Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Heather…
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Morning Prayer. My name’s Heather Sibinski. I’m one of the pastors here at Living Word. Thanks for joining us.
Pastor Lynne Hammond’s book on prayer, “The Master Is Calling”
I am going to read a little bit from “The Master Is Calling” from our very own Pastor Lynne Hammond. I was thinking about that this morning. I honestly woke up with this book on my heart because on the days we don’t have musicians, I like to have a little bit of reading, a little bit of teaching before we pray. And I thought of all the great prayer books, I have not read from any of Pastor Lynne’s books yet. So shame on me for that, right?
Opening prophecy in book by Pastor Lynne…
I was reading the opening prophecy, so I’m going to read that. Pastor Lynne prophesied this in 1993 at the church. And I thought I would read that and then just read a little bit from the first chapter. It was 1995 when it was published. So 31 years ago. And that’s why we are praying this morning, is because of the vision that she had for prayer for this church. She said, “This will be called a house of prayer.” And I’m thankful for her vision, for her heart, for carrying that spirit of prayer into this church.
So again, this is from “The Master Is Calling,” which is one of Pastor Lynne’s books. She has a few, and she just came out with a new one. This isn’t like a plug to sell books, but her books are very foundational in prayer. And so, I would say if you haven’t read her books to please do so, and you can get them online at machammondministries.com.
But in the beginning, she says…
“Time for a change” prophecy given at Living Word on February 7, 1993. It says…
“I said you’d be changed in My presence,” saith the Lord. “If you have not experienced change in your life, if your old ways are still prevailing, if your old man is still in evidence, you have not spent the time with Me that I desire. It isn’t a matter of self-control or disciplining your flesh with no help from Me,” saith God. “If you’ll spend time in My presence, you will be changed. Your pattern of life will be changed. Your old man will begin to pass away. Your new man will begin to rise in the image of My Son. Your life will begin to bear much fruit. The evidence of your walk with Me will change as a result of spending much time in My presence.
“If you’re having trouble getting rid of an old habit, if you’re having trouble with your marriage, if your family relationships aren’t changing, that means you’re not spending the time with Me that would enable that change to come to pass. Your desire and the motivation of your heart to walk uprightly before Me is a product of becoming so close to Me that you do not want to bring hurt to Me.
“In natural relationships, when you love someone, you want to do right things for them. You don’t want to hurt them. Well, as you spend time with Me,” saith God, “as you spend time in My presence, we’ll develop a relationship that is closer than any earthly relationship. It will shape the pattern of your living. You’ll want to conform your ways to My Word simply because it’s the desire of your heart. Your life will change, but it will be a product of your spending time with Me.”
I thought that was a good reminder for all of us.
Chapter—Fellowship: The Foundation of Powerful Prayer
So I’m going to read a little from chapter one here. It’s called “Fellowship: The Foundation of Powerful Prayer.” And she starts out by quoting 2 Timothy 3:1–5 in the King James Version.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”
How many know we are feeling that right now, right?
“For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. From such, turn away.”
“Judging strictly by appearances, it might seem that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is doing quite well in the area of prayer these days.”
Remember, this was 1995.
“Pick up almost any church bulletin in any city and you’ll find listed midweek prayer meetings, prayer lunches, prayer requests, perhaps even a printed prayer for the week. Walk into any church service and you’ll hear at least one prayer, probably two or three, before it’s done. Listen in on the conversations of Christians and you’ll hear them say, ‘I need you to pray for me, brother.’ And no doubt you’ll hear the same response every time, ‘Oh, yes, I will. I will.’ One would think that with all this talk about prayer, the windows of heaven would be open wide, spilling the blessings of God upon us. Jesus plainly promised that whatsoever you shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. So we should be swimming in waves of revival, prosperity, healing, and miracles of every sort. Our every conversation should be overflowing with joyful reports of answered prayer. The church should be bursting forth with such earth-shaking evidence of God’s mighty delivering power, and sinners should be banging on our doors by the thousands, begging us to show them the way of salvation.
“But clearly, that is not the case.
“I do not mean to say that we have seen no results from our praying. There have always been glimmers and even lightning strikes of power and presence of God throughout the earth. There have been praying people and even praying congregations here and there who have moved mountains as they lifted their hearts to God, and every day their numbers are increasing. Yet even so, we must admit that in our day, the church as a whole has not experienced what the Bible has promised would come to us through prayer.
“Corporately, we have not seen buildings shake under the power of God as we unite in prayer, like the church did in Acts four. Individually, we have not been able to speak with absolute certainty the words of the Apostle John. First John 5:14–15, ‘And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him.’
“As a result, many Christians have allowed prayer to slip from their list of priorities. One survey reported the average Christian invests less than two minutes a day at it. Many others have struggled through the disappointments of unanswered prayer, trying to explain away their lack of results with theological arguments. ‘Well,’ they say, ‘perhaps it simply wasn’t God’s will at this time.’ But I believe every true Christian knows deep in his heart that despite what the theologian may say, our problem is not that God is saying a loving no to many of our requests. It’s that our prayers too often lack the depth that heaven requires. They seem to come from the head and not the heart. Instead of being propelled from our spirit toward God with an earnestness and faith that cannot be denied, they often wobble from our uncertain lips and fall helplessly to the floor. They have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.
“In times past, we were fooled by that form. We were like the shopper standing in the department store who sees the mannequin out of the corner of our eye and think for a split second that the mannequin is real and turn to speak to it. But praise God, we’re not being fooled anymore. We’ve looked that prayer mannequin square in the face and said, ‘You’re not the real thing.’ We’ve turned our faces toward God and began crying out as the disciples did two thousand years ago, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’
“And He is answering us. He is restoring us not just the principles nor the mechanics, but the very spirit of prayer. I know whom I have believed. It is that Spirit we most desperately need, for although principles and formulas are valuable teaching tools, many times we have focused on them in the exclusion of God Himself. We have unwittingly grieved His tender Spirit by approaching Him almost as if He were a machine instead of a person. We followed a step-by-step formula as though systematically pushing scriptural buttons and pulling spiritual levers, we could get Him to produce the results we desire.
“Many of us even recognize truth that it takes faith to receive from God. So we’ve studied the Bible, confessed particular verses over and over and memorized every key to spiritual success. Yet many times, instead of causing us to flourish in faith and prayer, our endeavors have left us dry and spiritless. Why is that? It is because we can’t have real faith just by knowing principles. Real faith comes from knowing the Person behind the principles. That’s why the Apostle Paul, in his great statement of faith, wrote, ‘I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.’ 2nd Timothy 1:12.
“Paul didn’t say, ‘I know what I have believed.’ He didn’t say, ‘I know the principles and the steps I have believed.’ He said, ‘I know the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.’
“Paul knew Jesus because he fellowshipped with Him, and that fellowship gave Paul an unshakable confidence in His Word. Faith and fellowship with God are inseparable. Notice I said fellowship, not relationship. They’re not one and the same. A man and a woman can walk down the aisle, have a minister marry them, and legally they’d have a relationship. Even if they never spoke to one another a word, they would be related by law as husband and wife.
“But does that mean that they know each other? Does it mean they have fellowship? No. By the same token, every person who has been born again has a relationship with God. But not everyone who has been born again has fellowship with Him. A great many people come to the altar, shake hands with Jesus, and say, ‘I receive you as my Savior.’ He welcomes them to the family, but there the fellowship stops. That kind of experience does not bring eternal life. It will get us to heaven when we die, but it will not bring forth zoe, prayer-inspiring, God kind of life that Jesus intended for us to have.
“What will produce that quality of life? Jesus tells us in John 17:3. There He says, ‘And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.’ Eternal life comes from knowing God. Some will say, ‘I know God because I know His Word.’ But let me tell you, it is possible to know the Book backward and forward and still not know the Author.
“That was true of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. They knew the Scriptures thoroughly, yet Jesus said to them, ‘The Father who sent Me Himself testified concerning Me. Not one of you has ever given ear to His voice or seen His form, His face, what He is like. You have always been deaf to His voice and blind to the vision of Him. And you have not His word, His thought living in your hearts because you do not believe and adhere to and trust in and rely on Him who He has sent. That is why you do not keep His message living in you, because you do not believe the messenger whom He has sent. You search and investigate and pore over the Scriptures diligently because you suppose and trust that you have eternal life through them. And these very Scriptures testify about Me. And still you are not willing but refuse to come to Me so that you might have life.’ John 5:37–40.
“Please understand, I am a Word person. I love the Word of God. But if you try to apply that Word without fellowshiping with the Person and the Spirit of God Himself, your life and your prayers will be dry and powerless. That’s because it’s the Holy Spirit who quickens the Word to you. It’s God Himself, the Person and the power behind the Word who makes it come alive in your life. His presence makes the difference.
“You can see that the truth born out of the lives of the Old Testament heroes Caleb and Joshua. They were sent out with 10 other leaders of the nation of Israel to spy out the Promised Land. If you’ll read through the Book of Exodus, you’ll find God spoke many times to the Israelites saying, ‘I’ve given you this Promised Land. It’s a land flowing with milk and honey. I’ll deliver all its people into your hands.’ Every single Israelite had heard that promise from God again and again. Yet when the 12 spies were sent into the land, 10 of them came back with the evil report. They said, ‘We came to the land which you sent us. Surely it flows with milk and honey, but it is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all of the people that we saw in it are men of great stature, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.’ Numbers 13:27.
“Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, had an entirely different perspective. They brought words of encouragement saying, ‘Let us go up at once and possess it. We are well able to conquer it. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, neither fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their defense and the shadow of protection is removed from over them, but the Lord is with us. Fear them not.’ Numbers 13:30.
“What made the difference? All twelve leaders had heard the word of the Lord. All of them knew His promise. All of them had the same potential and the same opportunities. Why then did Joshua and Caleb have faith in God’s promise while the others didn’t? You can find the answer to this question by looking at an event that took place earlier in Joshua’s life when the Israelites had just come out of Egypt at that time. Moses used to take his own tent and pitch it outside the camp. Far off from the camp, he called it the tent of the meeting of God with His own people, and everyone who sought the Lord went out to that temporary tent of meeting which was outside the camp. When Moses went out of the tent of the meeting, all the people rose and stood and every man at his tent door and looked after Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of the cloud would descend and stand at the door of the tent, and the Lord would walk with Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of the cloud stand at the tent door, and all the people rose up in worship, every man at his tent door, and the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. Moses returned to the camp, but his minister Joshua, son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the temporary prayer tent. Exodus 33:7–11.
“Think of that. Joshua was so hungry for God that he wouldn’t leave the prayer tent. As a result, he not only heard God’s words, he knew and experienced God’s presence. That’s why he was so bold and full of faith even when confronted with the giants of Canaan. The same was true with Caleb. God said Caleb had a different spirit from the other ten leaders. He followed God fully. Numbers 14:24. Caleb and Joshua sought God. They were hungry for Him. They didn’t just follow after His blessings. They didn’t just hunger after His promises. They wanted Him.
“The Apostle Paul was the same way. He said, ‘For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly.’ Philippians 3:10.
“That attitude and purpose is the very foundation of vibrant, powerful prayer. Without it, even the most mechanically correct, properly principled prayers will be little more than straws in the wind. For it is not just the mouth and the mind that prays. It is our life that prays. If that life is not the eternal God kind of life that springs forth from a heartfelt desire to know Jesus, our prayers will lack force and substance. They will not be the earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man that makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working, James 5:16.
“When deep calls to deep. Real praying comes from the heart hungry for God. It comes when we say, like David did in Psalm 42, as the heart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for you, O God. My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God, roaring deep calls to roaring deep. At the thunder of your water spouts, all your breakers and your rolling waves have gone over me, vv. 1,2,7.
“When a person is hungry, the deepest part of his spirit begins to call out to God for something to fill that hunger. He might not even know what it is that he’s calling for, but God knows. And his cry touches the depths of his heart and causes him to respond. That’s how I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. At the time, I didn’t even know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit was. I had been born again only a short time, and I had never even heard of speaking in tongues. I knew nothing of the glory and manifest presence of God. Even so, my heart was yearning after God. I wanted to know Him. I longed to be able to fellowship with Him and pray. My heart cried, my soul sobbed, my spirit wept for God, but I had no idea what to do about it. I would pray as far as I could with my understanding, but when I had said all I knew to say to Him, I could still feel my heart aching out for more. It was so frustrating to me. All I could say was, ‘God, help me.’
“Day after day, the deep in me cried out to Him. Yet instead of easing my hunger, it seemed the more I cried out, the greater my longing became. Finally, one March night in 1972, it grew so strong that I couldn’t sleep. I climbed out of bed, wrapped my bathrobe around me, and went into the den. Once again, I cried out, ‘Help me, God. I’m just so hungry for you. I just want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please help me pray.’ Falling into the chair, I began to sob. Then suddenly, the power of God flooded the room. The deep in Him answered the deep in me, and His presence shook me with a great and overwhelming waves of glory. The fire of God fell on me until it felt as though my very skin was on fire. It was then this beautiful language I didn’t know started flowing like a river from within me.
“I was startled since I had never heard anything about speaking in tongues. Yet the joy of the Lord so filled my soul, I knew this had to be from God. And years later, I’ve looked back on that experience and wondered about it. ‘Lord,’ I’ve asked, ‘why did you fill me that night?’ ‘Because you were calling out for it,’ He answered. ‘You were hungry for it, and you get whatever you’re hungry for.’
“Spiritual hunger is an interesting thing, however. It’s never really satisfied. The more of God you get, the more of Him you want. We can never live on past experiences. We’re always needing fresh manna from heaven. So it wasn’t long after God gloriously baptized me in His Spirit that I was seeking Him again. It wasn’t long before I was crying out, ‘Lord, please reveal yourself to me more fully. Speak to my heart.’ Again, He answered in His sweet, wonderful way and said, ‘Lynne, I am the God of the Book. I’ll speak to you from the Book.” Do you think I left my Bible sitting idly on my nightstand after I heard that? No, indeed. I read it, and read it, and read it. Sure enough, He started revealing Himself to me. He revealed Himself as the God who created the heavens and earth. He revealed Himself as the God who split the Red Sea. He revealed Himself as the God who rained manna down from heaven for His children and healed the blind, the halt, and the maim. He revealed Himself through the life of Jesus and through the signs and wonders of Acts.
“That was more than twenty years ago, and I’m still reading today. He’s still revealing Himself. I know Him far more intimately than I did when I began my life in Him, yet I’m hungrier now than ever.”
