Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Pastor Ken…
Well, good morning, once again.
Change in our streaming schedule…
I want to mention a couple of things. Number one, starting next Friday, July 21, we will no longer be re-streaming morning prayer in the evening at 5 p.m. central standard time. We will not be doing that for some different reasons. We’re going to change our streaming strategy a bit. But if you’re in a different part of the world or your schedule doesn’t allow you to be online and maybe you’re watching this at five today, we’re sorry we’re going to be changing that.
Coffee and bagel gathering after prayer…
Secondly, I’m excited to announce that in just two weeks from today, we’re going to have a prayer gathering kind of coffee and bagel or whatever after morning prayer. So we’ll be doing our normal morning prayer, Wednesday, July 26. In addition, we’re going to take communion together. And I invite those of you online to join with us as well. Grab some elements, prepare for that and then we’ll receive communion together as a morning prayer family.
And then afterwards we’re going to be going out into the atrium just to hang out and enjoy one another’s company and catch up. It’s an opportunity for those of you perhaps that watch online and don’t get a chance to come into the chapel. Some of you can’t because of distance, you’re in a different part of the country or world. But if you are physically capable, interested in coming in on the 26th, I invite you to come in on that day. I think it’ll be a really great time to not only pray, take communion, but also hang out and enjoy some time together right outside our chapel in the atrium.
God’s eternal purpose is a remarkable thing…
You know, it’s such a remarkable thing, an outstanding thing to think about God’s eternal purpose in getting His only begotten Son into the earth, to do what He did, to make a way for God Himself, to inhabit us, to dwell with us no less. I know it’s something we understand, maybe mentally ascent to, but it’s so important that we give place for that in our meditation and in our reflections. There was a great purpose for Him making a way and paying such a price that Jesus Himself through His Spirit by indwell His people, the very presence and essence of God Himself come to live and take up residence on the inside of us. Whew!
God is perpetually doing something new…
Not just so we can feel goosebumps and be excited about that. But because God is perpetually, as I said yesterday, doing something new. While the world is on repeat… it only knows to regurgitate and try to resuscitate and repeat and pervert things. That’s the world’s mode of operation. God’s MO is to perpetually do something new, to bring about heaven-ordained change, to progress things forward in His divine design. And how does He do that? He does that through me and through you.
The word that’s resonating in my heart this morning is the simple phrase “prayer moves the plan of God forward.” It moves the plan of God forward. Prayer brings about God’s purposes. It’s like the great man of God, John Wesley, once said, “It seems that God can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him.” Well, God has chosen to send His Spirit, to send His presence to indwell us in this earth realm, in this physical realm, that through and empowered by His Spirit, inspired and informed by His Spirit, we might bring about progress and change.
Looking back, I can see distinct moments…
And I don’t know about you, but I can look back on my life and see very marked and distinct moments where I was intentional, purposeful, habitual to pray out of my place with the Holy Spirit, to pray out of my heavenly prayer language. And then can see and correlate that to progress, doors opening, maybe not in the moment or the day or the week. Sometimes, yes. But clearly there would come about a precipitation of things in some cases and many cases, honestly, that I didn’t even know God wanted to do or wanted to say.
The Lord wants to perpetuate prolific-ness…
But I’m here to tell you that as we prayed yesterday and the Lord just brought it to my mind again, He wants to perpetuate prolific-ness. He wants heaven to reign on and in the earth and in hearts and lives like never before in this present generation. Prolific-ness meaning where there’s just an abundance, a cornucopia of God’s goodness that just spills out through the veil from heaven to earth of healings and signs and wonders and words of encouragement and songs, pieces of art, perhaps, that bring God glory, works of the written Word. Ideas, ministries, assignments… divine assignments that He sends us on. Some short term, some long term.
God is endeavoring to dispatch the church like no other time throughout the earth and throughout culture and throughout our communities and families and places that we dwell, that His prolific-ness might be seen. And that is made possible in one way in particular, that is of and by the Spirit through prayer. Prayer in the spirit.
Quote from Nancy Dufresne’s book on prayer…
There’s something I wanted to read to you that speaks to this a little bit this morning. Let me share this reflection with you. But in Nancy Dufresne’s book on prayer, she writes, “I didn’t know then what I know now. I didn’t know the great benefit of speaking in other tongues then, but I was unconsciously led by the Holy Spirit to separate myself daily to pray in other tongues.”
We’re to perpetually strive for the perpetuation of the Gospel…
This would be above and beyond, let’s say, morning prayer. Where we’re devoting ourselves, right? Whether we realize it or not, we’re called to a very radical counter-cultural revolution in the way we are to live. We’re not to live on repeat, which is the world’s MO. We’re to live perpetually striving for the perpetuation of the Gospel, for the proclamation of the Gospel, striving in the Spirit that is and in faith, amen. To allow Him to manifest and bring about through us heaven to earth.
There must be a collaboration in prayer…
And there’s just a lot of things that will remain in heaven and not come to earth in your life that are meant and assigned for you. Things He designed long ago to come to you and through you, to be prayed through you, to be proclaimed through you. There is a measure of God’s Spirit in us today, individually and as a collective called the church that others are calling out for that they need. But for us to get from where we are to where God’s calling us to be, there must be a collaboration in prayer first. Amen.
There must be a saturation of the Spirit and the Word…
There must be a saturation of the Spirit and the Word as it’s been prophesied, that in this hour, the former and the latter rains would come together, that there would be a church on the earth that would be saturated, yes, in the spirit, but as well with the Word. Pray-ers among all peoples, among all Christians should be saturated with the Word of God. There must be a steady and continual reading of the holy scriptures because the Word of God is able to give you a perpetual level up. It’s able to help you to change how you think and how you see and how you process and make decisions. Because whether you realize it or not, the will of God in many respects hinges on your perpetual renewal of your mind.
Romans 12:2…
Don’t be pressed into… don’t let the world put you on repeat, I like to say. Where you just repeat the past and repeat mistakes and repeat religious duties. But it says, “Be transformed within by the renewing, refreshing, and refilling of your mind that you might prove, or that you might manifest, or that what’s in heaven might come through you to earth.” How is that possible? One important way is by us being a people that renew our consciousness and our perspectives and our attitudes and our outlook and what we’re saying in accordance with God’s Word.
There are some things that will just stay in the spirit realm and they won’t come through. They won’t be realized or manifested. Practical things, spiritual things, relational things, financial things, ministry-related things, the rerouting and changing and transforming of lives if we stay in the same realm of thinking that we’ve always been.
We become the thin place in the veil between heaven and earth…
So there must be a coming together for pray-ers of the Word and the transformation of our consciousness and our mind and a saturation of His Spirit, so that more and more we become the thin place in the veil between heaven and earth, or the portal as I’ve used that word, where God is able to invade time and space, hearts and lives, circumstances and nations, governments and leaders, church services, prayer meetings, gatherings of families around the table time.
Time flies…
The Latin phrase is Tempus Fugate, “time flies.” But let me remind you that all time is quality time to God. All time is precious. Time is flying away. The Bible says we’re to redeem the time. Prayer redeems and recaptures and repurposes and aligns time with what God has intended and designed. Including time around a dinner table with family or a meal with a friend. As you talk and discuss, God is the most purposeful being in all the universe. And He is passionate to become more prolific than ever. He wants us to become that thin place in the boundary or border between heaven and earth, from spiritual to natural. He wants us to be the doorway, the passageway, the portal.
How’s that possible? Becoming a people more than ever that are saturated with the Word and passionate about prayer.
Being a people praying in the Spirit. As I’ve said before, praying in the spirit causes you to vibrate at the frequency of the Spirit. So like the great Phil Halverson, Phil and Fern, if you’ve read about them, they were instrumental in praying Living Word into existence many years ago. And then there’s a book that they wrote called “Adventures in the Holy Spirit.” And Phil had some pretty remarkable experiences. And you don’t have to believe me or his account, but I’m just telling you, God is wanting to do some of these things, these adventures in this hour.
Walking through walls while in the spirit…
One day Phil was out of town in a hotel room, praying, pacing the floor of his hotel room, praying in the Spirit, just getting lost, all caught up in God. So much so that he walked through a wall of the hotel he was in, into another room where there was a person crying out to God and hurting in certain ways. And he simply prayed for them and they were raised up and healed and delivered and set free. And walked back through his wall to His room and continued to pray and just walk and talk with God. I like to think that he began to vibrate with the frequency of the supernatural. So much so that natural things were irrelevant, and you just can pass through.
Walking off the edge of the roof while in the spirit…
He also one time was on a roof roofing, doing a very natural thing. He was putting a new roof on with some friends or family, I guess. And he just had such a burden for prayer. And he just began to yield and give his heart to the inclinations of the Holy Spirit, and he began to pray out of his heart and began to vibrate and connect with God so much so that he literally walked off of the edge of the roof, a certain number of feet in mid-air! And walked back onto the roof. And there were witnesses to attest to that.
God will suspend natural laws at times to do what He wants…
Ooh! Wouldn’t it be nice to get to a place where certain natural things would become irrelevant? I’m not saying we’re doing or seeking those things because we think it’s cool or we want people to notice us. No. I’m just telling you, God will suspend natural laws at times to do what He wants to do in this hour. He is able to reverse what the enemy has done time and time again to use, in fact, what the enemy has done. Right? As a platform and a springboard that He would get glory, that He would get fame.
So I don’t know, maybe this is out there and you’re like, “Whoa, I don’t know, Ken, this is a Wednesday morning. This is pretty out there.” Yeah, I don’t know. There’s something about me that God’s put in me that just wants… that He’s challenged me to help stretch people, challenge, and inspire and spark plug us to the realities of scripture and the gospel and the work of Jesus and the true call to a counter-cultural revolution in the way we live and move and have our being.
The last time I checked, my Bible still reads that we’ve been called to live and move and have our being in Him. How, of, and by His Spirit, that He wants to do things. Even proclaiming from the Old Covenant that it would not be by man’s might or power or past experience or best efforts, but that it would be what He wants to do in this time by His Spirit. And it doesn’t take long to realize that what He can do by His Spirit is far above and beyond what we can do in the natural.
The church is stepping into a time of signs and wonders…
I heard somebody recently… It bears witness with me that we have been in an emphasis in the body of Christ at least certain quarters of the body of Christ, where there’s been a great emphasis in the prophetic and there will continue to be. But that we’re stepping into a season now where there’ll be more of an emphasis on the work of evangelists and signs and wonders and miracles. Well, of course. That’s evident to me almost. Because that’s the season we’re stepping into.
There must be a supernaturalness about the church…
And as the news cycles continue to spiral out of control with unprecedented events and crazy, chaotic things transpiring more and more, there must be a supernaturalness about the church. More and more, we must be walking in a place where God can use us in ways. Sometimes you’re aware of it. Sometimes you’re unconscious of it. But use us in ways in the spirit and in the natural that are by His Spirit.
Pastor Lynne would tell us…
So as supernatural evil rises, the church must rise. Pastor Lynne said many years ago, you must have the Spirit of God equal to and greater than the challenge that you’re facing, the difficulty that you’re going through, the issues that we face in this world. We must rise to an experience and a level in our understanding, through the renewing of our minds and in the experience of God, equal to and greater than what we’re seeing around us in the world.”
Continue with Nancy…
But, Nancy, in this passage goes on to write that “after spending hours a day praying or speaking in other tongues for three weeks, the plan of God began to fall into place for my life.” Remember, my kind of hashtag phrase for today is, “prayer moves the plan of God forward.” It precipitates heaven in the earth and in our lives. She said, “I went to church one night and it was there that I met my husband. Within a short time, we were married and I was thrust into the early stages of the ministry that God had for me. I was back in the middle of God’s will for my life. All of that didn’t come about because I was called to the ministry. It didn’t come about just because God had planned that for me all along. That came about because I took time to speak in other tongues. Prayer helps move the plan of God forward. Many people don’t move forward in the plan of God for their lives because they don’t take time to pray in other tongues. So they can know what God’s plan is for them. What was a mystery to me about what the direction to go in my life became a revelation through the divine privilege of speaking in other tongues.”
Yeah, that’s a divine privilege. I said earlier that God did an amazing work just to get God in the earth to inhabit human agency. But I didn’t add to that, that when the Holy Spirit moved in, He brought gifts to men and women. He brought the gift of the Holy Spirit, the inundation, saturation, and baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking out in a heavenly language. It’s a privilege and a divine honor.
She said “Christians create difficulties for their lives when they don’t take time to speak in other tongues and gain clarity for what God in their spirits before moving in a particular direction.” Isn’t that good? “They marry the wrong people, get into bad business deals, make wrong career moves, allow wrong people around their children and create a host of problems for themselves, all because they don’t take time to know the mysteries of God for their lives through speaking in other tongues.”
First Corinthians 14:2…
Paul writes, “For one who speaks in an unknown tongue, speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning because in the Holy Spirit He utters secret truths and hidden things, not obvious to the understanding.” Another translation says he talks divine secrets. When a believer speaks in tongues, he touches into an area of the divine that he or she would never have accessed otherwise.” I don’t know about you, but that gets me curious. What’s in the divine for us today?
“Believers have a royal invitation to partake of the divine secrets and mysteries that belong to God. Where are these divine secrets and mysteries kept? They are contained in the mind of God and the Spirit of God knows the mind of God, and He helps us to access and partake of those great secrets and mysteries contained in the mind of God. For as we speak in other tongues, the utterances that the Spirit gives us assure us into these divine secrets. God is looking for those who will long to know the secrets and mysteries that are held in His mind. He longs to fellowship with His children on this level, which is His level, spirit to spirit.”
