THE MINSTREL'S SONG

THE MINSTREL’S SONG

                Things were not looking good in Israel. The kings of Israel and Judah and Edom had joined together to defend their three nations against the vast armies of the Moabites. And Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah wanted to inquire of the Lord.

                Evidently Jehoshaphat didn’t trust their local prophets and Jehoshaphat asked the other kings: “Is there not a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of the Lord by him? 2Kings 3:11. So one of the kings of Israel’s servants answered and said:” Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”

                Then King Jehoshaphat said: “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the three kings went down to inquire of him and when they found him, Elisha said to them: “What do I have to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” And king Jehoshaphat answered, with fear in his voice: No, for the Lord has called these three kings together to give them into the hand of Moab.”

                As we know, there are two different kinds of prophets.

1.        There are those who say what the king wants to hear, and what the people want to hear.

2.       Then there are those that actually speak for the Lord.

                When it comes right down to a life or death matter, people instinctively know that they have been deceived by the feel good prophets and in their desperation they seek out someone whom they know will tell them the truth.

                Then Elisha said something interesting. He said: “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.” What did Elisha mean?

                What he meant was that the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, was a godly king, while the other two kings were idolaters. King Jehoram was the son of Ahab, the worst king to ever rule over Israel and his mother Jezebel had brought idolatry back into Israel and had sought to kill Elijah, (Elisha’s mentor) and the king of Edom was most likely a descendant of Esau. He had suggested that they go up by way of his country Edom and now they were in a fix. They were seven days out and there was no water for their armies or their cattle.

                In the midst of a problem like this, Jehoshaphat was in no mood to hear from a bunch of people pleasing prophets. He wanted to get his answers straight from a prophet of the Lord.

                Well the air was thick with doubt and fear and unfaithfulness and the demons that two of these kings worshipped and so Elisha said to them: But now bring me a minstrel.” And it came about when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him and Elisha gave them a godly strategy that gave them the victory over their enemies.

                Friends, we are in a similar situation today. We are being surrounded and invaded by the armies of the New World Order to the point of saturation. Everything in our society today speaks of idolatry. Of the last three kings only one serves the Lord.

                To add to our problems the land is covered with prophets. Some of them are saying what the people want to hear, while a few are speaking for the Lord. We as the worship leaders, the minstrels in our congregations, must pray that our pastors are men that are willing to say what God wants them to say and not just what the people want to hear. Then we need to pray that our music is anointed by the Holy Spirit so that our worship will create a portal between heaven and earth so that the prophets of God can hear from the Lord.

                True worship brings the anointing presence of the Holy Spirit into the midst of the people. It prepares the way for the preacher to preach words that are alive with God’s healing, delivering presence. Words are just words unless they are accompanied with the power of God.

                Jesus said: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” John 6:63

                We may say,” well yeah, that was Jesus. Only He had the words of eternal life; but is that true? No it is not true. Jesus poured that same Holy Spirit out upon us and told us to continue His ministry in the world. He said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

                And given the fact that we are surrounded by armies of the antichrist, do we dare even try to minister in our churches without being sure that we have words from a prophet of God and the attending anointing of the Holy Spirit?

                Our preachers in our churches (speaking for all of us) may or may not be the greatest preacher in the world, and so we need only ask two questions concerning him.

1.       Is He an obedient servant of God that is willing to speak what God wants him to say?

2.       Is he anointed with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit?

               

If we can say “yes to those two questions, then we need ask no more. Our job then as worshippers is to open up the heavens so that the man of God can hear from the Spirit of God. We who are minstrels and worship leaders need to take our responsibility seriously. We need to open up a portal between this dark world and heaven so that the Prophet can speak from God.

                Church attenders who sit back with a critical eye and wait to see what their pastor can dish out to entertain them once again will never be able to experience the anointing power of God. In the end, the listeners and the worshippers are just as important as the prophet. If they engage with the prophet of God in the Spirit and presence of God, they will begin to experience a dynamic in the presence and power of God such as most churches today know nothing about.

                David, before he became king of Israel, served in the courts of King Saul as a minstrel for a period of time. When He sang and played, the anointing of god would chase the evil spirits away from the wayward king. It was that same anointing by which David slew Goliath on the battle field.

                Likewise Elisha, a true prophet of God knew that in this situation two of the three kings served other gods; He too needed a minstrel to hold the demons at bay so that he could prophesy as from the Lord.

                Your pastor may be a humble man of God. He may not be anything like those flashy TV preachers. But if the anointing presence of the Spirit of God is upon him, He can move mountains and mend broken hearts, and send the enemy fleeing in the power of Jesus’ mighty name. Therefore the worship team as well as the congregation can serve as the minstrels… chasing the demons out of the building so that the man of God can hear from heaven.

                We experienced just such an electrifying experience in our congregation this weekend and it was like someone had just turned on the lights. God was with us and everyone knew it.

                Jesus created the church, not so that a bunch of spectators could sit back and wait for the preacher to perform. He created us so that when we gather together He comes into our midst and opens our hearts to realms of joy unspeakable and full of glory. Heaven touches earth and we are forever changed. And we as living stones in His temple become in that moment a living organism… the Body of Christ.

                So, the next time you are hungry for truth and righteousness and straight answers direct from God; join in with the minstrel’s song and sing and pray heaven down. Worship Him with your whole heart and He will reward you with His presence.