Worship - Part 5 - Warfare

 Worship - 5 - Warfare 

Sept 3, 2026

Psalm 8:1-2 (NKJV) 

1 O LORD, our Lord, How excellent [is] Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! 2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

Matthew 21:14-16 (NKJV) 

14 Then [the] blind and [the] lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”

What is the place of praise and worship in spiritual warfare? That’s really a topic for more than a single blog, but let me bring up an example from Matthew 21, where Jesus explains Psalm 8 to the priests and scribes.

“ Now I want you to keep your finger in Psalm 8:2 if you can and turn to Matthew 21:16. Why? Because Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2 in Matthew 21:16. And he gives us the interpretation. The Pharisees and the temple rulers had come to Jesus complaining that there was too much noise in the temple because the temple was something like the scene we had here last night, people were dancing, clapping their hands, singing hosannas and it upset the religious leaders. And they said to Jesus, “Don’t you hear the noise? Is this the right thing to be doing in the temple? Can’t you call these people to order?

“David said ordained strength. Jesus said perfected praise. What does that tell us? The ordained strength of God’s people is perfectpraise. What happenswhen you praise the name of the Lord perfectly? You shut the devil up. Can’t you see, my good friend, why he’s so busy to keep you from praising the Lord? Why he’ll do everything he can through religious pressure, social pressure, fear of men, to keep you from turning loose and praising his name, the name of Jesus. Because when you effectively, perfectly, with your whole heart, with unison with one accord praise the name of Jesus, it shuts the devil’s mouth. And if ever there was a thing he didn’t like it was to have his mouth shut. …”(Derek Prince, “Spiritual Gifts for spiritual warfare*.) 

Now there are other instances of praise and worship being instrumental to spiritual warfare, such as the battle of Jericho , where the priests and levites went first,  blowing trumpets, and when the people shouted the walls fell down! Or Gideon, where a trumpet blast, followed by shouting and torches caused the enemy to panic and flee. In fact, it was the order of battle for the tribe of Judah to go first, and Judah means praise.

Judges 20:18 (NKJV)

Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God.They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” The LORD said, “Judah first!”

So raise a cry, sound the trumpet, and take on the enemy! Let praise go first and watch the enemy flee.

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*References: “Spiritual Weapons for Spiritual Warfare”, Derek Prince

https://www.derekprince.com/sermons/306