Pastor Heather…
Welcome, everyone here and online.
Group worshiped…
Holy Spirit, we invite your presence. We thank you that you’re already here. We just want to say, Jesus, we love you. Without you, we have no idea where we would be. So we come with worship in our hearts, and we ask you to have your way.
Pastor Heather prayed…
We know we won’t be happy with anything else but you, Father.
And so now we bind distractions, lethargy, apathy, laziness.
We bind strife, fear, anxiety, depression.
We bind darkness in any way, any plan of the enemy, we bind it in the name of Jesus.
So now we loose joy, hope, peace, power, anointing.
We loose your Spirit upon the earth.
Father, let it start with our families, communities, churches, workplaces, in the grocery store, at the movie theater.
We lay down our burden, our agenda, our striving, our pushing, our pulling, our fighting, our manipulating.
Father, here we are. Send us. Help to have divine appointments. Help us to be sensitive to your leading.
Help us to silence out all other voices so we can do what you want us to do.
Lord, I thank you you’re showing people things now… things to put down, things to pick up, things to start, things to stop, places to go, people to talk to.
Peace keeps flowing like a river…
I thank you, Father, for peace and it flows like a river. And what does that mean? It just keeps coming and coming and coming and it’s new and it’s fresh every minute. You need more peace? Here comes more peace. You need more peace? Here comes more peace. Just stay in that river. Stay in that river of peace. Don’t get out. Don’t try to do it on your own. Stay in that river of peace.
Father, we remind ourselves that when we feel like we’ve failed or we haven’t measured up, you say, “Get up, try again. I’m here with you.” You pick us up, you brush us off, you kiss our foreheads, you tell us to get out there and try again. Thank you, Father. You’re so good. You’re so patient.
He says, “Let me father you…”
I hear Him saying, “Let me father you. You’re not alone. Don’t run off ahead and try to do things on your own. But let me father you cause I’m a good Father. And I know how to love you in all the places that you need love. I know how to heal you in all the places you need healing. I know how to strengthen you in the places where you’re weak. So let me father you.
And so we do that today, Father. We say have your way. We yield our hearts and we become like children again, just full of wonder and adoration.
Pastor Heather shared testimony…
Maybe you’re out there today and your story is similar to mine where you didn’t have a father in your life. He’s a Father to the fatherless, and He’s so good. And you’re precious and dear to His heart. And He’s your father.
Or maybe you have a complicated relationship with your father. Maybe it’s not good. Maybe you had a really terrible relationship with your father. He wants to heal that and restore that in your heart.
I’ll just share an experience I had one time when Pastor Ray Kelly was still here. We were in morning prayer, and I just remember… I don’t even remember what we were praying about, but you know how people can be praying and God can just take you in your own little adventure. And He did. And He rewrote my memories and came in and said, “I’m your Father.” And I just remember Him… We flew kites together. We laid in a field and looked at the stars together. He put me up on His shoulders. And it was like I was a child again and removed the pain of my past.
He can do that for you too…
And He can do that for you too. If there’s hurts in your past, He’ll rewrite that for you. And as painful as some of the memories that I have in my past are, He’s restored them and made them beautiful. And it was neat because I just had this time where like He’s “my dad.” I was a little selfish. He’s my dad. And I just remember going to church that weekend, and I’d never had this revelation before. But I went to church that weekend and I looked around and everybody was worshiping, and I was like, “They’re worshiping my Dad.” And I feel like we should all feel like that. Like He’s my Dad. He’s my Daddy. And He provides for everything that I need.
And so I pray that He just gives you a revelation of that today, that He’s your dad. He’s your Father. And Abba means daddy. Jesus called Him daddy. It wasn’t formal. It was very personal and like a child. “Daddy’s going to take care of me.”
Some have triggers with that word…
And I know some people have triggers with that word, but just allow Him to restore that word for you. He’s your Daddy. And just like a child with a father that loves them can run into the arms of their daddy when they’re hurt, when they’re scared, when they don’t know what to do, we can do that with you, Father.
Wipe earthly faces off the face of God…
And so we purpose to just remove the face of our earthly fathers from you, Father. Sometimes we do that. And for a long time, I thought He was distant and didn’t want to be a part of my life because of my own experience. And it took me a long time to wipe earthly faces off of the face of God.
And so thank you, Father, that you do that. You do that for people listening.
Prayed…
If there are past hurts or ideas or faces or just even religion can do this sometimes, Father, that we put a face on you that doesn’t belong on you. We think of you in a certain way that isn’t who you are. When Jesus came, He said, “I do the things that I see My Father do. And if you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” And so, Jesus, you did such beautiful things.
And so we know, Father, that you are beautiful. You heal, you redeem, you have a heart for the outcast. You have a heart for the weakest of these. You have a heart for your children.
And so we thank you for your goodness. Thank you that you’re rewriting memories. You’re taking people to places with you that they can experience your love, they can see you for who you really are—a loving Father. We just wipe away the angry God or the judgmental God. And sometimes religion has put you into those places. But we know you are love… you literally are love.
Thank you for loving us even when we’re unlovable. Thank you for showing us how to love when we don’t know how to…
