Watch Focus May 1, 2026, Come Holy Spirit!
We are entering the season of Pentecost. The watch focus for the month of May is Come Holy Spirit!
We stand in intercession for the church and our nation. In our city, Pentecost, Shavuot 2026, coincides with the rededication of our nation to the Lord as the Founders envisioned, and the anniversary of one of the nation’s first declarations of independence from tyranny, the Mecklenburg Declaration of 1775 which contains much of the language used in our national Declaration of 1776.
This threefold cord APPEAL TO HEAVEN is our mandate.
In Luke 22, Jesus is in the garden of intercession preparing for His sacrifice and the events that will follow as He ascends and sends His apostles into the harvest of nations.
That night He tells them they will need tools for their work. A purse, a knapsack, a sword, and if they don’t have one, to sell their outer garment and buy one. They already had two swords on them but in the heat of the moment Peter used his improperly, out of its proper use and time, and without permission.
As we take up the sword of the Spirit, we lay down our impulses to use the word for any advantage other than that for which it is sent: to accomplish the will of the Father.
We wait on the Spirit to direct us each time we meet, to hear, to proclaim, and to stand in the broken-down place.
Jesus heals the temple guard’s ear even while He confronts the chief priests come to arrest Him when no one can see.
He says, “But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”
Salvation would not have come to the world accept darkness had its hour to fulfill its desire. This is one of the mysteries of how God uses even the acts of the wicked to bring about His ultimate plan and glory. Our battle is not with natural man. It is with spiritual powers who find emissaries in men.
As we pray “Come Holy Spirit!” we understand the Spirit is both Comforter and Judge. We pray for a fresh honoring of the Holy Scriptures. We pray for a revival of the gifts of the Spirit. We see the Spirit come on Peter confronting Ananias and Sapphira in the fresh fire of Pentecost. Early in scripture, the Spirit of the Lord comes on numerous persons, stirring them to rise up, judge unrighteousness, restore service to God, and accomplish His plan for His people and concerning His enemies.
Tonight, we pray for a return to the Lord. We pray for the overturn of wickedness, and wicked rulers within our institutions. We pray for a great outpouring of the fear of the Lord. We pray the gospel run swiftly throughout our nation and a great turning to the Lord. We pray for cleansing and restoration of our foundations, first in the church in America, in our society, and government.
Psalm 94:2-10, 12-17
Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
Render punishment to the proud.
Lord, how long will the wicked,
How long will the wicked triumph?
They utter speech and speak insolent things;
All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves.
They break in pieces Your people, O Lord,
And afflict Your heritage.
They slay the widow and the stranger,
And murder the fatherless.
Yet they say, “The Lord does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob understand.”
Understand, you senseless among the people;
And you fools, when will you be wise?
He who planted the ear, shall He not hear?
He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct,
He who teaches man knowledge?
Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord,
And teach out of Your law,
That You may give him rest from the days of adversity,
Until the pit is dug for the wicked.
For the Lord will not cast off His people,
Nor will He forsake His inheritance.
But judgment will return to righteousness,
And all the upright in heart will follow it.
Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?
Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
Unless the Lord had been my help,
My soul would soon have settled in silence.
Psalm 149:6-9,
“Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
To execute vengeance on the nations,
And punishments on the peoples;
To bind their kings with chains,
And their nobles with fetters of iron;
To execute on them the written judgment—
This honor have all His saints.
Praise the Lord!”
1 Corinthians 14:1: “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.”
Psalm 94:17, “Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence.”
Proverbs 14:15-16
A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. A wise man fears the Lord and shuns evil, but a fool is hot headed and reckless.
Psalm 144:11-15
Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners,
Whose mouth speaks lying words,
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood—
That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth;
That our daughters may be as [d]pillars,
Sculptured in palace style;
That our barns may be full,
Supplying all kinds of produce;
That our sheep may bring forth thousands
And ten thousands in our fields;
That our oxen may be well laden;
That there be no breaking in or going out;
That there be no outcry in our streets.
Happy are the people who are in such a state;
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!
Psalm 102:13-17
You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time, has come.
For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
And show favor to her dust.
So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
For the Lord shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,
And shall not despise their prayer.
We pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for Israel, and the Jewish people.
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