Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
Good morning, everyone. Happy Monday. Good to see you all in the chapel. If you don’t already know, my name is Ken Olson. I know we have new people joining us online all the time. So just so you know, that’s who I am. One of the pastors on staff here at Living Word Christian Center, led by our pastors, Mac and Lynne Hammond and Pastor Jim Hammond.
Wasn’t that a good message by Pastor Mac yesterday if you happen to catch it? He talked about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but in particular, speaking in other tongues. And, if you didn’t get a chance to listen to Pastor’s weekend message, I encourage you to jump on lwcc.org or on our YouTube channel and take a look at that. I think that will encourage you as you begin a new week.
“I just sense something in my heart…”
I want to share a few thoughts with you. And I just really sense something in my heart this morning. I often lift up just in the middle of my day sometimes and ask the Lord questions. I found that that’s a highly effective form of prayer. You have not because you ask not, right? And so oftentimes, I’ll ask Him, what means something? Maybe something like I asked Him the other day, “Lord, what is this season to be about for me, in particular.” But it might be any question relating to your life, to your assignment in prayer, or otherwise.
We ought to be a people who are prepared and ready…
And, I was asking Him about that. And I know one thing that comes back to me when I ask that question: “What should a particular season in our lives or in the church, what should it mean?” There are different answers that could come back to us. But one that stands out to me regularly regarding what our stance or what our outlook should be on this season, perhaps personally, but also as the church globally and here at Living Word is that we ought to be a people who are prepared, a people who are ready.
Will you be ready?
The Bible reveals in one passage in the Old Testament that time and chance come to all of us. In other words, there are seasons, there are opportunities that are on course to intersect with your life in the coming days. Maybe yet this week. The question is, will you be ready? Will you be able to apprehend the opportunities, the open doors, the things that God’s prepared and is extending to you right now in this season? So I just have felt strongly that we as a church and as individuals ought to have the determination within us that we’re going to be a people who are ready.
Ready for when the opportunity comes.
Ready when the door’s knocked on in our lives or in our hearts.
Ready to step in and pray.
Ready to exercise authority.
Ready to go wherever the Lord is sending us spiritually or from a natural sense.
Ready.
We’re not to have bumper-car faith…
These are the days when the church must stand ready, not living by accident or with bumper-car faith, where we’re just kind of bumping into one thing and bumping into another thing. And then praying and believing. No people who are proactive in our approach to our journey with God. Pursuing Him, pursuing His Word, inviting the Holy Spirit to daily prepare us so that we might put down our roots deep into the Word of God, deep into our relationship with Him.
We’re to stay the course…
Sometimes you know the answer when you ask the Lord a question is simply “just continue.” And as pray-ers, that’s not a real exciting word to hear. But sometimes the Lord just saying to us as pray-ers, as believers, we’re just to continue. We’re to stay the course. We’re to stand our ground. We’re to stay steady. Yes, He heard your prayer. Yes, He is active behind the scenes in the spiritual dimension and in the natural realm as well, working to turn things around, working to produce an answer, working to grant breakthrough, working to lead you into a new and brighter season of His purpose.
Don’t get weary in well doing…
But oftentimes, as we just go day by day, it’s a matter of just standing our ground. Putting our roots down deeper, growing to another level today. Not growing weary in well-doing. Isn’t that what the Word reminds us to do? Sometimes you don’t get any more spiritual than that on a given day… just to grow not weary in well-doing. For in due season, you will reap the promise. You will see the results. The answer will come through from the spiritual realm to your natural realm. And you’ll experience it in a tangible way.
Luke 18…
And so, I want to read a passage found in Luke 18. I probably have read it before, but it’s a passage that just sticks with me and has stuck with me for many years and will probably through the end of my days. But it says this in Luke 18:1, “Then He spoke a parable to them that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” I think the Amplified Classic says “they ought not lose heart or grow weary or faint or want to wave a white flag in surrender.”
It goes on to say…
Jesus said “There was in a certain city, a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city and she came to him saying, Get justice for me from my adversary.” Does anybody need some justice in your life in some way from what the enemy’s been doing to harass you or attack you?
It goes on to say…
“And the unrighteous judge would not provide justice or not serve an answer or help her. And he went on for a while. But afterward, he said within himself, though I do not fear God nor regard man.” In other words, he didn’t really care. He wasn’t a God-fearing man or didn’t fear humans either.
“Yet, because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her. Lest by her continual coming, she weary me.” I think one translation says he was a little freaked out by this woman because of the tenacity of her faith, because of her strong stance of faith. And one translation says that he was concerned that she would come and rail on him and hurt him. Even though he didn’t fear God nor man. He was concerned about this little woman. She freaked him out, in other words.
And then it goes on to say…
“Then the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall not God avenge his own?” That’s us. “His own elect to cry out day and night to Him, though he bears along with them. I tell you that he will avenge…” or you could say He will answer in a natural sense, “them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes will he really find faith on the earth?”
The judge parable is talking about prayer…
And I always like to juxtapose that or put that in the context of this whole passage, which is, he’s talking about prayer. Will the Lord, when He returns, find His church releasing faith? He’s looking for faith. But the context is, will He find His church releasing faith through their life of prayer? Because they’re persistent in prayer. They’re persistent in requesting and interceding, in asking, in simply standing their ground.
Lord, I’m still standing…
How many of you know it is a form of prayer just to stand your ground, to get up from one day to the next and lean into the promise of God and say, “Lord, I’m still standing here. This is what your Word says. You’re not willing that any should perish, but that all my family or all of my workplace or all of my school would come to faith and know Jesus. That’s your promise!” So we are in an hour where maybe there aren’t a lot of spiritual fireworks maybe in your life right now. But know this: God is saying…
It’s time to stand your ground.
It’s time to grow strong in your faith.
It is time to not back off or not be discouraged.
It’s time to stir ourselves up and know that God is at work and that He will perform what He intends to perform in His time.
It’s according to His timetable…
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, He makes all things beautiful according to His timetable. Well, that’s my paraphrase. But in His timing, in other words, according to His timetable. And so He has a timetable in mind for that situation you’ve been praying about. Whether it’s for you personally, your family, a situation in your future or something halfway across the world that He has assigned you to pray about. He’s going to make that beautiful. He is going to bring about His purpose and His intention in that situation.
Will you continue to stand on His Word?
The question is, will you continue to wake up day after day and stand in the face of God? Will you continue to stand on His Word and be immovable and become fixed because there’s a whole lot the Lord is doing behind the scenes. He is not just interested in getting us a speedy answer necessarily. He’s interested in performing His will according to His plan in your life and in maybe countless lives that are affected by what you’re praying about.
Pastor Lynne talks about this kind of truth that I’m speaking of about, the importance of going deeper and standing strong in faith and staying steady in the midst of maybe a fight of faith. Or answers not showing up yet in your life.
Pastor Lynne’s chapter called “The Power of Perseverance”
And she talks about it in a chapter called “The Power of Perseverance.” And I’m going to read a little bit to you this morning. But she says this, “Sometimes getting settled down on the Word takes a long time.” Don’t shout me down when I’m preaching good here. I look back at my life and there have been many seasons where I had a lot of hope and still do to this day about a lot of things. But I didn’t realize that the season I was in was just a season where I just needed to grow. I just needed to put my roots down. I just needed to lean in and learn to pray over a period of time. Because the Lord was preparing me. He was transforming me so that when His timetable was right, I could step into that next thing. I could receive what He had prepared for me.
Kenneth Hagin wisdom…
Brother Kenneth E Hagin would often talk about how preparation times and seasons are never wasted times or seasons. They’re vital. They’re essential now. They’re not real flashy or exciting when we’re hearing words like this, but they’re the very things and principles that will set you up for success in the days ahead… for answers, for breakthroughs, for promotions for you to step into in the days ahead.
Will you hear His voice?
The question is, will you hear His voice today? Will you respond to Him today in the small things? I’ve often said, “Little tweaks lead to big peaks.” So stay open in your prayer life. Stay open in your personal life and in your heart to the Lord. Ask Him questions like I mentioned earlier about where you’re at, about what He would have you to do. This life is not about our agenda. When we decided to follow Jesus, we decided to lay down our lives, as I often reference, as Jesus taught us, right? And to take up our cross and follow Him, and to yield ourselves to Him and let Him have His way in us, but also through us. Because His plan is higher and better than our plan. And ultimately will make the biggest difference in this life and in the life to come.
