 Well, hello, my radiant family. It's Corey Russell here. It's an honor to be with you for this Seek First Wednesday service. A kind of a great honor. Some of my most powerful times in God have been with you. And I am expecting that the Lord's going to meet us today. As I share with you guys some of the things that are on my heart, my goodness, the things that happened in 2020 are unprecedented. It was truly, I believe, a transition year for the whole globe and a transition year for the body of Christ. And transition is difficult. It's uncomfortable even using the language that Jesus used in the Olivet Discourse. He talked about that the days preceding His coming and the generation that would come, they would be likened to birth pangs in the same way that a woman goes through birth pangs leading to the birth of her child so the earth would go through birth pangs. And I just want to say it to you. I believe that we are at the beginning of those birth pangs. The earth is in transition. And I found in my life that as things get more intense, it actually makes me simplify. And it makes me get back to core questions of who are you God? I'm made for you. What's my life to be about? And I believe that the Lord is wanting to really bring some things into focus in this year and in this next decade for us in this hour. And I believe He wants to remove the peripheral, remove the side conversations. And He wants to simplify us. And I want to say to you, my heart is deeply knit to you guys. Pastor Lee all the way down. I just love you guys. I carry you in my heart. And I believe radiant as well as the family I'm a part of here at Upper Room in Dallas. And I believe that there are many others in this nation and across the earth that God is raising up that I believe is forerunning a new wine scan of how a local church is to be operating. And I'm going to be teasing some of those things out in my message today. But I felt like 2020 was a year to get me to simplify. From the very beginning of COVID, I heard the Holy Spirit say, Corey, go into your room and shut the doors and pray to your Father who's in the secret place. That was the simple call was to get back into our room and to reconnect with the Father in the secret place. I want to pray for us. Right before I do, I want you to turn to Isaiah 56, verse seven, and I want to look at a verse. I want to talk about the house of prayer being our eternal identity and how God is speaking to the local church in this hour of how we need to reorient ourselves to entering into our house of prayer identity. Father, we love you so much. We're just so grateful, God, for all the things that you did in 2020, the adjustments, the trials, the disciplines, the temptations, all the things we walked through in 2020. We thank you, Lord, that is going to prepare us for where we're running in the future. And Father, I pray for the radiant family. I pray for the Seek first Wednesday crew. God, I pray that you would visit us with the Spirit of Revelation. Father, I pray that you would release that Spirit of Revelation upon us and that it would touch us corporately and it would touch us individually. It would touch us in our homes and our marriages, in our church, and that it would touch the whole radiant network and that you, God, would bring about something glorious in these days. We ask you to do this in Jesus' name. Amen. The first thing that I want to touch on is, I want to make it clear to you that the house of prayer is our eternal identity. This is the eternal identity of the people of God is to be the house of prayer. This didn't come up from Mike Bickle and Kansas City. It didn't come up from a Korean pastor in Korea who had prayer mountain for 50 years. Whatever model of prayer that you might be familiar with, it was actually spoken of in Isaiah 56 and Isaiah 3,000 years ago gave us the clearest definition of God's people and of what his house is to be about. I want us to look at it, Isaiah 56 verse 7. This is amazing. It says, even them, he says, even them I will bring to my holy mountain and I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. Here it is. For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. Now the ultimate fulfillment of this Isaiah 56 passage is actually going to take place when the Lord returns and when Jesus is back on the earth ruling in Jerusalem and the Lord makes that house in Jerusalem his house of prayer for all the nations of the earth as we see prayer go on even into the millennium. Even into the next age prayer will go on because prayer is how God's resources, his kingdom is advanced. It's through his people being connected to his heart and through song and through prayer releasing his kingdom. We know that prayer will always exist because the expansion of his kingdom will know no end is what Isaiah 9 tells us. Well what I love about Isaiah 56-7 is I believe that what God is doing in these days. I mean I spent 18 years in Kansas City, a part of the International House of Prayer. We heard what the Lord did and how for the last 20 years day and night prayer. I believe what we've been seeing over these last 20 to 30 years in the earth and we've seen an explosion. I think in the mid-80s there was like 25 houses of prayer. Now there's tens of thousands of day and night prayer houses, local church praying, praying communities. It's an explosion across the earth and I believe it's one of the clearest signs of the generation that we're living in. I believe this Isaiah 56-7 spirit is being released upon the church in this hour. One of the things that I love about Isaiah 56-7 it says this. It starts with even them. That's powerful because when most of us have thought about prayer in the past, we've thought about it for the super elite, the super anointed ones, the kind of mystical prophetic ones that prayer and intercession has been reserved for the holier ones. But what I love in Isaiah 56 and this is the invitation God is giving to you. He's giving it to me and He's giving it to the whole body of Christ in this hour. It's the phrase that even them, even the most disqualified, the most messed up ones, the ones that have been through the most difficulty in their lives, maybe 2020 was a year you royally screwed up. Maybe you found that in your seclusion and in your isolation, you ran back to old forms of medication, old forms of anesthetizing your pain, indulging in too much media, too much this, too much that. What I love about the spirit of Isaiah 56-7 is this, even them. There is an invitation for you and for me to come out of the caves of shame, to come out of the caves of isolation, to come out of the caves of fear and rejection and condemnation and to begin to draw near to God's holy mountain and the place of prayer. I want you to know that the blood of Jesus cleanses you, cleanses me, and that the carpet is rolled out and God loves to take the jacked up ones like me and you and to invite us into deep intimacy with Him. It says this. He says, even them, I will bring to my holy mountain and look at the phrase, I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. The primary emotion connected to the place of prayer that God is going to restore, He's going to release joy. When most of us think of prayer, we don't think of joy, but Isaiah tells us right here, joy is going to be the primary hallmark of the people of God in context to connection with God. Our God is a joyful king. Our God is the blessed God. He's the joyful God. He is the happy God and it says in Psalm 16 that at His right hand is His pleasures evermore and in His presence is joy. And I believe that joy is going to fill the place of prayer individually and corporately in this season like no other time. How is the Lord going to do this? Number one, I believe the Lord is going to release new views of Him. He's going to remove, the Holy Spirit is going to knock off old views of God that see Him mostly disappointed, mostly angry, mostly frustrated that we haven't done enough and we're going to begin to connect with the happy God, the beautiful God and the joyful God. And as you begin to get new views of God, joy is going to replace boredom. Joy is going to replace just duty and discipline and we're going to fall madly in love with being in God's presence. Number two, I believe that God is anointing singers and musicians to begin to lead and to give language and let the rhythms of our prayer ride upon the rhythms of music and song. I believe that the Lord is releasing songs and music to help bring us into the joy of prayer. And number three, we're going to begin to see answered prayer like no other time. Jesus tells us this in John 16. He says, you will ask the Father and He will answer your prayer so that your joy may be full. We're going to become full of joy as we begin to see that God operates His kingdom through answered prayer. Many of us have gotten trained in not seeing our prayers answered, but I can hear the Holy Spirit say, I'm bringing forth childlike praying to release the power of my answers in the earth. He says, I'm going to make them joyful. Look at this. In my house of prayer and then Isaiah declares it, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. I mean of all the different, you know, language and all the different words to characterize Father's house, it would be the place of prayer. Not my house shall be called a house of evangelism. It's awesome. A house of missions, a house of healing. It's awesome. House of prophecy. It's a house of prayer, which means the primary culture and anointing resting on the house is prayer. It's prayer, which is simply connection with God, relationship with God. God's like I'm after more than dead forms. I'm after more than you living at a distance. My house is Abba's house and this is where intimacy takes place. This is where government takes place. This is where you hear my words over you and you get washed in who you are to me and then you speak my word back to me and you see my power released. My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. See, I believe that as we get back to the apostolic foundation of prayer, and this is why I'm talking to radiant. You guys are a praying church. You are a praying house. You are a house of prayer and it's for the purpose of the nations. God is establishing his apostolic foundation ministry to God precedes every other ministry. This is what Isaiah prophesied and then Jesus will take it up a notch because in John two and in Matthew 21, do you know Jesus began his ministry in Jerusalem and he ended his ministry in Jerusalem by cleansing the temple and by making it very clear my father's house is the house of prayer. I love it. John two, I mean if I come to a brand new city, I'd probably come in with a business card, look to all the pastors say, hey, let's get a coffee and connect. Jesus comes right into the temple and he starts turning over the money changers. He starts removing all the obstacles and this is in essence what Jesus is saying. You've turned Abba's house into something other than what it was created to be. You've created so many barriers, so much resistance. You have built yourself up at a distance. My father's house is the place of connection between heaven and earth and you've turned it into something else and it says in John two that when the disciples saw Jesus doing this, Psalm 69 got stirred in their minds as they begin to connect that the son of David looked just like David. Zeal for your house has consumed me. In Matthew 21, Jesus rides into Jerusalem and they're waving the prom branches and they're saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Hosanna to the son of David. They're declaring you are the promised Messiah, the promised king who would come in riding lowly on a donkey to set us free. And what did Jesus do as the son of David? What did he do as the son of David? He walked right into the temple. He cleansed the temple and the Bible says that the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he held them there. What is Jesus doing? He's saying, I am the son of David and I'm setting up my throne in the house of prayer that my governmental seat is in the temple. See that that's profound because I want you to understand that Jesus is a king priest and that he's not just a king with a devotional life but he's a priest who sets on his throne and rules from the place of priestly ministry. My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. Jesus said this and I want you to understand something and that's why I'm talking to you radiant. That's why we're talking on this Seek First Wednesday. I believe that radiant, you guys are putting this thing in priority, ministry to God, connection with God, loving God, getting filled with the knowledge of God's will and out of overflow of connection with His will, speaking and singing God's word back to God and seeing His kingdom get released. This is how God releases it. Prayer and worship is how God's resources are released into the earth. His kingdom is manifested in connection with His people. If I've spent many times thinking about this next though, God from Genesis to Revelation, do you know what God's ultimate longing is? It's dwelling on the earth with His people, dwelling on the earth with His people and what we see in these sacred spaces called the prayer room. What we see both corporately, but what we see in the prayer room are those divine connection points between God and man. God calls this beautiful and He's going to fill us in 2021 with a fresh revelation of this. I believe that what we're seeing take place is just at the beginning because this is going to be the primary anointing resting on the end time church. I said it to you at the very beginning, I believe that we're steadily moving in to the generation of the Lord's return. I believe 2020, we've crossed the threshold, we are in transition and the earth is moving into a different mode and I believe it's important that we understand where this is going so that we can get enough into alignment with it now. Understanding the future actually equips me for today. The church at the end of the age will only be one church. She will be a praying church. Revelation 22.17 tells us the spirit and the bride say come that before the Lord returns, we're going to see the church come into unity with the Holy Spirit and as the church comes into unity with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is going to remove all the false garments off of the church, all the false identities off the church. It's going to remove widow mentality, orphan mentality, slave mentality, living at a distance mentality and the Holy Spirit is going to be our wedding planner as he introduces us to God his father and God his bridegroom and the church is going to come into her bridal identity which is intimacy based. It's sonship and bridal and we're going to see the church throw off the dirty garments of performance based religion and throw off the dirty garments of lawlessness and sin and she's going to come out of compromise and she's going to come out of religion and she's going to come into intimacy in her bridal garments. The spirit and the bride and when the nitrogen of the spirit meets the glycerin of the bride, we're going to see a global explosion. It's the cry, come, come and our deep will call out to his deep and we will provoke the Son of God to return. Do you know why Jesus is going to return? It's because we want him to. He is going to come back for a lovesick bride, a church that misses him and that wants him and that's in full unity with the Holy Spirit. God's going to use great presence and great pressure to produce a great prayer. God is going to use great presence and great pressure to deliver us off of our islands of individualism and our islands of isolation. We are going to find ourselves in prayer rooms and dinner tables in this next season and we're going to begin to come into a divine unity with the Holy Spirit and we're going to come into a divine unity with each other in the body of Christ and that John 17 prayer of Jesus is going to come into manifestation that they would be one Father as you are in me and I'm in you that they would be one in us that the world would believe. There is coming a oneness through the Holy Spirit that he is going to release and it's going to be the greatest prayer that's going to provoke the Son of God to return. Jesus told us in Luke 18 he gave us a parable that men would always pray and not lose heart and he gave us a parable about a widow woman crying out to an unjust judge and the unjust judge for a while would not listen to this widow but she kept coming and coming saying I need breakthrough I need breakthrough I need breakthrough and Jesus said I want you to pay attention to what the unjust judge said the unjust judge said this though I don't fear God nor regard man yet this widow keeps troubling me I'm going to give her what she wants lest she wear me out and Jesus is going to use that parable to tell us that if a widow can overcome an unjust judge how much more can the bride the elect standing before the righteous judge not see breakthrough in our lives in our families in our cities in our nation and across the earth before he returns and then Jesus ends this parable in Luke 18 by saying this he says and he goes and will God not avenge his own elect who cry out to him day and night though he bears along with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless here it is when the Son of man comes will he really find faith on the earth when Jesus says will he find faith he's actually making a declaration that he will find faith and what does faith look like in this parable faith looks like this persevering prayer rooted in intimacy persevering prayer rooted in intimacy which means prayer that doesn't quit because you know who he is and you know who you are before him and I want you to know something the reality of God is judge is going to become very clear in the coming days I want you to know we're not he's not just the beautiful God that we worship but he's a judge who comes to make wrong things right he comes to release justice and physical bodies by releasing healing he comes to release justice where there's been oppression and depression he wants to release power encounters where there's been the lost loved ones it's going to release salvation where there's been a disconnect there's going to be restoration financial breakthrough physical breakthrough emotional breakthrough and ultimately it's going to be the judge breaking in upon the earth before he returns as Jesus begins to manifest his righteous judgments in the earth and Jesus is going to connect his justice to his elect ones who cry out to him I'm here to tell you friend Jesus is going to come and make all the wrong things right we have it right here in the word of God one of my favorite other verses about what we're going to look like before the Lord returns is in Revelation 5 verse 8 it's the great pitcher of the Lamb who is worthy to take the scroll and open up its seals out of the right hand of the Father and the cry goes out the search goes out there they do a search in heaven on earth under the earth and the report comes back to John there's no one found worthy who can open the scroll or lucid seven seals this scroll is the title deed to planet earth and it's the judgments of God to eradicate evil from the planet and then it says this and I looked and behold he hears there is one who's prevailed the lion from the tribe of Judah the root of David and then John's looking for a lion but he sees a lamb as though it had been slain having seven seven eyes and seven horns horns speak of authority eyes speak of revelation and this crucified resurrected lamb walks right up in the midst of the the lightnings the thunderings and the voices the beautiful burning god the bible says he takes the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne now this is the point right here and when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 elders they fell down before the lamb and in one hand they have harps and in the other hand they have golden bowls here's the phrase full of incense which are the prayers of the saints the thing that I want you to lock in on is the word full that what Jesus is going to produce in the earth see I believe Jesus has been an intercession for the last 2000 years and it's and it's been about awakening the church to the glory and the dignity of partnership Jesus wants more than us just getting out of jail free card of checking off religious boxes Jesus died for connection Jesus died so that us who were a far off might come into the intimacy and the dignity of the redeemed of partnering with him and what you see in revelation five eight through the harp and through the golden bowls full of incense the church wakes up we wake up we wake up to our glory and our dignity through prayer and through song because there's a coming upon a fullness fullness of incense which are the prayers of the saints which means the church has understood how government is released and we're not just standing by saying go for it Jesus Jesus is saying I've got a suitable partner who's moving with me every tribe every tongue every people every nation in unity and we're going to see the global new song arise I want you to know that we're in these days that's why 2020 is so important we shifted over into a new season that I believe takes us onto this track matter of fact I believe Malachi 1 verse 10 is some of what God did in 2020 Malachi 1 verse 10 and then I'll talk about Malachi 11 in a second but Malachi 110 Malachi shows up to the nation of Israel and the priesthood was in shambles that had gotten to such a bad place they were taking leftover animals they were taking blind animals whatever was left of weak blind messed up animals and they would bring them as sacrifices and this is what the Lord says through Malachi he says who is there among you who would shut the doors so that you won't kindle a fire on my altar in vain Malachi shows up and he goes guys Israel you've lost the revelation of who I am and you've entered into the religious spirit of going through the motions checking me off your box going to church going through songs and living the other six days and 23 hours of your week disconnected from me and I want you to know that I will shut the doors so that you can reconnect with the glory of my name and reconnect with an honor it is to be connected to me and may I submit to you that I believe some of what happened in 2020 was God releasing a global shutdown on the church so that we can rediscover the honor and the glory of connection and doing it together in the same place with God because the very next verse Malachi 110 and Malachi 111 he gives us one of the greatest prophecies of what I believe is going to become really clear in the coming days he says for from the rising of the sun even to its going down he says my name shall be great among the Gentiles he says this in every place incense shall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the nation says the lord of hosts that God's answer to the global shutdown is the reemergence of global worship and prayer global incense and I want to tell you by the word of the lord we are going to see the coming years marked by an explosion of worship and prayer in local churches like radiant we're going to see it happen in our homes we're going to see it happen personally in our marriages in our homes in our churches and we're going to see the anointing of prayer and I just want to say it to you and submit this to you I believe that the churches that refuse to restructure and reprioritize the ministry of worship and prayer in our local churches are not going to be useful to the lord in the coming days I believe that we're in a Matthew 25 moment to where the cry the brygrom is coming go out to medium is going to get louder and louder and louder and what happens as that cry gets louder is there comes an exposing of reality wise virgins are ones who have built history of intimacy foolish virgins are busy running the machine of ministry and we are going to see the wise virgins come to the forefront and they will be entrusted with apostolic mission apostolic power and apostolic resource in the coming generation I want to tell you that by the word of the lord we are going to see this thing take place like no other time I believe we've crossed over into a new season I want to submit some things that I feel personally what the Holy Spirit is saying to radiant as well as to the body of Christ 2020 in many ways exposed prayerlessness in the church and I believe as we embark on the days ahead we must cultivate watching and praying so that we aren't found medicating our hearts in other places and are unable to stand the coming days I want to say that again 2020 exposed prayerlessness I heard so many people say if I just had more time to seek God then I would and yet I found most people spent more times on social media in front of television screens in front of debate rooms and actually the thing they said they would do if they had the time didn't happen I believe 2020 is a call to the body of Christ it's time to watch and pray and to be careful where you medicate your heart because you are either going to connect your heart and get it free in the presence of God or you will look to Netflix you will look to social media you will look to all the vices and the comforts and the medications of this world to bully your heart instead of finding it in the one place and I feel like Luke 21 34 is a very prophetic chapter for the body of Christ in this hour this is Jesus's last words of the Olivet discourse and Luke he says take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down so that's the deception of sin I've seen in my own life the thing that is going to bring an escape if we don't watch it the thing that promises an escape many times produces a pressure and Jesus says take heed to yourself pay attention to your interior life lest your hearts be weighed down with three realities corousing drunkenness and the cares of this life and that day come on you unexpectedly Jesus says it will come as a snare on all of those who dwell on the face of the earth watch and pray that you may be able to escape all these things and to stand for the Son of Man Jesus says it's not an hour as you move into these days of intense glory and intense shaking you need to cultivate watchfulness and prayer getting your eyes open and getting your spirit engaged and keeping your spirit unencumbered from the weights and the seductions and the medications of this world this verse is going to become clearer and clearer as we're moving into the coming days because there are so many vices as intensity comes that we find our solace we find our comfort and we find our source in God alone I believe we're in the middle of a shift again I spent 18 years in Kansas City International House the part of the Lord visited Mike Bickle in 1982 in Cairo Egypt he was in a hotel room seeking God in Cairo Egypt and the fear of the Lord filled the hotel room and the Holy Spirit spoke to him and the Lord said this I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in the whole earth in one generation I want to say that again the Lord says I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in the whole earth in one generation there are many dynamics I believe Mike understood this in the encounter he understood that the church would begin to function differently number one and that the lost the lost world would begin to see the church differently I believe that we are in the middle of a great reformation a great shift and a great change of wine scan and of reality and I want to tell you I believe at the core of the change is God is taking the ministry of worship and prayer from a back room ministry with a few and he's bringing it to the front room with all I want to say that again he's taking it from a back room ministry with a few and he's bringing it to the front room with all he's delivering us from Sunday only Christianity he's delivering us from living at a distance and he's inviting all of us into intimacy because no one can sing your song for you but you and no one can pray your prayer for you but you I believe that I believe that radiant is called to help lead in this global shift I want to say that to you saying it to upper room I'm saying it to radiant there's only a couple of other places that I know I believe that radiant is called to to lead this nation in the earth in this shift of moving prayer from a back room ministry to the front room and beginning to give a vision for corporate prayer beginning to give a vision for corporate prayer and break through the walls that have kept it kept it from being realized I believe radiant is called to plant praying churches but even more will strengthen equip and inspire other praying churches I believe you're just at the beginning Lee I just believe you're just at the beginning team I believe you're just at the beginning and God's going to use what has been forged in Kalamazoo in in your different campuses there and God's going to begin to export it across the earth the priority of worship and prayer and the priority of corporate prayer I want to say that again the priority of corporate prayer we all love individual prayer but I believe God's calling us into the room I was even thinking about this verse in Hebrews where it says not to forsake the assembling together of yourselves as the day the day of the Lord approaches so getting together and being in the same room together will increase and intensify as the coming of the Lord intensifies and as we move into that generation which means proximity I'm calling it prayer rooms and dinner tables prayer rooms and dinner tables it's praying people that make praying churches praying people make praying churches first Peter 2 5 says that it's living stones that are being fit together he's not fit in dead stones which means this it's what you cultivate in private that fuels you to show up corporately and that we take our stand on the wall to see corporate realities manifested I love going to the corporate prayer meeting to get blessed but I come to the corporate prayer meeting as a living stone to take my stand on the wall and I believe that God wants to call you into this in a new way in 2021 and on we must cultivate private prayer in order to strengthen corporate prayer I believe that the phrase that the disciples asked Jesus when they said teach us to pray is going to come front and center in the coming days the disciples spent three and a half years with Jesus heard every message witnessed every miracle saw every deliverance and they never asked him teaches to preach prophesy heal or deliver they go teach us to pray and Jesus the great shepherd intercessor is once again calling the body of Christ and he is wanting to instruct us in the place of prayer individual prayer corporate prayer I believe that's what I love about you guys leadership leadership prayer lives that disciple others I got a vision for moms and dads but I'm thinking of moms you know the kid wakes up at 7 a.m runs into the living room and he sees mom on the couch Bible open notebook open worship music on and the little kid sees tears coming down mom's face and do you know what hits the kid at that moment Jesus is not a once a week meeting but he's a real man and mom has intimacy with him and I can feel his presence in the room do you know that your kids are going to remember your tears when talking to Jesus more than just your rules to them about following Jesus that's the kind of leadership Jesus produced I believe he wants to do it in our homes and I believe he wants to bring it to the corporate this is what happened if you this is what happens if you don't cultivate private prayer if you don't cultivate private prayer you will always look to public prayer to be your main source and it will always turn into a soaking session versus a governmental session we are the ecclesia the governing body and when we gather together in corporate prayer meetings it is a time of encounter it's a time of going up and encountering God together but from that place we legislate we through our decrees and through our prayers and through our songs we are extending the rule of God in our cities in our states in our nations and in the earth and if you look to the corporate prayer meeting to be your main source you'll never have the capacity to move into that place because you haven't cultivated it at home I want to see people that cultivate private prayer that can move into corporate prayer these are some of the things I want to give you just a couple of tips when people ask me about private prayer and I'm going to bring this into corporate as well when people ask me how Cory how do you spend an hour I will tell them I spend it 2020 20 minutes of receiving prayer does not begin with you talking but it begins with you receiving listening hearing and encountering him we come through the door of gratitude and we're just with him and as you said for that 20 minutes what will begin to happen is God will begin to well up on the inside of you and the first movement is receiving the second movement is activation I will engage my next 20 minutes by praying in the Holy Spirit making short declarations to God whispering Bible verses to God and I will begin to activate my spirit and then I move into my last 20 minutes and I will begin to make request and make intercession for my wife my children loved ones and people that are in need I've done that individually I would encourage you to do that but when we talk about corporate there are three things that I believe are critical in how we move in a corporate prayer meeting I found that three principles three movements that are very important number one coming through the door of thanksgiving and it's on 100 verse 4 says enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise as we come through the door of thanksgiving in a corporate prayer meeting what it does is it makes you become present it takes you out of the regrets and the thoughts of what you just came out of and it delivers you from the fears and the worries of tomorrow and it brings you into now and one of my favorite statements to begin a prayer meeting is God it's good to be here with you I got a history with you God you've carried me through dark nights you have seen me at my worst and you've brought me to this moment and God I want to say it's good to be with you here the power of thanksgiving is it brings you into a state of gratitude and it brings you into present tense thank you God usually in a corporate prayer meeting you will move from gratitude into worship the Holy Spirit will always escort you and you will move from just thank you God into now you begin to discover God and you will turn into one of those four living creatures revelation 4 that surround the throne of God that say holy holy holy Lord God Almighty to him who was and is and is to come and what you find in worship is that the revelation of God strikes your spirit the revelation of his beauty of his holiness of his goodness of his love of his power of his righteousness his justice his wisdom all the multifaceted aspects of who God is will strike you and in that place you begin to worship him friend we were made for the search and the discovery of God and this is eternal life to know him as we engage in corporate prayer let's gaze on God together and number three we move into intercession this is what I love about you guys you guys are an interceding people and out of the overflow of encountering the beautiful God we now take our seat next to Jesus in the ministry of intercession Hebrews 3 says that we are partakers of the heavenly calling and Hebrews 725 says that Jesus forever lives to make intercession he forever lives to make intercession and he's able to save to the uttermost those who are coming to God since he always lives to make intercession and we join him in that ministry and out of encounter out of identity and out of intimacy we now labor for those who do not know who are disconnected and who may not know God in the way that we're experiencing him it's in that place of encounter that I believe God is setting intercessors he's setting radiant as a prophetic watchman for Kalamazoo for Michigan for the whole region and for the nation as you stand in that watchman role and you begin to labor for the bride you begin to cry out for the bride to come into a deeper revelation there's a leadership anointing on radiant so you labor for pastors and you labor for leaders to come into a deeper revelation for a spirit of revival to touch churches a spirit of revival to touch homes in the region and the spirit of intercession comes out of you intercession is this is the key of intercession God creates through words and songs God's power is released through singing and through praying that's what he did in Genesis one God said let there be light and there was light when you sing and when you pray God's word it releases his power it transcends time it transcends distance and it releases the power of God that's what we do in intercession we take our encounter and we're always thinking what about the poor what about the lost what about the broken what about the bride and we stand in that place and we move into second commandment love of laboring for our neighbors I believe that God wants to use radiant to equip corporate prayer in the region as well as all over the nation I believe he wants to bring us to this place of intercession this corporate place of intercession prayer for Israel I say a 62 verse six and seven I have set watchmen on your walls oh Jerusalem there's an anointing on Kalamazoo a grace on Kalamazoo and on radiant to pray for revival prayers like Isaiah 64 verse one oh that you would run the heavens and come down Exodus 33 18 please show me your glory Matthew six thy kingdom come thy will be done I believe he wants to release revival praying acts 217 you said in the last days you would pour out your spirit God pour out your spirit I believe God wants to use radiant to release the fire of revival to the cold indifferent dull disconnected heart of so many people in the region I want to pray for you today you're my brothers and sisters I want to call you in 2021 in this year come to the prayer room reorder your life reorder your schedule some of you are like you know what I can get to 1 6 a.m I can get to 1 7 a.m prayer make that holy and don't miss it for anything in the world find your stand on the wall and make it sacred begin to reorder things in your life and begin to find yourself in the house this is the wisest thing we can be doing in this hour some of you are getting moved on in a deeper way and you feel like the Lord's calling you in a more full-time way or in a giving more time I want to say give yes to it and number three some of you have looked at 2020 and you screwed up royally you messed up times and you're like God you can never use me I live in constant shame condemnation guilt and I want to say to you even you the Lord has an invitation to come to the place of prayer prayer see corporate prayer is powerful because I love my individual prayer life but in corporate prayer the ceiling lifts and there's a fullness dimension that isn't known individually fullness is always in context to corporate Ephesians 3 that you would know together with all the saints with link death height to know the love of Christ that you would be filled with the fullness of God see this is what happens I need Corey and Anna and Rachel I need you guys I need Ryan I need the worship leaders that you have at radiant I need you guys I need Caleb playing on the piano I need you guys doing your thing I need the songs you sing to sing over me to break the thing off of me so I can hear God's voice again for my life and then they need my prayers and they need your prayers it's corporate we need each other and as the days increase to the coming of the Lord are being found together in our histories of corporate prayer is going to be the oil and the equity and the currency to stand in the coming days I want to pray for you radiant I want to say I love you and I just want to ask that this year would be marked by the anointing and the grace of prayer personal prayer family prayer corporate prayer God I pray in the name of Jesus that you would release the anointing of prayer upon radiant church upon all the radiant network God I pray that you would strengthen the prayer room that you would fuel the prayer room that you would fund the prayer room God I pray that you would activate seers and that you would awaken dreams and visions that you would stir the prophetic spirit and that you would release your word in the name of Jesus God I bless radiant I speak grace grace to every mountain grace I pray a wall of fire around that prayer room God I thank you Lord that you've said it in the heart of Kalamazoo Lord I bless my friends I bless my family and I pray that you would release grace and strength in the name of Jesus build your house of prayer we pray in Jesus name amen I love you and I bless you I can't wait to see you again amen