 Good morning, everyone. We want to welcome you in a morning prayer. We're so glad you're joining us today this Monday at the beginning of a brand new week. And I'm just back from July break, so I'm excited to be back in the prayer room, ready to be back in the pulpit coming up this weekend. It's been a great summer. Hopefully you're enjoying the last month, really last six weeks. Sorry, I didn't mean a depression of summer. But this beautiful place called Michigan that God has given to us and planted us. Those of you who are in other places, we're praying for you as well. We also want to just remind those of you who are part of the radiant family that this week our kids are at camp. So a lot of our volunteer base and all of our emphasis, or a lot of our emphasis is right now focused on creating atmospheres for our children to encounter the presence of the Lord and to build foundations for their life and their faith by going at heart after God. And so we want to encourage you, invite you, if you would to be praying for our kids, praying for our generational staff and our worship staff and all of our community that is pouring into our kids and into our families. As we're entering into a season of Seek and Send and camp and all things family here at Radiant Church, we're going to be praying for them a little bit today. But I want to bring our focus in this morning, right from the beginning as we go into a time of worship. And in a few moments as we go into a place of prayer out of Psalm 27. Psalm 27 is a Psalm that David pours his heart out to the Lord about the priorities of his heart. He says, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Whom shall I be afraid? And when evil doers sail me to eat up my flesh. My adversaries impose it is they who stumble and fall. And though an army and camp against me, my heart shall not fear. The war arise against me, yet will I be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I have made dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. This was the longing and the deep desire of David, that he would not get distracted by the circumstances that he found himself in that were temporary and subject to change. He wasn't going to be snared by the fear of man, but his confidence was found in his relationship with the Lord. And the desire of his heart was to dwell in God's presence. So this morning we're going to make that our focus, the priority of our heart, that just like David, we're drawing near. We're saying, I'm not going to listen to the voices outside or even inside on my own imagination, on my own soul. I'm going to tell my soul. I'm going to put my mind and my thoughts directly on the presence of the Lord and say, God, would you open a door and would you issue an invitation for me to draw near to you again today? But you know the good news is he does. The Lord loves it. It's the desire of his heart. You read down a little bit further, and David says, you have said seek my face. And my heart says your face, Lord, will I see. So today I want you to know. I want you to rest assured that God is saying, come after me. Come after me. Praise me. Glorify me. Exalt me. Seek me in a place of prayer. And you will find me. He's waiting for us to seek after him. And so we're going to do that this morning. Father, today we say we love you with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our might and with all of our strength. But even to the degree that our prayer and our worship is imperfect, Lord, would you meet us? Would you invite us to an intersection across roads where our weakness meets your strength? Where our conditional love meets your unconditional love, Lord, where our humanity meets your divinity? Lord, we want to dwell in the house of the Lord. So we draw near to you this morning in the place of prayer, in the place of worship. We thank you for your Holy Spirit that fills us and overflows us and teaches us to call out Allah, Lord, receive our worship this morning. Your presence is my Lord. Lord, we stand in your presence in all the grace that you've given to us. For the undeserved favor, the grace of God, unmerited favor of the Lord, Jesus in Galatians 2.20 Paul says, I am crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live but Christ now lives in me, and the life I live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Jesus, that's our reality today, that we are dead because we've been crucified with you, our old man, our old self. It's no longer the albatross around our neck, the old man with its sin, the old nature that dominated and controlled us. For today we crucify it again, a fresh and a new. We bring it to the cross of Christ and we reckon ourselves dead to sin, dead to the world, dead to the devil, but alive in you, alive in Christ. And today, Lord, we choose to put on the new man that is renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit, the new man that is washed in the blood of Jesus, the new self that is righteous before you, forgiven, cleansed, filled with the power of heaven, adopted as sons and daughters of God, recipients of an inheritance, filled with hope, filled with life. Lord, we have it today, not because we deserve it, but because you've freely lavished it upon us. Today we remind our hearts about the beauty and the power of the cross, that Jesus, that's where you laid down your life for us. It's where grace was on full display, when the one who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Or today we receive that new man in a revelation of our new identity in you today, how sweet it is to live with Christ, how sweet it is to be alive in you, to be grafted into you, and receive the life, Lord, that you and the Father would come and make your abiding place within us, that we abide in the vine today. Wherever you're at right now, I want you to just take a moment, and I want you to just tap into that John 15 reality where Jesus said, Abide in me, and today make a conscious decision and even verbally declare it to the Lord as your prayer. Lord, today I choose to abide in you. I'm grafted into you, Jesus, and the life that flows from you let it flow into me today. Remind my heart that I belong to you, that I'm abiding in you, Jesus. Before the vine, I am the branch, and I find my life in you today. I put my old man to death again today. I crucify him daily that I might find my life in you, Jesus. Let the power of the blood of Jesus that speaks of better things let it flow into our lives today. Jesus, let your life and your anointing and your freedom and your grace come alive in us again today. Father, as a result of that today, we join in with David in Psalm 27 when he says, In the face of adversity, Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Even when enemies rise up against me in evil, even when adversaries infose, come and assail me today, Lord. My confidence is in you. My confidence is in who I am. The more today we're standing in that same place, that same confidence of knowing that you are our Father and no weapon formed against us can prosper. That our adversaries and our foes are not stronger than the grace of God. That the purposes that you have over our lives will not be thwarted by the counterfeit strategies of the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. Lord, we will walk in the abundance of life as we walk in you today. Just as David said, I will be confident. Even when war rises against me, so Father, I'm praying for holy confidence to rise in the hearts of your people today, that all across this city, your body, your church, all across this nation, that there's going to be a season where revelation of your goodness and our security in you begins to stir and birth and renew a holy confidence that you are for us. And if God be for us, who can be against us? Lord, you're the one who called us more than conquerors. Always triumphant, overcomers. And so Lord, we say with David, I will be confident. Lord, we will be confident not in the strength of our own hand, not in the wisdom of our own mind, not in our ability to manipulate or build something or sustain something or defend ourselves, but Lord, we stand in the shelter of the most high, at least under the wing of the cherubin close to your throne where you, our Father, are our great defender in our shield. Let us rise in our hearts that no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in today, Lord, our heart is reminded that we belong to you. Never ceases or forsake us, but you by presence shall go before confidence in your presence. Find our confidence prayed in Psalm 27 verse 4 and he said, one thing have I asked Lord, what thing will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Lord, today, this morning as our daily bread Lord, give us focused and undivided hearts. Lord, just like David, long for your presence more than anything else, give us song truly and honestly say Lord, that the priority of our life is your presence. Lord, the one thing come on and we desire and we long for more than anything else is to be with you. Heart comes into alignment again no great I am. Jesus, the Lamb of God slain before the foundations of the world the beautiful one glorious one the one when you speak life fills us the one who has a smile in his eye when he looks upon his sons and daughters that has eyes that blaze consuming fire majesty the strength and the wisdom and the power and the royalty of the Godhead Jesus Lord, we want to gaze upon you all the days of our life in our humanity and in our weakness Lord our hearts become so divided so distracted we live our lives for the urgent and not for the important in Lord today even in the midst of our battles we say one thing this one thing we will live our lives for just like David made this vow we make this vow again today Lord one thing this is what we exist for this is what we live for and we say no to everything else that would dare to compete with your presence dare to compete with coming hard after you and we want to live our lives on undivided hearts undivided heart says wholeheartedly raise up a generation raise up a church raise up a people in the midst of darkness that live their lives for this one thing your presence give it to us today think after you to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in your temple Lord in the midst of a generation that inquires everywhere but you we inquire in the wisdom of men in every search engine in every university in every media outlet and compare ourselves and compete with ourselves Lord we want our hearts to say like David we are going to inquire of the Lord in his presence that everything we need is found in your presence Lord the wisdom that we long for is found in your presence in the affirmation that we long for it's found in your temple in your dwelling place our identity of who we are and what you've called us to is found in your presence Lord raise up an inquiring generation that seeks hard after you early in the morning in the middle of the day late at night Lord we know that only you can satisfy in you the springs of life in you is the fountains of living water and we draw near to you is to a well to drink from the living water of your presence that alone satisfies us we inquire of you Lord presence Lord we want to gaze upon you we want to see you for who you really are open the eyes of our heart but with just one glimpse we're captivated with just one glance we're fascinated with just one peripheral glance of who you are Lord we're drawn deeper into you to be gazed at nothing else except who you are Jesus splendor and in your worth David understood this David captured it and he made it the priority of his life Lord we're asking just like David said in verse number six that I'll offer in his tense sacrifices of joy shouts of joy seeing and make melody Lord would you put a spirit within us to create dwelling places resting places of priority in our lives where worship comes easy and where the shouts of joy come even in the midst of times of war and battle even when our adversaries surround us there's an epicenter of your presence in our lives where we go in and we come out and we dwell because we behold you Jesus glorious, beautiful saving but instill that in us stir a hunger within us for these to find our confidence in you we say glorious God beautiful one this is the longing and the desire of our hearts to live our presence seek your face all the days of our lives Lord to live lifestyles a prayer to not even just have devotional moments in our lives but to live lives consecrated to your presence to walk with our eyes fixed on you the author and the finisher also to let you know that we're about to shift into a devotional set here for the next hour with a smoking set of ministering to the Lord you're welcome to stay and join us for that if you're going to leave we're just asking that you leave in a spirit of prayer until you get outside in this prayer room those of you who are joining us on broadcast we invite you to join us today at noon into 96 30 p.m. continue to pray for our kids at kids camp praying and believing that today is the day that God's presence envelops you and goes with you wherever you go in Jesus name