 Good morning. Welcome to morning prayer. If you're here in the prayer room with us, would you stand up and join us? And you're on the front row and I was just talking to you when we went to broadcast, you stand up as well. This morning, it's good to be in the house of the Lord. It's good to be in the presence of the Lord. The Bible tells us that in His presence is the fullness of joy. We're grateful for the joy of the Lord, the nearness of His kingdom, and the nearness of His presence when we draw near to Him. This morning when I woke up and I was doing my devotions this morning, Psalm 77 just came alive in my heart. And Psalm 77 says, I cry aloud to the Lord, aloud to God, and He will hear me. In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord. In the night, my hand is stretched out without weary. My soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan and when I meditate, my spirit faints. You hold my eyelids open, even when I'm so troubled that I cannot speak. I consider the days of old, the years long ago, when I said, let me remember my song in the night. Let me meditate in my heart and let my spirit make a diligent search. Then I love this in verse 10, it says, then I said, I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the most high. I love this statement because it's the psalmist talking about the goodness of God even in the most difficult seasons of our life that are like nighttime to us where it's difficult for us. We're going through difficult seasons. We're going through valleys. There's a tendency in our heart to say, God, where are you? Where are you? Will you draw on these psalmuses? In the middle of that, I remind my heart that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. He says, I remind my heart that even when I'm going through difficulty, God is still good. When I'm going through the dark night of the soul, God is still near. And as he says in verse number eight, he says, his promises, they never have an end. And when he says, I appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the most high, the right hand speaks of the favor of God. He says, when I'm going through hard times, going near to the comfort of the Lord, I remind my heart of the good times. I remind my heart of the times when the right hand of God's favor has been demonstrated and has been heavy upon my life and obvious. Because it's when we remind our hearts of the times where God has brought us through that faith rises up in our hearts to get through the battle and the difficult. Promises this, fullness of the Lord in times past, isn't just a fleeting moment where God showed up. It's a prophecy of what he's gonna do and this goodness is towards you. So as we draw near to him in praise and we cry aloud to God, we can have confidence that even in the day of trouble, he hears us today. If you're going through a hard time, you've got challenges, you feel overwhelmed, you might feel alone, remind your heart of the times God has shown himself faithful and let faith rise in your heart again as you worship, as you pray. He sees you. So Father, today we do draw near to you. We draw near to you even in the seasons where sleep comes difficult. We draw near to you in the times where all that's on our plate is the bread of anxiety. But we choose not to feast there. We choose to feast on your faithfulness to remind our hearts of the years of the favor of the Lord. The times where you came through when there was no way, the moments where your goodness overwhelmed us when your presence was so obvious to us. You said, here I am, I'm the God you're delivering. Here I am, I'm the wayman, I'm your father, your provider. You were that then and you are that today and you will be, you are the same yesterday and you're sweet and tender mercies that are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness, O God. Well, let's just say that right now. Even as your heart may be overwhelmed, we just say, great are your mercies. They're new every morning, Lord. You're so good, you're so merciful, you're so faithful. Pour out new mercies today. Remind our hearts of your faithfulness today. Rain down grace and mercy upon our hearts as we reach our hearts out to you. We join with that. Jesus, you are. Lord, that is who you are. Just begin to tell him and express to him wherever you're at today, whether you're in this room or you're online. Maybe you're at home, maybe you're in your car, maybe you're in your office and you have your buds in. Wherever you are at right now, just begin to confess to him that you want and that you need more of him. You need more from the vine. You need more from the fountain, him today. If it's just you saying I need more of you, Jesus, just say it. I am heaven but you, and there's nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for our desire. It is you, you are our desire. You, Lord, our portion, situations in all circumstance, in all ups and all downs, in all relationships, in all jobs, in every aspect of our life, Lord, what we want. You, Lord, are whom we desire. You, Lord, are our strength. You, Lord, are our portion. If we want more of you, Lord, we need more of you. So, Lord, we ask you today to give us today our daily bread. Give us our daily bread today, Lord, become majesty in your holiness. Ask you for daily bread. Daily, our daily bread, Lord, you are our desire. You are our desire, Lord. As you said, I am the bread of life. You are the bread of life and we come to you. Ask you for daily bread. Would you fill us, Lord? Would you fill us, Lord? Would you fill us, Lord, with who you are? Would you fill us with yourself this morning, Lord? Would you fill us? This morning, as I was driving in, I was overwhelmed by the mercy of God. Don't know why, but just as I was driving down some back roads, the mercy of God was overwhelming me. So I feel led to pray for mercy this morning. In Lamentations chapter three, starting verse 22, says the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore I will hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. Lord, we come to you today seeking you, waiting for you, Lord. Praising you, Lord. Lord, we thank you for your mercy. We thank you for the mercy you have given us and lavished upon us. We are so undeserving of your mercy that you have poured it out on us, Lord God. You poured it out. And Lord, I thank you for new mercies today. New mercies every morning. Then when I wake up, new mercy is waiting for me. New mercy is waiting for us, Lord. So Lord, I pray today we would receive it. We would receive your mercy, Lord God, in all of the ways that it manifests itself in our lives, Lord. I pray that we would receive your mercy. Receive your mercy, Lord. I think of that song, Lord. Mercy is falling. It's falling, it's falling. Mercy is falling, it's falling over me. Lord, when mercy rained down on us today, washes us clean. New mercy that wipes our eyes of the tears that we have been shedding. New mercies of strength. New mercy of vitality, health and restoration. New mercy of joy and peace, Lord God. We ask you for new mercy, which sees on us, Lord, in Jesus' name. Mercies that are new every morning. May your mercy, may the revelation of your mercy cause us to repent. Lead us to daily repentance, Lord, through your daily new mercies every morning. You know, in many ways we started this morning by going upward as we should. And then we've gone inward and now I feel like the Lord is saying, now go outward, go outward. And so I wanna direct our prayer focus to very intentional intercession, interceiving for people. Interceiving for people we know and don't know. In Luke 1, verse 78, it says, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Lord, I come to you and I ask that mercy would break upon us. And specifically, Lord, that mercy would break out onto our streets, Lord God. Onto our streets, Lord. And onto the blocks that we live, into the complexes where we reside, into the homes and the neighbors that we have, Lord God. I pray that tender mercy, that your tender mercy would rise upon the lost this morning. That it would rise upon our streets, Lord God. That your tender mercy, Lord God, those who are far from you, Lord God, and call them back home. They would call them to you, Lord God. May tender mercy, Lord God, rise like the sun this morning and beckon people to come to you, Lord. Those of death that are darkening the alleyways of our streets, Lord God. The alleyways, Lord God, that are struck with darkness, Lord God. May your tender mercy break up the shadow of death this morning, Lord God. In Kalamazoo, in Richland, in Portage, Lord. Lord God in Nazego, in Plainwell, in Augusta, Lord God. With your tender mercy break forth, Lord God and shine upon the darkness when it casts out the shadow of death, Lord God. I pray for radiant mercy in Jesus' name, radiant mercy. Your mercy would be revealed to the prodigals and to our prodigal brothers and sisters, to our prodigal sons and daughters, to our prodigal aunts and uncles, to our prodigal friends, Lord. Lord, I pray there would be a revelation of your mercy that rises like the sun today in their lives. Would you overwhelm them, Lord, with radiant mercy, with the radiant rays of mercy, Lord God, would it open their eyes to your bountiful mercy, to your wonderful mercy, to your compassionate mercy, to your loving mercy, Lord. Lord, I pray that as the sun rises, that your mercy would rise in the lives of prodigals and that they would come home, Lord. Dear mercy God, the team says, but you will speak that over our lives. We speak that over our family. We speak that over this city, Lord. You are slow to anger. You are abounding in steadfast love. Lord, we love you and we thank you for that. You are merciful and that you are gracious in steadfast love. Faithfulness torred us and to us and bore us, Lord. Lord, would you remind us of this truth every single moment of this day, Lord? And Lord, just as we just sang, you delight in showing mercy, Lord. I pray that we would show mercy, that we would show mercy to those who need mercy, that we would truly show mercy, God. You delight in showing mercy, God. And your word tells us to take delight in you, Lord. So we take it. We take it. We receive it in Jesus' name. We love you. We thank you for this day that you have made. We go out and rejoice in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for joining us this morning as we draw near to God, as we pray, as we intercede, and as we worship King Jesus. Right now, we are gonna transition to a devotional time in this room. So if you're here, we wanna invite you to go down to Machette and have a cup of coffee. If you wanna have a conversation or talk to someone. But right now in the room, we're gonna have a devotional set where we're just gonna keep seeking the Lord in prayer and praise.