Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. Psalm 96:9.
A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks the Way, and fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, nor will any vicious beast go up on it; it will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there. Isaiah 35:8-9.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
There is only one way you can walk and be free from being affected by the attacks of Satan. This way makes you untouchable and bullet (fiery dart) proof. But what is it? It is walking in the beauty of holiness. LET YOUR WALLS BE SALVATION AND YOUR GATES PRAISE, Isaiah 60:18, and Satan will never be able to penetrate and enter your inner sanctuary, the inner man of your heart from which flow all the issues of life, because his flaming arrows will slide off your walls and his thoughts will never get in your gate. If there is anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8. Sanctify the Lord Jesus in your hearts. 1 Peter 3:15-16.
I am talking about worship. Worship is the secret place of the Most High that I tell you of in Psalm 91. When Moses stepped into worship on Mt. Sinai, he was hidden in the cloud of My presence and when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Exodus 32:1. And in worship, Moses became My friend. It is the place of answers. It is the place of revelation, impartation, healing, instruction, and direction. It is a place of highest honor.
Moses lived a life of continual worship for he walked in My presence with awed wonder and was the humblest man on earth. Worship, being delighted with My presence in reverence and awe, is not for the proud. The devil cannot reach you when you walk in worship. He hates those who worship Me. He wants your worship, just as he tried with Jesus. But Jesus could not be tricked to leave the place of worship, He rebuked Satan and declared that worship belongs to Me alone. It is I who have redeemed you and raised you up with Christ to be continually in My throne room. And that is a place of pure, awesome worship where My life and blessings can flow into the worshippers. It is a place of grace where My goodness can flow, that is, My glory.
Jesus walked in continual worship, and when all the people in the synagogue of Nazareth were filled with rage as they heard Him preaching, they got up and drove Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But He just passed through their midst and He went His way. Luke 4:28-30.
“You who dwell in the secret place of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.” Psalm 91:1-4. And what do you do there? “You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down.” Psalm 91:13. And what happens for you there? “No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent.” Psalm 91:10.
And when He, in the beauty of His holiness, rebuked an unclean spirit, it had to go. It knew He would not permit any entrance. And I have clothed you in Christ and in Him I have made you holy and blameless, without reproach before Me. Walk in a manner worthy of your calling. Hold fast to My Word and continue to walk in it. Do not let the devil steal My Word from your heart, because then he will stop your worship.
David walked in worship and no battle ever took him down. He continually made melody to Me in his heart and I share some of his many songs to Me with you in the book of Psalms. But you must stay walking in the beauty of holiness to live in worship. When you exit that place to give in to the pull of the devil, you will be out of My jurisdiction and in the camp of the enemy for you have turned from worship of Me to submission to the devil. And you cannot worship two masters. Adam could not. You must choose.
This happened to David when he gave in to the influence of the devil and went after what he held before David’s eyes, but how did David get back into the flow with Me? He repented and confessed his guilt to Me but he did not stop there. “So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the LORD and worshiped.” 2 Samuel 12:20. And he sang, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. O LORD, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise.” Psalm 51:10-15.
I seek true worshippers, those who worship in Spirit and in truth. Why? They bring My Kingdom into the earth. It is through them that I can cover the earth with the knowledge of My glory as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14. They are Mine. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before My throne of grace and serve Me day and night. They understand what I have done for them in Christ and have stepped up as My new creation. I spread My tabernacle over them. And My Son, the Lamb in the center of the throne, is their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life, and I wipe every tear from their eyes. They have joy in the midst of their enemies. Joy unspeakable filled with glory comes in worship when the anointing that falls as the garment of praise in true worship. It lifts the burden and breaks the yoke.
And this is walking on the Highway of Holiness. Isaiah 35:8-10. And that is today’s Life Lesson on what to do when Satan attacks: Walk in Worship (“the Highway of Holiness”). If you are under attack, or have to make a major decision in your life, step up the level of your worship. It will make you very aware of My presence and will raise you up high. Why? I come down to dwell upon your praises. My tabernacle will cover you, “For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD!” Psalm 27:5-6.
And as Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman by the well, you do not have to go to a particular place to worship in Spirit and in truth, wherever you are is redemption ground, is holy ground, for you are My house and a temple of My Holy Spirit. I have made you holy.
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” Psalm 96:1-6.
For when you do this, which is the narrow way Jesus spoke of, I will make peace your administrators and righteousness your overseers. Violence will not be heard again in your place of grace nor devastation or destruction within you; but you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise. And I will be for you an everlasting light and your glory, and the days of your mourning will be over. Isaiah 60:17-20. And I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time. Isaiah 60:22. The Highway of Holiness is a superhighway, once you are on it, and, if you don’t turn back to folly, Psalm 85:8, but continue in the faith, firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, Colossians 1:23, the devil cannot keep you from your destiny, from your high calling. Philippians 3:20-21.
So what is this “Highway of Holiness?” It is identified as such by My prophet Isaiah, but actually I speak of it all through the Bible and it will put you walking in the atmosphere of Heaven, the flow of which is worship. Now, for you who are in Christ, Jesus opened Heaven to you. On the cross, when His work was finished on earth, the veil covering the entrance to the Holy of holies was split in two from top to bottom and as your forerunner (pioneer) He entered behind the veil so that in Him you have access to an open Heaven. He has opened a passageway from earth to Heaven which is a direct line of communication and transport with which the devil cannot interfere.
Let us go back to the Word I gave Isaiah on this by My Spirit upon him, “A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks the Way, and fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, nor will any vicious beast go up on it; it will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return and come with joyful shouting and singing to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” Isaiah 35:8-10. And you notice it begins, “A highway will be THERE.” Looking back to the lines preceding it you find it comes with the prophecy of the Messiah that Jesus quoted in answer to John’s question if He was really the Messiah or they were to look for another. “Encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart,
‘Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but He will save you (the vengeance fell on Christ and saved you from the wrath to come).’ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. Isaiah 35:3-6.
For it is in Christ, the Messiah, that you are able to live under an open Heaven and the flow of the Blessing.
Consider the Highway of Holiness. A highway is raised above the slower streets of the towns and cities it passes through which are filled with stops, turns, and dead ends. The highway is a direct way with no distractions and hindrances to the destination. And on this Highway of Holiness, there are certain qualifications to get on, like the toll words, but Jesus has paid for your entrance to this Highway.
First, the unclean cannot travel on it for it is for the one who walks in the Way. Jesus is the Way and He makes you clean by His blood and the washing of water with the Word. You at one time were unclean in your sins and trespasses and your allegiance with the devil but now you have been sanctified in Jesus and in My Word by putting on the new self as a new creation in Christ. When Christ died it was for your sins so you died to sin with Him and when I raised Him up from the dead free from sin, I raised you up together with Him. I have made you a new creation in Him, the old you passed away and all is newness of life. You are now clean vessels for Kingdom purposes.
And the unclean spirits cannot come up on this superhighway. Only those who are a new creation in Christ, that is, the redeemed, can walk there.
Next, fools cannot enter it. The fool says in his heart there is no God. Fools do not obey My Word; they reject it as foolish. They walk in the hardness of their hearts and refuse to listen to My call. They are in league with the devil, even if they don’t realize it, and have been taken captive to do his will. They are not free and stay on the twisted streets of worldly confusion.
Do not be pulled back into folly. Psalm 85:8. Do not be foolish but understand what My Will is making the most of your time. Do not get pulled back into the deeds of darkness and the ways of the worldly. It will take you on a detour that may end in the ruin of your life. David’s almost did but he got back on track. If you get pulled you can always return, but it is better to go the direct route to your goal for sin leaves consequences in not just your life but the lives of those close to you as well.
And the good news is, if you stay on this straight and narrow way of worship, no lion or vicious beast can come up there and put a stumbling block in your way. You simply rebuke them coming on, and if they try to do so, you tread right over them.
And what are you doing on that Highway? Singing and shouting for joy, rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving constant thanks. And sorrow and sighing flee away.
Why? “Taste and see the goodness of the LORD,” sang David, and that is what you do in the glory of worship. My glory is My goodness, My presence and My power. And once you have started to taste My goodness and seen the beauty of answered prayer in the secret place, it draws you out of the ordinary into a treasure chest of life. Everything becomes easy and light. Your life becomes filled with secret treasure, as dazzling as the foundation stones of My heavenly city. My goodness is a treasure without measure and you have it all in Christ Jesus your Lord. In Him, I have blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Heaven. It is all there for you in Him and you draw it out from Him into your life in worship.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He preordained us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” Ephesians 1:3-8.
Worship in Spirit and in truth, which means in faith and in the Word. Remain in My Word and let My Word remain in you. And that is walking in holiness for My Word sanctifies and cleanses you from the dirt of the world, it is your upward calling in Christ. For your citizenship is now in Heaven and though you are in the world, you are not to be of the world. You are a new creation in Christ.
Never let the accusations of the devil, whether they are thoughts coming into your mind or coming through the mouths of other people who are directed by the devil without even being aware of it, intimidate you from keeping on the path of your high calling in Christ. Be ready to answer making a verbal defense from My Word. But make sure you are walking in truth and holiness and doing what is right rather than doing what is wrong. For Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring you to Me, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
“And do not fear (phobeó (φοβέομαι), meaning to be put to flight, to be terrified) their intimidation (phobos (φόβος), meaning causing panic flight, fear, terror) and do not be troubled (tarassó (ταράσσω),meaning disturbed, agitated, stirred up) but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense (apologia (ἀπολογία): a verbal defense (particularly in a law court), from apó, meaning “from” and lógos, meaning “word”; a thought-out response to adequately address the issue that is raised. Apología was the term for making a legal defense in an ancient court.) to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.” 1 Peter 3:15-16.
Worship is where we gaze upon one another in love in the beauty of holiness. And you can do that all day every day and all night every night.
I love you. We have a journey to make. And it is filled with treasure without measure.
But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Acts 7:55.