Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
Good morning, everyone. Happy Wednesday.
Let me read a reflection that I jotted down late in the evening last night. You’ll have to excuse the “grammatics” because it’s raw. I just essentially poured out what my heart was sensing onto paper.
But my prayer for you this morning, whether you’re online or in this chapel is that you would truly just catch and receive a spirit of prayer this morning. I think you’ll see why as I share what I wrote down last night. I felt inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Ken’s personal reflection…
We must persevere in prayer during this next season. So many lives and so much is at stake. The plan of God for our families, our states, our provinces, and nations hang in the balance and we have the opportunity to tip the balance in the direction of divine justice of life and the plan of God. We must take our God-appointed positions and represent the heart of God in our world, in our households, in our churches, in our neighborhoods, cities.
We must be found occupying until Jesus comes, until He returns. Isn’t that what He left us before He was caught up some 2,000 years ago? He said, “Occupy till I come. Overcome evil with My glory and My goodness, overcome evil with good.” Don’t lose sight of your assignment both spiritually and naturally. The seriousness and urgency of our cause has escalated and the enemy is playing for keeps. So don’t loosen your grip on your God-given responsibility to exercise spiritual authority. Pray until God breaks through enemy strongholds and His glory covers the earth like the waters cover the sea. The Father is counting on us, the church, to ask, seek, and knock. And persist in doing so. He will work to perform what you and I take a stand for. Step up and be accounted for in the rank and file of God’s army. This is our time to make a way with our prayers. For the knowledge of God to fill the earth, to push back darkness and prepare the earth for the imminent return of King Jesus.
Under the cover of darkness, Minnesotans’ rights are being voted away…
In the cover of darkness over the last couple of nights right here in Minnesota, there has been discussions and certain voting that has gone on to deny your religious freedoms in some ways. Some very significant ways. And I say “cover of darkness” because some on the inside said it was very intentionally done that way. And there is in the coming days right here in St. Paul, Minnesota, and maybe this has occurred or you’re experiencing this in your city, state, or nation, maybe where the enemy is playing for keeps. And so it’s time for us to rally ourselves, to rally one another, the body of Christ to be willing to lay down ourselves and to take up the mantle of prayer. If there ever was a time when God is summoning His people, it’s now!
And so that’s why I pray you will catch a spirit of prayer. I realize you have things to do. So do I. But the will of God is literally standing before us right now. The assignment that God ordained is reason why you are in this generation and you are in this time and you have a pulse and are breathing is standing before us. And that is for us to take the high ground and to take a stand, firstly in the spirit through prayer, through our high calling and vocation which is the exercise of our God-given dominion in the name of Jesus.
We are the true spiritual giants…
If you could pull back the curtain and peer into the spirit dimension, you would find that you aren’t just little old you or little old me, but that we are, in fact, the true spiritual giants. Or as I like to say, we’re the “lit up ones.” I imagine it’s much like thermal imaging or night vision where you could be looking into a vast landscape of darkness. But if you put on some military grade night vision goggles, suddenly you can see lit up brightly anything that has a pulse or anything that has heat to it.
In the spirit, you are lit up…
You are bright and shining. And you stand out. And the enemy takes notice of where you’re at. And he is scared spitless that you would find out even a little bit more about what you carry, what you have on you. The enemy wants you to believe what’s on you is discouragement and despair and fear and temptations and much heaviness. But Jesus reminds us that His burden is easy, His yoke is light, and that He has laid upon us the clothing and even armaments that make us formidable, that make us able to influence the spirit realm and influence even our governments.
The government wants to take the position of god…
Of course, that’s why the scripture reads, first and foremost, we’re to pray for those in authority. Because where you go, you have the opportunity. What you do today, there’s opportunities literally before your eyes everywhere you go to make a difference, to shift the momentum of things. We’re going to shift the momentum of what’s going on in our own state capital so that we don’t have to live under an atmosphere where the government takes a position as God. Because that’s really what they’re doing. They’re taking the position that “we want to be your God and your Abrahamic God… And this includes not only Christian beliefs, but Jewish beliefs and even Muslim beliefs that they’re going to be the God and they will define gender and they will define marriage. And you will have to kowtow. Otherwise, there’ll be consequences.” That’s where we’re at. Yes! Even in America. In Minnesota particular this morning and perhaps already maybe in other parts of the world, you’re experiencing that.
There’s a call and there’s a rallying cry…
And as Pastor Mac shared under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit last Friday night, things will continue to escalate in a negative way. And we’re going to see tribulation and trials like Jesus Himself warned us and prepared us to understand. But we can be of good cheer that if we, the body of Christ, the church at Living Word, the church where you attend, will step up and engage in our calling of prayer…
We’re all called to pray. It’s not just Pastor Lynne or a few select ones. Each and every one of us have been given certain rights and privileges and positions identical to what Jesus functioned in, in His earthly ministry. He endowed you and I with that, including righteousness and the armaments of a good fight. The sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, the shield of faith that enables us to quench every fiery dart that has been launched against you.
And I know sometimes we don’t feel like this, but that’s why we live by believing and not by seeing with our natural abilities. Yes, use your natural sight, but first and foremost, let your life be led by what the Word of God says, what you choose to believe in, what is revealed in His Book. And that is, is that you are arrayed much like a Roman soldier because that’s the word picture that Paul chose to use… arrayed with everything necessary to triumph.
This is our hour to shine…
And the one who ultimately triumphed over death, hell and the grave stands with you by and through His Spirit. The Bible says He’s the one that will always cause you and I to triumph no matter what comes tomorrow or what’s reported on social media, or CNN. This is our hour to shine. This is our hour to step into the messy middle of what’s going on and be accounted for and be the game changer.
The Prayer Conference was awesome this last weekend…
That was meant to “spark plug” change and progress and advancement in each of us individually and in our church. We’re to take that same spirit and take what was spoken and downloaded to us and run with that. Not back off! Not go back into the normal routine of what we do day to day. Yes, I know there’s some things we’ve got to get done, but to run with what God’s put in our hands, including the knowledge of certain things. He shows us things because He wants us to address those things and deal with those things in the spirit that need to change.
Patsy Cameneti’s book, “For Such a Time as This”
Let me share a couple more thoughts with you this morning. This comes from Patsy Cameneti’s book “For Such a Time as This: Praying in the Last Days.” I am super excited about what God is doing today. What He’s doing in your heart as you stream this prayer time. God is active and at work. Make no mistake about it. Don’t get it mixed up. Don’t forget that He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. And there is fire in His eyes about bringing change to you and your household and your situation. But also a nation and the very people groups of the earth that populate this planet. We have to understand He hates evil and wickedness. And so ought we, so much so that it moves us to contend for what’s right and what ought to be. From God’s perspective and from the promises of His Word. We’re here to establish His will and way wherever we go. We are here to contend.
Opportunity at the Mall of America…
I was at the Mall of America last night and hanging out with my nieces and my daughter. And they’re teenagers, so of course they didn’t want to hang out with me. They probably would’ve, but I let them go do some shopping. And I went and got something to eat in the food court. I’m sitting there minding my own business eating and a woman walked by and really just asked for some money. She was homeless evidently. And literally the will of God is walking by and comes up to me. She didn’t know it. And I had an opportunity to pray for her and an opportunity to bless her and an opportunity to tell her God loves her. And share some truth with her that will lead her out of darkness and out of what she’s been through, which was a lot and into a brighter and better day.
Something as simple as that, right? Letting our words be intentional, using our words in prayer, in faith decrees, and conversation to pour forth life and fresh water upon the dry ground of people’s lives… upon our homes… upon our own hearts at times… upon our nation.
There are two kinds of wisdom…
The Bible is very clear, there are two kinds of wisdom: 1) that which is from beneath and earthly and carnal and sensual, and of the enemy oftentimes, and 2) wisdom from above. God has plans and He has wisdom from above that He’s pouring through you and me. We cannot be afraid to speak up. We cannot be afraid to be activated by God the Holy Spirit in various ways.
In fact, I’m going to read one other thing in Patsy’s book. She quotes First Corinthians 12:6, which I just referred to. “How be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to nothing.” That’s First Corinthians 2:6. James 3:15 and 17 reads “This wisdom does not descend from above.” In other words, another kind of wisdom. “But is earthly central demonic. For the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy.”
Can I just interject? That’s the wisdom that we pray out when we pray in the spirit. At least that’s one place that it’s found. She writes,
“Clearly there are two kinds of wisdom from two opposite sources. One comes from below and is corrupt. The other is perfect and comes from above from God. When filling your vehicle with fuel at a service station, many times there are two to four varieties of fuel to choose from. The kind of fuel you put in your vehicle will affect the performance of the engine, right? In the same way, Proverbs 8:15 says, ‘By wisdom kings reign.’
First of all, you and I are kings and priests after the order of Jesus. But of course, there are also kings naturally right in St. Paul, Minnesota and Washington, DC and in capitals around the world. She goes on to write.
“It would be obvious that of the two types of wisdom contrasted in James, the wisdom from above would be the best wisdom by which kings and all who are in authority should operate. It is by wisdom that kings reign and decree justice. Rulers rule. Judges judge. And nobles declare law. But the question is, which wisdom is fueling them?”
Hmm. Yes. Interesting. And our prayers, I believe, make wisdom from above accessible for ourselves to function and operate and do what we do on a daily basis. But also make it possible for natural kings and leaders and those in authority to function and operate and make decisions that align with the heart and the plan of God.
Let me read one other thing here to you this morning. In her introduction, Patsy writes,
“If we are to ever accomplish our God-given destiny, then our lives must be suspended between these two towering events—that being Jesus’ First and Second Coming. The purpose of our lives must be fastened and suspended between a consciousness of these two events (the First Coming of Jesus and the Second Coming of Jesus). May the Lord open our eyes to see and live in the awareness that Jesus not only came, but Jesus is coming again soon.
“The subject of Jesus’ return was not only a part of our prayers but was many times the last verse of songs we sang.”
She’s speaking of a story she recounted earlier.
“We thought about the Second Coming, planned for it, and yearned for the day we would see Him face to face. We lived conscious of the fact that we would stand before Jesus one day regarding what we did in obedience to His will. Just as preparation was made for Jesus’s First Coming, preparation is being made even now for His Second Coming. There are those who are preparing the way for His return, just as John the Baptist did for His First Coming.”
That’s us!
And can I just say “that’s us!” Do you believe that this morning?
John the Baptist had a ministry and a role in the First Coming of Jesus, which was of such great importance that Jesus said there was no prophet ever before John who was greater. With the absence of any recorded miracles, what was it in John’s ministry that made him stand above the rest, according to Jesus? And she goes on to say “A prophecy given at the time of John’s birth through his Father Zacharia shows us the importance of John’s ministry and his direct connection to Jesus’ ministry and purpose in the earth. Quote, ‘And you little one shall be called a prophet of the Most High. For you shall go on before the face of the Lord to make ready His ways.’
We are making ready His ways…
Do you believe that this morning? The Greek word for “ways” means road. The Good News Bible actually translates it that way. You will go ahead of the Lord—not only John the Baptist, but you and me, the church in this hour—to prepare His road for Him. In other words, John built a spiritual road that Jesus walked on in ministry.
Mark 1:2–3 writes “As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. The voice of the one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way or the road of the Lord. Make His paths straight.”
I want to rally your heart and your consciousness this morning that what God intends to be His will and purpose and plan in the earth stands before us… comes through us. What ought to be and what should be and what must be must come through you and me. We open our mouths and we make this wisdom available—the wisdom from above, the plan of God from above.
