Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Heather…
Jesus is all that we need…
Is He truly all that you want and all that you need? Just ask yourself that question honestly today. I’m going to share a quick story before we go into prayer. And I might have shared this story once before in here, but you know the song, “You’re all I want, you’re all I ever needed.”
Stepping out into the uncomfortable…
In 1999, I was sitting in this chapel, in these pews singing that song with tears coming down my eyes because the Lord had called us to step out and to do something that was very uncomfortable. My husband and I were called and went down to another church to interview for a youth pastor position. We went there and visited. We got back and I was very happy here at Living Word. Very, very happy. We got back from Rhema Bible Training Center. We just bought our first house. We just started finishing the basement in it. And so I was very happy and very comfortable here. And when this pastor interviewed Scott, I just said, “No, we’re here. We’re happy. We’re settled. This is where we’re supposed to be.”
He said, “Well, let’s just go. Let’s be obedient. Let’s just at least see.” I said, “Okay.” I went reluctantly, and we went. And when we were flying back home, we were just silent in the plane the entire time. We did not talk to each other. We got home, we unpacked, we went to bed. We got up the next day and went to work, and we had not talked about any of it. And then I said, “Well, let’s go out to lunch together and let’s sit.” We went to Golden Dragon. I don’t know if anybody remembers where that is in Brooklyn Park. We sat at Golden Dragon Restaurant, I won’t forget. And we’re eating Chinese. And I just looked at him and I said, “We’re supposed to go, aren’t we?” He goes, “Yeah.” It’s like, okay.
“Well, something happened and…”
So we called to let them know that we’re coming because we felt led to go. And I’m not revealing anything that has not already been shared at that church. I’m just not saying who it was to protect their privacy. But all of a sudden, the person was very uncomfortable and said, “Well something happened and… I don’t know. Let me see if I can have the pastor give you a call back.”
Okay. I thought that was weird.
And so the pastor does call Scott back and he says, “My wife had an affair and she’s pregnant. But we’re going on with the church, and if you want to come, we’d be honored to have you. But we understand if you want to back out.”
And so Scott told me what he said. I said, “Oh my goodness. Well, no… No! Absolutely not. We’re not going to do that.” But then we’re also confused. Like I felt like we were supposed to go. And so we asked to meet with Pastor Mac. Because we just really needed some direction and guidance in this decision. It was a big decision. And I’ll never forget it. We meet with Pastor Mac. We go up in his office and Pastor Mac kicks his boots up on his coffee table in his office and grabs a handful of cashews. He says, “Well, Scott and Heather, did you feel like you were supposed to go? Did you feel the Lord told you yes?”
We said, “Yes, sir.” He’s like, “Well then you better get going.”
And I will never forget that moment. And I was so thankful to have a pastor that knew the Word and was grounded. Because everybody else was telling us, “Don’t you dare go down there. Don’t you dare do that.” But he just said, “If the Lord told you to go, you better get going.” He said, “They never needed you more than they need you now.”
So we called back and said, “We’ll come.” And my last staff prayer here before we left was that song: “You’re all I want, you’re all I ever needed.”
And I remember the Lord just speaking into my heart. “Am I really all you want and all you need? Really?” Because I was very scared to go into this. I didn’t know what we were walking into. “Yes, sir. Yes Lord. You are all I want. I’ll do what you want me to do. I’ll go where you want me to go.”
We stepped out of our comfort zone!
And so we stepped out of our comfort zone. And we went to that church and the very first service was a church split. And the pastor stands up and says, “Well our board is splitting, and these people are leaving and this is happening, and we’d like to introduce our new youth pastors.”
And you’re just like, “Lord, I hope you know what you’re doing.” And we were there for 15 years, and we learned so much and we watched redemption and restoration firsthand in that family and in that church. And they’re still going and they love each other. And that family is amazing. And I’m very thankful for everything they imparted to me.
Where am I going with all this?
Sometimes God will call you to step into discomfort. But He’s with you in it. And if the only thing that you’re willing to do for Him is something that you can understand or something that’s comfortable, He’s not going to be able to fully use you for His plan.
I mean, you think of Jesus, my goodness… He knew when He was coming what He was here to do. And you think of that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, the sweating of the drops of blood. Because He just had to keep continually laying down His own comfort, His own will, His own desire to protect His body. That’s just a human desire. Because He was human, but He was God. So human desire is always to protect ourselves. If somebody went like that to you, immediately, you do this… That’s just our instinct to protect ourselves. So you think of what He had to do to continually keep His face before God and that plan that He had for Him. And it’s no different for us.
Is He all you want and need?
So I want to encourage you today, is He all you want? Is He all you need? So when He’s calling you and you feel that pull to, “Talk to that person… pick up the phone… text that person… talk to that person in the grocery store… call that family member that you are having an argument with… whatever it is, be obedient!
He never promised we’d always be comfortable…
And though it might be uncomfortable, He never promised us we’d be comfortable. Right? He promised He’d be with us. And He said there will be trials, but “I’ll be with you in it.” Right?
So He promised He’ll be with us. He promised to strengthen us. He promised to equip us. But He never said, “Hey, life is going to be a cakewalk on earth. So just do the things that you are comfortable with.” No! The hardest things I’ve done in life are the times that I felt His presence and His equipping the most. And I’m sure everybody here could say the same. The time that you stepped out, when you didn’t understand. The time that you gave that offering, when you were like, “But how are we going to pay this bill?” Or the time that you blessed that person, the time that you talked to that person and you were a little afraid and it was awkward. But He shows up every time. He’s so faithful.
Don’t rely on your “head”…
But He has to be all that we want and all that we need. And it’s a full reliance on Him, not a reliance on our heads. Because let me tell you, my head was telling me, “Don’t go! Do not go into that situation that you’re just going right to the den of wolves.”
But God put us there and He blessed us while we were there. And there’s been other uncomfortable moments of life moving, stepping out, following that unction when it doesn’t make sense in the natural. It’s not always going to make sense. His ways are not our ways. So stepping out…
So I pray that encourages you today. Somebody had to hear that.
Know that you need Him…
The other thing I want to talk about is just knowing that you need Him. Last night, I was trying to fall asleep and I had prayer this morning and I have LW women tonight, so my mind is going… “Okay, I got to get up, I got to do this, I got to get this ready. I got to da da da…” And have you ever tried to fall asleep and your brain won’t let you? I was getting angry because I knew that the enemy is harassing me. Like, I have to go to bed, I have to get up in this many hours. And then you’re watching the clock. Now I have to get up in this many hours. Now I have to get up in this many hours. I need to go to sleep right now.
So me and my brain are having this battle…
And I just had to say, “Jesus, I need you. I need you right now. I need you to come and give me peace, and I need you to give me sleep. I need you.” And in this battle inside of myself, my husband’s just snoring next to me. He had no idea. Men are better at falling asleep I think sometimes. I was getting angry with myself because like, I know how to speak against this. I know I have the tools and the equipping that I need. But it was just a reminder of “I can’t do it on my own.” There’s a fine line between knowing how to speak the Word and say things and we should know those things. But in that, reminding ourselves it’s not our strength, it’s His strength. And when we are weak, He is strong. Not when we are weak, we just need to make ourselves strong. No. When we are weak, He is strong.
And I was trying to muster this in my own strength. I felt it. And sometimes the bigger or the harder the battle, the more you’re just… you’re striving so much in yourself. And it was like when I finally relaxed and I just said, “Jesus, I need you. I don’t have all the fancy prayers right now. I’m tired. I need to get some sleep. Jesus, I need you. I just need you to give me peace. I need you to give me sweet slumber. You haven’t given me a spirit of fear, but of love and power and a sound mind. And I need some sound sleep right now. And you need to just quiet my mind.”
And I fell asleep.
But this morning, as I was thinking of that, I was angry with myself. Like, I know better. Why did I get into that? And the Lord just reminded “When you are weak, I am strong. It wasn’t about your strength. It was about My strength.”
He is all we need…
And so just reminding everybody, He is all we need. He is literally all we need. We need Him more than we need sleep. We need Him more than we need healing. We need Him more than we need money. We need Him more than we need a job. We need Him more than we just… fill in the blank, whatever it is. He’ll bring all those things. Because when we have our eyes on Him… when He is that focus, all these things are added unto us. But He still has to be that focus before anything else.
He is all we need.
So let’s press into that in prayer and remind ourselves today that He is all we need. And we will lift up some other things as the Holy Spirit prays them out as we go. But let’s start there.
Prayed…
Father, you are all we need. And we remind our minds of that. We remind our bodies we need you more than our next breath. We need you more than everything on our prayer list today. We have to have you moving and living inside of us. Not our own strength, Father, but your strength. Your strength! Yes, you give us wisdom. Yes, you equip us. But let us never forget that that’s you. That’s you in us. And it’s not of our own power. It’s not of our own strength. It’s not of our own knowing. But it’s through yielding and allowing you to work through us.
