Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Prayer leader Kay…
Good morning and welcome to morning prayer! My name is Kay.
Together we are better…
Yesterday during prayer, Cindy and I had the schedule worked out to where we had back-to-back prayer, and so we’ve kind of stayed with the same theme. And yesterday was about showing up and coming to fellowship and being with people. Because when you come and you’re with people, then you have the opportunity to bless them. And they have the opportunity to bless you. And God has designed us so that we work together best. Together, we are better.
We’re accepted in the beloved; not just fitting in…
And one thing that Gokey was saying is that we are accepted in the beloved. The opposite of being accepted is fitting in. You cannot rest in the beloved. You cannot rest in the Lord if you feel like…
That you have to fit in with Him
That you’ve got to perform
That you’ve got to do things
I want to read out of 2 Corinthians 4…
“For God said, ‘Let brilliant light shine out of darkness.’ For the one who has cascaded light into us, the brilliant dawning light of the glorious knowledge of God as we gaze into Jesus Christ. We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so the extraordinary overflow of this power will be seen as God’s, not ours.”
God filled simple earthen clay jars with His light…
So what you have here in the audience is a bunch of jars, a bunch of clay jars full of God’s light. Does it matter what the jar looks like? No. Actually, if someone came in with a truckload of boxes and put a bunch of boxes up here on the stage, and they were all sizes, shapes. Some had been rained on, some had been beaten up, some were bigger than others, some were teeny-tiny, and then they said, “In one of those boxes is a $10,000 gift card.” We’d have to get up there, right? And find the box. Find that card!
It doesn’t matter what we look like on the outside…
But what if somebody else came up after us and said, “Oh, wait, those boxes are dirty. Those boxes are old. Those boxes are misshapen. There’s no value in those boxes because of the way the box looks like.” We would say, “No, no, no. Don’t get rid of any of them. There’s a treasure in one of them.” And, when we look at each other, it doesn’t matter what we look like. There is a treasure inside of us that God placed.
I tried to read all those translations of this scripture, the treasure in clay jars. It has pleased God. It has pleased Him to hide the treasure in clay jars, in ordinary people. It has pleased Him. He loves it that His treasure is in all these different people.
Don’t judge by outward appearance…
And He says, “Don’t judge!” He says that so much. “Don’t judge on the outside. Don’t do that,” because He knows a secret. He knows that in each one of us and in each one of the people next to you is a treasure. And if you look on the outside like man does, you will miss the treasure.
Going on, Paul says…
“Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times, we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out. We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies. This body is perishing.” This body gets older, it’s perishing, but the treasure doesn’t change. It doesn’t change! The circumstances of your life don’t diminish the treasure that’s in you. It’s so wonderful. What a great plan. What a great plan God has, that the treasure is in us.
It’s in you.
It’s in the people next to you.
Personal testimony…
My granddaughter is in a Christian dance thing. She’s just a little bitty thing. And she’s dancing to the song of “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.” And it’s so beautiful. Her little heart just worships God. And as she actually came out from practice, she was crying. She’s only six. And I said, “Oh, did that touch your heart?” She goes, “What does that song mean, Nana?” She goes, “I just love that song.” And I was able to explain that His eye is on every person, and if He’s on just a little bird, His eye is on you and watching you.
His eye is on that person…
Well, as I was thinking about that this morning, every time I’ve sang that song, I have thought, “He’s watching me. How exciting. He is watching me.” But you know what? He’s also watching others. That song is not just about me. So when you come into fellowship, into church, it might be good to think “His eye is on that person,” “His eye is on that person,” “His eye is on that person and that person,” and not just come in with thinking, “His eye is on me.” I mean, we know that’s so good and to be delivered from all the insecurities the Devil has tried to put on us. But when you start picturing others as having a treasure you need, it’s the call of God in us to come in and through us and fulfill His plan through us.
I’m going to read something…
This came to me so strong. I heard this. “Human beings need recognition as much as they need food and water.” These are the people around you, neighbors, probably just people all around you. “No crueler punishment can be devised than not to see someone, to render them unimportant or invisible. The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them,” George Bernard Shaw wrote, “but to be indifferent to them.” That’s the essence of inhumanity. To do that is to say, “You don’t matter. You don’t exist.”
So I don’t know if George Bernard Shaw was a Christian or not, but it certainly coincides with the Bible. Because God said He has hidden treasures in each one of us. And if you need something from God, it may not be the person on the stage that has a treasure you need. God has designed this plan to work together.
Prayed…
Father, I just pray that you teach us to value what you value, to see things the way you see things.
When we come to church to see from your point of view.
You see diamonds and jewels in each one of these chairs.
You see the very things that we need in somebody else.
But sometimes we don’t open up and we don’t fellowship.
We don’t get close.
So, Father, help us. Help us be a church that values others as much as we value being seen by others.
Father, help us. Change our hearts.
The value that you have placed in ordinary clay jars.
Help the Church of Jesus Christ see this.
To see the value in others, see the value that God Himself has placed.
It pleased Him to place His treasures in others, into mere clay jars.
Question?
Can you see a church that does this? Can you see a church that lets the light of God shine down through all of us and to others. And that we see each other. And when we see each other, our faces reflect joy and excitement? Even the people that maybe in the past we have not valued.
Prayed…
Father, help us to see the value. A church that just lets your presence flow. The church that just lets your glory come and shine through us.
There are no lone rangers in the body of Christ…
The reason you come to fellowship is because there is value in you and there is value in others. That is a tandem. It is a working. You know those old-time saws, one on one end, one on the other? It is a give and a take. And a flow. And together we will cut down Satan’s plans in the kingdom of darkness. We will cut it down together, not working alone. No lone rangers, but working in a flow, in a flow.
Kay to Goke: Do you have something?
Worship leader Goke…
The song that is coming to me is…
God, I look to you.
I won’t be overwhelmed.
Give me vision to see things like you do.
God, I look to you.
You’re where my help comes from.
Give me wisdom; you know just what to do.
God, I look to you.
I won’t be overwhelmed.
Give me vision to see things like you do.
Prayer leader Cindy prayed…
He gives us vision.
Father, I thank you for lighting up our vision today, that we would see things like you do.
Lord, we want to experience life through your lens, through your feelings, thoughts, heartbeat.
Lord, we’re here to bear your image.
We’re here to shine bright.
Lord, take us up a notch.
Help us to see clearer those things that are so important to you, that you yourself are family.
Cindy shared…
I was reading in a book the other day about how Islam is different from Christianity because God is love. God is love because, Islam or Allah is just one. And how can one before we were ever created? That’s not love. Love is community. Love is family. And that’s what He created here on earth, a family.
Prayed…
Thank you, Father, that you give us eyes to see and know who our neighbor is.
Our neighbor is the one who’s nearby.
The one you planted on the side of our path.
Everything that you do is on purpose and nothing is without value or worth.
So, Father, give us eyes to see, a heart to know.
Lord, fill us, fill us.
The Father is knitting us together…
When I was sitting there, I saw the Father with knitting needles. And He is knitting us together. He’s doing the work. We give Him place in our hearts and minds to come up higher, to let Him do it. It says that one sows, one waters, but God gives the increase.
Prayed…
We thank you, Father, for the increase today.
Do what only you can do.
Just transform us and rearrange us and shape us more and more into your image of love.
That we would have love for one another.
That we wouldn’t consider all the things the world considers.
He’s deposited in us gifts with answers and solutions…
I’m thinking the Good Samaritan passing by people and failing to consider what God thinks about them and how He wants to change everything. And how He’s given us gifts and deposited in each one of us answers and solutions for everything. And it’s on time. And it’s within reach. And we just take the key and unlock it.
Prayed…
And I thank you, Father, for people who are behind prison doors. We have keys today. And they have keys. So it’s like reciprocal.
Every good thing, Lord, on our path has been preordained for your glory.
