Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
Hello and happy Friday, everyone. Welcome to the Living Word chapel for Morning Prayer. Good to have you with us. My name is Ken Olson, if you didn’t already know, and I’m happy to be with you on this Friday.
I wanted to share a few things to cause you, I hope, to reflect and maybe just be a little something to put into your spiritual tank, if you will.
From article, “The Connection Between Spiritual Practices Like Prayer and a Healthy Brain.”
First, I wanted to read this. I don’t know if I’ve ever shared this, but it’s a short synopsis of some research that’s been done on prayer. And from time to time, I share on this type of thing. Because I love that science and research corroborates the power and the real-life effect of prayer and our spiritual lives. And I think this is pretty interesting. So listen along. It’s entitled “The Connection Between Spiritual Practices Like Prayer and a Healthy Brain.”
Jesus admonished us to not allow our hearts to be troubled…
It just seems like on social media and in the news, there’s much talk about the need for peace for a lot of people, the need for mental health, good health, the need for answers to depression and discouragement and fears. And how many of you know that Jesus knew what He was talking about when He admonished, when He commanded really, us as the church, as His people, to not let our hearts be troubled, neither allow ourselves to be afraid?
Jesus went before us to prepare the way…
He knew what the enemy was up to. He knew what this world was capable of. But He still said, “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Because I’ve gone before you. I’ve made a way where you don’t see a way.” And guess what? The enemy can throw his best shot and his best attempt to derail you or me or the church. But my Bible still records that it’s going to work out just fine. In fact, really well. As I’ve said before, God has rigged things in our favor. Things are going to work out really well in Jesus’ name. Don’t be discouraged by the setback. Don’t be distracted by what happened last year. Today is the day the Lord hath made. Things are looking up. Things are moving in the direction of God’s intention. All that is needed is for us to simply agree and acknowledge His presence and acknowledge…
His hand at work in our lives.
His hand at work in our nation.
His hand at work in our church and our cities and our families.
We don’t have to fear…
And so, Jesus knew what He was talking about when He said, “Don’t let your heart be troubled.” We don’t have to be troubled. We don’t have to fear. No matter what comes even today or later this year in the world or in your life or my life, guess what? God still has a plan. And it’s going to work out really well for us, despite the setback.
So this article goes on to say…
“There is now much research in science explaining the connection between spirituality and depression. In MRI studies of the brain, we see a thick cortex across the regions of the awakened brain in people who day-in and day-out sustain their spiritual lives through meditation and/or prayer. People who engage in spiritual practices such as prayer have a thicker, stronger brain across the regions of the awakened brain. People who make spiritual practices such as prayer a part of their daily lives have a much healthier brain.
“And, in fact, the regions that become thick and strong through sustained spiritual life are the very same regions that are not thick and strong, but thin in people with recurrent major depression. So that means we all have a brain that’s very sensitive to how we live. And if we live a spiritual life, it gets thick and strong and we see deeper dimensions.
“But if we ignore this opportunity to pray, the brain itself is weaker, thinner, and less likely to perceive huge opportunities, not just naturally but opportunity to live in alignment with your spiritual path.”
Prayer tunes up your brain…
So, in other words, prayer helps us not only pray for what’s going on in Israel, not only engages this in God’s great and grand plan for America and for the church globally, but your time here today is causing your brain to be tuned up and become more discerning so that you can recognize the open doors God already has in store for you today, this week, or this year.
I’m convinced that oftentimes it’s not that God hasn’t already moved, He has moved. He has a plan. It is that we don’t recognize or we’re not cognizant or discerning on a day-in and day-out basis to see the opportunity He’s leading us to step into, to pray, to be generous, to invest, to give ourselves to prayer, to take a step in a particular direction that leads to God’s higher intention for us.
God is ahead of things…
Oh my goodness, we don’t realize just how good God is and how out ahead of things He is. He is the Spirit of the future. In other words, He’s already been to the future and come back and He wants to tell us about it. And it’s prayer that enables us to hear what the Spirit is saying and where He wants us to go next.
God will lead you even when you’re not aware He’s leading you…
Sometimes you’re very conscious of His leading and you hear that inward still small voice. Other times just because you’re walking with God on a daily basis and you’re giving yourself to prayer in the spirit and otherwise, God will orchestrate your steps and your actions and your decisions even unconsciously without you even knowing in your conscious mind in other words. But it’s still all the same. It’s benefiting us. It’s profiting us. God is guiding us.
Glory to God! We need to give Him more credit. We need to give God so much more credit.
Personal testimony: “Lord, I see what you did there”
I was on vacation this last week with my kids. We were on a spring break road trip, and there were a number of occasions where I think I even said out loud on more than one occasion, “Lord, I see what you did there.” Because there was a timing to things and blessings showed up, and doors opened up and it was just like, “that has to be God!” Small things. Big things. He’s just good that way. He’s dripping with goodness and He wants you to walk in the drippings of His goodness. Whether it’s a parking spot at the mall, or something that shows up at the right time, in the right place, in the right way. Acknowledge that. That’s God’s goodness. That’s God showing you that He’s ahead of you saying, “Come on, Church. Come on, son and daughter, follow Me. I’m good. I’m trustworthy. You can know that I have your best interests in mind collectively and individually. I will not let you down. I will take you by the way that I have prepared for you.”
He’s speaking to somebody this morning!
You can shake off the fear…
You can shake off the discouragement, the unmet expectation. You can shake off the fear. You can refuse to doubt and, instead, believe that you serve and you’re in relationship with a good, good Father, who is the Father of all spirits and loves to dote on His children, loves to go before us and make a way where we don’t see a way, whether it’s sickness, guess what? God has a way and His name is Jesus.
He is the way.
He is the truth.
He is the life.
And He has made a way for you to come out of a cancer diagnosis. And do all of the will of God and live up the full length of your days. That’s what my Bible says. I will live and not die and do all of the will of God. Glory to God.
We ought to be our own best encouragers…
You might be hearing me encourage you this morning, but this is how each of us ought to live and be preaching to ourselves. We ought to be our own best encouragers. There should be a spirit of faith on the inside of us. And that comes by giving ourselves to the Word, being filled and nourished up on the words of life. But also giving ourselves to prayer and letting the atmosphere of our homes and our lives be saturated with worship and faith-filled proclamations and decrees.
Of what, Ken?
Of the goodness of God.
Of the Word of God.
Of what He has said ought to be so and shall be so if you’ll agree with it.
That’s simply what faith is…
Faith is believing what God has said and saying the same thing. Faith is setting your focus on His Word and on who He is and how He’s revealed Himself to be through His Word and in your life and just agreeing with it and thanking Him for being who He is.
So this article goes on to say…
“People who make spiritual practices such as prayer part of their daily lives have a much healthier brain. In fact, the regions that become strong and thick through sustained spiritual life are the same regions that are not thick and strong in people with recurrent major depression. So that means our brain is very sensitive to how we live. And if we live a spiritual life, it gets thick and strong and we see deeper dimensions. But if we ignore this opportunity to pray, the brain itself is weaker, thinner, and less likely to perceive huge opportunities, not just naturally, but opportunity to live in alignment with our spiritual path.”
Make a choice today…
So just make a choice today to just get all of that junk, all that blocks up and stops up, discourages, depresses, distracts… Just get it out of the way. Remember, repentance is a major form of spiritual warfare. Call it out where you have given way to the enemy. Call it out. Just expose it to the Lord and let Him douse it in the blood of Jesus.
Grace is a free thing. Receive His mercy. Receive His grace. If you sin more, take advantage of His grace all the more; repent all the more. And keep moving forward because the path before you is marked out for success. The path before you is marked out by the favor of God. You are to be favored in this lifetime.
So don’t work against Him…
Don’t give into the enemy’s ploys and strategies. Give in to the fact that you’ve been marked for favor. Give in and acknowledge the fact that you’re a king and a royal priesthood. That this is the day the Lord hath made. You get to rejoice. You don’t have to. You get to rejoice and be glad in it. Because things are shifting in the direction that you have prayed. Things are moving in your direction. You are experiencing progress. Change is on the horizon. God-ordained change in the direction of His purpose for you and for me and for the church is unfolding presently.
That’s prophetic right there.
Finally, this article writes up the last paragraph states…
“It’s a fact, hundreds of peer-reviewed studies show a strong spiritual life is more protective from spiritual diseases of despair than anything else to have been examined in the clinical or social sciences. A strong spiritual life that includes prayer is more protective against addiction, depression, suicidality than anything else we have examined to date in the scientific realm.”
Hallelujah!
I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again. I can’t cite the reference right at this moment. A number of years ago, I remember reading how there was a number of … I think it was in two or three similar research studies in a couple of Ivy League schools on the east coast that showed that when people pray consistently in other tongues, that flips a switch in your brain. And a part of your brain that they can locate, it flips a switch, then turns something on in that part of your brain that they don’t exactly know what it does. They don’t even know what that part of your brain does. But when a person prays in the spirit, for some reason, it activates that part of the brain. And what happens in that part of the brain is very positive and beneficial to us and seems to cause our emotional state to be improved, edified, and invested in so that we’re stronger, healthier, have a better outlook are more positive.
And so science is catching on to the benefits of the Holy Spirit and prayer.
