 It's a good day to draw near to the Lord, to ready our hearts. And you know, oftentimes when we wake up in the morning, and we have the intentions of seeking out to the Lord and prioritizing His presence and His word, oftentimes the enemy will try to set a trap of getting us caught up in anxiety before we can step into praise. But Jesus had these words that I think are really encouraging to us this morning as we approach the throne of grace about anxiety. And He said in Matthew chapter 6, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body or what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to the span of his life? I think it's important for us to understand as we wake up, there's all kinds of things for us waiting throughout the day that if we'll allow them, we'll dominate our thoughts and our attention and stir anxiety in our hearts. But instead, we can find rest in the reality that God's eye is on us just like His eye is on the sparrow and you are worth more than all of these birds, all of these birds that are in the nest, all of these things that are taking place. God's able to sustain them, He's able to sustain you, and you can exchange your anxiety for His peace. You can exchange all of your worry and all of your stress for the knowledge that your Father cares for you. His eye is on you, He loves you, and you're worth more than all of those things. And He's going to take care of you and He's going to sustain you. So today, we can just drop all the chains and all the bonds of anxiety and cares of this world, and we can draw near and give our full attention and our full worship and expression to Him and know that in return, He's going to draw near to us. And He's going to give us everything that we have need of this morning. So today, let's just physically and literally and emotionally just exchange our anxieties. The Bible says, cast your cares upon the Lord because He cares for you. So today, Lord, we just exchange everything that wants to take the attention of our emotions and our affections and the things that want to dominate our thoughts and our hearts. And we say, not yet and not now. And not now. It's time to draw near to the Lord. It's time to worship the Lord. It's time to find my rest and my peace and my provision and my confidence in the presence of the Lord. Jesus, you are good. You're trustworthy. You're worthy. And so we draw near to you with hearts overflowing with a good, a good theme. Our hearts overflowing with a blessing to leverage upon you and we say we love you, Jesus. We trust you, Father. We know that you're good. We know that you're near. And our first ministry and our first priority is to bless your heart. And we know that when we do that, Lord, you are going to take care of everything else that we have need of today. Let's just take the next few moments and let's just pour out our love upon the heart of the Father and love on Him. Where we should have, and His blood has made. And Book of Hebrews says that it's the blood of Jesus that has made a new and a living way for us to approach the Lord. We're not approaching you, Father, any longer. We're not approaching you with our good works, saying, here's why we deserve to stand in your presence and not perish. We don't approach you by our own sacrifice. There's no price that we could have paid. We come by the blood of the Lamb. The spotless blood of the Lamb that the Bible says speaks better things than the blood of bulls and goats. Speaks better things than even the blood of Abel. Speaks holiness. It says you are clean. It says you have access. It says that you were dead, but now you are alive. Jesus, you are the only worthy one. You are the only worthy one, and today we stand in your presence with no fear and no trepidation of judgment. But we stand in your presence, and we say that it's by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony that we overcome today. So today, Lord, we stand as overcomers in your presence. We stand as sons and daughters of the living God, not because of our merit, but because of your blood, Jesus, that has raised us up. Your blood that has given us new life. Your blood that has washed us clean from all of our sin. Your blood that is cleansing our thoughts and renewing our minds and changing our lives. And the word of our testimony. Our testimony says because of Jesus. Not because of our own merit or our own strength, but we point to the cross. When the accuser and the slanderer comes and says, you're not worthy to call upon the name of the Lord. You should be further along today than you are. You should know more than you know today. You messed up yesterday. We say 39 stripes Jesus bore on his back. Say something different. The 39 stripes that Jesus bore on his back says, I am healed. The blood that poured from Emmanuel's veins say, I am cleansed. The bruises he bore on his body say that my peace is secure and I am free. I am an overcoming. Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Silence is the voice of every accuser, every demonic accusation, all of hell's accusations. We are free. We have overcome. And Jesus, it's because you're worthy. Worthy is the Lamb. Come on, let's just say that. Say it out loud over your life. Just say worthy is the Lamb. Is the Lamb. To receive glory and honor and power and majesty and might and dominion forever and ever. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Community out of every community, out of every gutter, Jesus, ransomed us to you, made us kingdom priests. We approach you, spotless white garments that you've granted to us of righteousness. We stand before you, not as criminals charged, but as priests to minister before you, to worship and to pray and to intercede and petition. You, Lord, you've given us that open door. You've invited us to come and to intercede and to stand in the gap and to be watched from on the wall. So, Lord, here we stand, washed in the blood of the Lamb and the authority of the Son of God. And, Lord, we're praying specifically out of Isaiah 55 this morning. Isaiah 55 is an invitation from the Lord. It's an invitation from the one that we've just been worshiping and he says, Come, everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters. And he who has no money, come and buy and eat. Come by wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in the rich food. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. Lord, today we hear the invitation to come to you. Lord, you're not indifferent to us. You're not so far removed that you could care less whether we come or don't come. But, Lord, you want us to come. You're compelling us to come near to you. You're compelling us to seek you. You're compelling us that in our hunger and in our thirst to seek after you. Lord, today I'm asking that you would stir in the body of Christ today. A fresh hunger and a fresh thirst to come that we would not be like those who've already eaten a meal and come to a feast and say, ah, I'm not hungry anymore. Lord, we can't feast at the table of the world and expect that we're going to have hunger and thirst for the table of the Lord. God, I'm asking that you would stir once again in us a renewed hunger and a thirst so that we can respond to your invitation and come ravenously to the table that you've prepared for us even in the presence of our enemies. Come, everyone, who thirsts. Lord, would you stir thirst in us? Hunger, we can go weeks, but thirst, we can't go days. We want the acceleration of hunger and thirst where we're, like David said, like I dwell in a dry and a weary land where there is no water in my heart. It thirsts for you, God. Lord, we want our heart to thirst again for you. Awaken thirst within us for your presence and for your word. Lord, we want to hunger and thirst for you. We say we want the waters that you have for us. We want the waters that you are for us, Jesus. You said, I am the living water. You invited the Samaritan woman to drink from that water. You said they'd never thirst again, Lord. You're the only thing that satisfies our soul. And we want to drink from those springs of your presence, the living water of your word. Lord, we become dry and we become dehydrated because we've been drinking waters from the fountains and the cisterns of this world, the cisterns of our own making, our own insecurities, our own fears, our own desires. And Lord, those things never satisfy. Living to please man, living to fit in. Lord, those things never satisfy. We've been searching for wisdom down the aisle of barns and nobles, but that will never satisfy. We've been feasting at the table of Netflix, but that does not satisfy. Jesus, you and you alone are the richest up there. You and you alone are the pools and the springs of living water that our soul was meant to feast upon. We will never be satisfied. We will never be filled until we're drinking from the springs that our heart was made to drink from. But Lord, you don't hide it from us. You say, come, invite us to come. Lord, give us both the will and the hunger and thirst to come after you in the places where our heart and our mind and our will have been resistant to you. Lord, would you once again give us soft hearts and remind us of remind us of the times where we drank from those waters where it's satisfied us and Lord to return from the times where we've tasted and seen that the Lord is good and that you're faithful. Remind us of the testimonies of the Lord so that hunger is once again renewed in us. Lord, I'm praying that in your church, radio church in the city of the Lord, the body of Christ at large across this nation, that Lord, in the midst of feasting on junk food, you would remind your body, remind your church and your people of the goodness and the richness of the feast that you set before us. And Lord, let there be a returning to the Lord. Your word says, let us return to the Lord and He will heal us. Let us return to the Lord and He will restore us for for us. Turn our hearts to be for you again, invite us. You say, even if you have, Lord, we say we have no strength and we have no ability in and of ourselves. We can, but you say, even if you're without strength, if you have nothing to offer, try a thousand times. We hear the voice of the Father saying, come and drink freely. Come and eat all you want. Lord, you're so gracious. You said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. You said, for then we'll be filled. Lord, you're so gracious. You're so faithful to us and we've tried. Lord, we confess that we've eaten at the table of even the enemy. We've eaten at the table of luxury, of self-aggrandization, of selfish ambition. And Lord, we confess those things have not satisfied our own wisdom and intellect, judgments. God, we feasted on that and it hasn't satisfied. It's left us empty. It's left us wanting. But even in the midst of that, Lord, you said, come. You can come any time. Lord, today would you give us hearts that recognize the only thing that satisfies is you and your voice and your word in our lives. We're praying just like you said in Isaiah 55, Lord, that we want to incline our ear to you and to come to you. Lord, we want to have ears that hear your voice so that our soul may live. We want our soul to come alive. Your word is life. Jesus, you said the words I speak to you there are spirit and they are life. You said in John 15 to your disciples, you're already clean because of the words that have spoken over you. You said in your word, Lord, that your word is like a sword that divides between soul and spirit. Lord, would you come today and let your voice and let your word divide between the soul part of us, our mind, will and emotions that oftentimes overrules our spirit. We want our spirit, the part of us that is the Holy of Holies, where you dwell to come alive. That part of us says, I hunger and I thirst for you. Let that part dominate as we hear your voice. Lord, today we incline our ear to you. We say, Lord, the voice of a stranger, the voice of another we will not listen to. But just like a shepherd walks into the middle of a field and speaks in his sheep, run to him. Lord, we want our ears tuned into the frequency of our Father so that when you speak, we're quick to move. Your voice is like calling us to the table, to fellowship with you, to feast on your faithfulness, to be led and to be directed into green pastures and besides still waters. Lord, forgive us for the times where we've listened to other voices. Forgive us for the times where we've stopped our ears. We've hurt no one but our own soul. But today, Lord, just as it says in Hebrews, it says, today, if you hear his voice, do not heart your heart as in the day of rebellion. Lord, today we choose we're not hardening our hearts anymore. We're not putting any veil up between us and you anymore. Lord, we're coming back. We're coming back to the table. We're drawing near to you and to your voice. And we're saying, speak, good shepherd. Speak, you're servant. He's listening. Lord, my heart, it hungers for your word, like never before. I want to know you. I want to know your voice. I want to know your direction. I don't want to be led by the winds of change and by the shifting sands of culture and by the opinions of the intellectual Lord. I want to be led by your spirit. I want to be directed by your word. I want my steps to be ordered by the Lord. I want to daily be feasting on you so that my soul comes alive. Right now, wherever you're at, I just want you to personalize that between you and the Lord. Just say, Lord, today I want my soul to be alive again. Speak, your servant is listening. Here's to hear your voice. Lord has been so faithful to David. You made an everlasting covenant with him because he had a heart towards you. Your steadfast love, your promises, never ending to David. But Lord, we want the heart of David. We want to see and experience your faithfulness, your steadfast love. Give us eyes to see your faithfulness to us. Give us a heart that's always after you. We're grateful that you're not a God who's arbitrary. You're not a father who likes us on our good days, rejects us on our weak days. That you're not a God who makes a promise one week and the next week says you're disqualified. It's your steadfast love, father, that we depend on. It's your steadfast faithfulness, God, that never fails us, that draws us back time after time after time. Faithful. You're always faithful, God. Steadfast and true. Lord, you never fail us and you never leave us. We can depend on you. We build our life upon you. Like the rock that we build our house upon. But even when the winds and the storms and the tests and the trials and the difficult seasons and the hard things come our way, Lord, you are steadfast, dependable, faithful. Your covenant remains forever and ever and ever. And just as you made a promise to David, you made promises to us. All of your promises are yes and amen. And so we confess today, Jesus, you are faithful. Beautiful Savior, faithful one. Faithful to a thousand generations. Glorious, true and trustworthy. Come on, let's just finish this time of prayer by exalting his faithfulness. Worshiping the Lord. Come on, let's just lift up praise to him. Declare his faithfulness. Faithful and true. Come, Lord, for the invitation from your goodness, from your faithfulness, and to live our lives under the shadow of the most. Lord, we're so grateful. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for sustaining us and strengthening us. And Lord, I'm praying today that as we even step out of a prayer environment that we take prayer with us, ceaselessly living and practicing the presence of the Lord. From this place into every other place in space that we find ourselves. God, go before us. Be a shield about us. And be our rear guard. We'll put our trust in you, our faithful God. And thank you for joining us, those of you who are at home and also invite you today at noon tonight, 6.30 p.m. And also just let everyone know here in the room that we're about to shift into a divo set here. You're welcome to stay and to drink deeply from the presence of the Lord. But if you're not, if you're gonna leave, we're just asking that you please just honor the atmosphere and the presence of the Lord. And you can talk out in the hallways. And we're grateful for you being here today.