Our first ministry is unto the Lord, then to
the saints, then the world. If you don't take time to minister
unto the Lord, you can't minister to the other two. As we
minister to the Lord, the Spirit moves and then the word comes
forth. Praying in tongues is an effective way of ministering
unto the Lord
Jude 20,21 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most
holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the
love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
eternal life.
If we will first minister to God, He will meet our needs. We are
temples, created, shaped and formed to praise God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of
the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to
yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives
inside your sanctuary. You were God’s expensive purchase, paid
for with tears of blood, so by all means, then, use your body to
bring glory to God!
In our first lesson, we learned about the Priests being chosen
to minister in the "Temple". How much more responsiblity do we
have to minister when we "Are the Temple"?
2 Chronicles 5:13-14 indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters
and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in
praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their
voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music,
and praised the Lord, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy
endures forever,” that the house, the house of the Lord, was
filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue
ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord
filled the house of God.
Exodus 40:34-35
The Cloud and the Glory
34 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the
glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not
able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud
rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle.
God will speak and answer prayer and bless us more when we
minister to Him, instead of always petitioning Him. Sometimes we
are so busy with the Lord's work, that we don't have time for
the Lord. We get frustrated trying to make things work, instead
of pulling aside and spending time with God. He will then help
us to get what needs to be done with the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Zechariah 4:6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word
of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My
Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.
Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence
is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures
forevermore.
Ways of Ministering to the Lord
1) We need Faith
2) Obedience
3) We must be prepared
4) Sacrifice
How do we do it
1) Inward of the heart
John 4:19-22
19 The woman said, “You must be a prophet! 20 So tell me this:
Why do our fathers worship God here on this nearby mountain, but
your people teach that Jerusalem is the place where we must
worship. Which is right?” Jesus responded, 21 “Believe me, dear
woman, the time has come when you won’t worship the Father on a
mountain nor in Jerusalem, but in your heart. 22 Your people
don’t really know the One they worship. We Jews worship out of
our experience, for it’s from the Jews that salvation is made
available.
We can get caught up in "Where" we are to worship. When the real
decision is how we worship. Whether we are in the church or in
our home...it is the intention of the heart that counts. If I am
worshiping in the right place with the wrong intention it is
just a lot of noise.
1 Corinthians 13:1
If I were to speak with eloquence in earth’s many languages, and
in the heavenly tongues of angels, yet I didn’t express myself
with love, my words would be reduced to the hollow sound of
nothing more than a clanging cymbal.
And it must be motivated by love...not obligation. And knowing
who it is you are worshiping
John 4:23–24 From here on, worshiping the Father will not be a
matter of the right place but with the right heart. For God is a
Spirit, and he longs to have sincere worshipers who worship and
adore him in the realm of the Spirit and in truth.”
2) Get your physical body involved
I find it impossible to worship God without getting physically
involved in some way. Either by lifting my hands, or clapping,
or swaying...and a lot of times, weeping while worshiping him. I
know that physical involvement is not mandatory, or a definite
indication that someone is truly worshiping...but I find it hard
to believe that anyone can be truly worshiping the Lord without
some reaction in the physical. When your heart, or Spirit is
involved...it is natural for a physical reaction to follow.
Spirit, Soul and Body!
1 Thessalonians 5:23
23 Now, may the God of peace and harmony set you apart, making
you completely holy. And may your entire being—spirit, soul, and
body—be kept completely flawless in the appearing of our Lord
Jesus, the Anointed One.
Throughout the scriptures we have examples of how people got
physically involved as they worshiped the Lord.
Genesis 24:26 Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the
Lord.
Nehemiah 8:6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all
the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands.
And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their
faces to the ground.
Psalm 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel
before the Lord our Maker.
Psalm 134:1-2
134 Behold, bless the Lord, All you servants of the Lord, Who by
night stand in the house of the Lord! 2 Lift up your hands in
the sanctuary, And bless the Lord
Exodus 33:10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at
the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each
man in his tent door
Matthew 28:9
9 Along the way, Jesus suddenly appeared in front of them and
said, “Rejoice!” They were so overwhelmed by seeing him that
they bowed down and grasped his feet in adoring worship.
Luke 7:37-39
37 In the neighborhood there was an immoral woman of the
streets, known to all to be a prostitute. When she heard about
Jesus being in Simon’s house, she took an exquisite flask made
from alabaster, filled it with the most expensive perfume, went
right into the home of the Jewish religious leader, and knelt at
the feet of Jesus in front of all the guests. 38 Broken and
weeping, she covered his feet with the tears that fell from her
face. She kept crying and drying his feet with her long hair.
Over and over she kissed Jesus’ feet. Then she opened her flask
and anointed his feet with her costly perfume as an act of
worship.
1 Timothy 2:8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere,
lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;
3) With singing and with instruments
Psalm 150
1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in
His mighty firmament! 2 Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise
Him according to His excellent greatness! 3 Praise Him with the
sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp! 4
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed
instruments and flutes! 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise
Him with clashing cymbals! 6 Let everything that has breath
praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
1 Chronicles 15:16 Then David spoke to the leaders of the
Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers accompanied
by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and
cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy.
1 Chronicles 25:1
25 Moreover David and the captains of the army separated for the
service some of the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun,
who should prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and
cymbals.
1 Chronicles 9:33 These are the singers, heads of the fathers’
houses of the Levites, who lodged in the chambers, and were free
from other duties; for they were employed in that work day and
night.
Psalm 68:25 The singers went before, the players on instruments
followed after; Among them were the maidens playing timbrels.
Psalm 87:7 Both the singers and the players on instruments say,
“All my springs are in you.”
5) Clap your hands
Psalm 98:8
8 Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful
together
Isaiah 55:12
12 “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing
before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands.
Although the last two scriptures say that the trees and
mountains will clap I believe it is showing us that if God can
make the earth respond this way...we should as well
Psalm 47:1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God
with the voice of triumph!
6) Dance
Psalm 30:11
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put
off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
Psalm 149:3
Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises
to Him with the timbrel and harp.
Psalm 150:4
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with
stringed instruments and flutes
7) Standing or bowing
Psalm 135:1-2 Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, O you
servants of the Lord! 2 You who stand in the house of the Lord,
In the courts of the house of our God
Ezekiel 44:15
15 “But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept
charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray
from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they
shall stand before Me" says the Lord God.
Psalm 95:5-7
He’s the owner of every ocean, the engineer and sculptor of
earth itself! 6 Come and kneel before this Creator-God; come and
bow before the mighty God, our majestic maker! 7 For we are the
lovers he cares for and he is the God we worship. So drop
everything else and listen to his voice!
It should always be an attitude of the heart or spirit!
Results
1) Sometimes worship leads to revelation
Luke 2:38
38 While Simeon was prophesying over Mary and Joseph and the
baby, Anna walked up to them and burst forth with a great chorus
of praise to God for the child. And from that day forward she
told everyone in Jerusalem who was waiting for their redemption
that the anticipated Messiah had come!
Acts 13:1-2 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were
certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called
Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with
Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord
and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas
and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Or Revelation leads to worship
Exodus 34:5 AMP
5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there,
and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed by
before him, and proclaimed, The Lord! the Lord! a God merciful
and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and
truth, 7 Keeping mercy and loving-kindness for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but Who will by no
means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and
fourth generation. 8 And Moses made haste to bow his head toward
the earth and worshiped.
John 9:36-38
The Passion Translation
36 The man whose blind eyes were healed answered, “Who is he,
Master? Tell me so that I can place all my faith in him.” 37
Jesus replied, “You’re looking right at him. He’s speaking with
you. It’s me, the one in front of you now.” 38 Then the man
threw himself at his feet and worshiped Jesus and said, “Lord, I
believe in you!”
2) Brings us into the unity of the Spirit
There is power when believers are in unity with the Spirit. God
will move when we unite in agreement in His presence in worship.
Acts 1:14
All of them were united in prayer, gripped with one passion,
interceding night and day.
Acts 2:1-3
Coming of the Holy Spirit
2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with
one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from
heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole
house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them
divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
Ephesians 4:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
Philippians 2:1-3 Therefore if there is any consolation in
Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one
mind.
3) Releases the flow of God's love and power
2 Chronicles 20:15-17 And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and
you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus
says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of
this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16
Tomorrow go down against them... 17 You will not need to fight
in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’
Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for
the Lord is with you.”
2 Chronicles 20:21-22 And when he had consulted with the people,
he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should
praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army
and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures
forever.” 22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord
set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir,
who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.
Acts 3:7-10
7–8 Peter held out his right hand to the crippled man. As he
pulled the man to his feet, suddenly power surged into his
crippled feet and ankles. The man jumped up, stood there for a
moment stunned, and then began to walk around! As he went into
the temple courts with Peter and John, he leapt for joy and
shouted praises to God. 9 When all the people saw him jumping up
and down and heard him glorifying God, 10 they realized it was
the crippled beggar they had passed by in front of the Beautiful
Gate. Astonishment swept over the crowd, for they were amazed
over what had happened to him.
Peter and John spent time in Prayer and fellowship with God and
as a result God's power was released to heal this man. We can do
the same as we spend time in His presence. It will make us more
aware of His voice and His power working through us and we will
see great and mighty things like the disciples did.
4) Keeps us in balance Spiritually
Jude 20-21
20 But you, my delightfully loved friends, constantly and
progressively build yourselves up on the foundation of your most
holy faith by praying every moment in the Spirit. 21 Fasten your
hearts to the love of God and receive the mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who gives us eternal life.
Praying in the Spirit, in tongues will build us up spiritually.
1 Corinthians 2:12-14
12 For we did not receive the spirit of this world system but
the Spirit of God, so that we might come to understand and
experience all that grace has lavished upon us. 13 And we
articulate these realities with the words imparted to us by the
Spirit and not with the words taught by human wisdom. We join
together Spirit-revealed truths with Spirit-revealed words. 14
Someone living on an entirely human level rejects the
revelations of God’s Spirit, for they make no sense to him. He
can’t understand the revelations of the Spirit because they are
only discovered by the illumination of the Spirit.
Romans 8:5-7
5 Those who are motivated by the flesh only pursue what benefits
themselves. But those who live by the impulses of the Holy
Spirit are motivated to pursue spiritual realities. 6 For the
mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set controlled by
the Spirit finds life and peace. 7 In fact, the mind-set focused
on the flesh fights God’s plan and refuses to submit to his
direction, because it cannot!
If we are in balance spiritually with God, He can work with us
and through us to perform great and mighty works. We can never
spend too much time worshipping God.
1 Corinthians 14:10-12
I suppose that the world has all sorts of languages, and each
conveys meaning to the ones who speak it. 11 But I am like a
foreigner if I don’t understand the language, and the speaker
will be like a foreigner to me. And that’s what’s happening
among you. You are so passionate about embracing the
manifestations of the Holy Spirit! Now become even more
passionate about the things that strengthen the entire church.
Ephesians 5:18-21 18
And don’t get drunk with wine, which is rebellion; instead be
filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. 19 And your hearts
will overflow with a joyful song to the Lord Jehovah. Keep
speaking to each other with words of Scripture, singing the
Psalms with praises and spontaneous songs given by the Spirit!
20 Always give thanks to Father God for every person he brings
into your life in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21 And out
of your reverence for Christ be supportive of each other in
love.
The more time we spend ministering to God, the better we will
get at ministering to those around us. This is the order we
should follow to see results in our getting closer to God and
our spiritual growth and our ablity to minister to others. If we
change the order we will not see results
1) Praise and worship God
Psalm 92:1
A poetic praise song for the day of worship It’s so enjoyable to
come before you with uncontainable praises spilling from our
hearts! How we love to sing our praises over and over to you, to
the matchless God, high and exalted over all!
Psalm 138:2
I bow down before your divine presence and bring you my deepest
worship as I experience your tender love and your living truth.
For the promises of your word and the fame of your name have
been magnified above all else!
2) Thank God in all things
Romans 7:25 I give all my thanks to God, for his mighty power
has finally provided a way out through our Lord Jesus, the
Anointed One! So if left to myself, the flesh is aligned with
the law of sin, but now my renewed mind is fixed on and
submitted to God’s righteous principles.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 And in the midst of everything be always
giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ
Jesus.
3) Minister to one another
Acts 11:21 The mighty power of the Lord was with them as they
ministered, and a large number of people believed and turned
their hearts to the Lord.
Acts 11:26 Together Saul and Barnabas ministered there for a
full year, equipping the growing church and teaching the vast
number of new converts. It was in Antioch that the followers of
Jesus were first revealed as “anointed ones
Once we are in connection with God through Praise and Worship
and ministering to him, we will be ready to minister to others.
Note! All translations in the New Testament and Psalms are from
The Passion Translation. All the rest are from the New King
James version unless otherwise stated
