Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Heather…
Good morning and welcome to morning prayer. My name is Heather Sibinski, and I’m one of the pastors here at Living Word.
As we were singing, I was remembering we used to sing that song back in the nineties. Some of you weren’t even born yet… in the old building. And for those of you that have been in Living Word for a long time, like me, the old building was purple on the inside. And there were purple flags that hung from the ceiling.
Expect the glory
I remember in the background… this is the days of Pastor Ray Kelly. There was a Styrofoam sign painted gold. And it said something along the lines of glory. I think it was “Contend for the glory. Expect the glory.” And I just remember being a little 18-year-old, coming to church and seeing that sign “Expect the Glory.” And this is one of the songs I remember singing. I’m just a new little Christian. But I remember that excitement of coming to church and the expectancy that I felt of like “anything could happen.” Anything could happen! And in those days, literally anything could happen. People could roll down the aisles, people could run. And obviously there was this… I hesitate to say a revival, but like an awakening. There was a just a really amazing move of the Spirit at that time in the nineties.
“I asked myself, What changed?”
And so then I asked myself, “So what changed? Did God change?” No. Because He doesn’t change. He’s the same forevermore. “Did I change? Maybe a little, if I’m honest.” I was talking to the Lord about this, this morning. I think that there’s something that happens to us, obviously when we’re first born again. We feel like this, God creates this new clean heart in us. And everything feels new and exciting. And then there’s something I think that happens along the way… It did for me anyways. And maybe this resonates with some of you. There’s something that happens along the way that whatever He started, we feel like we have to finish. We feel like we have to keep it up. We feel like we have to keep our hearts clean. We feel like we are responsible for doing X, Y, Z.
We still need to access His grace…
And we forget about the blood that cleansed us. And there’s this… I don’t know what it is. There’s this feeling of after being a Christian for a long time, I think we feel like the grace is for everybody else. The grace is for these sinners coming out of drugs. The grace is for these people. And God loves you. God loves you so much. But I think sometimes in our own lives we forget that we still need to access that grace. We still need to access that love. We still need to allow Him to come in and to cleanse. And we don’t have to do it in our own effort and our own strength. I guess, is what I’m trying to say. And I feel like there is this sense of that as we become mature Christians, sometimes we forget that He started this work. He’s going to finish it.
“How’s your heart?”
And as we were walking through life, work, family, ministry, all these things. Things can get so heavy and bogged down in our hearts. And that’s what I heard the Lord ask me this morning. “How’s your heart?”
And so I just want to ask everybody in this room: “How’s your heart this morning? And when’s the last time you have fully and completely and honestly and vulnerably brought it before God instead of trying to fix everything on your own?”
And I think there’s people here this morning… and I’ll put myself in the boat as well. Maybe your heart feels heavy. You’ve been through some things. You’re going through some things. It feels heavy. You feel like you’re pushing this load on your own.
You’re not alone.
Maybe your heart feels really fragile. It feels like glass. You feel like one more thing… I just don’t know what I will do, Lord, if one more thing happens. Maybe your heart feels dark. You feel like there’s some spots on it that you put there by your own actions, or your own thoughts, or things that have happened. And you need Him to come in and heal those things.
“He has called me to heal the broken hearted.”
The Word says that the very first thing Jesus read in the synagogue was He has called Me to heal the broken hearted. Set the captives free. Our hearts are so important to Him. I had the opportunity to speak to our young people on Sunday. And we talked about our hearts and doing things when you don’t feel like it. Well, as grownups, we need to hear that too. He came. He said, “The Spirit of Lord is upon me. He has anointed Me to heal the broken hearted, to set the captives free.” And He just goes on and on. But healing the broken hearted was one of those things.
I ask again, How’s your heart this morning?
So just close your eyes. Maybe your heart is like that closet in your house where you put everything before company comes and you’re afraid to open it because you know it just means this big list of things that you have to do, have to fix, have to face things of the past. You’re shoving those things in that closet and closing the door. Bring that to Him now.
And so we do that, Father…
We just bring our hearts to you now and we’re honest right now where we’re at. Just be honest with Him. He knows already anyways. So just be honest with Him. Maybe your heart is hurting. Maybe you feel heavy. Maybe you have some fear or some things that are happening. Just bring that to Him right now. Set it at His feet. Because if the only way we can connect with God is heart to heart, and if our heart has all these things in it that are preventing us from fully connecting with Him, we have to bring those things to Him and put them at His feet.
So we do that this morning, Father…
We bring our hearts, all the contents inside of it—pain, drama, past, fear, heaviness… All those things that as we walk through this earth, because we know who rules this world. But we are not of this world. We are of you. And as we’ve walked through this world, we’ve picked up some things along the way. We’ve got a little dirty. We’ve got a little bruised. And we just need your cleansing power of the Holy Spirit this morning to come, to cleanse, to do some heart surgery, take some things out, and mend some things. And we trust you because you are the Great Physician and you can come in and you can do things that no one else can in one moment.
And so we trust you now. We trust you with our hearts. We trust you with the contents of our hearts.
And we just repent.
If we’ve been trying to do things in our own strength and trying to fix things and “Look, God, we got this. We can take care of this. Don’t worry about it. We’re good. We’re good. We got this.” We just want to be honest today and say,
“Well, I don’t have this, but I know you do.
I don’t understand, but I know you do.
I don’t have an answer, but I know that you do today, Father.
We bring our hearts to the Father…
And so I bring my heart, all the contents, the shape that it’s in, and I just lay it at your feet now, Father.
And I expect you to move.
I expect you to heal.
I expect you to restore those things that have bogged me down over the years.
Because you’re so good. I remind my soul that I can access grace. I can access the blood of Jesus at any time. I don’t have to do it in my own strength. I’m not alone. You’re always with me.
And so I choose to keep my eyes on you.
I choose to be expectant.
I choose to believe what you say about me, what you say about my future, what you say about the future of my family, what you say about the future of my church.
I choose to believe those things.
I choose to be expectant and to be filled with hope because that is what you ask us to do, Father.
And so now I remind my soul I’m safe. I’m held. I’m loved. I’m seen by the living God who has a plan for me and that you’re holding me. I thank you.
You just remind everybody that this morning, Father, you’re holding them in whatever situation they’re in.
We just come to you like little children and we just say, “Hold us now. Tell us everything’s going to be okay.” Because we are in the arms of a Loving Father who’s taking care of every detail of our lives. Whether it feels like it or looks like it.
We know, Father, that you have every detail and you’re working it together for our good because that’s a promise that you’ve given us.
So thank you, Father. Even now, your healing things. You are moving things.
Like oil, oil, oil. Healing, healing, healing some things, moving some things out now.
Allow Him to do that thing.
Allow Him to touch that part of your heart that you’re hiding, that you’re embarrassed of, that you don’t know what to do with.
He’s got you. He’s never going to drop you.
That heaviness that you’re feeling, that’s a lie of the enemy. That’s a lie.
And so we break that lie now in Jesus’ name.
Our burden is easy and our yoke is light.
So we break any lies of the enemy that we maybe have partnered with, even unwillingly or unknowingly. We believed some lies. We break those lies now.
Things aren’t heavy. Things aren’t hard. Things aren’t impossible.
All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me.
So be encouraged. Be lifted up, Oh my soul. We will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Not someday. Not far off. Here now. Today, in the land of the living, we will see your goodness, Father.
You’re restoring hope now. Hope… and expectancy of the things that you are going to do.
Things that you will do.
Things that you’re planning now.
Things that you’re preparing for us. For those that love you are called according to your purpose.
So we prepare now. We prepare our hearts. We clean up those closets now.
Company is coming. So we clean up those closets of our hearts, and we invite in the King of glory.
We put you back on your rightful throne.
We refuse to worry.
We refuse to be depressed.
We refuse to be anxious.
We refuse to allow distractions to take your rightful place now.
So what’s taking that throne?
What’s sitting in that throne right now? What’s sitting in the throne where He’s supposed to be sitting? The throne of your heart. What’s there? Worries? Fear? Busyness? Distraction? Self-promotion? Strife? Division?
We just cast it out now. It cannot stay. For we are moved by the Holy Spirit. No other spirit.
No spirits can harass or torment because we are moved and filled and by the Spirit of the living God.
To overflowing. There’s no room for anything else now because we are being filled.
Filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit.
The spirit of joy.
The spirit of peace.
The spirit of hope.
And empowering us for everything we face. You’ve already walked out ahead of it. You’ve already walked out ahead of us. You prepared every day before we even lived one.
So you put the grace, you’ve put the equipping that we need for every day.
We don’t have to do it alone.
We refuse to do it alone.
So refuse to do it alone now. I will not do it alone. I will not do it in my own strength.
I will do it in your strength, your equipping, your grace.
Because it is above and beyond my own strength, my own grace.
