 Good morning. Welcome to the 8 a.m. Prayer set in the heart of Kalamazoo, Michigan. We are on day three of Seek and Send, which is our prayer initiative where we are seeking to see every home and altar of worship and prayer. And today's prayer focus is wisdom. And our scripture is Proverbs 9 verse 10. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. In other words, wise men and wise women and wise families revere Jesus. They walk before him and live before him in reverence. And so, let's just ask the Lord that as we worship that spirit of wisdom, that spirit of reverence to the Lord would be imparted to us in greater measure. So Jesus, we love you. Jesus, we love you. And we long to be those who walk wisely in this hour. We long to be those God who fear your name. The psalmist said, blessed is the one who fears the Lord. And Nehemiah said, it is my delight to fear your name. And Lord, we want to walk in that blessing of wisdom. We want to walk delighting in that beginning step of living wisely before you, fearing your name, reverencing you, standing in all of you God in every context and expression of our life. So Holy Spirit, would you just come now and lift our individual eyes, the eyes of our heart, lift our corporate gaze on this beautiful man, Jesus. And I pray that you would enlarge our capacity for awe and worship and reverence this morning that we would be a little bit wiser when we walk out of this room. We love you Lord and we welcome you Holy Spirit. Lead the worship and lead the prayer meeting, anoint fingers to prophesy on instruments, anoint vocal courts to prophesy in song and melody, harmony, God that the anthems of heaven, the oracles of heaven, the choruses of the heavenly sanctuary would be released in this next hour on earth as it is in heaven. We thank you for this honor and privilege in Jesus' name. We love to praise you. We love to make much of you. And it is our declaration this morning, God, that we will be those who praise you, who reference you, who fear your name in every season of the soul God and every mile of our pilgrimage and every context we face in this journey through this fallen world. Let the high praises of God be in our mouths, over our homes. We love you Lord. Well we're going to go into a time of intercession now for our first prayer cycle and we're going to ask the Lord for that wisdom that we're focusing on in our altar boxes in Paul says in Colossians 2 that all the riches of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus so that in this second person of the Trinity there's this treasure trove of eternal wisdom and then in Proverbs 2 it says that the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth from his word come knowledge and understanding and so there's this treasure trove the heart of God is postured to give and then he tells us in James 1 our responsibility and so if you have your Bibles let's go ahead and turn to James 1 because this is where we're going to start in our prayer cycle and I just invite you if you want to to stand as we stand in the gap on behalf of our families our homes in James 1 verse 5 it says but if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach and it will be given to him but he must ask in faith without any doubting for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind and so Lord I thank you I thank you this morning that in you is hidden the treasures all the treasures of wisdom everything we could ever need to know want to know in any expression or context it's all in you in your eternal heart and that you give wisdom as we ask you give generously without shaming us without looking incredulously at us so father here we are in obedience to your word you said ask if we lack wisdom and so we stand in the gap this morning we hold before you our homes our families our extended families God and we're asking spirit of God that you would do what you love to do that you would give moms and dads wisdom generously from that treasure trove of hidden wisdom in your heart Lord for all that we face as parents and grandparents in this hour where the sway of this world God is increasing where darkness is increasing where there's a target aimed at the hearts and the faith of our sons and daughters that there are very identities and destiny in you God we stand before you in desperation right now in obedience to your word we say Lord we're not smart enough we're not wise enough to navigate the currents of this fallen world now we need a spirit of wisdom and counsel upon us as moms and dads as grandmas as grandpas gatekeepers of our families and the family line so i'm asking father everywhere across this city where these home altars are being raised up God where there's a yes to you to fear your name in this hour Lord would you open up the heavens would you rain down and give generously a spirit of wisdom to parents to grandparents who are parenting parents Lord help us to know what it is that the spirit is doing to know what it is that the spirit is saying give us ears to hear and eyes to see give us strategies Lord give us counsel give us dreams in the night and visions in the day how to parents how to raise toddlers through those difficult developmental stages how to raise elementary school children Lord facing things we can't even imagine in the school settings how to navigate teenagers Lord and the press against them from the spirit of this age we're asking Abba father good dad would you give a spirit of wisdom to us in Jesus name one voice leave us to whiteboard and strive and figure it all out for ourselves i thank you that you said simply to ask and that your voice is in our ears saying this is the way walk in it this is the strategy this is the route to break through we believe you Lord we stand as those in faith this morning God though it be a mustard seed size we believe you that as we cry this morning as we join our hearts in the power of agreement that you will release wisdom to parents and grandparents God who are just facing a brick wall a barrier not knowing what to do with little ones with teenagers with prodigals with those heading off to college Lord we thank you that you meet us in those places of seeming impossibility and that you break in and you break through with the spirit of wisdom and suddenly the door opens and suddenly the shafts of life come and illuminate the way so God we're asking do that today Lord for those mamas and dads that are just hitting a wall of exasperation we can't get our child through this developmental stage we can't get them through we don't know how to curb the tantrums or the outbursts we don't know how to curb the spirit of fear God i pray meet them with the spirit of wisdom for those with prodigal children Lord i'm asking that you would release a spirit of wisdom and courage and might to the ramas and grandpas contending for wayward sons and daughters the strategies and the blueprints God how hard on the other side of this ask that you're lean i'm giving it to you lavishly i'm giving to you generously so God we thank you in advance for every breakthrough where there is a brick wall before us in every parent in every grand just a very fractured relationship spirit of wisdom come in Jesus name confidence not recoiling in shame because we're not smart enough or we're failing but with boldness and confidence because what we don't know and what we don't see today what our ears long to hear and we're not hearing yet you will answer with a spirit of wisdom you will take us by the hand you will squeeze our hand and lead us through you will buoy our hearts up again in faith and love and hope because it's who you are and what you love to do and so God i just declare these things over every home over every family that you will not leave us alone you will not leave us staring down these brick walls of seeming impossibilities with our children with our marriages with our prodigals with our businesses but God you are faithful to counsel you are faithful to show us the way through to give us the blueprints to give us the map forward and we rejoice in who you are times but i just want to pause for a second before we move on and just say whatever it is let's just individually those joining us on live stream whatever that brick wall is wherever that we can't see we can't hear yet but we need a spirit of wisdom for this particular situation let's just go there now let's just lift it up before him and ask for that wisdom the Lord said i give generously your job is just to ask and so as we just the singers just continue to prophesy that just begin to lift those individual personal things before the Lord now as it is in heaven out of the mouths of our babes out of the mouths of our children our teenagers prayer we prophesy every home in a prophesy our home this is wisdom in our city but in our home give grace this week as families say yes as they gather to worship and pray out of spirit of grace over all the humanity in it oh help us Lord yes of it God you delight in it Jesus administering before you as priests tending the altars of worship and prayer we thank you for this honor as your godly ones and i pray for grace Lord to every home that has said yes to you this week we'll give it a go again we'll sign up again we'll gather the children in all the humanity of family god to each one i pray release a fresh outpouring of grace that that altar would be erected Lord in strength that it would endure God amidst all the distractions and the pressures of life we prophesied just the enduring of that family altar that it would not be edged out by the cares of this life that it would not be lost after this week but it would be tended God tended in wisdom that our children would even lead the way to the altar that our little ones would be marked God and their lives would become lives of praise all the days of their life God I pray fresh grace to stay the course to navigate just the the fullness of humanity as we gather before you Lord little ones and teens and attitudes and relationships God just give grace cover it all with grace set us apart as priests unto our God teach us how to be altar builders and altar tenders as families God we thank you and we praise you for this privileged hour to minister at this corporate altar and to lift before you our home alters Lord we don't take it lightly and all that has been poured out here in worship praise and agreement with your heart is the great intercessor Lord I pray that you would replenish with the oil of intimacy that we could run with you again an intimate partnership we love you Jesus we bless your name in Jesus name we thank you all for gathering this morning we're going to be back here at noon and then again at 6 30 tonight we would love to have you come down and pray with us in the heart of kalamazoo God bless you