Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Worship leader…
Good morning, everybody. So there’s a verse in Zephaniah. I know it’s not a book we read a lot, but this verse is one we probably all know. “For the Lord your God is living among you. He’s a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
I love the picture of God singing over us. I also love that right before that it says, “With His love, He will calm all of your fears.” It reminds me of the verse I think it’s 1st John that says, “Perfect love casts out all fear.” And so I have to remind myself when I’m feeling fearful or worried, it’s because I’m not remembering how loved I am. So we’re going to start this morning by just reminding ourselves about how amazing His love is. [worship commences]
Pastor Heather…
We thank you, Father, that even as we sit in your presence, you are filling every want, meeting every need, filling us up to overflowing, replenishing empty vessels, replenishing oil that has gotten low. Now as we just sit in your presence, you’re pouring, pouring, pouring, pouring into us as we pour our love onto you. You pour your oil, you’re refreshing, your peace, your joy, your love into us. We never leave your presence empty handed. And that’s not why we come. We come because we love you. We come to worship you, but you’re such a good God that you’re always above and beyond that we can never give you more than you give back to us because that’s just the good kind of God that you are.
I just wanted to read Philippians 4:4–9. And I’m going to read it in the Amplified Bible.
4 “Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!
5 Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit). The Lord is near [He is coming soon].
6 Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
7 And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
8 For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].
9 Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.”
Cure for anxiety…
We have a step-by-step cure for anxiety and worry and fear in these verses. So let’s break that down.
Number one: Continue to rejoice and be joyful
What’s the first thing he says? “Continue to rejoice and be joyful in every season.” In every season, He’s fighting for you behind the scenes. So joy is not circumstantial. Continue to rejoice and be joyful. That’s number one.
Number two: Don’t let yourself worry
We do have a choice. Don’t let yourself worry. That word “worry” means to be distracted, pulled apart, pulled away, to fall to pieces. Be present in the moment and allow the Holy Spirit to work in that moment. So worrying is letting yourself being pulled apart. In other words, you are not wholly in one place with your mind on one thing. You’re distracted. There are pieces of you everywhere. You’re thinking about the bills. You’re thinking about the kids. You’re thinking about your spouse. You’re thinking about your job. You’re thinking about… Pull that all together. Don’t let yourself worry.
Number three: Talk to God about it
Pray.
Number four: Ask Him what you need
Give Him detailed requests.
Number five: Thank Him for what He has already done
Gratefulness. Practice gratefulness. If you find yourself worrying a lot about things, get yourself a gratefulness journal and every day you write down at least 10 things that you’re grateful for. And you’ll be amazed at how soon that starts to make you aware of how many blessings you have in your life, which start to diminish those worries that are trying to take over.
Number six: Know that He is guarding your heart and mind
He’s like a military troop and like a fortress, He’s guarding your heart and your mind. So you have a decision of what you’re going to let go past that fortress. If He’s guarding it, you are the only one that can allow those fears and worries to come in.
Number seven: Think on right things only
Meditate, cast down those vain imaginations. We talked about that last week when I was leading prayer, casting down anything that exalts itself against what God says, against…
What God says who you are
What He says about your family
What He says about your finances
What He says about your body
What He says about your community and where you live
What He says about your church
Anything that is contrary to that, that’s a vain imagination. So cast it down!
Number eight: Repeat.
Keep doing it. Don’t quit.
So if you look through that verse, you can see step by step: Okay, if I’m anxious, if I’m worrying, what am I missing here? Am I meditating on the wrong thing? Am I allowing worries and cares to get in there? Anxious or worry, like I was saying that word in this verse means “a part” as opposed to “whole.” So you’re drawn in opposite directions. You’re divided into parts, or you go into pieces. You’ve heard people say, “She just fell into pieces” because you are being pulled apart in different directions, like a force exerted by sinful anxiety.
A lot of times, we don’t think that worry or anxiety are sin. It’s just kind of a thing that we all do from time to time. Right? But it is! It’s a sin. And not that God is here to condemn you about it, but He’s saying, “Why would you sit and meditate on the wrong thing?” That’s what worry is. It’s meditating on the opposite of what God says.
So let’s just talk about our bodies…
You get a diagnosis from the doctor. So now you have a choice. You can sit and worry and fixate and you can think about that thing. “What can I do and what kind of medications and can I exercise and can I do this and can I eat different and can I, can I, can I, can I, can I?”
And yes, there are natural things that we need to do when it comes to our bodies. Or are you meditating on “by His stripes, I was healed?” And a number of scriptures, obviously, you could read through any of the gospels and see all the healings that Jesus did. You can meditate on those.
When He healed the woman with the issue of blood
When He raised Lazarus from the dead
When He healed Jairus’s daughter
When He healed the lepers
When He healed the blind man
When He healed the lame man laying by the pool
It just goes on and on and on.
What are you going to meditate on?
You have a choice. The Bible says, “think on these things,” right? So what does he tell us to think on? Things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, worthy of praise. So if you find yourself thinking on things that don’t fit those categories, then you let your mind go into a place that’s not supposed to be. You bring it back. If you’re like, “Oh, the world is just… woof. And this is happening and that is happening. And this is happening.”
And I’m not saying that those things aren’t real in the natural, but what are you going to meditate on? “God, you are in control. You are above all this.” And you pray it. You speak the Word over situations. You don’t just sit and let the hopelessness take over.
Matthew 6:25–34…
And of course this is Jesus and He’s speaking to everybody and says, “This is why I tell you to never be worried about your life. For all that you need will be provided, such as food, water, clothing, everything your body needs. Isn’t there more to your life than a meal? Isn’t your body more than clothing? Consider the birds. Do you think they worry about their existence? They don’t plant or reap or store up food yet your heavenly Father provides them each with food. Aren’t you much more valuable to your Father than they are? So which one of you by worrying could add anything to your life? And why would you worry about your clothing? Look at the beautiful flowers of the field. They don’t work or toil.” Toil meaning like they don’t spin or make clothing. “And yet not even Solomon in all of his splendor was robed in beauty like one of these. So if God has clothed the meadow with hay, which is here for such a short time and then dried up and burned, won’t he provide for you the clothes that you need? You of little faith. So then forsake your worries. Why would you say, what will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? For that is what the unbelievers chase after. Doesn’t your heavenly Father already know the things that your bodies require? So above all, constantly seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness. And then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly. Refuse to worry about tomorrow, but deal with each challenge that comes your way one day at a time.”
And sometimes it might be one minute at a time, one second at a time.
“For tomorrow will take care of itself.”
Lay your worries and cares at His feet…
Right now, I want you to take any worries you have, anything that has been really taking up a lot of space in your thought life, and hold that before Him right now. What is it? Is it your health? Your finances? Your family? Your job? Your relationship? It could be anything. Could be all those things. I want you to see you’re holding it in your hand right now. And now we’re going to take that and we’re going to lay this at the feet of Jesus. And we’re going to say, “I choose now to lay this at your feet because I believe that you are who you say you are. And I’m going to choose to not try to control this thing with my worry, with my anxious thoughts. But I’m going to choose to lay it at your feet and believe that you have taken care of it because you are faithful and you are true. And I know that when you promise me something, you fulfill your Word. You are who you say that you are. You are more than enough to take care of this thing that I’ve been trying to control in my little world.”
You put the universe to action…
It’s still expanding. Even now as we speak. You put every star in the sky. You created everything, every substance, everything that we walk upon every day. You created all that so you can take care of my little thing, whatever that is, because you are the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords and you care about me so much that you know how many hairs I have on my head. With everything you have on your to-do list, Father God, you know every hair on my head, You’ve bottled every tear that has fallen from my eyes. You count them, you know them because you are intimately aware of every detail of my life because it matters to you, because I matter to you, because my heart matters to you, and I know that this thing, Father, that has been troubling my heart matters to you. And you have an answer. And so now I lay it at your feet, Father, and I say, I trust you. I trust you today. And I refuse to continue to worry about these things that I’m laying at your feet right now. I’m going to cast this care as far from me as possible.
