Great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
I turn to You now, and I ask You for grace.
I pray for the grace that descends from above,
That is quiet, and peaceable, and easily entreated.
I ask for the grace of Your wisdom and peace.
I ask for the grace of Your power and might
That Your Word might go forth and carry the day.
Besides what I seek, Your plans are far greater
Than what we could ask or imagine or think,
So pour out Your purposes beyond what we ask.
Pour out Your wisdom till we ask You to stay,
Stay Your hand, stay Your grace, we can’t take any more.
Let us adjust; we will need to adapt.
Great God Jehovah, we call on You now,
And ask for the weight of Your blessing of glory.
We know we cannot, on our own, make it happen,
We know on our own, our wells are all dry.
And so then we turn, in our plain extremity,
Asking Your Spirit to fill and anoint.
We have turned, great Father, from the carnage of Roe,
We’ve abandoned bad law but not our bad hearts.
The blood still cries out, our blood guilt remains.
So, Father, please grant us, please grant all your preachers
The word of repentance, the word that consoles.
I pray that Your preachers would come down like fire,
Consuming the forests of deadwood and sin.
I pray that Your preachers would come like a storm,
Hitting the people on a wild stretch of coast.
I ask pulpit fervor, I seek pulpit fire—
The Word blazing forth, consuming the people,
The Word marching forth, eager to conquer.
Father, I ask for power and anointing,
I ask You to set up Your own sure appointment.
pray for the moment You’ve already chosen
To turn and correct Your wandering people.
I ask that this moment be filled with Your glory;
I pray that this moment be suffused with Your grace
So as we rejoice we know who to thank,
As we see the headwaters of this beautiful river.
Father, You tell us through all of Your prophets
That this is Your purpose, Your final intention,
So why the delay? Why do You not do it?
A word from Your lips, just a nod of Your head,
And white doves would take the place of these crows.
Replace all the crows that caw from dead pulpits,
And bring life to Your people, revive them again.
These methods have always been mighty and powerful,
Bringing life to the dead, and songs to the mute.
This is Your approach, we know how it glorifies
Your gospel and wisdom and kindness and grace.
Remember Your people, remember us now,
And do not desert us, Lord, do not abandon us,
Leaving us hopeless and lost in our wisdom.
If You do not turn us, we will not be turned.
Our darkness increases, our folly is growing,
Our hardness is harder, our eyes have gone stupid.
We think we can grope our way through this jungle,
This thicket of nonsense, this tangle of folly.
But we are just lost, and we ought to admit it.
We are forsaken and left to dark wisdom.
Our seers are all blind, our wise men are stymied,
Our prophets are stupid, our counselors mute.
And yet You can humble the proud and the strong,
And do it in pride month, whatever they say.
You cast down Your foes, and all of them crater,
You rise up to fight them, and all of them scatter,
Not knowing the wisdom and power of Your Spirit.
Glory for glory, and more glory to God.
You bare Your right arm, and everyone knows it.
And so we would name You as God the great warrior,
As God who is triumphing over His enemies.
The story is glorious, another Armada
Destroyed by Your storm that comes in off the ocean.
Unsought for, unasked for, and yet at Your summons
The winds and the waves take up a great victory.
With Roe fallen downward, cracked on the threshold,
We know that the ark of the covenant is near.
We do not deserve this victory You gave us,
But nevertheless, You gave it, and glory
Is given Your name, refreshing Your people.
Restore us again, and strengthen our knees,
Refresh all our spirits, prepare us for battle,
For the triumph is Yours, if only You claim it.
Why wouldn’t You want it? Why wouldn’t You say
The word of dominion, the Word that is Logos?
Reformation, revival, and poured-out authority,
A tempest of holiness is standing offshore.
Be kind to Your people and let them all see it,
Your right arm of power, your right arm of grace.
It has been centuries since You have done this,
And we have been languishing, bereft of Your power.
Move now, we ask You, why wouldn’t You do it?
Your name will be glorified, surely You know it.
Let us be Your tools, let us be Your instruments.
God of all glory, why wouldn’t You do this?
If You give prosperity, we adjust in ten minutes
And claim as our birthright Your sheer gracious gifts.
Grasping entitlement comes easily to us.
I ask You now to disrupt it all.
Disrupt complacency, disrupt ingratitude,
Disrupt our sins, our lust-leaning hearts.
Stir us all up and goad us to glory,
Prevent us from resting in peace and prosperity.
We know how Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked,
And we’ve done the same, the same as he did.
But grace is abundant; You will not abandon us
To our ingratitude, to our stupidity.
You call us in wealth to rejoice in Your presence,
You call us to thanks for all of Your bounty,
You call us to render our hearts filled with goodness.
Forgive us, we pray, for we have not done this.
Disrupt us, we pray, so that we remember.
Do not descend in all Your severity,
Although we deserve it, we plead Jesus’ name,
In His name, we pray, asking Your grace,
And amen we plead, and amen again.