Morning Prayer Summary for Friday, April 8, 2022

Pastor Dustin…

Welcome to Friday morning prayer. My name is Dustin Sherri, and I’m the Next Gen Pastor here at Living Word Christian Center. And on behalf of our senior pastors, Pastors Mac and Lynne Hammond, we want to welcome you and thank you for joining us this morning.

David and his mighty men…

I want to begin by reading a couple of verses out of First Samuel chapter 30. Whenever I come to morning prayer, I know that our objective and our goal is to pray. But I always feel like I have something for somebody. And I always try to come ready to minister. And so I want to read a couple of verses and then I’ll kind of explain it in a second.

First Samuel 30:1. It says “Now when David and his men, the mighty men…” If you’ve read the Bible, you might’ve heard of David and his mighty men, the people that he went into battle with, and they saw a lot of success and victory in battle by the grace of God. That’s who it’s referring to when it says “and his men.”

It says “Now when David and his men came home from Ziklag on the third day, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid on the south and on Ziklag and had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire.” Verse two: “And had taken the women and all who were there, both great and small, captive.” They killed no one, but carried them off and went on their way. Verse three: So David and his men came to the town after this had happened and “behold it was burned and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.” First four: “then David and the men with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.” Verse five: “David’s two wives had also been taken captive.” We don’t have time to talk about that this morning. That’s another thing for another day.

Verse six: “David was greatly distressed for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them were are bitterly grieved.” So David comes back home from battle. I’m sure he’s expecting to be celebrated and victory. I’m sure he’s expecting to be able to let his hair down and relax and see his family and the people that he cares about. And instead he comes home to find the city burned, his family stolen, and now the people who are closest to him, the people that were his mighty men, the people that he had worked with and fought with, now those people have also turned against him. And they’re talking about killing him.

David’s men wanted to stone him…

So it’s not a very good situation, right? I’ll read verse six. It says “David was greatly distressed for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved. Each man for his sons and daughters.” But notice the last part of this verse: it says, “but David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” We won’t read through the next 14 verses, but if you continue reading what you see happen is David consults the Lord. The Lord gives him the direction to move forward. He goes out and he gets back his family, and he gets back the children nobody’s lost. Everything is recovered. The Bible says, and God even adds to him.

It turned around to be a blessing…

This situation that started out poorly, it ends up blessing him and benefiting him in the end. And so it’s an amazing story because obviously most of us have never been through something like that. But what you see is David went through something difficult, something he wasn’t expecting to have to go through. And as a result, God ended up causing it to benefit him.

David learned how to encourage himself in the Lord…

But the part that I wanted to focus on this morning, was David was going through something difficult and we see that he strengthened and encouraged himself in the Lord. I found in my life, there are times where I can’t wait for somebody to encourage me and strengthened me. David had the maturity and the experience in the Lord to know that sometimes when you’re going through something difficult and frustrating, you have to take the initiative and you have to take the step to stir yourself up and to encourage yourself in a difficult time. I mean, it’s good to do it all of the time. But especially when you’re facing a difficult situation.

You need to learn how to encourage yourself in the Lord…

And so if you’re going through something difficult, you’re going through something frustrating and just kind of dragging yourself from meeting to meeting, service to service, situation to situation, just hoping that somebody will jump in the middle of that and start encouraging you and lifting you up. I’m going to believe with you for that, that that’s going to happen. But it’s also important that we take responsibility and we devote ourselves to time where we’re praying, having time in the Word, time in prayer, time like this. And we take the initiative and we encourage and strengthen ourselves in the Lord.

That’s what the book of Psalms is. It’s David reminding himself of the goodness of God. It’s David reminding himself of everything that God has done in his life. David would go through these high points and these low points. And in the low points, he would remind himself of the high points. He would remind himself of what God had done in the past, and that would fill him and give him hope to move on and to keep going. And it would position him for the next victory in his life.

Prayer instruction…

And so I want to start this morning by praying kind of along those lines. Let’s do our best to kind of block out anything else that would try to distract this morning. Just endeavor to just put your mind on the Lord, put your thoughts on Him and be listening internally. Because I believe that He wants to speak to you this morning. I believe that He wants to reveal things to you about yourself, about your future, about the things that He’s called you to. I believe that He wants to reveal things to you. Not just even about you, but about the things that are going to be happening in your life, in the sphere of influence that you have and the people that He’s brought into your life. I believe He wants to give you wisdom and revelation and insight and discernment. I believe that He wants to help you this morning and encourage you and lift.

Be listening internally. As He begins to give you words, to declare words, just begin to speak those things out. Sometimes the Lord will speak to you through your imagination, right? Sometimes He’ll give you pictures or images in your mind and He’ll lead you in that way. God knows you very well. And so He knows what the best way is to communicate with you.

Speak out and declare…

I’m going to begin to pray in the spirit. Once you’re in that place of rest and peace and you’re listening, I’d encourage you just to begin to pray in the spirit. And as you’re praying, words and declarations will come out. I encourage you, like I said, a moment ago, if you feel led, if you feel like there’s a word, something you’re supposed to declare just say it. Just declare it wherever you’re at. Practice yielding yourself over… practice responding to the Spirit of God on the inside of you.

I found that as I pray in tongues, oftentimes I don’t have like a three-minute speech when I’m done praying in tongues. Oftentimes I’ll pray in tongues for a period of time and then I’ll have like a word and I’ll say that word. And then sometimes I’ll go back into tongues. And then as I’m praying in tongues, I’ll get another word. And the two might be connected. They might not seem connected, but I don’t worry about that. I just try to be obedient to say what He’s telling me to say. And then sometimes I’ll pray in the Spirit and I’ll get a phrase or a sentence and I’ll declare that.

It’s amazing how at the end, it seems like He kind of ties it all together and it all makes sense. But it’s important that you’re just faithful to say and declare what He gives you along the way. So let’s just keep praying in the Spirit…

Prayed…

Father, we thank you. We remind ourselves … we put ourselves in remembrance… of who you are… the sacrifice that was made for us so that we could have and enjoy life and have it in abundance … so that we could be overcomers … so that we could be victorious … so that we can rule and reign in this life.

We thank you for the authority that’s been given to us as believers. Thank you for all of these things.

Don’t just take inventory of the natural things that He’s done in your life. That’s good. That’s helpful. That’s important. But let’s take a moment and be grateful for all of the spiritual blessings that have been given to us, that have the ability to affect the natural realm that we live in …

Yes, a greater awareness of the gifts of the Spirit… a greater awareness of the authority that we’ve been given … a greater awareness of your presence… more cooperative… a greater cooperation… that with you and with your Spirit… because you can’t cooperate with what you’re not aware of… And so it starts with an awareness … and then moving from awareness into cooperation… saying what He tells you to say, doing what He tells you to do… stepping out in faith… Believing … believing, believing His Word over the circumstances, over what you can see, over what you can feel… there is a higher level of truth. You can look at your feelings, you can look at your circumstances and you can say, “Well this is the truth.” But there’s a greater truth. There’s a higher truth. And that’s His Word. And that has the ability to change the natural, temporal realm that you and I live in. So you’re not denying… you’re not being illogical. You’re not living in denial. I understand this is what it looks like. But I’ve been confused before, number one. And I believe that there’s a higher truth. I believe that there’s a higher promise than what I’m seeing right now. And so I’m going to believe God’s Word over what I’m seeing. I’m going to believe that the Word that God spoke over me is going to come to pass regardless of how it looks. I’m going to trust Him.

Remember the Bible says that the just shall live by faith. And not by sight. That we should walk and live by faith and not by sight, making decisions by faith and not by sight. Sight being what we can see and experience with our natural senses… sight being what makes sense to us based on the evidence around us. We’re going to make decisions not solely based off of those things. We’re going to make decisions from a place of faith, not from a place of fear, not from a place of frustration. We’re going to make decisions from a place of faith. Confident expectation that God’s Word is true. And it’s going to come to pass. Confidant expectation that everything that He spoke over you is going to happen in your life.

So just stir yourself up in this, begin to pray in the spirit, fan the flame in your heart … the Bible says to “be being filled,” continue to be filled up, stay filled with the Spirit of God.

It might be a tacky example, but like a car… you don’t buy a car, put the gas in it once and then just drive for 500 miles and you run out of gas. You say what is going on? It’s a new car.” You’ve got to continue to put gas in it. And the Bible says to be being filled. You got to continue to stay filled up, be filled up in the Spirit… stay filled, continue to pray in the Spirit. Continue to worship, continue to spend time in His presence… continue to read the Word, stay filled

Don’t let yourself get that empty. Don’t wait until you’re desperate and you feel like you’ve lost all hope before you start to press into the things of the Spirit … stay filled …

Sister Barb…

When you’re praying in tongues, you need to be purposeful. And I know it’s not a volume issue, but sometimes to get past the flesh, you need to kick up the volume just to make your body pay attention, to focus. And I think a lot of times as prayer people, we just want to be in a quiet place. And really to get your mind in line, you need to bring up the volume. Just be purposeful about what you’re praying. And so I just would like us to just pick it up a little bit. Get out of your comfortable place. And I know for a long time, I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I’m a quiet person. And in here, I don’t know… the Holy Ghost just doesn’t let me be that way. But I would tend to be quiet. I’d like to sit in the back row, but the Holy Ghost, you know, He wants to you to step out and to push out. And sometimes that takes a little effort… to put some effort into your prayer. Put some effort into praying in tongues. And so you lift your voice.

David shouted. He shouted unto the Lord, and that was like a full body participation. It wasn’t just his voice, but a full body participation. And so the Holy Ghost wants you spirit, soul, and body … to be fully engaged. And so just yield yourself over, take the next five minutes. Let’s just really lean in to the Holy Spirit, lift your voice wherever you are, however loud you can get. Just lift your voice to the Lord and see how different… because it is forcing your flesh to comply. It is forcing your flesh to come into line. And you’re saying, “Flesh, this is what we’re doing. We’re focusing on the Lord right now. You’re going to come into line right now. So in the name of Jesus…”

A fresh fire… we lean into the power of the Holy Spirit. We open our mouths… and we let His words pour out… don’t draw back but press in… The Holy Spirit is present… to assist, to heal, to deliver … in this very moment … breaking out of those places of up containment … and stepping into the wide places of the Holy Spirit… leaning into those rivers… agreeing with Him, coming into alignment with Him… aligning our thoughts and our ways with Him… not leaning on our own understanding… but acknowledging Him and all that ways and He directs our path … glory to God…

As we pray, He shakes us. He shakes us loose of every bondage. He shakes us free of every bondage in Jesus’ mighty name. pulling us, pulling us in, pulling us into that place… of victory… all the way in … into that plan … into that purpose… into that calling, into that flow … boldness and power… He’s opening the ways today… He’s making a way where there didn’t seem to be away… into the deep … come up out of those shallow places and step into the deep … take up those appointments… make a demand, make a demand… He is well able to supply your need. He is well able to exceed your expectation…

Yes, we rise up. We rise up. We lift our voice in the name of Jesus in this earth. We declare everything. Just the way, Father, intend it to be …

Pastor Dustin…

You can keep praying, but I’ve noticed with prayer sometimes it’s like you pray out of one thing and into another thing. And so it’s like there’s a rhythm to it. Sometimes, you’ll just pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. And then it just feels like you broke through or something lifted or you just kind of move to a different dimension. And then it’s like, you press in again. And there’s just kind of this like rhythm and flow to it. None of it is you checking out … none of it is you mailing it in like I’m out of breath. I need to drink my Diet Coke, and then I’ll join you guys. You’re continuing to follow the flow of the Spirit and the prompting of the Spirit. And so sometimes, like I said, it’ll flow differently. But you stay just as engaged the whole time, because it’s in these times of prayer where sometimes God will like birth things in you. Sometimes you’ll get free of something. I mean, you think about it, like the minute Living Word was started with prayer. And so in times like this of prayer, I mean, people were praying this thing into existence. I’m sure all of the prayer that went into… and we’re still praying about this ministry, but you think about the prayer that it took to get this place into the natural, into existence. I’m sure it was more than just a couple of like… I’m sure there was groaning and wailing and travailing. I’m not saying you have to work yourself up into something, but I’m just saying yield yourself over to it because it’s a supernatural work that you’re doing and it’s powerful and you will see the manifestation of it and the results in your life. And in the lives of other people. This is a powerful thing that we’re doing.

And so we can’t get into a rut. We can’t just get into a rhythm with where we just, every day is just kind of the same tongues. Sometimes you can just get used to your tongues and you can just every day, just go into the same tongues every day. Allow Him to lead you, expand your prayer language, give you songs. Even if you don’t have a great voice, allow Him to sing through you.

Sometimes you’re humming in tongues. Sometimes it’s spiritual songs and melodies and hymns… we’re just talking about really giving yourself over to this, over to tongues. If you’ve been praying in tongues for a while, it’s something that you can just… it’s such a supernatural thing, but you can just turn it into a heady, natural thing, where you just used to it. And your mind isn’t there. You’re not even thinking about it. You’re just an autopilot while you’re folding laundry. And it’s okay to pray in tongues while you fold laundry, but you ought to have times where if you have to, you can get on your hands and knees and just cry and travail and groan. And just let these things come out of your spirit.

There should be times where you can just run around the house and just dance. We ought to be able to do it in church too, but wherever you’re at, you should be able to just run and dance like David did when the Spirit of God came upon him.

We’re just talking about yielding yourself over to the Spirit of God, responding to the Spirit of God. With all that you have.

Sister Barb…

So let’s go again. Thank you, Jesus. We yield ourselves to the spirit of grace … and ask Him for a new time. He’ll give you a new time. I’ve seen it here in the chapel. We yield ourselves to you… have your way … and He’ll begin to prophesy through you … hahaha. As you yield yourself to him … to prophesy to your family … to your city, to your land, to your nation, to your company, your coworkers… He will to show you things… a vision … He will give you unctions… supernatural leadings… things you could not know on your own…

Let Him flow… He washes your mind and your soul and He cleanses you…of wrong thinking… walk away from situations where you don’t belong… He will lead you out of those places… yield yourself to the Spirit of prophecy … that you would not stumble, not fall… that you would stay steady and strong in Him… let Him take hold… sometimes it’s just a sound. Sometimes it’s a sigh, a word, a song, a shout. Sometimes He’s a dance … go with the flow, go with the flow. As He flows in you, go with the flow … You don’t have to be like anyone else. And as you yield, He refreshes your soul, your body. He brings you strength. He restores you. The voice of many waters flowing through you …

Pastor Dustin…

As you’re yielding yourself over to this, you’re being strengthened. You’re being fortified, encouraged. And this is connected to the things that you’ve been believing for. This is connected to you stepping over and into the new things that He’s called you to … the ministry that you’ve wanted to see take place in your life. This is the doorway into that. The words, the healings, the prophetic words, the gifts of the Spirit in operation, the greater that you’ve wanted to see, this is the stepping stone into that.

I don’t know how to say it. This gets you there. It’s from this place that you walk in the grace … from this place, you walk in His grace, you walk in the fullness of his grace from this place. And everything you do is from this place, that flow, everything you need from this place … everything you desire comes from this place.

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