Christians witness seeing these beautiful and graceful silks used during worship at their local church. Attendees are questioning what the flags are for and why they are used in the first place. Below is an article put together to educate our readers on what worship flags symbolize and the meaning behind them.
What are worship flags? Worship Flags are used to bring a positive element into the atmosphere during worship. Each dancer waves around a flag with colors that represent joy, love, purity, and any other type of positive attribute rejoicing in the Lord’s glory.
The Origin of Worship Flags
Both flags and banners have been used for centuries to identify tribes, as in the wilderness for the tribes of Israel, to mark territory or boundaries. Flags are used to signal battlefield movements, and to signal messages between ships. They are also used in war to judge the direction and velocity of the wind.
Worship flags were created to fight the negative connotations of the enemy. They drive and overpower fear, anxiety, shame, etc. When a prophetic dancer is holding a silk material, they are involving the Holy Spirit into the place of worship. This is by waving and flowing around different color flags (which symbolizes a variety of elements).
There are many ways that God can use Christian’s gifts and talents to convey messages to his people. As believers minister with flags, they are declaring to the body of Christ that the Lord Is Our Banner. Flags identify Christians as His children, His messengers, His servants, His Salt, His Light, and His beacons on earth. As such, they lead, guide and point to our Father in heaven and His son by expressing His word, rejoicing at God’s promises, reminding the body of Christ of the imminent return of Christ, calling sinners to repentance and exalting God for being who He is. The Lord is a magnanimous creator that is worthy of all honor, glory, and praise. It declares His mighty power and reminds us of His eternal word and covenant promises.
The Purpose of Worship Flags
In a worship service, Flags and Banners are used for God’s people as a visual tool on which to focus. They can declare a time of the battle in spiritual warfare, God’s love, His grace, holiness, and power. As the Spirit of God (the watchman) directs, the waving of Flags and Banners will open the “spiritual gates” of heaven allowing the Holy Spirit to flow freely among His people with healing, deliverance, and encouragement.
Flags and Banners are vital to the Body of Christ. They make a statement – a statement of our worship, our praise, our warfare, and a statement that reflects our work with the Lord. They are a form of visual worship and they make a powerful statement to the non-believer. They are a silent witness in ministry but they speak volumes to anyone who looks at them.
The purpose of worship flags and banners is to minister and glorify to the Lord. It’s also to open communication with the Lord by having the worshipper only focus on God and His true divinity. Worshipping with flags can be a rallying point of healing and fight back the enemy. It can also expose and destroy the works of the enemy through worship.
The flag minister must be following the Holy Spirit, who is also guiding the worship leader, the dance leader, and the covering of the house. If we all remain submitted to the Lord, He will ensure order and be enabled to move in power through the unified body. In Worship, the flag may be speaking the heart of the people toward God, or God’s heart toward His people.
Lifting a Flag and/or a Banner is a Kingdom tool of identification, proclamation, and glorification. In worship and warfare, the function of a Flag and Banner is to attract the attention of the people of God, to proclaim a message of identification or focus for biblical truth and purpose, to impact the heart of God, the heart of the people and the spiritual realm for a positive outcome. God uses the things of the natural world to affect things in the spiritual world.
Biblical Context of Worship and Flags
The Importance of Worship
Although worship flags are not directly mentioned in the Bible, the importance of worship is. In Psalm 11, it is written that Christians bow down before the Lord rejoice in thanksgiving for His endless amount of love.
Lord, because I am your loving servant,
Pslam 11:16-17
you have broken open my life and freed me from my chains.
Now I’ll worship you passionately and bring to you
my sacrifice of praise, drenched with thanksgiving!
Flags are worship tools (like instruments, liturgy, or prophetic art) Waving the flag itself is a visual expression of worship. When done in a corporate worship setting, it should be done with the purpose of ushering others into the Presence of God. Flags can be used as a tool for warfare as well.
And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.“
2 Chronicles 20:21-22
In the church, each element of a worship service should be designed to help believers worship God or to share the gospel with any unbelievers who may be present. With worship as the goal, song choices, prayers, Scripture reading, teaching, and other elements can be developed in ways that point worshippers toward a higher view of God.
Worship is very important because it shows the gratefulness and thankfulness that Christians have for the Lord. The Father speaks to His people through the means of visual arts, music, and manifestations. Using visual arts in worship is one method of crossing over a language and physical impairment boundaries, as well as cultural and denominational lines. God created us for worship and within each one of us is a desire to worship Him that is just waiting to be released unto Him.
“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father is Spirit and truth for the Father is seeking each to worship Him. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth.
John 4:23-24
The Lord Our Banner
In the book of Exodus, Moses identified the Lord as the banner under which Israel defeated the Amalekites. To seal this declaration, he built an altar and called it ‘Jehovah-Nissi’ which means the Lord our Banner. In battle, opposing nations flew their flag on a pole of the front line. This gave the soldiers a focal point and hope.
Symbolically, Moses with his raised arms served as a banner for Israel. They were encouraged and victorious whenever they saw his arms raised. But Moses, being the humble and submitted servant that he was, recognized that it was not by his might, but by the power of the Almighty God. The banner he was under that was the true source of their victory. And so, it was written as a memorial in a book, and we have read and understood. Therefore, as you minister to the body of Christ with banners and flags, you are declaring that we are strengthened, encouraged and victorious in Jehovah Nissi – The Lord our Banner.
The Symbolism of Praise Flags and Banners
Here is a color guide that associates worship flags and banners with different Biblical elements:
- Yellow: Faith, the glory of God, and anointing
- Orange: The fire of God and deliverance
- Fuchsia: Joy, right relationship, and communion
- Scarlet: Cleansing the soul and royalty
- Red: Blood of Jesus, love of Christ, and redemption
- Wine: New birth, overflow, mercy, and new wine
- Purple: Royalty, kingship, majesty, mediator, wealth, and authority
- Blue/Sapphire: Law, commandments, Heave, grace, Priesthood, prayer, the river of God, overcomer, Living water, Holy Spirit, and divine revelation
- Turquoise/Jasper/Aqua: Sanctification and healing
- Green: Praise, life, health, growth, prosperity, restoration, fruitfulness, and flourishing
- Gold: Foundation, sanctified, alter, beauty, precious, holiness, glory, majesty, righteousness, and divine light
- Silver: The Word of God, divinity, righteousness, and salvation
- White: The Bride of Christ, Revelation, the Holy Spirit, and blessedness
- Brown: End of a season and redemption from pride
- Black/Onyx: Rebuke from darkness, evil, sin, affliction, humiliation, calamity, death, famine, mourning, and obedience unto death
Also, a dancer can hold more than one flag which means that the elements siphoned together. There are also mixed-color flags that look sort of marble textured which will bring in more than one element into the atmosphere.
Why do Christians Use Praise Flags?
Flags are a Statement
Silk flags are a beautiful metaphorical and symbolic statement declaring that followers of Christ are not going to bow down to the enemy’s lies. When a country surrenders in war, they wave a white flag. Prophetic dancers wave a white flag to surrender to the Lord for their sins and wrong-doings. They step into a state of anointing inspiration and creatively express how they only rely on God.
When I think about the word “surrender”, I often think about how it relates to our worship to God. The bottom line is that “surrender” and true “worship” cannot exist without each other. Praise flags and banners are used to give honor to the Lord, declare territory, and directly rebuke spiritual warfare. They are also used to signify the presence of God.
When Flags and Banners are lifted as a statement, it becomes a wave offering to the Lord. The diversity of colors represents the multi-faceted dimensions in how our adoration can glorify God for his unique and phenomenally awesome character.
These weapons of aggressive worship become faith statements whereby we can agree with God for victory. They are for joyful celebrations. They cause us to rejoice in the jubilee. They inspire us, like a signal, to break forth into exuberant demonstrations of praise.
Flags, as well as banners, are used in worship to exalt Jesus and His name before men and also before the powers of darkness. They may also declare our redemption through Jesus and His Blood. During worship or during ministry time, our flags proclaim the dominion of God’s Kingdom and mark our spiritual territory.
The flag makes a proclamation before heaven and earth, angels and demons through the one raising the flag, on behalf of all those present, whom the flag bearer represents. The flag bearer is truly “raising the standard” to rally the troops in spiritual unity.
Flags Declare Territory
By claiming territory in the name of Jesus and asking the Holy Spirit to purify, to bind and cast out any and all demons and evil spirits, we establish our Spiritual boundaries. When we do not do this we are leaving our selves open to the realm of the enemy. With the flags, we claim our territory and ask the Holy Spirit for protection.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:20
Early records show that in ancient Egyptians battles, soldiers looked to flags(ribbons or fabric tied to poles) to determine the direction of the wind, then shot their arrows accordingly to reach their target. In terms of spiritual warfare, a particular flag might be flown in the physical realm to reveal what is happening in the spiritual: it relates the direction of the “wind” of the Holy Spirit on a particular day.
The Authority of Prophetic Dancing and Worship Flags
When dancing and worshiping prophetically, dancers do not have the power to make demons flee or command angels to come. They make God’s presence be known and send out their prayers for the Lord to send His angels, Himself. Any type of prophetic worship does not have the authority to do the supernatural. However, followers of Christ do have the authority to declare the Lord’s power over the enemy and his attacks.
For example: In the book of Daniel, God “sent his angel” to deliver Daniel from the mouths of the lions in the den. Daniel did not take authority and demand an angel to save him, he focused on the Lord and relied on only God.
My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.
Daniel 6:22
God directed Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole as a focal point and promised that whoever would have faith enough to look on it would be healed of the deadly serpents’ bites in the wilderness. As we look to the Cross in faith, we find healing in the blood of Jesus. Flags are not idols and do not contain healing, nor any other manifested gift of God, but serve the Body of Christ as a visual reminder of His faithfulness as the God Our Healer.
Authority Over Warfare
All worship should be glorifying to God, and lead anyone watching to a greater depth of worship to Him. As with choreographed “presentation” pieces, Christians can also worship Jesus by just dancing freely as led by the Spirit. Believers must listen to the Holy Spirit and do exactly what He tells us, even if we don’t understand why.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Praise and worship are powerful spiritual weapons against the powers of darkness. Christian ministries are prime targets for spiritual attack, which may come in many forms such as illness, demons, depression, and any other type of opposition.
Intercessory prayer is needed for all ministries! Many believers have such a comforting picture of the cross. They see the forgiveness of their sins, reconciliation to the Father, and provision for healing. Since Christians have the authority to overpower any negative connotations, through the Lord, all children of God are indestructible.
Flags and Banners are very effective weapons to use against Satan and his armies. They are made mighty by the Spirit of the Lord to pull down strongholds and bind their works. You must remember this: This is Warfare… not just waving a Flag/Banner. By using these instruments of praise and worship you are entering into spiritual warfare.
All believers are in a battle for and with the Lord. They are a member of the army of the Lord, and they have all heard of hand-to-hand combat. Hand-to-hand combat is a physical one-on-one confrontation with the enemy. In God’s army, hand-to-hand combat is lifting your hands in praise. Although the enemy is unseen – the combat is real.
It is truly amazing that the Lord has blessed His believers by gracing them with the privilege to worship and celebrate the Holy Father. All Christians are allowed to have authority over the enemy’s attacks, by casting demons and evil spirits to the feet of the Lord.
It is such a phenomenal lifestyle to be so loved and not have to worry about what the entire meaning of life is and where you will be after death. God created worship so that humanity can sing, dance, paint, etc. so that He can be glorified for the capacity of love He has for each of His children.
Worship is so much more than singing on Sundays or Wednesdays. It is more than a weekly gathering in a building. True worship is about waving the white flag of surrender to Him in the victory of gaining Christ, living a life that is “holy and pleasing” to God that reflects Him in all that we say and do.