Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
We are live once again from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Good morning. It is Wednesday the 24th of June already. Can you believe that? My goodness. Well, my name is Ken, if you don’t already know, and we’ve got Miss Kathy with us this morning as always on Wednesday.
Study: “Scientific Study Confirms Power of Just Five Minutes of In-Person Prayer.”
I want to share a bit of research with you. I’m a little bit of a nerd when it comes to studies and research, especially when it corroborates, supports, proves out the scriptures. And this one was put forth or published by CBN, and it’s entitled, “In the Name of Jesus: Scientific Study Confirms Power of Just Five Minutes of In-Person Prayer.”
It writes…
“A new study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine is confirming the power of prayer, concluding that just five minutes of intercessory prayer improves physical and emotional health.”
How’s that for a starting statement here for a Wednesday morning?
“Researchers chose to study in-person prayers known as proximal intercessory prayer, or PIP, rather than distant intercessory prayers, DIP, which are prayed by someone who is not in the same room as the patient. They found both immediate and long-lasting benefits from PIP, from proximal intercessory prayer, somebody that puts their hand on that person and prays for another individual. The scientific studies discovered that as a complementary aid to medications, healthcare professionals can use intercessory prayer to relieve physical pain and treat anxiety in their patients.
“Pain participants reported immediate symptom relief, which persisted at two weeks, but trailed off after six weeks. Anxiety patients also reported immediate and lasting results. Patients in the control group who were given soft music to treat their pain and anxiety did not experience the same healing relief as those who received prayer. While the effects in this case were found to be independent of religious beliefs of the participants, researchers point to other studies that have found positive effects associated with prayers being administered in person in a Christian context.
“Petitioning God in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit and commanding healing by Jesus’ authority while an intercessor gently lays hands on the recipient for approximately five minutes. Beyond this latest study, prayer is seen to be the most important complementary medicine. Considering forty-three percent of Americans desire in-person intercessory prayer, the researchers also cite other reports that have found in-person prayer resulted in numerous medical unexplained recoveries from conditions such as everything from seizures to juvenile macular degeneration, malabsorption, and on and on and on.
“People experienced change, healing, unexpected recoveries. After experiencing the positive effects of prayer, participants expressed significant interest in intercessory prayer as a routine part of their medical visits. When asked whether they would like this kind of prayer available to them in future medical visits, and whether they think medical offices in general should offer this kind of prayer to patients who desire it, 97% of the patients in this study agreed strongly or were neutral with most of them agreeing or strongly agreeing, and none of the participants mentioned any adverse effects.”
There are no adverse effects to prayer, only positive…
So in other words, if we’re going to promote prayer, we don’t have to have one of those long disclaimers that it might cause blindness in one eye and bowel obstruction and on and on and on. There are no adverse effects to prayer. Only positive effects—mentally, emotionally, physically.
The study concludes…
“The results suggest significant benefits to patients from just five minutes of intercessory prayer intervention that could be implemented in primary care offices providing relief for pain or anxiety or both while addressing unmet patient need and desire for spiritual care.”
1 Thess. 5:16—pray and give thanks in everything…
Does anybody feel prompted that God has a new ministry coming on for you? I went back and did a little study and reference here in 1st Thessalonians 5:16 it states, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing; in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
What’s the will of God? That we pray and give thanks in everything.
Ephesians 6:18—praying with all prayer and supplication…
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication,” or you could say “earnest entreaty.” In other words, entreating God with a request or a need or a situation or a person’s life. “…supplication for all saints.”
Luke 18:1—men ought to pray and not lose heart…
“Then He spoke a parable to them that men ought always [and women] to pray and not lose heart.” You could say “not give up” or “wave the white flag” or “throw in the towel.” We ought always to pray.
Why?
Well, there’s an example right there. That medical research study shows that prayer has a lasting quantifiable, practical, where the rubber meets the road in our emotional lives and our physical lives result. Prayer was always God’s idea. Not so that He can heap adoration unto Himself, although He deserves it and we should bring it to Him, but because it’s to our benefit that we yield ourselves in prayer.
Colossians 4:2—pray, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving…
“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Meanwhile praying also for us that God would open unto us a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.”
In other words, Paul’s saying pray that I would be equipped, that there would be an avenue and a large space to proclaim the good news of the Gospel.”
Romans 12:10—continue steadfastly in prayer…
“Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love and honor, giving preference to one another. Not lagging in diligence, instead fervent…” In other words, fervent or white hot in your spirit, “…serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.”
Reminder: God has a plan and prayer implements that plan…
Let me just remind you this morning that God has a plan for our nation, for our state, for our city, for your family, for those who will follow after you in your family line. He has a plan. And prayer is our opportunity each day to participate in implementing that plan.
Prayer crosses over time and space…
In some ways and in some situations, we won’t see the plan with our natural eyes because it’ll come after we’re gone and we’ve graduated to heaven. But make no mistake about it, prayer crosses over time and space. It crosses into other generations that are to follow if Jesus tarries, as they say.
All that is required for the plan to happen is for you to day, “Here I am, Lord…”
Prayer has a remarkable result when we give ourselves to it and we stay the course and refuse to grow weary, recognizing that God has already put a plan in place for that situation you find yourself in, for what we’re dealing with in our nation or around the world. God has a plan. All that is required is for the church to step in and say, “Here I am, Lord. I choose to contend for your plan. I choose to be an avenue through which you can pour your purposes into the realm of humanity, into the realm of the earth.”
John Wesley’s observation…
It was John Wesley who some 200 years ago made the observation, “It seems that God can do nothing for humanity, for an individual, unless someone asks Him.” God is a just God. He has set things up in such a way that He requires or He expects us to participate in the outworking of His plan, in the realization of His plan.
So we’re to ask…
We’re to intercede…
We’re to pray…
That His plan would prosper…
That lives would be changed…
That the balance of what’s going on in our world would be tipped in the direction of what He has in mind…
Which is for salvation, awakening, revival, and a big harvest of souls. In every realm of society, in our generation, what tips it in the favor of God’s plan?
Prayer.
Prayer, much prayer, continued prayer, an unrelenting desire to honor the Lord. How do we honor the Lord? Well, there are many ways. Simply through acknowledging Him, but also by choosing…
To give ourselves to intercede…
To give ourselves to petition…
To give ourselves to ask…
That we might receive, that God might receive, really, what He desires, which is all those things and so much more.
Prayed…
And so, Father, we thank You this morning for the privilege to follow you, to know you, to lean into you.
we see in your Word the clear call to prayer, not just for one or for two, but for each and every one of us.
And so, Father, we bring ourselves into your presence today.
We recognize you’re here, Holy Spirit.
You’re here not to condemn us or point the finger to our deficiencies or our inadequacies or our failures, but you’re here to advocate for us.
You’re here to assist us, to inspire us, to grant prayer in us and through us.
And so we ask that you would do that today.
Pastor Ken speaks prophetic word over the group…
I want to speak this over you this morning. You receive it however it’s required or needed in your life. For some, this will be a prophetic word. For others, it’s a prayer.
God is saying to you today, He has a plan for you…
You may be going through some things. You may be facing some challenges. There may be some unknowns in your situations, in your household, in your finances. Whatever the case might be, where you face adversity, I feel like the Lord is saying to us this morning, Jeremiah 29:11, which seems very simple. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that we have a good Father. And regardless of what surprises us, what may catch us off guard in our natural human limited perception at times, God has a plan. He has a way forward. He knows just what to do and the strategy that we need to walk out, for the smallest of things to the most consequential things that we deal with in our lives, in our nation, in our households.
Jeremiah 29:11 says His plan for you is good, not evil…
“For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for your welfare and peace, not for evil.” You know when you face adversity, of course, the enemy tries to get his word in and harass us with negative, evil thoughts, fearful, doubt-filled thoughts.
But how many of you know God has a thought?
He has a way about Him that is able to disrupt the enemy’s plans and the enemy’s harassing insinuations so that we can see through the adversity and to the answer. So that we can see the way forward.
But it says…
“And peace, not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.”
Whether that’s a medical diagnosis, a financial situation, a failure of some kind, a betrayal of some kind, an unknown, or simply circumstances out of your control, the Lord wants to remind us, I believe, that He has thoughts and plans for our welfare and peace, and not for evil or harm or failure, to give us hope in our final outcome.
It’s quite possible that He’s delivering you “through” something…
You, in the moment, may not have been delivered from something, but let me submit to you it’s quite possible He’s delivering you through something.
That you’re walking out your healing…
That you’re walking out your deliverance…
That as you take one step day by day, you are walking out of that valley that had shadows that appeared like death or the end of you in some way.
God’s final outcome is good…
No! God has a final outcome. And it’s a good, hope-filled, positive, peaceful outcome in every situation and every arena of our lives.
Prayed…
And so, Father, we thank you this morning that your Word is true.
We thank you this morning that prayer is the opportunity to pray in agreement with your plan and your will.
So we just set ourselves in agreement with you this morning, Father.
For every situation that we might be facing, we speak hope to it, we speak grace to it, we speak light to it.
We lead every insinuation from the realm of darkness to truth today.
The truth that says greater is He that is in us than he who is in the world.
We lead every thought of insufficiency, lack, trouble, adversity to the truth of your Word which says that in you we are triumphant.
In you we find mercy and grace and well-timed help.
Grace so much so that you have enabled us to rule and reign in this life by one Jesus Christ.
So, Father, we choose to lean into your unfailing and faithful arms today.
