Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
Happy Monday, everyone. My name is Ken, if you don’t already know; let’s get started today.
E.M. Bounds—the professor of prayer…
I thought I would share a couple of things with you. One comes from a man by the name of E.M. Bounds, who many years ago wrote many things on prayer. I have called him the “professor of prayer.” And he speaks in this one place about how prayer marks spiritual leadership. And I believe this can apply to all of us.
E.M. Bounds quotes JohnWesley on prayer…
But he quotes initially John Wesley from the 19th century, who once said, “Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw,” or I care very little, “whether or not they be clergy or laymen. Such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. God does nothing but an answer to prayer.”
He goes on to write…
“The apostles knew the necessity and worth of prayer to their ministry.”
You could insert your life, my life, your calling, my calling.
“They knew that their high commission as apostles instead of relieving them from the necessity of prayer, committed them to it.”
In other words, your decision to follow Jesus commits you to be a pray-er.
“…committed them to it by more urgent need for the reason they were increasingly jealous else some other important work would exhaust their time and prevent them their praying as they ought.”
In other words, they were very cautious about letting anything lesser steal or consume their time and keep them from prayer.
He goes on to say…
“Thus, they appointed laymen to look after the delicate and engrossing duties of ministering to the poor, and they, the apostles, might unhindered ‘give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.’ Prayer is put first and their relation to prayer is put most strongly: ‘Give themselves to it, making a business of it, surrendering themselves to praying, putting fervor, urgency, perseverance, and time to it.’ How holy apostolic men and women devoted themselves to this divine work of prayer. Night and day praying exceedingly, says Paul, ‘We give ourselves continually to prayer.’ In the consensus of the apostolic development, how these New Testament preachers laid themselves out in prayer for God’s people, how they put God in full force into their churches.”
In other words, you’re deploying God in your church, in your city, in your nation, in your family, in your marriage, in your finances when you pray.
“How they put God in full force in their churches by their praying. These holy apostles did not vainly fancy that they had met their high and solemn duties by delivering faithfully God’s Word, but their preaching was made to stick and tell by the ardor and insistence of their praying. Apostolic praying was as taxing, toilsome, and imperative as apostolic preaching. They prayed mightily day and night to bring their people to the highest regions of faith and holiness.
“Paul, in the writings to the early church, conveyed the idea that he travailed in prayer for the saints, that Christ would be formed in them.”
In other words, that they would make real spiritual progress, that they would grow up to the stature or the template of Jesus. But prayer was required. Prayer was needed for there to be advancement, not just in the preaching of the Gospel through the known world at that time, but prayer was required. Prayer was instrumental in the saints and new converts to Jesus to growing up, to advancing, to fulfilling their call, to realizing their purpose, to being true apostles and disciples.
“They prayed mightier still to hold them to the spiritual altitude. The preacher who has never learned in the school of Christ the high and divine art of intercession for His people will never learn the art of preaching, though homiletics be poured into him by the ton and though he be the most gifted genius in sermon-making and sermon delivery. Prayers of apostolic, saintly leaders do much in the making of saints, of those who are not apostles…”
In other words, followers of Jesus.
“If the church had been as particular and fervent in praying for their people as the apostles were, the sad, dark times of worldliness and apostasy would not have marred the history and eclipsed the glory and arrested the advance of the church…”
Which it did for many years, including in the dark ages, which is what he’s probably referring to.
“Apostolic praying makes apostolic saints and keeps apostolic times of purity and power in the church.”
Quote of John Wesley…
Remember, he quoted John Wesley, who famously stated this: “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.”
I hope that inspires you this Monday morning to give yourself to prayer, as it was said of the early church. Amen? Just leverage your imagination and think about the good and the God-ordained things that will come into reality because you give yourself to prayer. It’s not a work, but it is a partnership with the Holy Spirit.
Have faith in the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit…
I think it was Brother Hagin who said many years ago, that we must have faith in the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the greater one on the inside of us. So trust that He’s prompting you today. Trust that He’s granting prayer to us as we yield over to the Spirit of God for His assignment collectively today.
But as you go throughout your day individually, have intentional faith in the indwelling presence of the divine coach, of the divine mentor, psychologist, strategist, comforter, strengthener, standby, helper. That He’s going to show you the way today, that He’s gone before you to prepare a way where you don’t maybe see a way right now, that answers are on their way. They’ve already been delivered. They’ve already been sent to your attention upon your request, upon your prayers of intercession, where you don’t even know exactly what you’re praying about because you’re praying in the Spirit, and your prayers of faith where you’ve articulated in your known language.
Don’t be surprised…
It shouldn’t be a surprise later today, when something shows up in the mail that is a total breakthrough for you. It shouldn’t be a surprise when you have a loved one or a family member give you a call and want to do coffee with you or stop over, because God is working in their hearts because of your prayers.
The only requirement for you is to stay in partnership with God…
There are no holds barred. There’s nothing blocking nor stopping, not even condemnation, according to my Bible, to hinder or to thwart or to stop up or block up the plan of God for your life, for this church or your church, for this nation or your nation. All that is required is for us to enter into partnership, for us to stay in relationship with the Father.
We are redeemed “to” something…
Salvation wasn’t just to redeem us from something, as somebody once said. It’s to redeem us to something. And that isn’t just salvation in heaven, for as great as that is, but it also is to a mission and a call and an assignment on our lives. To walk hand in hand with the Savior, to walk stride with stride in Him. So that heaven could be established in the earth realm.
Now listen to this. This was brought to my attention by the Spirit of God, but 1 Corinthians 14, I’m going to read it from the Amplified Classic rendering.
1st Corinthians 14 says…
“He who speaks in a strange tongue edifies,” you could say builds oneself up, “and improves,” the Amplified Classic says, “improves himself. But he who prophesies, interpreting the divine will and purpose and teaching with inspiration, edifies and improves the church and promotes the growth in Christian wisdom, piety, holiness, and happiness.”
Rick Renner wisdom on the word edify…
So, we’ve often taught and it’s accurate to say when you pray in an unknown tongue, you edify or you build yourself up, you charge yourself up. But I thought this was interesting. Rick Renner recently pointed this out: “When you pray in an unknown tongue, you edify yourself. That word edify actually has one other meaning or shade of understanding we should grasp from the original Greek language. It means to expand or increase capacity. Edify can be used as an architectural term, at least in ancient times. If you had a house but didn’t have enough room for everything in your home, you would need to knock down the walls. You would need to move out the foundations to make room, to make it bigger, to increase the building’s ability to accommodate more. Well, when you pray in tongues, you are pushing your borders out and increasing your spiritual capacity so that you can receive more, and more, and more. Now listen to this. I was just looking up some other verses last night.
Isaiah 54:2 says this…
“Enlarge the place of your tent and let the curtains of your habitation be stretched out. Spare not. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.” Why? Because increase is on the way! Don’t get it mixed up. Increase is on the way. Promotion is being sent to you. The question is, will you trust in the indwelling presence of the Lord? Will you trust in this word to you today?
Increase in your assignment to pray
Increase in your utterance to articulate in the Spirit
Increase in where He wants you to go perhaps
Increase in your finances so that you can do more of what He’s called you to do and be what He’s called you to be.
“So lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes, for you will spread abroad to the right hand and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and make desolate cities to be inhabited.”
I understand that this latter part is prophetic of Israel, but it also is prophetic of us, spiritual Israel in a sense, the engrafted part of God’s family. That’s us, the Gentiles.
In Psalm 115:13 it says…
“He,” that’s the Lord, “will bless those who reverently and worshipfully fear the Lord, both small and great. May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your children.”
Oh, come on now. I sense the Spirit of the Lord God saying, “Speak increase over your situation. Shift what’s going on in the atmosphere that surrounds you, that there might be expansion, that there might be preparation.” That’s what the Lord is doing now. He’s preparing and enlarging us spiritually for what He wants to deliver or what’s been sent and is on its way right now for us.
Maybe it’s financial.
Maybe it’s in your assignment.
Maybe it’s in a multitude of ways.
God wants to expand you…
But make no mistake about it, God wants to expand you. According to what we read there in 1st Corinthians. When you pray in the Spirit, you are expanding, you are enlarging, you are making room for the “moreness” of God, amen. For more power to flow through you. For more anointing to rest on you and to ignite through your ministry and your day-to-day life.
And here’s a word for somebody today…
This just has been resonating, even when I was up for a late night walk last night. Somebody once said, “Don’t just pray until you sense that God has heard you. Rather, pray until you have heard God.” That’s what we need to hear, and I believe He’s saying…
It’s time to strengthen your heart.
It’s time to establish yourself in the Lord.
It’s time to move out the boundaries, to be enlarged on the inside that we might be able to receive more.
We need more of His “moreness”
Because it is possible for God to send His “moreness,” to send His glory, to ignite the fires of revival, and us miss it, and us not even be aware of it. So it’s time to let our hearts be prepared.
