Unlocking the Heavenlies
(This Weekly Prayer Summary was written by Irene Sentosa, from the CBC English Prayer Ministry, and edited by Brigitta Tedja)
Watch full sermon here
Our Pastor Paul Tan continued on the Praise & Worship Series with a sermon entitled, “Unlocking the Heavenlies.” His prayer and hope are for us to not just have knowledge, but also to have an understanding on why we do what we are doing, and with that understanding we will be able to unlock the heavenlies in our lives.
It is possible to get so caught up in having Church that we fail to acknowledge that He is present in our meetings. Going to Church, if we are not careful, can cause us to be entangled, become busy with so many things, that we ignore the most honored guest—Jesus Himself—and not knowing that the Lord is in our midst. Many good people adopt a bad attitude stating that, “I can be late for church.” This only shows that we misunderstand why we come to church.
“I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.” William Booth
1. Understanding Praise and Worship
Praise and worship are not just a musical style, although both can involve music. From a sound position, praise is a man or woman who makes a declaration with a sound. It could entail using an instrument, their mouths, or hands making a sound of victory. Worship is when we commune with God.
Praise is the voice of VICTORIES. If you have been to a sport game, have you noticed that when the team scores or did something great, you will hear their fans making a great sound or a loud noise? You will never go to a Super Bowl and hear minimal sound from the fans after a great play, therefore, it cannot be considered praise unless you do it with your maximum energy. If you are in great battle in your life, whether it is financial, spiritual, relational, or any other battle, you are not going to make a minimal sound when you win.
Praising the Lord is a FORCE FIELD. What it is intended to do is to announce the victory that God has given to us as believers who have followed, accepted Christ, as Christ dwells within us.
If you understand this principal: “Great victory, great sound”, the accompanying sound of victory is always a loud, joyful noise, whether it is in the form of a shout, a dance, jumping, clapping, etc. When you lose, it will be the opposite, as loosing demands silence. Lucifer was the head of music in heaven. He was created by God with music inside him, it is part of his being, but the Bible has no record that Satan sang, it only stated that he made a sound (Ezekiel 28).
There are many people who love God, they serve God, are involved in the ministry, but they would not praise God because they do not really have an understanding or an awareness that praise and worship are very important. They both unlock the heavenlies.
In 2 Chronicles 20, Judah was attacked by three kingdoms. King Jehoshaphat was so afraid and made a decision to seek the Lord, pray, and fast. Then he sent out the praise and worshipers at the head of the armies and behind them were the soldiers. The result was that God ambushed their enemies. The question is: WHY?
It was because heaven recorded the sound of victory and heaven performed according to the sound they heard because what Judah did was actually very simple, as seen in the book of Romans 4:17, they called those things which did not exist as though they did, and as believers that is what we call FAITH.
When Judah praised and worshiped, they have not seen the victory yet but stepped out in faith. They praised the Lord and entered the heavenly realm. Heaven heard them and performed. Their praise and worship activated heaven’s fire power against the enemies.
The same thing happened in the story of the Wall of Jericho found in Joshua 6. Nothing happened until the Israelites blew the ram’s horn, and in order for someone to use the ram’s horn, the lamb must first be killed. (A ram’s horn represents Jesus who was slain before the foundation of the world).
It was a call to worship.
It was a holy sound to the Israelites but an unknown sound to the enemies as they did not understand it.
When the Israelites blew the ram’s horn, they were simply announcing “God is coming with us, God is ready… “
When we move in our faith, we activate heaven to action.
Our sound can change the atmosphere. Many of us make a victorious sound at Church, but then we have a negative sound when we are at home or right after we leave Church. Our negative sound cancels the victorious sound. We cannot praise God and at the same time, complain. Let us agree with the Word of God and begin acting upon it. The sounds of victory and praise are designed to be in the frequency of heaven and when we make a sound of FAITH, the sound that is made on earth devastates the darkness.
Why is the Father Seeking True Worshipers?
John 4:23-24, NKJV states., “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.”
Our Father does not want us to worship other gods as we read when Moses went up to the mountain, the Israelites started worshiping other gods. God wants us to have a relationship with Him. When King Saul was tormented by an evil spirit, David was chosen and invited to come and play the harp and every time he played, the demons left Saul because David did not just play an instrument, he was a true worshiper. When the true worshiper is built within you, whatever instrument you play, songs you sing, you are the worshiper. We do not only sing praise, but praise is within us.
2. Practicing What You Understand to Unlock the Heavenlies
It is not popular. What Joshua and King Jehoshaphat did was not popular. Out of the mouth of babes and infants, God has ordained perfect praise to silence the enemies (Psalm 8:2)
It is not complicated. Even though sometimes we do not understand, learn to practice it anyway. When we worship God, it is for our own benefit. There is nothing in this Word [Bible] that was given for God’s benefit. Praise, worship, bringing our tithes and offerings, our serving Him—are not for His benefit, but for ours. God did not send Jesus for His benefit—He sent Jesus for yours and my benefit.
It is very simple, too simple. God gives us a simple way for us to have victory, but many times because it does not make sense, we do not want to do it. When we stretch out our hands to God, He reaches down to us to fight our battles.
We Do Not Just Sing Worship Songs, We Are the Worshiper
Isaiah 60:18 NKJV states, “Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.”
Psalm 24:7-8 NKJV states, “Lift up your heads, O you, gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.”
Revelation 21:21 NKJV states, “The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”
A gate protects a city. Many people have no gates because they would not praise Him during challenging moments. When you have a gate of praise, then the enemy is blocked out.
A natural pearl (often called an Oriental pearl) forms when an irritant works its way into a particular species of oyster, mussel, or clam. As a defense mechanism, the mollusk secretes a fluid to coat the irritant. Layer upon layer of this coating is deposited on the irritant until a lustrous pearl is formed. The things that have been irritants in our lives—turn them into praise—then the irritants will become valuable and cause others to want what is within us.
Proverbs 27:21 AMP states, “As the refining pot for silver and the furnace for gold [bring forth all the impurities of the metal], so let a man be in his trial of praise [ridding himself of all that is base or insincere; for a man is judged by what he praises and of what he boasts].”
Psalms 12:6 AMP states, “The words and promises of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times over.”
3. Learn the Art of Teaching Your Brain to Worship
Are you spectators?
Are you losers?
Are you winners?
Prayer Points:
Pray for the Lord to renew our minds so that we have the understanding of the importance and power of praise and worship as weapons of warfare and to unlock the heavenlies in their lives.
Pray against any familiarity spirit that hinders us from entering the heavenly realm through praise and worship.
Pray for a heart of praise and true worshipers to rise upon the church.
Pray that no matter how great the battle is in our lives, we will learn to step out in faith and make a sound of VICTORY/ FAITH that will break every wall.
Pray that we do not cancel our own sound of victory/faith/praise with our negative sound.
Pray that we will not try to complicate things, but to just do it as God gives us a simple way for us to have victory. When we stretch out our hands to God, He reaches down to us to fight our battles.
Pray for us to be able to train our brain to worship and declare that we are worshipers and we are winners.
Be the Salt & Light:
Pray for California:
AB2223’s next hearing is expected on May 19th, 2022. Please continue to pray that this bill will not move forward. Pray for Holy Spirit to convict our lawmaker's hearts and end AB2223.
Christians in California to be awaken and stand strong to bring justice and righteousness back to California.
Pray for America:
Pray for unity and wisdom upon our leaders to bring unity back to America.
SCOTUS leak on draft opinion for Roe vs Wade has caused many protests all around the nation:
Pray that there will be peaceful protests.
Pray that Antifa does not infiltrate the protest to create chaos.
Pray for the safety for SCOTUS justices (Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas) and their families. They are facing tremendous pressure from the pro-abortion groups. Pray that they fear God more than they fear men and stand for justice and righteousness.
Pray for the leaker(s) to be identified and be punished to the fullest extent of the law. What the leaker(s) did has undermined the court.
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) recently announced the formation of “Ministry of Truth” whose role is to identify any disinformation in the media. This is a threat to the First Amendment of our constitution and free speech.
On May 23rd, 2022, the Biden administration plans to end Title 42 which has played a role in limiting the number of illegal migrants coming in from our southern borders. If Title 42 ends, CBP (Custom & Border Patrol) expects that there will be an increase in the number of illegal migrants coming in from the southern borders:
Pray for wisdom upon our leaders to enact and enforce a just and lawful immigration policy.
Pray for our CBP agents to not be overwhelmed by this increase and pray for their safety.
Inflation, supply chain disruption, threats of global food crisis are still very much in the fore-front of our lives. Pray for wisdom on our leaders to come up with policies that will get these issues under control.
Pray for Ukraine:
Let us not forget that war is still raging in Ukraine. The number of casualties keeps increasing. There are on-going war crime investigations. Please continue to pray for Russia-Ukraine war to end swiftly.
Let’s unlock the heavenlies by praising and worshiping God!