Morning Prayer for Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Pastor Ken…
Welcome and good morning, everyone.
I’ve been reflecting about a number of things and I’m searching my spiritual radar, if you will, as to what I should say or what I should share. I think I have a real soberness about me this morning. About a number of things, but in particular, kind of going back to Monday… we read a part of a prophetic word by brother Kenneth Hagin from a number of years ago that stressed and emphasized to us to build prayer lives… to first and foremost build a life of prayer.
Kathryn Kuhlman—prayer is not a luxury but a life…
And I was just reminded too yesterday of the great Kathryn Kuhlman many years ago used to say that prayer is not a luxury, but a life. God wants all of you. Not just part of you. He’s an all or nothing God. He wants all of us now. As I’ve said before, gone are the days we should be playing church. I’m not just speaking to those of us here in the chapel, but everybody online as well. And I’m not saying this to step on anybody’s toes or make anybody feel bad or convicted or feel judged or anything. I think we should feel convicted at times. The Holy Spirit does come to convict us and to point out things and to lovingly and graciously lead us in the direction He would have us to go.
Sons of Issachar were tuned into God…
That just keeps resonating in my heart: build your prayer life. Focus on a life of prayer. Somebody once said it is the greatest gift and the greatest power that God has given us. Prayer. And I guess it’s resonating in my heart because of what I see on the world stage and what’s transpiring, but just what I’m sensing and perhaps you’re as well discerning in your spirit, in your heart. And I’m reminded of the narrative of the Old Testament where it talks about how the sons of Issachar were among their generation, in their time. Because they were discerning. They exercised skillful discernment in what God was saying. They recognized and tuned into and knew how to respond in their generation and in their time with what God was doing and what He was saying.
God is still speaking…
And if you’re not aware of it, God is still speaking. He has never stopped speaking. He is communicating. He is imparting. He is speaking to our generation, to us here today. And it’s up to us to be like the sons of Issachar and pick up on those cues and pick up on what He’s saying. And there’s something that somebody shared with me. It’s actually a prophetic word by Heidi Baker. We have a prayer and presence conference coming up here the end of April. So stay tuned for more information. We’ll be sharing more of that on our social channels, as well as in the chat. But we’ve got a conference a weekend including a Friday of meetings with Pastor Lynne, Heidi Baker, Leif Hedland and Pastor Joseph Harris. So stay tuned. You don’t want to miss that.
Heidi shared something not long ago at a meeting and it just resonated with me. And I’m not a doom and gloom sort of preacher by any means. I’m a grace communicator. I’m a grace minister. But we do need to be aware and we do need to be sober-minded and we do need to be circumspect. I think it says in the book of 1st Peter we’re to be circumspect, to be aware and awake and sober-minded; therefore for the practice of prayer. And again, that’s not just for a few select pray-ers. That is for us. Prayer is not a luxury. It is a life. And we’re to give ourselves, surrender ourselves to a life of prayer. Because that is what is to lead the way that is what goes before us to prepare a way and be our rear guard is a life built on prayer. We need to rediscover the template of prayer found and illustrated in the life of Jesus. It was a very real template, a very real cadence and rhythm to how He did life and ministry. It was really the secret to His successful fulfillment of what God had called Him to do.
Heidi Baker saw vision about America…
But Heidi shared this. And, again, it’s not meant to put any gloom on anybody, but it is eye opening. And we’ve been also talking a lot and praying a lot about a “shaking.” If you’ve been a part of morning prayer, we’ve been praying about a shaking. We’ve been praying about loosing. We’ve been praying about things that are to come. Preparing the way, preparing the Church, us waking up and being at our post. She said, “I was groaning and I realized I was groaning.” In other words, in prayer. “…for America. I started seeing a vision and in it, God was showing me His glory. But He was also showing me suffering like I’ve never seen. I said to the Lord, ‘The people in America don’t want to hear this. They don’t want to see it.’ But He said to me, ‘Are you going to tell them or not? Who are you? You said to me that you would go anywhere and say anything I instructed you to say.’ So Heidi replied, “Lord, I’m so sorry. I will go and share it since you have asked me to. I lay my life before you.” She said, “I was seeing severe shaking.” [I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been praying about the shaking over the past months here in prayer.] “But I also saw His glory. All I can say is that we had better fix our eyes on Jesus. This is not a time for playing games. There’s darkness increasingly covering the earth. Huge darkness. But the glory of the Lord will be our rear guard. Hold on meanwhile and stay in your lane.”
Testimony of German Jew going to his homeland to stand up against injustice…
We emphasized one morning, “stay at your post… be found in your place with God… on your assignment at your post. It’s the safest place to be.” And I use the example of a great minister. I can’t think of his name now who lived in America and had a comfortable job teaching at a university. But at the outbreak of World War II and the rise of Nazi-ism in Germany, he returned back to his home country because he felt like that was his post, to stand up against the injustice that was plaguing his homeland and his nation as a German Jew. And that was his post. And he went back to do what God had called him to do. And eventually he was executed by Hitler. But he was at his post and he gave his life for what God had assigned him to.
We’re called to change history…
I’m not saying God’s asking us to do that, but He is asking us to surrender to a life of prayer, to yield each and every day to what God is saying and where He’s leading us. Make no mistake about it. It is the place we’re to occupy. We’re called to change history. We’re called to reroute the destinies of people’s lives. The enemy certainly is out there and he’s doing some crazy and unprecedented things. But he hates the fact that we’re still in the earth. He hates the fact that he’s out and you’re in. He was cast out of heaven. You and I were invited into heaven through Jesus. He hates the fact that we are still physically here as the Church and connected with the Head of the Church, a.k.a. Jesus. And as long as we’re here, we are hinderers of lawlessness. As long as we are here, we have the ability to thwart and to stop and to break any strategy of the enemy before its time. There’s much work to be done.
Sister Jeannie shared…
We have to be willing to suffer. We have to be willing to confront. We have to be willing to be misunderstood. It’s part of it. If we’re going to gain territory, we’re going to suffer. But it’s to gain territory, to occupy. It’s to take dominion. And you will be misunderstood. You will be accused.
Keep going!
Pastor Ken, every day you should do something that makes you uncomfortable…
It just reminds me too that somebody once said that each and every day you should do something that’s uncomfortable to you. There never was a time for the church, for believers to be comfortable, to just settle, to hide out, to acquiesce to the status quo. Faith implies taking risks. Faith is a risk. It’s a Spirit prompted risk, a Word informed risk, but risk no less when you juxtapose it with your flesh and what your mind wants, which is comfort and safety and the “known.”
God has not called us to live a life of comfort. He’s called us to live by faith, for the just shall live by faith. And as pray-ers, that should be our clarion call… to live by faith … to be like Peter to step out of the boat.
Jeannie …
And comfort is in the Holy Spirit. So we already have the comforter with us. Why do we have that? So we can keep moving, keep taking dominion because comfort goes with us everywhere we are. That’s the whole point.
Pastor Ken, this is not about popularity…
And it applies to your life personally. Yes, we must pray and you should saturate your life and situations, circumstances, relationships with prayer. But then there comes a time that you got to move beyond your fear. You’ve got to face fear and step into it, lean into the threat of persecution, as Jeanie said, of people not liking you or disagreeing with you or being uncomfortable and you not being popular. This is not about popularity. Jesus didn’t do what He did for popularity. He did what He did out of a sincerity of heart, out of obedience, out of love for the work of His Father and for the love of His people.
And so I’m saying that to say personally today, we need to move beyond just even praying at times and becoming prayer activists. Praying and then acting, stepping out in faith, because that uncomfortableness that you step out into is an indication that you’re moving toward breakthrough, individually and collectively.
Peter stepped out of his comfort zone to walk on the water…
I’m sure it was really uncomfortable and freakish for Peter to initially step out over the boat when Jesus called him on the water. That’s impossible! It’s crazy to think! But he refused to be controlled and dictated by his five physical senses, by his mental state instead to be led by God and move beyond the fear, beyond the anxiety, move beyond what people thought. To answer God, not just to go to the altar one time to receive salvation, which is the initial offering that God extends to us. But each and every day we are called to… yes experience comfort on the inside of the Holy Ghost. But on our flesh, it’s going to be uncomfortable at times. But that’s the pathway to change, to progress, to breakthrough. And as Jeannie said, taking ground for God.
Jeannie, Jesus called people who were “already out there”…
So if you think about it, the disciples, the ones that Jesus called, I think it was pretty much all of them were in the marketplace, were already out there. So why did He do that? In His superior intelligence, only do what you see the Father doing kind of way He did everything and still does. Those were the people that were already out there. They knew what it was like to be out there. They had a propensity to be out there. That’s what He’s looking for in the Church in America now. We’re not just here to be “us four and no more.”
The whole, we’re going to be blessed and protected no matter what happens… That is not the point of this whole thing. We’re here to take dominion. Why? Because the kingdom of God is in us and the kingdom of God is here to impact your community, your school, the world, your state, your government. You’re not here for just this. You’re here to be equipped and to take ground. That is why you’re bored right now.
Do you know why you’re bored?
Do you know why your bored? Because you’re not taking risks. Because you’re not taking ground. And why are you bored? Because you’re not taking ground because God made you to take dominion. And so if you’re not confident, lean into Him, start doing things so you can learn to trust yourself.
This is what I’ve been doing lately. If I get into a place where I’m just not confident and I can’t even be confident in Him, I start doing teeny tiny things that I call non-negotiables. So I’ll say, okay, for 10 minutes every day, I’m going to pick up my house and there is no negotiating with it. Okay? And I am getting to something spiritual about this, cause this is spiritual. This is spiritual, I promise.
We were made to win…
But what I’m doing is I’m stacking confidence. I’m showing myself approved. I’m showing myself that I can trust what I say I’m going to do. And as I do it … and I will tell you, yesterday I think it was nine o’clock at night and I still hadn’t done it. And I’m like, wait a second. That’s a non-negotiable. Set the timer for 10 minutes. Guess what happened after that? Yes, I can believe God. It’s time for the Church to get practical too. It’s time for us to believe in big, but also realize that winning requires suffering, requires practice, requires discipline, requires action. And it’s also time for us to accept that we were made to win. We have the finished work in us. You’re made to win. And not just for you and not just for your “four and no more.” Before your community, your school, the world, the earth is crying out for us to cut out this false humility ridiculousness. Be who you are.
But I will tell you if you’re in it to win, you’re going to be misunderstood. You’re going to be accused. It’s part of the territory. And you know what? You’re going to be lonely sometimes. You’re already lonely! Because you’re not going out there taking ground.
Pastor Ken…
I wanted to say too, the Bible teaches us that God put into Jesus everything He’s called you to be and everything you need. And it’s through relationship and through exceeding great and precious promises that we draw from Him, what we need as far as sustenance, practically, spiritually, and otherwise.
But it does say that we will experience discomfort and we will suffer when it comes to our flesh, when it comes to persecution. But as far as healing, He’s provided that. As far as provision in the natural for whatever He’s called us to do, He’s made that available. He’s put that in store for us. And it’s a matter of learning how to live by faith, to run by faith, to draw upon the provision, the completeness, the fullness of God.
In fact, I jotted down here recently, “the Father put into Christ, everything He wants you to be. And everything that you will need. And when you abide in Him, you are clothed and carry His completeness, His fullness for you.”
*******
If you would like to listen to the rest of the session, click on the link below.
Morning Prayer YouTube Playlist
We’ve created a YouTube playlist for you, our pray-ers. You now have the opportunity to listen, watch, and prayer with us any time that fits your schedule. Each video is titled with the day and date of morning prayer.
