Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Pastor Ken…
Good morning, everyone! Good to have you with us this morning.
Give your heart to the plan of God…
I thought I would just read a little something to start us off. I love what Pastor Mac said yesterday. It was really simple, but it just really struck a chord with me. He said, “Give your heart to the plan of God.” Love that! So simple. It’s something that just resets my heart in a way and just reminds me that it’s all about Him. It’s all about the fact that He has a plan today. He’s got a plan for Living Word, for your household, for your individual journey.
God is in the business of redeeming and repurposing…
And one of the things that kind of hit me was I woke up one morning and I had a really strong sense, a vivid sense, a strong impression that more than ever God is helping people out of messes and righting what’s wrong and healing what’s broken. And repositioning what’s upside down in our lives because He’s still in the business of redeeming and repurposing. But more than that, He’s intent and determined to coach and mentor, I like to say, by His Spirit us to our destination. God has a destination.
Paul emphasized the importance of finishing…
We’re in a race of faith. And it’s not meant to be something we start. If we read after the apostle Paul, he seemed to put emphasis on the importance of finishing… to run to finish. And I don’t know where we are exactly at God’s timetable. Obviously, we’re in the last days. But there’s a race to run yet. There’s a course to finish.
So, I suppose the Holy Spirit inspired Pastor Mac to say that yesterday. Give your heart to the plan of God—individually and collectively.
Philippians 1:6…
says, “Being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ.”
Acts 20:22–24…
I love what Acts 20:22–24 says. Paul writes “And see now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city saying the chains and tribulations await me.”
How’s that for a plan?
“But none of these things move me.” In other words, he wasn’t letting his intellect or his human reasoning detour him from the plan of God, from the purpose of God, of what God actually said to him, where he was to go, what he was to do. He was bound to what God’s plan was, to where God was instructing him to go.
“But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
Second Timothy 4:5…
I looked up a couple more. I love this too from the Passion translation. Second Timothy 4:5 says, “So be alert. Be alert to all these things and overcome every form of evil. Carry in your heart the passion of your calling.” Come on now.
We’re in a race…
We’re going to stir up our calling this morning I feel. Put ourselves in remembrance this morning that we’re in a race. Someone once said that God is the most purposeful being in all the universe. He’s got a purpose today. He’s got some intentionality for us today to accomplish, to fulfill.
But it goes on to say, “Carry in your heart the passion of your calling as a church planter and evangelist, and fulfill your ministry calling.” Can I get an amen in this Presbyterian church this morning? And now the time is fast approaching from my release from this life, and I am ready to be offered as a sacrifice. I have fought an excellent fight. I have finished my full course with all my might and I have kept a heart full of faith.”
Philippians 3:13…
(NKJV) “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended…” Or in other words, reach the mark. “But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind…” I think in some cases that could be good things, good seasons of purpose that will have already transpired. Doesn’t Jeremiah say something to the effect that God proclaims, “I’m doing something new.” The world and this world system’s all about repeating. Hitting the repeat button. But the Kingdom of God and the way God rolls is that He’s always doing something new. He’s always bringing about change.
And I think it was in Jeremiah where he proclaims, “I’m doing something new. Will you not be aware of it? Will you not recognize I’m doing something new?” So just hear that echo in your heart this morning. God is doing something new. There’s a new season before us.
There’s a race we must finish…
Pastor Mac highlighted that yesterday. He underscored that by the Spirit yesterday. And that’s true for us individually. There’s a race not just to run, but there’s a race to finish. There’s a tape to break. There’s a line to cross. There’s much intentionality and purpose in our decision making, in our relationships, in our planning, in our visioneering, in all that we set our hands today, in the ministry, in our daily lives, in our relationships, in our households.
Man’s testimony of the library in heaven…
I heard a man once say that he saw angels coming and going… He died and went to heaven and came back and he saw angels coming and going to a great library in heaven. And he asked the Lord, “Why are those angels coming and going in this library?” And the Lord explained to him that they were coming and going, accessing the annals, the books of destiny of the saints to study, to learn how they could assist them to fulfill their purpose, their race of faith, the plan of God for their day and their life. And I think, “Wow, truly God is the most purposeful being in all the universe if He has angels on the other side, in the other realm accessing our books of destiny.”
Psalm 1:39…
All the days of our lives were written down, recorded in chapters and verses in a book. God’s intention, His good works, His good plan for us here at Living Word individually for our household, for our children, and our children’s children. So if angels are doing that, they’re that intentional daily to study our books of destiny, those assigned to our course and to our lives and to our church, then how much more should we be intentional?
This man also went on to say that he understood really clearly in the spirit dimension that when you pray in the spirit… We know that the Amplified Bible says that when we pray in the spirit that we rise, we make progress. We rise like an edifice higher and higher in the plan and the things of God when we pray out of the Holy Spirit in our heavenly language. But this man understood that when you pray in the spirit, Jesus instructed him that you are praying out sentences and verses and whole chapters from your book of destiny in that library in heaven that holds your book of destiny, holds Living Word’s book of destiny.
We are transacting the plans of God…
And so when we [speaking in tongues], we are reciting, we are praying out, we are transacting the plan of God from heaven to earth through us as pray-ers, as believers, as leaders. This is our first order of business. This is where we engage with heavenly purpose. This is where we give our hearts to the plan of God, as Pastor Mac said. Where we turn ourselves over to Him. I don’t know about you, but I want Him. I want what He wants. I don’t want to insert my plan even in the littlest of things.
Philippians 3:13…
Paul goes on in Philippians 3:13. It says, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Rabbi Khan, “We are each created to be a bride…”
Let me read one other thing to you from Rabbi Khan; he wrote this in one of his devotionals. I think this kind of connects with what I’m saying. He said, “We were each created to be a bride. That’s why we can never be complete in ourselves. That’s why down deep in the center of our being in the deepest part of our heart, we seek to be filled. For the bride is made to be married. So we can never find our completion…” Or I would add never complete our assignment, our purpose, our calling, God’s vision, “until we are joined to Him who is beyond us. And that is why we go through our lives trying to join ourselves. Join ourselves to what? To that which we think will fulfill the longing of our hearts… to people… success… possessions… achievements… comfort… acceptance… beauty… romance… family… power of movement… a goal… and a multitude of other things. For the bride was created to be married and she can never rest and until she is.”
“So none of these other things can work. None of these other things are the bridegroom. And who is the bridegroom? The bridegroom is God. And the one whom we were created. So we have to find Him, he writes. “More than that, a bride doesn’t just find the bridegroom. She must marry Him.”
So it’s not enough to find God. You must marry Him. Marry God! How? By joining every part of your life and being. In fact your deepest parts, your heart, your soul, your wounds, your longings, your desires, everything to God. Only then can you be complete.
And I would add to that again what resonates in my spirit. Only then can we complete our race of faith and finish our course.
“Only then can your deepest needs and longings be fulfilled. For the mystery of our hearts is the mystery of the bride. And the bride can only find her completion in the bridegroom and the bridegroom of our souls is God. It’s our mission. Put away anything that substitutes for His presence and join all that you are, your deepest parts to your bridegroom.”
Prayed…
So, Father, we thank you for this opportunity to meet with you. We thank you that you are here.
Lord, we just come to you this morning with a sense of reverence and awe and curiosity of who you are and who you mean to be in a greater way in our lives.
Lord, we pray out into the future… we pray out into our day, our week, our month, the remaining part of 2023, Lord, that there would be a way made, a pathway made in Jesus’ name.
In Jesus’ name, we put the enemy on notice. Devil, we put you on notice in our lives individually, but also as a church collective and we say, We’re taking ground. We’re taking new territories.
We declare that in Jesus’ name… make way for the plan of God… for a new season.
We declare, Make way, make preparation. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready in Jesus’ name for the new that you’re about to do, Lord.
Father, we pray for a fuller release of the plans and intentions of your heart… for a fuller release of your glory and your purposes and the works of Jesus
We pray for an unveiling of secrets and mysteries and hidden things prepared and put in store long ago, aka transactions that need to happen now from heaven to earth.
We pray for supernatural openings and softening in hearts of children and teenagers and adults and grandparents, and in all generations, Lord… that there would be a supernatural plowing of the ground, if you will, in the hearts of people, in the hearts of those who gather online and in our services on the weekends.
Father, that you would prepare new ground for the planting of new seeds, for the growing of new harvests and new purposes and new things, that you want to get glory.
We declare this morning to your storehouses of abundance, Lord, we command them to open up in Jesus’ name for the enemy to get his hands off of what belongs to this ministry.
We speak a release to resources and finances.
We speak release to ideas and concepts, release to individuals and influencers and connectors.
We speak, release to every element needed now that needs to come into play, that needs to be woven into the plan of God in a new way.
