The Purpose and Power of Worship: Be Filled with the Spirit

Hi, I’m KJ Scriven and welcome to Strengthen Your Walk™. We’ve been talking about what is worship. Over the last few sessions, I’ve been talking about how worship is not only our songs, but worship is our life. But one of the gifts that the Lord has given us is the gift of worshiping Him through songs. And there are major benefits to worshiping God through song. And I’m going to show you in Scripture here the benefits of worshiping the Lord through song.

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We see this in Ephesians chapter 5. Paul is giving instruction on how to live the Christian life to the church at Ephesus. Starting at verse 15, in chapter 5, this is what He says, “Pay careful attention then to how you live, not as unwise people, but as wise, making the most of the time because the days are evil.” We know that for sure. “So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living.”

Watch this, “but be filled by the Holy Spirit.” Here’s how, “speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now, when you see this, He’s talking about literally how to live a life for God. He says, “don’t live as unwise, but live as wise.” And you notice here, He uses this interesting analogy. He says, “Don’t be drunk with wine.” He didn’t say, “Don’t drink wine.” He says, “But don’t be drunk with wine because that’ll lead you to reckless living.” But He juxtaposes that to being filled with the Spirit of God. And I wondered to myself as I read that for years, “What does that have to do with the other? What does being drunk with wine have to do with being filled with the Spirit?” Well, Paul is doing a play on words here. If you’ve noticed at certain restaurants, they call alcoholic beverages, spirits. Right? So, he’s actually doing a play on the word spirit here. But also what he’s saying is, if you’ve noticed, anyone who’s been under the influence of alcohol or wine who’s been drunk, you notice it slurs their speech. It changes the way they talk or it changes the way they walk or it changes the way they perceive or it changes the way they process information.

And so Paul is saying, “Don’t be under the influence of wine because that’ll lead you to making bad decisions or reckless living.” He says, “Instead be filled with the Holy Spirit.” What is he saying? Because in the same way, when you’re filled with the Spirit, what will it do? It’ll change the way that you talk. It’ll change the way that you walk. It’ll change the way that you think. It’ll change the way that you perceive.

He says, “When you’re filled by the Spirit, God gives you the ability to do things, say things, think things, live in a way that you have never done in your own power.” And he says, interestingly enough, one of the ways that we are filled with the Spirit, to be empowered in that way, is when we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So, the gift of worship through song is that it fills us with the Spirit of God to then empower us to live the lives that He’s called us to live so we can live as wise people and glorify His name. Thank you for joining us for today’s Strengthen Your Walk™.

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