The New Man And His Worship 1st Service by Pastor Poju Oyemade: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Word of God as the Weapon in Spiritual Warfare

In spiritual warfare, think of a missile system. A country can launch a missile from a ship, a plane, a cannon, or a tank. The launching pad varies — but the missile stays the same. In spiritual warfare, the actual weapon is the word of God. Prayer, praise, and spoken confession are different launching pads from which that word is deployed.

Psalm 149:6 reveals praise as one launching pad: "Let the high praises of God be in your mouth and a two-edged sword in your hand" — to execute vengeance upon the heathen, to bind their kings with chains, to execute upon them the judgment that is written. Ephesians 6:17 identifies the sword of the spirit — the word of God — and the very next verse says "praying always," meaning prayer is another launching pad from which that same word is deployed.

In Acts 4:23, when the early church faced threats, they gathered and launched scripture directly into the situation. They quoted Psalm 2 — applying it specifically to what they faced — because that was the judgment written concerning their crisis. The missile they launched was the scripture itself.

Revelation Is What Powers the Launch

What you launch must come from revelation, not imitation. Someone who heard another person declare "fire" as a spiritual word but carries no revelation behind it is launching nothing. The person who has genuine revelation — who truly knows what that word means and where it is grounded in scripture — is releasing something real out of their being when they speak.

A young woman, fresh from receiving teaching about pleading the blood of Christ, was confronted by three men on her way home intending to harm her. She declared: "I draw the bloodline. Satan, there is nothing you can do." The men stopped and fled. When later caught by authorities, they reported that a being larger than all of them had stood between them and the woman — and they had run. She was launching something from revelation. The declaration worked because it came out of knowledge, not mimicry.

Why Praise Is the Most Potent Launching Pad

Hebrews 1:13, citing Psalm 110:1-2, says: "The Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of his strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies."

What is the rod of his strength? Psalm 8:2 answers: "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger."

Jesus himself interpreted this verse in Matthew 21:16: "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." The rod of God's strength is perfected praise.

Perfected praise is not merely singing. It is praise arising from revelation — from knowledge of a perfect sacrifice. It is praise that is knowledgeable, informed by understanding of who God is and what he has accomplished. This is why you cannot truly worship someone you do not know: worship is the acknowledgment and description of that person's attributes.

Corporate and Private Worship

There is a critical distinction between private and corporate worship. In private worship, a believer can express their deepest personal revelation — things known only between them and God. 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 speaks of praying and singing with the spirit (in an unknown tongue) as well as with the understanding. Singing in the spirit satisfies the heart of God and edifies the one singing, though without interpretation it does not edify others.

In corporate worship, the standard must serve the entire gathering. The lyrical content must be words all can understand and enter into. Private worship should be far deeper than public worship, precisely because what is voiced publicly must be accessible to every person present — from the most mature to the newest believer. If only the worship leader understands what is being sung, the congregation becomes spectators rather than participants.

Yielding in Worship: Bringing the Promise Into the Present

Romans 6:13: "Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."

In worship, God wants the worshipper to yield themselves — to recognize and acknowledge what he has already accomplished in Christ. The person who comes to worship over a condition in their body does not come singing "God, one day you will do this." They yield themselves as one who is already healed. That is where the spiritual confrontation happens.

If a need is placed in the future — "one day he will do it" — there is no warfare. Satan will agree with procrastination. But when a worshipper enters the present reality of what God has already finished and begins to commune with him there, things shift.

Consider a person without employment who, in worship, enters into deep communion with God as one who was created to walk in purpose and provision. They begin to sing to God not about what might happen, but about what is already settled between them and their Creator. That worship grows so intimate that they come out of that place carrying a settled knowing — they have been in deep fellowship with God about what he has already done, though it has not yet appeared on the outside.

The Place of True Worship Is a Place of Transference

Satan once said to Jesus: "All that I have in my kingdom, I will give unto you if you bow down and worship me." The place of true worship is a place of transference. All that God has, he begins transferring to the worshipper.

When people enter into intimate worship, they come out with things they did not know they had received. God passes things into their being that they don't even know happened — until some time later, when they begin to see the manifestation of those things.