In all the internal battles in my calling as a prophetic singer, there are three truths that have kept me pressing in over the years. They are great antidotes to the poisonous lies the enemy uses in attempting to derail my heart from what the Lord has called me to do. I share them now, trusting they will do the same for you.
The first truth that sustains me is that every time we sing a worship set with a sincere heart of worship to the Lord, He receives it as love and is pleased. Every time. If what we do is truly all about His receiving honor and pleasure from our song, then in this we can be confident that we are successful; not one moment or struggle is wasted when it is offered to Him in love.
We see that in heaven there are “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Revelation 5:8). This is astounding. Our weak cries to the Lord actually appear before Him, in His very throne room. Our prayers, offered in utter weakness, are represented before God Himself with the tangible scent and form of incense filling real, physical bowls.
How we radically undervalue our prayers.
In the Old Testament, the Lord required the sacrifice of animals—that they be burnt on an altar. The smell of that sacrifice was pleasing to the Lord. Now we are commanded to “continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15). The fruit of our lips—our words—are pleasing to the Lord and come before Him as a sacrifice, a demonstration of love.
The next time your heart feels discouraged as you go to sing the same old songs and prayers, fix the eyes of your heart on the perspective of heaven. Know that this is not symbolic. Your voice is represented before Him literally; see your words to Him becoming real smoke, strong scent, before His throne, and see the way it touches His heart. This is why what we do actually matters—because it matters to Him.
The second truth that sustains me is that though God is all-powerful and can move and shift things in the spirit without any help from us, He is profoundly relational and chooses to partner with us in releasing His power. This is an astounding reality; He forgoes the speed and ease of simply gaining the spiritual victory in every area immediately, though He is certainly more than able. Instead, He waits for little human vessels to come into agreement with His will and ask for Him to move on behalf of righteousness and justice.
As we take our place as prophetic singers in intercession, we are offering ourselves to the Lord as vehicles of releasing His will upon the earth. The Father has chosen intercession as the primary way He releases His power through us, and even more profoundly, through His own Son, Jesus. Hebrews 7:25 describes Jesus as the High Priest who “always lives to make intercession for [us].” Romans 8:34 explains, “It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” What an honor that God calls His Church to stand in the place of intercession, joining His very own Son in calling forth the things of His heart upon the earth.
Intercession is speaking and singing God’s heart back to Him. He has made His plans and purposes known to us in His Word. We are to discern His will and call it forth in faith and partnership with Him, and He answers by stretching out His hand in authority. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
The third truth that steadies my heart in the place of singing in the house of the Lord is that as I am faithful to sing His Word, He will change my heart. In each worship set, no matter if I’m feeling moved by the worship or not, if I will open my mouth and declare His Word, He will write it deep in my inner man, forming me more into His likeness. Moment by moment, this is imperceptible. Because we typically do not notice the changes, we can become discouraged with the thought that our hard hearts will never change. But over time, the knowledge of God is written on the DNA of our spirits, and we will never be the same. This is an overwhelming blessing from the Lord. We simply remain faithful day after day, and He gives life deep in our spirits.
Just as when we eat hearty, nutritious meals our bodies are strengthened, so our spirits are enlarged and strengthened as we regularly take the Word into our beings.
One can never remain stagnant when he has encountered the Word of God at the heart level. If we take our roles as prophetic singers seriously, then we constantly connect with and minister through Scripture. The shifting I have seen in my own heart from being immersed in the Word has come as a most valued and surprising treasure. Though I loved Jesus and served Him long before I began ministering as a prophetic singer, I am a different person than I was before I began to regularly sing the Word of God. It has a tremendous transforming effect.
