 Hey, good morning. Welcome to morning prayer from Radiant City Center. We are gonna be praying and contending for revival in Western Michigan today. We're gonna be worshiping and blessing the name of the Lord from the house of God. I wanna read from Psalm 133 as we open. Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It is like precious oil on the head, running down the beard, on the beard of Aaron. Running down on the collar of his robes. It's like the dew of Herman, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. It was striking me about this Psalm. You know, this is a Psalm of ascent. They would sing this while they were gathering from all the different towns and villages to come to Jerusalem, but it wasn't just the feast, the pinnacle of it was coming into the house of God to worship together, to pray together. And you know, the old moniker, the family that prays together stays together. There's real truth to that because there's unity that is forged in the place of prayer with one mind and one mouth we glorify the Lord together. Unity does not happen on our own. We cannot strive for unity. It is a work of the Holy Spirit and it happens when we are in the place of prayer and intercession together. And so this is the place of commanded blessing that we're stepping into today as the family of God. So let's go before the Lord right now. I'm just gonna pray and then we're gonna enter into worship and thanksgiving and praise, Lord. We come into the place of commanded blessing this morning, Lord. We are glad when they said to us, let's go to the house of the Lord. Lord, this is the place of commanded blessing. So Lord, we just stir up our souls this morning to praise you. Lord, we stir up our souls to bless your name. Lord, we stir up our souls to intercede and to stand as priests in our identity as intercessors before you this morning. So Lord, we just say, let the oil of commanded blessing flow this morning. Lord, let the oil of your presence anoint us and cover us from the top of our head to the soles of our feet as we worship and as we praise. Sing out in the spirit, sing in your understanding, glorify Jesus, magnify Him. O we magnify Him. This prophetic word, prophetic song from Greta. Just as that piano melody line plays, let's wait. Let's actually practice what Greta just saying. Let's take a moment and just wait. Just let the music carry the melody and wait for the Lord in His house. Let's play song, play song. Let this home that we're building free as we avail ourselves before you. Lord saying, how long are you willing to wait for me? Watchman waits for the dawn. More than the persistent widow constantly is knocking on the door asking for justice. And you wait a month long before you just go to your own solution. How long until you just fix your own problem? How long until you just turn that strength of waiting on the Lord into standing in your own strength by your own might, by your own power? How long are you willing to look foolish when God doesn't show up? How long are you willing to look like Hannah mocked and ridiculed by the priests and leaders thinking that she's poor and desolate when in reality she's rich because she's desperate and she's pregnant with a promise? How long are you willing to wait? Willing to look foolish. Those who wait on the Lord renew their strength and not grow weary as they walk and not grow faint. Oh God, give us strength to wait on you not by might, not by power, but by your spirit. God strengthen our feeble needs to stand and to wait. More than the Watchman waits for the morning. The spirit leading us on this theme. Obviously we were taking some time during this prayer meeting to wait on the Lord but there's a deeper invitation from the Holy Spirit and that's to live lives that wait on the Lord. I specifically just feel it with this area of Western Michigan and what we're contending for. Not just to experience waves but to prepare a place, a habitation for the Lord to dwell. It's the cry of David from Psalm 134 or 132. I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a resting place. So that we can have our solution, our own strength or he's the only solution of him coming his house and his presence. Lord, I ask right now that you would set us as Watchmen on the wall. Oh Jesus, I ask that you would give us the grace to be the five wise virgins. Lord, that we go out at the midnight hour with plenty of oil in our lamps and we wait for the bridegroom, that we are unmoved, that we will not go and buy oil for others. We will not depart and go home because we're tired but we stand and we wait like those five virgins knowing that there's gonna be a moment where you appear and we want oil in our lamps so that we can walk and follow the lamb wherever he goes and wherever he leads. Lord, going into this fall season, Lord, for churches all over Western Michigan, Lord, I ask that you would set Watchmen on the walls. Lord, as we start up so many of our programs, Lord, as we start up so many of the events that we have in our church schedule, Lord and so many things that there's so much fruit for but God, I ask that our hope and our confidence would not be in our self and in our own strength but it would be in you and you alone. Lord, that you would raise up pastors that would be Watchmen on the wall. Lord, who would wait before you that would say, Jesus, unless you come, everything else is meaningless. Jesus, unless you come and make this place your habitation, everything in my own strength burns up, everything evaporates. Only what is done in love remains. Ask, Lord, for us here in this room, Lord, for us at Radiant, Lord, for the churches in Southwest Michigan, Lord, that you would set us as Watchmen on the wall. Lord, give us patience, endurance, Lord. Let us not be distracted by the spirit of the age. Lord, let us not be pulled too deeply into cultural wars that we forget that our place of authority is before the mercy seat that we are sprinkled in the blood of Jesus, that we boldly approach your throne of grace and we give our supplications before you and heaven moves at the sound of our voice when we pray, that heaven moves when we lift up our voice and pray. But Lord, give us patience, endurance to be those who wait for you. Lord, make us Watchmen to contend for revival Lord, make us Watchmen that would contend for your resting place. Lord, make us Watchmen that would wait in your house morning, noon, and night with patient endurance until you come and make this place your habitation. I wanna go back into worship before we end kind of the last cycle of intercession. I just wanna invite you to stand back up in the room. As we wait on the Lord together, let's worship and press into His presence and then finish this permitting out strong. The song of your grace. We love making much of you because you stand alone. There's no one like you, Jesus. No one loves like you. No one draws near like you. No one heals like you. No one delivers like you. No one strengthens like you. No one rescues like you. Oh, we love you, Lord. We love you, Jesus. Well, we've got just a little bit of time. Let's sprint to the finish, okay? Let's go into our second prayer cycle continuing in that posture of just praying for our region. From Isaiah chapter 64, verse one. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down that the mountains might quake at your presence. As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries that the nations may tremble at your presence. When you did awesome things, which we did not expect, you came down and the mountains quaked at your presence. For from the days of old we have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides you who acts on behalf of the one who waits for him. And so, Lord, it is our joy to wait for you. It is our privilege and our honor to be before the altar together with one voice and one heart and one love and to wait on you in the power of agreement. Lord, there is no other God. There is no other God like you who listens to the weakest of cries, the weakest of help, Lord, and moves in power. And so, because of this, God, we lean into this privileged position that you have bestowed upon us as priests at the altar. God, we lean in because you said, you put worth on these little rooms like this. On our weakest psalms and our weakest cries, you bestowed worth and power in your heart this morning and we just say, Father, rend the heavens over Western Michigan. I'll but do what you long to do as we wait on you as we believe you are who you say you are, that you are the God who moves in response to the cries of your people. So we cry out this morning, Lord, we say, tear open the heavens over Western Michigan. Come, Lord Jesus, come because your presence changes everything. God, you show up and every mountain of demonic obstruction begins to tremble. So we just cry out, Lord, rend the heavens over Western Michigan. Make your name great before your adversaries. Call them for Jesus. Cause it to quake now in your name. This region and the heart of your church, Lord, we just say, would you come? Would you break into congregations? Would you break into homes? Would you break into campuses and schools? God, your adversaries, God, let every obstacle to love, every begin to quake even now as we pray, shake the mountains, shake every obstacle to love and faith and passion for Jesus in this region. We thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness to do this. We thank you that there is no God like you. There is no Abba like you. We love you, Jesus. And we bless your name and we bless the work of your hands in this region and right down to our personal hearts. In Jesus' name we pray, get spread young. Thanks for praying with us this morning. Thank you for joining us on the live stream. We are back here at noon today, praying for the nations. And at 6.30 tonight, we'd love to pray with you downtown. God bless you.