Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist
Pastor Ken…
Say “yes” to God opportunities…
Pastor Lynne used to say that salvation is God’s introductory offer, and that there are many offers that come subsequent to salvation throughout our faith journey that we’ve got to respond to… that we must say “yes” to.
You’re no more than one quality decision away…
And I just heard in my heart this morning that the old quote that says “you’re no more than one quality decision away from a totally different life.”
I know we talk a lot about how America’s at a crossroads and hanging in the balance needing to make a decision for God, we would say and pray, right? But I just sensed this warning that maybe there’s some of us in this room, some online, where we’re in a valley place. We’re in a transition space, and God’s prompting us with some decisions, or maybe one decision. You just never know how profound even one small decision can mean.
Small tweaks can lead to big peaks…
Somebody once said that “small tweaks can lead to big peaks.” Small decisions can lead to a completely, transformed and changed life. Amen. And as we individually make decisions in our spiritual journey from our heart where God is putting His finger on certain things, then that contributes to the momentum and the ability and the freedom of God the Holy Spirit to do what He wants to do collectively or corporately through us as a staff and through us as a congregation.
God is calling you to set yourself apart for His purposes…
Little decisions made at intimate moments with the Holy Spirit yield and precipitate big things in the kingdom of God. It all starts in the heart. Somebody shared this as they heard the Spirit of the Lord say, “There is much deception rising in this hour. And even some of My elect are being deceived by doctrines of demons and spirits of suicide. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is taking out some of My soldiers whom I love. In this season, I’m calling you to draw yourself away, to set yourself apart, for I have set you apart for My purposes. But you must set yourself apart for My purposes in order to step into everything I’ve planned for you since before the foundation of the earth.”
What is God putting His finger on in your life?
So I would just pose the question this morning: “What is God putting His finger on in your life?” What decision that if you were to be really honest with yourself, you know you need to make in this time of prayer this morning, right here, right now. Before you go out the door into your day, change begins right here. Amen. I believe this morning, God’s wanting to meet with us. Do you believe that? He knows, He sees, He understands. He’s already factored in the failure. And guess what? It’s going to turn out alright if we’ll simply make a decision to go on with Him… to not look back… to not withdraw… to not hesitate… to not meander in a place of status quo. Because one thing I know about God is that He is a God of movement… and flow.
As I often like to say, “Heaven isn’t just a place. Heaven is a flow.” And there’s a flow precipitating in the earth in this hour, in the church in this day, here at Living Word or wherever you are joined with us online this morning. There’s a flow of grace and mercy and goodness.
We’re going to see the goodness of God…
I’m reminded that David wrote, “I would have disparaged or been discouraged if I had not believed that I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living.” We’re going to see the goodness of God in our lives and in the landscape of our church and our community and our nation.
Can I prophesy on a Tuesday morning?
Is that okay? You’re going to see the goodness of God break forth in new ways as we wrap up 2023 and we embark upon a brand new year. But it begins with decision points. It begins by realizing God is extending. He stands before you today, right? Last time I checked, my Bible says that He stands before us. He’s at the door. He’s knocking. Not just one time so that you have salvation or fire insurance, but each and every day. As Pastor Lynne said, He extends an offer for us as leaders, for staff, as pray-ers, as believers. There are fresh offers before us.
1st Corinthians 6:19…
The Bible reveals He has prepared a table replete before us with every good and precious gift. But gifts and callings and opportunities and new places and spaces He’s called us to run and to navigate by faith, require a response to Him. A decision be made. In 1st Corinthians 6:19, in the Passion Translation, it says, “Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer. For the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary. You are God’s expensive purchase, paid with the tears of blood. So by all means, then use your body to bring glory to God.”
Romans 12:1…
Maybe that helps you in your decision this morning. Then in Romans 12:1 from the Passion Translation, it says, “Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? To surrender yourselves to God. To be His sacred living sacrifices and live in holiness experiencing all that delights His heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.”
I don’t know about you, but when I read that, I’m like, “Oh, so you mean the decisions I make today actually equate to worship? Enable and position me to worship God, to glorify God, to more accurately and adequately reflect Him, His glory in the earth and to all those around me?” Yes! Decisions.
Bottom-line Christianity—decisions!
Another quote Pastor Lynne used to say is, “That’s bottom-line Christianity right there.” Decisions. Decisions. Little decisions. Decisions to not go by the door of temptation, as Proverbs reads. Not even to go near the door of temptation. Much less engage with temptation.
Decisions, as Brother Hagin used to preach…
Decisions to build a prayer life. Decisions to confront situations. Decisions that I’m not going to go around another revolution of the sun another year without addressing some things maybe from a practical sense in my life, in my home, in my leadership, in my soul. Decisions to repent. Decisions to humble yourself. Decisions to submit to one another in reverence to God recognizing that God is in you and in me.
We’re at a crossroads of decision…
So I guess I just want to kind of raise this morning, this issue. We’re at a crossroads of decision. Not only in a nation, but in our hearts today. There’s a next level. There’s a new place. God intends to unravel all that the enemy has entangled and ensnared you with. He will unravel it. But He needs our will to be bent toward Him. If you read after many of the old-time writers and speakers and pastors and leaders going back hundreds of years, they talk a lot about bending your will… laying down your life… picking up your cross to follow Him. It’s not about us. It’s about Him. And what He wants to express and do through us.
Glove and hand analogy…
I heard an analogy recently that when a glove is made, it is made in the shape of our hand. But a glove by itself is just an inanimate object. It has no life. It just lays there. But put your hand in that glove and it brings it to life. It gives it purpose. It can do something. And I say that because that’s perhaps one of the most important decisions we can make is to contend for the presence of God. Choose to pursue a life that maintains the presence of God, swelling and flowing and growing inside of you so that your life can be not your own, but animated and brought to purpose and to meaning as the Spirit of God puts His hand in you because you’ve been created in His image. So you are that glove that He created and intended to be filled with His likeness and His presence. Amen?
Colossians 3:2…
Colossians 3:2 says, “Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities. And not with the distractions of the natural realm.”
Notes from my journal…
I jotted down something the other night which kind of goes with this. And that is this: “You and God are going to walk out the plan of God and complete your course and finish your race.” I think that’s worthy to say amen to. Live your life from the fire that descended on the day of Pentecost. For that’s what’s going to get the job done. And that’s what God originally intended. Not that we would go it alone, strike out in our own intellect, or our own understanding, or our past experiences, but to be a people wholly surrendered to Him… abandoned to Him… filled by Him… sustained by Him… propelled by Him. From the same fire that descended on the day of Pentecost. Amen? From the same power that emanates from the God eternal event. That being the resurrection of Jesus. That’s what’s going to get the job done. That’s what’s going to transform our lives. That’s what’s going to cause our church to enter a new season and a new hour of fruitfulness and destiny and purpose.
Quote from Jeanne Wilkerson’s book, “Contact With God”…
Jeanne Wilkerson, in her book, “Contact With God,” writes in one particular chapter, “Prayer will compel people in nations to make decisions, either for or against God. When you pray for people, they will make the decision either to stay where they are, God forbid, or go on with God. God is a God who moves. Genesis 1:2 says, ‘The Spirit of God moved,’ and He has been moving ever since onward. For example, in the Bible, He always told His people, Go forward, don’t ever go back.”
God does not delight in those who withdraw…
What does one of the writers of the New Testament book say? That God does not delight in those who withdraw. I just have news for you. The withdrawal starts in your heart. You know if you’re honest with yourself, if you’re withdrawing in some way, if you’re withdrawing from your calling… withdrawing from a relationship in a negative way… withdrawing because you feel offense in your heart.
God wants us to lean in…
God does not take pleasure with withdrawing. He wants us to lean in. And we can do so by faith, trusting that He has our best interests in mind… trusting that He will help us to get from where we are to where He’s called us to be.
Daniel made a decision…
Daniel was greatly beloved of God, and he was able to perceive the signs of the times. He knew that it was not God’s will for His people to be where they were. So Daniel made a decision. He made a judgment call based on the Word that, “Hey, our time is up. We ought to be delivered. We ought to be free and experiencing jubilee. What’s going on here, Lord? I make a decision.” That’s us. I make a decision to pray. He made a decision with sackcloth and ashes to fast and pray and seek the face of God. And it goes on to say, he knew when it was time for them, that being the people of God, to come into the promise of God. So he set himself to seek God in prayer on the matter. He made a decision. Giving yourself to prayer is a decision. His prayers force people to make a decision to either continue in captivity or to seek freedom.
That is why there is such a great need for intercession today. It will bring men and women to an ultimate decision point for God. Will you make that decision today? God speaks of multitudes of people in the valley of decision. In fact, this is that hour to make a great decision for God. This is the time to decide whether to move forward with God or not. God is not a God of stagnation.
Decisions. Decisions. You’re one decision away from a completely different life and experience.
Prayed…
Lord, we sense you’re here in this room right now. We thank you, Holy Spirit, for your ministry here today. And Lord, we just open our hearts… We open the door to our hearts because we hear you knocking. We hear you inquiring. We hear you calling our names and saying,
Word of the Lord came forth…
“Will you go on with Me or will you relent and stay? Will you let go of the past and that which has happened? Or will you take hold of My free grace? Will you persist in your own thoughts and striving ways? The Spirit of God would say, Will you surrender to Me and let Me have you in every way? For today is the day of salvation. Yes, it is a day for redemption and to encounter the living God, as the Spirit of God would say. But it’s a day of salvation, a continued work in the soul of a human life in the circumstances that we all encounter. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day when you have the opportunity to surrender and turn that which you’ve grappled with and struggled with and weighs you down over to Me, says the Spirit of God. For My mercy is before you and My patience is renowned. And My word speaks of a day when My love and kindness are before you. So take advantage of it, the Spirit of God would say. Take advantage of the table that’s before you. Take advantage of My blood. Take advantage of My empowerment and exceeding great grace that you might not stay stuck, or in a rut, or in a place that you ought not be. But come out. Come out, the Spirit of God would say. Come out of that funk. Come out of that drama. Come out of that insisting you’re to have your own way. For that’s not My highest way.
“You’ve not seen or heard or even encountered yet what I can truly do for you if you would just let Me have that space and that place in your heart. If you will simply bend your will toward Me, I will take you to places you didn’t even realize were possible for you and yours and this ministry. So turn, turn, turn away from all that would distract. Turn, turn away from all that would bog you down and slow your pace.
“And as the writer of Hebrews says, refuse to be slow and sluggish and slothful. But instead, like those through faith and steady, active persistence inherit the promises of God. Because you choose to move forward this day, out of darkness and into light, out of the old and the past that you’ve known, and into a bright and bold and beautiful day. For it’s right there for you, just for the taking. You’re going to have it all. I want to give you it all. I want you to see and know My goodness to the nth degree of glory. But first you must let me have My way with you in you and through you today and every day forward in Jesus’ name.”
