Morning Prayer Summary for Friday, July 15, 2022

Pastor Dustin…

Welcome to morning prayer, everyone. For those joining us online, thank you for joining us and giving your supply. My name is Dustin Sherry. I’m the youth pastor here at Living Word. And we just want to thank you for joining us.

Psalm 139, intimacy with God…

I want to begin today by reading Psalm 139. We’ll begin in verse one.

“Oh, Lord, you have searched me and known me, you know, when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar.”

The reason I felt drawn to this chapter this morning is because I’ve been thinking a lot about how intimate our relationship with God is or can be. And how that should change everything in our lives, how that should change the way that we interact with Him. A revelation of that should change the way we make decisions in life, the way we approach life.

Two mindsets…

I think so often it’s easy to have a couple of different mindsets. Maybe one is you think God is really far away and He’s really preoccupied with things. And so you just kind of cry out to Him, beg Him for things. If things get rough, you know, “Help!” But you, you pray in tongues first, so you feel a little bit more in faith and then you go, “Help!” That’s one way.

And then the other way, I think a lot of people approach… is they have structured times of prayer and then the rest of their lives, they just kind of see it as like them doing the best they can and working as hard as they can, trying to be as smart as they can making the best decisions they can. And then if they get stuck or if they remember they have their time schedule, they go back to the Lord. So they kind of have their relationship with God kind of like segmented or separated in their lives.

And there’s nothing wrong with set-aside time with the Lord. We see Jesus in the Bible would take time where He would go away and pray. It’s good to be disciplined and have a routine … God gave us a brain and gave us the Word. We know some things are good and we don’t have to rely on our feelings. But I kind of think of it like my wife and I, you know, we love each other a lot. Because we’re so busy, we still schedule date nights and things like that where we’re just intentional about spending time together. But if that’s all our relationship was how many of you know we’d be missing something. If my wife, said, “Hey, I love you.” And I just ignored her all together cause I was busy. Or she said, you should take out the garbage and I just ignored her. Or I said, “Hey, you know, our time to talk is Monday at 3 p.m. So why don’t you save your comments till then and I’ll circle back with you… or something like that. It’s ridiculous, of course.

The Lord compares our relationship to a marriage

But I think our relationship with the Lord, He compares it to a marriage relationship. And our relationship with the Lord should be, I think, the most intimate relationship in our entire lives. As close as I am to my wife, we spend time where we’ll sit next to each other and talk to each other. But with the Lord, He lives on the inside of you. He can fill you. He can move on your spirit. He can impress things on your heart. I mean, how much closer… you can’t get any closer than that. We’re one with Him, the Bible says.

We need to be aware of how close he is to us…

And so I’m reading this this morning just to remind us of how intimate our relationship with God can and should be, how close He is to us, how well He knows us. He didn’t just know that you would be born. He didn’t find out about you after you were born. We’ll read this and I want you just to meditate on this and think about this. And the reason we’re going through this is because I think it’s important that we have this awareness in our lives. So I’ll start at verse one again. This is David speaking.

Psalm 139

“Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down. And you are acquainted with all of my ways, even before a word is on my tongue, behold Oh Lord, you know it all together. You hem me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. God, you’re so smart. How can I comprehend all of you in your wisdom? Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you’re there. If I make my bed in the deepest darkness, you’re there. If I take the wings of the morning and I dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me. Your right hand shall hold me.”

If I get in my car and I leave Brooklyn Park, or I leave wherever and I just go as far as I can, I get in a plane and I fly as far away as I can. You’re still there with me.

“Even there your hands shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts.” Listen to verse 13: “For you formed my inward parts.”

The Lord created you on purpose…

Does that sound like you were just kind of… you were a surprise to everybody and you were here and so the Lord just figured I better give him a calling and I better figure something out for him. No. He created you on purpose. He says, “For you formed my inward parts. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

You were fearfully and wonderfully made…

Just receive that this morning. “I praise you for I’m fearfully and wonderfully made.” If you’re struggling with confidence, if you’re feeling insecure, if the Devil’s been beating you up and lying to you, telling you that you aren’t enough and if you just had a couple extra things going on in your life, if you had a couple more giftings, then you could be who God has called you to be. Now He says you’re fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. And he knows that he’s one of them. Wonderful are your works.

“My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you. When I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

Amplified translation…

One translation says, I think it’s the Amplified. “All of the days of my life were written in a book before I ever lived one of them.” Can He lead us? Can He guide us? Can He give us wisdom and insight and understanding? Can He help us? Is He caught off guard by anything? No.

There’s a book about your life…

All of the days of your life were written in a book before you ever lived a single one of them. “How precious to me are your thoughts, Oh God. How vast is the sum of them? If I would count them, they are more than the sand.” The thoughts that the Lord thinks toward you outnumber the individual little grains of sand. That’s amazing because He’s been thinking about you for eternity. We’ve been alive for however many years we’ve been alive, but He’s existed forever. And He’s known about us forever. He sits outside of time.

Verse 19…

“Oh, that you would slay the wicked, oh God. Oh men of blood depart for me. They speak against you with malicious intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, Oh Lord. And do I not loathe those who rise up against you.”

He’s saying my heart is like your heart. I love what you love. And I hate what you. I hate them with complete hatred. I count them my enemies.

Verse 23…

Search me, Oh God, search me.” He’s saying, you know my heart. You don’t just know me based on what I say and what I do. You search me. “Search me and know my heart.” It’s funny because this is David. And you remember when the Lord was looking for a new king, one translation says, “I found me a man,” which doesn’t sound like correct grammar. I found me a man who is after my heart. Right? He searched David’s heart when David was out in the wilderness, when he was out in the desert tending the sheep, the Lord searched his heart and he knew David. He says, “Try me and know my thoughts and see if there’d be any grievous ways in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Prayed…

Father, we thank you. We thank you that you are not far away. You’re not distant. We thank you that you are close to us right now. You are here in this chapel, you’re in the car with somebody who’s listening in the car. You’re at work with whoever’s listening to this at work. You’re at the cabin with whoever’s at the cabin. But not only are you in that room, you are alive on the inside of us. Help us to remain mindful of that.

Lord, help us to remain mindful of that Lord that you are closer than our next breath. You created us. You formed us. You knit us together before we were born. You went out in front of us in time and you prepared things for us. Good things for us to walk in and experience and live out. Why would we worry about tomorrow? You’ve already seen tomorrow. You’ve already been in tomorrow and you’ve already taken care of tomorrow for us.

I pray, Father, that the body of Christ at Living Word Christian Center, that we would take time throughout the day, even right now and we would acknowledge you. We would look to you before we start a task. We would just look to you, get still and listen for your voice. While we’re doing a task, we would take moments where we just acknowledge you, worship you, pray in the spirit.

I pray, Father, that all of our acts, all of the things that we do would be little acts of communion with you. I pray that our life would be one continual conversation with you. I pray that we would have unbroken fellowship with you. I pray that we wouldn’t put you in a box and come back to you when things are difficult.

Lord, I pray that we would have this awareness. That the believers who are hearing this, that they would have this awareness as they go through the day that you are close to them, that you love them. Lord, I thank you that you’ve sent your Holy Spirit to live on the inside of us. This is why Jesus told the disciples it’s better for you that I go and they couldn’t comprehend it. How could it be better to not have Jesus right next to us? It’s because He was about to put His Spirit on the inside of all of us. And now we have free access through our relationship with you because you’re our Lord and Savior. We have free access where we can come to you with boldness, with confidence, any time anywhere. And we can just talk to you. We can spend time with you. We can enjoy your presence everywhere that we go and everything that we do.

You gave us the comforter. We have the comforter living on the inside of us. We have the counselor living on the inside of us. We have the teacher living on the inside of us. Your strength is living on the inside of us. So help us to become more dependent on you. Help us to see that apart from you, we can do nothing. We know that we’re never apart from you, but, Lord, I pray that that truth and that reality would just settle in our hearts. We cannot live life without you. We need you. We have to have you in everything that we do.

I pray, Father, that we would become more and more dependent on you in everything that we do. We wouldn’t presume or assume that we can just do anything without you. We have to have you. So, Lord, we thank you for the wisdom that you have imparted to us and you’re continuing to impart to us. We thank you for the grace. That’s supernatural power and ability and strength that free favor that we have from you, that we have access to. Everything that we need is found in you and you are alive on the inside of us. There is a well, there is a reservoir. There is a supply. There is a supply on the inside of you. There is a supply of strength on the inside of you. There’s a supply of peace on the inside of you. There is a supply of wisdom on the inside of you. So just acknowledge Him. Look to Him, quiet yourself. Listen internally. Pray in the Spirit. Give praise to Him. Worship Him.

This is connected to everything…

This is connected to how we pray. This is connected to the wisdom that you need. This is connected to the strength that you need to endure and to continue. This is connected to dealing with anxiety and stress because He is the source for everything. So learning how to turn inward, learning how to quiet yourself, learning how to be led by Him, learning how to spend time with Him, learning how to dwell in His presence, incorporating Him in everything that you do.

It all flows from your relationship that you have with Him…

So can we take a moment today before Noah starts singing? Can we take a moment and just put your mind, your thoughts, your attention on the Lord this morning? Still yourself internally. The Bible says be still and know that I am God. Still yourself internally and just acknowledge Him. Think about Him, have an awareness that He’s alive on the inside of you. That He’s here with you right now.

Remember, He formed your inward parts. He knitted you together in your mother’s womb. He knows all of the days of your life, the thoughts that He has towards you outnumber the sand. And you’re here to help.

17th Century Monk…

I was reading a book about a monk from the 17th century. And people noticed that the presence of God was so tangible everywhere that he was. And so people would go into the kitchen and he’d be in the kitchen and they would experience the tangible presence of God in the kitchen where he was cooking food. And so they had conversations with him, and they wrote things down. And the whole theme of the book is just, he realized he was so dependent on God. His whole life’s purpose and mission was just to love God. It wasn’t to do any particular thing necessarily. As a monk, he had his jobs given to him. He didn’t necessarily have a lot of say in it and everything that he did, it would prosper. But he said he didn’t really care as much about what he did. He just cared about being able to spend time with God.

“Oh God of the pots and pans…”

So he would be in the kitchen cooking and they would hear him say things like, “Oh God of the pots and pans…” And it sounds almost sarcastic to us, but it was from his heart. “Oh God of the pots and pans.” And he would cut tomatoes, he would ask the Lord how he should cut the tomatoes and thank Him for the ability that He has to cut the tomatoes. He would cut the tomatoes and He would praise God for the tomatoes that they had and for helping him to cut the tomatoes. And of course, he wasn’t perfect, but his whole life it was just like him and the Lord. His thoughts were just always on the Lord. And he was just always including the Lord and always worshiping the Lord and just thanking the Lord and praising him and he just wanted to love God.

And the interesting thing was they gave him jobs he knew nothing about. He had a bunch of different jobs and there was jobs he didn’t particularly care for, jobs that he didn’t really want to do, but he didn’t really care about that. He just spent time with the Lord while he did it. And they said he had great success everywhere, everything that he did. Everything they asked him to do, he had great success and there was such an ease with it. His focus was just on loving God.

David’s heart was always on the Lord…

Like David. How did David get to king? It wasn’t cuz of his drive and his ambition and his work ethic and his ability to network and grind. And, you know, David outworked everybody here and so I think he’d be the best candidate. His focus in life was not to be king. His focus in life you see in the wilderness, he would just include God as he was watching his sheep. He would worship God as he watched his sheep. His mind would be on the Lord while he would do his tasks. He would worship God while he did his tasks.

The Lord searched the hearts and found David…

And so when it came time to get a new king, the Lord searched people’s hearts. I don’t know if there was an announcement made. I doubt the Lord said “Now I will be searching everybody’s hearts. So prepare your hearts.” I don’t think that happened. I think David was just out in the wilderness doing what he always did. And when the greatest natural opportunity of his life came up, his heart was positioned in this place. And the Lord knew “I can trust him” because he’s not power hungry. He’s not trying to move himself further ahead. He’s not selfish. He’s not self-centered. He’s not thinking about how he can improve his own life and what he can get out of it. And that’s not where his mind and his heart is. There’s just this humble person that loves Me and wants to honor Me and worships Me with things that he already doesn’t want to do probably. And he said, I found a man. I found somebody who’s after my heart. That was the qualification. He worships me. His heart is set on Me.

What you want is found in Him…

The reason I’m emphasizing these points is because what you want is found in Him. There’s no greater prize than a relationship with God. That’s what the apostle Paul said. He said, “When I count up everything that I’ve achieved, all of these things that are so impressive to you (in Philippians three), he actually says, “I count it as dung compared to the true riches of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord intimately.”

Only God can fill your heart…

If the greatest thing you could ever experience in life is a relationship with God, if the greatest thing you could ever achieve in life is knowing Him intimately, then why would you look to all of these other things to fill this void? Why would you go to all of these other places and try to achieve all of the… He’s not gonna love you more. It doesn’t give you more access to Him, what you achieve and what you accomplish in this earth. Those things aren’t gonna fulfill the hole that only God can fill in your heart.

And He’s already available to you…

The peace that you’re searching for… the love that you’re searching for… that feeling of fulfillment that you’re searching for, it’s found in Him. And He’s already available to you. Do you understand? You can have contentment right now in Jesus Christ and as you pursue Him, love Him. I’m not talking about going through the motions. It might start with you just doing it because you know it’s the right thing, but eventually there’s gonna be a flow with it. Eventually you’re gonna tap into something. Eventually there’s gonna be a grace and there’s gonna be anointing and the feelings will follow.

See Him as the goal…

But just realizing that what you want is already available to you in Him and if you will just make Him your goal… I know it’s basic, but if you’ll just make Him your goal, there’s nothing better than Him. And when you spend time in His presence and you begin to just all of your heart… Rather than seeing God as just somebody who can get you what you want, He will get you what you want and He’ll get you what you need, but rather than just viewing Him in that way, see Him as the prize. See Him as the goal. And you are gonna find when you’re in that place of relationship with Him like that, that you have that intimacy with Him like that, you’re gonna find people are tripping over themselves to give you things. You’re gonna find that you have a favor that you didn’t even ask for. You didn’t even think to ask.

David’s primary focus in life was the Lord…

I doubt David even thought king was a possibility someday. I doubt he realized that he will do exceedingly and super abundantly far over and above all that I could dare ask or think. He realized that He has a plan for me that’s so much bigger than anything my mind could comprehend. But you understand that wasn’t necessarily his goal at first. His goal at first was to just spend time in the presence of God. And then as he did that, the Lord spoke words over him. He gave him vision and he did take natural steps to accomplish things. But that was never his primary focus in life or his goal in life. And that’s the reason he was able to endure when Saul was trying to kill him, when people didn’t believe in him. It’s because he had this relationship with the Lord.

He learned to go to the Lord for everything early on. As a boy, he learned, I get my validation from God. I get my approval from God. I get my confidence from God. I get everything that I need from Him. And that’s what prepared him for what God had prepared for him.

In all of the smallest things, acknowledge God…

Everything that this monk did, he would just include the Lord. “Lord, thank you for these tomatoes. Thank you for my ability to cut these tomatoes. Thank you for the tomatoes that you’ve given me.” In all of the smallest things, he would just acknowledge God. And he had this relationship with him where he said, “I just don’t want a time in my life where I’m not experiencing His presence because it’s the most wonderful thing. I don’t want a time in my life where I feel like I’m apart from Him.

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