Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Pastor Ken…
The Father is in love with His church…
Good morning. I hope you guys know you are beautiful to Him. All together lovely, as the scripture reads. He’s so pleased and finds His people attractive. Does that sound weird? I don’t know. I just sense that He’s just like… He’s in love with you. He sought us out, after all. He searched for us. He pursued us. Laid down His life for us. Went to the nth degree that we might know victory… that we might know the life that is found only in Him.
He’s passionate about your life…
So I encourage you this morning that while we are in a fight, that it’s a good fight to know that God is with you. He sees. He understands more intimately in a more detailed fashion than you realize with whatever you’re facing. Our heavenly Father is truly a devout heavenly Father. And He is passionate about you and engaged in your life’s journey in every detail of what you’re facing and what you’re going through. Every need, every insufficient issue, every challenge, everything you’ve been through in your past, He sees, He understands, and He has gone ahead to prepare the way. And He is presently from the other side by way of His Spirit working with us to bring about heaven on earth in your heart and in your finances, and in your body, and in your family, and in your calling and assignment in this lifetime.
He will never wave the white flag on you…
And He will not relent nor ever wave the white flag. He stands strong as ever. Jesus Christ, the righteous, the head of the church. The last time I checked proclaims that Jesus is the head of the church, and He stands strong to this day with you and me individually and with the body of Christ here at Living Word or wherever you are a part of. He stands strong with us in this hour, in this unprecedented hour of craziness and chaos and wokeness and whatever else is coming down the pike. He stands strong with us. We stand strong with Him. We are well able. You are well able today. So as the scripture reads, I encourage you, stir your heart up to take hold of Him. He’s standing with you. He is the standby, the Bible says. He is our ever-present help. He is the one who has fire in His eyes in regards to what the enemy has done in regards to what you’ve been through. And He’s determined to redeem it and repurpose it, what you’ve been through, and use it for something good.
We are to fight the good fight of faith…
The Bible reads in 1st Timothy 6:12 from the Aramaic translation, “And fight the good contests.” The New King James says, “Fight the good fight of faith.” Here it says “Fight the good contest of faith and seize eternal life to which you are called, and you have professed a good profession before many witnesses.”
So I want to encourage you this morning, whether you’re halfway around the world in another time zone, or in this chapel, you’re going through some things, you’re facing some adversity. There are some uncertainties. Your life feels like a bit of a hot mess. You don’t know the way forward. Know that He’s leading you.
Your finish in life will be determined by how well you follow…
In fact, I jotted down something the other day. It goes like this. “Your finish in life, or your day to day you can say, will be determined by how well you follow the Holy Spirit. It’s not based on your skill or ability or pedigree, you could say, or any other degree or thing in the natural. It’s not based on your skill or ability, but how well you follow. If you follow well, your skills will improve. The better we follow, the better we finish. And the better we’ll live.
The Lion of Judah stands with the church…
So know that He’s standing with you today. The lion of the tribe of Judah. He’s standing with the church. And it’s time for us to arouse ourselves to that reality. To each and every day remind ourselves, or as Jesse Duplantis once said, “Reintroduce yourself each and every day to your new self.” Because we as humans tend to drift and get distracted and we live in a world of endless distractions. And so each day as pray-ers, as believers, practice the habit of being present, of being quiet, of rousing yourself out of some kind of a slumber to a place of awareness and presentness with God the Holy Spirit, recognizing that there are way more that be with you than be with your enemies.
I remember years ago…
I was thinking about the fact that our youth are at camp this week in Iowa. A long time ago in a land far away, I was once a young person as well. And I went to camp in Northern Minnesota. I remember this one particular week. I was probably eight or nine years old. I and a friend were in a cabin with two other young guys. One was kind of short and the other one was tall, like twice my size at the time. And the tall guy was kind of harassing and bullying his smaller friend. That went on for a day or more just harassing him, making fun of him, just downright bullying him. And I didn’t really know them that well. But one night we were in our bunks, and I recall this… even at eight or nine years old… righteous indignation just rose up in me. And without even thinking about it… It was almost like an out-of-body experience. I remember getting up and telling that big guy who was bullying his friend to “Shut up, lay down, and go to bed. And stop harassing him.”
And I remember standing on the floor in the quasi dark, looking at that guy and thinking, “What did I just do? This guy’s like twice my size.” It just like came out of me! I think it was the Holy Ghost using me even at eight or nine years old. And I’m like, “Okay, this might be the end of me. I might be a greasy skid spot right here on the road of life because this guy’s going to pound me.” But that big guy just clammed up, shut up, rolled over, and went to sleep. Frankly, if I recall correctly, he avoided me the rest of the week. But I never saw him harass or bully his friend the rest of that week!
And I just thought to myself this morning, I thought that’s what we need to remember. Our Lord Jesus, the angels of heaven stand with us in the spirit dimension to deal with the enemy. Our job is to stay conscious and cognizant and daily remind ourselves who we stand with, that they’re way more angels, for example, than there be fallen entities, if you will. Fallen angels that be with the enemy.
May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble…
David prayed a prayer in Psalm 20, and this is the Amplified classic version. He writes, “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble.” Anybody in a day of trouble here? We go through things. Jesus predicted that we’re going to face tribulation and trials. But guess what? Our fight is a good fight. That while we may have a target on our backs, while we may face adversity, we’re in a good contest because the banner of redemption has already been strung up. And it declares that we’re righteous, we’re holy. We stand with Him, the one who ever gives us triumph.
So “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob set you on high and defend you.” Who was it in the Old Testament where the Lord… was it Elijah or whoever it was that instructed for them to simply just shout and worship and praise God and stand still and see the salvation of the Lord? As the Lord sent angel armies to route thousands of well-equipped enemy forces that were against Israel at the time. And Israel, the people of God did not even have to lift a sword. They simply had to stand still, stand and remind themselves who they stood with. That would be the Lord of heaven. And praise Him and honor Him. In other words, fight the good fight of faith. Amen.
God is coming through for you…
Glory to God, it’s worth it. God is coming through for you. He will come through for the church in this hour. I believe He’s going to come through and do what He has prophesied He’s going to do in America, in your church, in your ministry, in your home. He’s just looking for a remnant who will stand with Him, who will believe what the report of the Lord announces, and the report of the Lord announces today and every day that you are on the side of victory, that Jesus has already given the enemy a beat down, that he is under our foot because we are a part of that body. Jesus being the head of the body. Amen.
So we can stand strong and stand tall…
And we can shake off spiritual lethargy, and we can shake off what happened yesterday and what was said and even how we feel. Praise God! We have an opportunity to live by believing and not by our feelings.
Process your feelings through prayer and conversation…
Now I will add that I think you should process your feelings through prayer, through conversation with somebody you trust. Through a counselor if that’s necessary. No judgment. I think that’s good. But we’re not to let our emotions and our feelings dominate and control and exclusively lead our lives. That ought to be the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the living God on the inside of us. And there’s a certain tone and tenor in His voice if you listen to Him. There are certain strategies and guidances that will lead you out from where you are and into a bright and shining day, out of a limited place to a place of abundance. Because each and every day we have the opportunity to choose from which world we’re going to live. Are we going to live from the present-ness of our surroundings that can be measured through five physical senses? Or are we going to live from the unlimited and overwhelmingly abundant and victorious realm of God through His work.
The Word is a revelation of the spirit dimension…
Pastor Mac said this last weekend, that the Word of God is a revelation of the spirit dimension. That’s so good, isn’t it? And more than ever, there is a mandate and there is an invitation by the Spirit of God for the church to live from the spirit dimension, to live from our hearts, from the secret place, from a place of prayer, from a place of faith. That’s what’s going to be the game changer… the difference maker… the key to us navigating these end time days… the key to getting you from where you’ve been stuck, maybe for a decade or more to a place that you didn’t even know was possible. A place of freedom… place of abundance… a place of fruitfulness… a place where supernatural works and wonders flow through you like water flows through your garden hose. Woo! That’s what God intends for the church in this hour. That abundance and resources and purpose and the supernatural works of Jesus would flow through us.
The church is Zion…
So in Psalm 20, David writes, “He will send you help from the sanctuary and support, refresh, and strengthen you from Zion.” Where’s Zion? With Him. We are Zion, the Church is Zion. We have a place in Zion that is through relationship with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit. From that place there is ample and abundant and always sufficient resource for what we need emotionally, practically, or otherwise.
David writes in verse three, “He will remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice.” Selah. In other words, pause and think of that. “May He grant you according to your heart’s desires.” That’s beautiful. He wants to grant you your heart’s desires and fulfill all your plans. What a good prayer we could pray right here from Psalm 20.
“We will shout and triumph at your salvation and victory. And in the name of our God, we will set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed. He will answer him or her from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.” That would be Jesus. “Some trust and boast of chariots.” In other words, strategies or technologies, or pedigrees or degrees from a university. I’m not saying that’s bad, but some boast in that, chariots and some in horses. “But we will trust in and boast of the name of the Lord our God, Jesus. They are bowed down and fallen.” That would be our enemies. “But we are risen and stand upright. Oh God, give victory. Let the king answer us when we call.” What a beautiful prayer. Amen.
Somebody wrote recently in a prophetic utterance, they said “God is going to reveal Himself as the good shepherd. One who guards, guides, and governs, I like to say. “Who will lead us beside still waters and green pastures.” The admonition is to stay very close to Him and He will lead and guide us in and through troubled times.”
