 Good morning and welcome to morning prayer. I want to welcome those of you with us online as well as here in the room. This morning we're going to be opening up with Psalm 100 verse one. Make a joyful shout to the Lord all you lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that the Lord he is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pastor. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful to him and bless his name for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and his truth endures to all generations. Let's just go before the Lord in prayer. God we choose this Friday morning to come before you with singing. God we don't come into your house bringing you nothing. God we bring you a sacrifice of praise. God would we choose this morning to enter into your gates with thanksgiving and into your courts with praise not because we may feel like it but because you're worth it. God this morning we we call to remembrance our our history with you and we just choose to thank you. We choose to bless you. You are good despite all circumstance. You are good Lord. We are the sheep of your pasture. You are the ones who made us with your hands and so God I just pray that this morning we'll just enter into your courts with thanksgiving. Would you even lift up your own song in this moment as we we enter into worship just giving the Lord that sacrifice of praise. One that isn't emotion based but it is the very glory due his name. Let's lift up our voices together. We crown you with our with our praise with our worship with our with our very lives for you are so worthy. You are so holy. There is no one like you and there is no one beside you. You are worthy of our worship every single day of our lives. You are worthy of our devotion of our obedience. Lord would we would we give that to you each and every day would we wake up and would we would we choose to live our lives to glorify you. Not because we get something or earn something by doing it but because you're worthy of it because you are worthy God. We thank you for the way that you love us. We thank you for all that you have done to us that you first drew near to us before we ever drew near to you. You are holy and you are worthy God. I want to shift into our first prayer cycle this morning from this reality and I want to pray for the the staff and faculty at Western Michigan out of 2nd Thessalonians 3. 2nd Thessalonians 3 in verse 1 it says finally brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified just as it is with you. I want to pause here and pray this verse over the faculty at Western and so join with me in prayer. Lord we just Lord we pray for for the staff at Western Michigan University God some of which who who may know you some of which who who probably don't God and we just ask that your word run swiftly or that that there would be encounters with your with your word whether through someone evangelizing or through them overhearing worship or even in their own devotional time if they are believers God and that it would run swiftly and go forth and be glorified. Lord that it would it would lead them to you. God that it wouldn't be like words off of off of a page but that it would be the living sword that cuts to the heart. God that your word would separate flesh from the spirit. God where where lies may be holding these children of yours. Would your word run swiftly and would it cut the lies away from them. Would it pierce their hearts to the deepest chambers giving you an entrance point Lord. Lord I just ask that in your name that your word would run swiftly and be glorified that it would cut to the deepest parts of the heart in Jesus name. Pierce their hearts all the layers of callous God would your word pierce their hearts. Would it be the living word of God you speak to them through your word Lord. Yes Lord we just come before you and we pray that as your word runs swiftly Lord that that there would be an Ephesians one spirit of wisdom and revelation that falls upon them. God for for those faculty and staff that are far from you I pray that as they encounter your word Lord that that there would be a spirit of wisdom and revelation that falls upon them they would see Jesus for the first time that they would see Jesus high and lifted up and glorified that they would encounter the love that you Jesus have for them for the first time and we ask Lord for a great harvest of those that are far from you. God that there would be a a spirit of wisdom and revelation that falls upon them and that it wouldn't just be the gospel story but that they would finally see the one who their their heart has been longing for and they just haven't had language for it. God that that it would be like this longing in their heart is satisfied and and then finally seeing Jesus for the first time. God I ask that you would you would pierce through whatever whatever callous is there whatever wounds whatever lies whatever principalities may be plaguing their minds and their hearts and that you would you would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation to the knowledge of Jesus as they as they read your word as they encounter your word God. So Lord in Jesus name we just pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation to fall upon them. Would Jesus be real to them? Do yourself to them Lord draw near to your children. See their Savior high and lifted up. Counter with lasting fruit Lord. Out your spirit upon them Lord. We knew their minds to see you right. Open their eyes to see you God. Draw near to them Lord. Lord we we just come before you and we we pray. As you pour out your spirit upon them God that a real dependency would be revealed to them of how dependent they are on you. That as they see the beauty in the cross and how you went before us Jesus and paid for our debts. How you drew near to us before we drew near to you. Would that reality be made real to them? Would you open their eyes to see it? Would there be a revelation of the dependency that they have on you? Lord that when they're feeling unloved that they would first come to you and depend on you to love them not to not to some idol or some other place where they would turn. God that when they need comfort when they need shelter that they would depend on you and not on themselves. Lord that when there's financial trouble that they would depend on you and come to you when they're feeling unworthy alone depressed whatever it may be God would would they depend on you would they constantly be finding themselves at your feet at the end of themselves with nothing left to give and would you meet them there just like you've met all of us. Lord that that dependency on you would be real and that it would be holy that it would draw them closer to you that you would meet them in that dependency. God that there wouldn't be another day of their lives where they get up and they try and do things on their own where they try and seek happiness and pleasure in any place but in you and in holy things. God that they would be children of God who are fully dependent on their father fully dependent on the love that was displayed on the cross and fully dependent on the hope in the return of Jesus. God that it wouldn't just be a flash of lightning but that it would be lasting in a journey with you a journey of learning to be dependent on you and not dependent on themselves not depending on the on the kingdoms that they they they've built for themselves on their gifts or anything else that this world can produce Lord but that it would be fully dependent on you so God I ask in Jesus name that you would you would set them free and just reveal that dependency that they they that dependency that they have on you Lord they would come to you for everything so in Jesus name open their eyes to how much they need you they need you all are so dependent on you thank you that's the reality we're gonna transition back into a time of worship so I just invite you if you're here in the room to stand and re-engage as we enter into a into this time of worship He fall down at the feet give us that forever perspective God that you transition back into into intercession continuing to pray for the faculty and staff at western and we're gonna continue right second second Thessalonians 3 verse 3 but the Lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil word and so Lord I I'm just believing that there will be a harvest amongst the faculty and staff of western God I believe that that's on your heart way more than it's on ours God I'm even thinking about how how RSM the School of Ministry had their first night of evangelism last night and how you're bringing laborers to to Kalamazoo so we're just believing for a great harvest and God we ask is those seeds are sown as people's eyes are opened as this they're given a spirit of wisdom and revelation that you would be faithful to them and God especially in those early stages of them knowing you that you would guard them from the evil one who would like to come into snatch that seed God we're praying that that they would be good soil that's your word and the love of Christ would go deep down deep Lord into their into their heart into their very being God that it wouldn't just be a encounter with you that doesn't produce any fruit but God that you would be faithful to them as you were faithful to us as you are continually faithful to us Lord that you would you would guard them from the ways that the enemy would want to come into to steal the the seed that was sown to tell them oh that was that I was just in my head that wasn't real that this this Jesus that I thought I knew he's just some person that I can read about in a book but no God that you would guard them and guard their hearts but the enemy would have no way with them that his plans and his purposes would fall if he canceled at the feet of Jesus God we're asking for your word to go deep into their hearts and for it to a big root system God that you would root them and ground them in your love that they would produce lasting fruit a lasting relationship with Jesus where they they grow in hunger for you they grow in thirst for you they grow in the knowledge of you God we're asking in Jesus name that you would guard them from the plans of the enemy and assure that love of Christ would be rooted into who they are guard their hearts Lord guard their hearts Lord would your plans and purposes for them be the ones that are reality guard their hearts to grow in hunger for you guard their hearts to to grow thirsty for you protect them Lord so they can develop a real relationship with you it's on you Lord it's on you guard them God protect them let your word go deep where the enemy would want to uproot what you've done would you protect them yes God we ask that you would guard their hearts from the spirit of this age because of the world that would want to pull them back into sin pull them back into things to separate them we ask that you would guard their hearts by your spirit those praying verse five now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ God we just we come before you oh God just praying and asking that you would direct their hearts into the love of God that every time that they think or dwell on the cross that they would remember your love that they would remember how you came and delivered them from sin met them in a moment that real life encounter with you would that come back to their minds and what they just feel so loved by you God where they may have felt lonely or disqualified would you direct their hearts into your love and God I pray that they would be believers with a marathon pace that you would also direct them into the patience of Christ or that that justification happens in a moment but sanctification is a lifetime it's a lifetime of pursuit God we just ask in Jesus name that you would pull them deeper deeper into your love with lifting up once again just the faculty and staff at Western Lord that there would be a great harvest and that they would be believers set on fire constantly hungry constantly thirsty for more of your love to know you more to have that real relationship with you and Lord we just thank you for this time we thank you for this time that we just got to come together into worship and to pray together but we thank you that you hear our prayers and we're believing for this great harvest we thank you Lord in Jesus name thank you for joining us this morning we're back here at noon today in 6 30 this evening and we hope to see you at one of our weekend services on Sunday