Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
Good morning, everyone. Happy Monday!
Announcements…
Let me share a couple of announcements before we pray. Firstly, I want to remind you that Pastor Lynne will be here tomorrow morning. So spread the word and make every effort to either be with us in person or online. Pastor Lynne has some things she wants us to pray about tomorrow, so you don’t want to miss it.
And then this coming weekend, we’ve got Dr. James Tan here all weekend for our Get Connected weekend. So get excited about that. It’s going to be a good weekend.
Pastor Ken shared about foundations…
As we were worshiping, I was reminded of how in recent days the Lord has been prompting me in regard to foundations… in particular, my own foundations. And I feel like that is something that the Lord is talking to the church about now. Our foundations. How many of you know that God is all knowing? He knows our future better than we know our past, and oftentimes His mercy is found in Him dealing with us and prompting us and leading us to respond in certain ways, even though maybe things are going well. Because He knows what comes next. He knows what might be thrown in our paths or what might be reported on the news a week from now. Whatever the case is, God is a merciful God. He is not a God of destruction. That is the enemy.
The Bible says that Satan is the god of this world, that he comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But we serve a God who is defined as love and mercy and goodness and patience and kindness. And very often He shows His kindness by speaking to us, addressing us ahead of time. Even though things look just fine.
His mercy is found in His voice…
He speaks. His mercy is found in His voice. I’ve been challenged in recent days to spend more time just immersing myself in Him, shutting off distractions even but for a few minutes and allowing myself to be immersed in His presence so that I can hear His voice. Because there’s mercy in His voice. There’s mercy in His word, whether it be His logos word, His Book, or in His still small voice within your heart.
There’s mercy there.
There’s preparation there.
There’s strategy there.
There’s prayer there.
Because that’s where the Holy Spirit is leading us and prompting us and inspiring us.
Foundations are connected to what we do daily…
And if you turn to Luke chapter 6:46–49. Jesus says, “But why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?” And can I just add to that here before I continue reading that, that when it comes to our foundations, it’s connected to what we do daily. Because what you’re building or what you’re avoiding, or what you’re allowing to diminish is based on what you’re doing daily. I’ve often said it’s little tweaks, little adjustments, little changes in our lives that can lead to big peaks. So don’t just overlook the power of what you do daily.
You want your life to be different?
Change what you do daily.
Even just one thing.
Because what you’re doing daily is building a foundation or it’s allowing something to be diminished, including your spiritual life or your ability to respond to Him. So that’s an important clue when it comes to addressing our foundations. God is wanting to strengthen and He’s wanting to enlarge our foundations spiritually—individually, but I think collectively as the body of Christ and as a church.
Laying foundation on a rock…
So Jesus goes on in verse 47 to say, “Whosoever comes to Me and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.” Of course, that rock is the rock of His Word and the rock of our relationship with Him. “And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house and could not shake it.” Why? Because it had a sufficient foundation, because that individual did something different daily that allowed a foundation to be strong against the time to come. “And could not shake it for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation.”
I think one translation says “upon the sand.” One particular passage in the gospel says, “built upon the sand” or a “foundation on the earth.” It says here, “without a foundation against which the stream beat vehemently, and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
These words jumped off the page at me as far as what Jesus is saying to the church right now.
It’s time to prepare.
It’s time to do something different daily in your spiritual habits.
It’s time to re-prioritize, reorder what we’re doing daily to make sure the right things are in the right places.
Keep the main thing the main thing…
That first things are first. Because the first things are first, or as Stephen Covey once said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.” That’s key. It seems insignificant, but that’s key to building a sure and steady and stalwart foundation for the time ahead.
Especially as pray-ers. Pastor Lynne has taught us for many years that we are to keep the Word first in our prayer lives. Start with the Word.
That’s your foundation.
That’s your inspiration.
That’s your instruction.
That’s where faith comes from.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And as we hear it, we’re inspired, we’re strengthened, our foundation grows, and we’re able to pray more effectively. And I would add to that more efficiently.
Wisdom from Pastor Todd Coconato…
Now, let me add something that my sister shared with this with me over the weekend. It comes from a gentleman by the name of Todd Coconato. He’s a pastor of Remnant Revival Center in Nashville, Tennessee. He shared this reflection. And I feel like it’s somewhat prophetic, honestly. And it goes along with what I’m saying here and what we just read there in Luke chapter six which Jesus is reminding us the importance of a foundation and the importance even before that of just hearing His voice and responding to Him.
Jesus said to Peter, “If you love me, feed my sheep.” In other words, “If you love me, Peter, obey me. Respond to Me.” Not ponder it for a day or two or push back against it. “Well, I’ll get to that.” No, when the Lord speaks, there’s an anointing on what He says to obey, to respond. And oftentimes that anointing is to be merciful toward you. Because the enemy’s playing for keeps. And God is out ahead of what the enemy’s trying to do to help us to hear what our instruction is so that we might respond. And in our response to what He says, there’s not only a strengthening of our foundation, but there is protection and there is mercy and there is blessing. Every arena of our lives is enriched when we follow the Word of God, when we follow the plan of God.
We’ve stepped into a season of spiritual transition…
So this Pastor Todd Coconato said, “We have stepped into a season of spiritual transition.”
By the way, this syncs up with what Pastor Mac has been talking to us about a shaking going on.
“I have been feeling strongly that we are in a season of transition, and I have been trying to wrap my head around what I am sensing in the spirit. Change is all around us. It will continue, but it’s more than that. Things that have been will no longer be in many cases. People will shift. Platforms will shift. Some who were hidden will appear. Some who have been out there will disappear. Change is coming. We are headed into a storm. Some will thrive in this season. Others will struggle substantially.”
And I would suggest to you that it all is based on your foundation.
“Prepare your house. Shore up your foundations. Change perhaps what you’re doing daily.”
Isn’t that what I just said?
“The state of our heart is key.”
That reminds me of what Proverbs says: Above all that you guard, guard your heart for out of it flow the forces that are capable of creating your life,” one translation says.
“The state of our intimacy with the Lord and prayer is key. The foundation we build on is pivotal. Is it the solid rock of Jesus Christ? Or is it something else? Sinking sand? The motive of our actions and intentions is critical. The level of our faith and trust in God is very important. Do we trust Him? Are we all in? Are we sold out, no matter what? Things that matter before will not matter as much. Things that didn’t matter as much before will matter a lot more now. We are not to be fearful at all. We are to be wise. We are to seek the heart of God and let Him guide our paths and order our steps. We must war for our families in prayer. We need to learn how to do this and to become prayer warriors. The situation we once knew to be normal will no longer be. Possibly never again like that. This is big. It’s a new period now. It’s not all bad though. There will be some very powerful and amazing things that will happen. These things will happen for those who have the heart of God and are about His business.”
Aren’t you glad you’re at prayer this morning? You are about His business. Glory to God!
I don’t know about you, but even though the Lord has been saying this through different channels and voices, that there will be challenges ahead, I have such hope in my heart though. I’m speaking of myself. And such excitement, honestly, because with all that the enemy’s endeavoring to do, God is going to do something much greater.
Do you believe that?
He is at work! Things that we’ve been interceding for, for years now, things that have been repetitively prophesied, those things that we feel like we’re growing weary at times, but we’re still doing by believing, are going to come to pass. They’re going to come to pass at last! And it will be seen and it will be known. And you will rejoice and you will celebrate and you will be glad. So understand I’m interjecting here. This is Ken Olsen’s Monday morning preaching interjection here. But understand that we are called once again to not live by what we’re hearing or what we’re seeing, or what we have known up until now. We’re called to live based on the proclamation of the prophetic of the Holy Spirit and of His Word. The proclamation of God’s voice and leadership and guidance to your heart and my heart.
The last time I checked, the Gospel is a Gospel of victory and an overwhelming, resounding, rejoicing, breakthrough that Jesus has come and He sent His Holy Spirit and He is with us. And there’s far more that be with us than be with the enemy.
Then in the end, we win! So we can walk by faith and not by sight, by what we believe and not what we see. And even today on a Monday no less, we can celebrate that the week ahead of us is going to be good. Really good, in fact! That we’re going to see breakthroughs this week. The things are going to turn around in many ways. That despite what’s reported on the news media or what even happens in the next election, that guess what? We have the opportunity to stand with God. To stand with His Word, to continue to pray and continue to intercede.
We’re still the most powerful agency on the earth…
Pastor Mac alluded to this yesterday that we still are the most powerful agency upon planet earth right now. Things would’ve been all taken over by the enemy by now if the church wasn’t here. And the church even functioning at whatever, maybe 25% of our capacity spiritually speaking, authority speaking, is still able to hold at bay the Antichrist and so much worse chaos. Think of what we could do if we would step in now, embrace this moment as the body of Christ, as individuals, as pray-ers. Embrace it.
We possess the name that is above every name…
All things Jesus said that pertaining to life and godliness have been granted to us. The one whoever causes us to triumph lives within us. We possess the rights of the use of the name that is above every name. No matter what shows up on the scene of the world stage tomorrow, we still possess the name that is above every other name. We still are cloaked in His righteousness and holiness and justification. We still have the ability to bind and to loose and to apply the blood, to pray fervent prayers, white hot and infused with faith and cause things to shift and to change.
Prayer is our assignment to bring change to the earth…
You each day have the opportunity to turn the knobs of what’s going on in the earth realm, in your family realm, and tune into God’s decree and tune into what God desires as far as His will and His plan. It doesn’t have to stay the same. We’ve been sent here on a mission to bring about change. And prayer is the potential. Prayer is our assignment to bring change to the earth.
So I just stir you up in that this morning…
We have to be daily about our Father’s business. And oftentimes that begins by just stirring yourself up individually. Preaching to yourself, pouring the Word in your heart, giving your phone a timeout. I’m speaking to myself this morning. Giving distractions a timeout so that you can be immersed in His presence.
Turn off the many voices in this world…
I heard a man one time who had an experience with Jesus. The Lord used that phrase, “immersion.” And he talked about how people in this hour, Jesus, that is according to this particular man, talked about how if we will but turn off distractions even for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever you got, and basically turn off all the other voices… The Bible says there are many voices in this world, and all of them come with a different and varying degrees of significance.
Listen to only the voice of the Holy Spirit…
But there’s only one voice of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus. And oftentimes those other voices drowned out His voice. But if we’ll turn off those other voices and we’ll disconnect from those distractions, even for a few minutes and fully give ourselves to the Spirit of God… give ourselves to the Word of God… let His presence… sometimes I’ll put my hand on my heart because the Bible says your spirit, the real you, is in your belly. I’ll just do that as a point of contact and I’ll just say, “Lord, I just yield to your presence right now. I love you, Father. I worship you.”
And just be conscious to do that in those moments of silence and solitude and focus. His presence will come and do just that—immerse you. And you’ll begin to hear His voice. You’ll begin to hear the prompting of a scripture in your heart that you read the other day maybe. He’s speaking. His mercy is in His voice.
Before God moves, He speaks to us to collaborate with us…
His mercy is not in a physical cavalry that shows up to deliver you from what you’re going through. Maybe sometimes that could happen. But generally it’s His voice. Pastor Lynne has taught that through the years. Before God moves, He speaks and He’s wanting to collaborate with you and me. Yes, in the realm of prayer, but also in the realm of obedience. Because when we hear His voice, when we hear His counsel, when we hear His wisdom in His Word, but also in our hearts in those moments of solitude and silence, and then we respond accordingly, it releases heaven into our situation. It releases His hand and power to deal a death blow to the enemy, to release His anointing to set captives free, to cause cancer cells to die and your body to recover.
The enemy does not want the church to hear God’s voice…
There’s a very specific reason the enemy has deployed all these tools of distraction in this hour. He does not want the church hearing God’s voice now, hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, collaborating with the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts, which is the book that records much of what happened in the early church, the signs and wonders and miracles is really a narrative of the collaboration between God the Holy Spirit and the church, and what was done because there was a collaboration… because they heard and they obeyed and responded.
Even a small tweak can lead to a different outcome…
It’s not about the degrees behind your name. Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s not about the years you put in at a particular church or how many verses you have even memorized from scripture. It is our ability to hear His voice and respond now and quickly. Even in the simplicity of what we do daily. Because what you do daily, even a small tweak, can lead to a totally different outcome and a greater peak in a good way in your life. So let me finish this up here. This word goes on to say this.
Excerpt continues…
“Things will happen for those who have the heart of God and are about His business. They will see tremendous mercy and grace. They will see miracles and many open doors. They will experience tremendous favor. Walk in this. The key is in our hearts. We must live a lifestyle of true repentance and an authentic walk with God. There is no faking. There is no pretending. That will not work. Let’s pray for God to show us how best to navigate this new season. Those who obey and love Him will be safe. Those who are His will be protected. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and they are safe. You will be safe in Christ… but only in Christ.”
Kenneth E. Hagin’s book, “The Interceding Christian…”
Isn’t that a good word? Now let me read one other thing to you. This comes from an older book entitled “The Interceding Christian” by Kenneth Hagin. I want to read a passage from where he talks about interceding for a nation. He writes…
“Too many times we read newspaper articles and hear sermons about what the devil is doing. We hear how terrible things are. People haven’t told you a thing when they tell you that. You knew it already. If you go to church and hear that kind of sermon, you will go away without having eaten anything. I don’t care what the devil is doing. There are some principles of prayer written in the book of God that apply to us today whereby we can change things. Some people declare, ‘the Bible says that in the end time, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,’ 2nd Timothy 3:13. This is true. However, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were waxing worse and worse, yet God said, ‘for the sake of 10 righteous, he would not destroy the city’ because a man of God had interceded in their behalf. There’s power to change right now.
“Another scripture concerning intercession is found in Ezekiel 22: 30, 31 ‘And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore, I poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with fire of my wrath, their own way I have recompensed upon their heads, sayeth the Lord God.’
“God said this concerning Israel, yet there is spiritual truth that applies to us today. God said, ‘I sought for a man among them, but found none.’ Isn’t that a terrible indictment? God had told Abraham that if he found 10 righteous, He would not destroy the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. This scripture talks about a whole country, a whole nation. God said if He could find one righteous person, He wouldn’t destroy the land. One person could save the nation. If God really wanted to spare the land, why didn’t He do just that? Why doesn’t God just do what God wants to do?
“In 1st Timothy 2:4, we read that God wills all men should come unto the knowledge of the truth. If He is almighty, all powerful and can do anything He wants to do, why doesn’t He just go ahead and save everyone? The answer is found in the book of Genesis. After God made earth and the fullness thereof, He made man and gave Adam dominion over all the works of His hands, and Adam became the ruler of this world. However, Adam committed high treason and sold out to Satan. Then Satan became the ruler, the god of this world and he came to dominate the earth.”
Hagin goes on to say…
“Therefore who is responsible for wars and murders and violence in the world? The devil is! These don’t come from God. It says this in James 1:17. ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’”
In other words, God has made up His mind to redeem us, to save us, to set us free, and also to partner with us. One of the beautiful things about the gospel is that Jesus, not only allowed us to gain heaven and miss out on destruction in hell with the enemy, He also restored our authority. That authority that Adam gave away to Lucifer, He restored it to us. So that we could use it.
He goes on to say…
“And God can intervene only as Christians seek His face and ask Him to move. James 4:2, it’s simple but overlooked often yet “you have not because you ask not.” Satan’s authority over matters on the earth can only be overcome as Christians pray and intercede on behalf of our country. Do you know that you represent your country in the spirit in prayer? God is looking today for someone who will make up the hedge and stand in the gap before Me for the land that I should not destroy it.”
That’s what we’re going to do this morning. Can we get behind that?
