Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Morning Chapel Prayer Today
Pastor Ken…
Happy day, everyone. It’s already Wednesday. We’re cruising through this week here of the 8th of October. My name is Ken Olson, if you don’t already know.
Before we go into some worship, can I just read a couple of scriptures this morning just to set the stage and just maybe draw our attention to the most important person in the room: that would be God the Holy Spirit.
God is raising up a people who are responsive to the Holy Spirit…
I’ve been reflecting much about His ministry in my life and in the life of the church. Brother Kenneth Hagin in His last number of years in his earthly ministry before he graduated to heaven, emphasized that one of the greatest things God is doing in the church in this hour is raising up a family of people who, of course, are strong in the Word, but are also responsive to God the Holy Spirit. And are aware and joined with and responsive to God the Holy Spirit, who I often like to point out is coequal with God the Father and God the Son. He’s part of the Trinity. He’s not the crazy uncle of the Trinity, as I say. He is beautiful and precious and the one Jesus Himself saw fit to send to the earth upon His ascension, back to the throne of His Father. And the one whom Jesus said will be with you forever. The one in whom He said would be for yours and my benefit for our advantage, for a game changer in our lives and in our world. That would be God the Holy Spirit.
It’s all about, “Lord, what do you want us to do?”
And if there’s one thing that I see often missing in the church at large is a greater awareness and submission to God the Holy Spirit. So as we prepare to worship and pray today, let’s just be cognizant of Him and aware of His presence. It’s not about Ken Olson or any other particular person or any of us online or in the chapel. It’s about, “Lord, what do you want to do?” Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to bring about His plan, to produce His power. In fact, it says this in John 16:7. Jesus said, “But I tell you the truth, it is profitable, to your advantage, benefit or best interest for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the comforter will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you.” That’s the Weast translation.
Do we pursue comfort or the Comforter…
In our day and age, including in the church, sadly, our pursuit very often is comfort, rather than the comforter. And He is here this morning. He’s where you are today. And I believe He’s going to orchestrate our prayers. I believe He’s going to make some changes in our hearts. He’s going to bring fresh perspective to our souls and our outlooks.
The Holy Spirit comes to reveal, transmit, and disclose…
He has a fresh perspective and a fresh outlook for each of us today. I know that our five physical senses at times try to convince us of things and our past tries to hold onto us by reminding us of what happened in the past. But the Holy Spirit is the spirit of the future. The Holy Spirit comes to reveal, transmit, and disclose the perspective of the Father to us. That’s why we can pray supernaturally as well. Because we’re going to pick up on some things. Maybe you’re already doing that in this season of your life, picking up on some things in your heart that the Holy Spirit is transmitting to you. A name, a face, an unction, simply an unction to pray, to make a faith decree according to the Word about a situation, an individual, a nation, whatever the case might be.
Well, guess what?
The Holy Spirit is a spirit of the future. He knows what needs to be prayed out. He knows what we need to lean into with our faith and our proclamations and the emphasis we must make in our prayer lives. He’s always out ahead of the enemy. Aren’t you glad about that? So know that the mercy of God very often enters our lives when we yield to the unction, the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit to pray.
Prayer brings about God-ordained change…
The Bible records this and says, “Is any among you afflicted or going through a tough time? Let him pray.” Because prayer is your ability to bring about God-ordained change. The truth of the matter is prayer under the inspiration and coaching of the Holy Spirit, brings about God’s reality rather than your present reality. God’s reality is able to be implemented and transform your present reality when you yield to the great coach and mentor and spirit of prayer—the Holy Spirit.
So Jesus said that “It’s to your advantage that I go and send the Holy Spirit.” And He did. Aren’t you glad? Secondly, in Acts 1:8, it’s recorded this: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Up on you, you could say. “And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
So we have received something more than just a badge that we are a follower of Jesus, that being the Holy Spirit. We’ve received a deposit of power, a deposit of inspiration, a deposit of God’s wisdom and strategy and comfort and assistance that we need for today and for what God has assigned us to do.
Excerpt from book, “Chasing the Dragon”
Let me read this story to you. I came across this just the other day. It comes from a book called “Chasing the Dragon.” It’s about the life of Jackie Pollinger and her experiences as a young woman in Hong Kong, China.
The story goes…
“In 1960, a young woman named Jackie Pollinger felt a deep calling from God. With nothing but a few dollars and a deep trust in the Holy Spirit, she left England on a boat praying for God to show her where to disembark. That place turned out to be Kowloon city…” Which is just kind of on the north side of Hong Kong. I’ve actually been to Hong Kong. But I haven’t been to Kowloon. But it’s just kind of on the mainland side of Hong Kong.
“Kowloon, a lawless city, drug-infested slum in Hong Kong, known for the poverty at that time, its poverty, crime, and addiction. At the age of 22, Jackie began teaching music to poor children and soon found herself ministering to heroin addicts, gang members, and prostitutes. She was untrained in ministry, didn’t speak Cantonese, and was often in real danger.” Her own life, in other words, in danger.
“But she believed the Holy Spirit would equip her and He did. One turning point came when she started praying for people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, particularly praying in other tongues. Just as it’s described in the Book of Acts. She didn’t fully understand it at the time, but she was obedient.”
I mean, think about what’s possible in this time of prayer today, or what’s possible in your day-to-day life today, if we will be conscious of, surrendered to, and responsive to God the Holy Spirit in our lives. I mean, essentially, the scriptures are a record of God’s movement and purpose and plan in the earth as orchestrated by God the Holy Spirit.
Men and women of old were moved upon at certain times by the Spirit to do certain things that ended up being God’s power on display. God’s plan fulfilled. After the day of Pentecost, He came… that being the Spirit to live and abide in all of us. And to be with us wherever we go. And so the Book of Acts is really a record of what God intends for His church. It was a supernatural church in the first century. And that’s where we’re going back to in this 21st century. To be, once again, a supernatural movement and outflow of heaven in the earth by the facilitation of the Spirit. Not the dutiful efforts of you or me in our natural lives.
I mean, if we have a supernatural enemy (which we do; who is persistent, we’ll give them that), then we need a supernatural supply of wisdom and power to counter and overcome and rise above every adverse adversary, every opposition, every attack. And we do.
You can’t succeed on your own. You can’t remain dependent on your human resources. Just your eyeballs. Just your natural talent or wisdom or degrees or resources in some way. That’s not going to get the job done.
What God is calling for now is for a dependence and a yieldedness and an outright surrender to the Spirit, individually, one by one, as we recognize what He’s asking us to do. And collectively as a body, a church at Living Word, a church globally worldwide. It is only the empowerment and the outflow of the Holy Spirit, which is the outflow of heaven in us and through us that is going to wrap up this age. And counter every incursion of the Antichrist spirit in our world. We have to truly begin to live supernatural lives and no longer just live on this thin veneer of natural reality.
How’s that for something to think about?
The dimensions God offers us are far greater than we can perceive with our natural eyes. So that’s why we go to the Word and we see that God’s plan for us, His big plan, His big storehouse of resources and ingredients and wisdom is multidimensional. It’s bigger than we understand. And we feed on the Word and we meditate on the Word and we pray under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, because then God has His way to shine light in our innermost being and cause us to begin to grasp little by little new revelation about who we are and what we’re called to be and do in this time.
And I’m here to inform you today that it’s bigger and it’s greater and it’s wider and it’s deeper than what you first perceived. So just let the Lord expand your heart and your thinking today. If you’re alive, then there’s something more God wants to do in you and through you.
Let me finish the story about Jackie Pollinger…
So she began to pray for people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, just like it’s recorded in the Book of Acts. She didn’t fully understand at the time, but she was obedient. As she prayed for addicts, they began to speak in tongues and miraculously, many of them experienced instant supernatural deliverance from drug addiction. No withdrawal. No rehab. Just freedom.
Whew! Ooh, come on now. No withdrawal! God doesn’t want us to experience withdrawal. No rehab. Just freedom. Now, I’m not knocking rehab or books or counseling. Whatever God uses, use it. But in this account, God had His way in these drug addicts and delivered them mightily and gloriously.
This was so consistent that it became a core part of her ministry. Addicts who wanted to be free, would be prayed over, receive the Holy Spirit and begin a new life. Many of these former addicts became leaders in the ministry themselves, helping others get clean and come to Christ.
Over the decades, Jackie’s ministry, known as St. Stephen’s Ministry, helped transform hundreds, even thousands of lives. What was once the most dangerous place on earth became a place of hope, healing, and freedom. All because one woman trusted the power of the Holy Spirit to do what she couldn’t do on her own.
Isn’t that good? I love that!
Prayed…
And so, Father, we thank you for your faithfulness.
We thank you for sending the great and the mighty and the beautiful Holy Spirit to us.
Holy Spirit, we recognize your presence and we welcome you into this place and into our homes.
We invite you, Holy Spirit, to come and have your way during this time of worship and prayer.
Have your way in each heart.
I pray for people right now, Lord, that are joining with us. Some maybe for the first or second, or maybe you don’t have a chance to join us online or in the chapel very often, but you’re here.
Lord, I pray for a divine and supernatural encounter for them today.
That today would mark a fresh and new period in your plan for their lives, for their families, for their finances.
Lord, I just declare over this company a fresh baptism and flow of heaven rising up from within them.
Lord, your Word said that out of our bellies would spring forth fountains of living water.
Springs that would well up within us and be life-giving and transformative and directive toward our future and our lives and what you intend.
And so, Father, I just speak the anointing of your grace and your mercy and your Holy Spirit over this company. Holy Spirit, may you be welcomed to work inside of us, to work through us today as we come together to worship and pray.
Holy Spirit, we invite your plan for what must be prayed out, for what must be said, for what must be accomplished in the Spirit.
We want less of our agenda and more of your God-ordained agenda.
Holy Spirit, we recognize that you come not to do your own work, but to reveal, transmit, and disclose what you hear and what you see in the spirit the Father is saying and doing.
So let that occur right here, right now, in Jesus’ name.
