Do you feel like you’re facing a battle right now? I wanna encourage you, in times of war, worship the Lord. Hey friends, my name is Rachel Hale, and I wanna read to you a scripture from Psalm 22:3. It says, “But you are holy, you who inhabit the praises of Israel.” Some translations say, “You who are enthroned on the praises of your people.” Imagine that! God inhabiting our praise, enthroned on our praise. Literally when we worship, it becomes the throne that He comes and sits on. It’s so important to worship the Lord when we are in times of war, because when we were worshiping, God comes and sits there. And when the King of peace and the King of joy is in the room, guess what has to leave? War, death, sickness. All of those things have to go when the King is in the room.
A few years ago, I was on a missions trip in Brazil, and we were going into a favela in Rio. And this this favela was built on a dump site that Rio has literally where they put their waste. This favela was built on top of that. And so their house is built on this dump site. Some people were going through the trash looking for food. It was a very of poor area. And before going into that favela, the ministry that we were serving with let us know, they said, “Hey, just so you know, there are drug lords here and they have very big guns, and we’re gonna go talk to them before we go into this favela, because in order to go into the favela, you need their permission, but good news is they know you’re coming and they’re excited to meet you.” And I was like, oh my gosh, this is not good. You know? And then on top of that, they said, “Oh, and another thing. Sometimes the police come and they have wars with the drug lords, and they come in their tanks and they shoot up, you know, try to shoot up the drug lords in the favela. And so if that happens, there is a chance you might die.” This is literally, truly what they told us. There’s a chance that you might die because you might get hit by, you know, gunfire. And I was terrified. I was absolutely terrified. And they said the good news was the ministry said, “You know, if you don’t feel comfortable, you do not have to go with us today, it is okay. But we do need to let you know that, ’cause that could happen. It’s not likely, but it could happen.” And I was terrified. So we went into a time of worship. I felt peace come, and I was like, okay, God’s with me. I’ll be alright. I’m coming in the blood of Jesus.
So we go into that favela and we get there, we’re going up and walking, gonna go meet those drug lords. And, we get to where the drug lords are supposed to be. And the drug lords aren’t there. They’re not there at all. And I was like, oh, praise God! The drug lords aren’t here. I don’t gotta meet nobody that’s a drug lord. This is good news! I’m just gonna go do my ministry in the favela and then we’ll be done. And, just so excited. And then all of a sudden, this lady just comes running outside of her house, weeping. She’s just crying. And she goes running outside the house and she runs up, she looks at us weeping and screaming like hysterically in Portuguese. And our translator let us know, “Oh, she’s upset because the drug lords aren’t here. And the reason the drug lords aren’t here is because there’s a police tank outside. It’s like a SWAT tank ready to come in, and they’re coming looking for the drug lords, and there’s probably gonna be a war today, just so you know, there’s about to be a war.” So the very worst thing that could happen was about to happen, and I was terrified, and I thought I was gonna die. I genuinely thought, “Well, this is it.” My parents had told me before going on this missions trip, “Rachel, we don’t know about this. Brazil’s very dangerous. You know where you’re going? It looks very dangerous. I don’t know if you should go.” And I said, “Oh, no, I’m going. You know, I feel called to go. I’m gonna go.” So in that moment, I was like, “Oh my gosh, my parents are right. I am dying. This is the day. This is the day I will die.” And I’m smiling now because, well, here I am, I’m alive.
You know, obviously the story ends well, but in the moment I thought, “Oh, I’m gonna die.” And so, I began to think, “Okay, well if I’m going out, I’m going out singing. If I’m going to heaven, I will go into heaven singing. So I’m gonna start singing.” And just right there in the middle of the favela, I just start singing, and I really thought I was gonna die. And I start singing a song that I wrote. It’s a song called Firm Foundation. The bridge of the song goes like this, it’s, “You’re holding me, holding me steady. If it floods I’m gonna be ready. I’m sealed in you. You’re holding me, holding me steady, in the break of every levy, I am sealed in you.” And it repeats itself. So I just began to sing this over and over again. And then one of my ministry partners from the team that was in Brazil, began to play the guitar, and he figured out the chords and he started playing it with me. And then all of a sudden, all these Brazilian kids just surround us. They’re all around us. And these Brazilian kids start singing this song with me that they do not know in perfect English. And these children didn’t speak a lick of English. They only spoke Portuguese. And they began singing my song with me in perfect English. And this peace came. And, do you know, war never broke out that day. And you know, I can’t say for sure that it was the worship, but I cannot help but know that it was. That God came. His presence inhabited that place. And war did not happen that day in that village.
In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, there’s a story and you need to go read it. It’s absolutely incredible. It’s right here in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. And it is about a king named Jehoshaphat. And all these armies were coming against him and the people of God. And God said, “This battle is not yours. It’s mine.” And so Jehoshaphat sent out the worshipers ahead of that army. Imagine that! Singers and dancers and drummers going out ahead of the people, you know, that are armed. They got, the things that you need to fight the people with, you know. But we got singers going out ahead of that army. So king Jehoshaphat sends out the worshipers ahead of the army. And do you know, before the worshipers even get to the people that they’re facing, the army that had come against them to destroy them, that army that they were facing, destroyed themselves. They literally killed each other. All of ’em were dead. And that happened through the power of worship.
So I wanna encourage you today, if you are in a time of war, worship the Lord, because the battle is not yours. It’s His. And like I said, in this Psalm 22:3, it says, and I’m gonna read it again, “But you are holy, you who inhabit the praises of Israel.” God inhabits our praise. He sits on them. And where He is, war has to cease. Peace has to come, because where He is, there is peace.
I wanna pray for you. Jesus, I thank you for every single person under the sound of my voice. I thank you, Father God, that you know what they’re facing. And I ask Holy Spirit, that you would begin to give them a heart for worship. And I ask, Father, that you would bring peace into their circumstance, clarity into their circumstance, provision into their circumstance. And I ask, Father, that you would cease the war that they’re facing. Yeah, I thank you. And I seal that in Jesus’ name. Amen. All right you guys, I love y’all. And remember, in times of war, worship.
________
Read more on the GOD TV blog here
Watch GOD TV here
