Read Unlocking the Heavens: Release the Supernatural Power of Your Worship Online
Authors: Shane Warren
The Psalms are a collection of prayers and songs that were used in the original Davidic worship. Some of them came with musical instructions. Psalm 7, for instance, is called “A shiggaion of David which he sang to the Lord about Cush, from the tribe of Benjamin”:
Lord my God, I trust in you for protection. Save me and rescue me from those who are chasing me. Otherwise, like a lion they will tear me apart. They will rip me to pieces, and no one can save me. Lord my God, what have I done? Have my hands done something wrong?
(Psalm 7:1-3 NCV)
A prayer or a psalm known in Hebrew as a
shiggaion
is meant to be sung in a wild and frenzied manner.
Shiggaion
comes from the verb
shagah
, which means “to reel about through drink.” When lyrics are set upon
shigionoth
, they have been written according to various tunes and were (according the
Illustrated Bible Dictionary
) “composed under strong mental emotion; songs of impassioned imagination accompanied with suitable music.” Apparently, David sometimes said, “Okay, in order for us to really praise God here, I need you to go wild and be frenzied.”
Often, church is entirely too dignified. Sometimes, like David, we need to get really undignified before God. Other times, we need to calm down in response to the Spirit.
Higgaion
or
Haggion, Selah
, means, “Resonate that note,” “Pause for meditation for longer than normal,” or “Think about it.” The words appear in the midst of the ninth Psalm:
The nations have fallen into the pit they dug. Their feet are caught in the nets they laid. The Lord has made himself known by his fair decisions; the wicked get trapped by what they do. Higgaion. Selah. Wicked people will go to the grave, and so will all those who forget God
(Psalm 9:15-17 NCV).
Meditation allows for the times when people come into the presence of God and just begin to hum or groan as they circle their thoughts around what has been sung.
In the ebb and flow of effective worship, people must respond to the leading of the Spirit of God.
HOW TO EXPRESS OUR WORSHIP TO GOD
We need to quit letting people in the balconies control what we think or how we express our worship to God. Have you ever noticed that it’s the people who never participate in the glory of God who are always the observers, never part of the action, often too critical of people who have a spirit of worship on them? That’s how David’s wife Michal reacted when her husband danced before the Lord when the ark was first brought back into Jerusalem:
And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal Saul’s daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. And they brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts
(2 Samuel 6:14-18 KJV).
When Michal criticized David for his spirit of worship and his
shiggaion
, his frenzied outbreak in nothing but a skimpy linen garment, dancing in worship through the streets of Jerusalem, she said, “Are you crazy? A king shouldn’t be acting like this.”
How did he respond? He didn’t say, “Well, dear, you are right, you know. As a king, I need to be a little more dignified; I need to wear my suit a little tighter.” Instead he said—still caught up in the spirit of worship—“You had better watch out, Honey, because if you think I’ve been undignified down there in the street, I am fixing to lose my mind up in the temple worshipping God.” And he began to throw off his kingly robes again.
NO SUCH THING AS SILENT PRAISE
Not that we should throw off our clothes every time we worship in church; there are a lot of ways to praise the Lord. We can’t box God in to only one form of praise. Of one thing I am sure:
there is no such thing as a silent praise
. Praise has to release a sound, or it is not praise. Every posture of praise involves releasing some kind of sound.
Take the example of Psalm 95, which is quoted at the beginning of this chapter: “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful
noise
to the rock of our salvation, and make a joyful
noise
unto him with psalms.”
And don’t forget Isaiah’s
shaggaion:
Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth…Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice…Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare His praise in the coastlands
(Isaiah 42:10-12).
Not only does every posture of praise involve releasing some kind of sound but also every sound that we utter in praise and worship brings us nearer to God. Remember what James wrote: “Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.” To draw nigh means to draw near. We reach out to Him as a bride reaches out toward her husband on their wedding day. Naturally, he reaches back, and the two begin to dance together.
When we lift our voices in praise and worship, Heaven opens up to us. God says, “I want this dance with you, My Bride. You and I are dancing. You are matching My steps.” After a while, He may lean down to your ear and whisper some secrets or some endearments to you, just as a bridegroom might do with his beloved. He responds and she responds. It’s an intimate, heavenly dance, although we do not have to wait until we get to Heaven to dance a heavenly dance.
So in our worship of God, we release that special sound. That sound creates a melody, a dance in our spirit. That is the reason the Bible says, “be filled with the Spirit; speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,” (Ephesians 5:18-19). A melody is released with sound. You start dancing, and the next thing you know something heavenly takes place. Heaven responds and comes down and starts dancing with you. All of a sudden, you can feel the presence of God.
DAVIDIC WORSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
The New Testament is filled with instructions about prayer and praise. For example:
…be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord
(Ephesians 5:18-19 KJV).
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord
(Colossians 3:16 KJV).
So what should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind
(1 Corinthians 14:15 NCV).
So, I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up their hands in a holy manner, without anger and arguments
(1 Timothy 2:8 NCV).
So through Jesus let us always offer to God our sacrifice of praise, coming from lips that speak his name
(Hebrews 13:15 NCV).
By the time we get to the book of Revelation, we can see that worship is louder than ever. In scene after scene, John describes heavenly worshippers shouting (see Revelation 19:1), exclaiming “Alleluia!” (see Revelation 19:1-6), standing up and then throwing themselves prostrate (see Revelation 4:10), as well as “singing a new song” (Revelation 5:9). In Heaven, this goes on and on and on, without ceasing. When we pray and worship, we are joining not only with a heavenly choir but also with a heavenly ruckus.
Remember what happened on the day of Pentecost when 120 faithful believers were gathered in an upper room, waiting and worshipping (see Acts 2). Suddenly, the room was filled with the sound of a mighty rushing wind, a sound from Heaven that swept through the whole place even though the doors were shut. Then cloven tongues of fire rested on their heads individually, and they began to speak out in many languages—so raucously that the people in the street below could hear them.
It was as if the wind of the Spirit started blowing on them to the point that they began to resonate with the noise. You know how it is when you blow across the mouth of a bottle or rub a wet finger around the lip of a crystal vessel. The sound waves that result from the applied pressure become audible to the human ear.
When the Church worships, Heaven begins to resonate with earth. God Himself begins to woo His Bride and to dance with her. His Spirit fills her to the point that she must express herself in an audible way. Her profuse expressions of endearment and delight build into even more worship. She can hear John, Jesus’ beloved disciple, saying, “I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready’” (Revelation 19:6-7).
Even now, make a joyful noise unto the God of our salvation!
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour
(J
OHN
4:5-6)
.
M
y father, who once was a very successful entrepreneur, became very ill and never got better. As a result, he died a pauper. Most of the first part of my adult life, I watched my hero suffer terribly at the hands of physicians, only to lose the battle at the age of fifty-seven. On the heels of his death, my mother, who had taken care of him for over eighteen years, was overcome by grief and illness as well. She too died at the age of fifty-seven, three years after my father’s death, literally dying a slow and awful death of starvation from medications and grief. In the final months of her life, my brother and I took turns trying to help pull her out of the clutches of the grave. At one point she was staying in our home under hospice care.
Those were definitely the saddest days of my life. At night I slept restlessly, often soaking my pillow with tears. Night after night before I tried to sleep, I lay next to my mother, trying to bring her some comfort. With my arms wrapped around her frail, sixty-pound body, I would plead with God for her health and life. At that time I could not talk about her condition with other people; we could not have much fellowship because my mother was so uncomfortable with groups.
Late one night, literally at the end of my emotional, physical, and financial rope, I got up out of bed at 10:30 p.m. and went to a small room in our home where I kept an electric guitar. I have always wished I could play well, but I am not very good. Putting the guitar strap around my neck, I said these words to God, “God, I don’t blame You for my mother’s condition. I don’t understand. I am a man of faith and prayer. Many times I have laid my hands on people and have seen them instantly healed. I have watched blinded eyes open in my services and observed deaf ears miraculously hear. I have prayed and believed for my mother, and now I am empty. There are no more words for prayer and supplication. The only thing I have left is my song of worship, and I refuse to let Satan or any questionable circumstances take that! So, tonight I am going to turn this amp up and play unto You because I don’t have anything else to give.”
As I began to play, I could feel the presence of God invading the atmosphere of my house, especially in that little room. At one point I lost track of time and place and felt as if I were being carried to the high places of the earth. I thought of Deuteronomy 32:13 (KJV), which reads, “He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.”
Out of the heavenlies came joy that replaced my sorrow and strength that replaced my weakness. Unfathomable peace took hold of my mind as the glory of God like a cloud enveloped me. What came to my mind was the Scripture stating that when Jesus’ temptation had ended, “angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:11). I could physically feel the resources of Heaven making deposits in my bankrupt soul.
Eventually I came to myself again, and I was still sitting in my chair in that room with my guitar hanging from my neck. The clock read 6 a.m. For almost seven hours, I had been translated into a different realm as the Lord had ministered to me. My weakest moment had been transformed into fresh strength.
ALTAR OF WORSHIP BECOMES A WELL OF RESOURCE
The next morning as I joined my staff in prayer at 9 a.m., I inquired of the Lord, “What happened last night?” He gently whispered to my spirit, “You built an altar of worship to Me, and I made it a well of resource for you.”
From that day forward, I have made my way nightly into that little secret place and soared into the heavenlies on the wings of worship. Since that time there have been more sad, lonely, hard days. However, each time I build the altar of worship, my strength is renewed, my fears are swept away, and I receive numerous revelation keys that unlock the heavens over my life and ministry. From that initial experience, I have found many resources at the
well of worship
. The Lord’s words to me, “You built an altar of worship to Me, and I made it a well of resource for you,” resonated even more when I realized their significance in the context of one of Jesus’ encounters—the meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well.
Here’s the story. The Lord Jesus, walking from place to place with His disciples, decided to go through a region called Samaria. Because the Pharisees were trying to incite competition between Jesus and John the Baptist (see John 3:25-30), Jesus had left Judea and started north for Galilee, where He spent over eighty percent of His ministry time. He could have taken several routes to arrive at His destination: along the coast, across the Jordan and up through Perea, or straight through Samaria. These routes were well-traveled and well-known in Jesus’ day.