Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
Good morning. Welcome, everyone. My name is Ken Olson. I’m one of the pastors on staff here at Living Word.
We are on mission…
I thought I would just say hello and say I’m excited about what God is going to pray through us today. We are on mission, right? Don’t get it mixed up. We are on mission in various ways in our lives, including prayer. And so we’re going to endeavor just to give ourselves over to the spirit of prayer this morning, pray some things out that are on the Father’s heart, and do kingdom business, pushing back darkness and establishing God’s promises and purposes and plans for our lives, for our church, for our city, for our nation.
“Notes I jotted down…”
I want to mention that one of the thoughts that I jotted down last night is this: There is a place of spiritual development where we no longer notice the enemy’s harassing voice and insinuations. We become, like it says in Psalm 91:8 in the Amplified Classic, “inaccessible, dwelling, living, abiding in the secret place.”
And another thought that I jotted down was, sometimes we’re living too low. And, therefore, too accessible to the enemy, too accessible to fear, too accessible to maybe our past weaknesses or some self-defeating thought pattern or something. Because we’re depleted. Because we’re living low. And that’s no condemnation. Hey, we’re all human! The Lord Jesus Himself knows that; that’s one of the reasons why He came here was to lay down His godhead and deity and take on the form of human flesh and identify with humanity, identify with us so that He could be an effective and empathetic and merciful high priest who knows what it’s like to walk in this realm, in this body of flesh. So He understands.
Jesus is the door…
And that’s why He did what He did; so that He could open up a door. Jesus Himself said, “I am the door.” He is the door we get to step through today. We get to walk into today and every day. So we no longer have to live low. So we no longer have to be all too accessible and a target for the enemy. Anybody ever felt like you were a target to the enemy? Like somewhere, “Do I have like a big red bullseye on my back or something? What’s going on here in my life?”
God calls us to live in His presence…
Well, I’m here to tell you that God calls us to live in His presence, to live in a high place. In fact, let me just do this. I’m just thinking about this right now. Let me go to Psalm 91. Can I do that? Would that be all right? Let’s go to Psalm 91, and let’s refresh our memories. I’m going to read it from the Amplified Classic.
Psalm 91 states this…
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High.” In other words, that’s the place of relationship. That’s the place of worship in which we’ll engage in in a little bit. That’s a place found in His Word. That’s a place where we’re just walking with God day by day, moment by moment.
“He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall remain stable.” Somebody say “stable.” Oh, come on now. “…stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty whose power no foe can withstand.” What? Yeah! In other words, the enemy cannot withstand you. Can’t overcome you. Cannot defeat you. Cannot gain the upper hand if you remain fixed or stable under the shadow of the Almighty, your Heavenly Father.
It says in verse two…
“I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God. On Him I will lean.” There’s a prayer. Somebody just needs to grab a hold of that. That’s your prayer today, right there. “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, my fortress, my God. On Him I will lean and rely and in Him I confidently trust. For then He will deliver me from the snare of the fowler, from the deadly pestilence.”
Sometimes, it seems like there is deadly pestilence going around according to the news media. Well, guess what? It’s not going to come near me. It’s not going to come near you. Right?
“Then He will cover you with His pinions and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge. His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler. You shall not be afraid.”
Somebody say, “I shall not be afraid.”
“I shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow…” Or in other words, the evil plots and slanders; or you could say accusations or temptations to fear or give up or be anxious or be frozen in trepidation because of what you see or what you don’t know.
“…that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay in wait at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.” In other words, don’t fear if there’s a whole lot of craziness and chaos happening around you. It’s not going to come near you. Sometimes you just got to speak to that chaos: “You’re not coming near me in Jesus’ name.”
Be inaccessible to the enemy…
“Only a spectator…” I like that. “…shall you be yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High.” See yourself that way today. You’re inaccessible. Today you just announce, “I’m inaccessible to you, Devil. I’m inaccessible to those thoughts of shame, unbelief, fear, anxiety, trauma. I’m inaccessible to the thought that I’m not going to make it. That I won’t have enough. That this dream that God planted in my heart is not going to come to pass. That my kids are going to go the wrong direction and never come back.” No! You say, “I’m inaccessible to those thoughts. Those are off limits to me. I say ‘no’ to those things.”
It says…
“…as you witness the reward of the wicked because you have made the Lord your refuge and the Most High your dwelling place.” Dwelling place. That just means we endeavor… Well, first of all, we endeavor to stay cognizant or are always aware of His presence, whether we feel like it or not. Whether the day starts out the way we thought it would or not, or wanted it to or not. We’re just aware of God. We’re aware of Him. And we practice His presence as the great man, Brother Lawrence, many years ago once said: “We practice His presence.” We endeavor to stay cognizant of Him. We endeavor to just call out to Him and say, “Lord, I love you. Lord, I need you. Don’t let me go another step today without your presence going with you.”
We require His presence and His Word…
In other words, you require His presence. You require His Word. In your day-to-day life as a pray-er and as a believer, you require a broad based knowledge of His Word. That doesn’t mean you have to shut yourself up for 40 days and 40 nights and study the Word. If you can, praise God! More power to you. But maybe take five minutes and listen to what speaks to you? What ministers to you from the Word. Your audio Bible on your phone. Or you just meditate on a scripture.
Personal example…
Years ago, I worked in California. I did an internship for a large company there in Azua, California, famous for the great Azua Street Revival. And I worked in all the different divisions of this company. And it was more physical labor. It was actually the largest containerized nursery in the world, Monrovia Nursery company. And as an intern, my senior year of college, I worked in all the different divisions. And I would write scriptures on “know Christ.” I still have them. I reference them from time to time. I’d write scriptures that were like revelations to me in my life in that season. And I would keep them in my hip pocket. And I’d catch maybe a break or just waiting for something, I’d pull out the scripture and I’d just remind myself… “Now what does the Word say?” And I would just start turning it over in my mind.
That reprogrammed my mind over time…
And I can’t tell you how much of an encouragement that was to me, how much that reprogrammed me over time. Not in a day, not in a year, but over time and even to this day, just like for you, it reprogrammed my mind to expect and be more and more aware of His presence, of His power, of this new state that I find myself in, which is no longer the old, but brand new. And it’s new every morning. Because the Bible says His grace is new or renewed every morning.
So today’s a brand spanking sparkling new day. His mercies are flowing your way. His Word speaks of you being His son or His daughter. His Word speaks of you being entirely pleasing and completely acceptable and enough in His sight. We have to keep ourselves cognizant and mindful of what the Word says about us. So we live and move and have our being in Him.
Psalm 91:10 says…
“There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent. For He will give His angels a special charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways of obedience and service.”
“Lord, I’m going to be obedient today.” How many of you know God has a flow and a way for you to go today? In your decisions and your thoughts with your family and your business, at the workplace. After all, we’re not here some kind of like a pinball bouncing around careening off of this problem and that thing we didn’t realize. And this thing that happens. No, we are to be the most intentional and purposeful people on the planet endeavoring to follow the flow of the Holy Spirit and today’s revelation for you.
He has a revelation for each of us today to live according to…
Maybe for some it’s just the fact that He loves you and you are enough. Maybe for others, it’s “I want you to go to this person today and be an encouragement and a light.” I don’t know what it is, but the plan of God is the result of all of us being aware of and endeavoring to follow the flow and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Today’s revelation for us and for what He wants us to step into.
Psalm 91:12 says…
“He shall bear you us up in their hands lest you dash your foot against the stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the adder.”
Luke 10:19 says…
God’s given us power and authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. So we’re not to be trampled upon. We are to be tramplers. We are to be those who stomp and walk on trauma. Stomp and walk on fear. We’re the ones who are to call our shots. In other words, “Today, this is how it’s going to roll. This is how it’s going to be. Did you hear me, Devil? Did you hear me, fear?”
Speak to adversity…
I can’t tell you… I’m sure you have done the same thing, how many times over the years I’ve been in my car and I’ve been just saying, “Fear, you’re not going to have the better of me today. You’re not going to intimidate me, past mistakes. You’re not going to trip me up, enemy in whatever way. This is the way it’s going to go. I’m going to walk strong today, for I’m strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.”
Continued…
“You shall tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and serpent shall you trample underfoot because he set our love upon Him?” Many years ago, I was going through some changes and challenges, and I was in a season of transition. And it was difficult and complicated in some ways in my own soul. And one day, the Lord just reminded me of this in Psalm right here where it talks about how he set our love upon Him. And I would just sit in my chair looking out my window and I’d say, “Lord, I just set my love upon you. I set my affection and my attention on you today. I just behold you. I focus on you.”
And you know what?
The Bible says this: “Because he has set his love upon Him, our attention, our affection on Him, therefore will I…” the Lord Himself saying this… “will deliver him and will set him on high…” Not on low where we’re constantly harassed and beaten down and tempted, but on high, inaccessible so that more and more we don’t even notice the enemy and what he’s trying to do because we’re living up here and he’s still down here.
There’s a higher place for you to step into…
You’ve left your past behind, and you’ve stepped into that new place that He’s ordained for you to live and have your being. There’s a higher place. But we’ve got to ask to be filled. We have to take advantage of His abiding presence.
“I will set him on high because he knows and understands my name, has a personal knowledge of my mercy, love and kindness, and trust and relies on me knowing I will never forsake him. No, never!”
