 and welcome to morning prayer. What a joy it is to be in the house of the Lord this morning. I wanna invite you if you're here in the room to stand to your feet as we enter into a time of prayer and worship. We'll be opening up this morning out of Psalm 139 starting in verse seven. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. Even there your right hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night shall be light about me. Indeed the darkness shall not hide from you. But the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to you. God, we just come before you and we bring you thanks that there is nowhere that we can go from your presence. Lord, there is not a single place that we can flee from you. Lord, whatever condition our heart is in as we come in this morning, you are with us. Whether we're in a good spot and we're feeling good or whether we're just not feeling it this morning, you are with us and we just thank you. And Lord, if you're with us, who are we to not sing you praises? Who are we not to offer up thanksgiving, to be grateful, to be grateful before you? So God, we just acknowledge you this morning that you are here and God our heart's desires to bring you worship, to bring you praise. So would you have it this morning Lord, would you have our worship? Let's cry this morning. We acknowledge your holiness, we acknowledge your worthiness. You are the ones seated on the throne, high and lifted up. And God this morning, we need a fresh touch from you. We need a fresh touch from heaven. But whether we've been following you for one day or 60 years, God, we need another glimpse of Jesus. We need to see you rightly. We need to see you high and lifted up. We need to see you again, God. Go back into this song. But before I wanna ask the Lord to give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation to the knowledge of Jesus. So God, we come before you. And where our hearts may have grown familiar, but they may have grown even cold Lord, where the fire has gone out. Lord, give us a fresh spirit of wisdom and revelation. Or would you open the eyes of our hearts to see Jesus? Open our eyes to see you rightly. We aren't satisfied with what we know. We wanna know more. We wanna see more. We wanna see new sides of your character. Eat it Lord, we need to see you. We need to see you. So Lord, as you pour out the spirit of wisdom and revelation, God, would we offer up our praise? Would we offer up our worship? Lord, would the coals on the altars of our hearts burn again? Would you set us on fire Lord? Lord, so in Jesus' name, help us Lord. Help us to see you rightly. Our worship never be from a place of religion or routine. Be from a place of awe and wonder as we look upon you. Gonna move into our first prayer cycle, but we're gonna stay right here. Brain, Ephesians 1, 17 and 19. That the God of our Lord Jesus, the Father of glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling. What are the riches of the glory and his inheritance in the saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power? So God, we just come before you today, being the same drum, Lord, asking, asking Lord for you to open the eyes of our hearts. For you to pour out a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Lord, help us to see Jesus. God, we need to see you rightly. We need to see you in a fresh way. We need to see you again. Let's open the eyes of our hearts. Help us to see your character. Help us to see your love for us. Help us to see you as Father. Help us to see you as Savior. Help us to see you as leader. As helper. God, when we pray, would our eyes be open to who we're praying to? When we worship, would our eyes be open to who we're worshiping? Would it not just be words on a screen that we're repeating? God, so I pray in the name of Jesus that you would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Let's fresh eyes, God. As we've never seen it before. It's a long day. Fresh eyes to see the cross. Let's use fresh eyes. Father, we want to see you, God. See you as Savior. Wisdom and revelation to be poured out in Kalamazoo. We're gonna turn this prayer from asking for the Lord to pour out the spirit of wisdom and revelation on us and to pour out that same spirit all over Kalamazoo, over the prodigals, over those who have never met Him, over those who are sick and have heavy burdens. So God, we just lift up the city of Kalamazoo to you today. Lord, one that is full of darkness, Lord, full of hurt, full of pain. And we just ask, Lord, that today there would be eyes opened, that your spirit of wisdom and revelation would be fresh in the streets, or that it would be going to and fro, opening eyes, opening hearts, captivating the gaze of your children, those who don't know you or those who once did, but have strayed away. God, they need you just as much as we do. And so, Lord, we just come before you and we petition and we ask that you would pour out your spirit, that you would open eyes, that you would captivate hearts, turn their head to see you, whether it be through a person evangelizing through the word of God or through just a straight encounter with Jesus. God, we just come before you and in Jesus' name ask you to pour out your spirit of wisdom and revelation. Businessmen and women going to work today, pour it out on the small business owners, pour it out on the homeless population in Kalamazoo, pour it out on those driving through the city, God. Would your presence be thick in the city of Kalamazoo today, Lord? Would people have encounters with Jesus? I ask for testimonies, God, for testimonies of encounters with the Holy Spirit, where eyes were open to see Jesus, to see the Savior. We ask for lasting fruit, God, from those encounters. Pour out your spirit, your Holy Spirit, God. Don't wait, Lord, do it today. Long enough without knowing you, Lord, pour out your spirit today. But they see the open arms of their Father waiting their return. Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Lord, that the heart of the Father would be revealed. Lord, were there in a generation that is fatherless, in a world that is fatherless, God, would you reveal the heart of the Father to your children today? Lord, would they have had a poor example of an earthly father, or no example of an earthly father, or even a good earthly father who still fell short in some way? Would you see their hearts, you know what they need? Would you reveal the heart of the Father to them? Would they see your love for them? Would they see their Father who is in heaven and is cheering them on? Who is there to sit with them when times are hard, to celebrate them when they celebrate? Do you open their eyes to see the heart of the Father? That maybe for the first time in their life, that they wouldn't feel a laugh some more. Someone who's cheering them on, someone who's on their side, someone who believes in them, just as you do God. That is the very heart of the Father. So Lord, in Jesus' name, we just ask that you would reveal the heart of the Father in Kalamazoo today. Let's complacent, the love that has conditions, not a love that's gonna leave, not a love that is ashamed. Show them that you aren't ashamed of them, but that you are proud of them. Show them that you're with them. Show them that they're welcome in your house, that they aren't cast out, that you haven't given up on them. Hear the words of their Father, that you would speak directly to the wounds of the heart, God, feeling balm of your presence. Need your love. They need to see their Father who is in heaven. They need to see that they belong in your house, that they belong in your family. They need to see the love and the pride of their Father. Only God, if they see you with open arms and waiting there, with a ring and a robe, ready to welcome them back into the family of God. Ready to welcome them into the family of God for the first time. Reveal the heart of the Father today. Pour out your love when they feel it, God. When they feel it in their soul and their spirit and their very being. Would it not just be something that it passes for a moment, but would it mark them forever, God? Person of our presence of God. So precious and auspicious in no precious, no precious. We can try all we want, but it's only by your blood, it's only by the finished work of the cross. There's nothing we can do to justify ourselves, to heal ourselves, to look any more like you, Lord. It's only by your blood. It's only through you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. You're gonna switch into our second prayer cycle, praying out of Ephesians 4. Put on the new man that it's by this blood that we just sang about, that we would be fully changed by it. So, Lord, we come before you today. We're praying out of verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, or being past feeling, having given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanliness and greediness. But you have not so learned, Christ, if you indeed have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you put on the new man which is created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. So, Lord, we come before you today as the church, as your bride. By God, we ask that we wouldn't hold anything back from the transforming work of your blood, or that there would be nothing of our old self that we hold on to, or that every morning we would wake up and we would choose to come under the blood of Jesus, or that we would sit with you and let you change us, putting off the old man, letting you renew our minds, Lord, putting on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. God, we desire to be righteous. We desire to be holy, to live holy before you. There's nothing from our former life that we wanna cling on to, not one single thing, God. There's not one thing that we wanna continue to live by before we knew you. God, we are a new creation. So I ask, God, that you're purifying fire, would have its work in us today. In Jesus' name, we ask for your help, Lord, to put off the old man, to put on the new man, and to live righteously before you. Our minds took to think about the things of the Spirit, to look upon the things of God. Through our minds to live righteously, God. We're stuffed back into a way of living as we did, as clean hands and a pure heart before you. Holy Spirit, we just offer ourselves up today. Lord, would you refining fire have its work in us? Help us, Lord, to live righteously, help us to live holy lives. Lord, if there's any hidden areas, shine your light upon them. Clean out the junk, clean out the clutter, clean out the things that would separate us from you. Lord, would it not be, would we not follow you because of an emotion that we felt with Jesus? God, with the holiness of Jesus, the love of Jesus lead us to live righteously, lead us to live holy, not concerning ourselves with the things of this world, not concerning ourselves with the things of the flesh that desires the flesh. God, but would we put those things to death? Would we pick up, would you help us to live like Jesus in righteous lives before you? So God, in Jesus' name, we just ask for your help to live righteously before you. Our worldly desires, the places that we're scared to show you, the things that we're scared to let go of, come and purify God, turn the heat up, increase the fire, Lord. Burn our former lives away, God. We wanna live differently before you. Live holy, we wanna live righteous. Purify us, God. The sins that we continue to live in, God, to only see Jesus, only to see you. Be inside out, have your way with us. I would pray that as the church, specifically, Lord, you give warnings, tongue is untameable. Lord, that it can be used for good things or it can be used for bad, for evil. And God, we just come before you and we pray that as the church, that you would use our mouths to speak life, that we would choose to speak life, to use our tongue for blessing, for blessing you, for blessing others, for honoring you, for honoring our brothers and sisters, that it wouldn't be used for, be used to tear down others, that it wouldn't be used to spread lies or hate or deceit, but that it would be used to build up. Spirit, just come and have your way. Would you touch a cold to our lips, Lord? Would you cleanse our mouths? Would you cleanse us, Lord? You say in verse 29, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers? God, with no corrupt speech, come out of our mouth. Even the little things, God, we just, we offer it up. We don't wanna get as close to the line as we can, and righteously as we can, not in a spirit of effort or striving, but in a spirit of honoring you, desiring to live holy lives, righteous lives. I just wanna take a moment and let the musicians play and let the Holy Spirit highlight if there's any part of your own personal speech that he wants to purify this morning, that he wants to shine a light on. So God, I just ask in Jesus' name that you would come and you would shine a light, come and purify, but we don't hold on to anything. All things of this world, not to insult you, cleanse uncleanliness, flowing out of our mouths, God, you just come and purify our mouths, purify our speech. How sweet! Shine your light on those dark places of our heart. Shine your light on the things that we don't want you to see, but we let you purify us. We come before you with open hands, not holding on to anything. Holy submitted to the will of God. Purify us. Purify our hearts, purify our speech that we would live holy and righteous thing before you. Lord, we just thank you that we even get to come before you and ask these things. That it isn't up to us, Lord, that we just come before you with open hands and let your spirit have its transforming work in us. Lord, we just thank you for this morning. We thank you for this time that we got to come together and to worship and to pray, to encounter your presence. And God, I thank you for the testimonies that are going to come out of your spirit being poured out on Kalamazoo today. That the heart of the Father will be seen in Kalamazoo today, and those who don't, we just thank you for being here. We thank you for hearing our prayers. That's in your holy and awesome name. You say amen. Thank you for joining us for morning prayer. We're gonna be back here at noon today at 6.30 tonight. We hope to see you this weekend at one of our services. Thanks. Have a good day.