 Good morning, welcome to morning prayer from the heart of Kalamazoo, where we are crying out to the heart of God, from the heart of our city, for him to move, not just here in this city, but upon our land, upon the church, not just our church, but the church, his church. This morning, the Lord has heavy on my heart, and probably many of us. Just what is happening in our land, what is happening with people, specifically things like Nashville, and what is happening because of evil on our land, not political narratives and partisan issues, but just evil, evil that taking, the stealing, the robbing of lives, the treachery done on behalf of innocent people. And I just feel burdened this morning to cry out for mercy, to pray, to intercede as hard as we can with as much intentionality as we can for the Lord at mercy on our land, to pour out, to flood our streets and to flood our homes and to flood every places that we go with mercy. And before we do that, I want us to be intentional with proclaiming who he is. How awesome he is, how good he is, how excellent he is, how marvelous he is. So the Lord this morning as I was spending time at home before I came in, turned my attention to 1st Peter chapter two, starting verse nine, says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people four. Now hear that, four, his own possession. That's a big word, the word four, a people for his own possession. That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of the darkness and into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Because of Jesus, everything has changed. Everything has changed. What once wasn't, now is. What who we once were is not who we are now. He has changed everything. He has changed everything. And so I want us to just take these opening moments this morning and proclaim his excellencies. What that means is us opening our mouths, activating our vocal chords and from the depths of our heart begin to pour out who he is and how awesome he is, how great he is, how kind he is and compassionate he is. Just begin to thank him for who he is. Declare his excellencies this morning. Don't be silent and wait for us to do it. You engage now. You walk through those gates. You enter into those chords. You, with thanksgiving, with an excellence, his excellencies just begin to do that now. Vocalize it. Marvelous life. The rain is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in him. Lord, you are our hope in the midst of everything that we go through, Lord, in the midst of devastation and loss, in the midst of being dispensed on children, innocent children, Lord. You are our hope. So Lord, we ask you in the midst of certainty, questions. We ask you, Lord, we rely on you, Lord, because you are our portion, you are our hope. But we ask you, Lord, for mercy on this land. Lord, we ask you for mercy in Nashville. We ask you for mercy across America, Lord. Your mercies are new every morning, Lord. They never come doing it. The sun goes up, the sun goes down, and until it comes up again, they're new. We ask you for new mercy, Lord. New mercy, Lord. Pour out mercy, Lord, in this land. Mercy, Lord that heals. Mercy that comforts. Mercy that restores. Mercy, Lord. Mercy, Lord, have mercy on us. Have mercy upon this land. Lord, we ask you for mercy. Lord, would you exchange our anger for tears? Or would you exchange the anger that is welling up in so many people right now with tears? Not because of something we have done or a shift in our minds, but because you have, Lord, poured out mercy upon us and your mercy has changed us and washed us of our anger, of our hate, of our indifference, Lord. We ask you for mercy, Lord. Take away our anger. Wash us of our anger. Wash us, Lord. Upon us devastation and destruction, the rivers of tears, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees at the fate of all the daughters of my city. In moments like these, Lord God, but not just moments of loss, not just moments, in events of loss, but Lord God, but would you give us tears? Would you give us the gift of tears, Lord God, to truly cry out for our nation, to truly cry out for our people, to truly cry out for our children? Would you give us tears, Lord God? Would our eyes flow without ceasing? Lord, would there be a river of tears coming from your church? Would we not engage in the political rhetoric of the left and the right, Lord God, but maybe we just cry out for our children and cry out for this land that is riddled with evil, that is consumed with evil, God? Would we not engage in that, Lord God? But would we engage with crying out to you on behalf of him, Lord? Give us gift of tears, Lord. May our words, may our prayers be soaked with tears, God. Genuine tears, crying out, not look upon this land and find no one interceding, no one standing on the gap, no one, but Lord, may you look upon this land and see your people, your chosen people, your royal priesthood, Lord God, may you find us standing in the gap, crying, filling in the gap with tears, God, streams of tears, God, would you give us streams of tears for the expense of our evil? We know that you are listening to your people, your royal priesthood right now and we ask for you to come near, would you come near to the families at Nashville? Lord, would you come near to that church? Would you come near to that school? Would you draw near to them, God, in the midst of devastation and loss? Would you comfort them? Would you comfort them with mercy? Would you come near to sniff, fast, love, Lord God, in the midst of these moments? Lord, would you just draw near to them? You are near to the broken heart. Promises that you draw near to those that you saved those who were crushed in spirit, Lord. Lord, would you do those two things right now? We stand in the gap on behalf of these families, this city, this community, this church, as people who were once thought of people who had not yet received mercy but now have received mercy. We stand in the gap, God, for you to save them in the midst of this Mizzou, Michigan. We ask you to cover that community and that church. Cover them with mercy. Cover them with grace. Cover them with the steadfast love to this earth to give. Lord, I just want us to begin to say that out loud. Cover them as prophetic intercessors. Just begin, whether you're in this room or you are on the live stream, whether you're at work or in your car or at home, just begin to speak, Lord. Cover them. Cover them. Cover them, each of us, as watchmen. Watchmen on a wall, looking out. And normally, watchmen look out to see incoming threats, but I see watchmen's not looking out to warn but to prophesy. And I see us looking over Nashville right now, over that church. A wall being built up around that church, around that school. And us prophesying. Lord, cover them. Cover them. And I see blankets of mercy and compassion. Mercy. Blankets of mercy. Just falling upon them. One after one, not one blanket, but multiple blankets. Or we say, cover them. We take our stand on the wall. Right now, on behalf of brothers and sisters, on behalf of the community. Lord, that's your word, you promise. Lord, right now, we ask you for that, for peaceful habitation, for our brothers and sisters in Nashville in this moment. We ask your secure dwelling, quiet resting, for your presence, that only you can provide, Lord, that only you can give in this moment of devastation and destruction. Lord, we ask for you to do something miraculous upon this land. For your mercy, God, would you bring peaceful habitation? Would you bring it, God? Would you give it? Cover them in the midst of trouble. With your perfect love. Cover them, Lord. We profess those words. And we speak them in the midst of these times, in the midst of these troubles, in the midst of this pain. That you are great. And that you do wondrous things. That you alone are God. Lord, in the midst of all of this that's happening, in the midst of pain and grief, in the midst of loss and tragedy, we ask you to do something great and wonderful. Do something great, Lord, and wonderful. God, we call to you right now. Prophecy your goodness over Nashville. Rise in this hour that it would not sit silent in dormant, that it would not regress to the sidelines of what is happening on this land. I pray that your church would stand up and take its place on the wall for mercy upon this land. I pray that in every night, God, I pray that you would awaken your church as intercessors, as watchmen on the wall to cry out that as your sons and daughters, that we would not sit and just do nothing, but that we would stand up and intercede, that we would prophesy, Lord God, that we would lift our voices to heaven, that we would cry out to you, that we would truly work there, that you have called us to engage in, that we would take up the whole armor of God, everything that you have called us to walk in, that we would be the people that you have us to be, without your Christianity. Sit back and relax, but we would take our stand as sons and daughters, children of the utmost God. I would soak this land with tears for this land. Give us tears, God. Give us the gift of tears, and as your sons and daughters, we come to you, answer us. From the balcony of heaven, Lord God, would you roar down, would you rend open the heavens, and descend upon Nashville, God? Cover them. Thank you for this day that you have made in the midst of what is happening. We choose to rejoice and be glad in it, not because of the things that this day bring, but because you are in this day and you have made it, so we rejoice and choose to be glad in it. Lord, would you cover Nashville? Would you cover Covenant Church in school? Would you cover parents? Would you cover children? Would you cover them gone? May your church in Nashville shine as the marvelous light that they are called to shine as. Would they be a city on a hill set apart? Would you turn this evil, ugly, diabolical act? Somehow, would you turn it and use it for your good? Lord, we love you, we cry out to you, we prophesy, cover them, and all God's people said. Courage us that just because it's nine o'clock, it doesn't mean that we stop praying, that we stop interceding. Let's be praying for Nashville, the church, the school, the parents, the families involved. Let's intercede, let's cry out, let's not be silent. We'll be back here in the room at noon at 6.30 at night, otherwise we'll see you on the live stream tomorrow morning. Have a blessed day, let's pray.