Contemplative Prayer (2) Praying that God fortify our hearts

 

Praying that God fortify our hearts and give us rest.

We need rest too, because if you can see how wicked the world is, it is very tiring, right? It is tiring. That is why, His yoke is not heavy and his what? His burden is light. When we are in Him, all those worries can be defeated with the power of His presence, His wisdom, His knowledge, His goodness, God's benevolence, His righteousness. We can overcome all these things at least in our heart set, so that when we go out to face the evil world we will not be deceived and we will stand strong against them, but at the same time we can be recharged by His Word.

Amen!

Your phone cannot always run on maximum output constantly, right? You have got also charge it up. Amen!

Contemplative Prayer (2)

That is what our contemplative prayer time is. We are just going to get into the Word and be able to contemplate the Word. All right, so please join us in contemplative prayer. Security, you can keep your eyes open, and in all the campuses around the country, security, keep your eyes open; do your job. Everybody else join us in prayer. Can we turn the lights down? We'll read as we get into it.

Let us close our eyes. As you breathe in, let us recognize that we are alive; it is a gift of God.

And just simply in your heart admit, “I am alive”. And as you breathe out, just say, “Thank You, God!” That is all you got to do. Breathing in, “I’m alive,” breathing out, you can say “Thank You, God.” You can say,” Thank You, Jesus.” You can say, “Thank You, Father.” Anyone. Rotate, keep it fresh, and keep it random. Breathing in, “I’m alive.”

Breathing out, “Thank You, Jesus.” Very simple. Breathing in, “I'm alive; you are alive because of His grace.” Breathing out, “Thank You, Father.” Very simple.

Mark 10: 1- 16

So, let us keep praying in that manner as we listen to Mark chapter 10:

1 And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.

2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? Tempting him.

3 And he answered and said unto them, what did Moses command you?

4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.

5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

6 But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.

7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then, they are no more twain, but one flesh.

9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

10 And in the house, his disciples asked him again of the same matter.

11 And he saith unto them, whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.

12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.

14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.

15 Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

Pastor Sean Moon Contemplative Prayer (2)

Father God, we thank You for this beautiful day. We thank You for this incredible life that You have bestowed upon us. We have been able to live in the most prosperous, the freest, the most incredible country in all of human history. Never before was there a country that had this much freedom, never. From ancient lands to the Babylonians to the Assyrians, to the Hasmoneans, to the Greco-Romans, never has there been a land this free.

A nation Consecrated to You

This land, America, was consecrated to You by our first president, George Washington, in New York City, which was the capital at the time, at a small church there near the site of 9/11. Before Washington went up to give his inaugural address, he stopped at that church to pray for this nation that was now newly formed. He stopped on bended knee to offer and consecrate this as Your land. As a land where so many Christians were fleeing oppression and British Anglican rule and all those different forms of religious oppression and/or political oppression to reside in the fields of Pennsylvania and the mountains of Virginia, and eventually, the hills of Tennessee and out to the Great Plains.

This land was not just a land of settlers or conquerors as it was with any other time in history where one nation was conquered and another one fell.

This was also a special time. A time that was preparing for the advent of the Lord and preparing for the change of all world history, preparing for the tribulation, preparing for the end times. It was a land that was consecrated unto You in the manner that Your Promised Land was consecrated unto You as Moses led his people, the Israelites, to the Promised Land. Eventually the first generation could not enter but we know that Joshua and Caleb did enter and consecrated that land unto You.

This history is so important and we must remember, because if we forget this starting point, we will forget who we are.

Are we a nation that just supports indiscriminate libertarian godless freedom? Or are we a nation that has freedom because of Jesus?

Are we a nation that just delights in libertarian freedom doing whatever our desires and our whims prefer? Or are we a nation that began from people that were persecuted for simply trying to serve and build communities centered on the Bible and the Word of God instead of some Anglican or Catholic hierarchy?

Is this a nation that was started to have a big party for 240 years? Or was this a nation that was secured by honorable and righteous men fighting the good fight to bring freedom to their posterity?

Freedom that is not just do whatever you want, but freedom that is accountable to the Creator. Freedom that comes from Him, to what? To avoid sin, to avoid unrighteousness, to avoid the whims of the flesh and to pursue the Spirit and His Kingdom, to pursue righteousness, forgiveness, benevolence and justice.

We are not a perfect country, dear God. The Western world is not a perfect world, but it was a world, especially here in America, that our Founding Fathers consecrated to You. But we have strayed; we have strayed so far. We pray right now that any heart that is here, any ears that are listening to this broadcast, anybody who is hearing these words will begin to remember who they are. as patriots, as patriotic families, as Americans in this critical time, in this crucible moment in all of world history.

We are now in the center of the storm, but dear God, just as You walked on water in the middle of the storm and the disciples did not believe, we ask You to fill us with faith at this time; to not totally focus on the lightning and thunder around, but to keep our eyes on the horizon. Because every storm shall pass, every rain shall cease at some point, and the sun will emerge; the sunrise will start peaking up over that horizon.

Dear God, we know that this storm shall pass. But we pray that America and the goodhearted

people of this world, in this very serious moment, may be able to understand the gravitas of the time that we are in. That we cannot rely on our own power, our own thoughts, our own plans. No, we have to rely on You more than EVER.

Prayer for Our Enemies and Others

We have committed so many sins against You, Father God. Jesus, we've kicked You out of our courtrooms. We have kicked You out of our schools. We've kicked You out of our cafeterias and lunchrooms. We have kicked You out of the places of educations and the halls, and even now the churches are inviting in demonic, demonic, rainbow licentiousness and calling it Yours. Full-on blasphemy is happening before our eyes, and we're wondering why our civilization is dying. As we saw in Mark 10, we cannot just destroy the consecrated relationship we had with You at the beginning. That would be like issuing a divorce with You; that would be like committing adultery with other gods and other demons just like the people of Israel also did throughout their history.

God, You are a merciful God and You are a patient God, but there is a point at which those people will be held to account. We pray, we pray, we beg You dear God. We get on our knees; we lift our hands in prayer. We want to call upon You to start awakening those who are still asleep.

For those who feel persecuted and condemned by the world, we pray peace upon them. We pray that You would encourage them; You would comfort them this moment. They are standing on the right side of history.

We also pray for our enemies. We pray that they would be covered with the blood of Jesus, that they would come to salvation, that they would repent of their sins, that they would stop their wicked ways and stop the downfall which will eventually consume them and their own children. We pray that they would stop pursuing just money and fame and that they would think and they would pursue You and righteousness. That they would protect the Constitution, protect the Christian principles, which have founded us, protect the Covenant, the relationship that our Founding Fathers made with You at the beginning of our country. We do not want a divorce from You, Father God. We do not want a divorce from You, Jesus. We are a sinful and backslidden people and we need You more than ever.

We pray for all the haters and the trolls that are cursing us at this moment. Right now, we pray blessings upon them, blessings on their finances, blessings upon their family, blessings upon their children. Keep them up, keep them up, Lord, so that they may realize that they've sold themselves out to be workers of iniquity; they may realize that the goodness of You, of God, transcends any wicked and petty heart.

We pray for those who are listening right now that are broken in their heart in seeing their country fall apart, in seeing their own family, their own children falling apart; taking on the ideologies of the world and becoming children and grandchildren that cannot even be related to, for they are now worshiping another god. We pray for those broken-hearted parents and grandparents right now, dear God. Comfort them at this very important hour. Let them know they are not alone; they are not forsaken.

We pray for those political prisoners that are thrown in a gulag right now here in America, unjustly detained with no crime, who are now in solitary confinement. We pray forgiveness upon all the criminals and the dangerous organizations that have committed those terrible acts upon those patriots and upon American citizens. We pray that they would come to repentance, they would stop that, they would have a heart change and realize, 

“Wait a minute I may not be on the right side of history; wait a minute, I may be doing what the good Nazis did in just following orders.”

Your Overwhelming Reckless Love

Dear God, with our hands and with our intentions, nothing can happen, but with You, all things are possible. We stand at such incredible moment, dear God, when so much is on the line; our families, our futures, our fortunes, our country, our nation; the world is on the line. We pray at this very critical and very unstable moment that even though so many in power feel like they are sitting on a structure so solid, today is a day when they’ll realize, 

“Wait a minute. It is not as solid as I think. This is a house built on sand. This is a house that is built just on the pursuit of power and not on the pursuit of God, not on the pursuit of His righteousness and His sacrificial love that He poured out upon that cross.”

We need to get back to the basics, dear God. Right now, there is a woman that is watching, and in her heart the spirit of divorce is brewing and bubbling. Let her pray forgiveness over her husband. Right now. She doesn't want to do it; she doesn't want to lift him up in prayer. To her he doesn't deserve it; to her he's not worthy of receiving forgiveness. But none of us were worthy of receiving Your forgiveness. None of us were worthy of receiving salvation, Your blood. Let our hearts resemble Yours, dear God. Let that spirit of divorce be removed in Jesus' name. Let that sister right now stand in courage and in agreement with all those who are hearing these words. We stand with her at this very moment in agreement. We stand with her hand in hand.

With our own power we can't turn this situation around. We can't stop that man from doing what he's doing. But we can pray for him. We can ask blessings to be heaped upon him, so he may receive that unmerited favor, that incredible grace, and be broken down to repentance not by force but by Your overwhelming reckless love, dear God that You show to ALL of us, that You show to this country.

Forgive Your Enemies

Father God, we pray right now for the families that are in sickness, that are dealing with disease. They feel like there's no way out. Every day is pain and a battle. Every day another questioning, “Why, why, why do I have to live like this?” We want to pray hope; we want to pray inspiration and word into that person's heart right now with all those that can hear my voice.

Man of God, woman of God,

“Stand Strong against unrighteousness.”

“Resist the devil and he WILL flee.”

“Lean not to your own understanding but always rely on Him. He will make your path straight.”

You may be wondering why you haven't had that healing; you may be wondering why you haven't had that breakthrough to the next level of spiritual development. Well, have you forgiven the ones that you've been holding so much resentment towards? Man of God, woman of God, have you prayed for your enemies lately? Have you prayed for those who persecuted you lately? Have you prayed for those who mocked you lately? This is your day. This is your day today. You've got to be set free; free from this hate, free from this resentment.

Imagine what the Lord could have harbored against you if he held on to every wrong you ever did. Imagine the list that God could make about you or me or anybody if He didn't have a heart of forgiveness, if He didn't seek you when you didn't deserve it; if He didn't pursue you when you gave up on yourself.

Our God is a mighty God, and He is the shepherd, the strong shepherd that carries the rod and the staff. He is the strong shepherd that can BEAT back the wolves and the tides of evil, but He has the loving heart of a father. He will leave the 99 to pursue the one that is lost. We all know that's us; we all know that's me and that's you.

God, you are so good. God, you are so good. This very life that we can live is because of Your amazing grace. This very air that I can breathe right now, the fact that I am alive, that my heart is beating, that we're not six foot in the grave, that we weren't killed on the street or killed by our enemies; the fact that we can be standing here and seeing our children and grandchildren, this is the grace of God and nothing less. So, with every breath of our life, we want to say, “Thank You, God!” With every breath that we can breathe, we want to say, 

“Thank You, Jesus! Thank You Father! You paid it all. You died so I could live. And I didn't deserve it; all I deserved was hell and damnation.”

God’s Sacrificial Love

Father God, Your love is so amazing. We are so blessed to serve a God whom we can meditate on, contemplate, who is not a God of power and not a God of intellect and not a God of just will. No, You are a God of love, and not just some fairy love. No, You are a God of Sacrificial love. The modern-day Christian that says God is love and puts emojis, little hearts, at the back of what they wrote, no, no, that's not God's love; that's fairy love. It should say, “God is love” and there should be the emoji of blood drip 🩸

God's love is not just touchy-feely love. 

It's not fairy love, it's not Disneyland love.

God's love is sacrifice.

It's bleeding out and dying for you and me.

It's the most courageous love of the Father.

It's the most radical love that can change the most hardened heart. Nobody stands a chance before that blood.

It is a love from which when you drink, you will never thirst again. Never.

Nothing will ever compare to that sacrificial love of the Father. We thank You, God. We thank You.

We want to be filled with Your love as we stand courageously at this critical moment in history.

We want to be willing to stand up against evil, but not hate our enemy.

We want to be able to fight the good fight and not let Satan take one inch, but retreat. But at the same time, pray for them; that they would come to repentance and be saved. We want to stop the insanity, but at the same time, we do not want to forget Your insane love, crazy love, radical love, that has broken the most hardened felons, criminals, prostitutes, drug addicts, abusers, slanderers, liars, etc. Your love has broken them all, and before that love, all knees will bow and all tongues will confess that You are God.

Prayer for Strength & Courage

We want to pray Your hedge of protection upon President Trump who is being unjustly persecuted at this time. We want to pray Your hedge of protection upon all the patriots across this landscape right now who are being persecuted and who are standing up to protect their neighbor and to protect their children and grandchildren's futures at great sacrifice to themselves at this hour. We ask that You breathe strength into them, courage into them.

Dear God, remind us what courage is. We got to do things that we are afraid of doing, not so that we can overcome fear, but so that we can become more courageous. We may still feel fear and be scared when we face the enemy, because he is a dangerous roaring lion coming to kill, steal and destroy. So, we may feel fear and that's normal, but we must not have the SPIRIT of fear. As Timothy says, 

“You have not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.”

 Let us rest in Your power and Your love, in Your sound wisdom, dear God. All the burdens that have weighed us down, all the workloads and all the situations and incidents that we have encountered this last month,

and this last year, and these last four years and these last ten years, let them all come to rest right now in You.

Dear God, there is Peace in You.

We don't have to hold on to any bitterness.

We don't have to hold on to any resentment.

We don't have to hold on to any hurt.

We don't have to hold on to any jealousy.

We don't have to hold on to any malevolence.

We can all let it GO before the altar, and say, God, fill me up! Fill me up, God!

I want to be filled with Your righteousness.

I want to be filled with Your bravery and courage.

I want to be filled up with Your benevolence, Your compassion, 

“Your mercy endureth forever.” Your goodness.

I will never be perfect but I want to drink from that cup. Fill me up with Your love; not fairytale love, but Sacrificial love. Sacrificial love.

Let Us Be as Children

Father God, if there is a brother or a sister that is harboring jealousy against another brother or another sister, that is rolling their eyes every time they see them, right now, we pray forgiveness on both. We ask that You would touch their hearts; You would soften their heart. We ask that You would have a supernatural encounter with them and pierce that hardened heart and right now, quietly in the midst of their own heart, let them pray for that person. Let them pray for blessings upon that brother that they're jealous of, that sister that they're jealous of.

Let them pray: Father, bless so and so's family. Bless their grandparents. Bless their parents. Bless their brothers and sisters. Bless their cousins and nephews. Bless them. Give them a new future in you. I may have feelings of jealousy or anger towards that person, but I ask You God, to bless them because I never deserved Your blessings. I don't want to be somebody who is just seeking the gifts; I want to seek the Giver. I don't want to be a person who is just seeking the blessings; I want to seek the Blesser.

Dear God, I never want to be away from You. You are all I have and You are enough. You have given us this Kingdom of God. You have given us this brotherhood, You have given us this sisterhood, You have given us our marriage, You have given us our children, You have given us this breath that I breathe right now. I want to acknowledge You, and I want to say sorry that all the time, I forget that it's from You. I want to acknowledge You NOW, be fresh in You.

Father God,

Thank You for lifting our burden.

Thank You for making that yoke not heavy and our burden light.

Thank You for giving us peace.

Thank You for letting us pray for our enemies when they are hurling arrows and fiery darts against us.

Thank You for letting us turn the spiritual tide against the wicked ones. For we know that in the end their plans and machinations will fail; their attempts at self-worship and Godhood will fail and their kingdoms will crumble. But Your Kingdom of sacrificial love will reign forever.

We thank You, God. We thank You, Lord. Let our hearts be open like the children that ran to Jesus as we saw in Mark chapter 10. Let us have faith innocent and pure like those little kids that didn't care about anything. They just wanted to touch the Lord, to be in His presence. Simple and pure. No strings attached. No politics. No, nothing else. Just pure adulation, admiration for being in the presence of God. Let our hearts be purified. Oh God, You know we fall short so many times. You see us in front and You see us behind. You see us behind the closed doors. You see us on our phones and gossiping about other people and saying this or that or brooding or venting. You see it all, dear God. We cannot hide it from You. We may be able to hide it from the world, but we cannot hide it from you.

Did You Notice Me Today?

And amidst of all that, You still say, 

“Son, daughter, did you notice Me today? Were you so busy in whatever you had to do that you couldn't notice your Father? Were you so busy in your feelings and in your desires that you thought you were alone? I've been standing here all the time. I never left You. There are times when you asked and prayed, but I did not answer, because I know you know the answer.

And many times, I loved You too much to give you whatever you wanted, because it would have destroyed you. But I was always here. Through the thick and the thin; through the night and the day. When your heart was broken. When you were backstabbed. When people you trusted turned on you. You're not perfect, and you certainly need to apologize to people around you and those that you've hurt. But I didn't come to save a perfect people.” Our Father's reminding us today.

Put on the Armor of God

Father, we want to resemble You. We want to fight evil without being evil. We want to stand up against wickedness without our hearts becoming wicked. Purify us. Train us. Train us. Train us. Like an awesome fatherly coach, train us. Train us as a soldier of God in Your army against the armies and hordes of evil. Train us up on how to fight the good fight.

Train us on how to pursue You and to follow You and to be brave in You and to have rest in You and have peace in You.

Put on the armor of God.

Place upon us the helmet of salvation, dear God.

Upon our breasts, place the breastplate of righteousness.

Upon our waist, place the belt of truth.

Our feet, shod them with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

In our weak hand, give us the shield of faith.

In our strong hand, the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit.

Arm us against this heavenly battle.

Let us be righteous soldiers in Your Kingdom that can defeat Satan’s machinations and plans.

Let the enemy's plans be foiled, and Let there be confusion upon his encampments.

Let Your glory pour out like a burning fire, that all may be consumed in Your grace.

Let our enemy be transformed so they may become our brother and friend that stands for the gifts of liberty that You have blessed the world with.

Oh, there is a great tide that is turning right now in the hearts and minds of men dear God, and You are at the helm.

Let us never forget, when we feel down and we feel depressed and we feel alone and we feel like we're isolated, and we feel like nobody else is brave enough to fight this fight and we have to be the ones getting all the arrows;

Let us remember that

You did it first, and You took all the arrows.

You went up on that cross.

You went through all the prisons and the torture chambers and You did it all First.

You paved the way where there was no way.

You made a way to the streams, rivers and valleys in the desert. And in the wilderness, You brought us to the land of milk and honey, which is the fruit, the power, Your sacrificial love, the truth.

Father, we are so grateful.

As I breathe in, “I am alive”. As I breathe out, “Thank You, God.” As I breathe in, “I am alive”, and as I breathe out, “I thank You, Jesus.” As I breathe in, “I am alive”, and as I breathe out, “I thank You, Father. Hallelujah! Thank You, Father! Thank You, God!”

All right, let us have our praise team come on up. Let us all rise and offer our songs of praise to the Lord.

Hyung Jin Sean Moon, rev. Moon successor

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