Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
If you don’t already know at the beginning of the week, my name is Ken Olson and I’m one of the pastors and staff here at Living Word.
Habits…
I thought I would start off by sharing something that has to do with habits. How many of you know that habits are critical to our life in the earth realm, and what God has called us to do and whether or not we realize it or not, what God has in mind for us?
John Maxwell quote…
And, in fact, I was reminded last night of one of my all-time favorite quotes by John Maxwell, who once said, “The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. You will never change your life until you change something you do daily,” a.k.a. your habits.
Habits can be both good or bad…
Habits aren’t inherently bad or inherently good. It just depends on what habits you develop and what they accomplish. There are negative habits, of course, and there are very positive habits that support and enable you to walk out God’s plan for your life.
Terry Saville Foy on the Seven Habits that destroy your calling…
And I was thinking about that in conjunction with something I saw the other day on Instagram that Terry Saville Foy shared, where she talks about the seven habits that quietly destroy your calling and how to break them.
God is showering His favor on us…
And could anybody use some encouragement on a Monday morning here concerning your calling and your prayer assignment and what God has for you in the future? If there’s breath in your lungs today then there is another step. God has more for you. Amen. The future is bright. His grace and mercy are new and flowing toward you and me this morning. Right now, at this moment, no matter how dark or difficult or impossible it may seem, God is showering favor on us and showing us the way even this morning.
And so she writes about seven habits that destroy our calling and our spiritual lives in many ways and how we can break them.
Procrastination…
“Number one: It’s procrastination disguised as waiting on God. You say you’re praying about it, but down deep fear is holding you back.”
I would challenge many of you to ask that question. I think sometimes that’s very true. It’s really fear that’s holding us back. It’s not that we’re waiting on God to answer us. We’re fearful. And maybe it’s time to confront an issue or take a bold step in the direction that you know is right for you.
Well, how do you break procrastination disguised as waiting on God? Write down one step you can take today. Faith moves when you move. It could be very true that God’s just simply waiting on us to take a step. And very often that step doesn’t look like some far-out-there spiritual kind of thing. It might be a very simple and practical step when it comes to maybe getting your house in order or having a tough conversation with someone you love that you know you need to confront them about an issue in love.
I’m telling you, little steps, little tweaks lead to big peaks.
Saying yes to everything…
“Number two: The second thing that will destroy your calling and how to break it is a saying yes to everything. Distraction is often the enemy of destiny. Not every good opportunity is a God opportunity.” How do you break that negative habit of saying yes to everything? A man of God once said that “no” is a God word. It is okay to say no. You can say it graciously. You can draw a boundary. Boundaries are healthy. Can I get an amen? They keep the right things in your life, and they keep the wrong things out of your life.
So saying yes to everything is a bad habit that must be broken. Distraction is often the enemy of destiny. Not every good opportunity is a God opportunity. How do you break it? Ask yourself, does this align with my assignment? If not, let it go.
Comparing yourself with others…
“Number three: Comparing your season to someone else’s. What does the Bible say about comparison? You’re a fool if you compare yourself to someone else.” It only hijacks your soul and gets you all in a bunch, so to speak, and stressed out when you start comparing yourself to someone else. You’re measuring your behind the scenes by someone else’s highlight reel. And it’s killing your confidence.
How do you break it? Celebrate others publicly and thank God privately for your unique path. Comparison can’t grow where gratitude lives.
Practice gratitude…
A lot of things that the enemy wants to sow in a negative way cannot grow or take root when you practice gratitude. Gratitude really is a form of prayer. It’s a high form of prayer. We’re really praying and declaring from God’s standpoint, yes, we must pray and we must intercede, and we must ask and we must supplicate. But I believe there’s a whole lot more God desires for us to do over in the realm of gratitude and praise and worship. Because it is the antidote to everything the enemy is presently doing in your life. Worship and praise and gratitude release a frequency and a signal the enemy has nothing he can do to stop it. It drives fear out of your life. Gratitude closes the door on comparison and prevents any enemy seeds from sprouting in your life.
Neglecting daily disciplines…
Number four: The fourth negative habit that can stop you and hinder your journey with the Lord and you fulfilling His plan for your life is neglecting daily disciplines. It’s not one mistake that ruins a calling or a life. It’s the small daily choices that drift you off course.
The importance of course correction…
You’ve heard me say before, I think it’s important that we practice regular course correction. I always use the example of a jet airliner that takes off from LAX Los Angeles and heads toward New York. Well, during that almost 3,000-mile journey, it has to course correct all along the way if it’s going to hit the destination on time. If it doesn’t, it will veer off course because of the force of wind and all sorts of things that cause it to drift.
And we, too, as followers of Jesus, are susceptible to drift in our journey and our course. We should understand that and expect that but know that you have the ability to correct your course. And one of the great ways to do that is adopting a fresh attitude mind about spiritual disciplines. Spiritual discipline doesn’t sound really exciting. They don’t make too many people’s Instagram highlight reel, but disciplines are powerful and really the secret sauce to success in the plan of God and in your prayer life. So neglecting daily disciplines, it’s not the big mistakes that ruins a calling. It’s the small daily choices that drift you off course.
How do you break it? Recommit your morning routine to prayer, journaling. Move your body. Read the Word. Little habits lead to big breakthroughs.
Entertaining negative thoughts…
“Number five: Entertaining negative thoughts. Your mind determines your direction.” Yes, it is the place where we harbor and foster certain kinds of thoughts. And thoughts are like trains. They take you somewhere. You ever heard of a train of thought? Well, our thoughts very often, if left unchecked and we’re not very intentional about monitoring our thought life and our inner life, our thought life can kind of take over and create a train with many cars of negative impressions and thoughts. And that thought pattern becomes a thought train and thought trains take you somewhere in life.
She goes on to say…
“Your mind determines your direction. If the enemy can get in your head, he can stop you long before you start.” Well, how do you break the habit of entertaining negative thoughts? Speak God’s Word out loud. You can defeat a thought with another thought. That’s how you take it captive. That’s how you arrest those negative, doubtful, fearful impressions and thoughts is by speaking to it. That’s how you arrest it and lead it to truth. By speaking it out loud.
You may have a favorite preacher, but I’m here to tell you, you need to make yourself your favorite preacher. Because there’s something about you and I personally speaking the Word over our souls, speaking the Word over the atmosphere of our lives and our homes and our nation. Making faith decrees. Speaking out loud the Word of God is a powerful form of prayer. Really.
Mark Hankins quote…
Somebody once said, I think it was Mark Hankins, that the word spoken to you was intended to be spoken through you. Because it’s you that must release the authority that’s in that Word. It’s you and me that needs to release the power inherent in that incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God. So speak out God’s Word. Speak it out loud. You can’t defeat a thought with another thought, only with words.
Living on autopilot…
“Number six: Living on autopilot instead of living with intention. You can’t fulfill a divine calling on cruise control.” In other words, you can’t leave your life to chance. I think that’s one of the first ways you embrace the high call of God to pray or to do something for God in your lifetime, is by making a decision that “I’m not going to just kind of mail it in today. I’m not going to just live out of muscle memory of what I’ve learned in the past today. Today I’m going to be intentional. Today I’m going to open my heart to the Lord and say, ‘Lord, what would you have for me to do today?’”
D.L. Moody story…
I read a story. Who was it? Was it D.L. Moody, who years ago had a great passion for souls and he made a decision that he was going to live his life intentionally. And part of that meant that he was going to be an evangelist each and every day. And that he was going to win souls every day of his life.
And one night he blew out the candle, went to sleep, and then he realized, “I have not shared my faith with anybody today.” So he pulled back the covers, got some clothes back on, and went back out into the streets and began to walk until he ran into someone and began to preach the Gospel and share his faith to that person. And did that with two people before he then went back home and went to bed. Because he was determined to live intentionally, live according to his values, live according to what he was convicted to do in his daily life.
So how do we counteract living on autopilot, leaving life to chance, our agendas to chance? We’re to slow down, seek God, and refocus our energy on the assignment He gave us. Every day! We should be revisiting that assignment.
I think I mentioned this to you maybe last week or the week before, but I’ve been sensing I’m stepping into a little bit of a different season of life right now. And so I’ve been praying whenever it just kind of pops up in my heart, “Lord, what should this season mean to me? What should my focus be? How should I spend my energies, my time, my prayer, my influence, my resources in this season?
We ought to be a people who are determined, to be intentional, a people who are determined to hear from God. One of the most fundamental understandings we must have about our spiritual journey is that we’re to be in contact with God on a regular basis, to hear from Him.
Jesus made a way so that we could be in relationship and in contact with Him through the Spirit, that we would not live randomly, chaotically be given to chance, but rather live by divine destiny, and God’s purpose for us.
So how do we break that habit of living on autopilot and not clearly kind of thinking through or being open to God? We’re to slow down, seek God, refocus your energy on the assignment He gave you.
Mistaking movement for progress…
Number seven: The seventh negative habit is mistaking movement for progress. You can be active and still out of alignment with your calling. So don’t mistake activity or some kind of movement for divinely appointed progress.
How do we break that? Evaluate your direction and not just your pace. Ask God where He wants your next step to land.
In summary…
To summarize all of that, your calling isn’t destroyed in a day. It’s drifted from through daily compromise. But it’s also rebuilt through daily obedience.
Psalms 92:10…
I was reminded of this last night. It’s Psalm 92:10. This is the Passion translation. It states, “Your anointing has made me strong and mighty. You’ve empowered my life for triumph by pouring fresh oil over me.”
In other words, God’s plan and His design and intention toward you and me today is that we would be anointed with fresh oil, fresh fire from heaven.
Yeah, none of us are perfect. We’re all works in process. We’re all in recovery mode. So shake off the condemnation as Pastor Jim reminded us of this weekend. Shake off the unmet expectation. Today is a new day. This is a new week that is before us. And there’s still breath in your lungs if you’re hearing me right now, right? That means there’s hope. There’s great hope. We ought to be the most hope-filled people on the planet because God is with us and He is for us and not against us. And His Spirit has come to live inside of us. And that Spirit is the very spirit of Jesus. Yes, the spirit of prayer, but also the spirit of victory and the spirit of triumph and the spirit of spiritual authority. And the one who’s come to show us the way and to cause us to align with the Father’s high purpose.
