The Spiritual Power of Worship

David playing before Saul

King Saul had lost the kingdom due to his disobedience coupled with a lack of confession and repentance. As we read his story in 1Samuel, especially in comparison to David, we will easily conclude that Saul was a man after the people's heart. Like David he disobeyed the Lord. Unlike David he did not pursue forgiveness, but merely justified his actions as reasonable.

So the Lord took His Spirit from him and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him (1Samuel 16:14). This is  rather startling: an evil spirit from the Lord? I'll just treat that briefly here, since it's not the point I'm trying to develop, though it is related. We need to understand a couple of things here for this to make sense with the rest of Scripture.

Side Point: an evil spirit from the Lord?

First, "evil" does not necessarily mean "moral evil." This Hebrew term can mean anything bad, anything that is harmful or that injures. In Saul's case, the symptoms were severe mood swings, depression and rage. Whatever was going on, his attendants could tell it was an evil spirit and not just Saul (see 1Sam 16:15-16, for example).

Second, "from the Lord" does not necessarily mean that it was sent by the Lord. If you know the story of Job, then you know that Satan strutted into God's presence, challenged Job's devotion to God and went out from the presence of the Lord (Job 1:12) to do some harm. In the same way here, we should understand that an evil spirit went out from the Lord (as Satan does in Job), but this is not necessarily God's agenda for Saul.

What we are to understand here is that this evil spirit is still under God's control and will only serve God's purposes. The fact that this spirit left when David played the lyre suggests it was a demon and not an angel - but I'll explain that below. I could say more here, but this blog post is not intended to discuss all the fine points of demonology.

Back to David Playing before Saul

As a musician and worship leader, I find it extremely interesting that Saul's attendants believed that playing a musical instrument would be beneficial to Saul when the evil spirit tormented him (1Samuel 16:16). What's even more interesting is that when David played the evil spirit left Saul! The attendants thought that music might make Saul feel better, but when David played much more happened: the evil spirit left!

As far as I know this is the only exorcism in the Old Testament; the only time when a someone is set free of demonic oppression. What's so amazing about this is that it happens through music, or more likely: through worship.

When the Spirit of the Lord left Saul, He came to rest in power on David (1Sam 16:13). Some time had elapsed between the anointing of David as king in 1Samuel 16:1-13, and David being asked to play before Saul. After his anointing he apparently went back to tending sheep (see 1Sam 16:19). The Spirit came upon David in power so he could watch the sheep eat grass? There's a lesson there for all of us that anointing for ministry is not the same as release for ministry, but I'll let you ponder that on your own for now.

It's likely that during this time David learned to lead people in the power of the Spirit, by leading sheep in the power of the Spirit. He learned to stand in the power of the Spirit against the enemies of the people of God, by standing against the lion and bear (1Sam 17:34) in the power of the Spirit. It's also likely that during this period of preparation, when things were quiet, he picked up his lyre and began to play music and worship in the power of the Spirit. One cannot help but wonder whether Psalm 23 was composed during this time.

Whatever was going on, by the time the attendants suggested music therapy for Saul, David had already gained a reputation as a musician. His reputation extended from Bethlehem to Gibeah (where Saul lived), nearly 10 miles away. Of all the shepherds and other musicians in the region, David's abilities stood out. Though I couldn't prove it to you, I believe that it was the Spirit of God upon him that anointed his abilities and his music.

There's something unique about music, isn't there? Most religions include music in their religious practices. The Bible is full of songs. We are encouraged to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19). Across the ages Christians have sung songs as a part of our worship practices. Of all the things God created, music is one of the most beautiful. Music seems to touch us deeply in ways that simple speech does not.

I have a theory that I can't prove Biblically, or in any other way, but I'd like to share it as my theory. I think music speaks the language of the human spirit. If we think of people as body, soul and spirit, where our bodies are our physical selves, our souls are our emotional/psycholgical selves and our spirits are our deepest, truest selves (our essence, if you will), music has the power to give voice to our spiritual self. It's true that music can be merely emotional, merely play psychological games with us (as does most pop-music, and some of those "sugary sweet" worship songs). But there's another power in music that seems to help us express what we didn't even know we wanted to say. To me, that's the dimension of music that speaks the language of the human spirit. I believe that's why music is so important to the spiritual lives of believers. But I can't prove any of this theologically, Biblically, or any other way. Take it for what it is: personal pondering.

In 2Kings 2:15 Elisha, when asked to prophesy, also asked for a musician, and while the musician played God gave Elisha what he wanted him to say. The way the story is told, we wonder whether it was common practice for Elisha to wait for a word from the Lord while listening to music. Perhaps, this is some support for my theory above that music touches our spirits and perhaps the spiritual world itself.

When David plays, and probably also sings (though that's not stated), the evil spirit leaves Saul. Why?

Notice that David is playing when Saul is raving. It's when Saul is manifesting an evil spirit that David plays his lyre. That takes skill, focus and a belief that what he's doing will make a difference. But I digress.

When David plays, the Spirit of God is upon him. We know that because 1Samuel 16:13 says that the Spirit came upon David in power from that day on. The Spirit remained upon Him for the rest of His life. (This is not the typical pattern of how the Spirit worked in the Old Testament, but I won't go into that here.) When David played music in the power of the Spirit of God, that music it becomes something more than sounds organized into melodies and harmonies. It had power in it. The result of the evil spirit leaving Saul tells us that Spirit-empowered music has spiritual power.

If the evil spirit was in God's service, would it leave when the Spirit-empowered David played music? Are not all beings in service to God attracted to what the Spirit is doing? Yet this one was repelled by it. This must mean that the evil spirit was not in God's direct employ, but only acting within the boundaries God had established for it (as he did with Satan and Job--see above).

In Psalm 8:2, perhaps reflecting on this experience David writes that the praise God ordains to come from children and infants (David was quite young at this time) is there because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. If we assume that David's Spirit-empowered music was actually praise and worship (which is difficult not to assume), this connection becomes clearer.

We have the Holy Spirit within us all the time. As we worship authentically (not just going through the motions, beyond just singing the songs), we should understand that worship has the same spiritual power now as it did in David's time. Authentic worship invites and hosts God's presence. In Psalm 22:3 in some versions we read that God is enthroned on the praises of Israel. Maybe a better and more theologically careful way to understand it is this way: when we worship we become more aware that the ever-present God is with us as we worship.

Some forms of spiritual warfare focus on overcoming the power of hell. What David singing before Saul shows us is that worship can overcome the power of hell too. In spiritual warfare we can either war against hell or bring in heaven, we can either pray out hell, or pray in heaven. Let me suggest that snuffing out darkness is a lot easier when we bring in the light, as David did with Saul. Yes the evil spirit returned, but an Saul's unrepentant heart left a door open for that.

Authentic, Spirit-empowered worship still has power in the spiritual world! But that's not why we worship. We worship because God is worthy of our worship. The defeat of the enemy is a side-effect of declaring and standing in that truth.

Tenacity and Prayer

It was almost two weeks ago when we go the diagnosis. My wife Marcia has a slow growing type of breast cancer.

Okay. Now what?

The Journey So Far:

Looking in the mirror, she had noticed something different and decided to get it checked out. Her sister died from inflammatory breast cancer, and so this journey has been filled with anxiety for her. When her doctor recommended and immediate mammogram and ultrasound, she began to panic. She wanted to hear that her concerns were nothing to worry about, but the doctor didn't give her that option.

The mammogram was scheduled for 5 days from the day of the doctor's appointment, which seemed like a very long time for Marcia. She prayed about that date, asking for an earlier one. She got in the next day. That's right the day after her doctor's appointment.

She made me go along with her to the mammogram. Well, she would have, if I hadn't agreed so eagerly. I wanted to be with her as she--no--as we went through this. Waiting for over an hour in the reception area wasn't my idea of being with her, but it was a close as I could be, given the state of undress in the mammogram area.

While she was there, praying and trying to keep fear under control, she noticed two things: angels and God's voice. The angels she saw where hovering near the ceiling of the room, just watching what was going on. When she asked if they were there for her comfort, they seemed to say no, not by their words, but by their attitude. They were there for another reason. She also heard God's voice say to her something like "It's not cancer until the biopsy says it is." I don't know that that's literally true, and I'm not sure it was meant to be. But what it did for Marcia was allow her to relax and let go of all the ways this could go--including the direction of inflammatory breast cancer that took her sister in just a matter of months.

I was able to be in the (private) room where the ultrasound was done, and it showed something that would require a pathologist to resolve one way or the other.

Once again, as an answer to prayer, the date for the biopsy was earlier than expected and I accompanied her to the appointment. 

Between the mammogram and biopsy, Marcia called together a group of folks she knows and trusts to pray with her and for her. We gathered for a little over an hour and talked and prayed. The word from the Lord everyone heard was that this is not anything there to worry about, that it's already taken care of.

The procedure went well, Marcia, who prayed throughout the procedure, was at peace the whole time, and except for being a little sore, she was fine. This was a Tuesday and we were told we would get the results on Friday at the earliest.

On Wednesday through Saturday we were scheduled to be at a leadership training event led by PRMI staff. They call it "Exousia" which is the Greek word for "authority." Most of the people there we knew and it was a great place to be while we were waiting for the pathology report.

Thursday afternoon Marcia got a phone call and left the session. I followed her out, as did another woman who is a close friend. It was a day earlier than the earliest day we could expect results, but this had been how things had been going. The pathology report did show cancer, a slow growing type of cancer in the ducts of the breast.

When Marcia returned to the room she was surrounded in prayer. It was a wonderful time for her to receive from people she knows and trusts. It was as if God had orchestrated the timing of all this just so she could receive prayer from these people, many of whom have healing gifts as well as the gift of encouragement. A couple of the people there had been healed of cancer and both encouraged her that healing is possible and imparted whatever healing they had received to her.

The Frustrating Middle

The next steps are: an appointment with a surgeon who will remove the cancer, and an appointment with an oncologist (cancer doctor) for post surgery treatment (such as chemotherapy).

But the insurance company had been dragging their feet, making setting up an appointment impossible.

So, once again Marcia gets pro-active and begins making phone calls, talking to the folks at the insurance company and politely pushes them to do their job as quickly as they can. She also decides that she's going to get a copy of the pathology report into the doctors' hands as quickly as possible so that they can begin to consider her situation and begin planning even before official authorization has come through.

On her way to get the pathology report, she began declaring out loud "My Daddy loves me. He is my healer and my provider. He cares about my life, He cares about my healing, He cares about my anxiety, and He cares about my frustration. My Daddy loves me!" Within minutes, while still on the road, she got a phone call from the insurance company saying that we were authorized to go forward with the surgeon!

About an hour later, Marcia got a call from her primary care physician. They were working on getting the referral to the insurance insurance company so that they could authorize the oncologist. After helping them find the oncologist she wanted (they were looking in the wrong county), Marcia asked them to put "expedite" on their request to the insurance company. Marcia got a call in about 10 minutes saying that her visits with the oncologist would also be authorized!

So now it's time to schedule an appointment with the surgeon. With everything in place now, we hoped this would be quite soon. However the surgeon's secretary told her that the earliest she could get in for an initial visit would be September 25 (about 3 weeks after getting the authorization). Further the surgeon would be out of the office until the following Tuesday (the day I'm writing this, actually). Marcia, who knows this surgeon from working with him in the hospital as a part of her job, asked the secretary to ask him as a personal favor, to see if she could get in earlier. For the next 40 minutes she went about her job praying a declaring "My Daddy loves me. He cares about my anxiety, He cares about my health. My Daddy loves me." Although the surgeon was out of the office, she got a call back about 40 minutes later with an appointment date 11 days earlier (September 14). We have an appointment with the oncologist the next day.

Lessons Learned So Far:

The first lesson learned is that fear can often be bigger than we think it should. Nor does it respond well to logic. Fear about a multi-variable unknown can be overwhelming. At the same time, God's presence and assurance can make it disappear with a peace that goes way beyond what the understanding could ever do. Still, hearing and being open to God's voice and God's presence means taking our eyes off of the problem long enough to see the Problem Solver.

The next lesson is that tenacity pays. Marcia never settled for the hand she was dealt. She didn't accept anything as her 'fate' or Christianize fate as 'providence' (which is a terrible way to blame God for stuff He didn't do!). Like the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8), she kept pounding on the door of the decision-makers until she got a better decision. Like Ruth (at Naomi's urging), Marcia put herself in the path of her destiny for healing.

This is like prayer in many ways. We can pray in a way that aligns us with an unwanted fate, or we can, in prayer, resist an unwanted fate and push against it until it bends to God's will to bless. We don't want to partner with a curse in some perverted sense of nobility under hardship. No! We resist the devil and we resist the curse--defy the curse if necessary, clinging to God Who promises to "never stop doing good to [us]" (Jeremiah 32:40). We don't deny hardship; we defy it. That's what those declarations were all about: defying "reality" and ordering it to come into alignment with the Truth.

A third lesson learned. Well meaning people sometimes do hurtful things. In the prayer we received at the Exousia event, one of the prayers was that we would be able to gracefully handle all the unsolicited advice we would likely receive. So far we've gotten some, but not as much as we thought might happen. This is in part because we've gotten ahead of this by asking that all advice be filtered through me or one of Marcia's prayer team members. I think some people just have a need to rescue, or to make their own reactions go away by telling someone of a sure "cure" or treatment plan outside of modern medicine, or a prayer strategy that is guaranteed to work (after all [whatever they're suggesting] worked for [friend, relative, someone I read about]). Marcia doesn't want to be anyone's project, nor the relief valve for someone else's anxiety. So I stand between her and that stuff. Anything worth passing along, I'll pass along.

This includes setting boundaries on who "gets" to engage in prayer ministry with her (lay hands on, take her aside, etc.). Anyone who's been around charismatics and Pentecostals knows that there's just too much weirdness out there to have no boundaries about this. Further, too many, even with a better theology of prayer, are still driven more by anxiety, or a need to be needed as they pray. We don't want to deal with those dynamics right now.

I hope this all makes sense.