Pastor Susan…
I’m Pastor Susan. I want to welcome you to morning prayer. God is so good. Don’t you love Him this morning? Just where you are, lift your hands and just begin to worship Him this morning.
So this morning, the scripture came up strong in my heart. I’m going to read it. It’s Psalm 63. I’m reading it from the New Living Translation, NLT. It’s good sometimes to get our eyes on the Word, isn’t it? Not just to hear it, but to actually get our eyes on it and to saturate our spirit with the Word, to build the Word of God into our hearts and to saturate our spirits with a life-giving Word of God. So here’s what it says.
Psalms 63, NLT…
O God, you are my God;
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in your sanctuary
and gazed upon your power and glory.
3 Your unfailing love is better than life itself;
how I praise you!
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
lifting up my hands to you in prayer.
5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast.
I will praise you with songs of joy.
6 I lie awake thinking of you,
meditating on you through the night.
7 Because you are my helper,
I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
8 I cling to you;
your strong right hand holds me securely.
Matthew 5:6…
And then one other scripture that I want to read to you this morning; Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.” You know, the people that are hungry and thirsty are so blessed because we actually open ourselves to receive more and more. I don’t want just a little. I don’t want to just be satisfied with knowing a little bit of the Lord or just, you know, experiences with Him from times past. But I hunger and thirst for Him today to know Him today… to draw close to Him today, to draw my life from Him today. There’s a hunger and there is a thirsting that only He can satisfy.
Those who hunger and thirst for His righteousness shall be filled…
And I love that He says those who are hungry and who thirst for righteousness shall be filled. And I just think there’s a level of filling that so much more for those that are hungry and thirsty. I don’t want a little. I want a lot. I don’t want a little. I want to be saturated. I want to be saturated in the goodness of God, knowing Him, awareness of Him, His strength, His power, His glory, His love absolutely flooding my heart and my soul. Don’t you want that? Don’t you hunger for that?
Don’t be casual about your worship…
And so we’re going to spend just a little bit of time in a little bit of worship. And as you do, let’s not be casual. I think it’s so awesome that people come as a part of morning prayer to help us come into the presence of the Lord, to help us get out of the soulish realm, right? Move out of our feelings and our minds and move away from the natural stuff that’s going on and quiet ourselves. There’s a skill and an art to quieting yourself, quieting your mind, quieting your heart, and entering into that place of rest with the Lord.
Make an offering of your love to the Lord…
And so we’re going to worship Him and I really want you to do it. Don’t go on autopilot or daydream during this time or let Peg do your worship for you. You know that’s not possible, right? She can’t worship for us. We have to do that. And for some of you, you know, I don’t know where you are. Maybe it’s a sacrifice of worship. But you know what? The fact that you are tuning in and that you’re turning your heart to the Lord and that you’re offering Him your love and your praise and your worship in spite of the things that are going on, man, that means a lot to the Lord when we press in to worship Him. So I’m just going to start us off singing in the spirit a little bit, and then I’m going to let you go.
Group begins to worship…
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law…
I have a few scriptures in my heart. And then that’s going to be our launching pad, I think for praying today. But Galatians 3:13. And I think it’s something to be mindful of as pray-ers, because we always want to be praying from that place of victory, don’t we? Not underneath stuff, but reminded of who we are and the one that’s living in us and what He’s done for us.
It’s not just what we’ve been redeemed from, but it’s what we’ve been redeemed to…
It says in verse 13, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us.” That’s amazing! “For it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” But that’s not the end of the story. The thing that we have to remember about redemption… and we’re going to be praying for the body today… is it’s not just what we’ve been redeemed from, but it’s what we’ve been redeemed to. And if you forget what you’ve redeemed to, there’s sometimes no hope for the future. You know? So it’s goes on and says this, “that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles.” Redeemed from the curse to the blessing. Redeemed from sickness and disease to health. Redeemed from fear to peace. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.
Don’t forget what you’ve been redeemed from…
And there are many, I feel in the body of Christ, whose eyes are on all that’s going on. And when we get our eyes on the wrong things, we can forget what we’ve been redeemed to. And when we forget what we’ve been redeemed from and redeemed to, we cannot rise up and do what we’ve been called to do. So we’re just going to pray for the body. And pray about eyes… all eyes on Jesus. That’s the challenge in life, is keeping our eyes fully focused on Him.
Prayed…
So Father, we love you this morning and we worship you. We thank you for what the Bible says. You’ve redeemed us. Christ redeemed us through His very own blood. He became curse for us to redeem us to you… to the blessing… to the abundant life right now… to a life of victory right now… a life of purpose right now… not just heaven in the future, but a life of victory and triumph… a life of purpose right now.
So, Father, we pray into the plan and purpose for which you created us.
Prayer about America…
Father, we joined together this morning and we pray for our nation. We say our eyes are on you, off of how it looks, off of the direction it seems to be going… Father, because our hope is not in a government. Our hope is not in a man or a woman. Our hope and confidence and faith is in you. We’re believing you. We’re believing you for a harvest for an outpouring in this nation … We’re crying out for our nation today. And by that we mean the people of the United States of America
Prayer about harvest…
We are crying out for their salvation this morning… for our children, the young ones… Father, we are calling out, crying out for them this morning, Father. They deserve to know you and come into relationship with you. And so, Father, we’re asking you to do something that only you can do. There needs to be an awakening. There needs to be an awakening and a revival, an awakening of the church, a reviving, a reviving of the Word of God and the move of the Spirit in this nation and the nations of the world
Prayer about families…
We’re lifting up our families… we’re lifting up our church families this morning.
Prayer about corporate assignments…
Father, we’re praying right now about assignments. There are assignments that you have for congregations, for companies of people to accomplish. And so, Father, we’re lifting that up… assignments, assignments not just individual. We really can’t do much on our own, but, Father, it’s when we come together corporately. And so, Father, we lift up those corporate assignments that they would be fulfilled. We pray right now for the coming together of your body that we would not be fractured. We would not be splintered. We would not be separated like little Lone Rangers out on our own. Father, we thank you for corporate… for the drawing together of the body of Christ for local churches… we’re praying for the strengthening of local churches and those assignments that you’ve called them to … Father, to be a light in their communities, to bring Jesus to their communities, to reach nations through their church, to win the loss to Christ, to evangelize, to make disciples
Prayer about Living Word’s assignment to missions…
Father, we lift up those corporate assignments this morning… we lift up the assignment… we lift up the missions for which you have called Living Word into existence… we apply the blood of Jesus over Living Word, over the plans and purposes for God that you have called us together corporately …
Prayer about calling believers back…
Father, I pray for all those who are called to be a part of this company of believers… those that maybe were here, that aren’t here, we pray for them and we call them back to their places. Those that are here, those that are coming, those that don’t even know about this place yet. Maybe they’re not even born again, but Father we’re praying… And we cover them with the blood of Jesus and we declare no weapon formed against them will prosper in the name of Jesus
Resisting Satan…
Satan, we bind you in your assignments… you desist in your maneuvers and in your operations.
Prayer about more and fullness…
Father, we’re so grateful for the great things that have already taken place and that you have done but, Father, we know there’s more… we know there’s more. And so, Father, we pray into the more… to the fullness of it… Father, that we would come into the fullness… the sending, the sending, the equipping and the sending… Father, all of the players, all of those that are a part… every part … we’re lifting up all the parts and every supply that is needed. Every part that is needed… every person that’s a part of the plan. Father, we’re lifting up and praying for the equipping of the saints … for the spiritual growth of the saints… for the work of the ministry…
Father, the work, the work, the work… the work that you’ve called us to do. We lift up that work. We’re praying, Father, like throwing gas on a fire, we’re praying that by the Holy Ghost you would fuel the fire… the sending fuel, the equipping fuel…
Prayer about enlightenment to His plans…
Father, enlighten, enlighten, enlighten our hearts… enlighten our hearts to the plan… we lift up the plan and just like Paul prayed… we’re asking for the spirit of wisdom to enlighten and flood hearts with light. Oh, Father, show us… unless you show us, we won’t see… unless you cause us to know, we won’t know.
Prayer for harvest…
For the harvest, Father, we lift up all the fields of people that are around the world. So many different fields. Father, I know that you provide everything that we need. There are laborers that are called to every kind of field.
And so, Father, we are lifting up the fields this morning… we’re praying on all different kinds of fields… those that are in a government and in politics… the medical realm… the science realm… technology realm
Prayer about those who live in the dark places…
Father, we lift up those that are in dark places… those that are in terrorist organizations… those that are involved in drug rings and trafficking… those involved in all types of things… those are fields of harvest, Father… those that are celebrities… those that are in the realm of sports. We’re praying for their salvation today because you love them.
Prayer for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers…
Jesus said, the fields are white with harvest. Pray that the Lord of the harvest would thrust forward the laborers. And so, Father, we’re lifting that up… the laborers are the body of Christ. It’s Christians, Father… we’re paying for the laborers that they would arise, that they would recognize their call.
Father, we’re praying now all the Christians everywhere that there would be a coming back… those that have been scattered… those that have turned loose of foundational truths… those that have gone to the wayside… we’re praying for them today. We’re praying for them to come back, come back to your roots.
Prayer about the five-fold ministry offices…
We lift up those in five-fold ministry offices, leaders of churches and ministries Father. We pray for the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, and the teacher today. Their primary responsibility is to teach the Word, not opinions… not what’s popular in the world, but preach the word.
