“And when they
began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon,
Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.” 2
Chronicles 20:22
Martin
Luther was convinced that Christian music holds a power for confronting the spiritual forces of evil. “Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of man. Thus it
drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath,
impurity and other devices.” And again, “The Devil, the originator of sorrowful
anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much
as before the Word of God.”
One
of my first memories of spiritual warfare is of standing by a cemetery singing a hymn. Doesn't sound like much but it was a big deal. As an unsaved teenager I had often biked—no, flew--past
this cemetery after spending time with friends. The road wound through a little-trafficked ravine past a row of houses and streets lights and into a dark and wooded area until it came to the cemetery, deserted except
for gravestones and long shadows. It was creepy. It gave me cold tingles up and down the spine. But now as a young Christian in my early
twenties I lived close to the cemetery and had come upon its iron gates
during a night walk. This time, however, I did not flee in a visceral terror. I stood my ground, full of faith in my Savior, and allowed my gaze to roam across the cemetery as I sang “A Mighty
Fortress is Our God.”
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be
losing,
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own
choosing:Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten
to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph
through us;The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly pow’rs, no thanks to them,
abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with
us sideth;Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
