Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
Good morning. Good to see y’all. Good morning to everyone online. Good to have you with us.
Psalms 122 in the Passion translation…
I was reflecting on Psalm 122 in the Passion translation, which says, “I was overjoyed when they said, let us go up to the house of the Lord. And now at last, we stand here inside the gates of Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem, you were built as a city of praise where God and man mingle together. This is where all the tribes of Yahweh are required to come and worship Him.”
Come on now, somebody worship Him this morning! If you’re online, put up some prayer emojis and worship Him in your home or your office or wherever you are!
“This is where the thrones of the kings have been established to rule in righteousness.”
We rule and reign in worship…
Oh, that’s good right there. That’s where we’re to rule. We rule in worship. We rule and we take up our high position and praise Him and honor Him and give Him the glory and the respect and the worship that’s due to Him. That’s where you rule and reign.
Isn’t that good?
“Even King David ruled from here. Pray and seek for Jerusalem’s peace for all who love her will prosper. O Jerusalem, may there be peace for those who dwell inside your walls and prosperity in every palace. I intercede for the sake of my family and friends who dwell there, that they may all live in peace for the sake of your house, Yahweh, our God, I will seek the welfare and prosperity of Jerusalem.”
I’m so glad we get to experience His presence…
I love that passage where it says, “I was glad when they said unto me” in the first part of Psalm 122. “Let us go unto the house of the Lord.” Why? That we may seek Him. That we may expect to encounter Him. That we might receive and experience the flow of heaven.
I’m just so glad we get to seek Him this morning…
That we get to encounter Him
That we get to experience His presence
That we have the honor and the privilege to be aware and acknowledge Him as we go throughout our day, as we go throughout our week.
Isn’t that good?
The blood of Jesus and His work on the cross…
The blood of Jesus has done a great work. We don’t recognize or give it the credit that’s due the work of the cross, the work of His resurrection, the work of redemption, and what it really did. It made it possible for you and me to be plunged in baptism into Christ that we might be cleansed through and through once for all and for all time.
Why is that significant? All time! So that we might be made pure and holy and right and justified in His sight in every way.
That’s you! That’s me!
You’ve been made habitable…
Justification means just as if you had never sinned and just as if you had always obeyed and been well pleasing unto the Father, the creator of all spirits. Why is that significant? Because you’ve been made habitable. You’ve been made worthy. You’ve been made holy.
Can I say that?
Yes, I can! Because that’s just how great the blood of Jesus is. That’s just how great the handy work of God was when He went to work on the inside of you and me, that we might be made a worthy, holy, suitable household, or dwelling place for the presence of God.
That’s what this is all about.
What a divine accomplishment!
This isn’t just about fire insurance for the time to come. This is about God wanting to be in companionship, in unity, in fellowship with you and me—His creation. That He would indwell us. What a marvelous miracle! What an outstanding accomplishment in the divine providence and handiwork of God. That we don’t just get to go around and do what we do from a natural standpoint today, but we get to function and operate in the supernatural-ness of the Spirit of God who has taken up residence inside of us. If we profess His name, we get to work and join Him in kingdom accomplishment today through prayer. Even praying for Jerusalem, as it says here in Psalm 122.
Hallelujah!
So why, of course, we can smile.
Why, of course, we can worship.
Why, of course, we can take up a high position
Because He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him and march into battle today. March into the place God has called us to occupy and do business and occupy till He comes.
Don’t rest on your laurels…
Let me just warn us. God is saying, “Don’t rest on your laurels as a pray-er, as a believer, as a leader, or whatever you’re called in society or in culture. Don’t rest on your laurels.”
You can go it alone for a while on the momentum that you’ve accumulated up until now. Maybe you’ve learned some things as a follower of Jesus, and so you can move forward and do today on momentum, even on fumes.
I’ve done it. I know you have too. Spiritual fumes, that is.
But understand the work of redemption made it possible and made a way for us to hook up with heaven, for us to draw upon the Spirit He’s extended to us, to draw upon spirit and life that we would be full.
It’s from the place of fullness that we overflow with God…
Ephesians says, “be being filled,” speaking in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs making melody in your heart to the Lord. As you open up your mouth, God fills you and me up. And it’s from that place of fullness, it’s from that place of overflow that God desires the church to run, to do what we do, to do our everyday what we do… whether it’s in the ministry or at home, whether it’s paying a bill or prayer in the secret place, He desires that we would function on a higher level.
God is calling us to a place…
This seems to be a theme. God is calling us to a place. He’s asking us to step up. Not rest on our laurels. Not rely on our intellect, not trust in what we’ve learned in the past or the accomplishments that we’ve seen in our lives, but to lean in and trust Him for more.
There’s more ahead.
There’s more for you and for me.
There’s more that He wants to do in your household.
There’s more that He wants to do through you… through your words… through your prayers… through your simple belief.
The work of redemption that you might believe…
Once again, Jesus said this is the work of the kingdom that “you might believe.” So just getting up and putting on your socks and getting yourself ready and saying, “Lord, I trust you. I believe you. I’m going to follow you and be in companionship with you throughout this day and be cognizant and aware of your presence.”
That alone is significant and something. Something that God can join in with. The Bible says that he or she who cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Do you believe He’s good today?
Do you believe He’s a rewarder today?
Do you believe that He is pouring forth His glory through our prayers today?
Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God!
R. W. Shambach, healing minister in the 1950’s…
I came across this quote by a great man of God. I remember listening to him when I was younger. His name was R.W. Shambach. He was in A.A. Allen’s healing ministry in the 1950s, for about five years. And then he went out on his own. And he’s since gone to heaven. He had a preaching and healing ministry. In the early days of his ministry, canes and crutches and braces and all sorts of medical devices came off of people in his meetings because they were healed miraculously. As a result, he would fill whole trucks full of these things. So many people were restored and miraculously healed. He had many accounts that you can read about and hear him firsthand share about that.
The Lord got up in his face…
But relatively early in his ministry, the Lord got up into his face, so to speak, and had a strong word… a gracious, loving, merciful kind fatherly word—a word of caution. And it’s a good reminder. I don’t know if it’s not for you, it’s for me because I too have found myself at times running on momentum, running on fumes at times.
But remember, our most important work is to be with Him, to wait upon Him to be fueled and filled and inspired by Him. God has not called us to do life from a place of lack or insufficiency or emptiness. I don’t care if it’s writing out your mortgage payment. He’s called us to do what we do small and great from a place of overflow and fullness.
Example of the outworking of prayer…
That’s when things get really interesting, when we’re just so aware of God on a daily basis. My daughter was trying out for club volleyball, which she does every year. High school season was done here at Maranatha and she was in her second round of tryout. She got accepted to the elite program and then she was going to be in a second tryout to see which team she would get on, on that elite program. And one night I dropped her off and I was going to go get something to eat and I said “No, I feel like I need to pray.” And so I just sat in the parking lot of my car and just prayed for the next hour in the spirit and just fellowshipping with the Lord.
I had such an awareness that I was influencing and assisting her in her simple tryout through my prayers. And I won’t get into the details, but I know it impacted her and helped her remarkably so. Because when she got in the car, she had nothing but smiles on her face and shared how she played on such a high level for three hours straight, even though she could hardly walk because she had blisters on her feet and bruises on her legs. But she was so happy. She gave it her all. She left it all on the court.
There is a tangible outflow that occurs when we pray…
So there’s a very much a tangible outflow that occurs when we pray, not just for ourselves but for our family members and those that are down the street from us in our neighborhoods and those in houses of Congress and leadership. And you better believe prayer is bottom-line, Christianity. Prayer is our ability to affect change. It’s our ability to hook up with heaven and allow that divine flow of God to come through us and into the affairs of humankind, into the affairs of cultures and nations and lives and situations. God has called us to the most holy work of prayer. And firstly, that begins with just being with Him.
R.W. Shambach heard the audible voice of God…
And I love what R.W. Shambach shared. It was probably the only time he had heard the audible voice of the Lord. This must’ve been in the late eighties, early nineties he had shared this on the Old Praise the Lord Show on TBN with Paul and Jan Crouch. Anybody remember them?
He shared from his heart. He remembered one meeting where he prayed for every last person in that building. And he was always intentional about that. And he got back to his hotel room and didn’t have any time to talk to the Lord. He just flung himself across the bed. Didn’t even take his clothes off to change his clothes. He was drenched in sweat and just plopped on the bed and was exhausted and spent and had nothing left.
Shortly after, a bright light came into the room. He knew it was the Lord. And the only time in his life he recalled hearing the audible voice of the Lord, he heard the Lord in a fatherly, kind, generous sort of way, say to him, “Son, you were spending too much time with the people and not enough time with Me.”
Jesus often separated Himself from people to go pray…
Obviously his priority was people. He was in ministry and we’re all called to influence people, but not where it becomes the priority. I like to point out Jesus oftentimes separated Himself from people. He abruptly stopped in some accounts in the gospel, ministering and doing miracles and wonderful things, and said to His disciples, “It’s time. Let’s go to the other side.” They got on a boat, and they went to the other side. They grilled some fish and they rested and fellowshipped with one another.
Without Me, you can do nothing…
But the Lord said to R.W. Shambach, “Son, you were spending too much time with the people and not enough time with Me. Before you discharge a duty to your family or to people, you have a duty to Me. Remember this and don’t forget it: Without Me, you can do nothing.”
I thought that was a simple but very appropriate and important reminder.
