Lord, we ask, and even as I say the words, I'm just so amazed, so amazed that prayer is invited by the king of the universe, that you've ordained to be influenced, moved as by reminder through your creatures.

So we tremble with the thought right now.

We are influencing you to act on our behalf in the next hours.

Would you give wakefulness? Would you give mental acuity, alertness,

nimbleness of thought? Would you give heart readiness to embrace all that is true and ward off anything that is false.

Would you give us the power of feeling appropriate affections in accord with the nature of the

truth that we see with our minds so that we tremble at what is fearful and are thrilled

with what is glorious?

Don't leave us dead and numb in our souls, I pray.

Overcome this spiritual acedia, this apathy and boredom that plagues our culture

and makes us so vulnerable to so many titillating sins.

So God, I pray that exceedingly and abundantly beyond everything we're able now to even ask

or think, you will do good works for us.

And through us, Lord, we want to be a blessing to our churches and our families and our

neighborhoods and our cities and the nations and this whole world.

So let the ripple effect roll, I pray,

as your spirit acts now through your word.

I ask this in Jesus' powerful name,

in whom all the promises are yes. Amen.

I thought I'd start with a couple of verses.

I am crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live,

...