Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
Good morning. My name is Ken Olson and I’m one of the pastors here at Living Word. Happy Monday to everyone. Good to see your smiling faces.
The importance of perspective and expectancy…
I was just thinking about the importance of perspective and expectancy. Yesterday, I was talking with someone and he was sharing with me his frustrations in life and current situation. And he said, “Nothing seems to be working out for me. I feel like everything is against me. Everyone is against me.”
And it was interesting because earlier in the weekend, I had another conversation with someone about this very topic. I was encouraging both of them about the power of expectancy, the power of perspective. I read the verse from Psalm 37 to start with because it also highlights what Heidi shared this weekend. One of the themes of what she shared was the importance of feeding on God’s perspective, living from a place where we are perpetually drenched in the presence of God. And as I was thinking last night and just kind of reflecting and doing some praying, it just hit me so clearly. The Bible talks about the secret place. And what rose up in my spirit as I was reflecting and thinking about prayer this morning is that it is so critical in these days to live in the secret place of God’s perspective.
Living in the Secret Place…
Yes, the secret place, but when you get in that place where God is and where you converse with Him and you wait upon Him… Remember after all, the meaning of our lives, of life itself, is firstly to know Him, to engage in a meaningful, personal, intimate, ongoing relationship with our Heavenly Father. That’s where we discover the answers. That’s where we find perspective. That’s where our expectancy about our future, about our present, about our situations, shifts and changes.
Quote by A.W. Tozer…
And it reminds me too of a quote I’ve used many times over the years. It’s by A.W. Tozer. He once said, “A low view of God is the cause of a hundred lesser evils. A high view of God [or a high perspective or an accurate perspective of yourself of the enemy of your soul and of God] is the solution to 10,000 temporal problems.”
Isn’t that good?
Our best days are ahead of us…
So, it’s important now when we hear about, when we see reported on social media, on the news the world literally convulsing from the fact that we’re entering into the end of days that perhaps the final period of the end of days with the increase of great earthquakes, nations saber-rattling against one another. Even in just recent days, nations we thought we were friends with, right? Suddenly there’s all kinds of threatening things. And there’s a real temptation to have a low view of things and forget the perspective that God and His Word shares with us. And that perspective is that our best days are ahead of us for the church and that is that God is still faithful and still good. And still at work and is following through so that what He’s put in your heart will become reality. What He has prompted you to pray about comes to fullness and into reality in your life, in our nation, and around the world through the body of Christ.
Choose a higher perspective…
I was thinking about perspective and another reason it’s in my heart maybe is because earlier this weekend my daughter had yet another… I know I share a lot of volleyball analogies and stories, but it’s just a prominent part of my life at the moment, outside of work and my walk with God, et cetera. And earlier this weekend, my daughter had a third tournament last month. And it was here in the Twin Cities in Minneapolis. And she was sharing how she was a little, kind of, I don’t know… she would say “meh.” A little not at her best in her heart. And so I think she was struggling a little bit with her play, and so I just encouraged her. I said, “Hey, Katie, I just want to encourage you to just choose a higher perspective. Choose to expect that every time you touch the ball, good things are going to happen. Say that and expect that. Use your imagination.”
Your mind is the place to preview life’s coming attractions…
I encourage her a lot along these lines, because I know that your imagination is the place that you and I go to preview life’s coming attractions. Your mind can work for you or can work against you. This is what Pastor Lynne would call bottom-line Christianity. One of the most important habits for us to embrace, not just on a given day, but every day throughout our lives, is the habit of renewing our minds, being not pressed into this world’s mold or this world’s perspective or outlook, which is pretty negative and pretty hopeless and pretty bent in the wrong direction.
Romans 12:2—be transformed in your mind…
But instead not to be pressed into this world’s mold as the Bible says in Romans 12:2, but instead to be transformed or changed from within on a daily basis, having our soul addressed by the Word of God, by the sword of the Spirit. Amen? Refreshed and refilled so that we may prove what is the good and acceptable and even the perfect will of God for our lives. Romans 12:2 reminds us that what you do with your mind has so much to do with what you will experience in your life.
And so, as a pray-er, we can’t get so spiritual that we forget about this most fundamental practice, the practice of renewing our mind. The Bible says adopting a fresh attitude of mind every day so that our outlook is shaped and saturated by God’s presence, by God’s Word.
Imagine good things happening…
So I share with my daughter, “Use your mind to imagine good things happening every time you touch the ball. Imagine yourself playing the way you want to play, digging those balls you want to dig and serving as you want to serve.” And truth be told, the first set of her first game, she had four ace’s; two of them right in a row. And they’re playing against top level teams. She’s on a one’s team, so they’re playing against top teams from across the country. She had four aces’ and honestly, she had a hot serving hand, especially all weekend long.
And so imagine what could happen this week if you begin to use your mind and your mental faculties and your heart to see as God sees, to see good things happening. Begin to…
Expect healing is flowing.
Expect abundance this week.
Expect changes in your family situations.
We’re not called to be Negative Nellie’s…
We’re not called to be Negative Nellie’s. We’re called to have God’s forward leaning, positive outlook and perspective of faith. Faith has a perspective. And that perspective is the Word of God. And the Word of God still states that He is our healer. He is our strong tower in whom we can run into and find safety and peace in times of trouble. He is the one who will never leave nor forsake us. Even to the end of days. He will be with us.
Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to help us…
Jesus promised, “I’m going to send Someone that will be to your advantage. He will be profitable for you in your daily life.” That being the Holy Spirit. And He will be with you always. In fact, He’ll be the one closer to you than even your brother.
He’ll be your help.
He’ll be your standby.
He’ll be your advocate.
He’ll be the one who will help you to rise above adversity today.
He’ll be the one to help you conquer every setback and transform it into a setup for something even greater in the days ahead.
No! Not today, Mr. Devil! Not in my family!
So be reminded today that while the days are troubled around us, we can still cultivate an inner life that is hopeful and expectant and even looking and on the edge of our seats with hope for God coming through. And whatever situation you’re praying about and whatever situation you encounter, were promised by Jesus Himself that “be a good cheer for I have overcome this world. I have overcome every weaponry of the enemy. Be forewarned, tribulations will come. Be forewarned, things can go south fast in this earth realm. But we can stand up in the face of that and say, “No, not today, Mr. Devil. No, not today, Mr. Devil, not in my family.”
We can slam the door on him by closing the door on inappropriate, negative, dark, discouraging perspectives. Just understand you have that empowerment. You have that ability. You have a will. God has woven into you a will to choose. So what will you choose today? I don’t know about you, but I choose to say “no” to the devil. I choose to close the door and not give him a place.
That starts in your thinking.
That starts in your imagination.
That starts in what you’re saying.
That makes a big difference in your life and how things will unfold in the coming days. So choose today to be the day when everything shifts in a different direction for you. That starts in your thinking. That starts in your imagination. That starts by the perspective and the outlook that you adopt one day at a time.
Praying in the spirit is a powerful tool…
That’s why Heidi was reminding us this weekend of the importance of living filled, living saturated and literally drenched in the presence of God. Of course, prayer in the spirit is a powerful and useful tool in that. Prayer in the spirit edifies and charges you up. Right? With the spirit and presence of God. Prayer positions you with the right perspective.
There’s a few additional verses to the one I shared in Psalm 37 here. I wanted to just kind of put out there in front of you this morning. I hope this is helping somebody. And especially if you’re finding yourself hopeless or discouraged. That means you’ve been disconnected from your courage.
Well, guess what?
The Lord wants to reconnect you with your courage today. The Lord wants to reconnect us as pray-ers and believers with our vision today. The Lord wants to remind us that He intends to do something good in your week this week, in the month ahead in April.
Breakthroughs are on the horizon…
And as we go through 2025, breakthroughs are on the horizon. Answers are flowing. What the enemy is doing and the distractions that are unfolding even on the world stage are not an indicator of what God can or cannot do in your life. No, the only thing that’s an indicator is what will you choose?
Will you choose life?
Will you choose a positive forward leaning and expecting attitude of faith?
I will!
Testimony of Dodie Osteen standing on the Word of God…
The last time I checked, we can still stand on the Word of God. Like Dodie Osteen, years ago in the early eighties was Joel Osteen’s mom. She had a terminal diagnosis of cancer. And one of the first things she did, I believe she was in the driveway or something, and she put her Bible under her feet, and she literally stood on the Word of God and began to declare, “No, I’m not going to die. I will live and do all of the will of God.”
Devil, this is the way it’s going to go…
She literally stood on top of her Bible. She stood on the Word and said, “Devil, this is the way it’s going to go.” It didn’t change in that moment, but one day after another, one day added on to another day, she continued to stand on the Word. She continued to fight a good fight of faith by choosing the right outlook, by choosing to be grateful.
Gratitude is attractional…
You know that gratitude itself is a powerful and biblical instrument that attracts good into your life. There’s something about gratitude and worship that sends out a frequency that becomes an invitation for more good to happen. Gratitude is attractional. We see that in the Word. We see the opposite of that in the example of the children of Israel, that they limited the holy one of Israel because of their negative outlook and their negative expectation and their words that continually spouted doubt about God’s leadership and doubt about what God can do.
On the other hand, when you’re grateful, when you praise Him, you’ll receive, I like to say, a raise from Him in the quality and the quantity of your life. Hallelujah! All that is required—I’ve said this often—to change is a change in perspective. And so if that’s what you’ve been struggling with in your soul due to whatever’s gone on, maybe you’ve been through some really serious stuff, and of course, we’re empathetic towards that.
But I have to tell you that getting in and feeling sorry for yourself, replaying what happened, like a movie in your mind over and over again, will not do you any good. It will only produce more of the same. Discouragement, upset, hopelessness, and circumstances that will continue to confirm that.
Lift up your head…
But God is reminding us today to lift up our heads because our salvation is closer to us than when we first believed. Your salvation for healing, your salvation for whatever it is, your family members. It’s closer! Don’t let the enemy talk you out of what you have set out to believe.
There is a fight of faith that must be fought…
Once we pray, there is this fight of faith that must be engaged in. We’re not just walking through the tulips casually each day. No, we must take up our armaments. We must take up the sword of the spirit and the shield of faith and wage a good warfare. Amen. And that is the fight of faith. The fight to choose to believe. The fight to choose to hear the right things. See the right things. Speak the right things.
And as we do so, we can’t see it, but in the realm of the spirit, shifts are happening, changes are occurring. Angels are coming alongside us to work with us. Answers are flowing. Abundance is being channeled to us. Hallelujah.
