Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Worship leader…
Good morning, everybody. It’s always good to be here.
We need revival…
I’ve been thinking a lot about what Pastor Jim has been talking about, the former and latter rain and how we need the Holy Spirit. We need revival. And thinking about that, I want to read the beginning of Acts two. It’s good to be reminded about when the Holy Spirit first came and filled the church.
Acts 1 in the NIV
So this is the NIV. It says, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them; all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
They came together with one heart and one mind…
The beginning says they were all together in one place. I don’t think that’s just a physical thing. Like I think they’re actually one heart and one mind, like in unity, right? And it’s something I’ve been praying about a lot. There’s a passage in Colossians 3 that talks about that. Jesus prayed for that in the church. And we need the Holy Spirit. Our church has been so good about teaching this. When we come together and pray corporately, things happen. So we’re going to sing some songs about the Holy Spirit, His presence, needing a fresh wind from heaven today. Because a fresh wind from heaven is all that’s going to change anything. I can’t do it. You can’t do it. Not in and of ourselves, but by the Spirit of the Lord, we can.
Prayed…
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for being here, for your presence. Your presence gives us strength and energy to do everything we need to do today. Thank you that you didn’t just come once, but you come and fill us every day. We as individuals need a fresh wind. We as a church need that. We as a nation need that.
Pastor Heather…
Now we make room for that presence, let the glory of your train fill this temple. Filling, filling, filling to overflowing. So make room for that now. There is a filling. But is there room for the filling?
I just heard the Lord saying…
“It is time for some spring cleaning. So what are some things that you have in there that need to be removed to make room for My presence?”
Make room for My presence. I will fill you.
I hear the Lord saying, “Filling and filling and filling. But how many containers do you have ready?”
So get your containers ready now for My oil is flowing, My presence is filling to the capacity that you allow Me to fill it.
Prayed…
Father, what are those things that are stopping that flow of your presence into our spirits?
Show us, Father, those things like the little foxes that spoil the vine. Show us those little foxes.
The clutter that needs to be removed, things that are there that don’t need to be there.
We harken our hearts to hear what you are saying right now to the church, to make room.
Worship leader…
I’m really sensing that some of you need to fall on your face. Could be people here in the room. Could be people watching online. If you want to come to the altar, it’s open. It’s always open. He’s always here. Getting on our face, falling on our knees is a sign of humility. He is the one and only Most High. And we all have things that we need to repent of and change and surrender things we want to keep to ourselves that we think we do better than He does. And I think it’s 1st Peter that says, humble yourself. That hit me the other day. We want to humble ourselves because we don’t want to have to have Him do it for us. No, thank you. So if you need to come, if you need to bow, kneel, cry, whatever it is, right? That thing that you know He wants…
Pastor Heather…
I wanted to share something I was about reading in Revelations 5:8. This is the Amplified classic. It says, “And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders of the heavenly Sanhedrin prostrated themselves before the Lamb. Each was holding a harp, and they had golden bowls full of incense, fragrant spices and gums for burning, which are the prayers of God’s people, the saints.”
How big is our bowl of incense…
As I was picturing that, I was like, “How big is my little bowl of incense, Lord?” I know it needs to be bigger. It just made me think about that… the bowls of the incense are the prayers of His people. And when they’re coming and getting ready to pour those bowls, how big are those bowls?
How pleasing it is when we pray…
And it just was a reminder to me too, there’s the importance of prayer. And we know we’re here. We’re doing this right now because all of us in this room and watching online, we know the importance of prayer. But I don’t think we always realize that the gravity of it, the eternity of it. We’re standing in this moment and we’re praying. But it just reminded me there are bowls in heaven that as we pray, we’re just filling those with incense and what a beautiful thought that was and how important and precious our prayers are to Him. That it’s pleasing to Him. That scent of that incense, how pleasing it is when we pray.
A revival is coming, are we ready for it?
I think most of you have probably seen or heard about the prophecy, about a revival coming. And this gentleman prophesied how he heard it’s coming to Living Word. And as a pastor here, I want to feel the weight of that. I want to weigh that before the Lord and I felt like I have to ask myself, “Am I ready for that? Am I ready for people to be flooding in, for these chairs to be filled, for people just all around the community coming, for people all over the world to be watching online, to see what God is doing.
And my heart is ready…
But am I doing everything that I can do to play my part to whatever that is, to pull that in with my prayer, with my actions. Like, am I ready? Are we all ready for the outpouring of His Spirit upon all flesh? And we want to say yes, right? Our hearts are like, “Yes, we’re ready!” But am I doing everything I can to be a participant in that, to help create that space for Him to do that? And I just feel like there’s an urgency now for us to really lay aside distractions. And distractions aren’t even always bad things. It’s just something that is taking my time that I could be using in such a better way for His kingdom.
For some, it might be social media, TV, sports, even reading fictional books and stuff. What is the Lord showing you right now? And I think that there’s a consecration… Pastor Ken was praying yesterday, a “separation.” And that resounded in my heart so big that He’s asking us to step into a higher place. He’s asking us to separate ourselves from the world. And what does that look like? And obviously we live in this world, but we’re not of this world. But so much of our day to day is taken up with things of the world. And some of it has to be. We have to work. We have to get paychecks. We have to take care of our families, those kind of things. Necessary things. But how much of it are we inviting Him into? Do I invite Him into going to the grocery store? It’s a simple thing. But do I invite Him to join me?
Let’s invite Him with us in our day-to-day activities…
Obviously He’s always with us, but you know what I’m saying. Just that awareness of “Let’s go to the grocery store, Lord.” And now I’m looking and I’m walking and I’m shopping. And what do you want to say to that person over there by the pasta? What do you want to say to this cashier? Am I making myself continually available and aware of His presence everywhere I go?
And if I’m honest, I have to say not like I should be. I’m a pastor so I’m going to be vulnerable before you, not like I should be. Because we can all get busy, right? I’m a person just like you. I have to get up and go to work and have temptation to get upset at the person that cuts me off on the freeway and that person that sends a nasty email and all those things just like everybody else, right?
He’s calling us into a deeper walk with Him…
But I think He’s calling us into a deeper walk with Him, a more of a practicing His presence continually and making ourselves aware that everywhere we go, He is in us and with us and wants to move through us. It’s an obvious thing, but we can get so busy that we’re just… if I’m grocery shopping, maybe I’m looking at my shopping list, maybe I’m focusing on like what’s the cheapest whatever thing that I can get. And I’m consumed with my task. But inviting Him into all the day-to-day things that I do and giving Him that first place to speak and to move through me even when it’s uncomfortable.
And I’ll be honest…
He’s told me to speak to people before and I was like, “But Lord… It is a cashier. They’re going to be embarrassed. There’s another person in line behind me.” And hopefully I’m not the only one. Hopefully other people have had those moments too, where He is like, “Just tell him I love him.” And so I am purposing in my heart to be more obedient to that first leading, to not argue with Him. And I just encourage you all to do the same.
And as we have that immediate obedience, which isn’t a popular word these days, we soften our hearts and our spirit to hear His voice. And it becomes clearer and clearer every time we step out. And what’s the worst thing that could happen? You step out and you tell somebody “God loves you” and you tell them about Jesus and they’re angry and they’re nasty with you and you walk away. You still lived. Right?
I had that happen to me…
I told the lady, I just felt led to say this lady, “Is there anything I can pray for you about?” No! Mm-hmm. No. I said, “Oh, okay. Well, I’m sorry. I just felt a prompting in my heart. I’ll be praying for you and have a nice day.” And I walked away. And you feel silly and you feel embarrassed. It doesn’t matter. I sowed a seed whether she received it or not, I obeyed. I sowed a seed. And guess what? I lived. I’m still here to talk about it.
How do we prepare the way for an outpouring of His presence?
So just immediate obedience and a listening for His prompting throughout our days. And I think we are in the time now, obviously, we’re getting closer and closer to His return and being ready for that outpouring of His Spirit. And how do we help prepare the way for His coming? How do we prepare the way for that in this church, in our lives, in our families, in our communities, wherever we go in our neighborhoods, what are we doing to help prepare the way for Him? And so that’s what He spoke to my heart. And I pray that that bears witness to everybody today. Just a listening and an alertness.
Vision of a sleeping bride…
A while ago, we were praying in here and it was when Pastor Ray Kelly was still here and we were praying, and I remember the Lord gave me this vivid picture of a bride sleeping on a couch and she had snacks all over her and soda. And she was just out. But she was in her beautiful wedding gown. And that was a picture of the church. We are His bride, His beautiful bride without spot and blemish, right? But how many of us are sleeping or we’re filling up on the snacks of the world, let’s say.
And I think there’s a calling right now…
A calling of an awakening. And we have to do that. We have to stir ourselves up, right? He’s always there. It’s not about Him removing His presence. It’s about us putting things in the way to have that channel be clear. Maybe that’s the best way I can say it. Because He’s always pouring out. He’s always giving. He’s more than enough. But it’s like that widow with the containers. How many containers did she grab? That’s the oil that she got.
How many containers do we have ready?
So how many containers, how much are we making available to Him? That’s what we will receive, right? We receive what we’re expecting. We receive what we’re making room for.
