Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Heather…
As we were worshiping, I just felt led to share this story. Kathy didn’t know this when she planned the set. It’s just always amazing how the Holy Spirit just ties things together. But as we were singing that song, it just brought to remembrance a moment for me of being in this exact chapel in 1999 in our staff prayer, singing that very song. And it was a time in my life that God was calling my husband, Scott, and I to go to another state and be youth pastors at a different church. And we had gotten married in 95 and went to Bible school. And for those of you that have been at Living Word for a long time, in 95 there was just this amazing revival that was happening in our church. And there was laughter and these long services and people rolling down the aisles. I mean, it was just such an amazing time. And the church was expanding and growing and there were just amazing moves.
I just wanted to get back home…
And I just remember being in so many staff prayers with Pastor Mac and Pastor Lynne sharing their hearts and praying and such an honor to be a part of those times. And so we had gone to Rhema Bible Training Center for two years. And the whole time we were there, this revival is happening here. And all I wanted to do was just get back here. Let’s get through Bible school, let’s get back. Like, I want to go back home. I want to be in my church again. And thankful for my time at Rhema, but I was so excited to be back here where I just felt like God was moving.
We went back home, and I was exactly where I wanted to be…
And so we graduated from Rhema. So we came back in 97 and we were here for a while and we had just bought our house. We were getting settled and “everything is perfect, Lord.” And then a pastor from another state was looking for a youth pastor and asked if Scott and I would be interested. And, of course, my immediate response was, “Nope, nope. We’re happy. We’re here. We’re settled. I’m exactly where I want to be. We just bought our house. We’re just starting to finish our basement.” Like God has everything lined up for us. Right? And so we went to visit the church, and we were silent on the way back because we both knew we’re supposed to go. We’re supposed to make this move across states to this other church.
We’re supposed to leave, aren’t we?
And so I just looked at Scott and said, “We’re supposed to go, aren’t we?” And he goes, “Yeah.” Okay. You know, and it’s those moments where you have to be led by the Holy Spirit. Because everything within me, my flesh wanted to be here. My flesh wanted to be with my family. I was so happy to be back and be surrounded by loved ones. And so we called the pastor to let him know we were coming. And he was like, “Well, something has happened.” And I’m not oversharing because they have shared this with their congregation. He said, “Something has happened. My wife has had an affair and she’s pregnant. And so I can understand if you don’t want to come now. But we still need you if you want to come.”
Well, then, you better get going…
And Scott hung up the phone and he told me. And I was like, “Well, no. We’re not… No, no. We’re not going to go.” And so we were praying and we set up a meeting to meet with Pastor Mac because we really wanted some spiritual advice on what to do next. And I’ll never forget it. And this is why I love Pastor Mac. We got into his office, and he sat down on his couch, put his boots up on the coffee table, and grabbed a handful of cashews. And he said, “Well, Scott, Heather, do you feel like the Lord told you to go?” We said, “Yes, sir.” And he is like, “Well, then you better get going.”
If they ever needed you, they need you now…
And there’s that wisdom in that moment of he wasn’t moved by the circumstance. And he’s like, “If they ever needed you, they need you now.” I said, “Okay.” And so we told them “We’re coming.” Our first service, they introduced us and they told us that the church was splitting and the elders were leaving and it was like, “Woo! Here we go. Buckle up.”
Is He all you ever needed?
But back to the song, our very last staff prayer here I remember standing in one of these pews singing that song… “You’re all I want, you’re all I ever needed.” With tears streaming down my face because He was like, “Am I really all you want and all you need?” Because you need to know that without a shadow of a doubt as you’re stepping out into His call, as you’re stepping out into unknown things. And He proved that in our lives. And He’s faithful.
Okay, we’re going to go back home…
And we were there for 15 years and then there were changes, moving staff around and everything. And they were kind of like, “Well, we don’t know if you’re a fit here anymore.” And so we were like, “Okay, we’re going back home.” And we came back here in 2014, and I’m so thankful for peace. And I love those pastors. And there was such a story of redemption and restoration there and watching God work through restoration. And they walked through some hard things, and we walked through it with them as their staff. But it’s a beautiful story of redemption. They’re still together. The family is a beautiful family. And we still love them very much.
Those are the times you must surrender your will to Him…
But in those moments of him telling you to step out and to do something that’s beyond your head knowledge… Is He all you ever want? Is He all you ever needed? And those are the times that you have to answer that question and really surrender your will to His will. And sometimes it doesn’t make sense and that’s why you need the peace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to decipher what part of this is my flesh. Like my flesh did not want to go. I’ll be honest with you. I felt like I was being thrown into a den of wolves. Like this is going to be an uphill battle. But it was a beautiful time and God grew us there.
Through it all, God was faithful…
And then coming back was a beautiful time and coming here with my kids. And we went through some tough things, trying to sell our house and getting into debt and all of that kind of stuff. But through all of that, God has been so faithful. And I would do it all over again if it just meant that I’m walking in His will and I’m obeying Him and I’m taking those steps because He has proved Himself faithful over and over and over again.
And there were some days it was like… we didn’t have a job. What are we going to do tomorrow? How are we going to pay the bills? How are we going to make money? And some days for me, it was like day to day. Like one day somebody would call me and be like, “Hey, can you come and help me do this?” Yes! And I was just really putting my hand to anything I could put my hand to at that time. And Scott too. Scott was helping rearrange a shipping facility, and we were just not getting paid hardly anything and trying to pay a mortgage and a house in another state while we waited for it to sell and living with Scott’s parents. And in your forties, that’s a very humble pill to swallow.
But He was so faithful through all of it. And I never had felt so held and so loved. And so in His will, even though it was confusing to my head, I had the peace in my heart. And watching Him open doors for us, watching Him promote us, watching Him taking care of us, even though we had to come in at that… just our whole lives changed so many times.
So why am I sharing this?
Because I feel like there are people where God is telling you to step out and to do something. It doesn’t make sense to your head, and it doesn’t make financial sense. Or it doesn’t make natural sense or it seems like it wouldn’t be a good move. But if you have His peace and His leading and His guiding, He will be there every step of the way. It doesn’t mean it will be easy. But there will be grace for it. And He proved Himself faithful in my life. And I believe He’ll do that for you as well.
You have to be led by peace…
I just felt led to share that story. I feel like somebody is maybe pondering a change in life or coming up to a difficult decision to make. You have to be led by peace. And you have to discern between your emotions and the Holy Spirit. And you’ll just know there’ll be a peace, even though your head is kind of churning… “How are we going to do this? And how are we going to do that?” There’s just peace. There’s that unction inside. And you have to be led by that and not your head.
Get your eyes on Him…
And so would you mind singing that song again, Kathy? Let’s sing that song again. And I just really want you to listen to the words and just worship from your heart and tell Him that He is all that you need. He is all that you want. Because when He is that singular thing that you are focusing on, that you are heading toward, all those things get taken care of. Once we get our eyes on Him, all those things will be taken care of. When we put Him first, everything is added unto us.
And so really posturing your heart again and worship to get your eyes on Him and to declare He’s all you want. He’s all you need. And if there’s anything else that is in line before Him, make that adjustment in your heart today. Make that adjustment of like, “Okay, right now it feels like money is all I need. I got to pay these bills.” Nope. He is all you need. Because when you focus on Him, He will take care of the bills. He will open up opportunities for you. And He’s proved Himself over and over time and time again.
And when you hit those hard places where you feel that rub of what you believe is different than what you’re experiencing, you go back to what the Word says. And what does the Word say? It says I’m more than a conqueror. It says all my needs are provided according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. It says I’m the head and not the tail. It says I’m blessed going in and I’m blessed going out. You find your words and you stand on those words till that becomes your truth more than this past-due bill becomes your truth more than this difficult issue in your family becomes your truth.
He is our plumb line…
He has to always be the truth and everything else has to… that’s our plumb line. If you’ve ever done construction, they have like a plumb line and everything has to be set by that. He’s our plumb line, our line of truth. And once we have Him setting that line for us, everything else has to measure up to that. Everything else has to be set on that foundation. It can’t be the other way around. We can’t set our plumb line to where our checkbook is. We can’t set our plumb line to our relationships, our family, what’s happening. We can’t set our plumb line to what’s happening in the world. We can’t set our plumb line to who is president. We can’t set all these things. He has to be our plumb line. He has to be our truth, our foundation. And once He’s that, then everything is added unto us. All those things. He’ll take care of them.
Like He said, just look at the birds of the air. They don’t worry, they don’t sweat, they don’t strive. “I take care of them. And I will take care of you. Aren’t you so much more important to Me than the sparrow?”
People need to put Him back in first place in their lives…
I feel like there’s people that had to do some heart adjustments this morning, some priority adjustments, putting Him back in that first place, putting Him back as your first love over every situation, every issue, over every self-thing. Everything that we do to even promote ourselves, if we don’t even realize it sometimes. He has to be first and then He’ll take care of all those things.
Prayed…
Thank you, Father. We are never alone. We’re never without your help. And while we might have to do uncomfortable things, we have the comforter living inside of us. He strengthens us, gives us boldness, edifies us, builds us up, equips us.
Thank you, Father, that as you call us to step out of the boat and walk on the water, You’re right there. You catch us when we fall, you lift us up. But you call us to come out of our comfort zones, out of the safety of the boat. You stand out on the waves and the water and the storm and you tell us to “come” because you’ve equipped us to walk on that water with you. And as long as we keep our eyes on you, we can walk over any storm, any wave, any obstacle that comes our way, but we need to keep our eyes on you.
Prayer for people who feel they need to step out of the boat…
Oh, so now I pray for people that are feeling like they need to step out of the boat in some area of their lives right now. Jesus is holding out His hand. He is beckoning you to come. You’ll never walk alone. And you keep your eyes on Him. Don’t look at the waves. Keep your eyes on Him now, because the one that calls you to come will equip you, will give you grace, will give you strength, will give you boldness to step, step, step out of that boat.
For such a time as this, you are called. So be obedient. Little steps prove His faithfulness with those little steps. Just start. Did He tell you to start a prayer group? Did He tell you to serve at your church? Did He tell you to talk to somebody at Walmart? Did He tell you to talk to that server at that restaurant? Did He tell you to call up somebody and pray for them? Did He tell you to call up somebody and say, “I’m sorry, please forgive me.”
Sister Barb…
The other day I bought this beautiful red dish; it’s from the 1940s. And I could see its potential, but it looked like it had dust on it from 1940… not the kind of dust you can blow off, but the kind of dust you got to get in there, get one of those sponges and really scrub it clean. But I saw that it was worth it. It was just a beautiful piece. So I purchased this piece and… I had to get in there to get it all clean and uncovered. And the Lord brought to me that there are some of you that your dream, the vision, He’s placed in your heart is covered with dust. It’s not the kind you can just brush or blow it off, but you got to get in there. And you’re going to have to do something to get that cleaned up.
You can’t clean it up with your own strength…
And it’s not that you yourself in your own strength can do it, but it’s by the Holy Spirit. So what do we do? We lift that thing up. By the Spirit, we pray in the spirit over that thing, however deep and buried that thing is, you know, because just life… being in life. You got your kids, you got all their activities, you’ve got events and work. And your vision, that dream God put in your heart can get buried, buried, buried, buried. And it’s now so far beneath the dust and everything else, it’s like, “Can that ever happen?” And He says “yes!”
So begin to clean that thing. Begin to bring it back to what it was meant to be by the Holy Spirit. Pray in the Spirit. Pray in tongues over that thing. Begin to think about the vision. Meditate on the vision that God put in your heart. And let that thing begin to come back up to the glorious thing it was meant to be. Because until you begin to do that, it will not come to pass if you leave it down here and allow it to remain in that place. Then you will never walk in it.
Your vision is not just for you…
But God’s saying today, “Go ahead, pick it up. Begin to start praying over that thing, meditating on that thing.” Because He needs you to accomplish that thing in the earth. It’s not just for you. He put that in your heart so that you can make an impact in this earth. You have no idea the people you will reach through the vision He’s put in your heart.
