Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Heather…
Good morning. Welcome to Morning Prayer. My name is Heather Sibinski. I’m one of the pastors on staff here.
Today’s subject is peace…
Today I wanted to talk about peace before we go into prayer. As I was driving in, I’m always praying and kind of seeking. Obviously in the morning, I like to have a fresh word. And that doesn’t mean that I don’t prepare. I do prepare. But I also was like, I want to have that fresh word that He has for us.
I had a rough morning…
So I’ll just be honest with you, I kind of had a rough morning today. Because I’m a person just like you, right? I got to get up and go through things, go through obstacles just like everybody else. And my husband was up at 4 a.m. and on his phone. He’s been doing that lately. Sometimes when he’s stressed he’ll… I’m telling on him. Sorry, honey. He’ll be up in the middle of the night and he’ll be on his phone, just kind of entertaining himself till he falls back asleep. And so it’s kind of our ongoing joke because I’ll wake up because his phone’s so bright and I’m like, “What are you doing?”
And he’s like, “I can’t sleep.”
“Well, you can’t sleep because your eyes are open and you’re looking at your phone. Put your phone down and close your eyes.”
“I can’t sleep.”
I’m like, “I promise you, put your phone down, close your eyes, you’ll be asleep in a minute.”
So sure enough, he put his phone down and he closed his eyes and he was asleep in a minute. And then he started snoring very loudly. And I’m at that age in my life where every little noise, every little thing keeps me up. So I’m just laying there and I’m like, “Well, I’m glad he’s getting some sleep now.” But now I’m awake. So I’ve been up till 4, and as you can tell, I’m fighting a little bit of a cold.
The swirl of my life lately…
So there’s just been a lot going on in my life lately. We got new windows in our house, which is a blessing because we had some hail damage, and then our retaining wall fell. So now we had people in the back fixing our retaining wall. So I just have not had a lot of peace and quiet in my life lately. But I’m very blessed. This is not complaining. This is just the swirl of my life, right?
“You don’t even know me…”
And even on this morning on the drive in, I was with my daughter and we got into a little argument over something petty and silly. And then as I’m turning off to come to the church, I pull up behind this car and it has a big decal of a skeleton giving you the finger, and I just thought, “You know, it’s just really hard to stay in peace, Lord, when all these things are happening,” and I’m like, “Who would get that kind of sticker on their car? How rude. You don’t even know me.” Give me the finger. You don’t even know me.
“Lord, I need to get into a place of peace and rest…”
So it was one of those mornings, we’ll just put it that way. And I was probably a little short-tempered, a little edgy, because I haven’t gotten the sleep that I needed. So I’m like, “All right, Lord, I just need to get into a place of rest right now, and I know there is a place of rest, right?” And I was thinking back to Pastor Jim’s message this weekend. If you haven’t listened to it, please listen to it.
Peace is power…
But he was talking about how peace is power, right? And when he was saying one of my favorite verses, Philippians 4:6-9, I’m going to read it in the Amplified. But when he was talking about that, something just kind of lit up inside me. I was recalling that as I was driving and fighting off all of the things that we all have to fight every day, right? Because we live in a world that’s very noisy, very grumpy, very anxious, very depressed, right? And so we are in this world, but we’re not of this world. And so there’s times where, when we’re in the world, but we’re not of the world, but it’s still, we’re walking through things every day, right? And I like to think of…
Dawn dish soap commercial analogy…
This is one of my favorite analogies that the Lord showed me one time. I don’t know if you guys remember that Dawn dish soap commercial. I think they still show it from time to time. And there’s those little baby duckies that were swimming in the oil. Do you know what I’m talking about? What happened? It was man! We spilled oil into their ocean, into their lakes, and so they’re just doing what ducks do. They’re just swimming in the water, but they’re getting all full of oil. In the Dawn dish soap commercial, of course, they just lovingly wash the oil off of these little duckies.
We’re just like those little duckies…
And I just thought, “Isn’t that kind of like us sometimes?” We’re just doing what we’re supposed to be doing. We’re just living in a world that’s just really dirty and polluted, and it’s hard always to… I don’t want to say stay clean, because we’re washed by the water of the Word. But it’s hard not to pick up that debris sometimes. It’s hard not to take on a care. It’s hard not to let our environment affect us if we’re not being intentional about staying in peace.
It’s about what God has placed inside us…
I’m glad I’m not the only one. I’m going to assume I’m not the only one. Sometimes I think people think, “Oh, you’re a pastor. You just walk around and pray all day.” And oh, yes, we do. It’s wonderful. And we do. We do pray. We do seek the Lord just like you do. But also it can be really heavy sometimes because you have a lot of people that are coming to you with their problems and their troubles. And so you have to learn to really cast your cares on the Lord. You have to learn who your source is. You have to learn that even though I might come in here and not feel very spiritual, it’s not about our feelings, right? It’s not about our emotions. It’s about what God has placed inside of us. And when I am weak, He is strong. And I’m so thankful for that. And there’s times where when I feel it the least, sometimes He shows up the most. And I’m like, “I see you, God. I know it’s not me. It’s you.” I’m just a glove that He uses, right? And let’s just not be really hard, rigid gloves. Let’s be gloves that He can use that are flexible.
“I need some peace…”
So I wanted to read some scriptures on peace this morning because I need it. And I believe when the Lord is ministering to me, there’s something in there that other people need as well.
Philippians 4:6-9 Amplified Classic…
“Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything by prayer and petition, definite requests…” That’s what we’re here for today. “…with thanksgiving continue to make your wants known unto God. 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’s some good peace. “…which transcends all understanding, our mind…” and here’s my favorite part, “…shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Further 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. Practice what you’ve 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.”
God’s peace will garrison your heart…
And I just love that picture of peace garrisoning around our heart. It’s a garrison. It guards our heart. And so, like I was talking about, we’re walking through a world that’s just very troubled, anxious, angry, bitter. I mean, all the things… You just think of the fruits of the spirit, the world just feels like the opposite right now as you walk around, right? There’s still good people. There’s still people that love God. And there’s still people that are gracious. But more and more, we see as the day approaches, the dark gets darker. But that also means that the light gets lighter. And so, allowing that peace to guard our hearts.
Life springs out of our hearts…
And so, Pastor Jim was talking about a garrison, which is like a fort. So just think of that. Picture your heart right now. Because out of our hearts flow all the issues of life. So everything we’re thinking about, everything that’s important to us, everything that we’ve learned from all these things, that’s in our heart. And what springs up out of it, that’s life. Life springs out of our hearts.
So what does that mean? That means we have to guard that. It’s precious. And if we’re out in the world and we’re not guarding it, it can be hurtful. It could be heavy. It could be a lot of things. And so what guards our heart?
God’s peace.
And so just picture your heart right now. And picture God, the Prince of Peace, and that peace just building a fort around your heart that your heart is protected, that we don’t have to be susceptible to attack. We don’t have to be susceptible to other people’s emotions or the things that they’re going through. But that our hearts are safe. They’re safe in God’s hands. They’re protected because they’re valuable. Jesus paid such a price to have our heart, and He also wants to guard it, and He wants to protect it. And He does that with His peace.
John 14:27 in the Amplified Classic…
“Peace I leave you. My own peace now I give you and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled.” There’s guarding them with peace again. “Neither let them be afraid. Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed.” That sounded like me this morning. “Don’t allow yourself to do that. And do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.”
He gives us His peace. Our peace is based on circumstances. My peace this morning was highly based on all the circumstances around me. And every little circumstance was trying to take a little piece of my peace. Right? But God gives us His peace. Jesus gave us His peace, which is beyond our understanding. He doesn’t take it away. It rests on us. But we still have to guard it, right?
The Passion Translation says…
“I leave the gift of peace with you, my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts. Instead, be courageous.”
John 16:33 in the Amplified Classic…
“I have told you these things so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world, you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration. But be of good cheer; take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted. For I have overcome the world. I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.”
The Passion Translation says…
“And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in Me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in Me. For in this unbelieving world, you will experience trouble and sorrows. But you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world.”
Isaiah 53:5 Amplified Classic…
“But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities. The chastisement needful to obtain peace and well-being for us was upon Him. And with the stripes that wounded Him, we are healed and made whole.”
Jesus paid such a great price that we could have peace.
