprint to turn the nation around. He restored the worship David had in his Tabernacle. He understood that if it worked for David, then it would work for him.

If we follow the blueprint of David, Jehoshaphat and Jesus, who all knew worship was the core issue and it worked for them, it will work for us also.

He Did it Father’s Way

“but sought the God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not according to the acts of Israel.”

If you do the same thing repeatedly, then you will get the same result. If you want a different outcome, then you must change the way you have always done something.

Man’s natural strategies and abilities can never change the spiritual climate of someone’s life, or a region. Too many Church ministries have built their organisations believing that if they use the latest ‘trends’ in society, it will change the spiritual climate. These gimmicks may draw a crowd, but they cannot change the heart of a person. Only the Holy Spirit's presence and the Word of God can do that. We need to do it the way Jesus said: He IS the Way!

He Destroyed the Idols

“moreover he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah … “

The hardest thing to do is change a generational mindset. To bring change to the spiritual climate in a city, or nation, you have to change the mindset of the people. Look at these two portions of the Bible:

Judges 6:24-26

“So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Now it came to pass the same night that the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this rock”

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”

Gideon had to pull down the false understanding of worship that was in the former generation. Today ‘false’ worship is not only the worship of false gods. The word ‘false’ means ‘not authentic or true.’ The core memory verse throughout this manual has been:

John 4:23-24

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Millions of people across the world gather every Sunday in Church buildings because that is the way they were raised. But they have never received Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. Many times the minister has never been saved either. Therefore, their worship is not authentic, nor in spirit and truth. We can only worship Father in the Spirit, through the Son. Anything else is ‘false’ worship. It is not evil, or the worship of demons, but it is still false and one of the greatest places we need to pull down strongholds is in places like this.

The Lord Established the Kingdom

“Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand;”

So often we are all waiting for the Lord to send a revival, or touch our regions with His presence and power. The Lord is ALWAYS wanting and waiting to do so. He wants to do it more than we want Him to. But when something is out of alignment, His power cannot flow. All the prayer won’t change it, but realignment will. When something that needs to be realigned comes into alignment, what we have been praying and waiting for suddenly flows.

If you have a dislocated shoulder, your muscles cannot do anything. It is as if you have no power. But the power hasn’t gone anywhere, it is right there but unusable. Just realign the shoulder and the power flows again.

If we will just realign the Church message, model, method and mission to come into alignment with Father’s ways, then His Kingdom and power will flow.

He Sent Out Teaching Teams

Jehoshaphat sent out teaching teams across the land, to teach the people the Word of God:

2 Chronicles 17:7-9

“Also in the third year of his reign he sent his leaders, … they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people.”

Look at Father’s response to all this, in 2 Chronicles 17:10-12.

“And the fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat. Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver as tribute; and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats. So Jehoshaphat became increasingly powerful,”

The fear of the Lord fell on all their enemies. It effectively silenced the them.

Jehoshaphat prospered.

Jehoshaphat became even stronger.

Jehoshaphat became the victor without ever going to war. The war was won in the Spirit, because he taught the people to worship Father.

The greatest ministry calling on the life of every believer is to become a disciple of Jesus and to go on to disciple others in the same teaching they themselves received. Therefore, if every disciple is a worshipper, they will raise others to be worshippers also. From which we deduce that the goal of all of us is to make worshippers, because that is what Father is looking for.

This Homes Of HOPE Discipleship Course, when systematically taught, will do the same today. It will enable us to disciple others from town to town, city to city, across the nations and we will see the response of Heaven establishing its presence and power in us, through us and all around us. It will fill the land with worshippers and warriors.

(This blog is taken from my Homes of HOPE Discipleship Manual, a 6 week Daily Study on the Lifestyle of Worship. Purchase your copy from our store page)