When the darkness seems to rush in like a flood or a tide that cannot be turned back, wait upon the Lord. Lift your eyes unto the hills, from comes your help? Your help comes from the Maker of heaven and earth. Wait upon Him not in fear or dread, but in perfect, unmovable faith.
Wait upon Him not with words of doubt or proclamations that make the hearts of your fellow mankind melt like wax with fear and trembling. Rather proclaim the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. It does not matter how long it’s been dark or how dark it gets, God’s light can come in and make all light in a moment.
Lift your eyes to Him who made you, who created the earth and heavens, and let a sound of praise come forth to fill the air with hope and refreshment. Praise Him, for you will surely see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. You will surely push back this tide that binds you and walk upon the waters instead of drowning under them.
Breathe His refreshing outpouring and reason together with Him what is possible in the now. It is beyond your imagination, that’s why we need to reason with Him, and not man, not ourselves, not the enemy, but with Him who is the Father of all that is good, faithful, merciful, and powerful.
Prayer of Proclamation
Oh Ancient of Days (Father), Emmanuel (Jesus – God with Us), Comforter (Holy Spirit) praise You, three in One. Praise you, thank you, your goodness is beyond measure. Change all that I cannot with your mighty power, I proclaim blessings and bind up curses. I proclaim refreshing and bind up weariness. I proclaim unity and bind up resentment. I proclaim wealth and bind up poverty. I proclaim peace and joy and bind up despair and depression.
I worship you with the sound of pure joy, for You alone have filled my heart with joy. You alone bring light. You alone are life. By Your wounds we are healed. By Your breath we live with fresh air in our lungs. Breathe life into us, Oh God. We receive from you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I proclaim hearts of gratitude and thanksgiving and bind up bitterness. I proclaim a new sound of praise out of this age to come forth from the mouths of all believers and dispel the surrounding darkness and I bind up the plans of the enemy. You would have us walk in victory and not destruction.
Let the living waters of Your Holy Spirit flow freely into and out of us so that the words of our mouths drip with sweetness and speak forth goodness and gentleness. Wrap us up with self-control. Let Your unfailing love and forgiveness saturate our hearts. Change our hearts of stone into hearts of love. Let us proclaim and create, for you are the way, the truth, the life and in you is no darkness.
Psalm 33:1-22 (ESV)
“Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”